103 For MB, Groundhog Year For The Flyers
Posted by jtbourne on December 9, 2009 · 22 Comments
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Marty Brodeur tied Terry Sawchuk atop the all-time shutout list at 103 against Buffalo on Monday. That’s more than an entire seasons-worth (playoffs included) of shutouts. A mind-boggling accomplishment.
Brodeur is simply a great talent who was put in the best possible situation to accomplish feats of goaltenderly greatness. New Jersey in the ’90′s? I could’ve taped magazines to my shins and used a baseball glove and put up a couple doughnuts.
So kudos to the guy. Everything he does is so likable that it’s easy to forget he once had his own Tiger Woods moment on the way to winning one of his cups…. Doing his sister-in-law? That blew over quick, didn’t it?
I recently read this article in TIME (sprouted from Tiger’s fiasco) that explains how, if an athlete is still able to make the fans cheer, they tend to be willing to forgive, forget, or both. Loosely paraphrasing the article, Mark McGwire was done hitting home runs, so when the scandal broke, we were done with him. Same with Pete Rose and anybody else who’s sins were discovered after their playing days. But with people like Kobe Bryant and A-Rod, their sins have been “buried under the confetti of their latest championship”.
Marty has proven time and time again that there’s reason to root for him, from his talent to his personality. I guess we all have our faults, and I really want to end this with “so I still love Marty”. ….but your sister-in-law? Thats a pretty big hurdle for me to clear, there, “fatty”.
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A winner that hasn't won yet.
I tweeted something last night along the lines of “Being a Flyers fan is similar to being the chef that fights Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber. It seems like everything is going well TIL YOU GET YOUR HEART RIPPED OUT.” …I stand by that.
To me, they seem like they’d be the hardest team to suit up and play, yet they can’t seem to get over the “pretty good team” hump. (Every year they wish for another Sharks collapse to take the spotlight off them.)
Richards is a beast. He can score, and he’s mean. Carter, Briere, (and now Van Riemsdyk), these guys are deadly. And a d-corp that has Pronger, Carle, Timmonen? Seems like a team nobody would want to play.
And yet, it seems like we’ve been here before, and seen this already. Haven’t they already tried the “good team, playoff four-seed, question mark in net” second/third round elimination thing? They must be making money as an organization, so that’s cool, but don’t they wanna win a Cup? You can’t stop the bleeding with Ray Emery. He’s good, he’s just not enough. (note: Emery is out six weeks to have ab surgery)
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We’re that house.
As of December 6th, we had lights up. We have tree scented candles rockin’. Santa is up. And apparently, we’re tree shopping in the next day or two. It keeps getting earlier.
This is my first year in a warm place for Christmas, sans snow. Seeing as how I’m not sure what to expect, I thought I’d solicit some first-hand accounts from people who celebrate the season in warm climates. Does no snow suck? Awesome? Does it feel as Chrismassy?
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Hockey Greats Camp
With Christmas on the horizon, it’s always a little more nerve-wracking financially than the usual grind. Throughout the past couple months, I’ve received a few donations to the blog, and they make a huge difference to me. It buys me time to legitimately pursue my new goal of writing, without having to sell Big Macs from 9 to 5 (or having to join the legion of people the Coyotes hire to dress like seats at home games). Or sometimes, it simply buys me one of those Big Macs. So thank you to those gracious people, and thank you to my regular readers. I always look forward to the comments.
(I just feel like putting this picture up – my brother is a travesty of a human being when trying to get the lime to the bottom of his Corona. I mean disaster-level, call-in-FEMA-for-cleanup style situations occur. On the right is Jeff’s buddy, Isles trainer Shakey, doing a little heckling.)
I'm a hockey player turned writer. After playing for Alaska Anchorage in the WCHA (NCAA), I carried on with an NHL tryout (New York Islanders in 2007) before spending a couple seasons in the AHL/ECHL (last year was 2008-09). My father, Bob Bourne, won four Stanley Cups with the Islanders in the '80's, as did my fiancee's dad, Clark Gillies. I'm now the web editor for theScore's hockey blog "Backhand Shelf."
Actually, she was Martin’s wife’s brother’s wife. So, you know, barely a relative at all.
And he married her. I always tell my husband, If you ever cheat on me, you better marry the bitch. Make it count.
But then I’m the ultimate goalie apologist and he is the king of goalies, so you’re not surprised in the least to get this response from me. Fatso rules.
You look like you’re on the edge of your seat ready to bolt in that photo.
Haha, the change has been made, but I called her his “sister-in-law” (which she would have been), because it sounds worse. Also, yes, apologizing for him on that one is pretty brutal, but fair enough – marrying her qualifies it a little. Okay, he’s halfway off the hook. Plus – Ohhh my godddd, he’s soooo goood at playing goalllll.
You don’t have snow on Christmas day, Justin, but think of it this way…..you can go play golf the next day….you don’t have to scrape ice/snow off car windows….warm up your car to go anywhere….and 10 hours of sun!
Growing up in Houston and going back every year for Christmas, I’m used to not seeing a white Christmas….but after living in the frozen north for 5 years, I now laugh when my dad complains about a 1 hour frost delay on the course that happens maybe twice a year.
…and both Brodeur and his sister-in-law were separated from their spouses at the time of the *cough* indiscretion.
Still, gotta suck to be the brother and the sister they cheated on.
I’ve lived in Northern California now for 14 years, and Christmas is NOT the same without snow. Then again, we only seemed to have snow on Christmas in my hometown in Illinois about half the time, anyway.
His wife’s brother’s wife… isn’t that his WIFE’s sister-in-law? OK, my head hurts.
Man, holidays in that family must be interesting.
yeah, Brodeur’s private life sounds like a plot out of a Woody Allen film…..
Well as you complain about Christmas without snow, I’m looking right in the eyes of an hour and a half commute (5 miles or so) from Downtown Minneapolis to get to my home and shovel for at least 2 hours…argh.
Broduer is a beast. The thing i love about him is that in the era of j.s. giguere pads that go 3/4 of the way up the thigh, Marty has had pretty much the same pads for as long as he’s played, barely above his knee. Not that pad’s make the tender, but it’s refreshing that he’s stayed with what works…
Actually the picture looks like preparation for a cheek lift while everyone’s is distracted.
Is that too low brow?
San Diego res here (transplanted from Pittsburgh, PA via LA for a decade or two)… I really do miss the seasons (summer thunderstorms, fall colors in brisk air, and a gorgeous, dampen- the-entire-world, kind of snowfall) – but it really is paradise here in SD (ironically, my “most favoritist” place is Tucson – go figure).
But yes, the So Cal weather really does take some of the Christmas-ness out of the season for me – even after all these years. We make do with keeping the traditions alive – like outside decorations, watching the same Christmas movies year after year, making the cookies from our childhood, going to church on Christmas Eve and putting together a fabulous feast on Christmas Day. It all helps, but I still pray for rain (and rarely get it) to help make the day seem more like what I remember.
Really awesome column at THN Justin (just read it today) – dead bang on.
And speaking of dead bang on – have you seen Rick Reilly’s column on Tiger yet? Good stuff.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=reilly_rick&id=4727383
No snow on Christmas? Not acceptable.
No snow? Ever? I’d be gone before my suitcase hit baggage claim.
Granted, driving in snow sucks. Scraping the car sucks. Shoveling sucks. The words, “Wind chill near -40,” sucks. But you can’t ride sled in May.. You can ski in June, but not the dangerous kind. Same goes for tubing.
Winter is the best season for one very important reason: fear.
So many people are scared to drive; so they don’t.
Fewer and fewer people take advantage of the snow to have some fun. Ski hills? Nearly empty. Sled trails? I could probably sleep on one and not be run over. Snow shoeing? That’s too much work for folks.
I love the cold and snow mostly because so many people hate it.
You know, I had a point to make, and *poof* it left me. Well, I guess I’ll just take this time to congratulate the St. Cloud State Huskies on their sweep of the Alaska-Anchorage Seawolves this past weekend. Some things never change, eh Bourne?
I’ve lived in Texas all my life and when in comes to enjoying Christmas, it’s all about the spirit, not the snow. I imagine it’s the same for the Australians and everyone else in the southern hemisphere who celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer.
Though when you do get that one White Christmas (and I’ve only experienced one in my short 20 years), HOLY BAJEEZUS. Watch out. It’s like watching festivity itself undergo nuclear fission.
And when I mean White Christmas, I mean like an inch or two of snow. Maximum. You can’t really pray for much more than that.
I’m in LA, orginally from upstate NY and I hate not having seasons!!! people here are always – you can drive to snow – it’s not the same, there is nothing that compares to waking up in the morning to a fresh blanket of white (especially if that morning is Christmas). My co-workers think I’m psycho because of how excited I get when it rains mostly because its a change in the weather
Gopher I love that last line =)
And as a Devils fan – I am so psyched for Marty
Great read on THN, the last few of your pieces have been really damn good, I feel like we need to listen to some Neil Young and twist a few up. Well, I always feel like that but now I want you to come too.
How great is it that people can’t get through a “Marty is the man” paragraph without mentioning he’s an asshole for sleeping with his wife’s brother’s dog trainer’s uncle’s wife? He can join Patrick in the Great Goalie-Bad Person Hall of Fame (I think they just call it the Hall of Fame for short though).
Shakey looks like my kind of trainer. Does he like Neil Young???
Christmas in Arizona? You get used to it.
My greatest Christmases in terms of weather were in New Hampshire. Every year we had snowstorms on Christmas Day with the most stereotypical giant snowflakes ever which made all the hot-chocolate-sipping, fireplace-snuggling holiday cheer feel like it came right out of a Hallmark card or 1940s holiday movie.
But Christmas in Arizona has its advantages. One, you don’t have to melt the ice off of your car door locks every morning. You don’t have to sit snowbound on the roads on the way in to work. And if you simply HAVE to have snow, you can drive for an hour north on I-17 and you’ll run into as much snow and ice as you want.
Oh, and the ugliest image from Brodeur’s sexcapade is not who the person was, but that she was willing to bed the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man.
Read your tweet about Tiger and Santa Claus.
I’m still laughing.
…final word on being in a warm place for Christmas, sans snow.
I grew up in Western Mass. and now live in Southern Cal.
I can’t believe you’re even asking!?!?!
Nope, Marty the person doesn’t get off the hook for that. Though him having to deal with the rest of that season with soon-to-be-ex and current-boy-toy sitting directly behind his net at the home games makes me smile a little bit even now
Marty the goaltender? I just don’t like him cuz he never seems to take responsibility when he *does* have a bad game. It’s always the refs, or the ice, or the refs, or his defense, or the refs.
How long have I been a Flyers fan? So long I remember – with great fondness – Ron Hextall. And yes, I’m quite accustomed to them breaking my heart into a million pieces and pissing on the ashes. Thanks for reminding me. *sob*