Timing, Tiger and Tomatoes
Posted by jtbourne on December 3, 2009 · 23 Comments
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Breakaways are pretty rare. In practice, if you beat the goalie on a deke, he sort of gives up and slides out of the net. There’s no desperate swing/dive reaction, because, whatever. It’s practice. And most of the time, Tendy’s not even gonna go down. He’s going through the motions out there, with that “starter” spot pretty well locked up.
So it’s hard to know just how effective your moves are. Thus, when you’d get a breakaway in the olden days, it was panic central. Holy-crap, holy-crap, holy-crap-time.
The shootout era has changed this. It’s given guys more opportunities to take uncontested breakaways on goalies that are actually trying. Guys are getting a better feel for what’s effective, what timing and what pacing works, all that good stuff.
So here’s what I learned thanks to shootouts: the speed of attack is key. Mostly, that the goalie can’t vary his speed as easy as the shooter can.
So, starting out top speed will get the tender backing up quick, then you can slow it right down, let him back up damn-near under the crossbar, and shoot. For deke’s, the opposite. Start slow, and pick up speed so the goalie is still at the top of his crease.
Thanks for the help on breakaways, whoever introduced the shootout!
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I love the “do athletes deserve privacy” question that keeps coming up as a result of the Tiger Woods case.
Yyyyyes. Yes they do.
I don’t get it. People say stuff like “if you take all that money, and you’re in the spotlight, you’re willingly sacrificing your privacy for a public life”. Why?
So you’re really really good at hockey as a kid, dominating everyone, and an NHL team wants to sign you. They offer you millions of dollars. You’re supposed to pass up being a millionaire because you don’t want people to know when you fight with your wife? “Sorry, Blackhawks, I appreciate the millions of dollars you offered, but I’d rather not have my picture taken. Like, ever”. Athletes need to choose between being successful at their sport and not being TMZStalked now?
In Tiger’s case, maybe you can argue that by doing advertisements for stuff, he’s sacrificed some right to his own privacy, but honestly, I’m not seeing that either (but it’s still super-petty to hock razors as a f**king billionaire).
{Tangent Brackets: I said this in a comment below, but thought it was worth running in the body of the blog:
The “Hey… It’s Tiger” is funny in so many ways I’m not sure where to start. ….it’s like the phrase the police would try to get you to say to officially incriminate you in a drug bust “…so you’re, willing to sell me this COCAINE for MONEY. What’s the powdery white stuff called again?” is equal to “Hi, it’s TIGER”.}
"I'm Josh Elliot" --- "And I've got a porn name"
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Hannah Storm wore straight-up camo today.
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If you get up and pour a bowl Special K Red Berries, and don’t actually get any red berries, do you think it forecasts your day? Like, lets say you were eating Lucky Charms. You pour a bowl. ZERO marshmallows. The odds of that are near impossible. Do you let that convince you that that day is going to suck?
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And last -- the slightly more expensive “on the vine” tomatoes at the grocery store. What’s the etiquette on just picking the ones I need, like, right off the vine? You pay by weight, and I don’t need to donate 18 cents to stems do I?
I needed two tomatoes for a salad yesterday. Some guy is watching me pick my tomatoes off-the-vine at the on-the-vine section. There was an audible “pff”. Like, disappointed in me. F**k him, right?
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(Language warning for those of you who take life to seriously)
Report: Most College Males Admit To Regularly Getting Stoked
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."
Shootouts are great fun as a player. Not sure on goalies though.
I think the Tiger Woods incident is more about fame than pro sports. In our culture fame is so valued. Once your famous you belong to the public. No more pricey.
Can you just pick a few tomatoes off the vine? I’m not sure. It works for bananas. But that is comparing tomatoes to bananas. (where is my rim shot sound clip)
What’s hilarious, is that I went to find a clip of the bad-joke rimshot, and I found this: http://www.instantrimshot.com/
The funny part is, somebody tried to submit that as a comment a few days ago, exact address, and I denied it, figuring it was some sort of gay-porn-spam site. Sooo…. my apologies to that person.
Picking the tomatoes off the vine? Low class – pay the 18 cents. Geez. And here’s a thought – maybe take home the *entire* vine with 4 or 5 tomatoes on it and eat the other ones over the next few days…
If you don’t want your picture all over TMZ etc. don’t cheat on your (pregant) wife. Yeesh.
The Tiger Woods debacle is embarrassing for me. Only in this country can speculation on someone’s personal life trump the news of World Aids Day and the president announcing a major deployment in a foreign war. NY Daily news front page from the 1st was a huge picture of that club rat with fake boobs, a small side bar about Afghanistan, and world Aids day was page three. It’s so frustrating that I can’t even find the appropriate words.
I like the shootout, it’s fun to watch as a fan but it does cheapen the outcome of the game a bit. I’m a reluctant supporter of 3 point wins – 3 regulation, 2 OTW, 1OTL. I’m hoping Robbie Schremp can get in a few games with the Isles soon with Nielsen out, I think he should be playing tonight. He had one shootout attempt earlier and it looked like he didn’t want to overdo it, he made a nice backhand move but his approach was pretty vanilla. I guess that’s his ‘realistic’ move but I wish he would drag it a little more, try and get the goalie to poke and then take it away.
Tambellini is money in the shootout but do you think that’s more because nobody expects him to shoot from so far out, or because his shot really is that ridiculous? I figure it’s a little of both, he might have to change his move a little bit because being beaten like that is a little embarrassing for the goalie. Okposo has a sick move patented but he’s never scored with it in a game, it’s kind of like a Datsyuk forehand ‘no ya don’t’ deke and it looks ridiculous. It’s the second one in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR9oNLexOFw
Also how about that sneaky backhand Nielsen always seems to squeak in? I remember the first time he got it in Toronto a few years ago, it’s a nice move with no bullshit. He just comes in and waits till the last second and relies on that one quick little move. He’s scored on it probably like 5 times now so I guess less is more sometimes.
Guess what that Onion piece has me…
“The funny part is, somebody tried to submit that as a comment a few days ago, exact address, and I denied it, figuring it was some sort of gay-porn-spam site.”
HA! That thought never crossed my mind. Since I didn’t put anything else in the post, I see why you would be cautious.
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I like the speed tip for breakaways. That might get the goalie moving back in enough for those of us beer leaguers with stone hands to put one in the net. Now I just gotta keep my head up before I’m on top of the crease.
Koharski – pretty sharp comment, actually. Having played with all three guys you mentioned, and seen them in game and practice mode, my review:
Tamby’s shot is unbelieveable, but you’re right, shooting it from farther out surprises goalies a bit. Doesn’t hurt that he hits an area the size of a shoebox EVERY time.
Neilson – I hate his move, because everyone does the forehand-backhand shelf thing, and it works… it’s just not creative. Then, he mastered it. Like, top ten in the world at backhand shelf. So, if you’re good at something that works… wow. He was 7 for 7 in Bridgeport on the same move at one point, I wanna say.
Okposo – best move I’ve ever seen when it works, which is like, once out of ten. I took it back to the ECHL when I left the AHL, and showed all my teammates. It was all we did after practice for a week or two, and I can do it, but he can sell it so much farther. Goes all the way over to the backhand before the forehand to forehand sidestep. Craziness.
@ Off. Koharski:
That’s the world we live in, unfortunately. Same goes for when I write a column in the paper. (A college paper, but a respected one none-the-less.)
I write about how much I hate Halloween, and the fact that age 7 should be the end of your trick-or-treating days, and I get savage responses to my PERSONAL email.
I write one about the health care debacle and I get no comments on it, nor a single email. It’s like the readers saw a “real” topic and avoided it like the H1N1+ kid.
For real, hard news, there is no better site than BBC.com. Funny that, as Americans, it takes a God-less, forward thinking nation like England to follow what’s happening. Full circle?
//Only in this country can speculation on someone’s personal life trump the news of World Aids Day and the president announcing a major deployment in a foreign war.//
You’ve obviously never lived in the U.K.
IMO, the only people that doesn’t deserve privacy when it comes to matters like Tiger’s are politicians and “Reality TV stars”.
Tiger doesn’t “owe” the public anything.
Besides, this will be nothing once Tiger wins a major or two.
Just look at how the whole 20 cent thing with Patrick Kane blew over.
Or A-Rod’s divorce
Or Kobe and the rape charges in Colorado.
Or all the affairs that Arnold Palmer had on the road.
Heck, JFK was viewed as a playa for cheating on his wife with Marilyn Monroe!
Honestly…Here’s my thoughts…
1) I really don’t give a good god damn if Tiger Woods was cheating on his wife, nor does it affect my opinion of him one bit other than thinking he’s an idiot. It happens every day and, unfortunately, is now a fact of life. People cheat on their spouses and/or significant others. Why does the fact that he is good at golf now make it necessary to air his dirty laundry to everybody. It boggles my mind why people give a shit about celebrities having affairs, when their next door neighbor could be having one and they wouldn’t care one bit.
2) On shootouts…My friends and I have been embroiled in this debate ever since Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored on a spin-o-rama in the shootout. So…The spin-o-rama. Legal shootout shot or no?
3) Tomatoes on the vine…Personally, I say just buy the whole vine…But I don’t think you’d be wrong to pick a couple off.
St. Cloud Gopher has it right about the BBC. I get the BBC station on cable. They give a real non-American slanted view on what’s going on in the world. It’s really refreshing.
Tiger should know better than to get caught. I mean come on, if you’re a multimillionaire athlete you had to have half a brain to get there. I do not condone cheating as i think it’s despicable but if you’re tiger and you make the decision to cheat, use your brain. Get a different Cell Phone for your ladies on the side, maybe not say “hey it’s me tiger” on a message like the chick from Tool Academy doesn’t have your number and doesn’t have caller id, or maybe stop carrying on 31 month relationships…he went to Stanford for godsakes, plus he hangs out with Michael Jordan, he cheated on his wife more than he got triple doubles…learn from his mistakes.
JB, great blog…what are your thoughts on CHL vs. NCAA? Lots of defections to the OHL recently…
Right, since he’s an athlete, shouldn’t we judge him as one, like, on his performance as a cheater? He seems lazy. Obviously didn’t scout, didn’t do his homework on these girls craziness levels. The “Hey… It’s Tiger” is funny in so many ways I’m not sure where to start. Goes by Tiger, I love it. I guess Eldrick really sucks. And, it’s like the phrase the police would try to get you to say to officially incriminate you in a drug bust “…so you’re, willing to sell me this COCAINE for MONEY. What’s the powdery white stuff called again?” is equal to “Hi, it’s TIGER”.
And you’re right, 31 months? That’s not some stray girl, that’s “involved”. I mean, not to be a dick, but I’ve played with dumber people than Tiger who’ve made being a douche bag work. He’s “struggling on the Nationwide Tour” quality at that game.
And CHL vs NCAA is a short conversation – in no way, in any aspect, should an athlete ever chose the CHL over NCAA unless he’s borderline legally retarded and really needs a (small) paycheck.
I don’t have anything to add – just enjoying reading the blog (and the comments from today)! Did you play with Chad Johnson at all at Alaska? Rag$ (does that still apply with the salary cap?) just called him up.
Yeah leaving the voicemail seems kinda rookie. How about the tone of voice? Sounds like he’s ordering a pizza. D-bag.
Nice comment Koharski. We have the same thing going in Canada, although CBC is generally a good news network (perhaps because it receives public funding?). Still, when I listen to people talking in restaurants or wherever, the conversations are often about celebrities in the news. For a while it was facebook, then that Jon and Kate thing. If you look at it from the perspective of what humans could be if we really tried to achieve ideals, it is frustrating to see how deeply ingrained some of our weaknesses are and what we might be missing. If you look at it from the perspective of what humans can become when they do as they please and take what they want, it is nice to think that there is now a World Aids Day, and the world’s greatest superpower must explain its policies to the population before fighting wars. I guess I don’t see people as being “above” celebrity worship and news apathy in a historic sense, I’m just happy people don’t pull the heads of geese for entertainment anymore, and that the modern James Bond can’t get away with date rape.
Hey Bourne, this is completely unrelated to today’s blog, but I was wondering pro athletes and their video game habits. Do you ever fire up NHL 10 (or one if its predecessors, Mr. I’m-so-cheap-I-won’t-buy-the vine) and rock out? If so, what team(s) do you normally pick?
Or it may just be that actually living and playing the real thing kinda makes video games seem like cheap and unworthwhile, which would sorta go along with one of your earlier posts about how you really can’t enjoy watching a hockey game as much anymore.
As a college kid, I can probably say I get stoked at least a few times per week. Just please don’t tell my parents.
Yeah Bourne, are you good at the NHL games, or are most of your friends quite a bit better?
Well said, Neil. I’m guilty of distracting myself with inconsequential, fun stuff too, like the NHL, Italian food and double bock poison. I suppose celebrity worship isn’t any worse an activity than those things but it’s disheartening when the fun stuff takes precedence over stuff that’s really, really important. Aids day is something people should notice, but kicking a war into high gear should be THE story of the day. It shouldn’t have to share a page with anybody.
I think the best US news network is NPR, without a doubt. People say they sacrifice insight for objectivity but I think it just seems that way because they aren’t filling in the blanks like most news agencies.
Yeah myself I definitely prefer the objectivity, if only because everything has so much spin these days that you never really know what to make of some comments (and if you’re reading, there is a good chance you are opinionated enough to draw your own conclusions regardless of their take). You’re right, you would certainly hope that the U.S. would be taking that speech seriously, I was watching John Stewart that night and he was joking around about how 30,000 wasn’t really that big. I was thinking to myself “Afghanistan already has a lot of troops in it, it isn’t exactly a dense population, and 30,000 people is the size of a small town”. That seems like a pretty significant turning point in policy. Bloody Kenyan. There are definitely some happy Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan right now.
I pick the tomatoes off the vine all the time. I’m only going to throw it out once I get home, so why pay for garbage? Oh and if you think the “pff” was bad for that, try doing the same to grapes…
Word of advice to guys who enjoy cheating – this girl saving Tiger’s message is A-typical. All girls save messages and texts…so if you’re a high profile athlete/star and/or in a committed relationship, you may want to use a pseudonym when leaving a voicemail message for the woman you’re currently sleeping with. Rookie move indeed!
For a great take on the cheating thing, scroll halfway down this Bill Simmons column to the “Great Call of the Week”… by his wife:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmonsnflpicks/091204