I don't want to encourage the masses of sports fans who have witnessed the demise of their beloved teams to consider opting for the suicide way out. No matter what the theme from M*A*S*H tells us, I don't want to carry the blood of a mass suicide on my hands.
Speaking of blood on the hands, what's up with the Sharks and their sucky play of late? Isn't the entire idea of hockey to pummel the opponent until we all see blood on the ice and somewhere in between someone manages to force a little puck into a net?
Look, I'm no expert. I don't know what exactly constitutes a line change, who needs to make it, or when they need to make it. I don't know what icing is (besides the stuff on top of a cake) or why a scrum looks like girls fighting in front of their lockers after someone dissed the other's boyfriend.
However, I do know that the Sharks loss yesterday in game 6 when they could have put the whole thing away was more than a little annoying: it hurt like hell.
In the grander scheme of things what with the world in bad shape and all that, one should try to put these things in perspective. 1) It wasn't game seven, 2) it probably won't worsen global warming, 3) it won't make any nation starve more than it already is, and 4) it isn't the end of the world (so they tell me).
But as any sports fan who neurotically assigns the grandness of life to winning can attest, coming close to reaching the next pinnacle only to be delayed causes the level of stress that encourages strokes and heart attacks, not to mention heart break and despair.
Sure, in this case there's a game seven. But I'm a realist. I've been burned before. (Giants vs. Angels in the World Series some years back. Ask my therapist, he'll remember when exactly.) To this day, I still feel the horrible pain. I still wince when I think of coming so close only to watch my Giants allow it to slip away. I still feel the pain of having to wait for the next day (game 7) as well-meaning friends and family tried to assure me that they'd still make it.
Sure, yeah, right. I knew better. I saw the momentum shift. I saw the balloon deflate. And Sunday night, that's exactly what happened: the Angels held tight to the momentum and we saw the day come to a close as losers. Not runners up—just losers. The days following that night are still a blur since a blur is a lot easier to experience.
So as I write this it's less than 24 hours before the Sharks come back to the Shark Tank to try to do what they couldn't or wouldn't last night.
If they win, great. It's on to Dallas where a different team will attempt to stop San Jose's pursuit of the cup. And after Dallas another and then another. This hockey thing is the worst as far as I'm concerned. But I'm a fan now and have to suffer like the rest of the fans hoping and praying that when the game's over tomorrow the players are the only ones in pain—the physical kind.
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3 months ago
For someone who doesn't even know what a line change is, you seem to understand the basics better than the Sharks. And I love your comment about scrums--they are so pointless! Either drop the gloves or don't!
3 months ago
it could be worse. say the situation was that we were 3 - 0 in the series. and all of a sudden its game 6 and we're sitting at 3 - 3. at least this series was back and forth. Though it all boils down to tomorrow. I've got the guiness and yelling vocals ready. Go sharks and niners. i think we differ though in baseball teams. go A's.
3 months ago
In all honesty, the flames have outplayed the sharks for most of the series. The Sharks didn't deserve to win game 5 and they were dominated for pretty much all of Game 6. The 2-0 score doesn't come close to reflecting how badly they were outclassed. The Sharks would already be hitting the golf courses if it weren't for brief lapses into incompetence on the part of the flames in games 3, 4, and 5. If the flames play like mooks for even 5 minutes of game 7, they'll lose and rightly so. However, if they show up and play for the whole game like they did in game 6, the sharks are going to be a BBQ'd.
from 3 months ago
En Contrare mon fraire--the Sharks have had the edge most of the series but have just lacked the ability to make something of it because they have lapses in intensity and judgment. No doubt the Flames are more opportunisitc, but they were outshot in each of the first four games by an average of almost a dozen shots per, outhit (albeit by one) overall, and beaten in the faceoff circle in four of the first five. The fact that they have now been the better team in the last two games is what has me worried.
3 months ago
Game 6 was ridiculous. I dont even know why I'm discussing it, because the Sharks don't deserve anyone talking about them right now. They haven't played to their potential at all in this series. NOT ONCE! If they don't get it done tonight, there had better be some serious changes. And I'm not talking about the players.
3 months ago
Oh, and I feel your pain with the Giants. They never should have started Livan Hernandez in Game 7. Dumbest move ever.
from 3 months ago
Kyle, you're so right. And didn't the Giants also do something really stupid in game 6 as well. Like I said, it's a blur.
3 months ago
Ya... I don't really remember much of it either. They might have left a pitcher in for too long in that game too.
3 months ago
at least you're not a bruins fan like me, i have to deal with losing constantly. The canadiens basically gave us an open net with the two wins and then snatched our dreams away.
3 months ago
Glad I'm not a Bruins or Giants fan--then again, the team I care about in baseball (the Brewers) has never won, and the city last got a World Series title in '57, before I was even born. At least the Giants have had the payroll to compete. And we didn't even have a hockey team, which was why it was easy to adopt the Sharks when I got here--but why did I have to pick a team so soft?
By the way, Heather, I forgot to mention how much I approve of the M*A*S*H reference--I still think of BJ Honeycutt every time I go past Mill Valley!
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