Let’s go Bolts! 
The best-of-seven final is knotted at 2-2. Big Ben Bishop is back in front of the net for Tampa Bay after missing a game with a mysterious injury.
Will that make a difference as the two teams fight for the advantage in game five? We shall see!
p.a.
Just back from a week in a no cell service area. Need to do that more.
Betty Cracker
Well, that was a bone-headed defensive maneuver by the Lightning.
Old Dave
@Betty Cracker: yes, that was something special.
RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac)
I wonder what the injury is.
I’m kind of rooting for Chicago because a friend of mine at work is a big ‘Hawks fan.
max
Will that make a difference as the two teams fight for the advantage in game five?
I’m thinkin’ … YES! But probably not the difference you wanted.
Apparently, the dude that shot up the Dallas PD HQ was driving his very own “Zombie Apocalypse Assault Vehicle and Troop Transport”.
Apparently they sell for about (wait for it) 8k bucks. Supposed armored plated and crap. Based on the pictures, it looks like a Ford E150 van from the late 90’s or so, repainted and modified by (possibly) adding some sheet steel on the inside and perhaps packing the gap between the sheet steel on the outside and inside with sand.
I’d say that was about the worst 8k bucks that guy ever spent, if he thought he could rely on it to stop bullets.
max
[‘For some reason, I suspect he was a strong supporter of the Iraq invasion.’]
Tommy
@max: I’ve never bought a bullet proof car. Not really seen the need. But if I did I’d buy one that worked.
raven
@max: That description is weak. I posted this early this morning:
Tree With Water
Because it looks like such a blast, I wish I had the time and patience to educate myself about NHL hockey. But I don’t. And I didn’t play it as a kid, which makes all the difference. The only thing I ever did the few times I did skate on ice as a kid was fall down. That, and the hokey-poky. Then again, I waste enough time watching sports, so it’s probably all for the best.
ThresherK
@max: Geez, if someone’s gonna spend money on an old van, do it with style.
Tommy
@Tree With Water: I used to get tickets to the Caps when they sucked. I got tickets right on the ice to see them play. I am totally with you, you play a sport and you understand it is a lot more. I went on ice once with skates and all I did was fall down. I could not stand upright on the ice. But hockey, there is a little wizardry to it I don’t understand.
Betty Cracker
Scooooore!
Tree With Water
@Tommy: I knew a Palestinian-turned-U.S. citizen, who owned a corner store in San Francisco that I frequented. He had arrived here as a young adult, and over the years had become a rabid fan of MLB. I saw him soon after he had been in a batting cage for the first time. Right off (and in character), he insisted the pitching machine be cranked to its fastest setting. Need I say more? When he told me about it later he added, “It’s a lot harder hitting a baseball than it looks”.
Tommy
@Tree With Water: Brings a tear to my eyes. Come one come all!
I am a baseball fan. Huge fan. Lets crank that machine up and hit baseballs. I’ve been there many times and wish I could be there with anybody.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Tree With Water:
I worked on a video shoot once where there was a former MLB coach/scout as an adviser. He said a lot of guys wonder whether they could hit major league pitching. “Hell, most of them couldn’t see major league pitching.”
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Old Dave: I don’t know why I’m asking, because the chances of, “Yes,” are so damned low, but this thread is hockey related . . . are you by any chance the Old Dave on the USCHO boards?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Steeplejack (phone): I was done as a youth baseball player the first time a pitcher threw hard enough that I could hear the ball coming. I was 11.
different-church-lady
I’ve watched a lot of hockey in my life, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen 8-plus minutes played without a whistle before. The pace of these past two games has been ridiculous.
Tree With Water
@Steeplejack (phone): Bill Simmons (formerly of ESPN) told a great story of being a teenager and watching Tom Seaver pitch to a friend, prior to a comeback Seaver later made. Just the three of them. Tom Terrific was a family friend of Simmons buddy, and wanted to play catch to see what he had left in his arm. Toward the end of the session, Simmons stood in as if to hit (i.e., as if he had a chance to hit) and Seaver laid a major league curve on him. He sounded almost as speechless when he told the story twenty years later in his column, as he was at the time.
redshirt
Can any hockey fan who does not live in Tampa or the immediate area cheer for the Lightning? It seems blasphemous.
Betty Cracker
Damn. They made that look easy.
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: I think fans of any sport should root for their hometown team or the team where they currently live. It bugs me when people glom onto some unrelated team — like Chris Christie rooting for the Cowboys. WTF?
different-church-lady
The replay of that last Chicago goal gave a good view of the special “first amendment zone” the Lightning set up for Hawks fans. Lots of red on the side of the rink the main cameras can’t see.
different-church-lady
I’m taking back my comment at #22 — now that I’m looking more carefully I can see more red all over the arena. My bad.
redshirt
@Betty Cracker: Agreed 100%. This corollary can also apply to multiple sports allegiances, though there has to be a firm ranking. For instance:
1. True Team
2. Current City Team
3. Former City Team
So as for example I am of course a Red Sox fan (woe!), but I also like the Angels as I lived in Anaheim and attended several games as a child and fondly remember the experience.
I also like the Cardinals for this same reason.
If I lived in Milwaukee I’d join the Brew Crew.
Betty Cracker
@redshirt: Yep. My baseball team is the Rays, but my auxiliary team is the Braves because when I was growing up, there was no baseball team in Florida and everyone rooted for the Braves. I like the Red Sox when they’re not playing the Rays because I lived in Boston for a few years and spent many an enjoyable afternoon / evening at Fenway.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@redshirt: Absolutely. I’m rooting for Steve Yzerman.
Betty Cracker
Damn. Backs against the wall on Monday.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@redshirt: All of my primary professional sports loyalties stayed in Detroit, even though I only lived there for six years growing up and have now lived in Minnesota for almost thirty.
All of my primary college sports loyalties are to the Gophers.
redshirt
How do goaltenders have knees that work anymore? Or groins?
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: And no infield fly rule.
redshirt
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: But you have secondary rooting interests, yes? The Timberwolves are gonna be great next year man.
Old Dave
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym: sorry, no.
Schlemazel
I love hockey, grew up playing, it does make a difference. If you are new there are a few suggestions. Do not sit near the ice sit up higher so you can take in at least all of the ice on one end. It wouldn’t hurt to watch older kids so the game is a little slower. If you can have someone that knows the game being them with to explain. Don’t focus just on the puck, watch what the others are doing sometimes.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@Old Dave: Damn. I was hoping we had a third Gopher women’s hockey regular around here.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@efgoldman: Yes, but can you explain icing?
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@redshirt: I have secondary rooting interests, but none of them are the professional teams here in Minnesota, except maybe the Lynx.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Ballet dancers are generally performing fluid and practiced routines, whereas a hockey goalie seems to bend the wrong way at the knees in all random manner of directions. And then there’s the constant splits. Ballerina’s ain’t bustin’ out sick splits like 6’3″ NHL goalies are pulling dozens of times a game.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman:
Hold over from the black-and-white TV days — the checker pattern made it easier to distinguish from the blue lines. Unnecessary today, but a lot of arenas still do it out of tradition.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Congrats! Never forget about all those Rocky Roads.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman: “Prevents logo hockey”.
redshirt
The lowest moment in Boston sports history was when like 15K people filled Boston City Hall Plaza to cheer on the Colorado Avalanche Stanley Cup win in 2001. Pathetic beyond words.
But then the most glorious triumph shortly thereafter, which has continued to this day. Like 9/11 was the price to be paid.
Just One More Canuck
@redshirt: I disagree – I live in Toronto, and can never under any circumstance cheer for the Leafs
Kerry Reid
I don’t particularly care about sports, but a Hawks victory would make my nephew extremely happy (as well as other people I know). So — one more, guys! Let’s DO this!
narya
Baseball = Phillies (first professional MLB game for me was at Connie Mack Stadium, which dates me quite a bit)
Hockey = Hawks (been living in Chicago for 29 years and Wisconsin Badgers (only because a friend goes and I’ve seen a bunch of games; I went to small private liberal arts school and generally don’t get Big10 sports, but college hockey is fun to watch)
Football = don’t like, don’t care
Basketball = meh. The Jordan Years were WAY fun to watch, but I”ve lost interest.
I’ve really come to love hockey–such that I’ll watch games in which I have no rooting interest–and Playoff Hockey feels like a different sport. Love. It.
“Slap Shot” is awesome. I remember reading an interview with Paul Newman and he said that he knew that making the movie had affected him off screen when, at the dinner table, he asked one of his kids to pass the fucking salt.
The documentaries about the Russian team–“Red Army” and the ESPN 30-for-30 episode this winter–were both quite good.
Linnaeus
Good game, but the result was poor.
JustBeingPedantic
@Just One More Canuck:
Sorry, but there’s really no surprise there, what with one playoff appearance in the last ten years and their last Stanley Cup nearly 50 years ago (1966-67).