GarageGabs

I know that the majority of the audience that visits this site could care less about the Carolina Hurricanes.  To those people, I am sorry…don’t read this post.

This entire season has been one of frustration.  Missing Stillman and Kaberle for the first half of the season.  Losing to Buffalo on opening night and an 0-4 overall record vs. Buffalo.  A less than average power play.  Watching Eric Staal under achieve.  Multiple injuries to defensemen early and now multiple injuries to forwards.  Pitiful play at home, of all places.  Uninspired skating…..it’s all been rather frustrating, but through it all, the Canes actually had a chance to make a major move Tuesday night.

Just 2 points behind Atlanta and Tampa in the Southeast, the Canes had a chance to make a major move Tuesday night.  Home ice, vs. Atlanta, who had been free falling.  Not only that, Atlanta is the worst penalty killing team in the NHL and started their backup goalie.  Result?  Carolina skates hard for 2 periods, but can only generate 1 goal…none on the power play.  In fact, we give up a shorty.  They completely collapse during the 3rd, giving up a lazy fluke goal, and another on a turnover.  That noise you heard Tuesday night was the wind leaving my sails in regard to Carolina’s chances of repeating as Stanley Cup Champs.
Not only did the Canes miss a major opportunity Tuesday, but we also learned that Eric Cole will be out another 4 weeks with a hip injury.  A team struggling with offense is dealt another major blow.  Corey Stillman will return next week if he’s lucky.  With the trade deadline approaching, and fans expecting a major move…..what happened?  We trade Eric Belanger for Josef Vasicek?  That wasn’t exactly the major move I was expecting….basically exchanging 3rd liners and re-acquiring a guy that many were not sad to see leave.  Cole goes down and Ryan

Bayda gets recalled from Albany yet again….ho hum.  Doesn’t  matter, I still get the forms in the mail to pre-order my playoff tickets…yeah right.

We’re sitting here, 2 points away from missing the playoffs all together, yet just 4 points out of 3rd in the East….and we are acquiring Josef Vasicek.  Wouldn’t ya know that Belanger got traded to Atlanta and ended up assisting on a goal against us Tuesday night?

Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to Atlanta got ugly.  Boos are one things, but when the home fans openly berate players….especially star players…it’s getting bad.  Leading 1-0 (and on a power play) Atlanta knocked the puck into the Carolina zone.  No canes gave spirited chase.  Eric Staal began to go after the puck in what I would call a “gape”…he was skating sort of like a show horse trots.  If you’ve ever seen players skate out for the “stars of the game” presentation….that’s about the speed Staal was skating.  It wouldn’t have mattered if Marian Hossa hadn’t been pursuing the puck as well.  Hossa beat Staal to the puck, and took an impossible shot from the left corner…from my viewpoint, he was at a 90 degree angle to the side of the goal….didn’t matter, the puck defected off the back of Cam Ward’s skate and trickled into the goal. Fans immediately jumped on Staal, and rightfully so.  I wore my Staal jersey that night…trying to inject some luck into him and the team.  I was embarrassed….I thought people were going to throw rocks at me for a minute there.  “Way to go Super Star!”…”Way to hustle Staal!”…..and they were right.  Where is the urgency?  Where is the hustle?  I see it constantly from Craig Adams and Scott Walker…everyone else just hustles in spurts.

Anyway, the season is far from over.  Carolina still has 20 games left, including several vs. Atlanta and Tampa, the teams they are chasing.  I’ll go watch them play the worst team in the East tonight….Philadelphia…and hopefully pick up 2 points.  I’ll hope for an improbable run.  It can still happen….I just don’t think it will.

FACTS

*Carolina is 15-12-4 at home this season- Last year they were 31-8-2

*Carolina’s longest win streak this season has been 5 games- Last year they had 5 streaks of 5 or better.  Three times they won 5 in a row, and two times they won 9 in a row.

*Eric Staal scored 100 points last year on 45 goals and 55 assists.  This year, with 20 games to play, he has 57 points on 25 goals and 32 assists.

*Carolina is 0-4 in shootouts this season

It’s Not Over  (The Guy Behind The Guy)

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Sorry so slow lately, I’ve been super busy. I’m getting married you know. Anyway, here is George Takei, who is openly gay (played Mr. Sulu on Star Trek) responding to Tim Hardaway’s comments. Takei does a great job of poking fun at Hardaway’s ignorance by portraying the very stereotype Hardaway is so afraid of. The funny thing is, according to John Amaechi, Takei isn’t acting all that much different than NBA players act in the locker room.

Mr. Sulu pwns Tim Hardway with homophobia PSA (Boing Boing)

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Thank god it’s over.  I mean, of all the all star games, I’ve always loved the NBA’s the most….but the lack of defense being played really makes this an exhibition.  I really don’t see a need to name an MVP-

Things got off to an offensive start Friday night in the “rookie/sophomore” game as the sophomores beat the rookies 155-114.  Here’s the kicker: The sophomores were led by David Lee who hit 14 of 14 shots and scored 30 points.  Now Lee is an improved player this year, don’t get me wrong, but the fact that he’s only topped 20 points twice in regular season games should tell you something about the worthiness of this game.  Yeah, I know, it’s just for fun, but still like Bill Walton would say: “Play some defense!”

I did enjoy the 3 point competition on Saturday.  Jason Kapono was a very deserving winner.  The dunk contest was “decent”.  The guy I predicted to win (Gerald Green) won, but Dwight Howard got robbed.  Like Jordan could ever touch that part of the backboard.  Also, I’ve got nothing against Nate Robinson, in fact I like him, but him trying like 40 times to do the same dunk gets pretty tiring.

The All Star game?  It sucked.  It was never close, had no intensity, and was boring.  Honestly, I can go to the Y and watch guys play like that.

The best moment of the entire weekend was Charles Barkley racing Dick Bavetta.  The fact that Bavetta dove and actuall cut his knee was awesome.  I really  thought Dick was gonna kill Charles, but Charles runs pretty well for a big dude.  Honestly, that was the most entertaining thing I saw all weekend.  Anyway, rather than continue to rant, I’ll just compile what photo and video highlights I can.

Barkley vs. Bavetta Video (YouTube/Awful Announcing)

[youtube]NeOwahnSlzI&mode[/youtube]

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Two weeks after after making the Hall Of Fame, ESPN has decided to let Michael Irvin ride into the sunset.  You know the routine, Irvin has been working with the network since 2003 but has ruffled a few feathers due to his off the wall comments.  Of course, ESPN says that this was simply a talent decision.  Either way, Irvin now has the opportunity to chase what I’m sure will be a storied career on the big screen.

I never really had a problem with Michael Irvin.  So what, he always had T.O.’s back, (Irvin was one of the FEW that told felt ESPN was jumping the gun) he thought Tony Romo might be black, he wore loud obnoxious suits, and yeah, he was usually loud and obnoxious himself.  I’ll take Irvin over Steve ‘I have no personality’ Young any day.  Also, I wonder if Michael Irvin would have sat back and let Rush Limbaugh say what he did about Donovan McNabb like Tom Jackson did??  You can’t tell me you aren’t tired of Chris Berman?  I think I lot of people disliked Irvin for many different reasons, but he actually wasn’t that bad of a studio guy.

Breaking: Michael Irvin Out At ESPN   (The Big Lead)

Michael Irvin Not Returning To ESPN  ( Dallas Morning News)

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Ok, I thought long and hard about posting this. Well, I thought for about how long it took me to watch the 4 videos, and then read a few of the comments on Deadspin. I’m not sure what these videos imply. Well, yeah I am, they imply nothing. Just a bunch of naked dudes in a locker room, putting on lotion together.

I guess we now see why Tim didn’t want a gay guy in the locker room. They might get a glimpse of him lotioning up his entire body. Honestly, if anyone in that locker room was acting “gay” it was Hardaway.
Anyway, I’m only going to “embed” one of the videos. There are 4 of them. You’ll have to click the youtube link on the video to see the other 4. There is no way these stay up longer than 24 hours.

[youtube]wH8wItdJb6g&mode[/youtube]

Because This Had To End With Hardaway Being Nude On Youtube (Deadspin)

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Well, I do believe that the Tim Hardaway story has finally reached its zenith.  Now, you can look just about anywhere and find something funny done up for Mr. Hardaway.  Here are todays offerrings.

Deadspin discovered why Tim Hardaway really threw that TV monitor onto the court several years ago.  He doesn’t like Will and Grace!

[youtube]Q9eDIhyZMPc&eurl=[/youtube]

The Big Lead found this absolute gem over at  NBX.com.

What Set Tim Hardaway Off  (Deadspin)

It’s Raining Men…Just Not In Tim Hardaway’s (Or Shavlik Randolph’s) Neighborhood   (The Big Lead)

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With all the hype over John Amaechi’s gayness I am starting to think there is a conspiracy behind all of this. Here is what I think went down.

*phone ringing* —–>
Tim: Who this?

John: Cheerio, I’m looking for Penny Hardaway?

Tim: Penny? Who is this? This is Timmy Hardaway fool, ya know, with the killer crossover! The UTEP 2 Step! Run TMC foool!

John: Oh, my mistake then. Well, maybe you can help me. I’m John Amaechi, remember me lovie?

Tim: Lovie? Man, whatever, yeah I remember you, wassup?

John: How do you feel about gay people?

Tim: Gay people? Man, what!? Men or women?

John: Well, just in general. Well, in the NBA in particular.

Tim: In general, well, ya know….I’m not gay man.

John: Ok, well that’s good, I was hoping you weren’t, otherwise your opinion doesn’t matter.

Tim: My opinion? What you want my opinion on.

John: Well, your NBA career is over correct?

Tim: Yeah. I still play though, just not in the league. I was doing some coaching…but the team got retracted..ya know..man, why!?
John: How would you like to get some press? You scratch my back and in turn I will scratch yours.

Tim: Dude, I told you……NOT GAY.

John: No, no silly goose. What I mean is this. See, I’ve got this book coming out, by ESPN books. It’s called “Man In The Middle” .

Tim: Uh huh, well I own a car wash, so what?

John: Well, I’m trying to drum up some press for me book. You see Penny, we want our pound of flesh. We as society. Give us our human sacrifice. I don’t care what you lose. I don’t care what you risk. You must fall on your sword for us to look at you…oh never mind! I’m getting carried away again! I’ve done a couple of interviews about it, but I just haven’t stirred up the level of enthusiasm needed. I was hoping you could help me stir up a little controversy.

Tim: Why me? Why you coming to me first.

John: Oh believe me, you were not tops on my list. I started with Michael Jordan, but he told me he preferred womanizing and gambling. James Worthy told me the same. I made my way down the list and came upon you. I remember you being very popular in the 90’s with that Lil’ Penny character.

Tim: Man, I done told you once……that’s Penny Hardaway. I’m Tim Hardaway! Anyway, so what you want me to do?

John: You’ve seen Jerry McGuire?

Tim: The movie? With the guy that believes in aliens?

John: Yes, Tom Cruise.

Tim: Yeah, I seen it. Good flick. I thought it did a wonderful job of showing the turmoil that professional athletes endure, both on and off the field. I would recommend it for any athlete that is having a hard time understanding the business side of sports.

John: Quite proper, but do you remember the line where Tom Cruise says “I love black people”?

Tim: Yeah, classic stuff. I doubt that fool loves black people though.

John: I’d like you to do the same, but reversed. I’d like you to say “you hate gay people”, but with the same reverence, you know?

Tim: You hate gay people!

John: No, no. I’d like you to do an interview. In the interview I want you to say that you hate gay people. It will get your name back out there. Probably get you a couple gigs. Land you lots of TV time. More importantly it will give me another opportunity to talk about my upcoming book.

Tim: Man, ya know, I dunno. That sounds sort of shady to me.

John: Oh come on man. It isn’t as if either of us were embraced by the NBA. Sure, you started well, but the way Shaq left you. I tried calling him as well you know. He decided to be a prankster the entire time. I can only imagine you have some animosity towards the league.

Tim: Ok, last time man. I am not Penny Hardaway. I am Tim Hardaway. I played for Golden State, with Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. They called us Run-TMC. I later went and played for Miami. You’re right though….a ring woulda been nice.

John: Exactly. Now you could get back out there, and get back at the NBA as well.

Tim: Ok, I’ll do it! What do I need to do!

John: I’ve got an interview set up with you and Dan LaBatard, of ESPN.

Tim: Yeah, cool cat.

John: Yes, it works perfectly see. ESPN published my book and now they are helping me hype it. Dan will make it a point to ask you how you feel about gay people at the end of the interview…to create a buzz. Just run with it mate.

Tim: I can do that.

John: Tally Ho then!

Tim: Who’s a ho? Man, you a trip.

John: Oh, that’s jolly well, I will be seeing you.

Tim: Alright, peace.

John: Ta ta for now.

*The above transcript is entirely fictional*

Hardaway’s comments cause stir (ESPN)

NBA Viewpoints Clash (John Amaechi on Mike & Mike today)

ESPN Loves How Tim Hardaway Hates Gay People (Aviator News 2.0)

Bid on the rights to TimHardawayIsGay.com

Tim Hardaway Responds:

Run TMC: Sorry about the Kemp thing at the beginning

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74 year old Bernard Hopkins is coming out of his shoe to fight Winky Wright in July.  God spare us.  Seriously, why do I want to see a 42 year old Bernard Hopkins (who was boring to watch anyway) fight again?  I won’t be paying for this fight, so if you want to watch it, get it at your house.

Hopkins, Wright to fight at 170 pounds in July (ESPN)

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Sweet 16 of the 1989 NCAA tournament vs. powerhouse Geogetown and Alonzo Mourning.  Down 3, Corchiani drives, is bumped, and hits the basket.

Traveling is called.

This is a call that NC State fans will never forget.

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I gotta say, mine went pretty well.

My fiance’e agreed that we didn’t need to spend tons of money to validate our love for one another. I’m not dogging anyone that did spend money or go out or whatever, it was just nice to be able to stay in for once. No need to go out and battle the crowds at jam packed sophisticated restaurants. I love her for that. We decided to just stay in tonight, enjoy a dinner prepared by me, and a little television.

My preparations began innocently enough, much in the same way I prepare for posting. I sat on the toilet and reviewed Rachael Ray 2,4,6,8 Great Meals For Couples Or Crowds in search of a recipe that I could handle. It took me a while to come across a recipe where I recognized most of the ingredients, but I finally settled on almond crusted chicken cutlets and asparagus with scallion beurre blanc (beurre blanc is a sauce). Sounds sophisticated huh? I would recommend to anyone that doesn’t really know how to not buy this book. Ha ha, seriously, I like the book, but saying you can get this meal done in 30 minutes….well, it took me a lot longer. Also, most of the ingredients were not things I just keep on hand. We do like Rachael Ray and tivo her show sometimes. I think she is sorta cute.

Anyway, I made a list of what I needed and headed off to the grocery store. My good friend and neighbor, Ajit wanted to prepare a cake for his wife, so he rode along with me. I quickly found all but one of the ingredients. Rachael Ray was calling for “scallions” to be included in the sauce. I searched the entire produce section and couldn’t find anything called a scallion. Ajit, who is quite worldly, told me that he thought a scallion was some type of onion. With that in mind, I picked up some green onions. After having no success at finding Ajit a heart shaped baking pan we went to checkout. Evidently, Ajit planned on making a heart shaped cake for his wife. I asked if he was much of a baker and he said that he had watched his wife do it. Anyway, I asked the checkout lady if she knew what a scallion was. She didn’t know, but the lady behind me told me it was similar to a green onion. That’s when i saw the produce guy working in the produce section. I finished checking out, and went to ask him.

The produce guy quickly knew what a scallion was. He said “yeah, we’ve got them in bags”. I was overjoyed. He handed me a bag of what looked like garlic cloves that was clearly labeled “shallots”. “No dude, I said scallions”. He then took me to a book, listing all the produce. He turned to the onion section and said, “see, here is a picture of what you need”. The photo he showed me was a shallot again. In fact it was exactly the same thing as the bag he had handed me. It clearly said “shallot” below the photo. When the man let go of the book, I turned back one page and viola! There, plain as day, was a picture of a green onion. Underneath the photo it clearly said: “scallion”. The produce man was mystified and began to tell me how they had 7 different kinds of corn flakes on aisle 5, (he seriously told me that) but at this point I was in a hurry. Honestly, I’m not sure which is which, but I stuck with my green onions.

I made it home and knew I wouldn’t have dinner prepared before JC arrived. I decided to at least have the mood set, so she could relax as I prepared this gourmet meal. I quickly cleaned up the living room and kitchen table. I put on a little mood music. Lit a nice fire and went ahead and set the table.

Everything went pretty well with the setup. I was immediately pleased as the first part of the recipe called for me to cut up and separate the white and green part of the scallion. Easy, no problem. I began simmering the sauce (with the white part of the scallion) as directed. Next, I was to prepare the crust for the chicken. UH OH. Big problem. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of plain bread crumbs. For some reason, I had left out bread crumbs on my grocery list. Then I thought….“Jeez, what are bread crumbs? Crumbs of bread, that’s all.” I put two pieces of white bread in the toaster and toasted them on a dark setting. Sometimes I amaze myself.

Despite my breadcrumb success, I ran into another road block. The recipe said to combine the bread crumbs, almond slivers, and some other stuff that I won’t mention, and grind them up in a food processor. A food processor I don’t have. Again, I used ingenuity. I called Ajit. After a couple minutes of each of us determining exactly what a food processor was, Ajit agreed that they did indeed own one, and that he would bring it over so I could borrow it. He brought it over, warned me that he had found mold in it and left.

I dumped all the ingredients in the food processor. I put the top on and hit the button. Nothing. Tried again. Nothing. Hmmmm. I phoned Ajit. He told me he had never used it, but said he thought he saw a button on the front. Wow, amazing advice. As we were on the phone I figured out how to lock it in place and zoom, it cut on.

I ground up my breading mix, and was just preparing to dip my chicken cutlets when the phone rang. It was Ajit. He needed eggs, for his cake. For some reason, he didn’t know how many. After a few minutes of deliberation, he determined that he needed 3 eggs. I only had one egg. I knew this because I had to mix my other egg with heavy cream in order to coat the chicken before dipping in the breading.

Ajit was at a loss, I could tell. I knew he wanted to get this cake done before his wife arrived home. At the same time, I had all this stuff going. I had sauce simmering on the stove, oil heating up for my chicken, and a huge mess in the kitchen. The only option was to call our other neighbor, Brad. I told Ajit I would call him for him. I was a bit fearful of calling Brad. Don’t get me wrong, I like Brad. Like him a lot. He just likes to talk, and I didn’t have time for talking. Brad confirmed that he did have eggs. He then confirmed that he had 3, but he was worried about the date. I admit, I did tell him that the date didn’t matter, but upon checking it he said the date was fine. I called Ajit to tell him to go get the eggs. Just as I did that, JC walked in the door. Ajit sounded hesitant to go and get the eggs. He then asked me if I had apple sauce. HUH?? What kind of cake takes apple sauce?? I suggested that JC take him to the store so he could get what he needed, and give myself time to finish preparing my meal. Problem averted.

At this point, I was in a bit over my head. My sauce was only supposed to simmer for 5 minutes, upon which I was supposed to add something else to it (butter and the green part of the shallots). I ended up having to cut it off. I still needed to cut the tough part off the asparagus, and cut up some potatoes ( I figured I’d add potatoes to the mix because chicken and asparagus isn’t enough for us).

I went to work. I breaded my chicken and laid it in the pan. I had to do 6 filets, my pan could only hold 3 at the time. Meanwhile, I was adding an entire stick of butter to my sauce as well as the green parts of the scallions. I was very proud of those scallions! I had the asparagus going, but was worried, because it only takes a few minutes for asparagus. My potatoes weren’t even cut yet!

In hindsight, I wish I had left out the potatoes. Everything else was done as I waited on the potatoes. Luckily the recipe actually instructed to put the chicken in the oven at 250 to keep it warm. My sauce was ok on low. I was worried about the asparagus.

Finally, after about an hour of actual cooking time, everything was done. I called JC in and had a look at what I had prepared.

I have to say, I was quite pleased. The en tree was bueno, especially the sauce. The potatoes were rushed and not good at all, but oh well. I enjoyed the meal, and I’m pretty sure JC did.

As we neared completion of the meal, I busted open a bottle of bubbly, and JC and I reveled in our greatness.

After eating our meal we decided to go into the living room and watch “our shows”. Lost was coming on tonight at 10, but we had a couple hours to kill. We DVR most of our favorite shows, and it seems that JC always has something in the library that we haven’t watched yet. Tonight was no different.

We began by watching the most recent episode of one of our favorite shows, Oxygen’s “The Bad Girls Club”. I’m not sure how we got addicted to this show, there’s just something about skanky chicks living in the same house. We were somewhat excited about this episode because it was the first since Ty beat the crap out of Aimee. They have this “rule” on the show that if you throw a punch, you’re out, so Ty got booted after fighting Aimee. I can’t stand Aimee, and I felt it was wrong that Ty got booted because Aimee wanted to fight every bit as much as Ty, she just got her butt kicked. Anyway, tonights show was kind of boring, mostly just Leslie being alone (Ty was the only other black girl) and Kerry being upset with Jodie for messing with a guy that she was writing songs with. Pretty boring.

If you haven’t seen Ty beat up Aimee, here it is.

We only had 2 shows left in the DVR after that and still had a little over an hour to kill. JC likes a show that comes on FX called “DIRT”. I’ve only watched bits and pieces of it and haven’t really gotten into it. I still had an episode of “The White Rapper Show” to watch, but I figured I’d let her watch her show. I mean it was Valentines Day. If you’ve never seen “The White Rapper Show” don’t bother. It’s one of the dumber shows on TV, led by MC Serch (formerly of 3rd bass) who VH-1 calls an “icon”. Yeah right. The “rappers” on this show emulate every thing that is WRONG with rap these days. It’s hard to believe that people that had time to consider presenting themselves chose to do it in this way. Even the guy that is all about rapping for children acts like an idiot. Just think, the winner of this show can be just like MC Serch!

Anyway, like I said, JC watched “DIRT”. I hung in for a few minutes, but the show just doesn’t really get my attention. I decided to go into the kitchen and clean up.

I got done cleaning and it was time for LOST. Tonights show was a HUGE letdown as it basically just did a flashback on the Desmond character. Didn’t learn a whole lot new except that Desmond sees Charlie is going to die. Honestly, I wish Charlie would die, he gets on my last nerve. They didn’t show us what was going on with Jack, Kate and Sawyer. In fact we never even got a glimpse of what was going on in that story-line. I hate episodes like this, I don’t feel like it served much purpose other than to show Charlie might die. I mean, we already knew Desmond could see into the future, and we already knew his girlfriends father didn’t approve of him marrying her. GOSH! The whole episode caused me to down the entire bottle of champagne.

Anyway, that was the extent of our Valentines evening. After LOST went off I started watching ESPN and saw the Tim Hardaway “I hate gay people” thing and came in here to blog. I just wanted to make this post so women would have an idea of how hard it is for men (well, at least me) to do just about anything. It might have seemed like a simple dinner but so much went into it. Nothing comes easy and several disasters were averted as well. With that I say goodnight, and Happy Valentines Day.

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