Hmmm...

Fox Sports Florida Sucks It

I'm watching a hockey game that's been continuously advertised as being broadcast in high definition, but the channel it would normally be on (401 on Comcast West Palm Beach) is showing some basketball team from Overtown Miami. So here I sit, digesting the Panthers from a normal-definition standpoint.

Want more proof? Here. And the nine-year-old's rebuttal? Here. Who wins? The basketball thing. Cuz we don't matter. Note to Gary Bettman: After all has been said and done about high-def broadcasts of hockey games, you've lost. Forget the fans...you know...those few of us who still bother to pay attention outside of Detroit and Toronto. We buy the products, go to the games, preach the gospel, and continually get shat upon. And screw you too, Florida Panthers, for not being on top of this. A curse upon you all.

It's obviously not enough that I can get an upstanding citizen or two to watch a hockey game based on their hearing about how awesome it is in HD. These citizens have given up.

What do you want me to do, Fox? It's difficult enough trying to draw folks into a sport with the type of stigma which the NHL has surrounding it. However, you advertise an HD broadcast and decide "Nah...".

WTF?????

WAIVED: Wade Belak!?

This one came out of nowhere. As reported by George Richards, forward/defenseman/pugilist Wade Belak has been placed on waivers by Uncle Jacques, with no official explanation.

Whether one agrees or not, Coach Pete obviously has seen very little use for the big guy, allowing the likes of Nick Boynton to grab the title of Chief Enforcer (and I very much do not agree with that).

Whatever your opinion of the man may be - and I can't see anything but positives - he plays forward and defense. On a club so desperately hurting for healthy bodies/happy bodies, is this the player you make an example out of? One who was thrilled to be here? Who just signed a two-year contract? What the devil is going on?

Is JM clearing roster/cap space for a future deal? I could think of several others to be dangling on the waiver wire before Wade. But if the coach won't play him...

Get over to On Frozen Pond for Belak's fascinating - and completely supportable - opinions.

Wanna watch? Hope your imagination is sharp...

If only I had a decent pirated copy of PhotoShop...

If you're a Panthers - or Bolts - fan, you find yourself in the same sinking ship as I. Where to find tonight's divisional matchup, featuring the home debut of the Lightning's newest coach-of-the-week, and the premier of Steven Stamkos on the number-one line? WAXY 790 AM! No disrespect to the capable hands of our radio boyz, but THIS IS A GAME THAT MUST BE TELEVISED.

An absolute travesty that we are forced to watch the Habs at Raleigh. This is supposed to bring new blood to the sport? What about us, eh Gary? You remember, Florida fans: the folks who have sat through your lockouts, rule changes, expansions, and relocations, all the while begging the media to kick us while hanging on for our dear franchises' lives? I speak for Tampa Bay, Sunrise, Orlando...heck, Opa Locka. Why oh why must this ridiculous "exclusivity" clause be foisted upon us? Puck fans in the Sunshine State finally have a game that WE ALL care about and it's ripped away in the name of "promoting" the league in...where? Who is going to be drawn to Montreal-Carolina who isn't an established hockey fan? Looking for stragglers too anebriated after the fourth re-run of White-Tailed Deer Gone Wild to hit the remote? I mean pah-leese. A joke, and a cruel one at that. This is punishment for something. Some days it's not worth being a supporter of this backward, uncaring, damn-the-torpedoes league. Why even waste my time writing this? History has proven the NHL will do anything in it's power to do The Wrong Thing.

Is it too late for me to be a poker fan?

Just When I thought There Was Nothing to Post...

Can't find a decent window decal for my car and these are available?

Don't Know About You, But...

...anything amiss? Got this here. Sounds pretty non-denominational...until the picture is opened. Schmucks. See? Here's the reason attendance has been flagging in Sunrise: the Panthers play in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm sure our Shadow Fans in Panama City are tearing it up. And I'm really enjoying Marlins games in Lake Okeechobee, though I'm soon to be re-inflating my season seat. I'm really missing out, considering the uber-sized Golfing, Diving, and Fishing & Boat Rentals in the Straits of Florida. Oh yeah, and according to this here activity map, the Homestead NASCAR race this weekend doesn't exist. Better let my buds know, before they show up to an empty KOA.

Only in the NHL: The Shat to "Sing" Anthems in Montreal? Make it So...

Didn't have this one on the brain when I awoke today: The Montreal Canadiens are being petitioned to allow Kirk himself to pull anthem duty at a game to be determined later this season in "honor" of the Habs' 100th year. To give you an idea of the scope of what is being proposed, the picture above details The Shat's efforts to protect himself from music critics - and the general populace - hurling eggs, tomatoes, and onions his way following his previous album. The sordid "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds" affair is well chronicled around the web. Google it...you won't be sorry. Actually, you will. Much like the Star Wars Holiday Special.

Exercise your rights. If you sign only a single petition this decade, MAKE THIS THE ONE.

Greg at Puck Daddy and the bunch at Four Habs Fans sum it all up admirably.

For the record, I'm counting the hours until the new film opens. Once a Trekkie, always a Trekkie.

The Prophets Hath Spoken?

From left to right, Jim Rutherford, Terry Murray, Brani Mezei, and Mike Keenan.

No News Here...

...so GET OUT AND VOTE.

Has Any Photo...

...ever spoken for itself as this one does?

Thanks, Barry Melrose Rocks.

24 = 20 at TD Banknorth Garden (Whatever That Is)

The Bruins have owned up - finally - to a colossal mistake made prior to season and only just recently discovered. This is necessitating a change in format for the clubs utilizing the ice surface during games, until the conclusion of tonight's contest vs. Atlanta.

The reason? Has to be seen, er read, to be believed.

"The change in format is occurring due to incorrect markings on the West End (visitors bench side) of the TD Banknorth Garden Ice. In the West End, the two face-off dots are 24 feet from the goal line - four feet longer than NHL specifications. The corresponding face-off circles are also four feet further away from the goal line."

It gets better. Read on here.

Thanks, KuklasKorner.

And it's Come to This...

I've resisted comment throughout the Summer Circus in Tampa, but one word is all I can muster at this phase: Dumbfounded.

Icethetics has a full op-ed on the abortion above.

I've got nothing.

Still enjoying the fruits of last night's labors. Needed to take a break. Back on the clock full-time come Monday.

Florida Panthers Lose to AHL Rochester Americans

Trust me, it stinks.

Would that headline embarrass you as a fan of the organization?

That's the reality Flyers fans are waking up to right now after the NHL club lost 4-2 to their own AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms, at the Spectrum.

Yes, the AHL club beat their own parent NHL club. What do you do with the Flyers' players that dogged it? Send 'em to the KHL?

You wait your whole life to see something like this.

Hockey Merchandise We Just Don't Need

This, like that horrifying belt buckle a few posts down, is another of those items that makes zero sense from a marketing standpoint, unless you're mining the previously untapped construction-worker demographic. Now THERE's a group with money to spend in free-wheeling South Florida, what with development booming such as it is (!).

Hockey Merchandise We Just Don't Need

That's one ugly belt buckle.

Deep Insight: Gambling911 Again Displays Shrewd Instincts

"LA at Detroit? $500 on the Kings!!!" Just another day at the office for the hockey wizards at Gambling911 (The Gambling News and Odds Authority).

Not much point in posting this for anything other than the laugh potential, but here it is, from our friends at Gambling911:

"Sorry to tell you (...), but your Florida Panthers are going to suck and suck big time this season! They have no identity on this team, when Stephen Weiss is your first line center, you have problems. I see them being last in the league."

Man. Last in the league.

And he says it so forcefully...it must be true. Gee folks, maybe we should just pack this thing in right now; move the Cats to Flin Flon, and we'll all become Thrasher fans. You know, a team that's worked hard for it's constituency. 'Cuz they'll never finish last in the league this year.

Hmmm...on second thought...

I Knew There Was a Reason I Still Felt 27

Now, I'm aware that many out there are unfamiliar with Cat coach Peter DeBoer.

I'm also aware he's got a phenomenally successful coaching record in the OHL, and the hockey press is well versed in it.

That being said, Gambling911.com seems to be stuck in 1998. Either that or the LA Kings will be sending a strongly worded communique to Jacques Martin very very soon.

"Florida Panthers: Terry Murray - Terry Murray is now Jacque Martin's man in Florida, as Murray has a winning record of 360-288-83-6 in 737 games coached. The Panthers are getting an experience NHL coach, but I think the game has changed too much for a veteran guy like Murray. His Brother Bryan is the GM in Ottawa. +5000 odds to win the 2009 Stanley Cup"

"The game has changed too much for a veteran guy like Murray?" Ok, here's a suggestion: how about tabbing a dude like, oh just picking a name out of a hat...PETER DeBOER?

How high are these guys? I'm not a gambler, and now I know why. Who's taking these clowns seriously?

Terry freaking Murray? Who's coaching Rochester...Roger Neilson? Get it together, losers.

Entertainment is Only Entertainment in the Eye of the Beholder

We've made it big, kids! It really does have to be seen to be believed. But we are nothing if not believers down here in the land of feeder bands and gas-gouging.

A way-cool blog as well, even if they can't digest the banana thing.

Bulgarian Destruction: Video!

It's the moment we've been salivating over: real live visual confirmation of the women's game that has swept the blogosphere.

Our compatriots at Puck Daddy have located video of last week's now-infamous 82-0 dissection of Bulgaria at the ruthless hands of Slovakian babes with sticks. Yes, 82. To nothing.