Since the game today was miserable...

This video really made me laugh.  I saw it right after the end of the Pens game, and I had a smile back on my face almost instantly.  The title is "Guilty cat".  If you've never lived with a cat, this may not be as funny to you, but it brightened my Sunday.

Five Year Blog Anniversary!

Believe it or not, it was five years ago today that I created Igloo Dreams. The first post was a crappy one, talking briefly an exhibition game against the Bruins. I didn't really know what I was doing back then... though I can't say I really know what I'm doing now either!

Five years is a long time to keep this little blog running as a one-man show. When I started, there were few (if any) other hockey blogs on the Pens. Pensblog hadn't started yet, and most every other prominent Pittsburgh sports blog hadn't been imagined. My inspiration was Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke?, the popular (and excellent) Pirates blog, and not just because it was written by a guy named Pat.

If you'll humor me for a minute, my favorite parts of the last five years are (in no particular order):

• Writing for the New York Times hockey blog as part of their original "Hockey Night in Blogdom" crew and royally ticking off Flyers' fans.
• Writing for Hockey Independent as I do currently every now and then.
• Having a friend do the fantastic header image for this blog.
• Sticking to my guns and writing because I enjoy it. I've turned down many offers for advertising, sponsorship and writing for other sites, mainly because I want to be able to write what I want, when I want with no one to answer to. I do this because I love it.
• Doing some pretty complicated statistical analysis, some of which I have yet to see reproduced elsewhere (which may be good or may be bad...). It wasn't easy to put together.

I know The Wife will sometimes tire of hockey and the amount of time it takes to watch as many Pens' games as I can handle, plus writing about them before and after. Each year at the start of the season, I think "I don't know if I want to do this for another entire year", and then I see the first minute of the first game and the drive comes rushing back.

So will there be another five years? I don't know. I do know that I'll keep writing as long as I enjoy it.

The Upset of the Century

Okay, so maybe not quite that big...

Igloo Dreams advanced past the first round of the 2010 Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament, knocking off the #2 seed Pitt Blather.

Thanks to everyone who voted!

The Sweet 16 is running currently, and I'm up against One For The Other Thumb. I'll let you guess which team is the subject of that blog. Cotter has made a um... "special" promise to each and every one of you that vote. He made it for the first round, but I'm sure he'll offer an extension (or maybe it's the other way around...)

The voting for the Sweet 16 round will end on Wednesday at 7:00 PM EST.

You can vote here. Go vote!

At least it's not a deranged mini pony...

Last year, Sean's Ramblings had the first "Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournament". Sean was nice enough to select this blog for inclusion in the list. He also seeded me 8th against the really popular Pittsburgh Sports and Mini-Ponies.

This year I'm seeded 7th, and up against Pitt Blather in the first round.

If you like my blog, go and vote!

http://seanramblings.blogspot.com/2010/02/best-pittsburgh-sports-blog-tournament.html

About to be crushed by a Mini Pony

Here's the good news - this blog made the cut for the tournament of the 32 best Pittsburgh sports blogs, put together by Sean over at Sean's Ramblings. It seems like a fun concept, and I'm honored to be a part. I didn't know there were more than 32 blogs that met Sean's ground rules.

Here's the bad news - there are four brackets of 8 teams. I'm an 8 seed, going up against #1 seed PSAMP (Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies).

I'll be shocked if I get more than 5 votes, unless I can contact those loser Habs fans and steal their script from the All-Star voting...

Sadly, I don't think I'd find any Habs fans out there - they're all too busy jumping off of bridges due to the slump of their team. At least here in Pittsburgh, a Pens slump just means that we turn to heavy drinking and become Yinzers. Nothing better than yelling "SHOOT' every time the puck enters the offensive zone.

A moment of levity before we begin

The stretch run starts on Wednesday against the Rangers. Today, here's a bit of humor.

If you're a music geek (like I am) then this is really funny. If you into music as part of your professional life, then it only gets funnier.

Why don't we just say this guy has an issue with Pachelbel's Canon in D?

One thing to be happy about!

The Pitt Panthers are the #1 team in the nation for the first time ever!!

There are two main sports I follow closely in the winter. One is the Pens, and the other is Pitt basketball. It was a long time suffering after Paul Evans left and the era of mediocrity began. I remember the Ralph Williard teams that were pretty bad. The elation that came with Ben Howland, and the pain of never making it past the Sweet 16.

Now Pitt is #1. Congrats!

The article about Pitt becoming #1 on ESPN has one of the dumbest paragraphs I've ever read. When discussing whether the Panthers will have any extra pressure on them being #1, the uncredited author wrote:

With the Steelers playing host to San Diego in the NFL's AFC divisional playoffs on Sunday, they could take some of the pressure off Pitt this week. The Panthers' next game is Sunday against St. John's.

What? How does an NFL game have anything to do with college basketball? If I'm Sam Young, am I thinking "Gosh, it's really nice that the Steelers have all the public attention, because I might feel REALLY pressured otherwise" ??!!??

No wonder there's no byline.

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone has a very joyous Christmas!

What are you doing on the internet? Go spend time with your family and friends!

Genius

What better way to get ready for a Flyers game than a brilliantly edited compilation of inspirational scenes and speeches from the movies?

OT: Monty Python!

After the terribly boring game against the Wild, we could all use something to enliven us.

If you're a fan of Monty Python, then check out this video announcing that much of their content will be available in high quality on YouTube! The site is here.



I'll pick out a few to post here on off days for entertainment.

Big Day - 11/4/08

No matter your political persuasion, make sure you get out and vote on Election Day!

Do not ever forget

From the Library of Congress online exhibit "Witness and Response: September 11th Acquisitions at the Library of Congress"

Ever see a video camera hit by lightning?

I haven't... until now.

Ever see a plane crash during a baseball game?

Me either... pretty intense.

Mrs. Butterworth is back in business

I know the Pens pulled off a big win today, but the bigger news is that Mrs. Butterworth is back in the saddle. After a long absence from the popular consciousness, she's been hired as the latest Geico spokesperson. Congratulations, Mrs. Butterworth!

Don't call her Aunt Jemima!

NBA Slam Dunk Contest

I know this is supposed to be a hockey blog, but if you haven't seen the video yet, you HAVE to watch these dunks. This was the best dunk contest since Vince Carter in 2000. "Birthday Cake" and "Superman" are two of the more creative dunks I've ever seen.

Check it out:

Not Hockey: I can't take it anymore...

I think I know why writing is therapeutic. I saw two things over the weekend that made me want to scream. Then I thought about how this is the off season, and a little entertainment isn't a bad thing, so let me highlight two things that I think are Too Stupid To Be True (but they are):

1. A woman protesting the fact that her child wasn't able to attend her high school graduation ceremonies because her child had failed to pass the state standardized tests. Not unusual, right? Just take a look at the photo. If you don't get it, please beg your high school to rescind your diploma.

2. Here in beautiful Pennsylvania, our glorious leaders in the State House and Senate are debating the new budget. It has to be completed by June 30th. There was an article in the Post-Gazette over the weekend about the time pressure, and that Gov. Rendell is (amazingly*) pushing for a spending increase this year. In order to pay for the increase, the Governor wants to raise taxes (again) by increasing the sales tax and taxing the profits of those evil oil companies. That's not the good part. The House passed the budget, but balked at the tax increase. The Democrats (who are in the majority - that's how this managed to pass at all) want to pay for the increased spending out of the state's "rainy day" fund (think emergency fund). To break it down for you:

1. There is an increase in spending of about $1.2 billion dollars
2. According to the Democrat's plan, $500 million will come from an ANTICIPATED windfall
3. $400 million from the emergency fund
4. $300 million from "additional revenue possible from a continued growth in sales and income tax revenues projected over the next 12 months"

So, they're going to lower the emergency fund and increase spending with money they don't have yet? Does this strike anyone else as one of the dumber things they've heard recently?

The Republicans in the House have basically said that this is dumb. I agree with them. It will be interesting to see what happens in the Senate.

I'm not a big fan of Rendell, but at least he is reasonable about how to pay for this - he wants to spend more, so he raises revenue by raising taxes. The House Democrats are playing a shell game.

* there may be some slight amount of sarcasm in this adverb - Rendell has increased spending about 5 - 6% every year he's been in office