In school, the 100th day is now a widely celebrated day, even though we didn't know day 100 from 76 from 110 when I was in grade school.
The kids usually put together some type of project, and they use it as an opportunity to count to 100 by 2s, or 5s or 10s. They bring in one hundred pennies or one hundred pieces of popcorn or one hundred pop tabs.
At my son's school, the 100th day is February 18th, just over a week away, and he plans to make a picture of a Pokemon by gluing one hundred pieces of O-shaped fruit cereal to a piece of paper.
But Penguins fans have a different "100" milestone on the brain, and we're hoping it's reached long before February 18th. In fact, between now and then, they have four opportunities to reach this mark.
Dan Bylsma is looking for his 100th win as a Penguins coach, and he'd achieve it more quickly than any other coach in the team's history, according to Bob Errey.
He's already had two chances. The Penguins lost 3-0 to the Caps and 4-1 to the Blue Jackets.
But now the feat is going to be that much harder.
Injuries plague the Penguins. Crosby is hopeful he'll play again this season. Malkin is out for the next six months due to his knee injury. And then there are the injuries to Asham, Kunitz, Letestu, and Comrie. On top of that, Cooke is serving a four game suspension, and obviously he offers both scrappiness and goal-scoring.
Still, it's possible.
I'm just hoping that if you can breathe the words "hundredth win" and take it away (just as quickly as thinking "shutout" makes that goose egg disappear), maybe you can say it's just about as impossible for Bylsma to get his 100th win tonight, and help make it happen.
They don't call it "Bylsmagic" for nothing.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Super Bowl Blues
I tend to take my sports pretty seriously, so please excuse the lapse in the blog posts. I've been in a bit of an emotional funk since Sunday.
It was going to be a perfect day: an afternoon Penguins game (I loves me a hockey matinee!) leading up to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
I knew the game against the Caps would be a tough one. Every one is. But it shocked me when all our positive momentum in the first period left us down 1-0. That we were held scoreless felt like a bad omen. But I'm not a doom and gloom fan; hope springs eternal, right?
Down to the last couple minutes of the Super Bowl, I thought the Steelers might be able to redeem their first half performance and overcome the deficit. When it was over, all the hype and anticipation of the day fell flat.
Some of my friends expressed the sentiment, "Even if they didn't win, they made it to the Super Bowl, and that's an accomplishment." But ask any Buffalo Bills fan if losing at the Super Bowl (or four of) makes them feel any prouder of their team's resume.
How I feel now is nothing compared to when the Penguins lost to the Canadiens in last season's playoffs. It doesn't compare to how I felt when the Steelers lost to the Patriots in the playoffs in 1996. But it still manages to leave an empty spot, a little sick feeling, that makes me tend to agree with my friend Mentha, who said, "I don't want to talk about it." I'm assuming, of course, she was referring to the Super Bowl.
What I could really use right now: a Penguins win, a hocky matinee, someone to use "yinz" in a sentence, a move to Pennsylvania, a hat trick, Terrible Towels waving, a Yuengling, another Stanley Cup, anyone to declare that Green Bay didn't win that so much as show up and let us lose. The list goes on and on.
What I'll take: seeing my teams play, even if they lose; taking phone calls from Pennsylvanians as part of my job as a chance to hear that accent again; my son's agreement to play hockey, though only when given the ultimatum that it's hockey or swimming lessons; a Yuengling Light drunk from a frozen Penguins mug; and any indication that I'm on way out of these Super Bowl blues.
It was going to be a perfect day: an afternoon Penguins game (I loves me a hockey matinee!) leading up to the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.
I knew the game against the Caps would be a tough one. Every one is. But it shocked me when all our positive momentum in the first period left us down 1-0. That we were held scoreless felt like a bad omen. But I'm not a doom and gloom fan; hope springs eternal, right?
Down to the last couple minutes of the Super Bowl, I thought the Steelers might be able to redeem their first half performance and overcome the deficit. When it was over, all the hype and anticipation of the day fell flat.
Some of my friends expressed the sentiment, "Even if they didn't win, they made it to the Super Bowl, and that's an accomplishment." But ask any Buffalo Bills fan if losing at the Super Bowl (or four of) makes them feel any prouder of their team's resume.
How I feel now is nothing compared to when the Penguins lost to the Canadiens in last season's playoffs. It doesn't compare to how I felt when the Steelers lost to the Patriots in the playoffs in 1996. But it still manages to leave an empty spot, a little sick feeling, that makes me tend to agree with my friend Mentha, who said, "I don't want to talk about it." I'm assuming, of course, she was referring to the Super Bowl.
What I could really use right now: a Penguins win, a hocky matinee, someone to use "yinz" in a sentence, a move to Pennsylvania, a hat trick, Terrible Towels waving, a Yuengling, another Stanley Cup, anyone to declare that Green Bay didn't win that so much as show up and let us lose. The list goes on and on.
What I'll take: seeing my teams play, even if they lose; taking phone calls from Pennsylvanians as part of my job as a chance to hear that accent again; my son's agreement to play hockey, though only when given the ultimatum that it's hockey or swimming lessons; a Yuengling Light drunk from a frozen Penguins mug; and any indication that I'm on way out of these Super Bowl blues.
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