Please Allow Me to Retort

Now that Link has provided some actual football insight on this webpage, now it’s time for my half-reasoned analysis for the upcoming playoff week.  My knowledge on teams not based in the Charm City has been gleaned from watching the RedZone channel, Kissing Suzy Kolber  and Bill Simmons’ weekly previews.  Not exactly insider information. If you use any of the below information for short-term investment advice then you're a fool. Ask my uncle about how good I am at picking winners. I think his house in Florida is partially financed on the future payments I owe him from lost bets.

Here we go….

Cincinnati at Houston

Wow, the AFC features some real hot teams in the playoffs, eh? Cincinnati finished the second half of the season with a 3-5 record while Houston defined backing into the playoffs by losing their last 3 games.  How about a new rule, NFL? If a team loses their 3 games and still qualifies for a playoff spot they lose any rights to a home playoff game.   

As for the game itself – my key matchup is TJ Yates against the Bengals defense.  At some time in the second half I have a feeling we’re going to hear Al Michaels Tom Hammondfollowing:

“Third and six for the Bengals from their own 24.  The snap.  Yates drops back…he’s under pressure…rolls to his right…lets it go….PICKED OFF... Maualuga is at the twenty! The fifteen! Ten! No one is going to touch him! Touchdown Bengals!”

Normally I would hesitate to take a rookie quarterback on the road, but the alternative is TJ Yates or Jake Delhomme.  Cincinnati’s defense sways my decision. Like Link wrote, they find a way to shut down Foster and put the game in Yates’ hands.

Bengals 23, Texans 17

Detroit at New Orleans

This game should be fun. Drew Brees is a machine whose sole goal is to put up offense.  Calvin Johnson was put on this earth to make spectacular touchdown catches. The over/under on this game is at a ridicules 59. The Lions averaged almost 400 yards a game while the Saints were around 467 yards a game. Their defenses gave up 360 some odd yards a game.  Both quarterbacks threw for more than 5000 yards this season.  Holy Crap.

Why do I have a feeling it’s not going to live up to all of that potential? The two teams met in early December with the Saints emerging as the 31-17 winner.  While Brees had his typical 360 yard, 3 TD game the Lions added to their own misery by racking up over 100 yards in penalties.  Defensive menace Ndamukong Suh was missing in action as well due to his 2-game suspension.

If Detroit can get some pressure on Brees they can create some turnovers. If they can’t convert the turnovers into points at the very least they have to burn some time off the clock.  The only way to really slow down the Saints offense is to keep them off the field.  I think they do enough to keep it close, but Brees kills them with a last minute 78 yard touchdown drive.

Saints 27, Lions 24

Atlanta at New York Giants

Link touched on this yesterday.  Who are the New York Giants?  They were 4-4 at home and 5-7 in the NFC overall.  Yet here they are hosting a home playoff game.  On the other hand, you could say the same thing about Atlanta.  Yes they have 10 wins, but 7 of those wins were Seattle, Carolina (twice), Indianapolis, Minnesota, Jacksonville and Tampa Bay. Not exactly the cream of the NFL crop.

I do like Atlanta’s running game more than the Giants so I think I’ll give them the nod.  Despite both teams being pretty similar I think we’re due for a blowout.  Victor Cruz gets hurt early and Eli can’t adjust leading to an Atlanta rout.

Falcons 28, Giants 10

Pittsburgh at Denver

A team that has lost their last three games against a team that is missing 80% of its lineup.  The final playoff matchup of the weekend might set the forward pass back 20 years.  Tim Tebow can’t hit a pass longer than 15 yards with any type of consistently and Ben Roethlisberger can’t drop back more than 2 steps without getting hit by a linebacker.

The thing is, it seems like Roethlisberger has been hobbled and without options for the last 4 years and he still finds ways to win games.  His career record is 80 and 33 which translates to a .708 winning percentage. Of the top fifty quarterbacks, win-wise, only Joe Montana and Roger Staubach have a better winning percentage*.  Wins aren’t the greatest way to measure a quarterback, but still, that’s impressive.

Maybe I’m jaded because I’ve watched him shrug off Ravens tacklers and complete absurd third-and-twelve’s seemingly every year, but he just finds ways to get it done.  Frankly it pisses me off.  More so than the Tebow media hype. I don’t see why this should be any different.  The Broncos will try and run the ball and win the possession/field position battle, but I still think Roethlisberger finds a way to get it done.

If I was the Broncos I would try and take some shots down field.  After all, is anyone expecting it?  Why not have Tebow fake an option to Willis McGahee, drop back and chuck an awkward, 40- yard duck off his back foot to Eric Decker?  What’s the worst that can happen?

In all likelihood the Steelers get an early lead, Tebow bulls his way to a touchdown with a minute left and they fail to recover the on-side kick.

Steelers 13, Broncos 10

 *I pulled these numbers off of Wikipedia. It's amazing how hard it is to find win/loss records for NFL quarterbacks.

A Break From My Stuff - Link Drops By With a Few Playoff Predictions

As I mentioned in my last post The Hopeful Chase is going a bit more football this weekend.  Since I have no clue as to what I’m talking about I’ve brought in someone who follows the game a bit more than I do. Former Saint Leo baseball great, former radio talk show host, former gum slingin’ salesman, and unremitted Pittsburgh sports lover – Link!  You may remember Link from such posts as “An Eulogy in Black and Gold” and “Let’s Review Game Sechs”.

Home teams are in all-caps and the lines posted are the opening lines from the Las Vegas Hilton via vegasinsider.com

Take it away, Link………

 
Cincinnati vs. HOUSTON  (-3)

Kids - that is how you stiff arm.

The last time the Bengals let a 9 point lead slip through their hands was when T.J. Yates threw a late touchdown pass. In that game, the Texans were playing without their stud wide receiver Andre Johnson.  Right now Yates has a separated shoulder (non throwing shoulder) which make me think if he struggles we will see Jack Delhomme early in this game.

The real question is how long can the Texans can survive playing a 3^rd string quarterback. I think the Bengals, despite their inability to beat winning teams, find a way to shut down Arian Foster.

Cincinnati 23 Houston 16

Pittsburgh (-8) vs. DENVER

It's funny 'cause Ben looks like he's dead.

First I have to admit that I am a Steelers fan from Pittsburgh (ed note – BOO HISS). Now that we have that out of the way, here are my thoughts.

To say the Steelers are hobbling into this game is an understatement. It would be quicker to tell you who is healthy as opposed to who is hurt. Pittsburgh has the best scoring defense in the NFL, but on offense, we all know Big Ben looks like Herman Munster trying to throw a pass. The offensive tackles have struggled all year with undersized speed rushers and the Broncos have two of them in Elvis Dummervill and Von Miller. The two mile high pass rushers should be able to get pressure on an immobile Roethlisberger and shorten a lot of Steelers drives.

Denver is led by Tim Tebow. It is hard to imagine a team playing a quarterback who can’t throw to his right. Good thing Denver can rely on their defense. I am not a Tebow basher, I do think he has talent, but I think he would have been better served learning to play the position by watching for a few seasons. The Steelers win this battle, but it won’t be easy.

Pittsburgh 15 Denver 10

Atlanta vs. NEW YORK GIANTS (-3)

Remember when Stokley caught the ball in the Super Bowl? I don't. I was a little tipsy

Can you tell who the real New York Giants are? Are they the team that shut Dallas out in the first half or the team that looked awful in Week 15 against the Redskins? Atlanta started off slow, so people forgot about the Falcons, but they have quietly put up 11 wins.

The big question is which defense will show up? The Falcons and the Giants have been passed upon all year. The Falcons 1-2 punch of Roddy White and Julio Jones is better than the Giants Victor Cruz. Even though I like the Giants defensive line a lot more, I think Atlanta finds a way to win. By the way, take the over (ed note – currently at 47.5).

Atlanta 41 New York 30

Detroit vs. NEW ORLEANS (-10.5)

Hey Willis!

Wow, what to say other than I think this is your old style WAC match up. If you are a defensive coordinator you won’t get a lot of sleep this weekend. The Saints come into the playoffs looking like a well-oiled machine. Their offense is on fire and their defense played surprisingly well down the stretch. The Lions are all offense and no defense, but damn is their offense fun to watch. Put the kiddies to bed early, this is gonna be a shootout (ed. Note – the over/under on this game is currently 59).

New Orleans 48 Detroit 34

Look for Justin G's unscientific breakdown on Saturday!

A Season in Review - How I did in Predicting the Ravens

That's a Super Bowl Level Mustache - photo from Baltimore Sun

Alright, it looks like we might be a little football heavy on this here weblog for the next couple of weeks.  I don’t write about it much because, quite frankly, it’s the one sport I enjoy more as a casual observer then as a writer/analyzer.  I’m not quite at the point of drinking the purple kool-aid (just the jungle juice) and donning purple zubazs yet, but of all the teams I follow I am most unabashedly a fan first.

That being said, I did try to take an analytical look at theRavens schedule before the season to try and predict how they would finish.  My prediction was close, 10-6, vs. their actual record of 12-4. I thought it would be spot on, after all MGM had them pegged as a 10 win team as well.  However, the game-by-game guessing was wildly inaccurate; to the point of my dad taking the time to email me and make fun of me.  He’s also threatened to sign up as a commenter just so he can make fun of me in public.  Thanks for reading, Pops!  Enjoy Hawaii!

As is my policy, anytime I make predictions I follow up on them to see how I did.  Unlike the talking heads on TV I accept accountability for my prognostications and will suffer the consequences when I do poorly (as is often the case).  So here we go:

 Week  1 vs. Pittsburgh

My prediction – Ravens Could Lose

Reason – “I think Pittsburgh is a better team than Baltimore this year”

Outcome – Yeah, missed the boat on this one. The Ravens forced 7 turnovers and cruised to a 35-7 victory that I didn’t get to see thanks to a Direct TV problem at the bar.

Prediction record – 0-1

Week 2 at Tennessee

My prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “Ravens should be able to shut down Chris Johnson and put the game in Matt Hasslebeck’s hands.”

Outcome – They shut Johnson down holding him to only 53 yards rushing, but Hasselbeck torched them for 358 yards and Rod Bironas kicked 4 field goals to lead the Titans to a 26-13 victory that I also didn’t see because the folks at Goose Island in Wrigleyville kept switching the game off.

Prediction record – 0-2

Week 3 at St. Louis

My prediction – Games We Don’t Know What Will Happen

Reason – “Stephen Jackson is a legitimate offensive threat and their defense should be better than people think”

Outcome – The coming out party for rookie Torrey Smith. The wide receiver has 3 touchdown receptions in the first quarter and the Ravens rolled to a franchise record 553 yards of offense.  I’m giving myself a win here since I thought they would win 2 of the 3 mystery games.

Prediction record 1-2

Week 4 vs. New York Jets

My Prediction – Ravens Could Lose

Reason – “There is no way Mark Sanchez has a big game against Baltimore, but I think bad penalties and a lack of discipline will be the difference as the Jets win 10-9”

Outcome – The defense scores 3 times and leads the team to a 34-17 victory. Hey at least I knew that Sanchez would struggle.

Prediction record - 1-3 

Bye Week – Push! 

Week 6 vs. Houston

My Prediction – Games We Don’t Know What Will Happen

Reason – “If Arian Foster and Andre Johnson stay healthy the middle of October could be a shoot-out.”

Outcome – Johnson was hurt and the Ravens outplayed the Texans down the stretch for a 29-14 victory. Joe Flacco threw for over 300 yards and Billy Cundiff kicked five field goals.

Prediction record – 2-3

Week 7 at Jacksonville

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “The one game on the schedule that the Ravens should be double digits and actually cover”

Outcome – I created a new gambling rule – never bet on the Ravens when they’re favored by more than 10 points.  Jacksonville took away Ray Rice as a check down option for Flacco and stymied the Ravens offense.  The Jaguars had their highlight for the season as they won in primetime 12-7.

Prediction record – 2-4

Week 8 vs. Arizona

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “If the Ravens get pressure on him (Kevin Kolb) they should be able to force mistakes.”

Outcome – The Ravens had to come back from 21 points down in the second half to win, but they did it. This is the game where they decided to add the “throw it deep in the endzone and hope for a flag” play to the playbook. It actually worked twice and led to two easy Ray Rice touchdowns. Flacco threw the ball a career-high 51 times in the 30-27 win.

Prediction record – 3-4

Week 9 at Pittsburgh

My Prediction – Ravens Could Lose

Reason – “The pressure will be on Flacco and so far in his career pressure games haven’t been his forte.”

Outcome – For once it was the Ravens winning in the last minute as Joe hit Torrey Smith for a 26-yard touchdown to win the game 23-20 with eight seconds left on the clock. I had labeled it a must win game if the Ravens wanted to win the AFC North and in the end it proved to be the difference as the two teams finished the season with identical records but the Ravens with the tie-breaker edge.

Prediction record – 3-5

Week 10 at Seattle

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “Tavaris Jackson”

Outcome – Marshawn Lynch (who I had cut from my fantasy team due to lack of production) had a combined 167 yards of offense and the Ravens turned the ball over 3 times in the 22-17 loss.

Prediction record – 3-6

Week 11 vs. Cincinnati

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “The Ravens should be able to shut down the running game and feast on the rookie quarterback (Andy Dalton).”

Outcome – Baltimore held off a fourth quarter comeback by the feisty Bengals to cling to a 31-24 win.  Torrey Smith was a factor again with 165 yards receiving while the defense forced 3 second-half turnovers by Dalton (2 picks and a fumble).

Prediction Record – 4-6

Week 12 vs. San Francisco

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – No real reason given, just implied the 49’s would be bad.

Outcome- I was at this game!  Yea!  Oh, and the Ravens won 16-6 by dominating on defense and doing just enough on offense to win.  Who cares? I was there!

Prediction Record – 5-6

Week 13 at Cleveland

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “The Ravens won’t light up the scoreboard, but should score enough to win.”

Outcome – Ray Rice runs for over 200 yards and the Ravens coast to a 24-10 victory. Lardarius Webb runs a punt back for Baltimore as well, a bright spot in the season for the much maligned special teams unit.

Prediction record – 6-6

Ed Dixon uses the Force to make a catch - AP/Nick Wass

Week 14 vs. Indianapolis

My Prediction – Games We Don’t Know What Will Happen

Reason – “Much like Roethisberger he (Peyton Manning) has the Ravens number in head-to-head matchups.”

Outcome – To my credit, when I made this prediction there was still talk of Manning playing at the end of the season.   Curtis Painter was no match for the Ravens defense and Ray Rice ran for over 100 yards in the 24-10 victory. I’ll take the loss on this one since I didn’t have the stones to make a real prediction.

Prediction record – 6-7

Week 15 at San Diego

My Prediction – Ravens Could Lose

Reason – “From Phil Rivers ability to rack up passing yardage to the Ravens having to go to the west coast, it all adds up to a loss.”

Outcome:  I pretty much nailed this one.  The Chargers picked on rookie Jimmy Smith and racked up 270 passing yards to take the 34-14 win.  The Ravens weren’t able to get any pressure on Rivers as the Chargers looked way too comfortable in winning the game.

Prediction record – 7-7

Week 16 vs. Cleveland

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “The air is cold, the stockings are hung and the Browns still suck.”

Outcome – Baltimore built a 17-0 halftime lead and held on to a 20-14 win. They sealed the win by drawing the Browns off-sides on a 4^th-and-2 play with two minutes to go in the game.  It wasn’t a pretty game, but it locked up Baltimore’s first undefeated season at home.

Prediction Record – 8-7

Ray Rice don't need no help! photo from AP

Week 17 at Cincinnati

My Prediction – Ravens Should Win

Reason – “The Bengals will be playing for Andrew Luck and not much else.”

Outcome – Ray Rice had an early 70-yard touchdown run and the Ravens turned a late fumble by Cincinnati into another Rice touchdown to produce a 24-16 win.  The Bengals did have a chance of making the playoffs had they won, so I was a little off on the Luck prediction. 

Prediction Record – 9-7

There ya go.  An extremely uneven season for the Ravens that led to an AFC North title, a first round bye and the first home playoff games since the 2006 season (in which they were also the2nd seed). Are they built for a long playoff run?  That is the million dollar question right now.  If they win their game next week then chances are they would have to go on the road to face the Patriots, and I’m not sure Flacco has the arm to win that shoot-out. 

But more on the playoffs as the days roll on.

The 2011 Hopeful Chase Card of the Year

Well, the calender has flipped on 2011 and it's time to move on to 2012.  Last year I changed up my collecting philosophy.  I limited the packs I bought, almost eliminated boxes totally (I think I only bought one all year) and focused on player collecting, trading and set completing.  I believe I was pretty successful in following those tenants.

The oncoming new year will be much of the same. I am going to allow myself to chase two sets - the 2011-12 Score Hockey (with inserts) and the 2012 Topps Heritage Baseball.  For the first time since returning to collecting I have no plans to buy any Topps base whatsoever.  It's not that I don't like the design because I kind of do, it's just that I like Heritage better.

Even if I don't have any current baseball guys that I collect I don't plan on adding any other players to the personal collection which currently stands at:

1. Vincent Lecavalier
2. Eddie Murray
3. Dustin Tokarski
4. Floyd Rayford
5. Peter Bondra
6. Brett Connolly


Now on to the meat of the post.  My favorite card of the year.  This is a semi-annual tradition that I hope to keep going from here on out.  The criteria is simple - what is the favorite card I picked up in the calender year 2011.  It can be from any year, it just has to be added to the collection this year. 

This year was a pretty close race.  Thanks to e-Bay, card shows and the generosity of fellow bloggers I picked up a lot of cool cards. However, one stood out.  For all of the money I spent on acquisitions this year, this card only cost me 10 cents.

image totally jacked from eBay

It's a 2010-11 Upper Deck Base Martin St. Louis base card. 

Such a simple card, but totally awesome none-the-less. St. Louis is celebrating one of the 29 goals that he scored in 2009-10.  The card is framed perfectly with his raised arms bringing the focus to the center of the card and a look of accomplishment on his face.  (Congrats by the way to St. Louis on picking up career assist 500 on Saturday night).

When this photo was taken the Lightning were in the midst of a disastrous season.  Depending on which home game it was, chances are those who shall not be named were still in charge of the team, trade rumors were swirling and St. Louis was contemplating his future of the club.

Scoring a goal must have been some sort of relief in a tumultuous season.  When it ended, St. Louis openly questioned whether he wanted to come back or not.  Luckily for Lightning fans the new ownership group assured him that they were dedicated to being competitive and locked him up to a four year extension.  An extension that hopefully allows him to finish his career in the blue and white of the Lightning. 

Awesome card of an awesome player.

TTM Success - Penguin Pascal

After a slow start autograph-wise, 2011 finished strong for me.  Thursday saw Tony Esposito's signature added to my collection and then on Friday I added this one.

Pittsburgh Penguin forward, and last year's 24/7 funnyman (link NSFW-language), returned this card in about a month. I'm pretty sure I sent it out just before Thanksgiving and just got it back. He signed a 2011-12 Score basecard in blue Sharpie.  It's not the neatest signature, just a couple of swirls and the number 9, but hey it looks good on the card.

It looks like I'm going to try and complete the Score set this year.  I like the clean, white background and some of the photos are pretty cool. Any double I pick up will make nice autograph fodder as well.

Fourteen Hundred Words on Why I Stood in Line

Nothing to do with the words below - just an awesome scene from Christmas Story The Musical

When you’re not working you tend to have a lot of free time on your hands.  So when certain opportunities arise, it’s not hard to find the time to take advantage of them.  On Thursday, Link dropped me a text to let me know that a certain Hall of Famer was signing autographs for free down at the Navy Pier (Chicago’s number one tourist destination). I checked my schedule and saw shockingly I was free.

I then embarked on the hardest part of the day’s journey – finding pants.  Well pants that I could wear in public.  After all, it was Thursday and Laundry Day wasn’t till Friday. It’s important to have things to look forward to when everyday is like the day before it.  After a little digging I found a reasonably clean pair of jeans, said good-bye to the cats (they didn’t even raise their heads) and went off to catch the El into the city.

From where I’m at in Lakeview, the Red Line was the easiest way to get to the Pier.  The Red Line runs north to south and attracts the most diverse crowd of all of the CTA lines.  If you sit on a chair that a bum pissed on, chances are you’re on the red line.  I snuggled into the last seat in the car, the single one in the back that is pointed toward the middle of the car instead of facing front or back.

The car was reasonably packed, and I did what all Chicagoans do – shrunk my personal awareness to just my seat. I whipped out a book (Sin in the Second City) and commenced reading. I tried not to pay attention to my fellow riders, but sometimes you can’t help but noticing them.  For instance the guy in front of me was using a mirrored compact to either put makeup on or snort coke.  I didn’t look close enough to be certain.

After a quick 10 minute ride I jumped off at the Grand location. I would not sit down again for the next 3 hours.  The escalator was out (as usual) so I followed the pack shuffling up the dirty stairs.  The city is working on upgrading the lighting and cleanliness of the downtown stops (gotta impress the tourists), and the Grand stop is about 60% finished. But the stairs are still dirty.

The walk from the Grand stop to the Navy Pier was a little over a mile, I think.  It was nice outside so the walk was enjoyable.  It’s always fun to walk downtown, lots of bustling action going on.  I got to the Pier in a decent amount of time, delayed only a few seconds by the kid running his new remote control car into my ankle.

The Navy Pier in the winter is entirely different than the Navy Pier in the summer.  For reasons unknown to me it is packed during the summer.  Vast multitudes of tourists walk from one end to another, ride the Ferris Wheel, buy overpriced beer from Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, Harry Carey’s, The Billy Goat, or stuff their face with McDonalds and buy Chicago knick-knacks.  A hundred and one river cruise operators shill their boat as the best in the city (for the record the Chicago Architecture Foundation tour is the best) while the Navy boys walk their girlfriends down the long, concrete pier.

In the winter it’s subdued, like a kid who just got reamed out for knocking over the cereal shelf at the grocery store.  The tourists are still there staggering around aimlessly, but not as many.  The chain restaurants have closed up their patios, heck even the churro guy has moved indoors.  No one is hawking a river cruise, after all, who wants to sail down the Chicago River when it’s 20 degrees outside?

They do, however, have a Winter Wonderland around Christmas time, and that’s where I would be obtaining my free autograph.  If there is a 4^th circle of hell for middle-aged men who don’t plan on having kids, it’s the Navy Pier Winter Wonderland (presented by Bank of America!).  Housed on the second floor of one of the main buildings on the pier, the Winter Wonderland is in essence free.  However, to do anything you have to pay.

 Inside there are all of the child entrapments – giant slide, photo with Santa, motion simulator,  a merry-go-round, and some sort of tilt-a-whirl/hang-glider ride whose sole purpose was to induce ear-splitting screams from pre-teen girls every 5 minutes.  There was cotton candy, sodas, popcorn, churros and I think pure sugar for sale everywhere.

There were families everywhere, so help me God so many families.  I understand why.  Most parents are on week two or three of winter break and need something to distract the children with. None of the parents looked happy to be there, they all looked so tired.  The noise was deafening – along with the screams from the rides, there were the parents yelling at kids, people yelling on their cell phones, random toddlers running around and screaming for no apparent reason.

I wandered over to the indoor ice rink where the autograph table was set up.  It was about 2:45 with the signing set to begin at 3:00. The line was already stretching back a quarter away around the rink.  Although, I think half of the people in line thought it was the line for renting ice skates. 

I took my spot at the end of the line and broke out the book.  Based on my autograph line standing experience I knew I was in for at least an hour wait, probably closer to two which would be cutting it close since the session was only supposed to last until 5:00pm.  Even with a strictly enforced “one item only” policy this was going to take some time.

Slowly we trudged along. The family behind me quickly abandoned the mother to go skating or ride a ride or something.  She was there alone with two bags, four jackets and some stuff to get signed.  She also had a camera and managed to take a photo of every person that walked by.  I pity the poor person that had to sit through that slide slow.

After 30 minutes or so we had moved about 10 yards.  It wasn’t looking good, but hey at least I got some good reading time in.  I also got to watch the zamboni clean the ice.  One thing I learned – little kids are fascinated by the zamboni.  If you ever to need to settle down a sugared up, hop-head five year old plant him in front of a machine that scrapes ice. They will be transfixed for a half-hour.

At the hour mark, the line picked up a little speed.  Either people realized they were in the wrong line or they got bored and wandered off.  Twenty minutes after that the count started.  If you’ve ever stood in the line you know what the count it is.  As the signing period draws to a close, the official looking people walk through the line and start counting people to figure out where to cut the line off at.  As they walk bye you hope that they don’t stop in front of you.

Luckily for me they didn’t.  In fact, there were probably another 100 people or so behind me that made it.  However, one unlucky couple who was friends with the mother behind me didn’t make it so they came up to complain – and to cut into the line.  Because, after all, rules are rules but that doesn’t mean they apply to you.

Finally it was my turn to get an autograph.  I pulled out a card, which looked kind of puny next to the sweaters and 8x10’s and poster that everyone else was getting signed.  I didn’t care, I like getting cards signed.  They’re small and portable, they don’t require planning on how to display.  Just throw ‘em in a page and in a binder.

The hockey player was pretty nice.  He asked me what I do for a living.  “Freelance copywriter,” I replied.  Hey, it’s true.  I’ve done some SEO copywriting over the last month.  I thanked him for the autograph and moved on.  Here it is:

Former Blackhawks goalie (and part-founder of the Tampa Bay Lightning) Tony Esposito.  I now have matching Esposito brother autographs.  I did have to break my completed Champ’s set to get the card, but I think it’s a perfect card to get signed in black Sharpie.

I hustled out of the Wonderland and walked back to the El. As it was now rush hour I squeezed into the car and rode it on home.  After a quick walk down to our apartment I was finally able to sit on the couch and rest my tired feet.  The cats hadn’t moved an inch since I left.

The Playoff Push Starts Now

The difference in size between Marty and Vinny will never cease to amuse me - Getty Images

“We have to make a push now.” 

On Monday, Lightning captain Vincent Lecavalier uttered those words, making it clear that the fight to make the playoffs cannot wait any longer. Despite the season not yet reaching its halfway point, the team finds itself battleing for its post-season lives. Going into Tuesday night’s game against the Flyers they found themselves 8 points out of a playoff spot with five teams to hurdle. 

So how did the team, the team that has been disappointing all season long, respond? With a 5-1 win over Philadelphia that eerily resembled a lot of their playoff wins last spring.  How so? Look at the numbers:

Playoffs: The Lightning played 18 games in the postseason and were outshot in 11 of them. Of those 11 games Tampa Bay won 7. 

Tuesday: The Lightning were outshot 32-16.

Playoffs: The Lightning averaged almost 19 blocked shots a game.

Tuesday: They blocked 22 shots (Eric Brewer led the way with 6)

Playoffs: Dwayne Roloson was epic goalie man.

Tuesday: Mathieu Garon was epic le gardien de but stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced.

There was some grumbling from Lightning fans on Wednesday morning about the team being “lucky” and only winning because of a humongous big bad effort from 24/7 sensation Ilya Bryzgalov.  As Tampa Bay area fans are want to do they focused on the negative. What they fail to acknowledge is the positive from the game.  Steven Stamkos scoring as a grinder (rebound in front of the net) and a sniper (one-time roofer from the post), secondary scoring from Steve Downie and Bruno Gervais, and a winning record in the face-off dot (Adam Hall winning 10 out of 15 was huge).

The Lightning played physical, blocked shots and won face-offs. They also took advantage of the limited offensive opportunities that they generated. In short, they won a playoff-like game against a tough opponent.  Being able to sustain that type of intensity for the rest of the season will be near impossible, but right now it’s the only way they can win.  They have to want each game more than the other team.

Not gonna lie - Simmonds handed Brewer his lunch - photo from Getty Images

Having to play that style for 47 more games will wear a team out mentally and physically.  Tuesday night’s game was a prime example.  With the defense already depleted Victor Hedman left in the first period with an undisclosed upper body injury (please don’t be a concussion) and midway through the second period Brewer was knocked woozy after a fight with Wayne Simmonds.  Brewer returned after getting a cut cleaned up, but is now listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury as well.  I’m sure that means Evan Oberg is repacking his suitcase for yet another plane ride from Norfolk.

Should the Lightning suffer any suspensions from the Scott Hartnell/Ryan Malone/Steve Downie spearing/stick-waving/angry words incident then the team will be extremely shorthanded going into a critical stretch of games against teams they’re chasing (Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto).

Tuesday night’s win against the Flyers was a good starting point for the Lightning’s playoff push. A win Thursday night against the reeling Montreal Canadians would be even bigger.   As Lecavalier (who scored a sweet goal at the end of the game on a 2-on-1 with Martin St. Louis) pointed out this team can’t afford to wait around any longer.  They need to get it going now.

Gotta have a Downie photo! - Getty images