the nightmare continues

I cannot believe that nearly two months after Jokinen missed the net on the shootout, those same stinkin' Flyers are headed to the Stanley Cup finals. What a bunch of suck. In fact these whole playoffs have been miserable. One of the only upsides of missing the postseason this year was the feeling I had that I could just sit back and enjoy the games with nothing invested. But that was a crock. I had plenty invested. First off was $20 for a playoff pool of which I'm currently in last place. Next I was nearly certain it was the Capitals year. Not so much. I was also rooting for Boston, but thank God only marginally. Can you imagine being a Bruins fan this season? I'd much rather go out with a whimper during the regular season than hand away a 3 game, 3 goal lead. What a heartbreaker! And what to I get from rooting for Montreal 2 rounds in a row? Nada. Although I did get to hear the name Hamrlik every other day and it always made me giggle. As much as I love Blair Betts I just cannot champion the orange and black.

I fared a little better in the west, after all I like Chicago and now I want them to hoist the cup. I was hoping the Cinderella story would belong to Phoenix, but they had the misfortune of drawing Detroit in the first round. Otherwise it was fairly painless. Even Joe Thorton didn't disgust me the way he normally does. Hopefully the finals will go my way and maybe somethign fun will happen, like Hartnell's hair getting stuck in Toews' sideburns! Only potential problem - the Hossa curse! He's been on the wrong handshake line two years running. Not my favorite guy but please do not let it be the third year!

The World Championships weren't much better, except for the Gold medal game. I though USA had it in the bag once they invited Ranger prospect wunderkind Chris Kreider, after all he's 2-2 in championships this season, but instead USA struggled to even be included in next year's tournament. The only good news in this is that Dubinsky played great in the later stages. Hopefully he steps up like that for us next year or it raises his market value. Either way I'm happy. To be honest I only half followed the World's but I was excited that Russia was so dominent until the Czechs made the final. Love the underdog, especially when that team is headed up by Jaromir Jagr and his beautiful baby face. Congratulations #68! I miss you and love ya. Also Roszy continued his solid play for the CR. I'm pretty sure he'll be in Blue, Red and White next year, so I'm happy to see him pick up his game and sustain it through another tournament. Hopefully he'll bring that confidence back to the Garden next year.

Luckily I have the French Open to distract me. Roger Federer rolled through his first round this morning. I most want his semi-final streak to continue but I'd be ecstatic if Rog defended his title. Go Roger!