Greetings,
Every time I pound out a blog after a 10 day absence, I find myself back at the computer the next day to pick up the scraps. It’s impossible to stuff everything into one bowl of dispatched material. Here is my second attempt at saying it all at once.
BLUES TALK
I didn’t give the St. Louis hockey team a fair trade in last night’s rant. Sometimes, a team gets short changed and its never on purpose. A die hard Blues fan would read my blog and go, “Oh shit he didn’t”. The truth is I have to say about this team and will do it right here. 10 Things About The Blues that I have noticed in their first five games.
1.)It’s nice having two goalies who can produce quality starts. Jaroslav Halak will never be the #1 guy here in town. After two years, that is for sure. He either gets hurt, starts to crumble or starts to get hurt. Having Brian Elliot in the chamber waiting is the reason this team may go all the way this year or make a good effort. Elliot is a different goaltender than Halak. The Slovak is all tender grace, slow adjustments and style. Elliot is aggressive, jumpy and to the point. We have two different goaltenders and they both are pretty good when overexposure is kept out of the room. Good tool for Ken Hitchcock.
2.)The team is allowing a lot of goals on the power play. It seems that the only time the Blues are vulnerable is when they are shorthanded. The Blues power play has risen to the top of the league after being in the shitter last season. The units have changed spots. The PK is in the dumps while the extra man unit is thriving. Funny themes going on so far. I could be wrong about the penalty kill.
3.) Vladimir Tarasenko is the legit shit. That is easy to say after 5 games when the Russian has 7 points and is a dangerous man whenever he touches the ice. That is the brilliance of hockey. Off the ice, these are regular sized harmless looking men. On the ice, they are fierce warriors and physically dangerous. Tarasenko isn’t afraid to throw his body around and has made All Star stoppers like Pekka Renne and Jimmy Howard look like pedestrian AHL hacks in the net. He skates in, does a shoulder fake and sinks it over their chest or into the five hole. He has that computer brain on the ice and can make opposing player seem half witted and slow. So far, he is eating the hype and spitting out the leftovers.
4.)The David Backes line is fine. Sure, they aren’t netting goals at an alarming rate but soon enough Backes and Oshie will thrive. I think of this line as our aggression and size set. They aren’t just out there to score goals. I’ll take Backes pile driving the other team’s star into the boards over a goal if that is the balancing act on some nights.
5.)Roman Polak is a bad bad man. He doesn’t score a lot or look flashy on the ice, but when skaters enter his zone or try to go behind the net carrying the puck, he slams, hits, decapitates or knocks them on their ass. He is a true defender. We need more like him. Wade Redden is like an old old Polak. He will due.
6.)How good is David Perron? Pretty good. When he is not diving for penalties, the Frenchman can be great and skate around defenders. Yes, he likes to fake out the entire defense but slide this guy the puck in the offensive zone and he can wrist a shot past three bodies and into the net. In a 2-1 deficit last night in Dallas, Perron singlehandedly changed the game. He tied the game with a wrist shot, assisted on Chris Stewart’s go ahead goal, and netted the game winner with another wrist shot. He has skill to burn and drive to spare. When he can contain it, the man is a 35 goal guy easy.
7.)There was never a damn doubt the fans here would come out. Let me say it again. The Blues were a victim in this lockout. They are a small market team that can’t give out big enough contracts to help start a lockout. The fans proved their mettle when 6,000 and 11,000 showed up for a practice at Scottrade. It’s nice having the house packed every game.
8.)This team can play defense. Sure they can fall apart for 8 minutes and give up 3 goals but overall, the defense is made of stone and takes teams apart in the neutral zone. They are allowing among the fewest goals in the NHL through the early going here and I expect that to continue. Hitchcock’s bread and butter is his strictness when it comes to disciplined hockey. If you don’t do it, you don’t play.
9.)Ryan Reaves is more than an enforcer. Kid can handle the puck, make plays and contribute on the forecheck. He can also pummel a guy with those large ape arms. He isn’t a boxer with a hockey stick.
10.)I love the shortened season for this one reason. There are so many fewer days off between games. This is like the playoffs. Play two games, and get a day off. Play 4 games a week at least. Fans don’t suffer withdrawals and go out and start checking innocent people into the cooling racks in grocery stores. The Blues are playing so much it’s almost like baseball season. Nobody likes a team playing 2 times a week. The jewel of the lockout shortened season is the urgency of the schedule.
Also, go Blues. They play in 2 hours.
What else?? This may seem like an adrenaline shot of knowledge, good or bad.
-One of the reasons I still watch Grey’s Anatomy is Kevin McKidd. He played Vorenus on Rome and here he plays a former Iraqi War surgeon who beefens up the joint at Seattle Grace, where the testosterone is needed. Sure, he can seem overpowering at times and may breathe too heavy in his monologues, but the man is a good actor who isn’t afraid to bring vulnerability to the role of a doctor. He is a keeper. Sandra Oh can go. She annoys the shit out of me and her nose isn’t a good mood setter. Girls love the guys on this show but the men are left wanting more. Greys Anatomy is full of 6’s and 7’s when it comes to women. No fucking 10’s.
-FX keeps everybody moving in the family. That is why you will see Justified lawman Timothy Olyphant guest star on Archer and The League. He is a versatile actor who played every kind of role before he became Raylan Givens three years ago.
-A few new shows look interesting but I barely find time to watch my own shows. Where do people find time to soak up all these new hours of television? What do they do with their lives? I love my television but I can’t plant my ass there for hours every night. I got a website to run, movies to see, weights to hurt and a kid to raise. That may have sounded heavy handed but where the fuck are minutes invented for all these new shows. The Following and Banshee are my new shows.
-Listening to Heartless Bastards, The Lumineers and The Heavy at the moment. If you don’t know these bands, download these songs and get to know them.
“Marathon”
“Slow down”
“Short Change Hero”
-Watching the Screen Actors Guild awards tonight. Next to the Oscars, this is the one that counts big time for actors and filmmakers. The actors vote on these and it’s always good to win based on your peers recommendation. The Golden Globes were surprisingly entertaining, but SAG is where the votes count. Some people rate these over the Oscars. I couldn’t argue for long against that. I’m rooting for the same people. Bradley Cooper, David O. Russell, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lawrence, Robert DeNiro and Kathryn Bigelow.
-I support the Marquez-Pacquiao IV fight being voted the fight of the year. For 6 rounds, that was toe to toe, jaw charging, hard hitting and relentlessly bloody action that ended with a true bang. There’s few pairings in a ring that call out for another round only minutes after the latest fight ends. A stunning conclusion to a thrilling fight. I want Part five. Please don’t tell me how it ends if you can tell the future.
-Jason Statham is still my favorite dose of action hero, but his latest, Parker, sat like a heavy pot of bland chili. Decent and comforting at first yet faltering and forgettable hours later. No go. Someone tell Jennifer Lopez to stay away from my British Man of Action unless she is completely naked and not just teasing us. She needs acting lessons…again or George Clooney to throw her another bone.
-Bob Costas’ speech at the Stan Musial wake was as powerful as it gets. I included the link in last night’s blog. I strongly advise you to check it out. Watching him break up when talking about Musial’s kind treatment of African American players and his relationship with Mickey Mantle almost got me going. Strong stuff from a guy who does his homework and knows his material. If I could make speeches like Costas, I wouldn’t be in a warehouse working. I’d be in a suit instructing.
-I am finishing one cup of coffee(double shot Americano from Starbucks) and will be making a homemade cup after I flush my system with a bottle of water. I could make it on a deserted island with coffee, water and pink lemonade.
-My website is about to get into fundraising, advertising and marketing. We are legit but need to go wider and broader. That is how you make money with a website. Make people feel like they need your site over others. The real fight begins now. I don’t see this endeavor as a real money maker for at least another year but seeing some positive income by November would be nice. I am in it for the long haul. Sometimes I stop myself and say, “I have a website.”
-I use Twitter and Facebook nearly every day to exercise my social rights and fire off quick doses of material and funny shit but this a camping ground for self pity. How many times do I have to read a post where the writer seems to be having a conversation with….himself or herself. Example-“Why do you hurt me so much when I care for you so much? This didn’t need to happen.(Cue the start of my violin)” I can’t stand it. I know it’s a site to unleash your inner demons but pick up a fucking phone and call the person. That’s why they invented the phone, so you can say all those things that are too scary to spit out face to face. They invented text messaging so we could write all the things we didn’t have the balls to say. Got it social site bitches.
-My pick for next Sunday. Good times because my wife is packing my house with friends for my birthday party. My pick for the Super Bowl is the 49ers but I wouldn’t hate for the Ravens to win. This will be a physical battle with blood to spare. Two hard hitting defenses and running grounded offenses. Who steps up and takes their glory? Ray Lewis or Aldon Smith? Joe Flacco or Colin Kaepernick? Colin was a backup holding a clipboard a year ago. Now he is a Super Bowl starting quarterback who draws everybody’s attention when he touches the football. That’s the greatness of the NFL right there. Your status can change instantly. I hope for a good evenly matched close game. If I had money on it, I’d say a leg will decide it over an arm. Get the field goal kickers some chicken.
-Tomorrow I am sending my dad to a screening. Being a small startup website with limited staff, you have to use all your resources. So when I get a screening RSVP for an 11am show and I know my dad is now off all week due to his new work schedule, I call him up and ask him to do a favor for his son. This screening isn’t a bullet of any kind. The movie is Stand Up Guys, the new flick with Al Pacino and Christopher Walken playing old thugs trying to have one more good time before one has to put a bullet in the other. I want to see this film but I work during the day, so the old man is taking it. I will get his review over the phone, put it into words on the page and throw some Buffa polish on it. This is a weapon being used.
I think that is it. Goodnight folks.
-D. Buffa
“Took me a long time to come to know what I think; and an even longer time to be okay with others not digging it.”-Ron Perlman
Dose of Buffa 