Dave's Thoughts of the Day: May 29th

They made it!

Mother of Meatballs...   the Kings survived a thrilling, agonizing, incredible, breath taking, nerve wracking, unbelievable Game 7 against the Sharks.   They really did survive that series.  SJ gave them everything and the kitchen sink.   It was a flat-out miracle that Quick kept the Sharks from tying the game.  Justin Williams got two big goals after doing nothing the rest of the series, and the Kings held on by the slimmest of margins to win 2-1.

I was at Tony P's Dockside Grill, in the sports bar, watching this affair with Coach.  Unlike most trips there, we drove separately.   It was great times.  Tony P's is so cozy... really nice with all the decorations and the football helmets, signed jerseys, flag pennants, and so on, with a wall of 8 flat screens showing the action.  The TV's were split between the Hockey game and the Heat/Pacers Game 4 on alternating screens.  We really got to see all the big moments in both games.  GREAT win for the Pacers, although that block by LeBron in the 2nd half was unreal.  What a great block!

Tonight -- my menu was pretty simple.  I believe it was just a Diet Coke, Water with no ice, two slices of Coach's 10" pizza, and chicken nachos.  No other appetizers or so on.  I couldn't even EAT once the game started.  My recovery from the flu played a part in that, but that game had me on edge, the hockey game did.   I would take a nibble during TV timeouts and during intermissions, but during the game, no food.  Just stared and watched.  I had nachos left over and boxed the rest.

I *promised* not to scream during the game but I did anyway along with the others...    by the time the game ended most of us were exhausted.  I was elated but more relieved than elated.  Almost like meeting the face of death and seeing the next day.   Most of us were exhausted from that intensity.  It was a Game 7 for the ages!

I feel a little badly for San Jose fans this day but not precisely.  The Sharks have nothing to frown upon.   They really had the Kings beat in a lot of areas throughout the series:  faceoffs, power plays, the forecheck in the Kings zone, puck possession, and other situations.   Even Antti Niemi was playing so phenomenally.   The difference in this series was Quick.  Quickie had a Michael Jordan-esque performance in terms of sheer amazement.  I've seen great goaltending before:  Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, among others, but Quick is currently on equal ground with both of them.

It was an incredible night... a night which also saw the Pacers fight back in the series.   Glad to be a part of it.  Time for quickies.

Today's Quickies, in honor of Jonathan Quick:

The Heat should be pretty damn lucky to not be down 3-1 in the series.   You look at all of these games and the Pacers have out played the Heat in all of them except Game 3.  I figured they'd be a game opponent when the series started, but what I did *not* forsee was that the Pacers would be able to *take* the punch and fight back stronger (I did actually after Game 3, but I was referring to Game 1's theatrics).   Some kind of letdown of that nature was going to lead to a Heat sweep.  That was my line of thinking.   It's similar to actual outcome of the Grizzlies/Spurs series.  So I thought... but not so.  Instead, it's tied at 2-2.   At this point, it's anyone's series, but I still think Miami takes this in 6.   Game 5 will be a BIG watch on Thursday night.

The Kardashians are one group I do *not* want to keep up with.   Those guys need to keep up with basic education.  Geez.

Another big game 7 tonight:  Wings/Blackhawks.  I teased the possible Red Wings/Kings matchup, but in truth I have the Hawks completing the comeback.  McChickens here I come!

There is a server lady at Tony P's who's a huge Red Wings fan, real cutie, and nobody at the bar knew just *how* huge a fan she was until last week when the Wings won their game against Chicago.  She was really whooping it up, cheering and yelling.  It was pretty cool!  Last night, after the Kings game, with Detroit's future still in doubt, I went over to ask her if she was nervous about the Wings in Game 7.

She proceeds to give me a complete break down of Detroit's Game 6.   Man, she was not just a "rah rah go team" fan at all!  In fact, she's from Michigan... she had the accent and everything.  She knew her stuff!   Needless to say, if the Wings advance (they wont) I'll see about heading back for one of the games to see about getting some game banter back and forth.   GOOD STUFF!

What are David Beckham and Tom Cruise doing at a hockey game?  Hahahahaha, that is a hoot!   Has it gotten so bad for the Lakers that their displaced "look at me!" celebs are looking for exposure behind the glass at Kings hockey games?   That was a scene all right.

..We have some famous fans of the Kings, we went over them last year, but they're lifers -- Matthew Perry and Al Michaels both have been here for the long haul, and when you factor in the Kings previous history of futility, that makes these fans true.  

What team is Taylor Swift a fan of?  ...she's worn jerseys of EVERY TEAM IN THE NHL.  Lady, pick a lane!


During the 70s and 80s, a lot of Network Sitcoms used opening sequences that were exactly 50 seconds long.  How'd they arrive at exactly 50 seconds?  Not even a whole minute?   It's neither here nor there.  I thought it was odd... but it was consistent.

I spent the last 20 minutes trying to come up with the next line.  I failed.  Sigh... I think I'll wrap it up here.  Have a good day everyone!  Go Kings!