grind your soul

Calgary SHOULD have won in game six. But they didn't. And they lost when it REALLY mattered - game seven. They played pretty lethargically [not terribly, just like they were sleeping] for the first 40 minutes - picked up a bit throughout the third, and TURNED IT ON LIKE DONKEY KONG for the last 10/12 minutes. Khabibulin's save etched the series for the Bolts, guaranteed. Kipper's save on Lecavalier's break-away was pretty bad-ass, too. The last penalty was fucking terrible, as were a couple of other non-calls during the game [a couple of blatant trips], and some other shitty penalties handed out [for both teams - the Nolan Pratt "interference" call springs to mind]. The fact that a clean check was marred with a high stick [although the stick was STILL only at Ference's waist, and it's not like Ference is a big guy, either] solidified a penalty call - even if it wasn't high sticking. Calling a two-stride hit "charging" during the last minute of the final game in the Stanley Cup finals takes a lot of balls - and even more stupidity. So, I say, FUCK YOU, FRASER. Whether you cost the Flames a chance at a goal is irrelevant, and I still say FUCK YOU for fucking up the game's finale. It was just another fucking idiotic call from an idiotic referee. Anyway, congrats to the Bolts. I'm glad a GOOD team won a Cup this time, rather than a boring-ass trap team full of overpaid morons. And congrats to Dave Andreychuk - ya finally did it! And Brad Richards - what a star-making performance he had these play-offs, huh? And he's not too shabby on the eyes, either.

Calgary, hopefully. If TB wins, I'll be totally deflated of all energy. But it still wouldn't be that bad. I'd just much rather Calgary win [though I was cheering for TB in the East once Toronto got shitcanned].

Raised Fist is pretty bad ass. I didn't know they were Swedish though.

RCT 1 and 2 are amazing. That wins, hands down.

This is correct.

New Noise is pretty bad ass. I heard Refused a few years ago [98 or 99, I'd guess], and thought they sucked. But I started listening to them last summer and realized how fucking bad ass they are. Still not near my favourite bands list, but a damn good band, and [as you said], their shit opened the doors for a lot of the newer bands to try stuff that they may possible have not tried otherwise.

Calgary was terrible two years ago. And look at them now. New Jersey was great last year. And look at them now. Past teams mean NOTHING right now.

naiwf could be right. I was hoping that two things would stop tonight: 1] Richards scoring game winners [successfully stopped] 2] Team scoring first eventually wins [did not stop]. 1/2 shouldn't seem so bad - but it is. PS - Belak is making 3/4 of a million dollars, playing 4 minutes a night and scoring two or three points a year. I'd say he's being fairly compensated for his work.

Baseball Mogul is alright. Out of the Park baseball is another one, that's apparently loads better. Both are not freeware games, though. I'd give you the URLs, but I'm lazy.

The opening riff to "Aesthetic" by Between the Buried and Me, and the two-minute interlude/solo on "Ad a Dglgmut". The last 45 seconds of "The Great Red Shift" by Most Precious Blood - pure crowd sing-along style stuff, even though it's just a basic open-chord breakdown. Pretty much the entire song, "Letter to the Unborn" by Lamb of God. The ending of "My Mirror No Longer Reflects" by Poison the Well. Very soft, but STILL gets the entire crowd SCREAMING "END ME!" at every show. The opening of "Nerdy" by Poison the Well. Simple riff, simple harmonics, very VERY catchy. The opening riff to "Collision" by As I Lay Dying, catchy stuff. They have incredibly catchy breakdowns, even though every breakdown sounds almost the same and they're in almost EVERY SONG. The opening of "94 Hours" by As I Lay Dying, though it gets played out fast [considering they use the same riff throughout most of the song]. The interlude of "Open Hands to the Wind" by hopesfall. No words to it, but it comes about a minute into the song, plus the following parts. Just amazing, and it still gives me shivers, even after a couple of years. The breakdown in "Floater" by Every Time I Die, about 1'10" into the song. Catchy as hell, good build, good pay-off to the rest of the song. The opening of "Nobody Takes Pictures of the Drummer" by Nora, although by the end, it's worn out. As you can tell, I'm *huge* on breakdowns. I just love them.

I will say something about this.. Stillman didn't play last night, for no reason. Tortorella decided not to dress him. One of his top scorers - not suiting up. For no real reason. Speculation was rampant of an injury, but Stillman took full practice the day before and looked great. So.. In a way, Stillman was "suspended" for a game, too. Just not in legal terms.

Sonic is and always will be awesome. The recent spin-off with a billion different characters + cartoons and shit, they've sucked. But Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic 3D - they all rule. Sonic 2 will always be my personal favourite game, just because there's so much of my childhood embedded within it.

My Own Prison [CD] was decent. The beginning of "Higher" was really, really catchy [until the verse began]. Everything else is garbage. Edit - that means it's good that they broke up.

I am having baseball fever NOW. In 9 months, it'll be hockey season again and I won't give a fuck about baseball!

blink is terrible live. Their whole show is one big penis joke, to cover for the fact that the music that they're playing sounds like absolute tripe.

EHM - 10/10, of course. NHL2004 - 7/10, but it's really addictive, even though it's a letdown. Tony Hawk 2 - 7/10 for being addictive and fun.

You know how you send a message? Stop coming to EWB. That will get the point across that you've finally realized how moronic you are, and you're tired of hoisting your stupidity upon those with a clue. PS - Ville Nieminen was suspended for one game for the hit on Lecavalier. I'm suspecting that he was only suspended the game because he is a repeat game misconduct offender, which [in the NHL rule book] means that he must receive a MANDATORY one game suspension. So really, it's all good. Except if you're Lecavalier.

The demo version won't allow contracts to be handed out, because it's just a one-year thing. It also lowers the value for draft picks [Toronto wouldn't accept three first round choices from Pittsburgh for Belak]. And to Brock Lesnar: A lot of prospects aren't in the game yet, with this being just a demo. Ovechkin is about the lone real prospect in his league, playing with a bunch of 5oa scrubs, and getting 100 points in 25 games.

MVP it is, even though it'll set me back an extra $30.

This topic is fucking stupid. To declare the "music of the year" is stupid. To say that a type of music is "the best" because more people like it than another type is stupid. What music is "the best" is PURELY based on opinion. To set a definate winner of such a topic would be moronic. This pretty much means only one thing. You're a moron!

It was a freak ACCIDENT. Bertuzzi's hit on Moore was not an accident. Moore's hit on Naslund was not an accident. Fedotenko slipped at the same time as Regehr pushed him into the boards. Not a hit from behind, just a freak accident - like you said [and then immediately rescinded by mentioning it in the same light as the other two examples]. Nieminen's hit on Lecavalier was a hit from behind. Regehr's shoving-off on Fedotenko was a pure fluke accident. Anyway, last night's game was pretty wild. Bulin made some great saves, as did Kipper. Bulin got lucky on a couple of shots, as did Kipper. When Richards scored, two minutes into the first, the first words out of my mouth were.. "Oh, shit. We can stop watching now, because the game is over." I said it in total confidence, just hoping that I'd be wrong. Alas, I was not.

So Tampa can throw elbows all over the place, but when Calgary is clearly defeated, and getting revenge for earlier cheap tactics is pretty much the only way they can save face - they're dirty? So what's Tampa, angels? 'Cause if you call Calgary dirty, you have to call Tampa unclean, too. Edit - I'm not saying that Calgary isn't dirty. But to call them a team of thugs whilst saying nothing about Tampa's tactics is kind of uneducated.

He was simply doing what a player should do - he was riding him along the board. Yes, giving him space would've been great. Allowing him to walk out from the boards and get a clear pass off would've done wonders for the Flames, that would've been great defence. The shove into the boards happens ALL THE TIME. It's not necessarily a hit; he's trying to throw him off balance, from a distance of less than a foot. It was more of a "freak accident", where - if Rusty was still skating fine - nothing should/would've happened. It just was a bad mistiming from Regehr to choose the moment that Rusty began to slip as the moment when he'd run him into the boards. PS - he also hit his face on the ledge of the boards; had he missed the ledge, the hit wouldn't have been NEARLY as bad, and nobody would be having this discussion right now.

That was not a hit from behind. Regehr rode him into the boards, and shoved him off the puck. He didn't run at him and smash him. Jeez. Ruslan took a pretty fucking nasty bump, though.

Hmmm.. Now I'm seriously in a bind. Check these prices: MVP Baseball 2004 - $59 MLB 2005 - $29 So MLB is muchos cheaper, but clearly not the better game. I am a fucking cheapskate. Hell, last night the guy at the pizza store called me a "cheapo" because I NEGOTIATED THE PRICE OF A SLICE OF PIZZA because I felt that paying $2.50 was too much. Quite the situation, but I think MVP is going to win.