I have things to say

First, a letter, from my heart:

Dear Alex Burrows,


Look, you weaselly little stain, if you're gonna do that douchey diving shit, at the VERY least, don't go sit on the bench and grin ear to ear about how much you just got over on the refs.

I hope the hockey gods have a serious smiting in store for you. 


DIAF,
Ms.C

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Wooo @ Cody Almond for his first NHL goal last night!!! So proud of him! And I'm kinda feeling like, "Uh oh, we might not get him back next year..." which sucks.

I was writing to someone about him the other day and wagered that Almond Joy is going to be sort of a Stephane Veilleux type of player in the NHL. Without the attempt at self-representation and tennis obsession... And cuter.

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Why didn't any of you hosers tell me that Brent Butt (of the beloved Corner Gas) had a Twitter account? What other awesomeness are you holding out on? Dammit, Canada!

But thanks to Bourney for the heads up. Now he has not one, but TWO Twitter accounts. That's when you know you're either really funny or really annoying. I'm gonna wager funny in this case.

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Speaking of Twitter accounts, I'm pretty picky about my follows because I read them all and that could really add up if I weren't selective. But I've accepted my need for sport in the summer, which means I've gotta start watching baseball.

Now, I understand baseball and I enjoy the games, but I have no context. Like, I don't know any of the players or their history other than a few Astros or the ones who have been famous for steroid usage or dating Madonna. I vaguely know which teams are good and which are hopeless but not trends up or down.

So, I've volunteered John and Andrew, both huge baseball fans, to be my tutors this summer. So far, they haven't told me to bugger off, so I'm gonna keep annoying them with questions.

I probably should be an Astros or Twins fan because those are the teams I hear about the most (knowing so many Minnesotans), but I'm a self-loathing masochist so I'm following the Blue Jays. Ha. The great thing about the Jays is that there's a lot of hockey crossover. So all those Torontans (?) who are hilariously miserable about the Leafs are often also hilariously miserable about the Jays (see @eyebleaf). I'm all about efficiency.

So, I've added a few baseball tweets. My two favorites so far are @OzzieGuillen, who tweets just like he talks, so it's pretty funny even if he's not saying anything I care about. Also, for Jays coverage, @MLBastian has been good. If he's a hack and I should follow someone else for beat writer-type coverage of the team, someone tell me. He's got a sense of humor though, so I've enjoyed him so far.

And of course, there's the always lovely, always drunk, @DrunkJaysFans. I promise not to write a bunch about baseball though. If I'm doing that, then I'm not doing the hockey writing I should be doing.

But I do enjoy watching a completely different sport in the summer. The pace of baseball after a winter of hockey is a nice contrast.

We'll see how it goes. With both my beloveds out of the playoffs, it will be easier to pick up something new this summer. Though I am pretty jacked for the playoffs. I'm going to have a lot of mixed loyalties in the West, which makes a lot of games worth watching.

Anyway, I got lucky in that the Jays are playing the Rangers today on Opening Day and I can watch it on FSSW. I think that's a sign that I'm doing the right thing.

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If I'm Anton Khudobin, I'm cracking the whip on a new passport as soon as I lose mine. It's been 3 months since he lost his (well, stolen... allegedly) and he's probably losing $10k+ as a result of not being with the Wild this week, including a promised start in Edmonton tonight (that I was super excited for). Never mind that Dubielewicz has no business playing up there, so Backstrom has pretty much no choice but to play. Be well, angry Finn.

Not to say that there's more going on there, because I wouldn't write about it at all if I knew there was more and couldn't say what it was... but that's one thing I've finally started to learn in a couple of years of writing about sports. If something doesn't make sense, there's more going on than people are willing to talk about on record.

On the one hand, it helps you be less knee jerk when a team or player does something that seems completely wrong-seeming or out of character. On the other, when they make it a trend, you have to start figuring maybe they really are that stupid.

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Okay, you baseball freaks, enjoy your opening day. I'm not quite "boner" excited about it but I'll be watching.