I'm Not Angry...I'm Just Saying...

Okay first things first.  I need to get this off my chest.  It has been eating away at me and I have lost at least three nights sleep over it.  Well, maybe not three.  Well, maybe not any.  In fact...I DON'T CARE.  These so-called Upper Deck Awards are not awards at all.  They are a social experiment in futility that is causing the biggest uproar in the blogging community since...well, since the last asinine, moronic thing Upper Deck did. 

PEOPLE OF EARTH!!  HERE ME!!  These awards don't matter.  You know what does matter?  How about whether or not you enjoy what you are doing by blogging?  How about whether or not you actually enjoy your hobby?  How about whether or not you actually care that you might have people out there that actually pay attention to the diarrhea that spews forth from your brain, out of your finger tips, and onto the pages of your blogs (that's assuming you use your fingers to type)?  Those are the things that matter.

As many people have already said, there are so many deserving bloggers and trading communities that were left off the list for whatever reason or another.  You know what?  So what.  Despite the apparent format of a general popularity contest, that's not what this is.  This is a "who can mobilize the most people to vote" type of contest and the only winners here are the companies that make money off of internet traffic.  Don't think for one second that once this is over that those nominees are now going to have this huge readership and new found loyalty from collectors.

Nobody is going to win in this thing.  All it has done so far is pit people against each other, muster up a bunch of name calling and acusation hurling, cause otherwise normal, decent card collectors to become beggars and whores for votes, and polarize the blogging community, creating that proverbial line in the sand.  What do you think is going to happen when they announce a winner?  Chaos, I tell you.  CHAOS!!

Enough of that.  Onto what I was going to write about.

(Kris Letang just signed a 4 year contract extention worth something like $14 million.  I like Tanger.  Maybe not that much, though.)

The Pens lost again last night 2-0 over the Tampa Bay Lightning.  What's that you say?  You didn't know Tampa still had a team?  Yeah, well they mustered up enough gas to take it to the apparently tired and worn down Stanley Cup Champs.  It doesn't help matters that your best defensemen and spiritual leader, Sergei Gonchar is still not healthy.  Or the fact that 70 points of Evgeni Malkin wasn't in the lineup either.  Oh, and did I mention the fact that Matt Lashoff boarded Ruslan Fedotenko not long after the game started?  I didn't?  Well there.  I said it.  Feds had to be carted back to the locker room and never came back.  Actually that was a little too dramatic.  He did come back and seems fine, but you get my point.

So Tampa Bay gets a shutout over the Pens.  I don't care.  Remind me about it when we meet again in the playoffs.  Oh, you aren't going...to...nevermind (man, was that harsh or what).  I'm really not a Lightning hater.  They deserved to win that game.  They looked awesome and I am sort of upset that they haven't had the numbers to push into the last spot.  I am just upset that the Pens have been playing some uninspired hockey as of late while teams like Montreal, New Jersey, and Detroit are making huge pushes and taking all the momentum with them.  We can't afford to be losing games like this.  Especially when we barely hang onto a 1 point lead in the Atlantic and New Jersey has a game up on us.  Not only that, now Buffalo thinks they are the team to beat and have taken over 2nd in the East.

I still think Fleury played well, despite giving up two goals.  He made an unbelievable save in the third period that should make most highlight reels for the week.  He just needs some support in front.  These guys have to step up their game.  Tanger played some inspired hockey as well, blocking shots and giving up the body to get pucks (perhaps the new contract gave some motivation).  The only problem was that he unloaded on the goal too many times and none of his shots were accurate.  The problem here is consistency.  Right now, we have none.  FIX IT!!!

Superfluous Stat Of The Night:  The Lightning have shutout the Penguins five times in the last six years.  Really?  That's crazy.