1st Intermission

I went to a Milwaukee Brewers game followed by a Guster concert once when I was about 17. I wasn't really all that into the band, or the hippie-lettuce wielding, unshowered fan base that shared the venue with me that night, but a few good things came as a result of this experience. First and foremost, I got to cruelly castigate Ken Griffey Jr. by telling him he was bad at baseball (not true), and that his video games sucked (even further from the truth). Either way, he hit his first home run of the season that afternoon, proceeded to stare me down, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I had an actual effect on a pro sporting event. Then at the concert, as we permeated through clouds of 'gonja' smoke and walked past people attempting to eat their own dreadlocked hair, we realized that a band named "The Zamboni's" would be opening for Guster. At first, we thought The Zamboni's would be a fairly normal-looking, below average sounding opening band for Guster, a cult band with a modest following. Instead, they ended up being a group of guys from Hartford, still disgruntled about losing the Whalers to North Carolina (where nobody gives a damn about hockey), dressed in hockey sweaters and CCM helmets, singing only about the one sport that they truly love. They sang powerful ballads like, "I Wanna Drive the Zamboni of Devotion", "The Hockey Monkey" and "The Linesman's Daughter". Needless to say, the venue wasn't thrilled about the 45 miunte set that ensued at 'The Rave' that night, but I still think of these crazy kooks every time a hockey game reaches an intermission. And, with 1/3 of the Blackhawks' season in the books, what a better introduction into recapping the first period of the Blackhawks season.

After such a successful season a year ago, the Hawks started out the year about as comfortable at home as Neve Campbell in Scream. Because of this, Coach Q and the Blackhawks are talking less about defending the Stanley Cup right now and more about securing a playoff spot in the neck-deep Western Conference. In fact, the top 12 teams in the West are all huddled around the 8 spot like it's the bottom bar at Beaumonts during last call on a Friday night. We knew it wouldn't be easy for Toews and Co. this year with the target on their back every night, but the early season injury to Marian Hossa and the lingering health issues plaguing Patrick Kane certainly haven't made the beginning of the 2010-2011 season one for the books, unless of course those books are the team's early season medical charts.

The Blackhawks also had some chemistry issues at the beginning of the season this year and caused Quennville to re-shuffle his deck on a variety of occasions. Whether simply to play mind games with his players, or to actually increase productivity, the Blackhawks played like an unbalanced chemical equation during during certain games this winter because of the constant shifting. But, judging from my grade in Chemistry Sophomore year of high school, I have no idea what an unbalanced equation looks like, and I have a hard time deciphering good puck from a female gym class' floor hockey scrimmage, so who knows. Still, it doesn't take Barry Melrose to figure out that the Hawks games have been much closer this season. They're winning games by one goal margins instead of slamming the door hard on the opposition like they're an upset woman in a romantic comedy break-up scene. Something they became masterful at a year ago.

But, like Andy Dufresne says, and I have referenced before, "hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." And, truth be told, the Hawks have been picking it up as of late. They found a guy with a Wolf "The Dentist" Stanson-like approach in John Scott and Corey Crawford has stepped in nicely and has rattled off a modest collection of wins between the pipes. Party Marty has been a disappointment thus far, giving up 6 goals again last night in a loss to the Avs. But, he's a veteran and has the capability to play himself out of a career-ending crisis. The chemistry will come for the Hawks, but with all the changes they made, it was inevitable that they would take some time to gel as a team. Give them a 5 game road trip, a cooler of Labbatt Blue, and a Canadian Stripper off of Craig's List and we'll be talking about how the team is once again on the same page. Until then, keep on hanging on.

As for Pick of the Day, the Pulse Man does it again. Ford Field was kind to the visiting New York Giants as they beat the Favre-less Vikings handily in the Motor City last night. Favre missed a start for the first time since 1992. That's a long time ago. Since then he endured 3 franchises, a retirement, a painkiller scandal, a sexting scandal, and several decapitation attempts--well done, Brett. For tonight, the Pulse Man likes the Warriors giving 3 points at home against the T-Wolves. Have you ever seen a basketball game in Oakland? Me neither. But I'm sure it's entertaining.

Pick of the Day: T-Wolves @ Warriors (-3)- WARRIORS

Record: (39-25-0)

Now I'm done. Rack Me

Frost