This collection of entries is from May 30, 2002.
What a game - what a game - what a game! Back again at the Allstate Arena, this time for the third game of the AHL Calder Cup Finals. I'm still in shock that the Wolves are actually playing for the cup. The series is tied 1-1. I was hoping that the team can really take it to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (and what the hell is a Sound Tiger? The logo says Sound Tigers and not Tigers). I really wanted to see the team stick it to "Ricky". Ricky is Rick DiPietro that I talked about last week. As much as I thought Jean-Francois Labbe, the goalie for Syracuse Crunch was nuts, I think Ricky is just a punk kid whose ego is much larger than his current ability. Well, we got to him all right. He was making mistakes all night. Once, he went behind the net and half-nelson'ed one of our players, so he got a penalty for interference. Later, while there was a "fire drill" (Judd Sirott's words) in front of his net, Ricky was swimming and flopping around on the ice. He turned his back to the play to try to get up and yep, we scored on him. Later on in frustration, to clear the puck out of the zone, he threw it up in the air and took a full swing at it to send it down the ice - just a real cocky move. So we stuck it to them - the Wolves won 4-0. How sweet - we had a shutout, and we were able to score 4 times on Ricky. Aw, poor Ricky. Pasi Nurminen stopped all 28 shots (Ricky stopped 19 of 23). The crowd, though not as big I would have wished, was loud, and I know that helped the team (they've made a lot of comments in the press about wanting to play at home and having loud and involved fans. Guess we did our job tonight. I hope we can keep this up. (Boxscore)
It's now just days from my one year anniversary of being unemployed. We got a letter today from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois finally saying that I am now covered under Carol's health insurance. You have no idea what it's like to have high blood pressure, knowing that you're not covered under any health insurance policy. What a load off my shoulders. And you know what? I actually feel better. Weird. Now I need to make a doctors appointment and get some tests run and get myself back on the road to good health. Whew. Update: Tuesday at 10am. Cool.
It's official - they're baaa-aaack!!! The Osbournes will be back for a second season of 20 episodes to begin in fall! Now, to add a different spin, the show is going to follow the family on the Ozzfest tour, MTV plans a live episode or two, which I just can't imagine how they're going to pull this off. There's also a possibility of MTV picking them up for a third season, if the new season goes well.
It's all over at Ground Zero. At the World Trade Center recovery site at 10:29 this morning - the time that the North Tower collapsed 37 weeks ago, there was this very solemn ceremony to mark the closing of the site. The closing of the site also marks another item - there are over 1,700 people that have not been found. Rescue workers carried an empty stretcher with an American Flag draped inside to signify those that are missing, walking it out up the main ramp from the site, with ranks of Fire & Police at attention, as they had done so many times before to a waiting ambulance. The last girder that remained at the site was cut down Tuesday night, put on a flatbed truck, draped in black and an American Flag. It was then driven up that ramp to signify the end of the recovery. Taps was played. Helicopters flew in formation over the site. No speeches. A pipe and drum corps played God Bless America as the Police ranks left the site. And then it's over. But we can't forget.