THE PUCK IS ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!
If you're Gary Bettman right now, Commissioner of the NHL, you gotta be happier than a Hawaiian teenager who just got placed in Mary Beth Letourneau's class!!! I think Gary and all the NHL brass raised a toast after tonight's Red Wings OT win. A finals of finals is ready to played out and I hope you're watching.
The league gets the defending champs and probably their most prominent franchise....
(Sorry you readers from Canada, but MONTREAL has underperformed for far too long and TORONTO just plain SUCKS so bad, neither can rate #1!!!).... in a rematch against a team from the league's BEST hockey city with the league's BEST player, one Mr. Sidney Crosby. Add in getting in Game #1 and #2 on NBC on the 2 best ratings days of the week, Saturday and Sunday and yes Gary Bettman should be drinking the bubbly this weekend. For me, Mr. Dog Zog will be anchored to the couch, not with the bubbly but rooting on my Pens with Molson Canadians.....Light as Mr. DZ needs to shed more than a few pounds.
Yes the management of the NHL along with their fans should rejoice. Take it from me, someone who has watched NHL playoff hockey for about 4o years, I cannot remember a year where the playoffs have been better. Then look at the competition.......the NBA playoffs for Rounds #1 and #2 have pretty much S-U-C-K-E-D. Ok, Celtics vs Bulls was an exciting 7 game series with OT after OT game, but the quality of basketball in that series was not gonna have anybody put the videos into any time capsule anytime soon. Now while the NBA conference finals in all fairness have been FABULOUS, if the NBA does not get Lakers vs Cavs, aka......Kobe vs LeBron....frankly the excitement and storylines will pale vs Red Wings vs Pens. Advantage NHL!!!
Some other quickies on the NHL playoffs....... 
BILL COWHER, the new FREDO CORLEONE.........
I don't think Bill Cowher must have ever seen The Godfather. Surely he would have known to never take sides against the family. Born and bred in Pittsburgh, coach of the Steelers and he roots against the PGH Penguins and for a team in a city where he's lived 
full time for a whopping total of 2 years. Bill, that siren you set off before Game #4 was signaling the start of your popularity decline in the Steel City. BTW......couldn't you see Cowher with the thinning hair and jutting chin just spouting the classic Fredo line.....this one from Godfather 2....."I'm smart, I'm not as dumb as everyone thinks". In this case Fredo, excuse me......Bill....yes you were.
HARD as THIS IS to BELIEVE, FLYERS FANS are IDIOTS..........
I still have e-mails bouncing around amongst friends and friends of friends, some PGH fans and some from CheeseSteak Land talking about the Sid the Kid Crosby and moaning about how he gets all the referee calls....that he's a soft player.....and that he's a whiner.....blah, blah, blah, blah>>>orange and black blah, blah. Very simply, the score is:
SIDNEY CROSBY 2 PHILLY FLYERS 0. Oh sorry, make that SIDNEY CROSBY 2 PHILLY FLYERS....Fore!!!
OK, ENOUGH with OVIE............
OK, now 7 games do not make a career, but please let it be known loud and clear that one Mr. Sidney Crosby is THE BEST hockey player on this planet. While Ovie is the best TALENT in the NHL, the best player mantra encompasses team accomplishments. The best PLAYER makes the guys around him better. E.G.....after Scottie Pippen, how mediocre were those Bulls championship rosters that played with MJ??? Sid's got the better team and he makes EVERYONE on that team better. Give Ovie all the Hart Trophies (MVP award for all you puck neophytes in the reading area) you want. But watch Sid hoist that Stanley Cup over his head. Hopefully we can witness this in about 1 week from now.
RESURRECTING THE ROAR........................
One of my biggest thrills and greatest sports memories was getting to see a Blackhawks game in the final year of the old Chicago Stadium. The classic Sunday night game, the CoCo Puffs organ at roof level directly behind the net, Wayne Messmer singing the national anthem while the crowd basically drowned out every word. CLASSIC as classic can be.
Well it was great to see the R-O-A-R come back in full force this year in Chicago. The young Hawks team really had some exciting series wins vs Calgary and Vancouver, that brought down the house. Then they got much more than they could handle with the Red Wings and painfully in Game #3 they melted down faster than the breasts of a Hooters waitress if you lit a candle next to them. But there are great things to look forward to in the Windy City and it is so GREAT to hear that ROAR once more.
And finally...........as a Penguins fans on the verge of playing in the Stanley Cup final vs the Detroit Red Wings. For my personal thoughts on the Red Wings, I recall the words of one of our legendary collegiate scholars, Dean Vernon Wormer. While the boys of Delta House wreak havoc on the streets, the legendary Dean Wormer in utter disdain gives us........"I hate those guys".
So is the same for me and the Red Wings.
DZ22
BILL COWHER, the new FREDO CORLEONE.........
I don't think Bill Cowher must have ever seen The Godfather. Surely he would have known to never take sides against the family. Born and bred in Pittsburgh, coach of the Steelers and he roots against the PGH Penguins and for a team in a city where he's lived 
full time for a whopping total of 2 years. Bill, that siren you set off before Game #4 was signaling the start of your popularity decline in the Steel City. BTW......couldn't you see Cowher with the thinning hair and jutting chin just spouting the classic Fredo line.....this one from Godfather 2....."I'm smart, I'm not as dumb as everyone thinks". In this case Fredo, excuse me......Bill....yes you were.
HARD as THIS IS to BELIEVE, FLYERS FANS are IDIOTS..........
I still have e-mails bouncing around amongst friends and friends of friends, some PGH fans and some from CheeseSteak Land talking about the Sid the Kid Crosby and moaning about how he gets all the referee calls....that he's a soft player.....and that he's a whiner.....blah, blah, blah, blah>>>orange and black blah, blah. Very simply, the score is:
SIDNEY CROSBY 2 PHILLY FLYERS 0. Oh sorry, make that SIDNEY CROSBY 2 PHILLY FLYERS....Fore!!!
OK, ENOUGH with OVIE............
OK, now 7 games do not make a career, but please let it be known loud and clear that one Mr. Sidney Crosby is THE BEST hockey player on this planet. While Ovie is the best TALENT in the NHL, the best player mantra encompasses team accomplishments. The best PLAYER makes the guys around him better. E.G.....after Scottie Pippen, how mediocre were those Bulls championship rosters that played with MJ??? Sid's got the better team and he makes EVERYONE on that team better. Give Ovie all the Hart Trophies (MVP award for all you puck neophytes in the reading area) you want. But watch Sid hoist that Stanley Cup over his head. Hopefully we can witness this in about 1 week from now.
RESURRECTING THE ROAR........................
One of my biggest thrills and greatest sports memories was getting to see a Blackhawks game in the final year of the old Chicago Stadium. The classic Sunday night game, the CoCo Puffs organ at roof level directly behind the net, Wayne Messmer singing the national anthem while the crowd basically drowned out every word. CLASSIC as classic can be.
Well it was great to see the R-O-A-R come back in full force this year in Chicago. The young Hawks team really had some exciting series wins vs Calgary and Vancouver, that brought down the house. Then they got much more than they could handle with the Red Wings and painfully in Game #3 they melted down faster than the breasts of a Hooters waitress if you lit a candle next to them. But there are great things to look forward to in the Windy City and it is so GREAT to hear that ROAR once more.
And finally...........as a Penguins fans on the verge of playing in the Stanley Cup final vs the Detroit Red Wings. For my personal thoughts on the Red Wings, I recall the words of one of our legendary collegiate scholars, Dean Vernon Wormer. While the boys of Delta House wreak havoc on the streets, the legendary Dean Wormer in utter disdain gives us........"I hate those guys".
So is the same for me and the Red Wings.
DZ22
