Alumni Blues

When I was applying to college a decade ago (holy shit) my eventual school's motto was We Teach Success. Very cheesy, but Hofstra was in a rebuilding mode then. Most everyone will remember the cheesy radio ads that bombarded the airwaves from New York to New England featuring spokeswoman, and legendary lush, Mary Beth Carey.

Depending on who you asked, the most famous Hofstra students were either: A) Slot receiver Wayne Chrebet, B) Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola or C) Dropout Christopher Walken.

It was still "The biggest private college on Long Island". Only no one outside of Long Island had ever heard of it.

Of course now, things have changed a bit there. They hosted a Presidential debate (double holy shit) and they're building a medical school (triple holy shit.) People have actually heard of Hofstra.

Then this asshole had to ruin it all again (copied directly from this page):

Bernard L. Madoff, former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange. Chairman of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which he founded in 1960. One of the largest market maker companies on Wall Street. Arrested in 2008 for running a US$50 billion ponzi scheme.

New Computer! New Blogs?

Scored a gorgeous MacBook Pro the other day. My old computer was running on such fumes it was impossible to really do anything. Like blog (yeah, that's the excuse).

So once I figure out how to use this thing, expect more blogs. Maybe some Podcasts. Oh man.

Is Anything Possible?

I love Kevin Garnett. He's been my favorite NBA star since his days in Minnesota. As a Celtics fan, it was pretty hard to watch the C's struggle without KG in the playoffs. I think the Celtics would still be playing for the title right now with KG out there. So why wasn't he?

Garnett's not playing became a bit tougher to take when the news out of Boston Bruins breakup day came out yesterday.

Check out the injuries these players played with in the Carolina series:

Phil Kessel (2008-09 salary: $2.2m) - Torn rotator cuff, shoulder labrum - Will need surgery, expected to miss part of training camp. Played full series.

David Krejci ($883,333) - Torn hip labrum - Will need surgery, expected to be out 4-6 months. Played full series.

Chuck Kobasew ($2.3m) - Two broken ribs. Played full series.

Mark Recchi ($1.5m) - Had kidney stones surgically removed in between Games 6 and 7. Played full series.

Andrew Ference ($1.4m)- Torn groin, pelvis injurt - Will need surgery. Played 3 games.

These are just the major injuries. According to The Bruins Blog: Other Bruins who played through injuries included Marc Savard (knee), Milan Lucic (toe), and Zdeno Chara (shoulder, knee, and groin). Chara will not require surgery on any of his injuries. Savard noted that his knee problem probably would have kept him out for two weeks during the regular season.

So as the Bruins key players gutted it out through major injuries (Kessel: leading goal scorer, Krejci: 2nd on team in points), KG sat.

Hoping for the benefit of the doubt, knowing KG's intensity, I'm willing to wager that the Celtics feared KG furthering injury to his knee as a costly risk they could not take (KG made $24.75m this year and will make $16.4m next year.)

But, in the "me first" genaration of athletes, it's good to know that a championship means more to some players than their paycheck.

Day 31 - One More Day Again?

Once again the Bruins and my beard are on thin ice. The Bruins have golf in their immediate future, my beard, a razor. We've surpassed the 1 month mark officially today. Could it end the day after?

Yet again, thanks so much for all of the donations.

Honorable Awesome Beard Mention: Marc Savard, who's random blonde chin hair makes him look like baby faced Wolverine.

Day 29 - One Day Left?

Greetings from what could be my second to last day before shaving. Once again, the Bruins are on the brink of playing golf, and I am on the brink of nervous insanity. What symetry, as a loss tomorrow would be exactly one month after the season ended and I last shaved (April 12th.)

So, with not much else to say, and with our possible last look at the Bruins coming I'd have to rate Zdeno Chara's beard as top beard, with Manny Fernandez in second. Most surprising: Phil Kessel.

Day 27 - The Penultimate Day?

The Bruins are on the brink of elimination and I am on the brink of actually looking like I am capable of growing a beard (not really.) So far I have raised an amazing $300, which is just insane. Thanks to everyone! There is still time, though it may be fleeting the way the Bruins are playing. -DONATE HERE-

On an extreme sidenote, it seems Milan Lucic, my hero, grows a beard the same way as I.

Memento

One of the best parts of opening old drawers or wearing old clothes is the possibility of finding old stuff. I used to love coming back to college from winter break and finding random money strewn about my desk drawer and, since I'm a pack rat, wearing an old coat often produces fond memories of past ATM withdrawals in exotic locales like Dedham and Framingham.

Occasionally they can provide mysteries, like today. It did not involve opening an old drawer, but it did come from wearing old drawers (FUCKING ZING.) I broke out my trusty seersucker shorts to wear to work on this gorgeous April day and while fishing in my left pocket I felt a strange rubbery sensation.

Water balloons!

What the hell?

Now, I vaguely remember buying these water balloons before going whitewater rafting last summer, but we didn't use them and there's no way I would bring seersucker shorts camping, anyway.

I think I have some sort of Water Balloon War PTSD, because I can't remember how or why I was armed with these things. If you, or anyone else you know, were in a water baloon fight with me this past summer, please let me know.

Day 13



Man, if only I could grow connectors. Maybe next year in Jerusalem.

13 Days into the beard (the Bruins swept in 6 days BTW) and I'm up to $286. Absolutely insane. I thought I'd struggle to get $100. Feels pretty good right now, thanks to everyone.

A point to consider: Several B's were sporting some serious prelim beards in Game 4 (Z, Rydes, Yelle, Stuart and even Kessel.) They're going to look like mountain men by the time Game 1 of Round 2 comes by. No East team has even clinched yet, and they could go 8-9 days between games.

Day 6 - Milestone reached

Reached a big milestone on the Beard-A-Thon front, a financial milestone, not a follicle one. Raised $100 yesterday! Thanks to everyone who's donated, and there is still lots of time to donate more (knock on wood for the Bruins.) Deal still stands in which I will buy a beer for the person who donates the $150th dollar to my beard in progress. Same deal stands for other milestone markers.

Here is the link to donate.

Go B's!

Day Two

Two days til Game 1. What a frightening picture.

Track The Beard

OK, so I posted yesterday how I'm growing a playoff beard for charity and that part of the whole deal was out of superstition. Well, you can't grow a playoff beard that starts before the plaoyffs. That's playoff beard blasphemy. So, after I got home from work yesterday and the Bruins played their last game of the regular season (6-2 throttling of the Islanders) I shaved off what I had been working with.

Yesterday I looked like this:

At the midpoint of the shaving process I looked like this:

And now I am completely shorn. Here's Day 1 of the Playoff Beard progress. Hope my girlfriend still likes me:

Pledge My Playoff Beard for Charity

Every year I grow a semblance of a playoff beard for charity and this year is no different. Actually, it is a bit. The Bruins and the NHL are hosting "Beard-A-Thon", which allows people the "pledge" others beards.

Here's my profile

It's really easy to donate (just click the yellow "Pledge This Beard" button and follow the steps.)

Minimum donation is $10, but you can pledge whatever you want.

All donations go to the Boston Bruins Foundation.

NESN's Top 10 Bruins Game of 2008-09

10. 11/06/2008 – Maple Leafs 2-5 Bruins
09. 04/09/2009 – Canadiens 4-5 ot Bruins
08. 11/28/2008 – Islanders 2-7 Bruins
07. 10/25/2008 – Thrashers 4-5 Bruins
06. 11/13/2008 – Canadiens 1-6 Bruins
05. 02/26/2009 – Ducks 0-6 Bruins
04. 10/28/2008 – Bruins 1-0 Canucks & 10/27/2008 – Bruins 1-0 ot Oilers
03. 03/22/2009 – Devils 1-4 Bruins
02. 11/29/2008 – Red Wings 1-4 Bruins
01. 11/01/2008 – Stars 1-5 Bruins

My games are bolded. Pretty good haul for the inaugural year of being an STH and hoping this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Told Ya So

The Fenway Phish show is on, as evidenced by this totally awesome video on the splash page that I've watched 100 times.

I was told that the announcement would go down after all of the Summer Tour tickets went on sale, and that's exactly what happened. Toyota Park went on sale Saturday, Phish @ Fenway announced on Monday.

I'm assuming they were going to play that video at Fenway, but the game was rained out.

I was supposed to be there, but the rainout wreaked havoc on my plans. Or, changed the plans. Ended up heading to Pour House and Bleacher Bar with the Daves and others.

So yea, IT'S ON. Like I said.

Phish at Fenway. The only Fenway show I ever wanted to happen when they started doing them in 2003.

In Which I Purchase and Wear The Greatest Shirt of All Time

It's no secret that the Mighty Ducks Trilogy have had a great impact on me. So when my buddy Singer linked me to this site I freaked out. Originally they only had 5 or 6 Ducks shirts, which I fantasized about buying. Then, I checked a week or so ago and saw the ultimate:

Gunnar fucking Stahl, the greatest Junior Goodwill Games Hockey player of all time. I love Gunnar. My fantasy baseball team name was The Gunnar Stahl Experience one year, it's been a trivia team name as well. The guy's a legend. He dominated, showed deference when getting stoned by Julie "The Cat" Gaffney, pwned Wolf "The Dentist" Stansson, secretly moved to America under the name of Scooter, matriculated into Eden Hall, won the position of Varsity goaltender, then hooked up with Julie "The Cat" Gaffney.

Naturally, I bought the shirt and had to wear it out.

Originally we went to this plush douchefest in some snazzy lounge and I was woefully underdressed and totally uncomfortable drinking $10 G&T's in a tshirt. Things got better as we headed to an epic Irish bar with damn good Guinness and normal clientele. I was home.

As I was getting drinks, a guy came up to me and freaked out about the shirt. He said he originally wondered if Stahl was my last name or something, then saw the Iceland logo and knew. Throughout the night as we all progressively got drunker he kept calling me "GUNNAR!" and towards the end, Katelyn remembered he would follow me to the jukebox and suggest that I play Icelandic music. I was naturally flummoxed.

Moral of the story: Stahl jersey rules. I cant wait to buy this new Adam Banks one they just made.

God, I'm a fucking loser.