Not a good Sunday for the Good Guys...

- THE Towson University was unable to take to George Mason in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament ended yesterday with a 56-48 loss. It was a nice run for the Tiggers, ending a bad season on a high note. However, calling the Tigers run "storied" may be stretching things a tad.

"Was a nice run Kev, had to close out someday."

- The Caps also lost yesterday, their fourth straight defeat, this time to the hated Penguins in a shootout 4-3. The Caps got themselves down early, 3-1 after 2 periods, but fought back to tie it with two quick 3rd period goals by Alex Ovechkin and Brooks Laich. It was a fun game to attend and it can be confirmed that my friend and former work protege Jermaine "Bunky" Murray thoroughly enjoyed himself.

Unlike prior Caps defeats, this one was one I could live with. In the 3rd period the Caps got back to the swarming, puck-possession style of hockey we've grown accustomed to. The Caps had several chances to end this thing but Marc-Andre Fleury, who looked like swiss cheese the last time these teams met, came up with some nice stops to give his club a chance to win. The game went into a shootout where Sidney Crosby scored the only goal to give the Pens their first victory over the Caps in four tries this year. Now for some random mental notes from being in the stands:

-Sidney Crosby is still a pansy. I hope little Sid and his "sugar daddy" Don Cherry are happy that Little Sid was able to get a win and a first star.

-Crosby did have a nice game (a goal, assist and shootout winner) but let me tell you, I was 10 times more terrified of Evgeni Malkin than I was of Crosby. When Little Sid gets the puck your first inclination, as an opposing fan, is "don't let this little punk score." When Malkin gets the puck your first thought is "Oh shit, Malkin has the puck and he might score." On TV you maybe don't appreciate it much, but next to Ovechkin I can't think of a guy I've seen who inspired more feelings of dread and excitement than Malkin.

-The anti-Crosby signs were brilliant. Well played Washington. As soon as me and Bunk entered the area, the first sign they had on the video board was a Crosby "No Diving" sign. My personal favorite Crosby-bashing moment was a sign and a doll these two girls brought in. One had a sign that said, "You Can't Spell Crosby Without 'Cry'" while the other had a baby doll with a "Crosby 87" Penguins jersey.
(photos from Puck Daddy)



-Bill Guerin's goal was pretty sweet I must say. Shaone Morrisonn, you got pwned on that one.

- The celebrations by some, not all, of the Penguins fans in attendance was absolutely ridiculous. Can you believe that after the Caps beat them three times this year, including a humiliating 5-2 defeat two weeks ago, these people were celebrating like they just won the Stanley Cup! All sorts of "woo-hoos" and high fives. And the Caps catch all the criticism for celebrations? Congratulations guys, you won one game out of four and needed a contrived breakaway competition to do that. The win moved them to 8th (8th!) place in the Eastern Conference. Settle the fuck down Sparky, you're humiliating yourself out there. I do not blame some of the Caps fans one iota for challenging some of these goofs to fisticuffs afterwards. One example, I'm outside the arena and a couple of Pens fans are whooping it up when four Caps fans walk by and casually inform them that, you know, you won one game against us all year, cool out. So of course, Pens fan gets all beligerent and the two dudes nearly come to blows before a sensible Pens fan comes in and breaks it up. As the Caps fans walked by I told them "Don't take any guff from these swine," in my best Hunter S. Thompson voice. Then again, assholishness and Pittsburgh sports fans go together like peanut butter and jelly so who am I kidding.


-Speaking of assholes, the three guys we saw getting off the Metro in Flyers jerseys? Wrong game, dipshits!

So that's it for now. I'll be back later with some photos from yesterday's game and maybe another post depending on time constraints. I am sure you are willing to move hell, fire and brimstone to be here...

THE Towson University 58 Northeastern 54

Well where have you been all season Tiggers? Oh yes, THE Towson University is only two wins away from the NCAA tournament where I would almost surely waste $5 just to say I bet on my alma mater to win the National Championship. The Tiggers are seeded 11th in the CAA tournament and despite finishing 11-21 on the season, the team has advanced to the semis by upsetting 6th-seeded Drexel (beat Towson twice this year) and 3rd seeded Northeastern ( beat Towson once this year). Now the Tigers get to face 2nd seed George Mason for the right to play on ESPN Monday for the chance to go to the Big Dance.

"I see you rolled you way into de semis mang"

"It's a Cinderella story. A team 10 games under .500 is two games away from becoming the CAA champion."

So, do allow me to gloat for a night in my alma mater's success. It doesn't come around that often.

Fight on Towson Tigers

Fight on Black And Gold

Fight on Towson Tigers

Hit'em hard, let 'em know who's bold!

Fight on Towson Tigers

Fight on to the end

Fight, Fight, Tigers fight,

Towson Tigers fight on!

A few links...

There won't be much activity here at Hangar 39 today. Besides a busy day of work (writing stories for my day job) I'll be on the road today, travelling back up to the Easton Town Limits to make my big Easton public access TV debut on Gary "The Woo" Wooters and Justin Williams' sports show. I'll be talking Caps and other hockey stuff for what it's worth. Thus, since I'll be trekking through the icy terrain of the Mid-Atlantic, there won't be much time for blogging. Not that I'll be missed at this point. So I'll post up a few links first and come back a little later with my thoughts on the Caps trade deadline activity. So let's prepare the ship for metamorphosis. Ready Kafka?

-Baltimore North has added a new member. Jim Leonhard has signed on with Rex Ryan's boys. Maybe Rex figures if Modell was able to move the whole franchise, he can certainly take the players. Sucks losing Big Jim, he was a terrific pickup last year and was absolutely invaluable when Yamon Figurs stunk and Dawan Landry got hurt. Unfortunately, with Landry coming back the Ravens had other fish to fry and there was no guarantee Leonhard would have a starting spot next year.

-Per The Sun again, the Ravens are looking into signing free agent center Matt Birk to replace Jason Brown. Matt Birk. He went to Harvard.


- Nice piece from the Schmucker on Adam Jones and his efforts to try to get more African-Americans interested in baseball.

- Our annual "Watch Out For Hayden Penn!" story. It might be the new "Daniel Cabrera Has Turned The Corner!"

-THE Towson Univerity hoops team will face Drexel in the CAA tournament starting Friday night in Richmond. The Tiggers have lost twice to the Dragons already this year but have won their first-round game the last two years. Doing better than their abysmal 14-27 from the foul line performance the first time they played Drexel (a 60-53 loss) would help.

- From the "Can It Get Worse" files: After two straight humiliating home losses, the Caps get a scare when Alex Ovechkin left practice today gingerly after taking a shot to the foot. Tank says he's OK though. How much you want to bet the shooter was either Jeff Schultz or John Erskine?

-Per Deadspin, this prank from last night's Maryland-Wake Forest hoops game.

-Finally, today's YouTube clip to swing your heavy metal hair to is "Seasons In The Abyss" by Slayer.

Short links..

With all the snow falling here on the East Coast, it's pretty much like Siberia over here. Thus, it's a slow day of linkage here at Hangar 39. As usual, this is a compendium of stuff from the Ravens, Orioles, Towson Tigers and Capitals with some pop culture stuff thrown in for good measure. Because here at Hangar 39, I compile the links so you don't have to. I will be back later today with a Caps-'Canes recap and possibly another post. Okey dokey Dr. Jones? Now we go for a ride...


- The O's won their second straight exhibition game with a 5-3 victory over the Sawx.

- The Sun has some info on another of the O's highly touted pitching prospects, Brad Bergeson. Also, the Schmucker addresses whether or not to put the O's young pitchers in the rotation now or later.

-THE Towson University lacrosse team lost to 9-4 to University of Denver over the weekend.

- Negotiations between the Ravens and free agent tackle Marvel Smith have cooled a bit. I didn't even know they were negotiating in the first place. Why is Ozzie negotiating with a former Steeler trash? Shouldn't Kordell Stewart and Keydrick Vincent have taught him that there's a reason the She-lers get rid of these guys?

"Anyone else wanna negotiate?"

- The Caps will have Viktor Kozlov back for tonight's game against Carolina.

Non-Sporting Links:

-Our man MoGo at Icon vs. Icon was busy during yesterday's snow day. First up is Gene Simmons' quest for even more money. Maybe Gene can title his next book, "How To Piss On Your Band's Legacy." Also, cool news regarding Crue Fest 2: Motley will be playing the "Dr. Feelgood" album in its entirety. Just as long as they scratch "Without You," that's all good with me. Finally, Sam Raimi is taking a break from making "Spiderman" films to do another horror movie. Should have a significant awesomeness factor.

- The best woman's name in history, Arianna Huffington (seriously, is that a great name or what?) puts some smack down on Karl Rove.

-Finally, today's YouTube clip to swing your heavy metal hair to is one of the bands playing at this year's Maryland Death Fest VII, England's own, Napalm Death with "Silence Is Deafening." The best part of this clip is the guy giving sign language in the right corner of the frame.

Lazy links on a day without work...

So we've had our first blizzard here on the East Coast, which means most of us were able to get out of work. Hoo-rah! Of course, the bad part is that I will have to drive an hour and change back to Coastal Delaware but, oh well. It's worth it to not have to sit in a Rehoboth Beach commissioners meeting. Before I get to the usual shenanigans I do in this space, for my friends on the West Coast or anywhere not on the East Coast, here's what it looks like outside here on the Eastern Shore of Maryland...

...so with that, all there really is to do today is blog, watch ridiculous action flicks like "Face/Off" and download stuff to iTunes. 'Cause you know I need to hear me some "Ten Seconds To Love." Anyway, on with the links, mostly regarding the Orioles, Ravens and Capitals but also includes anything else that may tickle my fancy. If you can dig it, SUCKAAAAA!


-Not all of our teams at THE Towson University have issues winning. Give it up for our swimming and diving team, which captured its second straight CAA title. They have a long way to catch the dance team, which won, I think, like 3 national championships in a row. We may not be good at football and basketball but our dance team will RULE your school's dance team. Beeeotch!

- The Orioles moved over .500 in spring training with a 7-5 win over the Nats.

-Other O's items: first, Jeff Zrebiec has a story on Matt Wieters. I cannot wait until this kid shows up in B-Mo. He's going to be a good one. Second, it didn't take long for Rich Hill to get hurt. He's got some stiffness in his elbow and shoulder. Uh, not good. To make up for Hill's injury, the O's took a flier on oft-injured ex-Padre Adam Eaton. Great, so that way, if he makes the club he can get hurt for us just like he did for the Padres, Rangers and Phillies.

- Big Mike has a story on Samari Rolle, who, in light of the Domonique Foxworth signing and being asked to take a pay cut, now wants to be released. I am flat out opposed to doing this because in Baltimore, we need a guy who looks like Avon Barksdale from "The Wire" on the club.
Samari:

Avon:


-Jamison Hensley has more on the Foxworth signing, from Ozzie Newsome's perspective.

-Tank has Alex Ovechkin's reaction to the whole Don Cherry hollaballoo.

-On Frozen Blog on whether the Caps should make any moves at the trade deadline.

Non-Sporting Links:

- From the Icon: Snoop Dogg has joined up with the Nation of Islam. Tomorrow's story: Snoop Dogg finds a way to cash in on his joining the Nation of Islam. I swear, Snoop may just be the rap equivalent to Gene Simmons.

- I spoke earlier of the legendary "The Wire." One thing I always find amusing is playing "Hey, it's That Guy from 'The Wire!'" Well, this week's "That Guy from 'The Wire'" winner is former Baltimore mayor and Maryland Governor Tommy Carcetti now appearing in the newest John Cena masterpiece, "12 Rounds."


- Tree-hugging liberal post of the day: "Comedian" Rush Limbaugh is under fire from new Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. I love Republican on Republican crime.

-Get ready for Maryland Death Fest VII! Best band name this year? A toss-up between Lair of the Minotaur and Entrails Massacre. Expect Hangar 39 to be joining up with live-metal.net on this one.

- Finally, today's YouTube clip to swing your heavy metal hair to is very much on the political side but it rocks like a motherfucker. It's "No W" by Ministry.

Sunday links/ Cherry vs. Ovechkin

There won't be a lot of posts today, I'll be watching the Caps game at 3 and then head to the rink to play my own game at 6:45. I might be able to squeeze a recap in there but I also might not be. But since only 6 of you read this thing anyway, it's probably not one of your bigger deals in life. Anyway, since it's Sunday and pretty girls=hits, I will forgo the usual Booker T picture and bring you Amanda Bynes, if for no other reason than she wore a Ravens t-shirt in one of her movies (not sure which one, I just remember seeing the trailer and being stunned she was wearing it). Since I couldn't find any pics of Amanda wearing said Ravens shirt, this shot will have to work...


-Ray Lewis' agent says he "might" return to Baltmo. Translation: "He's coming back with his tail tucked firmly between his legs."

- Orioles ran their spring training record to 2-2 with a 4-2 win against the Florida Marlins.

-Another one from the B-Mo Sun. Jeff Zrebiec has a nice story on the stable of young arms the Orioles hope will return them to prominence. I feel like I scooped the Sun on this one, since I had this item two weeks ago. Ok, I really didn't scoop anybody, I just wrote my amateur asshole opinion while Zrebiec did some actual reporter-age.

-THE Towson University hoops team lost to George Mason last night, 71-59.

-Couple major Caps related items from Tank before today's afternoon tilt with the Florida Panthers. First, Jose Theodore will get the call in net and Jay Beagle has been called up from Hershey to replace Viktor Kozlov, whose groin is giving him problems again. Second, there have been rumors swirling around that New York Islanders captain Bill Guerin could be headed to DC. However, Tarik says his sources with the team tell him that Guerin isn't coming and Bruce Boudreau all but intimated that the Caps have no need for Guerin.

"Asked about the Bill Guerin to Washington rumors -- which one of my sources shot down this morning, Boudreau said: 'We have Kozlov, Semin, Fehr, Bradley and Gordon as our right side. I think that's pretty good.'"

- One last bit of Caps news before I head down to the Greene Turtle to watch today's game (Thanks Easton F'n Cable!). Don Cherry of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ripped Alex Ovechkin for his celebrations. I won't give you the whole Cherry autobiography for those that don't know who he is, that's what Wikipedia is for, but in a nutshell, he's sort of like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly meets Howard Cosell. First, here's Cherry, nicknamed Grapes', comments..


Here's Coach Boudreau's take on it, once again, per Tank.

Now, I've been a fan of Grapes since I got his first Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Hockey video back in the early 90s. I think I know enough about him to know that anything he says must come with a grain of salt. His disdain of Europeans and guys with visors comes from a time when Euros, specifically guys like Ulf Samuelsson, Alexei Kovalev and Tomas Sandstrom, were known for taking dives, cheap shots and show-boating.

Now many of the commenters on the CBC's Hockey Night In Canada site, where you can watch Cherry's "Coach's Corner" segment, and on the WaPo's site are ripping Grapes a new asshole, and deservedly so. After all, it's clear this rant is either 1) xenophobic or 2) a very poor attempt to stand up for his buddy Sidney Crosby that came off as nationalist, racist and xenophobic. Because good old Canadian boys, like say...

Tiger Williams

Mike Foligno


Theo Fleury


and Mike Richards...


...would never celebrate excessively. Look, we've tried it the Joe Sakic way. Sakic is a great guy and a great player. But nobody outside the greater Denver area is saying, "Boy, Joe Sakic is in town, I gotta go see him!" Nothing against Sakic, but he doesn't exactly move the Q rating a whole lot. Hockey has had enough humble guys, it's part of the appeal of the sport for a lot of people. What the league needs is some oversize personalities. And no, I do not mean a bunch of Sean Avery's. I mean guys that aren't afraid to have fun, smile and show some flair. Everyone that watched the All-Star Game skills contest would probably agree that Ryan Getzlaf had a much better trick shot than Ovie. But Getzlaf treated it like a chore, whereas Ovie took the time to ham it up and have fun with the whole thing. That's what the league needs. If I haven't made my point yet, allow me to try to express it through this story.

On March 8 my friend and former co-worker Jermaine "Bunky" Murray will be attending his first hockey game. Bunk is a 25 year old African-American male that has maybe seen 15 minutes of hockey in his entire life. He's a football and basketball guy. Not exactly the type that gravitates towards hockey. But he willingly paid $80 to go to a Caps game because he WANTED to see Alex Ovechkin skate, hopefully score a goal and maybe do one of his celebrations. Isn't that what we, as hockey fans want? To get new fans and people interested in the game? I know that's what I'd like to see.

The bottom line is, Grapes is popular because he says stupid, ridiculous and outrageous things. No different than Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Olbermann or Cosell in his heyday. Anybody that says things that are that mean-spirited, bitter and jealous, it means that the person saying them is either an internet blogger or a someone that needs professional help. And while I'm not above making fun of someone, making fun of the insane just isn't my style. But Grapes, Mr. Ovie may want to have a word with you...

"I must break you."

Thursday's lazy links...

Can you dig it? SUCKAAAAAAA!!!!


-Since I've been such a Nancy Negative lately, here's some positive news to start the day, THE Towson University took home a 75-74 win last night over Delaware in men's hoops. On Senior Night no less. Hoo-rah!

-Some more positive news from the B-Mo Sun. It appears the Ravens and LB Bart Scott are close to a deal. Ozzie says, "We're making progress," on a deal with Ray Lewis. That could mean just about anything but certainly being close to a deal with Scott serves as a fall-back option in case Ray Lew flies the coop.

-Jamison has the lowdown on this year's free agent class. To say it's underwhelming is an understatement.

-Excellent work from Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy regarding the Caps new all-female fan club, Club Scarlet. Funny thing about those "beefcake" style photos of the Caps. Besides the fact they show them on the video board at the Phone Booth, I've noticed that several of them (I know Michael Nylander is one) are wearing the same leather jacket. Did the team only have enough money in the budget for one leather jacket? And does noticing this make me gay? Not that there is anything wrong with that.

-Not a good start for the O's in their exhibition opener as they fall 9-3 to the Mets.

-Hoo-rah Part II: Viktor Kozlov is expected to be back in the lineup tonight against Atlanta.

-Nice work from the WaPo on the current popularity of the Caps. Is it bandwagoneering? Sure, a little bit. Many of these folks that are coming aboard wouldn't know John Druce if he walked up and introduced himself. Or why he holds a special place in the sub-cockel region of every longtime Caps fan.

Nonetheless, the more people that get into hockey, and hopefully stay hockey fans, the merrier for me. Lord knows we have enough freaking basketball out there.

Non-sporting links:

-Do you love your guns? God? The Government? Fuck yeah! Three points to whoever can guess where that reference comes from.

-Anytime people are attacking "Comedian" Rush Limbaugh (I didn't think of the name, Keith Olbermann did), I'm a happy guy.

-Finally, our YouTube clip to swing your heavy metal hair to is one the coolest, yet eeriest clips I've ever seen, "Eyes of the Insane" by Slayer.