but the Blues have to break out of this West Coast jinx sooner or later, and it might as well be tonight.

Blues 2, Ducks 1

Boyes and Steen drive it home for the Note, while Pronger stings his old team.

BTW, for the sake of us old guys, why didn’t you use the Jackie Coogan Uncle Fester?? I loved Lloyd in that role, but Coogan rocked!!!

There’s a “Welcome to BoC” thread going on at SBN’s Golden State Warriors blog that’s turned into a discussion about race, fighting, violence, and essentially the double standard that exists between professional hockey and professional basketball.

There’s some ignorance there (and I’m not blaming anyone — if I had to talk about basketball I’m sure I’d mis-characterize it a ton), and some decent points. Feel free to join up and educate some b-ball fans about the role of violence in hockey, if you feel up for it. You might be helpful, as generally my basketball knowledge is piss-poor. And play nice — nobody’s really trying to be a dick or anything.

I’m coming at this from being 1.) an African-American, 2.) a hockey fan, first and foremost and 3.) a Warriors fan. (from my years living in the Bay Area)

Bleys is correct…much like the NFL, the NBA wants to have it both ways,IMO…they claim to decry the violence and all the stuff that goes along with it, but without the buzz that goes along with that lifestyle, I don’t think the NBA would have the same appeal to much of the fanbase that they do…that’s just my gut feeling…many of the players get off on being “rogue” in much the same way that many rappers get attention by living on the edge…it’s the statement they want to make, and you can make your own decision whether you think it’s appropriate or not…the race thing comes in because most NBA players are black and come from urban areas, and most NHL players are white and come from Canada and Europe…however, I don’t feel hockey players get a “pass” so much for their violence, because their is no shortage of critics of hockey fights, including myself (I understand it’s a part of the game, but it is not a reason I have loved hockey from when I was a boy, standing in the back row at the St. Louis Arena…I’m just not a fan of violence of any sort)…I do hate to see the race card played here, though…it’s an apples and oranges argument, IMO, the difference between hockey and basketball.

Isn’t it a fake game turned into a movie by those South Park guys?

Personally, I prefer “Little Fester” over Uncle Festerling. Someone over at AD came up with it, I think it works.

I’ve been pretty impressed with Festerling, the main thing is, I never notice him. Which I think is always a good thing for a young d-man. Although I’m still hesitant as to his real abilities/ceiling. Last yr showed how sucky Beach became without his Hall of Fame safety net to back him up. I do like the fact that Fester isn’t afraid of using the body a bit, much like Beauch.

But are we comparing him to Beauch of last yr, or Beauch of the Cup year? Because those are 2 very different players. One is hard hitting and had a cannon of a shot, one was a sucky skater who always got caught out of position …

Montador’s a beast. Sorry to lose him in FLA.

…came 5-on-5 with Scott Niedermayer and Brett Festerling on the ice. I sure know how to bust a good zero-goals-against streak by pointing it out. :)