San Jose Sharks Gameday: Bob Saget

As a rich and famous SB Nation blogger, I could easily afford to pay for NHL GameCenter LIVE™. Between the gigantic checks I get from running this blog and the mountains of Fake Dan Ellis Book money, paying the shortened-season price of Fifty American Dollars would be no trouble at all. But one of the very best things about being rich and famous is that, even though you have a lot of money and could easily buy anything you want, people still give you stuff for free!

It's called Capitalism, folks, and it's pretty sweet.

I get NHL GameCenter live for free. I have for a few years now, since even when Ernie and Ruben were still writing here with me they let me use the account because unlike them, I don't live where I can watch my team on local television. I'm a Sharks fan in Southern California, so most nights if I want to watch my team play GameCenter is my best bet. The service has had some technical hiccups, to be sure, but most of the time it works. Most of the time I get to watch the Sharks play on my computer, and it's cool.

You can also watch replays of games so this morning I re-watched Michal Handzus win the game in a shootout, because I just can't wrap my head around why HE, of all players, is so great at that. Is it because goalies just assume he's going to suck, and he's only taking the shootout shot as a sort of Make A Wish present from Todd McLellan because Handzus is going to die of leukemia?

That must be it. There is no other possible explanation.

One way to improve NHL GameCenter LIVE™ would be if they could somehow get around local blackout restrictions. The Sharks play the Kings and Ducks a LOT, and those games are blacked out on my computer - even though I don't have cable so can't watch the games on my TV. This is a big problem for me, considering the blog for which I write. I know there are all sorts of cable exclusivity deals and stuff that make this impossible right now, but times are changing. More people than ever before are giving up on cable and getting all their entertainment through the Internet, and it's becoming more and more common to be a fan of a sports team from outside the area in which you live. Local blackouts are a relic of the past and the sooner NHL GameCenter LIVE™ can leave them behind, the better.

NHL GameCenter LIVE™ is a good idea, and a useful service. It's the way of the future, and with a few tweaks and modernizations it could be a great product.

The Sharks look to continue their winning streak tonight against the Predators. Fun fact about Nashville: they've already played FOUR overtime games this season. They lost the first three of those until finally beating the Kings on Thursday night.

Now that San Jose's scoring has stopped being so ridiculous, it has become more obvious that Antti Niemi is playing some of the best hockey of his life. The Sharks have been giving up more shots than elite teams usually do, and their depleted and constantly-shifting defense has been having some unfortunate breakdowns. The fact that the Sharks have yet to lose despite all that has happened to their defense is a huge testament to Niemi's skill.

Lately the penalty kill has actually been...good? A good PK? Is that a thing that happens? It sounds wrong to me. I'll do some more research and get back to you on this.

Today's book isn't really a book. It's a play: Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest." If you haven't read it or seen it performed you might think it's some stuffy dumb old British thing that sucks, but it's actually really funny, I promise. Here, look:

You have filled my tea with lumps of sugar, and though I asked most distinctly for bread and butter, you have given me cake. I am known for the gentleness of my disposition, and the extraordinary sweetness of my nature, but I warn you, Miss Cardew, you may go too far.

Yeah, bitch, keep pushing me. Give me cake again. See what happens.

Prediction: Sharks win 4-3 in a shootout. Handzus again!