Straight Out of the Onion?

And it turns out that people flocked to my blog right before that Favreapalooza on Monday night. Go figure. But I’ll take the page hits!

Anyway, my current work schedule, has somewhat kept me from posting. Well, that and not having timely material for when I would otherwise have put up a new entry. But, let’s see if the upcoming weeks and months are a bit friendlier towards regular updates.

This morning’s events finally forced me to post. I’m absolutely stunned, just like the President was when he found out, and frankly most of the press too. The Nobel Committee’s reasoning is fair enough, including a comparison to Mikhail Gorbachev in 1980 (before glasnost really took hold), and Fareed Zakaria seems to think along the same lines (‘America rejoining the world’).

I guess most people assume that the prize is a lifetime achievement award. That has always been what I was led to believe, too. Plenty of joke fodder already, some on the right, and of course quite a bit of it is absurd hyperbole, but even Obama surely knows that he has to go earn this with his and our country’s actions in the next few years. If not, you can be sure this “rockstar” theme is going to come up again in 2012, just like it did after his tour of Europe in 2008.

Even non-conservatives might be concerned about this development. It could have both positive and negative implications for Obama’s policy-making efforts, particularly on foreign policy. Chris Cilliza expands on this and some of my other points.

Hey, it makes for a nice wake-up call though, if you can get it. Enjoy the award, Mr. President, I’m not going to say you need to turn it down by any means. But as you said in your press conference today, don’t dare let this award get to your head. There is a lot of work to be done, and everyone will be watching you more closely than before (if that’s actually possible).

The fun begins withi figuring out what to do in Afghanistan. And then reconciling Congress and the nation on healthcare (no disrespect to Sen. Tom Harkin, but try to minimize the government’s direct involvement) without actually using reconciliation. Oh, and don’t forget the “Es”- economy, environment, and education…

While I’ve Been Away

Had a delicious dinner on Sunday night with my grandmother at the Jackson Diner. It isn’t really a diner, however. Instead, what you get is delicious Indian food. The Murg Tikka Palakwala (chicken mixed with tomato, spinach, ginger, and cumin seeds) was spectacular, and the lamb rogan josh wasn’t bad either. Well worth the minor hassle we faced in trying to find a parking spot near by. Note to self: take mass transit next time you visit Jackson Heights.

Aside from that, and the usual gym/sports/etc. routine, I am doing some work for a company in lower Manhattan on weekday afternoons. So far so good, and we’ll see what happens from there.

I’ll clean out the notebook a little more tomorrow. I promise.

Don’t Worry

I did not have this affect me. To be quite frank, I don’t twitter anyway and probably won’t in the foreseeable future. I do have a Facebook page, but I’m pretty much never on it during the day. Apparently, the whole episode is related to global politics. In a perverse way, I suppose this could be a clever way to silence dissent. Of course, I hope web security continues to improve so nothing like this happens again for a while. It will eventually, in my view. Just like steroids in sports, it’s hard to stay one step ahead of the people who are concocting whatever schemes we try to stop.

Anyway, the real reason I was away from the blog for most of the week is that I have been interviewing for potential new work opportunities- right now I only do some limited part-time stuff, so I am looking for a bit more steady work. Outside of that, I try to mix in blogging and hard work finding those job advertisements. We’ll see how that all shakes out going forward. I do have one strong possibility I will be mulling over during the coming weekend (possibly out here) Since the unemployment rate dropped slightly, I guess things can only get better than, at least the markets think so. Quite a few economists and/or pundits, however, think otherwise, and at the moment, they’re probably right. Even the President seems to acknowledge that the rate is probably going to head up unless either a lot more people stop trying to work, job cuts suddenly stop for one reason or another, or something else happens to confound current projections.

Whatever. It’s Friday, so we’ll cut the gloom for a couple of days at least! Enjoy Yankees-Red Sox instead.

Unexpected Absence

Unfortunately, I got caught up in the holiday weekend- very nice, thank you very much- and a few other things over the past few days, hence the lack of posts. Definitely got some things planned for tomorrow, however. We’ll take a look at the first day of official NBA free agent signings. Not sure if we’ll hear anything unexpected or dramatic as we did for hockey last week, but I’ll run down the big moves. Also, I’ll try to find one or two other goodies to comment on.

On Thursday, we’ll check in with U.S. Soccer after the national team plays Honduras in their second Gold Cup group stage game. Plus, some transfer rumors and confirmed business from Europe. Real Madrid has made some big moves for sure, but how will some of the other giants of the game respond?

So don’t you dare forget to check in by the end of the day tomorrow!

Free Agent Frenzy

As TSN hypes NHL free agency every year! We’ll update from time-to-time over the course of the day with stuff culled from various sources. Quick-fire reactions as warranted.

Canucks will take over a $12 million cap hit per year to keep the Sedin twins. Mild surprise there, because it sounded like Toronto was going to bid and possibly go all-in on them. But they keep the playmaking and goal-scoring pair, and for not much more than they would have paid under one of those 10-12 year deals players have gotten lately (these contracts are for 5 years each). At least one Canucks fan/blogger likes it on the grounds that Vancouver is keeping its core intact, and might now even have a window to win the Cup, especially if they add one more top-notch scorer.

On the other hand, they lose Mattias Ohlund, who is headed to Tampa. The ‘Bolts did give him a seven year deal, even though he’s 33 years old, but that keeps the cap hit under $4 million per year. For at least the first 3-4 years of the deal, he should definitely improve their porous blueline from last year, and could be a valuable mentor for this year’s #2 overall pick and fellow Swede Victor Hedman. As Scott Burnside notes in ESPN’s running blog (linked above), this may up the price for Mike Komisarek and Rob Scuderi, because with Jay Bouwmeester choosing to accept Calgary’s offer last night, there aren’t many good defensemen on the market.

1:15- Puck Daddy has a live blog with twitters from various good sources and some comments. Good stuff so far. Also one from TSN. I will mostly post what is officially confirmed. Nonetheless, there are rumors that the Leafs have signed former Ranger Colton Orr. Not a bad move, because as Derek Harmsworth notes, Brian Burke wants them to be a tougher, workmanlike team than they have been in recent years.

1:20- Remember to hit refresh (or just check in every so often) for updated posts. WordPress doesn’t post what I add automatically…

1:27- Another blog notes that Radek Dvorak re-signed with Florida, which the Sun-Sentinel confirms. Scintillating, I know.

1:34- A Flyer fan’s wishlist. Not sure if they’ve really got the cap room to do much though. Chris Pronger might be it for the moment.

1:43- Andy Greene resigns with New Jersey. Probably more of a depth move than anything else; they actually didn’t give him a qualifying offer because of cap considerations, hence he became a free agent.

1:50- TSN confirms the Panthers have re-signed David Booth to a 6 year contract worth over $25 million. Booth set a personal-best with 31 goals last season, and could make next year’s U.S. Olympic team.

Busy Week

Pleased with the Yankees apparent turnaround in Atlanta and then against the Mets (or is it MASH Unit, or even David Wright and the seven dwarfs?). Congrats to Mariano Rivera on his 500th save. That’s a great achievement, but also hides what he will be remembered for- his postseason track record.

Also proud of what our national team did, despite Brazil’s second-half comeback. And of our soldiers, as they turned over control of Iraq’s cities to an Iraqi military.

Anyway, on to present matters. NBA and NHL free agents to chat about tomorrow, more so with hockey because basketball players can’t sign until next week. Ronaldo and Kaka to be officially introduced at Real Madrid… more big money signings to come?

I’ll have some thoughts on this stuff later… after dealing with my own business! Damn, the holiday weekend can’t get here soon enough. Should I go out to the beach or hit the city? Your thoughts welcome…

USA-Brazil Second Half Blog

Teams are back out, and the U.S. is set to kick-off the second half. Remember to hit “refresh” to get these updates, because I don’t think WordPress updates automatically.

46th Minute- Goal, Luis Fabiano gets Brazil off to a perfect start, nice ball into him, he turns Jay DeMerit and hits a perfect shot low past Tim Howard. Great play by Luis Fabiano, who is now on course to win the tournament’s golden boot. 2-1 U.S.

50th Minute- Donovan passes to Feilhaber, who dribbles to the goal line, and while his shot is stopped by Julio Cesar, it may have gone out before that.

52nd Minute- Donovan runs it up the field and finds Davies, but his pass to Altidore is knocked away.

53rd Minute- DeMerit is caught out of position but Feilhaber keeps the ball away from Ramires in the U.S. box long enough for Howard to grab the ball.

54th Minute- Feilhaber fouls Kaka, setting up a free kick in a dangerous position. Maicon fires in and Altidore heads away. A subsequent effort from Brazil fails to find Luis Fabiano.

56th Minute- Another foul by Feilhaber on Kaka. Free kick Brazil. It hits the wall and deflects up. Felipe Melo is flagged offside as he jousts with DeMerit for the ball.

59th Minute- Lucio gets a free header off a corner kick, but Howard reacts quickly to palm it away. Gilberto Silva gets to the follow-up but fires high under some pressure. Brazil definitely smelling blood right now.

60th Minute- Whoa! Great cross to the back post finds Kaka. His header is stopped by Howard, but Brazil screams that he and the ball were over the line. Not given, replays unclear at the moment. One replay suggests yes, another indecisive.

63rd Minute- Another Maicon corner is deflected away by Howard. Davies and Ramires scrap for the ball, and Brazil controls.

64th Minute- Some chaos in the U.S. box, but one of the assistant referees flags Brazil for something.

65th Minute- Davies dribbles forward, then passes back to Clark to ease pressure. He finds Donovan, who shoots from outside the box and Julio Cesar makes a decent save.

66th Minute- Dempsey gets a sniff of goal and Julio Cesar palms away. Daniel Alves comes on for Andre Santos. He scored on a great free kick to beat South Africa in the semifinals. Elano also checks in at the expense of Ramires. Brazil thinking offense here for sure. Quarter of the game left to play.

67th Minute- Nice play by DeMerit to beat Luis Fabiano to the ball and draw a foul. He has been really good throughout the tournament.

69th Minute- Lucio booked for arguing with referee Martin Hansson.

71st Minute- DeMerit clears away a cross, but moments later, Luis Fabiano beats everyone and the offside trap, only to see Howard come off his line and smother the ball.

72nd Minute- Davies takes on several Brazilian defenders and nearly prevails with some nice touches of the ball, but Luisao as the last man knocks it away before he can get to Julio Cesar.

74th Minute- Goal and it’s Luis Fabiano again. Robinho heads off the crossbar from a Kaka cross, and Fabiano heads home at the opposite post for his fifth of the tournament. Howard was down in trying to stop Elano and had no chance. Tied at 2. Nice burst of speed by Kaka to set it up.

76th Minute- Bob Bradley brings in Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan. Feilhaber and Altidore exit.

78th Minute- Kaka decides to shoot from long distance. Doesn’t get much on it and it rolls harmlessly wide.

79th Minute- Felipe Melo fouls and he needs to be careful because he was already booked. Good free kick from Donovan, and Julio Cesar grabs it just before Clint Dempsey can pounce.

80th Minute- Bornstein decides to shoot. He’s a bit off-balance, although the technique is good, and the ball flies wide.

82nd Minute- Robinho fires high and wide after a few moves.

84th Minute- Goal.DeMerit stops Luis Fabiano from getting a scoring chance. Elano hits a corner and from it, Brazil scores. Lucio outjumps Dempsey and has what amounts to a free header, which he doesn’t miss, firing into the lower-left corner. The players all mob Lucio but credit also to Elano for a perfect set piece. 3-2 to Brazil, and that is surely the winner. A comeback worthy of the sport’s greatest champions.

88th Minute- U.S. corner. Conor Casey on for Ricardo Clark in Bob Bradley’s last throw of the dice. Donovan puts it into the box and Onyewu gets to it but heads over the bar. In fairness, not a bad miss, as he wasn’t that close to goal.

89th Minute- Kaka tortures a U.S. defender and then fires just past the far post.

90th Minute- Dempsey stumbles in chasing down a Donovan pass, but it was probably hit too high and far for him to reach it anyway. Three minutes to be added on.

92nd Minute- Quiet injury time so far. Brazil just about keeping hold of the ball.

93rd Minute- Daniel Alves shoots high and wide. Howard restarts quickly but Brazil sweeps it away in midfield. Moments later they win a throw-in. Foul on Bocanegra and that should do it.

94th Minute- And that is it, as Martin Hansson blows the whistle right off the free kick. The Brazilian team races onto the field to celebrate a record third Confederations Cup title. Would defeat have cost Dunga his job? He will never have to find out. The U.S. can be very proud of its performance overall, even if they know they did let the game get away from them in the second half. The lessons of this tournament should serve them well going forward.

And So It Begins Again…

A new era for Danimal’s Den starts today. The changes may be slow at first, and I haven’t finalized exactly what they will include, but you can be sure this site won’t look or feel quite the same by the end of the summer.

More importantly, I’m confident that we’ll have better content than ever before, updated regularly throughout the week.

Apparently, however, there’s nothing new about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ performance in the first two games of their rematch with Detroit. 2-0 down, and while their effort was considerably better than in the first two games of last year’s series, when they lost both games by a combined 7-0 (which was basically the difference in the series as the remaining four games ended up being a virtual dead-heat), the result was the same. Down two games, and beaten by a sucker-punch goal in the third period both nights.

Ed Olczyk’s commentary is correct. It was terrible defending from the Penguins, giving Justin Abdelkader so much time and space. Still, as Pierre LeBrun recognized in his column last night, the biggest difference between the teams so far in this series is that Chris Osgood is getting it done and Marc-Andre Fleury isn’t. Johan Franzen’s game-winning goal in the opener was a bit of a fluke and unlucky for Fleury, as the puck hit his pads while he was down on the ice and went over the line. But Abdelkader’s goal simply can’t be conceded at this level. Period. If the Penguins don’t turn it around in Games 3 and 4 back at their often inhospitable Igloo, you can point to Osgood’s stop of Evgeni Malkin’s breakaway in Game 1 (for good measure, Osgood stopped a Malkin wrist-shot from the point last night while it was still 1-0 Penguins) and Abdelkader’s goal in Game 2 as the defining moments of this series. Joe Starkey also noticed this shocking difference in net. Luckily for Pittsburgh, Malkin escaped a possible one-match ban for a late fight with Henrik Zetterberg. Puck Daddy’s not so sure he should have gotten such a reprieve, and Puck Stops Here agrees. In fairness, Malkin is presumably on the ice to score goals, and the instigator rule is really intended to deal with teams who send out enforcers late in games.

Regardless of Pittsburgh’s foibles, gotta give the Wings some props (even if I didn’t mind seeing Pittsburgh lose because I’m not the biggest Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin fan out there). Where do they keep finding all these kids who come in and produce? Even Mike Babcock is shocked how almost everyone he plays turns golden once they put on the famous “Winged Wheel.” Okay, Abdelkader not only played for Michigan State’s 2007 NCAA Championship team, he scored the winning goal in the title game. And, he was a second-round pick back in 2005, so he hasn’t completely come out of nowhere. But Johan Franzen was the 97th pick overall in 2004. Zetterberg was the 210th pick in 1999. Jonathan Ericsson was the last pick in 2002, and he had his appendix removed last week, but came back to score the tying goal last night. I could go on for a while. Mitch Albom notices that not only are they racking up goals and assists, they’re also stopping Sidney Crosby cold.

Much has been written about how great Jim Nill, Ken Holland, Joe McDonnell, and Hakan Andersson are at scouting/drafting players for Detroit, and this weekend was just more evidence of it. The Wings don’t lack for money, but cash is worthless if used unwisely.

Stay tuned to this series, and to this blog. More later today or tonight.

Hit and Run

A few quickie thoughts because I’ve been away from the blog too long.

Stanley Cup Playoff OT is pretty awesome. A pair of games with them tonight was even better. A battle of wills until someone scores. Now, as a soccer fan, I wouldn’t stop watching hockey if they did go to 4-on-4 after one or two OT sessions down the road, as has been proposed a few times. I’d rather have TV coverage than none, assuming this were the choice to be made. But, the current and long-time way of settling games is fine too, so if it isn’t really broke, let it be. Speaking of “The Beautiful Game,” Manchester United vs. Barcelona should be an awesome Champions League final. Arsenal’s demise was painful, but Man U put on a beautiful display and fully deserved to go through. So much for Cristiano Ronaldo having an “off year.”

Not sure if I’m going to read Selena Roberts’ book at this point. I suppose down the road when it’s available in a library, my perspective could change!

My brother came home tonight with his second year of college done. Wasn’t so long ago I was in that situation. Between that year and the one which followed, boy did I change. So many formative experiences in a short time. I suspect he probably is going through this and will continue to. Oh, tonight or tomorrow also marks one year since my very last academic requirements were completed. I helped reenact a scene from The Bard (I don’t remember which play). While acting wasn’t exactly my forte, it actually went pretty well! Either following a pleasant class dinner at the Inn, or the following day, I completed one last Final exam- International Relations of the Middle East. By Thursday night, it was off to Hilton Head Island with some of my very closest friends for a terrific few days at the beach. More memories of that later…

Watch This Space

More coming later today or tomorrow. Been pretty busy this week with day job-related stuff, not to mention all the baseball, playoff b-ball and hockey, etc… But with Colgate’s Spring Party Weekend coming up- no I can’t really make it up there- I’ll probably reminisce a little bit. Trust me, most of the memories are pretty tame! Also, with the terrific weather expected for this weekend, you might see me out and about some in Manhattan. So keep posted for updates and thanks for your continued support for Danimal’s Den!