FRENCH HOCKEY & OVIE v SID

I started writing a big long piece on Sidney vs. Ovechkin, then I realized I don't care that much. Sidney does whine. Sidney has been known to dive. Sidney plays his game like it's a job that he doesn't enjoy very much.

Ovechkin is a caveman. He is arrogant but he plays like a kid at recess. And holy fucking shit, he has some sweet moves.

If you're not a Sidsburgh fan, it's hard to argue with Ovie's enthusiasm. I am not a fan of either team, but I find the Pittsburgh fans nearly as insufferable as the Boston fans. The Washington O.V. fans grate on me less so. Excepting the Pittsburgh fans, I think it's fairly given that Ovie is probably the most complete player in the league right now...Malkin is great, Sid is very good, but OV is the face of a very good Caps team and he can do it all.

On a somewhat lower level, I went to see French Division I hockey over the weekend. The Bordeaux ("The Boxers" - like the dog) team is currently 3rd in the league. They played the Jokers from Cergy; and I'll tell you, the Joke was on Cergy's goalie. The skill-level was probably equivalent to my college's hockey team (NCAA D3), but the goaltending - not some much. These guys (esp. the goalie from Cergy) probably couldn't play in a lot of Canadian beer leagues.

Needless to say, I used to be on the fence about ads on jerseys - yep, that's over. It is fucking hideous. No NO NO. Bettman, you do that and I will condone a sniper dropping your sorry ass. The Bordeaux team has so many ads, that 1) You can't see anything on the front, it's just this overload of graphics and 2) The players name is on his ass because there's no room up top. FUCK THAT!

The rink here has no side glass. I was a little afraid of that when we first arrived, because we were in the second row...But it turns out that the guys don't shoot that hard, so the puck never got up into the stands - still weird to only have glass behind the nets.

I haven't seen college or non-NHL level hockey in a long time, so it's tough to get re-accustomed the reduced speed, but it's still fun. No-touch icing is kind crappy. The refs handed out 5 minute fighting majors for simple gloves-in-the-face. The guys don't really check much and there were no open-ice hits. But overall, it's still hockey and there were 10 goals in 60 minutes (7-3 for Bordeaux).

I tried to take a few pictures with my new DSLR, but being this is the first SLR I've ever owned and I never was very good with the whole ISO/Apeture/Focal Length what have you, the pics weren't great. I've put up a few of the better ones.