This weekend, one of my closest friends is moving away. He got a new job recently (which is awesome) working for Scholastic and while he originally thought he’d be landing the new job in Boston, he was offered instead, the job in New York City. My friend is therefore moving from Baltimore to New York City. While it’s pretty sad to see my friend leave Maryland, I know he’s super psyched about this new change in his life.
While I’m all for Maryland and it’s fantastic crab cakes and football, I have to hand it to my friend for moving to another pretty good place. So to help make my friend a little more at ease with his new life in NYC, here are my top 10 reasons for why New York is (slightly better) than Baltimore. (In no order…)
Better pizza.
New York has a hockey and a basketball team, while Baltimore does not.
Better chance at seeing celebrities.
Speaking of hockey, the Rangers has former Capitals player, Steve Eminger! (Love him.)
Better graffiti.
Better museums. (Sorry, Walters Art Museum. You just don’t cut it.)
More movies have taken place in NY.
Cheesecake is the city’s signature food (in addition to pizza).
NYC has more public transportation and a subway that people actually know about and use.
Better New Year’s celebration. Times Square, for sure.
I think that just about does it. Hopefully my buddy will be able to add to this list, after living and working in the city. I’m sure he won’t miss Baltimore’s notorious crime scene and lack of super heros! Though New York isn’t much of a place for seafood. But I know my friend is a huge fan of cheesecake so I’m sure he’ll fit in just well. I’ll miss you!
The first round of the NHL 2011 Playoffs have come to an end and Round 2 is just about to begin. I can feel the anticipation in D.C., like the calm before our most recent bout of tornados in the area. We know that a storm is brewing, only this time instead of downed trees and power lines, I’m anticipating some Florida hopes and dreams to go down. That’s right, the normal sea of red will become a tsunami of red and we are ready to cause some ruckus!
Floor to ceiling rockin' of red.
But first, let’s take a look back on the first round of games. I noticed an unfortunate trend throughout the quarterfinals. It seemed that any team that had a former Capitals player on it (from say, the last few years) did not win their series. This is pretty unfortunate, since these were the teams I was cheering for (aside from the Caps, of course.)
There are probably more example, but I’ve been focusing on these guys in particular: Steve Eminger, of the Rangers, Jeff Halpern, of the Canadiens, and lest we forget the Penguins’ Matt Cooke and Brent Johnson. These trying teams did their best in Round 1, but they just couldn’t hack it. (And thank goodness for the Caps’ sake.) I think that this must be some kind of curse. Sure, if you’re currently playing for the Caps, you will succeed. But former players have been jinxed. I’m not going to complain though!
So now, the Caps fans are in an interesting situation. I’m not going to confirm this, but I would not be surprised if the Pittsburgh Penguins fans join forces with the Caps in rooting against the Lightning (the team that took the Pens out of the playoffs). Yes, folks. The Penguins could just be on the same side as the Caps for once.
Round 2 begins tomorrow when the Caps play host to the Tampa Bay Lightning. I’m really proud that the Caps are back in the second round of the playoffs, but as we all know, that is still not enough. This matchup should be great, because if anything, it means I can continue to watch some awesome Caps hockey! Go Caps!
It’s not every day that CAPSLove will acknowledge a hockey player that is amazing… who isn’t on the Capitals. I admit however, that there are a select few hockey players who deserve the attention and love from CAPSLove. Fortunately, the majority of said hockey players are former Caps, so the notion of dedication is still present. One of these former Capitals players is the subject of today’s post.
-And I’m not afraid to let people know. Steve Eminger appealed to me from an early age and introduction to hockey. He seemed like the “Quiet Beatle” on the Caps. He was the guy who most people didn’t know much about, the guy behind the scenes and the glory, who may have hung back from stardom. But that’s ok with me. I realize that he might not have many fans, but I’m an equal opportunity Caps lover, and I wanted to take a chance on Steve E.
Eminger was the Caps’ 12th round pick back in 2002. He played on and off with the Caps and a minor league team his first few years, still trying to get his feet wet in the NHL, as the Caps gave him a chance. He stayed within the Caps organization until 2008, where he was sadly traded away to the despised Flyers. I was heartbroken. Sure, I admit that Eminger may not have fit in well with the Capitals team, but he sure tried his darndest! True, Eminger had been a healthy scratch for much of his last year as a Cap. That was the inevitable sure sign that any player would get the boot. It was pretty sad that Eminger wasn’t getting the playing time, and then to see him go, and to top it off- with the Flyers, that was just terrible.
After a year with the Flyers, he then split his time in the 2008-09 season with both of the Florida teams; first with the Tampa Bay Lightning, and then with the Florida Panthers. Eminger must have enjoyed the sunny beaches in Florida, because the next year, he was traded once more to the Anaheim Ducks. The sunshine and the relaxation in these beach towns must have done some good for Steve Eminger, because this year he finally came back to the East Coast to the successful and popular New York Rangers.
From the few games I have seen Steve Eminger play in with his new team in New York, I have noticed a big improvement in his game play. In the past three games the Caps have played the Rangers, I have been delighted to see that Eminger has really stepped up his game. Maybe it is because he’s playing a former team he spent so much time with and thus, knows how they play, but Eminger has gotten a lot of ice time against the Caps. That’s just great. From rarely playing with the Caps to playing a lot with the Rangers, maybe Steve is really at home in the Big Apple. I was excited to see the camera so often on Eminger in the past few games he has played the Caps. He was on the puck, defending his goal, and stopping some great players.
So here’s to you, Steve Eminger! He may not have had the most consistent hockey career, but he’s still at his game and ready for whatever comes his way. I admire his versatility with playing on multiple teams in a short period of time. On the one, memorable occasion I got to meet him, Steve Eminger was one of the nicest players I have ever met, which definitely earned him the award of one of my favorite players of all time. I really hope that Steve Eminger continues to flourish with the Rangers. He seems to have earned his spot on the team, and while it pains me to root for him on a team that has a negative history with my Caps, I’ll still cheer him on, because I love Steve Eminger.
As promised, below are my most-biased picks for the Best Looking “Dreamy Team” in the NHL. (As you can see, there are no Penguins players. True, Crosby has that “pretty-boy” look which is fine and all, but these other players beat him out.) Also note how many players below are either current or past Caps players. We know how to pick ’em! …
FORWARDS
Alex Ovechkin
Matt Bradley
Eric Fehr
Boyd Gordon
Brooks Laich
David Steckel
Patrice Bergeron
Robert Lang
Bryan Bickell
Ryan Kesler
Brian Sutherby
Jeff Halpern
Patrick O'Sullivan
Devin Setoguchi
Brandon Prust
(*I failed to realize that there were far more good-looking players who I couldn’t fit into one roster-size, so the following good looking guys could act as call-ups or players to use in case of injury – hopefully not to the face!)
Wayne Simmonds
Dainius Zubrus
Wojtek Wolski
Dustin Penner
Brad Richards
DEFENSEMEN
Mike Green
Steve Eminger
Johnny Boychuk
Mark Giordano
Grant Clitsome
Taylor Chorney
Steve MacIntyre
Dion Phaneuf
GOALIES
(Yes, more than just the standard two, for the *above reasoning.)
Jose Theodore
Yann Danis
Scott Clemmensen
Ryan Miller
Roberto Luongo
Roberto Luongo finished us off with this great photo! (symbolism anyone?)
I have a minor dilemma. A few weeks ago I bought two tickets to tonight’s Caps game. I really wanted to go and see another former Cap love of mine play against the Caps. Knowing that the game was on a random Wednesday, I acted quickly to ask all of my friends to see who would want to go with me to the game. The ticket price was a good deal for a Caps game ($35) and as how it usually works when I go to a game with a friend, I figured my friend could pay me back for their ticket. Fair deal.
Well, as it got closer to the game, I was running out of people I could ask to join me. All of the people I had asked could not come and I was getting desperate worried. Two days before the game, I went on a first date with someone. The date was ok, and since I didn’t want to decide if I liked the guy after date #1, I invited the guy to the Caps game in a last minute attempt to get some company at the game and to have another date to figure out the guy.
So here’s my dilemma. Do you think it would be fine if I asked the guy to pay for his ticket to the Caps game? That’s what I would have any of my friends do, if they had said they could come to the game. It’s not an expensive ticket, but I was not expecting to pay for both of the tickets, no matter who I got to come with me to the game.
Granted, I feel dumb because I probably should have brought this up when I asked the guy to the game. (I know, my bad.) But the way I think of it, it would be as if we were paying for ourselves; i.e, going dutch. Plus, it might be awkward if it looks like I pay for everything, since traditionally, that is for the guy to do on a date.
I asked one of my guy friends about it and in his opinion he said that from a guy’s perspective, having a girl offer to pay is a bit odd, because normally the guy would offer to pay. My friend said that he would feel weird asking the girl to pay, because he’s a guy, and that if this guy I’m going with tonight was really classy, he would just straight up, offer to pay for his ticket. There’s also the issue of if we get dinner, then I could just have the guy pay for my dinner, and I’d pay for the tickets and that could be seen as fair.
Hopefully, we just get dinner and things will take care of themselves. Because I don’t really want to bring up the question of paying for something I already paid for. I can imagine that would be incredibly awkward, even though I was never planning on paying for the second seat to begin with.
So, does anyone have any thoughts on this complicated matter?
CAPSLove 