• Last Wednesday, thanks to my better half, I saw and enjoyed The Rivalry at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC.  If you consider yourself a student of American history, I highly recommend it.  The play is a dramatization of the Lincoln-Douglas debates as both of them vied for the one of the seats for Illinois in the US Senate.  The language used by both Lincoln and Douglas during the debate portions of the play is accurate, while the rest of the play is a dramatization as seen through the eyes of Douglas’ widow, Adele.
• Work has been, as usual of late, extremely busy.
• My taxes are done, and with it, my refunds are now in hand.  I finally splurged on myself, purchasing a long-needed (and desired) HD LCD TV–a Samsung LN46B750–and a new univeral remote–a Logitech Harmony 700.  My splurging is now complete, and I have been able to enjoy programming in HD.  Why did I wait so long?
• The winter weather around here has been to my liking.  I do take exception, though, to the snowfall occurring on weekends as opposed to a weekday.  Enough with the Saturday snowstorms.
• This weekend, I am off to Boston for the Beanpot.  Again, it would appear I will be seeing BU in the Beanpot final after their defeat of Northeastern by a score of 2-1 in the first round last night.

Here are a couple of issues I have with this presumptive email:

1. Apparently, I can travel up to Boston on two weeks notice to take in a Red Sox game at Friendly Fenway Park.
2. “[Y]our Red Sox”?!?!?  The Red Sox were never nor will they ever be my team.  Indeed, while the Orioles continue to founder below mediocrity this season, I still will never become a fan of the Red Sox.  Of course, the alumni club of my alma mater presumes that everyone who went to BU has become a Red Sox fan.

I will keep this in mind for the coming weekend invasion of Sox fans into Baltimore as the Red Sox come into town. 

While my hockey watching is not what it used to be when I was in school in Boston, seeing how well this year’s BU team has performed coupled with a Frozen Four nearby in Washington DC naturally raised my interest level. Making it even better, though, was the chance for BU to win a NCAA Men’s Hockey Championship since my junior year–1995.

On Thursday night, I watched BU win a good game against Vermont by a score of 5-4.  There were plenty of Vermont fans in attendance, and we sat near most of them.  Nonetheless, the comeback in that game was pretty fun to watch.  In the end, the good guys won.

With that victory in hand, the Terriers were to face Miami of Ohio in the Championship game.  Late Saturday afternoon, I trekked into Washington to meet my friends for dinner at the District ChopHouse before the game.  As we all finished dinner, we made our way to our seats for what, I had hoped, would be a routine and methodical dispatching of the Miami Redhawks.

Unfortunately, that was not to be.  The Redhawks took the lead late in the third period by the score of 3-1.  In a rare move, BU pulled the goalie for an extra skater with more than three minutes left.  While that helped generate some pressure, no points were scored for 2 minutes.  Then, with just under a minute remaining, BU pulled off an astounding comeback–scoring 2 goals in 42 seconds.  The scores forced the Championship into overtime. This was the most exciting thing I had ever seen at a sporting event, and it left me and my friends breathless as the intermission started.

The overtime period began, and BU had some missed opportunities.  And, finally, BU scored a goal deflected off a Redhawk defender.  The game ended, and the celebration began. BU completed an amazing comeback to win the game.

It was fun to see another National Championship.  My friends and I had a good time, and we were able to see some exciting hockey.

The championship game was a good game, and the outcome was the preferred one: BU won their 29th Beanpot. 

Photos are being posted to Flickr of the festivities. 

The reviewer was not too keen on the food, but I always thought they did the pub standards very well.  Personally, the nachos were the standard by which all other nachos were judged.  As for beers, the selection there was like none other. 

Ravens LosS to the Titans

While I was able to take my grandfather and uncle to their first Ravens game on a beautiful day, I was unable to ensure they saw a win.  While I do think the roughing the passer penalty was a bit specious at best, a loss cannot be laid at the hands of the officials alone.  The defense stopped pressuring the quarterback late in the game, and that hurt them.  Now, the tough road stretch begins.  I still am surprised at how the Ravens are doing considering most folks thought they would suck.  Ray Lewis is truly playing like a man possessed (and 10 years younger). 

Red Sox and Rays in the ALCS

While I sincerely wanted the Angels would defeat the Red Sox in their Divisional Series, the fates and playoff history conspired against me.  The Rays, on the other hand, easily handled the Ozzie Guillen-managed White Sox.  (Aside: My hatred for Ozzie Guillen is a deep-seated one, and I find his managerial skills to be highly over-rated.)  Now, my allegiance swings to the Rays.  I would like to see them go from worst to first–even a World Series win.  If they do it while beating the Red Sox, even better.  Anything that slightly reduces the smug nature of most of the visiting Red Sox fans when they visit Baltimore brings a smile to my face.  Besides, I now have a night of drinking riding on this.  Go Rays!

College hockey begins

Important only to me, but my alma mater is ranked 2nd in the Hockey East preseason Coaches Poll and ranked 9th in the Division I Men’s Poll.  I miss watching college hockey. 

I have never been to Michigan, so it will be good to take in a nice weekend trip.  Even better will be seeing some good friends and college hockey.

According to the RIAA, my alma mater is number 15 on the list of the top 25 colleges and universities (via Crunchgear).

Makes me wish I was still in school to enjoy all of the pirated material. 

Post-game, we retired to McGann’s Pub just outside of the Garden. Over celebratory pints, we were congratulated by BU and BC fans and alums alike. Of course, it was nice to rub it in a bit on the BC fans.

I never went to a game when I was an undergrad, so this was actually my first Beanpot game ever. We were talking about it last night, and I realized that for some strange reason I never went to a ‘Pot at all. Aside from this being the first one, I enjoyed seeing some friends I had not seen in a long time.

I will definitely be doing this again next year.

Go BU! BC sucks!