HOCKEY ACTION TO RESUME AT FAIRBANKS...IN OCTOBER
What a way to start off my take this weekend by giving you all my news and views of such honesty of how Moosehead beer is supposed to taste like...no wait, that's a commercial I used to listen to constantly years ago living in SoCal.
However I have not been in a very good mood these last several days within the local and national sports scene, let's get right to it. If you thought moving an NBA basketball team to Oklahoma City was bad enough, how about telling our local hockey team that they can't play on their home ice because it would be a "disadvantage" to the division champions' home ice advantage and over money. That's right Topeka, I'm talking about your hockey team. The Roadrunners are saying that it was an economics issue. I say it was absolutely BS.
Let me say this right now. If you are in a league that involves other teams outside of your local area, outside of your state, etc., you should be able to play at other venues. Can you imagine the Roadrunners telling NAHL Commissioner Mark Frankenfeld that they can't play in the Robertson Cup because they can't afford to play in, say...Fairbanks? (Just to let you all know, the 2007 Robertson Cup tournament was held at the Big Dipper.) Bottom line, the Ice Dogs paid to fly down to Kansas to play in a playoff series. Topeka, you want to compete for the Robertson Cup in St. Louis, its just like competing in the World Series of Poker...put your money down and prove that you belong in the finals. Its that simple. If you can't, shut down your business, let the players go into the basement for the summer, and start selling girl scout cookies on your own time. That way you can be able to have the money for once to fly up here (and the testicular fortitude) and compete against one of the best. Cody Reichard shut you guys down Friday night, just like he would have done to you this coming week in Games 3 and 4.
As for Rob Prof and the gang, I'm sure Friday's 3-1 win (all three goals in the second period) was a message sent to Roadrunners team owner Georgia Frontiere....ERRR....Mary Magdalene Lorang. If you can't afford coming up to Fairbanks, we'll make sure you can't afford going to St. Louis. Get out of the playoffs, watch the Stanley Cup on TV and chow down some tuna sandwiches with Toto. Good luck Topeka. You may now resume your elimination process already progress.
ACES HIGH ON WAITING...AND WAITING...AND WAITING
It was last Sunday night down at Sullivan Arena that Keith McCambridge's Alaska Aces swept the defending Kelly Cup champion Idaho Steelheads advancing to the second round of the ECHL's National Conference semifinals.
Here we are on Saturday afternoon, and we still have no idea who the Aces will play.
Last night the Las Vegas Wranglers knocked off the Stockton Thunder in overtime 4-3 at Stockton Arena, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead. Game 5 resumes Sunday afternoon in Stockton. If Stockton wins Sunday, Game 6 will be back at Orleans Arena on Tuesday night, with a possible deciding Game 7 to be played Wednesday night on West Tropicana.
For the Aces, its been practice, practice and practice just to kill time. I mean, come on, you can't have these guys lie around doing nothing and watching game film all day. They gotta keep loose, fit, and ready to go at anytime. Here's how the scenario goes:
- If the Wranglers hold on to the series lead and wins it, they would host the Aces starting on Friday and Saturday nights. Games 3, 4 and 5 would be back at Sullivan Arena the following week. Game 3 will be on Tuesday April 29th; Game 4 on Thursday May 1st; Game 5 (if necessary) on Friday May 2nd.
- If the Thunder comes back and wins the series, the Aces-Thunder series will not take place until next Sunday at Sullivan Arena with Game 2 on Tuesday April 29th. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be at Stockton Arena. If necessary, Games 6 and 7 will be back in Anchorage
The Aces might as well go to Vegas just to kill time. Find the blackjack tables, the penny slots (yes those actually exist still), and not to mention, my favorite place when I used to live there, Glitter Gulch at the Fremont Street Experience.
22 in San Diego
It was at 12:22 am that I shut my computer down for the evening and get in my four-hour sleep to prepare for Friday at work on the base.
That's about one minute after watching the Colorado Rockies finally beat the San Diego Padres 2-1 at San Diego's PETCO Park in a game that lasted exactly 22 innings. I turned on the game thru my subscription to MLB.TV Premium package (which is the only way to watch non-blacked out Mariners game in Fairbanks via GCI...more on that in a minute) and when I started watching the game, they were in the 13th inning and not one of those teams had yet scored...until the 14th...after the 14th it was tied...and it remained 1-1 until 22nd inning when Padres shortstop Khalil Greene threw just a bit too high to first baseman Tony Clark. The Rockies would later score in that inning and seal it.
I tell you I was tired and I was glad I was not at that game in person. Channel 4 San Diego's "Padres Postgame" hosts John Weisbarth and Bob Scanlan were being seen having their own action during the 22-inning marathon by bouncing coins into a cup (must've been a quarter, but that's just me saying that). Anyhow, that game was as boring as watching Natalie whining about everything that doesn't go her way on CBS' "Big Brother: Till Death Do You Part".
GCI Home to Mariners Baseball...When Available
When I first moved here to Fairbanks last May, I knew I was going to end up watching FSN Northwest's coverage of Seattle Mariners baseball. Then GCI went ahead added FSN Northwest's HD feed, since all home games were seen in high-definition. That makes it even better.
Here we are in 2008, and not even a dozen Mariners games have been seen in Fairbanks, let alone the state of Alaska on GCI. Blacking out Mariners on FSN Northwest (which is GCI's FSN regional affiliate) is as worse as KUAC-TV (PBS in Fairbanks) being the only Fairbanks TV station airing anything in HD. I tell you what, I better get with my landlord about getting my DIRECTV service back (I haven't had their service since 2005) and finding a way to get the dish up. I found out that Mariners' coverage on FSN Northwest are not being blacked out via DIRECTV or DISH Network.
Thankfully my MLB.TV Premium subscription does not blackout any games here in Alaska, including Mariners games. Pretty much all games are seen by the home team telecasts (the only games blacked out are the Sunday Night Baseball telecasts on ESPN) including games that are not even on TV itself by showing the in-stadium feed with the home team radio broadcasts. (**Update: MLB.TV now blacks out FOX' Saturday Baseball live coverage...something it was not doing the first week of the season)
Another fine example on why we pay too much for basic service and receiving very little with our cable companies now these days. The only good thing that GCI has not done...moving NFL Network over to the sports tier. Now I'm waiting for Channel 11, ABC Alaska and Channel 13 to finally air some sports programming in HD. What's taking so long for sports fans in Fairbanks to wait for the World Series, Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Finals & Super Bowl to air in high-def?
Those are my takes...now its your turn.
