Shoup Airlines

Today’s ponderances

How exactly can Jeff Kent announce his retirement tomorrow when SportsCenter is announcing it today?

If your last name is Lemieux and you are in the NHL, is it a requirement that you retire for 4 or 5 years before returning to the sport?

Lastly, how many times can one not from ‘Bama tolerate Sweet Home Alabama while imprisoned in ‘Bama before making Charles Manson look like the poster child for Buddhism?

Lord Stanley and his Cup

Measuring 36 inches tall and weighing 35 pounds, the Stanley Cup is probably coveted more than an Olympic gold medal.  If you can outplay everyone else through 82 regular season games and then a minimum of 16 grueling playoff games where that guy in the other jersey is trying to take your head off in his quest for the Cup, then and only then can you lift 115 years of history over your head.

It can’t be any more appropriate that when the Stanley Cup is finally welcomed into the arms of Southern California it be at the hands of a team born from a movie.  And not just any movie, a Disney movie.  I now wonder if Lord Stanley denied the Ducks’ bid in 2003 because he didn’t want the MIGHTY Ducks of Anaheim stamped on his Cup.   Or is it just coincidence that the very year the organization shakes its final vestiges of anything Disney, renaming themselves The Anaheim Ducks, they win the Cup?

I would have given my right nut to see this final series go down between the Ducks and the Sabres.  Then again, I see it only fitting that the Ducks win this legacy against a Canadian team.  A team that has been around as long as the Cup.  Never mind that 60 year gap between seasons for the Ottawa Senators.

My hat is off to you, gentlemen.  Congratulations!  But no one deserves it more than you, Teemu.  Even if you are a Finn!  I can only hope tonight wasn’t your last game.

So how long do you think it will be before they rename themselves The Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim?

Oh, how the Mighty have fallen!

Since the Dodgers are playing like they really wished it had all ended in September, I’ve been reading up on the freshly opened hockey season.  I missed the entire second half of last season due to living under a rock affectionately called Basic Combat Training.  So there’s been some serious catching up to do. 

Apparently they are no longer the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.  Now known as simply the Anaheim Ducks I believe they’re slimming down the name in preparation to follow suit with their colleagues across the freeway and soon become the California Los Angeles Ducks of Anaheim in Orange County and Tijuana.  This way they can bridge the gap between the Latino community that has a huge fan base in hockey!

One of the few things I liked about the Ducks was the fact that they referred to their arena as the Pond.  Yes, it’s cheesy and a bit sally-ish compared to the likes of the Shark Tank or the Bank Vault but still.  More officially, it was the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim but God Bless those naming rights and the money that comes with them!  The facility is now just the Honda Center.  Sometimes I really wish capitalism would take a flying leap off a rather tall building.