Entries from September 2005 ↓
September 12th, 2005 — New York Rangers
Mark Messier officially retired today after a 25-year career. I posted this back in March of 2004, after his last home game at the Garden:
Messier was the consummate leader as well as a winner, and brought both of those qualities with him when he joined the Rangers in 1991. His impact was felt immediately, and the Rangers fortunes soon improved.
No one will ever forget his Namathian prediction prior to Game Six of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils. To predict a victory, and then score a hat-trick himself truly cemented legend status to an already legendary character.
A few weeks later, when Messier lifted the Stanley Cup for the Rangers - their only Cup victory in the last 64 years - his legacy was complete. He will always be a New York sports icon, despite the fact that he began his career in Edmonton, or that he spent a “long-weekend”-like three seasons in Vancouver.
New York belonged to Messier, and Messier will always belong to New York.
The Rangers will retire Mess’s #11 jersey on January 12th against his original team the Edmonton Oilers.
September 11th, 2005 — New York Giants
I got to listen to the second half of this game last night on my way back from Josh’s bachelor party. I was initially upset about having missed the first half, and was frustrated to find that the score was 13-7 Cardinals as the 3rd quarter began.
Oh, but what a 3rd quarter.
The Giants put up 21 points in the third quarter, and another 14 in the fourth. On the second play of the half, Eli Manning, who was a mediocre 10 of 23 passing, completed a 44 yard pass to new signing Plaxico Burress. Two plays later, rookie Brandon Jacobs punched it in to put the Giants up by one. However, the major turning point came in the form of a Gibril Wilson interception that set up a 2o yard Tiki Barber touchdown run. That put the Giants up for good, and they ultimately scored over forty points for the first time since 2002.
It was an emotional game at Giants Stadium, as there were pre-game and half-time ceremonies marking the fourth anniversary of the Septemeber 11th attacks. There are sure to be more emotional moments next Monday as the Giants take on the New Orleans Saints in a game that was relocated from the Super Dome due to obvious reasons. The game will techinically count as a Saints home game, and it kicks off @ 7:30 PM on ABC. It will then be moved to ESPN at 9PM in all areas except New York, Louisiana and other gulf-coast markets.
September 11th, 2005 — Arsenal FC
I was away all weekend at Josh’s bachelor party, so I’ve not yet seen this match. However, I did see the following quote from Arsene Wenger, and I think it’s pretty telling:
“I feel you cannot afford any defeat at all, but at the moment our worry is not Chelsea, our worry is our own results. I am not a dreamer. Chelsea played at home against Sunderland [on Saturday] but I didn’t dream they would lose at home. What is more worrying is that we go home after a game like this with zero points after making the mistakes we made at the back - that is not acceptable. I feel we have the potential to be up there but we have to have a stronger killer instinct than we had today. It is not good enough how we took our chances or how we penetrated in the final third.”
September 9th, 2005 — Books and Music
Fans of Harry Potter and really bad punk music would do well to check out
“Harry & The Potters”
Made up of two Boston-based brothers, Joe and Paul DeGeorge, “The Potters” have been playing bookstores and libraries around the US, Canada and the UK.
Give them a listen, then check out their site, as well as this article from VH1.com
September 8th, 2005 — Soccer
This game was so damn boring, I fell asleep. That’s about all I can say about that.
September 7th, 2005 — Adventure
Well, busting my balls wasn’t the only order of business the other night at Erik Mitchell’s ancestral home. There was also bocce to play, pizza to eat, and beer to drink. We even cracked open a few bottles of Red Card II. Everyone loved it. Click the image above to see the entire gallery.
