The playoffs are upon us. Too soon and not soon enough, all at once.
I miss the regular season already. Things were calmer then. Life was sweet. If you lose a game, just play another one in a couple of days. Everything will be fine.
The playoffs are not like that at all. This is a time when every single move could be your last. When tiny things are magnified and big things are incomprehensible.
Everybody says it’s the best time of the year, but it is crushing for every team but one.
On the other hand, if you’re that one team, every season that crushed you was worth it for the one season that doesn’t. The season where you’re the only one that gets to be happy.
I don’t like to make predictions. I don’t predict who will win a game in November, and I don’t plan to predict who will win any of the series that are about to start. It will just end up making me look silly.
I know little to nothing about the Eastern Conference but what I hear from the MSM, which is all Ovechkin, all the time. I’ll just list the teams I like, based on not hating them. How would that be?
The matchups are these:
Montreal Canadiens vs. Boston Bruins
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Ottawa Senators
Philadelphia Flyers vs. Washington Capitals
New Jersey Devils vs. New York Rangers
I like the Canadiens, the Bruins, the Penguins, the Senators and the Devils. You can see there’s a quandary there. The Canadiens have Gainey and Carbonneau and they seem like nice kids. Boston has Marc Savard, and that’s about all I know about them. And Zdeno Chara. But that’s really all I know. So I’m okay with them.
I like Pittsburgh, because I’m wild about Sidney Crosby. I didn’t appreciate him as much as I should have in his first couple of years, but now I do. And unlike a lot of EC fans, I kind of like the Senators. I love Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley. Again, that’s pretty much it. I’m okay with either of those teams.
The Flyers are thugs, but Derian Hatcher is one of them so I’m a little torn. But I’ve pretty much moved on from the Hatcher attachment I used to have, so the Flyers are on the bad list. And the Capitals drive me crazy. Every little thing they do, by virtue of the fact that Ovechkin is on the team, is lauded as the best any team has ever done it. Many teams barely made the playoffs and many barely missed them, but we only know about the Caps. Probably not their fault, but they’re on the bad list, too.
And, of course, the New Jersey Devils are at the top of the good list. Little Jamie Langenbrunner is the captain this season, you know. They’re spunky and fun, but they aren’t very highly touted. Surely they can at least beat the loathsome New York Rangers.
Tomorrow, if I get around to it, I’ll look at the Western Conference. Just don’t be surprised if it’s very heavily slanted.
