The most Epic Comeback in Hockey history

The most epic comeback in Hockey history happened last night...and most people didn't see. I didn't see it coming and the Toronto Maple Leafs certainly didn't either. WOW is all I can say!

Boston

I used to go to the Red Sox game every Patriots Day in Boston. The game would let out and everybody would drift down to see the finish line of the Boston Marathon. It was always a nice spring day of sports and revelry. It's always been a day you either watched the marathon on TV or frequent a spot along the route. It is all changed now...now we will be watching and hoping nothing ever happens like it did yesterday. I thought my generation grew up in the age of terrorism. My daughters are witnessing terror on what seems a daily basis. I was actually on the way home from Foxwoods and decided around 2:30 to not go through Boston. I went around it and I was on rt. 128 when I heard at 2:50 about some kind of bomb and it's aftermath. I had to get home and turn on the news. I was also waiting for my parents to drop off my daughters at my house. There were some horrific images and recordings of the events coming through at that time. My daughters arrived with my parents. Fresh from a day at the park they were happy but I couldn't turn off the news. I sent them to watch Nickelodeon away from all the graphic images and news. My parents and I and my wife (who started doing housework....she does this when she "Can't control what happens...I have to keep busy") discussed some of the stuff coming on TV. I guess when I was a toddler and my parents went to a European vacation back in '73 or so...there was a terrorist strike at a landmark that they went to visit not long after they had been there. Nobody knows what to say or do...we just have to get through it...again. Later in the evening after trying to keep my daughters from the inevitable I had a conversation with my older daughter who is about to turn 8 in a couple of weeks. I asked her if she knew about what had happened and she just said "...about the bombs going off? yes I know about that...I heard it on the radio and saw some pictures." She was very matter-of-fact and seemed to know what was going on. I asked how she felt about it and the answer made me realize that our kids are almost completely desensitized to the horrific events. She kind of looked at me with some sad eyes and shrugged her shoulders and said "It happens...I guess....there is a lot of bad people that do these things right?" I sort of agreed and let her know that these things that happened yesterday (and the Sandy Hook massacre...which is still foremost on our minds and hers) are not normal. I can't believe it but then again I can believe it...
There is a story about a whole family practically wiped out. A son and daughter hugged their dad who ran the marathon at the finish line. They went back to the sidewalk and the first bomb went off. The eight year old boy died. His sister lost a leg and the mother was in brain surgery this morning still. They are from Dorchester. I also heard two brothers from the town I live in both lost a leg. They were standing next to the 8 year old boy and his family. Their mother also lives in out town. This is hitting home. There is some sort of media blackout happening. There are a ton of press conferences and media coverage sure....but there is still nothing that can be confirmed. God bless everybody in Boston and especially the victims of this cowardly act. The act of terror will not stop us from doing what we do....

'The Two'

It's actually The 'Who'....but who cares. I call them 'The Two' for obvious reasons. Me and a buddy of mine went to the Providence Civic Center AKA the 'Dunkin Donuts' center a couple of weeks ago. These guys still put on one hell of a show. Besides the fact that they can project the old footage of 'Quadrophenia' they can also project the Keith Moon and John Entwistle footage and jam along with them post mortem. I've seen them 5 times now....once for the 'Tommy' tour in the early 90's and twice for the 'Quadrophenia' tour. They are so great and the band they have filling in is incredible as well. Zach Starki (Ringo Starr's son) is an incredible drummer...and Simon Townsend is a great guitarist in his own right. They have to be to fill out the sound of the Who. Pino Palladino does his best John Entwistle impression....those are big shoes he's filling. I haven't been to the downtown area in Providence R.I. since the late 80's. I think I saw a hair band or two the last time I was there. 'Quadrophenia' is an underrated album of course. That's why Pete Townsend wants some recognition for it. It deserves recognition of course...but sadly it will never equal the success of 'Tommy'. With Pete and Roger Daltrey approaching 70...this will likely be the last time we see the Who. Pics because it happened...yes the pics are not exactly good. They are from an Apple iPhone 3GS which puts me in ancient apple time and camera pixelation. By the way...people who had tickets 35 years ago were welcome for free since that concert was cancelled due to the riot/trampling tragedy in Philadelphia I believe.

At least we have this going for us....

Fitzy's Wicked Pissah Pats/Texans Playoff Preview

It's that time of year.....

Charity Poker

I will be here on Saturday. It's not the WPBT tourney but it will have to do. Plus you can feel good about donating to a good cause. I will also be hammered as it is a short walk from my house.

I didn't get into the money but I had some fun. The tourney was for charity of course and the proceeds were dedicated to A.L.S. on the banner above. There was also a 'Town Hall' type meeting for the P.P.A. I also met the P.P.A. nationwide leader Rich Muny, John Pappas was there as well. There was also Massachusetts P.P.A. rep. Dan Brown (who organized the event and who is also a high school alumni). I also met radio personality Pete Sheppard (W.E.E.I.) who is a big poker fan and a nice guy as well. I played at the table with Ashley Adams (Poker book author). He commanded a certain presence at the table. I talked with him about a couple of his books...and a certain article I used to read on a young 'Poker News' website....10 years ago! Here is his current website HouseOfCards  How times flies...huh?.

Turkey

Talkin' Turkey....Turkey Talkin' Turkey Talk....Have a nice Thanksgiving everybody...

Last night there was an earthquake...

Here are the devastating results :

I think I found....

A home game! I played a little dealers choice poker Saturday night...we'll see....

The next time I play poker will be....

Sometime soon......and no it wasn't during my vacation. I had some weird things happen including a health scare that had me tied up in knots for a few days at the end of vacation. That all turns out to be fine so far. Hopefully I'll be free and clear next Monday. There were some other things that I won't get into but everything has turned out for the better. I hope to get to Rockingham Park soon....maybe Foxwoods during the fall etc.

The next time I play poker will be...

At the Seabrook Dog track during the week of the 19th-26th. Why? Because I will be staying for a week on my annual Salisbury beach vacation. I will probably go sometime during the week as the weekends are fully packed with family, friends, and summer fun. So what? when? why play a certain tournament? Somebody give me a great reason to go and meet me there....

The Octo-Mom

Or rather the Octo-nine . I guess I'll be pulling for the guy from Connecticut...he's probably a Foxwoods regular I would guess. Does anybody really give a flying Fawk anymore?

There is some major tournament....

Going on right now...can't remember the name...*SNORE*.....

Like a Phoenix???

Rising from the ashes??? I had to copy this via Google Reader because for the Firewall!

Battle of the Bloggers 6?

by AlCantHang

Mayhaps.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the folks behind the new poker site called Face Up Gaming. It was a round-about process which included Riggstad, Pokerati Dan, about a dozen missed calls and a spam box full of messages never reaching the promised land. They are a new subsciption based model and were wondering about running a similar blogger series like the Battle of the Blogger tournaments I ran while toiling away at Full Tilt Poker. I sent out a few feeler emails (if I missed you, I apologize. My old blogger email database was lost in a blown up laptop drive poof last year) but the response has mostly been "show me what you've got".

We're still working out details a BBT-type setup but they already have everything in place to run individual leagues which seems to work well with what I have in mind. Now I just need to find out what I can get to dump even more on top. So far I dig the software (multi-tabling!) and it doesn't require a software download.

They are running a $5,000 freeroll on Sunday at 3pm ET (12:00 PT) if you want to kick the tires and check it out. It will require a membership to register for the tournament but it's also a 14 free trial to give it a try.

I'd be interested in everyone's opinion and thoughts, hopefully I can have something rock solid for prizes and a schedule next week. You can register with the link above or the banner below. In the old manner of the Blogfather, BONUS CODE ACH!