How do I love Ovechkin?

Let me count the ways:

1: Sexy Ugly.

2: How he starts the game with a big open ice hit to Steve Begin. like saying 'hello, my name is Ovechkin, not only will I undress multiple defensemen but I'll also take on the grinders.'

3: How he uses the opponents players as a screen before ripping and impossible slapshot, from an impossible angle to an impossible corner.

4: How he can somehow be a finesse player but also register 5 teeth rattling hits against players of Komisarek's stature.

5: How he seems to find space on the ice when there shouldn't be any.

6: How he never gives up and manages to be a threat ever second hes on the ice.

7: How he considers it a special day because he got stitches AND broke his nose. Oh ya and he scored 4 goals in a game. For the second time this season. And also registered and assist.

8: How his boyish enthusiasm does not seem at all affected by a monstrous contract.

9: How he glams up his outfit with Yellow laces and a tinted visor.

10: How even though he is speaking another language you can tell that he has a great sense of humor.

Habs v. Blackhawks and Female Presidents

Its an original 6 match-up tonight-as you know if you listen to the Drive show (I must have said original 6 about 20 times) and one thing that stood out for me at practice today was- how teeny Patrick Kane is!!! I mean seriously, I am going to keep my eyes out for this guy and I know he was a number 1 pick overall but heck I don't often watch the Blackhawks so never thought for a minute that he looked so young! He's listed at 5'10" 163 pounds. ummmmm yeeaaaahhhhh. Don't think so. And just look at that face. Don't you just want to pinch his cheeks? Must be something special to be such a standout among the giants he plays next to. For the game tonight keep you eyes out for #88 as well as on the Habs, the Kostitsyns who really have come into their own this season and of course hopefully the Lapierre-Higgins-Ryder line that I hope will only get better. Ryder playing well is spectacular when you see how quick a shot he has and they have teamed up for some pretty sweet plays as of late. Andrei Markov is sure to be on his game after receiving the honor of being not only chosen for the All-Star team but coming second only to Sidney Crosby in voting. Seriously? Seriously? I mean he absolutely deserves it but I am pleasantly surprised that hockey fans supported him so much that he falls directly behind Crosby.

Switching gears completely- Now I am not American but am I the only one sick of hearing the debate - Is America ready for a female president or is America ready for a Black president? (Although we hear the latter less as its more acceptable to be completely sexist than racist these days) How about this Americans? Why not try electing someone for their values and platforms that you think will be able to turn around the frikken mess you find yourself in after letting someone who makes Paris Hilton look like a MENSA member run your country for the past 7 years? If you think that they can get the job done and have some brains and hopefully some understanding of the world outside the United States who cares if it's a woman, man, trans gender- aren't you looking a bit deeper than this? It's the dumbest question ever but I do love seeing media types discuss it while trying to avoid sounding blatantly sexist. Men and women by the way.

New Years Resolutions anyone??

Well since over the Holidays my computer connection went from no wireless to no nothing, your movie list will have to be more of a must see in the New Year as opposed to vacation viewing. Since I have a serious love of Kung-Fu I was going to categorize all the recommendations but heck you guys can figure it out! so here they are in no particular order:

Fist of legend – Jet Li

Drunken Master- the original with Jackie Chan before he started doing stuff like Around the World in 80 days

Ong Bak- it will renew your love for Kung-Fu- Tony Jaa is insane.

Donnie Darko- if you loved 80s movies (John Hughes only please) you will dig this totally weird movie.

True Romance- don’t be fooled by the title; it's witty, violent and best of all has Gary Oldman who can pretty much do no wrong. I mean the guy played Beethoven and Sid Vicious. Range anyone?

Taxi- the original French one. If you have not yet seen this you are truly missing out. Especially if you like cars. Cool ass cars.

Millers Crossing-First of all it is Coen Brothers so that alone should sell you but also has bar-none the best quotable lines like: "Take your flunky and dangle."

Ghost Dog- Director/Writer Jim Jarmusch is definitely not for everyone but if you like RZA the soundtrack alone will blow your mind and the movie is damn cool.

Down By Law-Another Jarmusch masterpiece- Tom Waits and Roberto Benigni in one of the funniest films I have ever seen.

Rushmore-Wes Anderson is also hit or miss with most people but if you want something different, sweet and funny check it out!

Sexy Beast- Great gangster flick- Ben Kingsley most intimidating tiny gangster.

Top Gun- I'm sorry I have to include it on every list. Know it by heart- I used to want to fly fighter jets and did 3 years of Air Cadets. Also my cousin is a pilot and sent me THIS http://alt.coxnewsweb.com/ajc/swf/blueangels/blueangels.swf which you really have to check out.

Feel free to add to the list!!! And now time to get back to sports.

RECAP of fun-ness!

So many things to recap right now so prior to my must-see-holiday-movie-list that I am working VERY hard on- I wanted to blog about a few things that have happened in the past week or so.

First: It is game day meaning one of 2 things.- tomorrow Habs fans will be planning where they will be watching the Habs win the Cup or tomorrow Habs fans will be calling for Carbonneau’s head on a platter, claiming Gainey is an idiot and discussing the merits of a non-French speaking captain. The team looks like they seem to have gotten past the lack of confidence problem that was making it hard to win game and Sergie Kostitsyn looks like a good fit for the Koivu top line. How long will it last… who knows?

Second: Melnick remote at Mechant Beouf

I have to be honest, I normally do not love doing remotes because they make me really nervous. It always turns out better than I expect because of all the wonderful people that take time out of their day to come down and hang out, participate in the show and of course come over to say hello! This time was no different. A big thank you to the Resto/Hotel and everyone who stopped by. Also due to the lovely folks working homeland security we got to spend more time with Bill Lee who was in fine form at the show.

TEAM 990 Staff Party

Our party this year was at Irish Embassy. A first time there for me and it was great! As usual with the TEAM 990 get-togethers it was a total sausage fest so I brought along some girls that do my show TOTALLY BROAD (on hiatus till January) which I am sure upped that bar bill significantly. A good time was had by all and I think most of us were suffering for it the next day!

Bring on the Bruins

Yes Yes the movie list is coming. Hold your horses! I just had to write in today following that abysmal loss to the Wings last night. The Habs had 16 shots on net last night and won 40% of the face-offs. You don't need to look at a stat sheet to see that they are having problems. I think it is important to remember however, before everyone panics, that the team looked SO much better at the beginning of the season. If they were good then, they can be good again in my opinion. The problem for the Canadiens as I see it is simple. They can win games against top teams when everyone contributes and the effort is there on every shift. However you get a few passengers or fall behind and say goodnight Gracie.

How do the Canadiens now find themselves so low on confidence that they can not manage a come from behind win? How does Andre Markov suddenly become a glaring weakness on the team? How does Micheal Ryder suddenly look like the second coming of Sergie Samsonov? What happened to Francis Boullion? There are a lot of unanswered questions right now for the Habs. Lets hope that Maxim Lapierre and Ryan O'Byrne have some answers.

Do they do this on purpose?

How many times have the Habs let a goal sneak in with under 20 seconds to go forcing overtime? I mean my goodness, I think I am going to have to send my massage therapy bill to the Canadiens for all the undue stress they have caused me! We are supposed to be impartial but I cant help but hope for the win especially with a 4-3 lead on the Leafs. Those late goals are just killers but I have to confess, I love overtime and most of the time I love the shootout. I am sure all the hockey purists are groaning out loud but I can't help it I love seeing the different moves especially when I am expecting something and they do something else. Perfect example; Alex Kovalev last night. I thought for sure he would pull some kind of deke and instead he roof s a beautiful shot over Toskala.
Feelings on OT and shootouts??

Also as the holidays are approaching I am in desperate need of a new book to read. Its so hard to choose books, I get way too overwhelmed in bookstores and every good book I have read is from a recommendation. So, here are mine for you:
BEST easy reading: The Curious incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by: Mark Haddon or Save Karyn By Karyn Bosnak

Just damn good books:
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Papillion by Henri Charriere
Life of Pi by Yann Martel (read it quick before they make it into a movie!!)

OK thats all you get for now! Send me in your top pics. Im also a bit of a movie snob so I will be putting together a list of must-sees that you can check out on vacation!

I have been relegated to: 'Sister to Myshka'. - Myshka is a dog.

Has anyone else's parents inched closer to insanity with retirement or is it just mine? I was met at my parents house this weekend with a cry of "Myshkaaaaa! Your sisters are here" Which would not be all that strange except for the fact that Myshka is a Black Lab/Rottweiler who has somehow usurped my sister and I as my parents favorite child.

It was a wonderful long weekend on the heels of a week rife with discussion of Hall of Fame entries and who should and should not go into the Hall. To be honest I have a hard time when we talk about the Hall of Fame because more often than not the contenders are a little before my time and I did not see them play with my own eyes. All I have to go on is usually whatever is on the record about the possible inductees, and as I have realized over the past few years is that, at times the pundits get it wrong. This I do know however; the HOF should be reserved for those that were way out in front of the rest in the era they played. Not great player, hell of a guy etc etc but the truly exceptional. Otherwise why bother. I think Mitch put it best when he said something along the lines of - "If there is a debate over whether or not they go in, you have your answer." I like the simplicity of this rationalization. It reminds me of another story making the headlines this week; What is the future of Jim Pop as head coach of the Alouettes.

All knowing (with curiously svelte legs) Herb Zurkowsky wrote in the Gazette today that Owner Robert Wetenhall has plans to meet with three offensive veterans: Ben Cahoon, Bryan Chiu and Kerry Watkins about the strengths and weaknesses of Popp, the team's general manager and head coach. I think if it gets to the point where there appears to be so many malcontents on the team that the owner needs input from the players to try and get the real story.... you already have your answer. I hate to qualify an opinion but I will say that I respect everything that Jim Pop has done as a GM with the Als and he has never been anything but friendly and forthcoming with me, however I do not think having a GM as Coach is ever really a good idea. In some cases it works but I think there is a conflict of interest there that can have a disastrous outcome on the club. That being said, we must remember the Als were dealt a few significant blows this season, not the least of which being the injury/D-listing of Tim Strickland and Anthony Calvillo making the absolute right decision by leaving to be with his sick wife. So the Als will not win the Grey Cup- but who cares? The Habs are going to win the cup!