Don't Reign on My Parade . . . Take II

Well, it is September 28th again, which means only one thing: we are mere hours away from the first puck being dropped in the 2007-2008 NHL season. Hours you say? That is correct. For the first time in NHL history, the season is starting in September. My Kings are being forced to open the season a week early because their owner (who's name will never be mentioned on this site until he actually acts like an owner . . . no free publicity for you until you actually attend a game) decided to ship them off to London, England to play a "home-and-home" serious at the new O2 arena he just built. [Bitter Irony Update: the start of the first game was delayed about 30 minutes because the arena lights wouldn't come back on after the national anthems. That would have never happened at Staples Center.]

To make matters worse, what team did he choose to play the Kings? Wait for it . . . wait for it . . . you guessed it, the Anaheim Ducks. I am sure Mr. "I Am a Terrible Owner" made a couple of million dollars (which is really necessary when you're a multi-billionaire) by convincing the two teams to play in England, but did he really have to pick the Ducks as the other team? Are you trying to intentionally anger your fans so that when you announce you are moving the team to Kansas City they will not care? Believe you me, it was not easy to read about the Ducks bring home the Stanley Cup in their fourteenth season (ain't no way I was gonna watch that). It is not like the Kings have been around for forty-one seasons, have one of the most loyal fan bases in all of hockey and are stuck with an owner who in practically rubs it in their face or anything like that. You using the whole fist there Doc?

But I do not want to get ahead of myself this early on. Sure last season was disappointing and all, but it is a whole new ball game now. [I was originally going to describe last season as a train wreck but two things happened: (1) I realized that there were a lot of positives to be taken from last season, and (2) Webster's Dictionary actually defines train wreck as, and I quote "VH1's Rock of Love with Bret Michaels." Seriously. Just imagine the goodness you get when you mix a washed-up rock star (who has had a shocking amount of plastic surgery I might add) with a group of women comprised of wannabe groupies, professional "dancers" (read: strippers) and girls who likely have outstanding restraining orders against them. Mix in some booze, and more than likely a few STDs, and you have the definition of train wreck. Yet, for some reason, there I'll be this Sunday night watching the finale.]

At first glance, you might be wondering what positives I can take from a season in which the Kings finished 28th out of 30 teams by going 27-41-14 (hey, isn't that my high school locker combo?). I will be the first to admit that a record like that does not add up to a pretty season. Yet, when you dig deeper, you see the light at the end of the tunnel. The Kings were young, very young, and they relied on their youth to be leaders. Anze Kopitar is the real deal, a superstar in the making. He was the third leading scorer amongst NHL rookies, the third leading scorer on the Kings, and he played hard every night. NHL experts always say that a player does not truly come into his own until his third year in the league. That means we have two more seasons to discover just what Anze Kopitar can do.

While Anze may be a legitimate superstar in the making, he is not the only young player who made an impact last season. Michael Cammalleri, Patrick O'Sullivan, Dustin Brown, Alexander Frolov and Jack Johnson are all 25 years old or younger and all played a roll in last years development (O'Sullivan and Johnson have also been touted as superstars in the making). The Kings played in, and lost, a lot of close games last year. It is hard to expect a young team to be able to close out games; you have to learn to play a full sixty minutes. Yet very few teams had an easy time handling this team. While the goaltending, as always, was clearly an issue, the Kings did manage to finish a respectable 10th in the league on the power play, something you would not expect from a young team. At this time last year, all I was asking for was a team that played hard night-in and night-out. The 2006-2007 Kings did not disappoint.

You are probably wondering where that leaves us for this year. For starters, DL made a splash in the free agent a market the likes of which Kings fans have not seen, well, ever. Instead of being a wallflower at his first middle school dance, DL walked right up to the hottest girl in the room and asked her to dance. But he did not just dance with one girl; oh no, he danced with every girl there. When all was said and done, DL had signed five solid free agents this offseason, adding two top-six forwards in Michal Handzus and Ladislav Nagy, two mobile defensemen in Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing, and a forward who is not afraid to park himself right in front of the opposing goaltender at all times in Kyle Calder. Want a cherry on top of the sundae? Here is one in the form of 19-year-old goaltender Jonathan Bernier, the Kings' first-round pick in the 2006 NHL draft. Bernier had an unbelievable pre-season and earned himself a spot on the opening day roster. The Kings have 10 games to decide whether they should keep him with the big club or send him back to the minors. But if he plays well and becomes the goaltender of the future that the Kings hope he will, look out. [Update: Bernier started the first game of the season and led the Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Ducks.]

So here we are. The puck drops in less than twelve hours and I am more excited about my Kings than I have been in a long time. It is time for the Kings to take that next step; time for them to play even harder, night-in and night-out; time for them to beat the teams they should every time and surprise some of the other teams every now and then. Show me that, and I will go home happy every night. Show me that, and this season will be a success. Show me that, and the Kings will make it back to the playoffs. Show me that, and maybe DL's three-year plan becomes a two-year plan. Show me that, and maybe, just maybe . . .

Man, I have got to lay off the Kool-Aid.

We're Back, and Better Than Ever!

As my good friend Samir Na . . . Na . . . Not Gonna Work Here Anymore once sang: “Back up in your 'gluteus maximus' with the Resurrection.” Okay, that might not be exactly what he sang, but you get the point. GameTime, TBD© is back and, with the help of my overly-computer-savvy friend Jimbo, is better than ever. Today we celebrate the one year anniversary of the blog that has single-handedly changed the landscape of life as we know it. I know Al Gore wants you to believe that global warming is behind all of these changes, but that is because he cannot come to terms with overwhelming power of my words and the enjoyment they bring to those that read them.

But I am not just resurrecting GameTime, TBD© with a new look. No; my avid readers (and those who stumble across this haven of wisdom) deserve more. With the new look comes a new game plan. I will be introducing new features to go along with the new look. In addition to my usual posts about life and sports, you will have the opportunity to enjoy the insights and comments of My Better Half who, more often than not, has a few responses she would like to share about things I say (I know, I know…it’s shocking to think that someone has the nerve to disagree with BAP…the things I have to put up with on a daily basis). Also, every Friday I will be posting a link dump--a list of links to content on the world wide web--providing you access to information that you may not have seen during the week and that I believe is news worthy (like, for example, this article that confirms what we feared most: men like boobs). It will be a nice way to kill those last few hours . . . er . . . minutes at the office when no one is doing any actual work.

All this should help prevent the late-season burnout I suffered during my first year as a “blogger.” Let’s face it, when the hockey season came to a bitter end I was lost, floating aimlessly in a boat without a paddle. I have apologized to my readers on several occasions in the past, and now I plan to show them just how committed I am to making their lives better. I will never leave you stranded without my witty commentary again (to my credit, no one could have predicted Britney’s total melt down or Lindsey’s trip back to rehab…ah, who am I kidding, we saw this coming from a mile away). I have learned from my mistakes and am better because of it. So I ask you to join me in the celebrating the one year anniversary of GameTime, TBD© and its magnificent resurrection.