Today the wifey and I are heading out to Cary for the first annual Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festival at Koka Booth Amphitheater. How brilliant is that? The World Beer Festival has been a smashing, massive success in Durham and Raleigh for many years now. But when you add bourbon AND barbecue to it, it could only get better right? Summer is all about events like these. Should be beautiful weather too, party cloudy with a high of 88.
w00t!
(image via Flickr user Dasro)Sweet! Some actual news for all of us hockey-starved Caniacs!
Tim Gleason signs to a four year deal & Darcy (tee hee, Darcy) Hordichuk's rights are acquired by Carolina from Nashville for a 5th round pick.
The Tiiiimmmmmmmmaaaaah news is outstanding, for it seemed that all the negotiations on re-signing him were going nowhere. I figured that my boy Jimmy was low-balling him. Young stud defenseman don't just grow on trees these days, nowdon'tyaknow... but the strides he has made in the past two seasons have been great and it's good to know that his reliability is here to stay. Love his toughness too. Favorite moment from this past season was when he body slammed Nathan Horton onto the ice. Looking forward to many more occasions like such. I'm thinking that the 4 year $11.5Mil contract is a number that all sides can live with, though I bet Gleason and his agent were after a bit more.
In another off the wall move today, the Canes brought in Darcy Hordichuk from the Nashville Predators who I'll admit I know very little about. Judging from his stats - he appears to be a hit or miss kind of player who has dealt with the injury bug before (welcome to Raleigh, you'll fit right in!). He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent as of July 1st, but something tells me that Jimmy Boy will get a contract on this cat before that happens. The good thing about this player is that he's the "tough guy" who can actually win a fight. Check out his fight card over at Hockeyfights.com.
So if Hordichuk signs to play on our fourth line, you can pretty much guarantee that Wade Brookbank won't be back... 
(Darcy loves the ladies, is someone stepping into the Pimp hat role for the departed John Grahame?)
Brace yourself folks. The Stalker face himself is supposedly entertaining offers from the organ-eye-zation as we speak.
Via Russianprospects.com:
Anton Babchuk (Carolina Hurricanes) is currently evaluating his options, one of which is to return to North America and accept an offer from the Carolina Hurricanes. Another option for Anton is to remain in Russia and re-sign with HC Avangard (Omsk), which has given him a qualifying offer to remain with the club. While Babchuk did not completely fulfill the expectations placed on him this past season in the Super League (Russia 1), he did deliver a strong season, thus making his return to the NHL likely, though it may not be with the Hurricanes if they trade his rights .
Although he's a decent prospect in the system, and the team has a boner for a d-man with potential & and offensive upside -- I just can't see my boy Jimmy forgiving the redonkulous way that Babs handled the assignment to Albany a few years ago. JR has been one of the most loyal GMs to his players, as in situations where a player is true to him, he returns the favor. Try and cross him though? You'll end up a healthy scratch or playing for the Florida Everblades for the duration of your contract.
Should be vawey intawesting to see what shakes down with Anton in the coming months.
"I caught this big ol catfish Sunday night in the Wateree River off a shrimp. He weighed in at 41 lbs, 2oz."
Not only was your boy Sergei Samsonov re-signed today at an affordable 3 year contract, two prospects were signed in Stefan Chaput & Nick Dodge. All three are wingers. That would make a house full of forwards in the Carolina organization now.
Gee it's a good thing the team is chocked full of starting and back up defenseman... not.
With little Brandon Sutter more than likely coming up next year with the big boys, the beer belly gas tank for a sex machine gut tells me that a trade will be happening to ship out some wingers this summer in exchange for a d-line that's not held together by dental floss and duct tape.
In any case, let's all just hope Sergei doesn't start tanking again like he did everywhere else after he signs a contract.
College football is kicking off the regular season this weekend all over the country. At the very least, we get some decent sports entertainment other than golf, baseball or tennis (or all-Vick-all-the-time).
The one game that I am looking forward to the most is East Carolina U @ Virginia Tech. This is the site of ESPN's College Gameday and it is great exposure for the Pirates to have worldwide eyes on them. Someone else who was looking forward to it was Rob Kass, the projected starter at QB for ECU. He had a liiiiittle too much fun getting his party on last weekend as he was arrested for DUI with a .19 blood alcohol content in Greenville.
You're getting ready to play the biggest game of your life. Everyone is watching because it is VT's 1st major sporting event since the April tragedy. A big WTF? to him. Brett Clay or Patrick Pinkney will get the start in his place and I hope they smoke him out of the water. Granted, the Pirates will probably lose this game, but what a better way to teach him a lesson?
Brian Bailey of Bonesville.net:
"The start of game week at East Carolina is a time I always look forward to — unless an off the field activity dominates the conversation. East Carolina quarterback Rob Kass’s arrest on a DWI charge from early Saturday morning put a real damper on the excitement surrounding the opener...
It’s hard to believe that any student-athlete would work that hard all spring and summer, and then get into a situation like this one."
On a lighter note - the Queen City Bastard of Southern Fried Football (who will also be in Blacksburg this weekend) had the best quote about it today:
"ECU? I thought their mascot was the Pirate, not Captain Morgan"
Buy Your Friends A Beer, They'll Thank You
The Conquests of Kevin Arnold (Ladies Of The Wonder Years)
Melrose Rocks Disputes the New Senators' Logo and Trojan condoms:
Barry Melrose Rocks: New Senators Logo Not to Be Confused with Trojan Man
A Dinosaur Could Whip David Beckham: (Reuters)
Dave Letterman's Top 10 Michael Vick Excuses (FanHouse)
If only he were in the jersey.
whenever a freshman scores his first goal, Hamilton makes it a point to pick up the puck himself or to have the referee pick it up so that the team's equipment manager can commemorate the moment.
Please forgive me for bashing the work of the lovely Cheri D & 13 Stories. I've seen the group at the Pour House in Downtown Raleigh at least once and she was very nice and fan-friendly. But the Ford commercial featuring the "Beep Beep" song that played at least once during every break in the Hurricanes TV coverage last season - must be put out of its misery. I can't recall how many times the clip would play even twice in a row during a commercial break. I found myself DVRing the games and finding something to do between 7:00-8:00. Then tune in so I could fast forward through the commercials.
That being said - another that must die is the "Silly Little Fairy" Dodge commercial.
Between the two of those - I would catch myself violently awaking in cold sweats after the reoccurring nightmare of replaying those clips in consciousness (or un).
It is almost as if its a marketing ploy by the team. "Buy your Hurricanes season tickets now: You won't have to watch it on TV and be subject to the death rattle of our two commercials." Then again, I can recall hearing Beep Beep on the pre-game warmup speakers at the RBC.
Give us 2:00 minutes of staring at the color bars screen. Give us NHL commercials. Play elevator music. Just don't give us anymore torture this season with our commercial breaks.
So damn hot - the birds have to use potholders when pulling worms from the ground. This picture was snapped at 5:15 PM on my way home Thursday:
Scientists are buzzing about global warming and the influence it may have - but we all really know what is causing the freakish weather:
Having a little summer pooltime fun with my new underwater camera case:
There are a few cannonball videos that would make fat kids proud everywhere.
Taking a few moments to recognize Caniac blogger friends:
CasonBlog is still a daily hit - and Scotty just revamped his format with a shiny new look. CB was one of the original Canes bloggers and he just celebrated 2 years of the gig. Hat tip to him for always having the backs of newbies and showing support. I'm especially digging his new feature: "CB Spotlight".
Bubba of CanesCountry is the newest Southeast Shootout contributor and continues to always come through with a thoughtful and informative daily post. He houses a great forum and message board through his site that is not overwhelmed with members. It's kind of nice having an intimate group to share your disapointments, rants or raves with as opposed to having hundreds of people such as with the more mainstream forums.
Her Majesty, AQ, was recently mentioned in the whole "Eklund Takedown" as the anonymous hockey "blogger" was after her in more ways than one. You don't mess with her. She can out-wit anyone.
Storm Surge has burst onto the scene this week with a South Park influenced banner. He digs Hurricanes and Beer. I like him already.
D-Lee of Redandblackhockey has been come-and-go with his posts this offseason - but he can always be counted on for breaking the glass with the latest scoop. He was the first to post about the leaked "new uniforms". I expect he'll be back with more frequency when the season gets rolling.
I have nominated the following two for Hockey Ladies of Greatness:
Magnolia Mer of Paperwhitesinseason always brings the funny with her daily frustrations or music raves from her wide array of taste.
Beth Ellison of Beth & Hockey is putting together a team for the Pete Friesen Leukemia/Lymphoma 5k run that the team is sponsoring. What a great idea! Herr Wuff is all about philanthropy.
With free agency this summer offering contract pay-offs equal to a drug czar's bankroll, now is the time to savor the fact that Jimmy Rutherford was able to sign his superstars to long-term contracts before inflation took hold.
Just based off of Bubba's Salary Chart, you can see that we have a strong group of forwards lined up for at least 2 more years at a bargain of a price. Especially, after you see the deals that Briere and the other free agents signed this summer.
Just picking one out - look at Justin Williams who is signed through 2010-2011 at $3.5 mil per.
What do you think Justin would draw were he on the free agent market this summer?
There is a reason why GOOG sells for over $500 a share. If you haven't yet discovered Google Earth - please do yourself the favor! Ever get caught thinking: "Self, I could spend hours on YouTube." ? Wuffie could spend days on GE.
Google Maps now has the satellite view available. This link just may blow your mind Caniacs. Use your mouse roller for zoom in/out.
To quote Cam from Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "I think I see my Dad."
