- As is my usual Friday activity, I was unwinding from a long work week and perusing the internet when I decided to wander over to a place I haven't been in a while - the Caps message boards.
Hoo, boy.
If you've never looked at the boards before, I highly recommend it if only for the true comedy it inspires. It is Caps fandom at its best - bitter, pessimistic, often contradictory, and laugh out loud, er, LOL funny. There's a hierarchy, a language, a code of law, an unseen leader who rules with an iron fist...it's like an independent digital dictatorship right here in the district, what's not to love?
The population of this tiny community varies all over the map. You have your "true" fans; these are the diehards who bite someone's head off for daring to suggest that Bondra be brought back and who appear to hate everything about the team. Then there's the NARCFs (or the Not a Real Caps Fans for non-boardies); those people that dare to live in a different city or *gasp* do not attend all 41 home games. You have the optimists and the pessimists, the whiners, the confused ones, and the people who stick to two topics - trade player X or bring back player Y.
With such a colorful group, I knew what to expect the day after our first game and first loss of the season. So I wasn't surprised when I looked at the first thread, succinctly entitled "Beech Sucks". Nice. Now, I watched the game from start to finish last night, and of all the things that sucked, Beech was not really one of them. Okay, I remember him turning the puck over at one point, but who didn't? Anyways, the thread goes back and forth in a highly erudite and grown-up manner - Beech sucks, no he doesn't, yuh-huh, nuh-uh, etc. Then it branches out into who else sucked...Zednik, Clymer, Pothier, the list goes on. Highly entertaining if you have the time and/or the stomach to read through it.
For extra giggles look at the "Sign Bondra!" thread - at one point all Bondra posts were consolidated into one ginormous thread, which has since disappeared, but this brave soul dared to make a joke and look what happened...(by the way, ph34r apparently means fear. I had to look it up a few months ago, being a non-boardie myself.)
This doesn't really have a point...much like many of the threads on the message boards I just like to entertain myself. To be honest, I love these guys (and let's face it, they're mostly guys). The posts are always good for a smile if nothing else, and my own gameday previews are a weak attempt to replicate the great ones produced by one poster in particular. Speaking of which, check out the drinking game - you'll be wasted by the first intermission.
And so I dedicate this pointless post to you, my fellow nut jobs on the message boards - may you continue to squabble in good health and forever keep me entertained.
- Here's a little more doom and gloom to start the weekend off right for all of us here in Caps-town - apparently we've got some more injuries. Anyone else think it's a little early for the boys to dropping like flies? The Calder Cup champs haven't even started their season and it looks like we'll already be picking away at them, with Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon likely in the press box for tomorrow's home opener.
- I realized that I kind of crapped out on everyone on the eve of the season opener, going all soft and squishy instead of doing a real season preview. I'm still not going to do one, but I thought I would provide a service by at least linking to some of the good blogs out there who weren't as lazy.
My friend over at Random Reality Thoughts put together a nice preview and has the bases covered (pun intended, sorry) when it comes to the O's.
Japer's Rink is a good source for Caps craziness, and Bleatings from a Caps Nut does a very thorough preview of both the Caps and the entire league, division by division. Puckhead is always good for a dose of reality or as I like to call it, pessimism. There's more out there, but this post is bordering on Michener-esque so I'll let you surf for the rest on your own.
Gameday preview for the home opener coming up tomorrow...
1 comment:
Thanks for the shout out! :-)
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