Could You? (21)/Stanley Cup

"Is it really necessary for you to clap along to the Fraggle Rock theme song every single time? -My dog, probably-" -@okaymachado- (via twitter)

"Keep on dreaming, even if it breaks your heart..." -@niles_melissa- (via twitter)

"Every time I think of going back to school for my doctorate, I just read other people's tweets who are in school, and then go back to sleep..." -@DanaDavidson- (via twitter)



Could you do yourself a big favor and get your sleep right Coach?  You'll love this...  So last night, after having stayed awake until 6:00 a.m. on Sunday night/Monday morning, I stayed awake until 9:30 this morning...  YEAH...  Hopefully I can stay awake now without taking a nap for the next ten hours - if I can do that, I should be okay.  I don't know about you, but normally an hour of sleep keeps me awake for two hours (much like the "normal" 8 hours of sleep keeps people going for 16 hours)...  Well, I slept from 9:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., so that should keep me going until just after midnight, and THEN, if I can just manage to crash through the night...  :)  It's becoming vital that I straighten it out now, because every waking moment in my near future will be focused on how I can make the most out of living in Austin, Texas (more people who can help me to do that are awake during the day than at 4:00 in the morning is where I'm going with that)...

Could you think about hard enough that you might finally "get it" Coach?  Okay, so I'm walking through the Texas State campus to go to the Square yesterday, and I pass the 'Paws N Go' store located just off of the Quad.  I have walked by this store SEVERAL TIMES, but this time it occurred to me:  "Paws N Go, as in, pause to buy something, and then go...  Is that how they meant it?..."  I don't know if I've been so dense that I FINALLY had this "REVELATION," or if I'M THE CLEVER ONE, and no one else has EVER read that into it, including the creator(s)...  Yeah, I've probably been that dense...

Could you give us one of those cold, hard, facts of life kind of quotes from an unexpected source Coach?  Colleen, who is one of my friends and a former coworker, is one of the sweetest sounding, most unassuming sources for the words that you're about to read.  I honestly don't remember what we were talking about (and I may have just walked up on this conversation at closing) when I heard the words, "If you don't have common sense, then you deserve it..." come from Colleen's mouth...  Like I said, I don't remember the context, but let me give you an example of a situation where I believe that this would apply:  As I was waiting  at an intersection (the bottom of North LBJ) to cross the street onto campus a few days ago, there was a pause before the second car in line moved after the light turned green, and when I looked over, I saw that the driver was flanked to two dogs in the front seat, AND that her delay in moving forward was caused by her texting, which she CONTINUED TO DO as she made her way through the light, and onto the construction heavy Sessom Drive...  Now if she were to get into an accident, reference Colleen's quote above, right???  I swear, you have to be SO CAREFUL AND ALERT...

Could you be more outgoing Coach?  Yeah..., RIGHT???  :)  I was enjoying the air conditioning in Slackers at work a few nights ago when I got into a conversation with one of our customers.  After a few minutes, Katie stated, "You're cool.  You don't talk in the hall..."  HUH?!  :P  As I tried my best to respond to her like she wasn't crazy (I probably failed), I asked Katie, "WHAT are you talking about?  I ALWAYS talk to people who stop and want to talk..."  And then she said, "I asked for your name, and all you said was, 'Coach'..."  (She played the part of me in a mocking voice also, saying... "COACH...")  ;)  And then I looked at her as if to say (while I actually said it of course), "yeah..., that's what you asked me!"  :)  It was nice meeting you Katie, and when you speak of me..., please speak kindly...  :P

Could you make a prediction for us Coach?  I PREDICT that if I had a DOLLAR for every time that somebody refers to me at Harper's/Slackers/The Veranda between now and the end of the year, that I could move to Las Vegas and live off of that money for a year, and that the amount would be at least $20,000.00 (for those of you who are math impaired, that means that it is my belief that I will be referenced at least 20,000 times between now and the end of 2013).  Now this reference could simply be 'Coach', or it could be, "where is that one hundred year-old guy that used to work here?", or it could be, "yeah, the guy with the blog..., the most NON-WRITING GUY that ever had a blog...," or "that poker chip guy," or "that sports illiterate dude..."  ANYTHING along those lines is what I'm saying - just ANY REFERENCE to me, by ANYONE...  TWENTY-THOUSAND TIMES...  I feel bad for my former coworkers...  ;)


Could you stop stalling, and give us your prediction for the Stanley Cup Finals?  Okay..., but first, let's look at my predictions for the last round:

My Prediction/Actual Result

Blackhawks over the Kings in 5 games/Blackhawks in 5 games (OF COURSE!)  ;)
Penguins over the Bruins in 5 games/Bruins in 4 games (UH OH...)  :O

WELL..., let me tell you what I've been thinking..., what my train of thought has been..., as I've continued to pick against the Bruins in the later rounds.  I VIVIDLY REMEMBER Boston being down two goals to the Maple Leafs REALLY LATE in that game, that seventh game, and have held it against them.  I held it against them as they were about to face a Rangers team that had an exciting series win over the Capitals, and again against a Penguins team that had just been CRUISING through the playoffs...  At this point I'm starting to think that I should have viewed that Bruins comeback much like the Red Sox turnaround against the Yankees when they were down 3 games to 0 in 2004...  The Rangers looked SICK against the B's, ESPECIALLY in Game 3 at home, when the "GARDEN CROWD" was virtually nonexistent...  The Pens offense was virtually nonexistent in this last series...

As for the Blackhawks..., well..., I've had them in every series so far (and I'm 10-4 through 3 rounds of the NHL playoffs to this point).  The Hawks were down 3 games to 1 against the Red Wings, and it really did look as if there was no way that they were going to beat Detroit at that point, as well as the Wings were playing (a commentator's thoughts, which I had to agree with)...  Of course Chicago came back, and then they beat the defending champion Kings in five games - sometimes I'm right...  ;)

Now the NHL utilizes a 2-2-1-1-1 format as opposed to the NBA's 2-3-2 format to determine who is hosting each game of the series.  The Blackhawks have home-ice advantage entering this series, but the Bruins have STIFLED their last two opponents, so I'm sorry Lightning, and I hate to jinx you Pete (and Bruins fans everywhere, including my friends up in New England), but I'm predicting...

Bruins over the Blackhawks in 6 games


I hope that all of you have a great evening of basketball (Spurs vs. the Heat - 8:00 p.m. CST - ABC) and I'll see you again tomorrow!