The Party of the Pants, with the Deadspin
If you had told me that you were flying off to NYC to meet 20ish people that you only knew from snarky comments on a sports website to see a Mets game, I'd say you were nuts. Of course, that didn't stop me from doing exactly what I just described.

Great company, great conversation, and (dare I say this about a Mets victory?) a great game.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend it. It is so choice.

Penguins Draft
NHL scouts are like the worst gossips in high school. How else can you explain Alexei Cherepanov falling to the Rangers at 17, and Angelo Esposito landing from a Brady Quinn-like free-fall with the Penguins?

Scouts soured on Esposito when his production dropped off this season in Quebec. Somehow, the gossips turned "the Remparts lost a lot of talent to the pros last year" into "Espo has an attitude problem".

Fleury, Malkin, Crosby, Staal, Esposito. Have Craig Patrick and Ray Shero had angels on their shoulders for these drafts or what?

Penguins Free Agency
In: Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts. Geritol dealers around town will be happy. OK, that was mean. Both will provide plenty of veteran experience in the locker room. I think every hockey fan in Pittsburgh who didn't already have a man-crush on Roberts will have one now. He turned down the chance to talk to Ottawa, the defending Eastern Conference champions, because he believes the Penguins give him the best chance to win the Stanley Cup.

Out: Michel Ouellet. At least for the moment. He'll become unrestricted on July 1. If the Pens had given him a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent, they'd most likely have ended up in arbitration, where the judge would have given Ouellet way too much money to be mediocre. He could still develop into a good player, but his salary is out-racing his talent right now.

Rush
Went to see Rush Monday night, for the third time in four tours. (I couldn't make the R30 show, for reasons I no longer remember.) My cousin, who had never seen Rush before, and her teenage son were with me.

Damn, I say, damn!

If you're a Rush fan already, you knew that, of course. For those who haven't experienced Rush live, call the box office, right now. I can't think of a single band of this era that has the potential to still produce music of this caliber 30 years from now, live or in the studio.

To say they were supporting the new album, Snakes and Arrows, is an understatement. They played nine of the album's thirteen songs! And while they hit the obvious highlights (Limelight, Spirit Of Radio, Dreamline, Tom Sawyer, YYZ, etc.), they selected the rest of the set list by finding old tracks that had some thematic connection to S&A. Thus, we got to hear obscurities like Entre Nous, Between the Wheels, Circumstances, Digital Man, Witch Hunt, and Mission.

The new material sounded great, and was well received by the audience. The Way The Wind Blows and Workin' Them Angels really clicked. Or maybe I'm just projecting, because they're my favorites from S&A.

I highly recommend this show if it hasn't already been through your town. They'd play all night if local noise ordinances let them, so they'll make sure you get your money's worth.

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