Update: JP from Japers Rink just sent along the following photoshop he put together. Looks like we're part of the family now.
Ok, so this is it: We're officially cheering on another team. Yes, I know I wrote an entire post about playoff hate but the consensus has been that you can't hate teams that have not done you any harm. The Leafs have never met in the playoffs, the two teams have never played any big regular season games, and any problems the Leafs have had recently with the Capitals have been self-inflicted.
So I undertake this with a clean conscience and hopefully some new guests. TJ already stopped by to say hello and On Frozen Blog has tossed out the welcome mat. Along with Japers Rink they form a potent blogging duo for the Capitals. Toss in one of the godfathers of hockey blogging, Eric McErlain at Off Wing Opinion, and the Capitals have unmatched blogging coverage. Looks like we're just bringing enthusiasm.
On the other side of the aisle, it can be tough to find any Flyers blogs and not only because you need to be semi-literate to write online (although not completely literate as some of the Penguins commenters on sens' sites have proven) but because no one wants to be associated with the devil (Ed Snider). However, here are a few ones that, if not good, are at least about the Flyers:
- The 700 Level is the good one.
Clarke's Boys as a title leaves far too much leeway in terms of jokes.
FlyersPhans is where you can go after games to have the internet's version of a loogie hocked at you./
As a preview to the game and to understand a bit more about the Capitals' rebuilding efforts check out The Good Doctor's write up on Ted Leonsis. Take note MLSE.
As for the game itself, I don't have much to offer other than don't turn your back on the Flyers Caps or they will hit you from behind and their fans will celebrate their old school style. Good thing that cro-magnon Donald Brashear is still in the league and in the lineup. That should help keep some of the young punks from running Caps at every turn.
AOL FanHouse previews the Eastern Conference and the series so take a peek at those.
I figured we might as well continue with the SPG tradition during the playoffs (final regular season tallying will be done this weekend! People won prizes!). For any new Capital visitors that want to play along or enlighten us about the Capitals you can open an account. Basically you are trying to guess which Capitals players will have the team's first shot on net, penalty, and goal in the game. For the Leafs this eventually became easy to predict (Shot - Blake, Penalty - McCabe, Goal - Sundin) but it's much tougher than it appears.
So...there's the first game day thread. Let's do this: Go Caps Go.
