As I type this, Elton John’s "Sad Songs" is trapped in my head like a fruit fly slowly drowning in a glass of wine.
Earlier today, one of my kids somehow managed to lodge "I Believe I Can Fly" in my brain pan. That dirge was like a poor mouse caught in the toxic glue-like sticky-trap that is my brain.
When author and mountaineer Joe Simpson broke his leg 26,000 feet up a mountain and was left for dead, dehydrated and hallucinating he said the worst part of his ordeal was he couldn’t get Boney M’s "Brown Girl in the Ring" out of his head.
Why is it that if a song is going to get stuck in your head, odds are it will be a bad one? Why can't it be a great song that takes root, putting a smile on your face?
After the jump, it's the training camp style return of five questions - an exhibition match of sorts featuring bad music, bad decisions, great goals and hair so bad it's good (or is it hair so good it's bad?)
It's no "Brown Girl in the Ring" but when the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994, breaking a 54 year drought, the AV system at Madison Square Garden launched into "These Are Days" by hockey arena favourites The 10,000 Maniacs followed by Tina Turner's "Simply the Best"
Not a pretty sonic combination nor the ideal songs that I want to associate with such an important and frankly historic hockey moment. Now, I'm not saying the Leafs are going to win the cup, but thinking about possible high lights in the Leafs' season...
1. What's the one piece of music that the ACC staff are likely to play that would absolutely ruin a great Leafs moment for you?
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On Saturday, Brian Murray and Doug Wilson worked out a deal for disgruntled winger Dany Heatley. San Jose sent promising winger Milan Michalek and has-been Jonathon Cheechoo to the town-that-fun-forgot in return for Heatley.
Since scoring 56 goals in 2006, Cheechoo's stats line looks like an earnings report from Nortel. He put up 12 goals in 2008-09, one shy of $4.2 million dollar man and new team mate Mike Fisher. Combined, Fish and Cheechoo earn $7.2 million and produced all of 25 goals last season. With numbers like that it's a shame they aren't a foot shorter and 50 lbs lighter or else Murray could likely trade the pair to Bob Gainey for a pretty handsome return.
Michalek is a fine young talent and will be an excellent addition to the Sens. He's been a threat to score 25 the last three years but the bigger question remains:
2. Will Michalek and Cheechoo combine to score more goals than Dany Heatley this year?
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Earlier this summer, fellow Leafs blogger Leaf and Lion posted what he thought might be the greatest Leaf goal of all time.
I don’t know if his choice even cracks my top five, possibly even my top 10:
- Lanny McDonald eliminates the New York Islanders in OT
- Bobby Baun wins the Cup on a broken ankle in 1964
- Doug Gilmour’s double wrap-around against St. Louis
- Mike Krushelnyski's New Years Eve shoot-out goal againt Moscow Dynamo in 1990
- Mats Sundin’s 500th against Calgary
- Rick Vaive becomes the first Leaf to score 50 goals in a season
- Andy Wozniewski banks one in off the back boards against Atlanta
- Borschevsky eliminates the Red Wings
- Wendel Clark’s hat-trick goal to force OT against the Kings
- Any of the 128 goals Mike Foligno scored that bounced in off his ass (followed by that spectacular leap of his - funny how Don Cherry never brought up that particular post-goal celebration routine)/
Leaf and Lion poses an excellent question with no right answer but...
3. What, in your opinion, is the greatest Leaf goal ever scored?
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The price for Kessel is rising faster than the scales under Kyle Wellwood. The latest rumours have the Leafs offering two (2!) first round picks, in addition to a second and a third rounder.
This begs the question(s):
4. How quickly do you want the Leafs to field a competitive team? And do you think efforts to compete sooner rather than later might make the Leafs competitive but prove so costly as to prohibit them from developing into an elite team?
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Kerry Fraser has announced that he will retire as a NHL referee after the 2009-10 season.
An argument could be made that this comes about 17 years too late.
Thinking of his unique blend of skills, blindness and hair...
5. What occupation do you think Fraser is best suited for once his work as a NHL referee comes to an end?