Author Archives: benfromctc

Podcast 8 – The One Where Pavs is Gutsy

Colin, sadly, had his headset confiscated at Swedish border security or something, so it’s just Ben and Alex this week. First, we discuss which player around the NHL would make the very best present, gift-wrapped (possibly hog-tied) and left lovingly under the San Jose Sharks’ communal Christmas Tree by Santa Doug Wilson. After that we talk a lot about narrative with a capital N. Apparently by virtue of getting some lucky breaks against the Kings, suddenly the local media is thinking that the Sharks, hoisted on the manly shoulders of Captain America (Joe Pavelski), and his ungodly hands, are gutsy. He should send a holiday card to Milan Lucic for being such a meathead, I guess. Anyway, no way the label lasts more than one home game  before the inevitable 5-goal meltdown later this week. The Sharks everybody!

Podcast 7: The One Where Hertl Wasn’t Traded

We thought about calling this one ‘the one where Alex was always wrong’, but why go negative. This week’s main topics settle on a single theme: this organization’s weird lack of attention to detail. Examples: Hertl’s mysterious injury that took a full period to report and the failure to address another depth issue that is becoming clear with the Sharks — the back-up goal tender. Al Stalock’s recovery is a great story, but it’s not one with a happy ending. Also, we don’t currently plan to change our podcast name to Brown Notes, but maybe some day! And yes, Ben knows that Walter Donovan, not a templar, crumbled to dust at the end of Last Crusade. Bygones!

 

Podcast 6 – The One Where Ben is the Optimist

6 game losing streaks don’t grow on trees, but they do grind our gears. We spend a little over an hour talking about this Sharks team that lacks an obvious plan or identity and is playing OK hockey yet losing because of bonehead errors (mostly). Is it coaching? Is it the players? Is everyone catching Moustachitis from Mike Brown? The Sharks sure don’t know and we may not either. And yes, while he’s usually the group curmudgeon, Ben is cautiously optimistic if the Sharks would only stop shooting themselves in the foot at every juncture. Enjoy!

Podcast 5 – The One With the Leathery GM

We’ve been wondering who Peter DeBoer is all season and this week we saw him COACH with a capital C (we think?). We’ll be taking next Sunday off because there’s like, real life or something, but this week we talk a little bit about the addition of even more international flavor to the Sharks (Dainius Zubrus) and A LOT about the one-game impact of the benching of the third line in what was either a brilliant coaching move or, more likely, total luck. Oh yeah, and we bag on Mike Brown as always.

Podcast 4 – 1000 Points and 3-on-3 All Star Format

As always, we got together early Sunday morning to recap the Sharks’ games of the previous week. We also talked about the company Patrick Marleau now keeps in the ‘1000 Point Club’ and how terrible All-Star games typically are. Unlike the NHL, though, we solve the problem with a truly unique format: The Goalie Fight Tournament (with love to American Gladiators).

Podcast 3, Take 2

After some technical difficulties last week, we’re back with a full podcast this time. This week’s topics include the Marleau trade rumors, whether Martin Jones is secretly a serial killer and the end (for now) of the crazy ‘Buffalo Curse’. We forgot to make fun of Colin for not remember what a Gordie Howe hat trick actually was in the Lost Podcast, though. Maybe next time.

Second Podcast – Are the Sharks This Bad?

We talk about possession in our podcasts, so here is an explainer for Corsi and Fenwick, in case you are curious how ‘possession’ is tracked.

In this week’s episode, we discuss our thoughts on whether the Sharks team we’ve seen since Logan Couture’s injury are the team that was hiding behind a hot start or a mirage? Also, Alex corrects himself on Marleau’s number change way back when, we all praise Joel Ward and Tomas Hertl and wonder what the heck is wrong with Brent Burns and Brendan Dillon. Oh yeah, Mike Brown is still bad, in case you were wondering.

First podcast!

We’re still trying to get all of our tech stuff working correctly, but we three got together yesterday morning to record our first long-form test podcast and it turned out pretty alright! So we’re going to post it for download and get our RSS feed all set up and see about getting this thing on iTunes. I think it’s pretty good for two guys in different Bay Area cities and a third in communist Sweden all connecting over the interwebs.

In this episode, we talk about Heritage jersey preferences, ugly jerseys, player nicknames, injuries, how Mike Brown is the best ECHL player in the NHL, our new Martin Jones overlord, and even more!