Ismail and I went to the Thrashers game on Thursday night with Bret, the co-coach of Ismail’s soccer team, and his son Cole. They have season tickets in the Club level on the goal line about 15 rows up from the glass. These were by far the best seats i’ve ever had for a Thrashers game as the action seemed so much closer than normal. It was also a lot colder than it normally feels, even moreso than the other times when i’ve sat in the lower deck. About five minutes into the game, I looked over at the next section and saw fellow Riseup Contributor Al along with his wife Lupita in attendance. I met up with them later on; it turns out that Lupita’s company has Thrashers season tickets in the Club Level.

The Islanders scored two minutes in on a Power Play, but then Slava Kozlov equalized two minutes later. In the 2nd Period, the Thashers allowed the Isles two goals seventeen seconds apart and the Period ended with the Isles up 3-1. Judging from the first two periods, it looked like another loss from yet another flat performance from the Thrashers. Then, in the 3rd Period, the team miraculously woke up. Kozlov scored his second goal of the game thirty seconds into the restart. A minute later, the Thrashers picked up a Power Play and new pick-up Jason Williams scored to tie it up at three. About this time, a friend of Bret’s came down to our seats and had some tickets for us to go up to one of the Corporate Suites. We got to watch the last fifteen minutes from the Box; it was cool to be up there and Ismail really enjoyed it, but I actually preferred the seats as I felt somewhat detached from the action in the Box. With nine minutes left, Defensemen scored his first goal of the Season for the Thrashers, giving Atlanta their first lead of the game. Despite a late push from New York, the Thrashers held up their end defensively and earned the 4-3 victory.

Overall, it was a fun night and it had a lot of unexpected twists and turns to make it even more interesting than we anticipated.

My dad’s work hooked us up with 18 tickets to the Thrashers-Flyers game last night, so we rounded up my cousins, my aunt and uncle and took them all to the game. For many of my family, it was their first Thrashers game; unfortuntely, it was a brutal game to watch. The Thrashers lost 7-0 and never looked to be in the game at any point. The worst moment of the night was when the Thrashers had a Power Play with less than two minutes to go in the 2nd Period. Despite the fact that the Thrashers hadn’t played well to that point, they were only losing 2-0 and if they could’ve scored right before the end of the Period, they would’ve been right back into the game. However, this Power Play ended up being the the Thrashers’ undoing. Kovalchuk was at the blue line and made a lazy pass across the top of the zone that was picked off by Philly and they took it down ice and scored a short-hander with 13 seconds left to make it 3-0. Kovy then gets a two minute Unsportsmanlike Conduct Penalty, sits in the box until the end of the period and then gets another two minute penalty added on to the original one for continuing to argue as the team made their way to the locker room. The third Period begins with 3:47 left in the Power Play for Philly and they scored in less than a minute into it. Since Kovy had the second penalty added on, the Flyers then had a second Power Play and they scored again to make it 5-0. So, to sum up, in less than 2 1/2 minutes, Kovy cost the Thrashers 3 goals- one on the lazy pass and two on the Power Plays, effectively ending any chance to get back into the game.  The Flyers would then go on to add two more late in the game to bring the final scoreline to 7-0. Lehtonen didn’t have a good night at all in the pipes; for some reason John Anderson kept him in for the entire game instead of bringing in Hedberg.

Everyone had a lot of fun, but a better game would’ve been nicer since it was many of my family’s first time seeing a hockey game. My cousins that went with me to the Home Opener also came last night, so they’ve now seen the best and worst that the Thrashers have to offer. Hopefully, the next time I get another family event together, maybe we’ll be lucky and the Thrashers will bother to show up and play.

The Inline Hockey Director at my dad’s gym gave us nine tickets for the Thrashers-Caps Opening Night game last Friday. I took my cousin and her kids along with my family; this was their first time going to a hockey game, so they were pretty excited. They were not disappointed either as the Thrashers won 7-4. The game was very entertaining as the Thrashers opened up a 3-0 lead, only to blow it in the second period by giving up 4 goals to make it a 4-4 tie. However, about 12-13 minutes into the 3rd Period, the Thrashers scored two goals in less than a minute to put the game away. Neither Kovalchuk or Ovetchkin scored, so that matchup didn’t live up to its billing; nevertheless, it was a great start for the team and the fans.

The Opening Night crowd was great; it was a sellout and the fans were really into it. My cousins had a great time and are already looking forward to going to more games. A high-scoring affair like that was a great introduction to the game.

The Spin: I don’t know if it’s gone for good, but the wheel was not set up. They’ve done a major overhaul to that whole area- the hockey simulator was shut off, there’s some sort of Taco Mac house where the stage used to be and they turned the slam dunk area into a full-service bar. Needless to say, Ismail was disappointed about the hockey and basketball areas being shut down and I was not pleased about not getting to spin.

About 3:00 yesterday, I found out that I was going to get two tickets for Ismail and I to go to the All-Star Game. There were two no-shows from the La Amistad program that I mentioned in my previous post, so I got the chance to go as a Chaperone again, but this time take I was able to take Ismail.

The Hives opened up the proceedings with a few songs and then played intro music for the All-Star Players’ entrances.

The first period was simply amazing- Rick Nash scored the fastest goal in A.S. history in the 12th second of the game. From there on, the East dominated, scoring 5 goals in the next 15 minutes.

In the 2nd Period, the West would score two goals to make it a 5-3 game. Kovy had two great chances to score, but San Jose goalie Nobokov was equal to the task. As Kovy skated off, he jokingly threw his stick to the ice, basically indicating that he just can’t do any more than he’s already done to score.

The third period was the craziest period of the game as the West would tie it, go ahead, and then lose the game. Marian Hossa would score for the East, sending the crowd into hysterics. With the game looking like it would head to OT, the East made one more push to score. With 20 seconds left on the clock, former Thrasher Marc Savard received a pass in the center and he slotted it home for the East win. Savard, who had received several boos all night from the fans because he left the Thrashers, was now being cheered once again as a hero. Rick Nash picked up a hat-trick in the losing effort.

The Game’s MVP went to Jordan Staal, who scored two goals and had an Assist for the East. I would’ve given it to Ovechkin as he scored two goals and electrified the crowd all weekend with his exciting play and goofy attitude.

Overall, a great night with a lot of goals and open play.

Ismail and I went down to the NHL Card and Memoriabilia Show at CNN Center in the morning. When we got there, we saw that Blackhawks legend Bobby Hull was signing autographs, so we went and bought a Blackhawks puck and got in line. Well, the line was slow moving and we were nowhere close to getting up there to get the autograph. As Hull was leaving, Ismail and I ran up to the exit and Ismail handed him the puck; Bobby signed for him and then was rushed off to an awaiting car by his handlers.

There were a lot of giveaways by some of the companies; Ismail got a lot of free cards from Upper Deck. He also bought a limited edition Marian Hossa McFarlane figure only available at the show. Overall, it was a pretty good time, but extremely crowded as the Battle of the Bands was going on at the Dome at the same time and the atrium/food court where the show was being held was packed.

Ismail and I went to the Thrashers game last night. It was a last minute decision as Ismail was still a little sick and didn’t want to go at first. However, we had tickets in the 100 level section, so we didn’t want them to go to waste. We decided to have Janet drive us to the game and pick us up so that Ismail didn’t have to walk too much.

I’m glad that we went because not only did we have seats 19 rows back from the ice, we also got to see the Thrashers destroy the Lightning 6-2. I think that this was easily the most dominant that the team has played this season. It was a crucial game as well because TB was two points ahead of us in the standings, but now we’re tied for 2nd place. Individually, Kovy scored on a breakaway to score his league-leading 27th goal of the season.

The spin: Thrashers Spirit Item (Keychain); just missed the Hawks ticket voucher as the clicker just pushed over the peg to the Spirit Item.

The family made it out to our first Thrashers game of the year; the hookup through my dad’s job that came trhough with several tickets last season to the Thrashers finally produced tickets for this game. We parked underneath Philips by the train tracks- the price was $8. I asked the Ethiopian guy who always take the money why it was so much and he told me, ” Thrashers 8, Hawks 5. Sellout 10″. So, now we know the mystery of the ever-changing parking fee.

The first period ended 0-0 and we didn’t see much action out of the Thrashers as they were outshot 16-6. In the 2nd, Kovy made a briiliant goal as he skated full speed at the defenseman, stepped over to his left, cut back right and shoveled it into the upper corner of the net. Right after that, he hurt his back and wouldn’t return. When he left, the Thrashers fell apart and generated almost no offense for the rest of Regulation. The Caps scored in the 3rd Period to tie the game at 1-1 and the game went to OT. About two minutes into OT, Kozlov picked off a lazy pass in the Caps’ Defensive Zone and fed it to a streaking Todd White, who slotted it home for the OT victory.

Not a great game, but the victory and the OT goal made it a lot more memorable. The Thrashers are finally playing good hockey after losing their first six. They’ve moved up to third place and are only two points out of second. They have a bunch of games against division opponents, so they have a real chance at playing themselves back into contention.

The Spin: Ismail spun for me and we won the Thrashers ticket voucher. Janet won the Team Gear Coupon- this year it’s 25% off everything, but still not all that great of a prize.

The Getaway: Upon leaving the parking lot, we saw a bunch of cars going around the back of the lot and out of sight. We decided to see where they were heading and found a back way out of the lot that leads to Marietta St. just west of Forsyth. This way means that you don’t have to wait in that quagmire underneath Philips anymore  or get caught by the train. Trimmings.

In your opinion, what owners/players/front offices have had the most negative impact on each of Atlanta’s sports franchises?

 Hawks- The Knighmare. While Pete Babcock is a VERY close second, at least he had some playoff teams under his belt and brought in some good players. Billy-Ball has shown very little, if any, improvement in his four years. OK, so the team went from 13 to 26 to 30 wins over the past three years. To me, this is like being the Valedictorian in a Sped class- you might have shown major improvement, but you’re still among the dregs.

Falcons- The Smiths or Vick? This is also a tough one. The Smiths kept this franchise down for almost forty years and were so tight-fisted with their wealth that we couldn’t ever build upon our limited successes.

While Vick has killed us over the past two seasons and over this off-season, we can still make amends by getting rid of him (Is there a clause in his contract to cut him if he can’t behave?). If we do that, we’ll only be a few players away from being a playoff team again.

Braves- Even though he also did some great things for the Braves, there are some major decisions made by Ted Turner that have killed the Braves. For one, he axed a good young manager in Joe Torre in 1984 after taking a perennial loser to the playoffs in ‘82, 2nd place in ‘83 and 3rd place in ‘84. Turner brought in Chuck Tanner and Tanner effectively ran the team into the ground. The team was a last place place team every season for six straight years, until Schuerholz and Cox were able to turn things around in 1991.

Another detrimental decision that Turner made was selling the Braves to fucking AOL/Time Warner. Why did you do that to us Ted? From that point on, the payroll shrunk and we haven’t been able to attract high-level free agents. I don’t think that it’s just a coincidence that we haven’t been to a World Series since AOL/TW took over.

Thrashers- Hard to say much here, since the franchise is so young. I guess Heatley’s road race down Lenox Rd. didn’t do much for us. Hossa ended up being a fair swap, but to lose the life of another player in the process is not worth it.

Tech- Not a pro franchise, but I’ve got to throw it in. Of course, everyone that knows me knows that i’m going to say ….Dave Braine. Thought it was going to be Gailey, right? I blame Braine for hiring Gailey’s mediocre ass in the first place and continuing to reward him for 7-6 and 6-6 type seasons by giving him contract extensions. You can’t really blame Gailey for taking the extension-who wouldn’t take all of that money? The things that I do blame Gailey for is his horrible in-game management, poor pre-game preparation and his conserative play-calling when it’s not needed. However, a loser like Braine should’ve set higher standards for the school’s Athletic goals and provided better coaching than Gailey for the school’s student-athletes, not make comments about how we have the best that we can get and that we can never compete with the big boys.

Why do Atlanta teams suck so bad against the God Damned Carpet Bagger Teams?

Well, the Thrashers, and Philips Arena for that matter, are no longer Playoff virgins. For the first time in both of their histories, there was a meaningful game being played in April. Finally, the work of Waddell and Hartley has paid off and the team not only made it to the playoffs for the first time, but won the SE Division. What happens from here is anybody’s guess, but this is a huge night for the Franchise and hopefully the stepping stone to propel the team to a Stanley Cup, if not this season, then in the next few years. With Lehtonen, Ilya and Hossa in their primes, I think that we’re heading in that direction.

Ismail, Janet, Olivia and I made our way down to Philips a little earlier than usual because of the chaos that we thought would ensue with a sell-out crowd all converging on the Arena.   When we entered, we were pleased to find out that they were giving out awesome Thrashers scarfs. We all got one and they even gave us an extra one for Olivia. Steve and Al will each be the beneficiaries of one each since they’re in on the playoff tickets with me.

Unfortunately, the Thrashers were chasing the game all night; they found themselves for much of the game down by two goals. Every time they narrowed it to one, the Rangers would score again. They didn’t show much aggressiveness offensively for the first two periods and lacked the crisp passing needed to create opportunities. The third period was much better as the team started playing more focused and cut the Rangers’ lead to one. With about a minute to go in the game and Atlanta still down by a goal, the Thrashers pulled Kari and the Rangers earned a penalty, giving the Thrashers a 6-on-4 advantage. This time, unlike the game last week vs. the Caps, the Thrashers got several shots off. However, nothing came of it and the boys went down 4-3.

Since i’m writing this on Sunday morning and after game #2, I know that the Thrashers are down 0-2. I’m very worried, but I know it’s not impossible. In the 2004 Finals between the Flames and Lightning, it went seven games and every game was won by the visiting team. So, I know it can happen, but i’m not too optimistic about their chances at this point. Another positive for the Thrashers is that they had the second best record at MSG this year, so who knows what might transpire on Tuesday and Wednesday.