Mike Fisher Sportsnet Ad: Awesome

Just saw this awesome Sportsnet ad after the Sens thrilling win over the Sabres (blog tomorrow with thoughts). Enjoy!

Polar bear rocket ship! [update!]

If this doesn't get you pumped up for the game on Saturday night, nothing will.



From what I understand of the video, the Alaskan flag turns into a constellation, which then explodes, implodes a planet, comes to life as a bear, finds a hockey stick, has a rocket for legs, flies into an electrical storm made of magic, does a slapshot of the hubble telescope! Destroys the moon! Nukes Anchorage! Moves onto Fairbanks and INVADES THEIR HOCKEY ARENA!

Fuck. What a video.

Kudos to the National Post's The Ampersand blog.

The Gladiator: Bad idea? Or... worst idea?

Everyone is talking about the Senators' pre-game debacle involving the Gladiator. It was embarassing, I won't lie. Jeremy Milks offered a pretty good description of it over on Black Aces, but here's the video of it too:



There are a lot of things that went wrong. You've got to give the actual actor credit; he was no Gerard Butler, but he did a half-decent job considering everything that was stacked against him. What on earth were the Sens marketers thinking, though? Why would you think one regular-sized guy, who wasn't even tremendously cut, wearing Greek garb, spouting rhetoric in a poor British accent, after a cheesy as hell opening video intro would get this crowd going? Why did you think you needed it, in what we're calling Hockey Country? This isn't Los Angeles or Nashville. The only reason we need for excitement is hockey.

Now, when I first heard it, this didn't seem like such a bad idea. A while ago I saw an ad looking for someone to be The Gladiator, I thought it would be another mascot, like Spartacat, who would walk around the bowls during the game and shout things during stoppages in play. Which would have been fine. But to have him as the main attraction of the opening ceremonies? Terrible.

If they do this again--and I won't be surprised if Eugene Melnyk calls and says that they can never, ever try anything like this again--they need an army. Give about 100 guys tickets and $50 or so, have them don this ridiculous clothing, and don't make them say anything.

Or, you know, you could just have had Daniel Alfredsson skate around the ice, and he would have had the whole crowd on their feet in a matter of seconds.

Ottawa: the Sens City

I found a few videos on youtube that seem to capture the excitement that the city exuded on Saturday and Sunday. If you were there, leave a comment. Also, if you use facebook make sure you join the 8,000-strong Sens Mile group.

Sens fans on Parliament Hill - I was there. They sang the national anthem 3 times in the course of ten minutes. It was both funny and inspiring.


Sens fans welcome the team back to Ottawa at the airport after returning from Ottawa. The only one you can recognize is Alfredsson, and maybe Vermette.


The last two are the march on Elgin street towards Parliament Hill following the game. It was a really good time. If you're a sens fan in Ottawa, then you should definetly be there after the next Senators win.

This could be the greatest thing ever

I don't know who did this, but my God, it is fantastic! The best thing is that Jason Spezza does the little girl voice... nice. You earned it Rayzor!

Also, did you all see Emery have a little chat with Crosby last game? It was during a commercial, but CBC showed it afterward. You could tell by their body language it went something like this:

Emery: "Don't you EVER come near my net AGAIN!!"
Crosby: "Sorry sir."

(If Crosby's smart, he'll listen. Emery has slashed people in the face for less - and I don't think Gatorade will sponsor a guy with only one eye.)