The Quest for Lord Stanley's Cup

The coolest trophy in all of sports is The Stanley Cup. Care to argue? I don't. I am right.

Most sports give trophies every year. The Stanley Cup remains one single trophy, yet it changes a little bit every year. Each season all of the winning players have their names engraved on the cup (some of the longer player's names are actually continued on the next cup). Finally, as it fills up the rings are retired and put in the hockey hall of fame. So a player's name stays on the cup about 52 years.

Personally, I am a fan of the Carolina Hurricanes. The 'Canes had a chance to lift Lord Stanley's Cup this past Wednesday, but couldn't seal the deal. Why? There are several theories:

• While tailgating a friend went to relieve himself in the nearby woods (because the lines were slightly shorter there than at the port-o-potty), and right in the middle of things found a black cat staring at him. (No animals were harmed while writing this post)
• During the singing of O Canada, an over-zealous fan shouted out "THE CUP IS OURS!!!". I just felt this was rude, and thought at the time I would blame him were the Canes to lose the game.
• My wife watched part of the game at her cousin's house. I watched one baseball game in that house, and it is the only sporting event more disappointing to me than Wednesday night's contest. (NOTE: I don't blame Steve Bartman for the fairly natural act of catching a ball - there was a very Bill Buckner-esque play after that, and there was a game 7 too)
• Fernando Pisani intercepted a soft pass from Bret Hedcan and beat Cam Ward for the first ever shorthanded overtime goal in an NHL final game.
• I turned on the camera. When the 'Canes won, I wanted that celebration picture. You know, the one where the players all gather together and pat each other on the head? I thought it would be a great picture to show people right before the one of Rod Brind'Amour raising the cup. But I shouldn't have turned the camera on. Here's the picture that I didn't take (I linked to it from somewhere else, I hope that's legal. Also I hope that the picture is still there).

So, somewhere there's a fat lady with a good voice just waiting to see what happens. I'm not sure if she's actually at the game or not, they might not make her go unless it goes to game seven.

For actual intelligent commentary about the Stanley Cup playoffs, please see Ron Francis' Blog. He not only used to play hockey, his name is on that trophy a couple of times.