As I’m heading out of town in, oh … six hours … I figured I needed to set up VNC between the mini and the iBook. Anyone who’s spent a few minutes at this definitely knows the score, but man … OSXvnc was drop-dead simple to set up as a server, and Chicken of the VNC was a simple solution for the client. Add a little port-forwarding action with the router and … voilà! Between this and the fact that I do most of my work server-side, I can go off to Detroit and not miss a beat.

My only problem now is that I need to wind down enough to get three or four hours’ sleep. Tomorrow’s a long day—drive 10.5 hrs, check into the hotel, then make it to Ford Field, cover the CHA awards ceremony, then go collapse back at the hotel to rest up for the games.

WOOHOO! I may not be able to sleep at all.

Tag team, back again:

For the fifth consecutive year, Eyecentric Media will team up with the University of Alabama in Huntsville to broadcast the Chargers action from the College Hockey America Conference Tournament in Detroit, Michigan.

Fans can log on to www.eyecentric.com and, after providing registration information, listen to exciting Chargers hockey free of charge.

Mike Anderson will provide the play-by-play commentary, while Geof Morris will handle the color commentary.

I’ve missed hearing that redheaded joker in my headset. I’ve missed trading wordless looks with him as the puck comes off the ice. I’ve missed being one of the Voices of the Chargers.

My buddy Doug Eagan and I roll out of Madison before dawn on Thursday. My new iBook will be with me, so there’ll be updates from the road.

I can’t wait.

DSCN3246

Originally uploaded by jholland444.

I had a bunch of friends in town for the weekend. The plan was to get together, hang out, and catch a couple UAH hockey games. Well, the plan went by the wayside as soon as Mike’s wife started having heart problems last week—by the way, she’s been home for a few days, and she’s doing well —as UAH’s normal Public Address announcer had some outstanding committments.

Enter me, your ever-crazy correspondent, always willing to stick a microphone in his face and make a complete ass of himself. I had one HELL of a fun time working those two games. I would be happy to fill in as needed in the future.

In other news, Mike and I will be back together—after almost three years!—broadcasting from the CHA tournament in Detroit next weekend. I can’t wait!

Joe Clark wrote an excellent essay on how it’s silly that sportswriters seem to push obviously homosexual athletes into the closet, playing the don’t-ask, don’t-tell game:

Straight sports reporters telling everybody to keep quiet about gays in sports is the problem. These are mostly guys; even the leading Canadian women in sportswriting, of the Rosie DiManno/Crusty Blatchford ilk, are flat-out male apologists. Sportswriter guys are, on the whole, dumpy or aging and look with great fondness at the physical capabilities and the actual bodies of the male athletes they cover.

When sportswriters talk about the fact that the locker room culture makes it awfully difficult for an athlete to be open about his sexual orientation—which is to say, to publicly admit that he’s homosexual and not part of the mainstream macho stereotype, which is overtly [and sometimes borderline predatory] heterosexual—they are, in fact, highlighting a cultural problem that they themselves buttress. Consider all of Joe’s examples, then add the salacious reporting of marital infidelity and sexual misconduct allegations—Kobe Bryant, Shawn Kemp, Isiah Thomas, et al—and realize that all this reporting simply amplifies the false expectation that all our athletes are heterosexual.

Of course, then there’s the whole Out magazine controversy from a few years ago that had everyone speculating as to Mike Piazza’s orientation.

Now, some of my friends argue that this doesn’t matter, and they look at me disdainfully when I broach the subject. But I think Joe nails it here:

Sexual behaviour can be private but sexual orientation isn’t and can’t. If you think that’s too broad, apply it solely to public figures, which Olympic athletes surely are. In the 21st century, they don’t get to hide in the closet or be coy. What you call outing we call reporting. When do journalists report that straight athletes are straight? All the time.

In an era where athletes are celebrities, subject to all the privacy invasions that celebrity brings, it’s interesting to note how the coverage of the celebrity nature reinforce the very stereotypes that the more editorially-minded commentators among us seem willing to decry. It’s frustrating to me, since we’re just delaying the inevitable … I’m ready for this to just not be a problem anymore.

Joe Clark wrote an excellent essay on how it’s silly that sportswriters seem to push obviously homosexual athletes into the closet, playing the don’t-ask, don’t-tell game:

Straight sports reporters telling everybody to keep quiet about gays in sports is the problem. These are mostly guys; even the leading Canadian women in sportswriting, of the Rosie DiManno/Crusty Blatchford ilk, are flat-out male apologists. Sportswriter guys are, on the whole, dumpy or aging and look with great fondness at the physical capabilities and the actual bodies of the male athletes they cover.

When sportswriters talk about the fact that the locker room culture makes it awfully difficult for an athlete to be open about his sexual orientation—which is to say, to publicly admit that he’s homosexual and not part of the mainstream macho stereotype, which is overtly [and sometimes borderline predatory] heterosexual—they are, in fact, highlighting a cultural problem that they themselves buttress. Consider all of Joe’s examples, then add the salacious reporting of marital infidelity and sexual misconduct allegations—Kobe Bryant, Shawn Kemp, Isiah Thomas, et al—and realize that all this reporting simply amplifies the false expectation that all our athletes are heterosexual.

Of course, then there’s the whole Out magazine controversy from a few years ago that had everyone speculating as to Mike Piazza’s orientation.

Now, some of my friends argue that this doesn’t matter, and they look at me disdainfully when I broach the subject. But I think Joe nails it here:

Sexual behaviour can be private but sexual orientation isn’t and can’t. If you think that’s too broad, apply it solely to public figures, which Olympic athletes surely are. In the 21st century, they don’t get to hide in the closet or be coy. What you call outing we call reporting. When do journalists report that straight athletes are straight? All the time.

In an era where athletes are celebrities, subject to all the privacy invasions that celebrity brings, it’s interesting to note how the coverage of the celebrity nature reinforce the very stereotypes that the more editorially-minded commentators among us seem willing to decry. It’s frustrating to me, since we’re just delaying the inevitable … I’m ready for this to just not be a problem anymore.

Ain’t gonna lie … my mouth writes checks my ass has to cash from time to time. To wit:

On 2006-01-01 14:30:00 -0600, “fresh” said:

will run over you guys next week. Congrats on winning a tie breaker to gain the North Title. Enjoy the T-shirt. Now on to Super Bowl XL, the last BUS stop.

At least I’m not delusional that the Bengals are going to make the Super Bowl. If the Steelers make and win the Super Bowl, I’ll buy a Steelers jersey, wear it, have a photo taken of me, and leave it up on my Web site until next year.

Which is to say that I don’t think it’s happening.

You keep dreaming, little shaver. Neil O’Donnell says hey.

GFM

Now, as you’ll see down-topic, there’s some discussion as to what player I should wear, but note that I never said I’d wear the jersey of any specific player—just that I’d get a Steelers jersey, wear it, have a photo taken of me wearing it, and leave it up somewhere.

Now I have to buy a Steelers jersey. Feh.

Dear Dan O’Brien:

Yes, you deserved to be fired for the sheer stupidity of the Eric Milton signing alone. Good luck finding a new job, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Love,
Geof

Dear Dan O’Brien:

Yes, you deserved to be fired for the sheer stupidity of the Eric Milton signing alone. Good luck finding a new job, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Love,
Geof

I’m just happy that the first Bruins game I’ve caught on TV this year was a good success, as the B’s won 4-3 in OT over the Crapitals. It looked bad for the team when they went down 3-1, but two goals in :49 usually provides a nice pick-me-up.

Man, I miss NHL Center Ice. :twitch:

Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier to miss remainder of 2005-06 regular season due to knee surgery. Something tells me that Brad is crying in his beer.

Hallelujah! My beloved Cincinnati Reds have traded Sean Casey to his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, for a quality left-handed starter in Dave Williams.

As much as I like Sean, he was barely an average 1B on both sides of the ball, and certainly not worth what the Reds were paying him to be “The Mayor”. Sean’s a great guy and a clubhouse leader, but the Reds had four MLB-caliber outfielders and only three positions to fill. Moving Casey allows the Reds to install Adam Dunn at 1B, which should be a good move—he’s good around the bag, is 6′6″, and mashes like nobody’s business.

Good move by the Reds.

Brad was right, dammit.

Bruins Trade Thornton for Sturm, Stuart, and Primeau.

And no, I don’t especially want to talk about it. I’m still in shock.

My day today will largely be spent in silence, because our boys pulled off a third-period, four-goal comeback to win 5-4 last night. Four goals in eight minutes … with the crowd more and more raucous with each goal. We were whipping the student section into a frenzy, but I gotta tell you … keeping folks fired up and chanting is hard, hard work.

But hey, I wasn’t running the flag like Greg.

Ever since I came to UAH, I’ve never seen UAH hockey signees become public before summer prior to their arrival on campus, but … welcome to the Charger hockey family, Davide Nicoletti.