Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Dance Dance Dance

As all of the free world probably knows by now, Kristi Yamaguchi took home the title Tuesday night on Dancing With The Stars. The N&O has a story here. Apparently she garnered the most points through the competition in the history of the show. Congrats to Kristi. Though I have to admit I did not see a minute of the show.

Also of note, a few days ago the N&O ran a story about how Mr. and Mrs. Yamaguchi were making plans to put down roots in California in the not so distant future. Hmmm...guess that's something to mull over as Brett returns to Raleigh to have a sit down with JR...natch, pack up his belongings?

Whatever Brett decides to do, UTTR wishes him nothing but the best.
He's earned it. We just like to kid...


-m

Off Season Game Plan

Well I'm back from my temporary sabbatical, which ended up lasting a lot longer than I expected. Turns out looking for a job, a little bit of travel and attending weddings took up a bit longer than I expected. But hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things quickly.

Was psyched to see that the (manufactured?) melodrama over Coach Peter Laviolette's job status seems to have been settled, for now at least. I found Jim Rutherford's comment - "This became a bigger issue than it needed to be" - somewhat amusing as it was JR's bristly refusal to give any thing resembling even a lukewarm endorsement of Laviolette that led to all the speculation in the first place.

Also today, over on TSN.com, Scott Cullen has posted his "Off Season Game Plan" for the Hurricanes. I had been waiting on this, since I had enjoyed Cullen's prognosis for other teams in the league so far. Have to say that I think he got things right for the most part, but it would be hard not to know what the Canes need most (defense, defense) assuming an even passing glance at their shortcomings last season. Erik Cole and Justing Williams are still offered up as possible trade bait for a top line defenseman, which is not surprising I guess, but I really hope it does not come to that in either case. There are also some free agent options listed. Check it out. Perhaps I'll offer up some of my own, completely uninformed, opinions on this stuff soon. I know you will be on the edge of your seats for that!


-martin