Stephenie's Dislocated Shoulder Gets Popped Back Into Place

I meant to put this up on Friday but never got around to it and I flat out forgot on Saturday, so you are getting it now.

You all remember the story of Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick and Stephenie LaGrossa, don't you? If you do, then you'd remember that Stephenie already appeared on two seasons of Survivor and was going to appear in her 3rd season this year when the show's 20th season, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains premiered. That premiere was Thursday night and a rather sad thing happened. Philadelphia's favorite Survivor dislocated her shoulder in the season's very first challenge! Not to fear, though, as the Survivor medical team was able to pop it back into place! (WARNING: If you are at all queazy to the sights and sounds of distorting and undistorting parts of the human body, then I advise you not to watch and/or watch with a trash can right next to you).



Ouch. Now there's a video not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. Oof.

The good news is that Steph was okay after having her shoulder dislocated and popped into place and despite the fact that the Heroes lost the Immunity Challenge, Stephenie was not voted out!

Your Men's Olympic Hockey Schedule

While exact game assignments have not been announced yet, your the announcer pairings for men's ice hockey this year will be Mike Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire (when not working with CTV) as the A Team and Kenny Albert and Joe Micheletti as the B Team. Instead of updating this thread once they are announced for exact games, I will make things easier for myself and just include them in my men's ice hockey open threads, which I will try to get up everyday. The 3 pools of 4 teams this year are:

Group A: Canada, Norway, Switzerland, United States
Group B: Czech Republic, Latvia, Russia, Slovakia
Group C: Belarus, Finland, Germany, Sweden

And here is your day-by-day schedule. The fun starts this Tuesday, February 16! (all times eastern; games listed at 12 AM indicate date of the past night, in other words, the date the game would be on if they dropped the puck a minute earlier at 11:59 PM)

February 16
Group A: United States vs. Switzerland 3:00 (USA)
Group A: Canada vs. Norway 7:30 (CNBC)
Group B: Russia vs. Latvia 12:00 AM (CNBC)

February 17
Group C: Finland vs. Belarus 3:00 (MSNBC)
Group C: Sweden vs. Germany 7:30 (CNBC)
Group B: Czech Republic vs. Slovakia 12:00 AM (CNBC)

February 18
Group A: United States vs. Norway 3:00 (USA)
Group A: Switzerland vs. Canada 7:30 (CNBC)
Group B: Slovakia vs. Russia 12:00 AM (CNBC)

February 19
Group C: Belarus vs. Sweden 3:00 (MSNBC)
Group B: Czech Republic vs. Latvia 7:30 (CNBC)
Group C: Finland vs. Germany 12:00 AM (MSNBC)

February 20
Group A: Norway vs. Switzerland 3:00 (MSNBC)
Group B: Latvia vs. Slovakia 7:30 (MSNBC)
Group C: Germany vs. Belarus 12:00 AM (MSNBC)

February 21
Group B: Russia vs. Czech Republic 3:00 (NBC)
Group A: Canada vs. United States 7:40 (MSNBC)
Group C: Sweden vs. Finland 12:00 AM (MSNBC)

February 23
Secondary Round Game: Teams TBA 3:00 (USA)
Secondary Round Game: Teams TBA 7:30 (CNBC)
Secondary Round Game: Teams TBA 10:00 (CNBC)
Secondary Round Game: Teams TBA 12:00 AM (CNBC)

February 24
Quarterfinal: Teams TBA 3:00 (NBC)
Quarterfinal: Teams TBA 7:30 (CNBC)
Quarterfinal: Teams TBA 10:00 (CNBC)
Quarterfinal: Teams TBA 12:00 AM (CNBC)

February 26
Semifinal: Teams TBA 3:00 (NBC)
Semifinal: Teams TBA 9:30 (CNBC)

February 27
Bronze Medal Game: Teams TBA 10:00 (MSNBC)

February 28
Gold Medal Game: Teams TBA 3:15 (NBC)

Now from what I have been reading a lot of curling is scheduled right before some hockey games so the chances of some the later games being joined-in-progress is quite great from the way I have understood the various schedules that I've been reading.

I love Olympic hockey so you know that I am stoked for this year's tournament, especially seeing as there are so many teams that have more than a good chance at taking home the gold. Now as far as my rooting interests go, I must say that I am quite torn this year on who to root for. But JFein, you're an American? You are right, I am. However, there are no Flyers on Team USA who decided to snub both JVR and Matt Carle. And even though they have that useless piece of shit Crybaby Cindy Crosby on their team, Team Canada can proudly boast that they have the most Flyers of any olympic team with Mike Richards and Chris Pronger on that team and as soon as Getzlaf stops Favreing around actually makes a decision on whether or not he can play, Jeff Carter will take his place. For patriotism's sake, Go Team USA! For Flyers pride sake, Go Team Canada!

Other Flyers in this year's olympics include Oskars Bartulis on Team Latvia, Kimmo Timonen on Team Finland, and former Flyer Ole-Kristian Tollefsen (OKT) is playing for Team Norway. And just a message to Team Norway, you know your team is the worst team in the Olympics when OKT is on your team.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Worst Holiday Ever Invented.

While you are all with your Significant Other and/or Temporary Special Someone saying the mushiest and corniest things that on any other day of the year would not only get you not laid but slapped right across the face, I'll be at the toilet vomiting in repulsion.

I hope that video made you do the same.

Sieg Heil!

In honor of the remarks written earlier today by Montreal Gazette columnist Michael Boone, enjoy the following blitzkrieg.



Your final score: Philadelphia Luftwaffe 6, Montreal Canadiens 2.

LET'S GO NAZIS! *CLAPCLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*
LET'S GO NAZIS! *CLAPCLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*
LET'S GO NAZIS! *CLAPCLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*

So Apparently I'm A Nazi Fan

And you thought T.J. Simers' slander of the Phillies and Phillie fans were bad. Compared to the vitriol that Mike Boone of the Montreal Gazette wrote Saturday concerning the Flyers, Simers was extolling every great virtue this city has ever stood for.

Because frankly, in comparison to Mike Boone, Simers was lavishing the city with wonderful compliments of how nice we were.

Frankly, there's no way I can effectively set this up, so I'll just paste this quote, and well, all I will tell you is that this was published by a Montreal Gazette writer.

There's not a franchise in sports I hate more than the Philadlphia Flyers.

Not the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Not the New York Yankees.

Not the Dallas Cowboys or L.A. Lakers.

No, you'd have to have an Olympic Games flashback to 1936 and watch the pride of Hitler's Germany marching into the Berlin stadium to match the feeling of revulsion I experience every time I see the Flyers play.

Especially against the Canadiens.

You know? If you're going to call our team Nazis, could you at least do us the courtesy of spelling the name of our city right? THANK YOU!

Seriously. What a classless douche bag.

The only credit I will give him is that he will be appearing on Travis Hughes' Broad Street Radio podcast for the Flyers SB Nation blog Broad Street Hockey. Believe me, I'll be listening to that one.

Seriously. He equated the Flyers to Nazis. Our aggressive style of hockey is now apparently equitable to genocide of 6 millions Jews and starting the 2nd World War!

WE'RE NAZIS!

LET'S GO NAZIS! *CLAPCLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP*

As I type this post up, the Nazis lead the Habs 1-0 thanks to a goal by Danny Briere Erwin Rommel.

The Captain of the Flyers Mike Richards The leader of the Nazis Adolf Hitler has scored to give them a 2-0 lead over the Canadiens.

If the Flyers really are like Nazis, then this first period has been a blitzkrieg thus far.

The Moment Where Vancouver Became The World's Laughing Stock

For very good reason, NBC and the IOC are currently purging YouTube of the major embarrassment this evening in Vancouver.

You have one chance to get it right. One chance to leave an indelible mark on the world with a beautiful torch lighting. One moment to get it right. 4 spires are supposed to rise out of the ground while a cauldron descends from the air to create an awe-inspiring scene followed by 4 of Canada's finest athletes lighting the spires on fire to set off the cauldron. It's supposed awe-inspiring. It's supposed to be memorable.

Too bad there was a mechanical failure.

Embarrassing.

After a very long delay, only 3 of the 4 spires rose, thus leaving a rather oblonged looking cauldron with 3 of 4 athletes lighting the torch and poor Catriona LeMay Doan left alone while Nancy Greene, Steve Nash, and Wayne Gretzky got to have some fun. Gretzky would go on to have more fun and light the exterior torch all alone. That one did go off without a hitch and Canadians will be staring at a flawless outdoor torch for the next 2 weeks. And while I am sure NBC and the IOC would like to forget tonight's embarrassing torch lighting failure, it will be ingrained in the memories of all those who saw it for quite some time.

And thus, because of the awkward minutes created when the spires were not initially rising, we have the above-pictured GretzkyFace. Beware Peyton Manning. GretzkyFace is a force to be messed with.

One chance to make an impression in front of a worldwide audience......FAIL!

(I'd have a video up, but none exists for the time being. YouTube vids are leaving left and right and NBC has nothing on their site as they a). don't want the embarrassing and awkward footage ever seen again and/or b). they are holding out until the west coast sees the Canadian city to the north of them become the world's laughing stock. If NBC does grow a set and posts it, I'll have a link up to where you can watch the awkwardness tomorrow night as I will not be around at all during the day.)

Update: It appears as if the revisionist history is already underway. Not only do they not have a video of the screw-up and not only is not mentioned in the article about the ceremony, but they have changed the facts! Check this out from NBC's Olympics page.

The Opening Ceremony was climaxed with the Olympic cauldron being lit jointly by four Canadian sports heroes -- all-time hockey great Wayne Gretzky, skier Nancy Greene, speedskater Katrina LeMay Doan, basketball All-Star Steve Nash and Paralympian Rick Hansen.

The one spire did not rise and thus Doan never got a chance to light the cauldron. And on the night when NBC showed the footage of the accident that led to the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili over and over again (even having that video readily available on their website), to not acknowledge a mechanical failure is quite astounding.

Corestates Center First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center

Chase Utley will now have his quote permanently attached to The Stadium That Houses The Flyers And The Sixers.

It started out as the Spectrum II (prior to contruction), then it was bought by Corestates and was named the Corestates Center for its grand opening in 1996. Then they merged with First Union and thus the legend of the First Union FU Center was born. But sadly all things have to come to an end, and First Union merged with Wachovia, thus turning the building into the Wachovia Center. And now with Wachovia merging with Wells Fargo, The Building That Houses The Flyers And The Sixers will get a new name, the Wells Fargo Center. Or as Chase Utley might want to call it, the World Fucking Center. From The 700 Level

Look, I get that the money brought in by corporate naming rights of arenas and stadiums is huge, absolutely staggering. Sure it'd be great to still have our buildings named after private citizens, esteemed public figures, the teams that inhabit them, or respected groups such as our nation's military veterans. Although many of the edifices named after people bore the names of men who themselves were corporations, the Wachovia Center is built on the ground that once laid beneath John F. Kennedy Stadium. But, we all know that sports teams are businesses with many shareholders and stakeholders, and the revenue brought in by selling the name of a building is about the best "found money" you can come by.

That doesn't mean it's not somewhat annoying to have to keep up with all the name changes that result when the corporations that originally bought the rights in turn get bought themselves. And, considering that many of the naming rights are going to banks these days, and those banks merge, get bought, or buy other banks with dizzying regularity, we should be used to it by now, especially in Philly. Christened the CoreStates Center, the major indoor arena in Philadelphia has also been named the First Union Center and currently the Wachovia Center—all since 1996. And now, it'll soon become the Wells Fargo Center, named after a financial institution that already has naming rights for two other arenas in the US. Yes, as of July 1, 2010, there could potentially be a question raised in a bar some night, "Wait, which Wells Fargo Center do you mean?"

At least we're familiar with the letters W-F-C around here

World Center. World Fucking Center!

It may not be as epic or as awesome as the FU Center, but any building that is initialed in Philadelphia as WFC is fine by me.

That is until when some other random bank merges with Wells Fargo in 5 years.