To save you from my long diatribe, I am not going to do anything with this blog anymore and I am going to open it up to anyone that wants to take it over. If you do not know anything about Wordpress and need some help, I am willing to help you out and set the site up how you see fit. If you know how to use it, then she is all yours and you can change the theme, etc. I will still keep “ultimate” power, but I will probably never post, I just keep it in case something needs to change. If you are interested in such an offer, free by the way, then go ahead and send an email to daniel@ducksblog.net and we can set things in motion.
Continue reading ‘Up for Grabs’
Archive for the 'Blog' Category
10
May
Up for Grabs
07
Sep
New Design
So, I finally did something with this blog again, I changed the layout. It is a slightly modified theme that I found, because I was simply to lazy to make one myself. I have one I made in mind, but I probably wont use it. Anyway, this is step one of the project that is this blog. I chose a very simple theme with a very simple scheme, because of the other things I want to add in the near future. That way I can easily make all of the services match with some simple editing of some style sheets. The last challenge is to make it so a visitor has to only register once to use all of the goodies, or not at all. I would prefer not at all, but I don’t know if that is possible. I am still tinkering with this thing, so for the two people that visit, don’t scared if something looks odd. Enjoy and keep checking back in, it is going to be a great season.
PS: Teemu Selanne has been my favorite hockey player since I was about 11 years old and I found this picture to be very touching. Kind of like skating off in to the sunset with the thing he wanted most. It just fit.
13
Jul
Clear the Dust
Wow, it has been so long since I have posted, this site isn’t even my Firefox browser history. Whoops. I also haven’t done very much on the other parts of the site either, but they are pretty much working, so there isn’t much to do. I will write another post in a couple days, because I feel I should. I wanted to wait until Selanne and Niedermayer made some more headlines, but they are holding out on us I guess. Until next month…
13
Jun
NHL 08 - Finally
Does this look familiar? Niedermayer, Pronger and Alfredsson.
I know this isn’t anything related to the Ducks, but I have been stalking the Internet for months waiting to hear about this game. I had the PC version and never got to play it on the XBOX360, then they had the nerve to not make it for the PS3, so I was left out of that whole skill stick thing. In 08, they will have a PS3 version, so I will be saved from the god awful, down right worst gaming purchase I have ever made, mistake of a game that is NHL2k7. I can not even express how bad that game was.
Eric Staal is the cover boy this year, at least in North America, it wasn’t listed for the European release yet.
The skill stick has been polished as has the look of the game, which is expected when you develop an innovative control system, it will be buggy for the first year or so. I think the coolest part of the new version will be the AI. I have always wanted better AI in the hockey games, because going coast to coast or flying up the wing and taking it to the crease was just too damn easy.
You will be able to set up in the offensive zone and work the puck around. Because of the much tougher defensive AI in the slot [just try carrying the puck into the slot…we dare you], you will actually need to do this in order to get scoring chances.
This better be true, because I have heard that before. You could kind of set up in NHL 07, but it was more of a desire to dick around with the other team then it was a necessity to actually need to do it because the AI was good. I want to know that my guys can stay in front of the crease and pound someone who walks out in front without me having to control them. I also want scrums after the whistle if the situation arises, then some control of that too, where I can start to push or push back. If someone wants to drop the gloves, then you go with that too. A face wash or a hard slash gets you a penalty, you know, hockey stuff.
We have implemented a new skating engine for NHL 08 that addresses all of your NHL 07 skating issues. You will have 100% control of your players. If you move your left stick 10%, your player will move at 10% speed. If you tap the left stick quickly, your player will quickly move a few feet. If you hold the left stick 100%, your player will skate at 100%
Wont that be nice, we can actually move at the speed of intention, control the finer lines. Though this might be a learning curve, I know a lot of us are used to jamming that analog stick all the way and hitting a speed burst button, the one that can’t get Paul Kariya to a loose puck before Hal Gill when they both start at the same point. There is the feature of a defensemen walking the blue line, fine tuned cross overs to keep your speed while maneuvering.
Some more realistic checking is in the works as well. Based on angle of contact, speed and size of players. Using the same example above, Paul Kariya could level Hal Gill but Gill couldn’t always knock down Kariya. Make the passing a little more realistic and don’t let everything through as well, I don’t think I read anything about that.
All and all, this looks like it is going to be a solid release, but I thought that after NHL 07. I have been told that the difference between the PC/PS2 and XBOX360 versions are pretty big, so I will give EA a little break for that. Check out the links below for more about the game and some galleries. No videos yet, but those are in the wings I am sure.
| http://blogs.ign.com/EANHL08/ |
| http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/794/794764p1.html |
| http://www.1up.com/do/gameOverview?cId=3160200 |
| http://media.ps3.gamespy.com/media/900/900347/imgs_1.html |
07
Jun
Wow, What A Season
From the fans singing the National Anthem to Selanne raising the cup high above his head, you have to be proud to be a Ducks fan today. After all the years of hearing the Disney jokes, the Mighty Ducks cartoon, Wild Wing, the “eggplant” in the jersey, being from California and not being a real fan base or deserving market, it finally ends in amazing fashion. Today it feels good to be from Southern California, the crowd singing the National Anthem was spine tingling and I wasn’t even in the building. I know it happens a lot in Canada, passing a huge Canadian flag around the arena is awesome too, but that was very touching to hear that come from Orange County. It will save you from me bashing the OC for the rest of the week, I promise.
The series played out exactly how I figured it would, the Ducks made quick work of the Senators. Ottawa thought it wasn’t going to be close, you were right, but oh so wrong. Game five was the final stamp on a season you know was going to be special, I guess you had to be a real Ducks fan to know that. The up’s and down’s during injuries were nerve racking, the Detroit series was shameful at times but the finals showed everyone who the best team was.
I will have some more posts coming later today and later in the week, but we are having DNS issues at work so I have to deal with that. I have some great things in the wings and it will be a great offseason. I am going to come back with a new domain, a new site structure and what should easily be the most interactive Ducks site, if not hockey fan site on the internet. I was going to close up shop a couple times this season, but got inspired during the playoffs, go figure. Thanks to all the bloggers, especially those from Detroit, you guys were a riot.
I even called the own goal, that is scary!
Chris Pronger Danny Heatley
VS 
Oh man, this is going to be a blast. My buddy Dan (–who sent me the team picture on the previous post, happy now?–) asked if the Senator blogger’s were going to be like the Red Wings. Now, I really didn’t seek out anyone last series, I just sit back and do my own thing and let things come to me. But I was curious, so I took a gander at what a Senators blog might be saying, a confident group I must say.
Their first 2 series were forgone conclusions and almost impossible to watch. I thought the Wings lost that series more than the Ducks won it.
Then some argument about how Zetterburg and Datsyuk each had six points and flew around the ice uncontested. They have played better forwards in Buffalo and in Pittsburgh and the Ducks powerplay is mediocre. The Ducks hit early, but not late in games and not for a whole series. And Carlyle is as a good a coach as Niedermayer, Pronger and Giguere.
Objection! - Sustained! - Your honor?!? - What counselor?
The Penguins and Devils weren’t exactly awesome competition either. Detroit’s studs scored on the powerplay for 150% of their points, free roaming I think not. Buffalo may be deeper as far as all around 1-4 lines, but yea right, who has been as talented and as sized as the PPG line? I am not sure what to say about the powerplay line, I think the Senators should take some penalties and test that one out. I wont even talk about the physicality of the Ducks, that was just stupid to say that. As for Randy Carlyle, whatever, that one will be determined when this series is all over and Ottawa got a sniff at winning more then one game.
We have too many days now to sit at our desks or on the couch and bitch at each other about how kick ass our respective teams are and how much the other team sucks. I can not wait to hear the jokes about Disney, cartoons, video games, the movies and the market that the Ducks play in. We already know that California is not a hockey market, we don’t give a damn, that, along with the Coach Bombay jokes are over ten years old. I fell like I am in junior high hearing ‘Yo Momma’ jokes, oh snaps, heard that one before.
Believe this though, the series wont even be close. Ray Emery isn’t half of any of the three goalies the Ducks just roasted.
13
May
Whine & Cheese
I have been online for about 10 years now, in the current sense really, where I actually contribute to the internet. I used to have a wonderful site that had a couple thousand registered users, thousands of hits a day and all that fun stuff. I had to deal with the occasional user that would taint a forum post or a sour comment. I started this blog because I really love hockey and I love to cheer for the Anaheim Ducks. But my god, this sphere of hockey blogs is almost like commenting on a Digg or YouTube post at times. As the series against Vancouver started, Canucks blogs would link me up and especially since the conference finals were set, that is when things took off. Thank you to Earl Sleek, Bill at A2Y, Scott Warheit and Matt Saler mostly, those four sites have driven the hits way up for me. It is just funny to me how people on opposite sides bash each other. Whether it be directly in a post or comments, it is usually the visitors making the comments though. Arguing online is so stupid, how old are you?
As for today’s game, it is going to depend on which teams show up. I bet both teams keep the same tempo, no reason for either team to think they can let up. Red Wings fans, if you think nothing is wrong and all is well, you are living in a bubble. Maybe you are mixed up with the Pistons-Bulls series, because this is not an over matched series. Everyone has their own point of view and mine is defiantly skewed towards the Ducks, I have honestly been watching this playoff season in a non-biased way. I watch as many games as I can, though I did miss a lot of the Red Wings-Sharks series.
I bet we see the same thing as we did in game one, but I bet the Ducks score a couple more goals in today’s game. I wont really know until later tonight, because I am recording the game and wont be home until about 8PM. I wont look for the score or anything throughout the day, I will wait until I get home and get to watch the recording. Fuck you commercials!
I will go out on a limb here as well and say the Ducks win tonight 3-1. I don’t like to give game predictions because the dynamics change too often in a series. But I think the Red Wings are going to get the best Ducks team tonight, because they don’t want to go home down 0-2.
16
Apr
The Good Ole Days
Remember back in the day when you could tune to ESPN and catch nationaly televised hockey games all the time and when it came to mid-April, it was pretty much the only thing you could watch on ESPN? Now, we know those days are gone, but what was one of the things that caught your ear, you just knew by that sound that something hockey was coming? The damn ESPN NHL theme of course, then Gary Thorne and Bill Clement would come on…I know, I know…heaven. Since I miss that sound, I took the liberty of ripping it from a video I found on YouTube and posting. It is the official ringtone of people who call me and like hockey. It should be my default, but I like my other one too.
So go ahead and snag it here!
So, there is about 2:00 minutes left in the game and I have been working on this since the third period started, after about 30 minutes I was able to finally get it to work. Personally I think it was the Jack and Coke, but what do I know, I have been drinking. The point is that it works and I am excited. I am hoping to make this the best resource for any information you could want to know about the organization. I am almost certain that everyone who has been on the internet in the last 18 months or so has been to Wikipedia once or twice and I am using the same application as that.
The whole point of a wiki is to have the community maintain the information, add random facts, stats and information that you find relative. Imagine comming to one site to find out who scored the first goal in franchise history, first power play goal, first captain, a list of captains over the years. Anything you can think of, it can be added to the database, by any registered user. If you see something inaccurate that another user wrote, you can change it. This is the kind of thing you work on a lot in the off-season, when you do not have much hockey to watch but you want something hockey related to do.
You have to log in twice right now, but it is still the same login. Down the line, the plugin maker said he will try to use the same session from the blog, so you wouldn’t have to login twice.
And since the game is over, congratulations to Joe DiPenta and Ric Jackman, they had some swolen shoes to fill and they came through in a big way. You have to love how DiPenta’s goal when in, a few weeks ago the Ducks didn’t get that bounce. Maybe things are looking up.
11
Feb
Updates…
A lot of stuff has happened to me since I last posted on this blog, November 28th. Damn that is a long time ago. The Ducks have since then dropped all kinds of games, had all kinds of injuries and whole lot of inconsistent play. Everyone knows the deal, so oh well, time to move on. The team is back at full strength and I am sure that by the time the playoffs come, it is going to be business as usual.
As for this site, I updated to the latest version of Wordpress and installed a new theme which I really really like. So in the coming days I will try to post as usual and maybe more in general hockey posts. I just got myself a 56″ DLP TV and HD cable, so I am infatuated with HD sports and hockey looks simply incredible. Until then…
