Off the topic of the Lightning and pro sports, as a heads up to locals and Tampa Bay-originating people’s far-far-away… Creative Loafing (aka the Weekly Planet) has their Best of the Bay awards voting going on right now. This covers a wide variety of topics such as best restaurants, best clubs, best players on each major sports team, best and worst local personalities, best local blog, etc. You need to be able to vote for 35 of these subjects at the minimum if you’re going to have your vote registered at all…

Voting closes August 8th, so hop to it people!

As a big fan of Entourage on the HBO cable network, I always saw something oddly familiar about Kevin Connolly (aka Eric “E” Murphy — Vincent Chase’s manager):

I knew Connolly from his earlier work in unpopular shows and movies (Rocky V, Unhappily Ever After among others) but that wasn’t why the guy looked so damned familiar, like I saw him more regularly than just on TV…

Maybe it’s just me? Maybe if I had a more candid shot of Mr. St. Louis you could see the similarities.

Oh well… just a thought.

Happy New Year to readers and Lightning fans everywhere (along with the rest of the Tampa Bay and Hockey blogosphere)!

So it’s 2007. It’s January 2007. As the St. Petersburg Times Eduardo A. Encina points out, if history repeats itself — this is where the Lightning will (and must) perform:

I’ll let the team’s past 3 seasons records in January do the talking:

2002-03 17-13-5-3 / 4-7-3-1 conference semifinal
2003-04 15-13-6-1 / 11-3-0-2 Stanley Cup champion
2005-06 19-17-3 / 8-4-1 conference quarterfinal

(order reversed and emphasis added by me)

Words like “Desperate” and “urgency” were tossed around in the above posted article — and there is an urgency indeed. In January of the past 3 seasons, the Lightning have played with that urgency. Here’s a little reminder of what else they played with: The notion that playing it safe was not going to cut it if they wanted to win.

That’s a wider notion than just on-ice play. Safe is death — makign sure your locker room situation remains passive and unchanged can lead to a negative, atrophic effect on the team’s resolve to win.

Safe is Death, but for the sake of saying so — same can be death, too.

Also, use the Safe Is Death graphic.

A couple of months ago, Mike Chen approached me about a contest he was running on his web site for the best worst player in the NHL — someone who was mediocre and who would be the best mediocre player in the game this year. I laughed at the idea but I’m playing along…

…yet it seems like hockey fans around the internet have taken that idea and run with it.

In a move that mimics Netroots activism in politics (rallying people online to achieve major goals), NHL fans on Hockey’s Future’s message board started a write-in campaign for Vancouver Canucks player Rory Fitzpatrick in an effort to mock the NHL’s All-Star voting system by skewering the results. Yeah, I just used some harsh phrasing to define the moment but you know what? I get a kick out of this and I’m all for it. I don’t just get a kick out of this, but I’m amazed that this movement has legs. Check out Calgary Puck, Something Awful, Lets Go Wings, TMLFans.ca and Canucks Central message forums. Myspace and Facebook social networks also have groups devoted to this Western Conference write-in campaign

And yes, this movement has it’s own website as well (sadly pathetic but it serves it’s purpose).

So whattaya say? Vote for Rory as your western conference write in vote!

Mike Chen, trying to wake the likes of me and others up from Summer Doldrums, has tagged me! I’m supposed to write five wierd things about myself and… hey, what the hell right? Lemme give you Wierdness 101 about John Fontana:

1) I was born on a football Sunday in New York where the Giants — at 0-5 — were playing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-0 for the first time in team history). The Giants ended up beating the Bucs. I always find it ironic that I ended up moving to Tampa Bay from New York. I’d witness the Giants win the Super Bowl here (1991) and the Bucs would win their own title 11 years later (in San Diego).

2) I ran a Beatles lyrics web site for several years online. Beatlelyrics.com got 1000 hits a day at it’s height. In July 2002, Apple Corps. LTD. (the Beatles company) and Sony Music (…who represent Michael Jackson who owns the Beatles song catalog) would both send me cease-and-desist letters to shut down the site, saying I was causing grave damages by posting the lyrics online. Whatever…

3) I landed a dot-com web design job in 1998 simply by explaining my nickname on a message board (Artful Dodger) didn’t mean I was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and that it was a reference to Charles Dickens book, “Oliver Twist”. I came off smart enough in other baseball-related posts and discussion to earn the respect of the webmaster and ultimately land a job.

4) I have a rare genetic disease called Neurofibrometosis Type 2 that effects something like 1 in 68,000. It caused me to lose my hearing as a teenager (try going through high school with 25 percent or less of your original hearing) and ultimately go deaf. I currently have a variation of the Cochlear Implant so I can hear again.

5) I’m a movie obsessive. I can usually guess what movie is playing on TV within seconds of watching the film. It’s an annoying habit for those who live with me to have me walk into a room and announce what film they are watching (that they just put on) and how good or bad the flick is. Oh well, we all have our talents right?

I’m supposed to name a few people to tag here, but I’m late posting this as is so I am going to pass. Everyone’s been asked as it stands… Well, most almost everyone in the hockey blog world.

No, no, no, not THAT Eklund… If it was THAT Eklund, we would have run him out of town already.

I’m talking about THIS Eklund who’s had THIS happen to him after being demoted to the ECHL.

Seems Vinny Lecavalier injured his foot during play late in today’s blowout versus Philadelphia… The injury appears to be serious… Of course, the only report I can find is on RDS so take it with a grain of salt…. But the word “fracture” is in there.

I’ll try to find a link to verify the Jaspers / O’Brien call up… O’Brien would definately be needed in light of Daryl Sydor’s injury today and the fact the team could not determine the extent of the injury (non concussion).

Disregard said post.

The Lightning were very concerned with Tim Taylor’s injury… So concerned that they called up Jason Jaspers in response.

Well, folks… Jaspers is gone… Does this mean the medical threat is less than it once was? Or perchance Martin Cibak is well again as well?

Norm Milley and Jim Campbell have been recalled from AHL Springfield and will join the Lightning tonight at MSG.

There have been no published reprots that I can find but a friend told me that Ryan Craig has a hairline fracture in his big toe and that is why he was scratched last. It must be serious if the Lightning have called up more reserves to cover for him… It also must be a testament of a continued unhappy John Tortorella, who had his doghouse puppy Dmitry Afanasenkov starting in place of Craig.

I don’t know who to be angrier at — fate or Jay Feaster.

Pavel Kubina goes down with a groin injury and doesn’t play last night’s hockey game. The Lightning dress five deensivement and lose after one of them (Pratt) is penalized.

Tonight? Nolan Pratt suffers an injury during the 1st period and a depleted defensive core, playing for the 2nd night straight, is down to four defensivemen…. 2 pairs expected to cover the full of the game.

The Lightning have three AHL0level forwards contributing right now and 3 NHL veterans riding the pine… There is depth at forward is what I am trying to underline here. The Lightning carry only 6 defensivemen on their roster to begin with. No spares. Why wasn’t someone called up and Reid, Craig or Artuhkin sent down?

A loss tonight may be looked at as bad luck, as a tough loss, as disappointing. It can also be looked at as helped along by negligence in the front office.

UPDATE: Pratt back out on ice - yet I stand by my comments