Battle Penguin Ramble:

I know that there are still 30 or so games in the season. I know that being 1 point and 2 games behind 8th place at this point in the season shouldn't mean that much. But every time the Pens lose another game it just hits me in the gut. You know I wish I could tell my gut that the Play-offs don't start until the middle of April, but my gut never listens. There are 3 1/2 months left to battle for a spot, the battle has just begun. Blind refs, road trips, bad fans, hostile arenas nor bandwagon jump-offs will sway the Pens from their goal. The Run for the Stanley Cup.

When you see three points dribble through the Pens fingers (flippers?) that somebody, anybody thought should have been firmly into the plus column it's hard to swallow. I mean, I personally want the Pens to do well because I like these guys. I'm not a Penguin fan because I was born and bred in Pittsburgh (KC born). It's a blast to watch this team having fun playing the game. I don't get anything other than that out of the Penguins doing well in a season. Well, that and I get to laugh at Philly phans, but I would do that no matter who I followed. Revenge on the Red Rags? For what? I haven't liked that team since their rivalry with the Snowslides of Rocky Mountain High, meant anything. (I still cherish the moment when St. Patrick kicked the crap out of Osgood) But the play-offs this year will take care of Detroit Rock-head City, I don't need to root against them. I cheer for the Penguins I don't care if other teams do badly (then we run into that Philly exception again) I just want the Pens to do well. I can't imagine watching any other team and worrying about whether I've got on my good-luck-hockey-watching shirt on. But I'm not embarrassed to say I do just that for the Pens.

And they have been doing well, not Fantastic, not Awesome, but they've been playing some good hockey. Sometimes their focus seems to slip and they forget to finish this game before they start thinking about the next one, but the last three weeks they've won more games than they've lost (4-3-1). They've gotten production at some unlikely times from some unusual sources (Cooke, Letang,), scorers have started slowly scoring again (Satan,Sykora, Staal) and their top two guys are one and two in the League in scoring and assists, (Malkin-75p 54a, Crosby-68p 48a) and that's during and through a 'slump'.

I know I should sum all this up and make it relevant, but the only thing I can think of is this: I've got no time to cry about the Toronto and New Jersey games, I've got to get my Penguins Old Tyme Hockey shirt and my super soft sweatpants ready to wear for Tuesday's game against Monty-trall, then Tampa Bay and Columbus. It's a long season, and there's still a long way to go, Battle Penguins don't have time to whine about yesterday, they have to prepare for tomorrow's battle. My 'gut' is just going to have to live with it.