Davis Cup and.... Sundin? *runs screaming*

La Ensaladera de Plata

Part One. After a week of not sleeping very well, I simply crashed last night and completely forgot to say how the Davis Cup went. Well, the first match (rubber? tie? whatever they call 'em in the Cup thing) went really well if you're cheering for Argentina. Nalbandian was clearly inspird and he ran over Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3. The poor Spanish no 2 had no chance. I actually didn't see the match but I think the stats speak for themselves and from what I read Nalbandian was awsome. That's good news because he will need to be awsome again when he teams up with Calleri today for the doubles match to bring Argentina up 2-1.

Yes, Del Potro lost to Lopez. I saw part of it and while Del Potro did well at the beginning he was obviously spent at the end of the 3+ hour match. After taking the first set, he lost the next two in tie breakers and the fourth one 3-6. The middle part of the match was rather boring because both sides held serve incredibly easy (try 40-0 for most of it). Lopez's big advantage (err only advantage?) is that he can serve well and it saved him in the tiebreakers. This doubles match is going to be crucial for both sides but I'm inclined to think that it's more important for Argentina to win it. If they go down 2-1 then it will be entirely on Del Potro's shoulders to beat Ferrer. While I know that Ferrer is not particularly good at the moment, I'm concerned how Del Potro will do under that type of pressure. He's been a bit shakey at the start of his matches in the Davis Cup matches. There's that confidence issue too, if he feels that he underperformed against Lopez and Ferrer does better than expected...But anyway, all in all, it's very important for Argentina to win this today.

Part 2. Later: Apparently Del Potro may be out for tomorrow. ACK! Bad news. This is really bad. Okay. Never mind what I said before. It's crucial for Argentina to win in doubles. If they don't win then their chances are.. I won't say next to nill, but....you get the idea. As long as Verdasco plays like he did against the US (which was bad) and Calleri plays well then Argentina has a chance.

Slightly later: I'm stuck listening to radio commemtary! *kicks computer* These announcer people are really funny. In the beginning they had no idea who was who and they couldn't even tell the score because there was a guy in their way - one of them couldn't speak Spanish so he didn't know what the (French) umpire was saying. One of them also can't say Nalbandian's first name right. Poor guys. The funniest bit was when one said "the heat in here has raised". Raised? Risen! He then just said "how about 'the heat in here is rising'?"lol.... poor guys!

Part 3. Later: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Victory for Spain...Noooooooooooooo..... It was a good match. Argentina took the first set 7-5, lost the second 5-7, lost the third after being down 2-5 and coming back to force a tiebreaker. They were up 5-1 in the tiebreaker and then lost it. They then went down 3-6 in the fourth. With Del Potro possibly out, Argentina is now at a huge disadvantage....I can always hope that del Potro makes a miraculous recovery and Ferrer breaks his arm. Sorry Ferrer.

The Mats Sundin Saga: Part 5,292,837,293

Just when I thought I had heard the last of Mats Sundin... okay, let me restate that. Just when I thought I had heard the last of Mats Sundin and the Habs, I learned the other day that Bob Gainey went off to LA to talk to Sundin. Here we go again....! I have no idea how they intend on signing him if they have no money at the moment. Okay so it's called trading someone. But who? And is it worth doing all this stuff to sign a guy who's going to retire soon? Then again, if they win the Stanley Cup then no on is going to complain too much. There's also the question of the reports that stated that Sundin wanted to play for a team that wouldn't play the Maple Leafs. Oh and there's the little issue of the Habs being 1 of 11 teams interested in Sundin. This is getting ridiculous, honestly. Sundin obviously can't make up his mind on what he wants. If he wanted to make a boatload of money then he would have signed with Vancouver. If he wanted to sign with a good team then he could have signed with Montreal (in my biased opinion). If he wanted to sign with a team in a nice warm climate then he could have signed with whatever Southern United States team was interested in him. Why are we persuing a guy who can't make up his mind and pick a stupid team? Signing Sundin is no guarantee that we'll win the cup. In fact, with news of Komisarek being out for at least a month, the Habs should start looking around for a defenseman instead of a guy who can't make up his mind. This is getting older than the whole Christiano Ronaldo epic over the summer and that got old really fast....



Speaking of Football....
Liverpool and Chelsea are playing Fulham and Newcastle. At the same time again, of course. You know, because it would be asking for too much if they played at different times. Anyway, be back later on this. Apparently I'm watching Chelsea right now.
Slightly Later: Chelsea forgot how to score in the first half. They had a billion chances and they couldn't score. Because I learned that Torres was playing today, I switched to Liverpool. Like Chelsea, they couldn't score either. Bah. Of course I'm watching the doubles in the Davis Cup so I won't know how they did till later.
Later: Chelsea 0 Fullham 0 and Liverpool 0 Newcastle 0. BORING! I can only imagine how terrible Chelsea AND Liverpool must have been to lose.... BAH.....
Real Madrid is making my day completely horrid by not beating a team in 19th place.....WAKE UP!
Even later: Real Madrid actually one 1-0. Could have been worse, I guess.
Canadiens vs Bruins
Almost forgot about this actually. Habs play Bruins again tonight. This has the potential to be another heartbreaking loss for the Habbies again. They still haven't woken up completely and the Bruins are doing well. Bah. Maybe the homecrowd will wake 'em up? We can be way nosier than any football crowd! Actually, they've still managed to sleep through the homecrowd. I will probably miss most of it 'cause I will be out.... x-x
Later: Lost in shootouts. Got run around in the first period. Woke up more in the second and scored. Messed up and let Boston score twice. Third went quite well. Completely outshot Boston but only scored once late to send it to overtime. Lost in shooutouts. Wheeler scored the only goal in the shootout. *sighs* the third went really well, I thought. Tim Thomas is not number one in the freaking league for no reason. *sighs* Judging by how the third went, they probably should of had it. Oh well. Considering that Boston is no 2 in the league they Habs could probably feel relatively happy with how it it tonight. I mean, they were definitely much more alive and really tried a lot more. So that could be some encouragement. Maybe. Then again, Detroit is coming up on Wednesday or Thursday....
Oh and who's idea was it to have Georges Laraque run around after Lucic? That was a stupid idea and didn't do anything really. Maybe Lucic didn't beat anyone up tonight but he did score a goal which was quite irritating to say the least... Are we going to do this every time we play Boston now? Isn't that giving the guy a bit too much credit? I think we should start worrying about scoring goals - they still can't seem to score more than 2 in a game - than about a guy who doesn't really look around for people to beat up on a regular basis.
Random fact of the hour (that would be 11:16 at night for the records)
While we're on the topic of Milan Lucic.... Guess where he's from? Or at least his parents 'cause he's Canadian. Guess. Think Ancic or Cilic only... a little more to east. YES the dude is of Serbian descent. Go figure, eh? I was sitting there hating the guy to death when it suddenly dawned on me that with a name like that he couldn't possibly be Czech or Slovakian. Why I thought he was from there to begin with is pretty stupid. With a name like that he had to be either Croatian or Serbian. But I mean... whoever heard of a Croatian hockey player? Watch as I'm totally ignorant and there's about 34723 of them. heh....
Ole! *dies*
The bloody song is going through my head now. Not my fault considering I've heard it ALL DAY. First in England when Chelsea and Liverpool were playing then in Argentina and then in Montreal. *bangs head on something*
In Sum
YUCK! Not pleased at all. Argentina has put themselves in a huge hole. Chelsea and Liverpool forgot how to score, and Real Madrid only scored once against an icky team. Malkin and Crosby must have died because Pittsburgh Penguins lost to Vancouver 3-1. And the Habs.... good news is that maybe they've woken up slightly. BUT WE STILL LOST TO BOSTON! After the Islanders, we've got Detroit (we're doomed), Washington (maybe Ovechkin will be sick and can't play) and Buffalo (maybe we can hope that they've forgotten how to play) next. I'm starting to despair slightly here.
Oh wait! there is a tiny bit of light. Lugano won against Zug. 7-4. Okay, so they're still in 5th and they beat the team in the bottom of the twelve team league. I'm desperate here!