Battle of California Playlist #2

My list is a little bit different from PJ's because I didn't necessarily try to pick songs that I think would sound good in an arena. I mostly picked songs that I really like and seem to symbolize what hockey is to me. I have a CD I listen to on my way to the rink every time that's pretty much all loud, fast and angry music. I've always believed that hockey is an angry sport and when I drive to the rink I think about how much I hate everyone on the other team. I think about their temerity in even getting on the same field of play as me and how they actually think they're good enough to get a puck past me. By the time I get to the rink I'm ready to fight. Then I get to the rink and put on my pads and by the time I'm all warmed up I'm pretty calm and ready to go. But the music helps me get ready to play.

A few explanations:

Trogdor, by Strong Bad- Like my brother mentioned yesterday, the Kings should play "Trogdor" every time Ivanans gets into a fight. He's a dragon-man (or really just a dragon) and he needs his own song.

Bleeding Love, by Leona Lewis- I mean, that's just a good song.

Girls in Black, by Airbourne- This should be the Kings' song.

I am the Night, Coloured Black, by Priestess- That song should be on a highlight video. Just sayin'.

When You Fucked Grandpa, by blink-182- I think this song should be played in the arena, just to see the expressions on people's faces.

Mine Now, by Bullets & Octane- This song gets me really fucking pumped. It's always the last song I listen to before I get out of my car for hockey.

Battle of California arena playlist #1

Nothing draws the ire of hockey fans more than the topic of music played at the arena. HP Pavilion has recently emerged from a haze of classic rock to adopt a pretty progressive playlist, but gone are the halcyon days of San Jose Arena/NHL 94 organist Dieter Ruehle, and whoever the organist was playing obscure 80's songs at the Cow Palace during the first 2 years in San Francisco.

It may be shocking to hear Motorhead's Ace Of Spades played during the pre-game warmup in San Jose (in a good way), but Philadelphia has made it a staple across the NHL. Metallica's Fuel is a regular. Nothing is going to top last year's entrance song, The Pretender by the Foo Fighters, used to great effect in the playoffs.

A quick perusal of my current mp3 playlist comes up with almost nothing suitable to accompany NHL hockey. The queue contains too many singer/songwriters, ambient or industrial track after track, and music more appropriate for an art exhibit or a coffee house insead of a hockey game. After a little searching, here are six songs that might work well while watching Marty Turco make a late third period turnover. Please suggest songs you think would work best in the comments, and I am sure audiophile Mike Chen will chime in as well.

Imperial Hip Hop - There are few songs if any that might intimidate an opposing team as they step on to the ice at HP Pavilion, but this is one of them. With the refurbished sound system at HP Pavilion that can handle heavy bass, this would be the perfect entrance song for a hockey game. Or in the case of a Sharks-Ducks matchup, a rugby match or an MMA fight. Add in the fan noise the reverberates off the ceiling and it would be impressive.

Chevelle's The Red - Simple, heavy rock that has worked well for hockey over the ages. There is a reason so many classic hockey highlight clips use the Offspring or Mettalica. It fits.

The Whip's Trash - Why is Thrashers center Jason Williams playing Basshunter's Russian Private Jet? Garbage. The Whip is a new-ish band from Manchester, UK that rips off the 80's well enough that you do not mind. Divebomb should be included on this playlist, Sister Siam is solid too. Before you bash The Whip, visit Silicon Valley and sample your target audience.

Folk Implosion's Natural One - An older song with a mesmerizing bass line. The type of song you will be asking a friend for the title after the game.

Damian Marley's Welcome to Jamrock - I first heard this song at an ABA basketball game in San Jose. Walking up to the court a handful of players were throwing down punishing dunk after punishing dunk in the pregame warmup while this was thumping in the background. I sat under the basket to take photos and it felt like they were literally trying to rip the rim off the backboard. This song is hard and it has an edge to it, even if it was performed by a Marley.

Booker T. & the M.G.'s Hip Hugger - This may only be a short sample clip of the full song, but the lack of hockey organists at several venues across the league is a crime. This is the type of obscure soul track that a hockey organist could use to put his stamp on the experience instead of piping in fake crowd noise and asking fans to raise the noise meter, and when you think of a hockey organ you have to think of Booker T and the M.G.'s.

Longtime Chicago Blackhawks organist Frank Pellico talks with the Chicago Tribune about playing at the Chicago Stadium and the United Center for almost 20 years.

[Update] This song has to be added to the NY Islanders playlist.

[Update2] Mike Chen posted another in his "Puck Rock" series with goaltender Sean Burke here. A previous post featured ESPN's John Buccigross here.

Staying Alive

Stormy Playoff Friday

Messing around with my brothers guitar, I ad-libbed a little playoff blues song.

They call 3-0 insurmountable
But 3-1 is just as bad

They call 3-0 insurmountable
But 3-1 is just as bad

3-2 is worse
Losing after 3-3 is oh so sad


The Shark is fed on Friday
Saturday it goes out to play

The Shark is fed on Friday
Saturday it goes out to play

Sunday I go to church
And pray for the power play


Don Cherry have mercy
Don Cherry have mercy on this team

Don Cherry have mercy
After Detroit, Edmonton, and Calgary

After three early departures
Please send San Jose to round three

A slash fractured my thumb while not wearing gloves and playing roller hockey, it makes playing with steel strings a little difficult.

[Update] Hockey and Ska - Sharkspage.

Mike Mendoza Canadian National Anthem

Saxophonist Mike Mendoza plays the Canadian National Anthem prior to the Edmonton Oilers game against the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion on Thursday, February 14th 2008.

Kunitz, the scoring "enabler", gets extended

Well, I’m a day late on this, but top line winger Chris Kunitz, who is already under contract for $1.15 M this coming season, signed a UFA-avoiding extension yesterday: 4 years, $14.9 M (with a cap value of $3.725 M per year).

I’m fairly happy with this signing, though I will note that it is a bit difficult to peg a value on Kunitz’s contributions. After all, Kunitz is rarely the opponent’s focal point on any of his line combinations. But whereas some players are purely "passengers" on scoring lines, Kunitz is more of an "enabler"—he noticeably improves scoring results around him.

To demonstrate this, I stole some numbers from an even-strength teammate evaluation site created by HockeyAnalysis.com’s David Johnson. Basically, this site looks at last season’s even-strength ice time and determines scoring rates (GF and GA) when certain players play together and when they play apart. Below are the top 4 forwards and the top 4 defensemen that Chris Kunitz played with at even-strength last year. Note how all 8 players had improved results playing with Kunitz compared to their even-strength ice time without him.

Even-Strength Goal-Differential Rates
GF, GA, and GD with and without Chris Kunitz

Teammate	With Kunitz	Without Kunitz	Kunitz Factor
Andy McDonald	+1.25 -0.61 +0.64	+0.91 -1.26 -0.35	+0.99
Teemu Selanne	+1.27 -0.62 +0.65	+1.13 -0.92 +0.21	+0.44
Ryan Getzlaf	+1.31 -0.60 +0.72	+0.91 -0.57 +0.35	+0.37
Corey Perry	+1.12 -0.56 +0.56	+0.93 -0.58 +0.35	+0.21
Francois Beauchemin	+0.89 -0.61 +0.28	+0.83 -0.81 +0.02	+0.26
Scott Niedermayer	+1.18 -0.90 +0.28	+0.87 -0.81 +0.06	+0.22
Sean O’Donnell	+1.31 -0.50 +0.81	+0.71 -0.82 -0.11	+0.92
Chris Pronger	+1.41 -0.45 +0.96	+0.90 -0.60 +0.30	+0.66

(note: all scoring rates are expressed as goals per 20 even-strength minutes)
The defenseman results in the table above aren’t really that telling—after all, their minutes played with Kunitz mostly correspond with their minutes played with the top line. But the forward results are very revealing—the top two lines were both much more dangerous with Kunitz as the third option. His abilities to skate, shoot, and play the body provide enough options and flexibility for scoring lines to thrive. As Brian Burke notes, “He’s one of our Swiss army knives. He’s good enough to play on the top line and tough enough to play on the fourth line. And he can do almost anything in between.”

All told, I am happy enough with the extension, which I should note is at the “Burke Maximum”—four years. Burke has not negotiated or acquired any contracts extending beyond four years, which I approve of to stay flexible in the face of a vaguely predictible future.

4-year contracts that Burke has negotiated:
Scott Niedermayer
Rob Niedermayer
J.S. Giguere
Chris Kunitz

4-year-remaining contracts that Burke has acquired:
Todd Marchant
Chris Pronger

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For those who have not heard it, PJ at Sharkspage has linked to what might be the definitive Battle of California theme song to date—The Whiskey Avengers’ single “Cheechoo / Tameu”, which despite its spelling error in the title quite hilariously tells the story of California’s purest goal scorers—SJ’s Jonathan Cheechoo and Anaheim’s Teemu Selanne.

Check it out now before retirement renders it obsolete!

Sometime in the indeterminate future

I caught Chris Pronger on the Carson Daly show a couple of weeks ago (quite literally the third televised hockey-related program in SoCal this summer), and between Daly taking shots of Patrón silver tequila out of the cup, Prongs revealed this tidbit: barring any future lockouts, the Ducks' names will remain etched on the cup for the next 63 years.

So don't worry, Kings fans. There's still odds that your first cup could be completely Prongerless, if you wait long enough.

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Off-topic: I’d like to extend a BoC Happy Birthday to my kid brother in New York, who’s still aspiring to be a musician. His band Mercer is still selling their first album, Hourglass, accessible through their MySpace page or through their official site, and I definitely think it's worth a listen. If you like it, buy a copy for someone you like. If you hate it, buy a copy for someone you detest.

Regardless, why not join me in raising a glass of your favorite beverage tonight in honor of Brother Sleek? Happy birthday, brother. Thanks for an excuse to get drunk tonight.

End Of Debate

Zakk Wylde is a Kings fan:


Brett Michaels is a Ducks fan:


I think that says everything that needs to be said.


(I'm not sure what famous musicians like the Sharks, but my money's on these guys.)

Off-topic: Help a brother out!

Well, to be more specific, help my brother out.

I feel a little bit dirty advertising like this, but I've got a kid brother who's trying to make it as a musician in NYC with a band called Mercer.

They're in somewhat of a fledgling state, having just produced their first album. I think it's pretty good, but truth be told, I'm a guy who listens to more dead composers than live ones.

At any rate, you can give them a listen on their MySpace page or visit their website. If you like it, buy a copy (and keep my brother from starving). If you don't like it, let 'em starve (it adds to their street cred).

Sorry for the advertisement, but hey, "He's not heavy, sir. He's my brother."

Pick the Sharks replacement for Gary Glitter

Ok Sharks fans, here's your chance to actually make a difference (in theory, anyway; I suppose this survey could just be meaningless). The Sharks aren't fans of child molestors, so Gary Glitter and Rock & Roll Part 2 (the "Hey" song are out). What's in? It'll be one of:

Green Day: Holiday -- Um, how exactly is this a celebration song?
U2: Elevation -- (music snob rant #1) Don't even get me started on this piece o' crap. While it had some good Edge guitar work in it, I have NO idea how Bono can go from writing lines like "In my dreams I was drowning in sorrows/but my sorrows, they learned to swim" to the rhyming dictionary copout of "A mole/digging in a hole" that's worthy of butt rock.
Van Halen: Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love -- The Van Halen boys and DLR at their very best. I'm assuming they picked this for the "Hey Hey Hey" part.
Blur: Song 2 -- (music snob rant #2) Damon Albarn and co. are one of my favorite bands and I absolutely detest this song, which, for the record, was essentially an outtake of goofing around during the recording of their eponymous album. I know, I know, most American music fans only know Blur because of this song, but there are so many great songs and it's already overused as a sports anthem. Even though it would be mixing two of my favorite things (britpop/indie rock and hockey), I still can't support it.

Of course, I'm just a whiny music snob, so don't listen to me -- have your pick at the Sharks official site. If you haven't guessed, I voted for Van Halen.

The Band of California

Since I'm sure there's only so many ways Earl can turn the knife in our backs over the Ducks adding Pronger this offseason, I figured that we can throw in the occasional non-puck related post in here every now and then.

(Just wait until we get into hockey video games, which I guess is kind of puck-related)

So, anyway, in a rare event considering my horrific college-marred budget, I went out and actually bought a compact disc today. It was California's favorite funk metal band's new disc, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium.

This is also a first in another way. For some reason, I've always had an abritary grudge towards the Peppers. For one thing, the band refused to share the stage with another California funk metal band Faith No More. For those of you not "in the know," FNM was fronted by future Mr Bungle, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, Fantomas, etc. mastermind Mike Patton. I said to myself: How can I make guys richer who cock-blocked the man who wrote the lyrics: "The cat's in the bag/and the bag's in the river"?

I also think that Anthony Kiedis falls under the Sergei Fedorov School of Jealousy, in that he has good looks, lots of money, undeniable skill and mountains of poon. (Just to cover my bases on the skill front, let's say Fedorov already has tenure in the school)

I mean, sure, there were plenty of RHC songs that spoke to my love of outrageous bass rocking. "Under The Bridge" is one of those must-like songs. "Aeroplane" has a video that aligned perfectly with my ascent/descent into puberty. And there were more...I guess maybe it was just the bad pun of "Californication" (even though it was a good song) and the bad accent-ry of "Scar Tissue" that held me back.

Well, after hearing "Dani California" about 1.5 times I knew that album would be in my collection sooner or later. After hearing half of the first disc, I'm ready to put them up there with the Arcade Fire as bands that are allowing me to let go of dredg (another California treat) and other now-regrettable high school faves.

So, Mr. Kiedis, sing about California every album you want. He can sing about manure or the Ducks new jerseys (redundant), and it would still be gold.

Buy it. Download it. Bootleg it. Steal it. (OK, don't steal it. That's bad kids.)

But do yourself a favor and give this bad boy a listen. You will NOT be dissapointed.