Moving

After about seven years of trying, Mum and Dad have moved today. I am informed via twitter by one of my many spies that everything has proceeded according to plan.There'll be little communication for a while due to having no telephone or internet. It's strange to think that the next time I'll be home (probably next summer for two friends' wedding in Cambridge), that I'll be visiting a different house, and that there will be no more having to negotiate getting in and out of the driveway that you see on the left. The new venue is also a sandstone house, which is nice; the houses here are almost entirely made out of wood and covered in beige vinyl siding which I just can't get used to, even after five plus years.

On the plus side, the new address (in Drighlington) still has a BD postcode, though it will now have a Leeds (boooo!) telephone number.

Hockey!

Hockey is back this week. You know the season is close when you're having to dash home from the pub watching the football to participate in an online hockey draft. For this year, however, there'll be no taking my colleagues' money. Hopefully that returns next year.

The Calgary Flames finally accepted in the Spring that they were not going to have a bright and successful future by continuing to attempt scrambling into the last playoff spot. All the big-ticket players have now been shipped out. No more Kiprusoff (retired), Iginla (traded to Pittsburgh in March), Bouwmeester (traded to St. Louis). The loss of all three causes the Flames trouble in various different forms for the current season; respectively keeping the puck out of the net, scoring goals and eating large minutes defensively. They are going to lose more games than they win (I know technically they've done this the last couple of years, but bear with me), and it could be a very long winter and spring if any more of the remaining veteran players are lost to injury. A losing team is not the right proving ground for young players. Ask Edmonton, who are still rubbish, even after three successive first overall picks in the draft between 2010 and 2012.

So who are the team this year?

Goalies:

#31, Karri Ramo (aged 27)

His rights were acquired in the 2012 trade that brought Mike Cammalleri back to Calgary from Montreal in exchange for Rene Bourque. Drafted by Flames GM Jay Feaster during his time in Tampa, Ramo was not a success in Florida, an inexperienced youngster playing behind a very poor team. He fled to the KHL where he was the starter the last four seasons for Siberian side Avangard Omsk to great success, including taking them to within 1 game of the title in 2012. He will face a heavy barrage of shots most nights; just where the Flames draft next year will depend largely upon his performances. But the last time the Flames landed a largely-unknown 27 year old Finnish goalie, it didn't work out so bad...

#35, Joey MacDonald (aged 33)

Claimed on waivers from the Detroit Red Wings last winter, MacDonald is a journeyman, career backup, who held the fort as well as could be expected in the spring when Kiprusoff was beset by a nagging groin injury. Of all the Flames goalies last year, his 8-9-1 record, .902 save percentage and 2.87 goals-against-average was the best, which tells you how poor they were collectively as a group. Expect him to start 20-30 of the 82 games, with Ramo taking the rest.

Defence:

#4, Kris Russell (age 26)

A puck-moving defenceman, with a prolific point totals at the junior level, Russell was acquired from St. Louis in the offseason. He will contribute to the Flames power-play and take second-pairing minutes. Has been paired with Dennis Wideman in the exhibition games. Not overly big, or physical, a recurring theme with the Flames defence.

#5, Mark Giordano (age 30, captain)

The players and management's unanimous choice for captain to replace the departed Iginla. The classic story of not giving up after not being drafted, he turned up for Calgary for a trial, made the team on a minor league contract, and via a spell in Russia with Dynamo Moscow returned a much more complete player in 2008. Will play on the first defensive pairing, and get power play time

#6, Dennis Wideman (age 30)

Arrived in Calgary last summer as an expensive free-agent signing, before the Flames finally admitted some months later that the playoffs will be out of reach. Will be expected to run the Flames power play, whilst playing on the second defensive pairing.

#7, TJ Brodie (age 23) 

Made the team out of training camp in 2010, though he struggled and was moved back into the AHL for more development, his upward progression in terms of his play was exponential last season. As players fell injured/were traded/were off form, his ice time increased to the point of him playing first pairing minutes once Bouwmeester was shipped out. His continued development will be one of the bright spots this season. 

#44, Chris Butler (age 26)

Acquired from Buffalo in the trade that sent Robyn Regehr to the Sabres, he spent 2011-12 paired with Bouwmeester, looking only OK. Last season, he was eventually demoted to the third pairing through repeated brain-cramps, errors and general poor play. Bouwmeester evidently made him look better than he was. Whipping boy of the online fanbase for not being Regehr, he must improve substantially or face the heave-ho next summer.

#55, Shane O'Brien (age 30)

Arrived in the summer, in the trade that sent Cory Sarich and Alex Tanguay to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for himself and David Jones. Signed primarily for his enthusiasm for physical play in front of his own net, he also has prime whipping boy credentials due to his ability to take stupid penalties and having a past of playing in Vancouver. Will be a third pairing player with Butler

Forwards:

#8, Joe Colborne (age 23)

Acquired from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night through trade, Colborne is a 6'5" centre whose career has somewhat stalled. Centre is a position the team needed to strengthen considerably. He was known to assistant GM Weisbrod who scouted and drafted him in Boston, and new Flames hockey operation President Burke took him to Toronto via trade.

#11, Mikael Backlund (age 24)

One of the few Flames that played through the lockout last autumn/winter in his native Sweden. And it did him good as his productivity in points finally took a leap forward, in addition to his solid play that makes him beloved of the 'advanced stats' crowd. Has a habit of incurring freakish injuries. If he can stay fit, he should develop further into a solid, defensively responsible centre.

#13, Mike Cammalleri (age 31, assistant captain)

A prime candidate to be shipped out at the trade deadline due to his expiring contract. The level of return will be dictated by his point return, which should be healthy due to the Flames owning very few other offensively gifted players. Expect him to log lots of powerplay time.

#15, Tim Jackman (age 33)

Fourth line grinder, never gives less than 100% but might feel his role under threat from numerous younger players given his age.

#16, Brian McGrattan (age 32)

Another fourth liner, McGrattan will act this year as the Flames "enforcer", there to make sure than the opposing team don't take liberties with the Flames talented players or youngsters.

#17, Lance Bouma (age 23)

Missed the whole of last season with a knee injury incurred in his third AHL game. Will be expected to slot in on the fourth line. Is most frequently compared to former Flame Brandon Prust. If he manages to develop into a similar sort of player, the organisation will be delighted.

#18, Matt Stajan (age 29)

The only remaining piece of the trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs that sent Dion Phaneuf to Toronto, he managed to climb out of the "whipping boy" seat last year through actually being used in a role to which his talents were suited. Is now the de-facto first line centre, which tells you what a weak position it is. Also out of contract in the summer, expect him to also be shipped out at the trade deadline.

#20, Curtis Glencross (age 30, assistant captain)

Like Giordano, another undrafted player made good, made even better by the fact that Edmonton let him go and he came here and he scores against them frequently. Fast skater, hard shot, rides in the chuckwagon races at the Stampede. Will spend a lot of this season on the first line (on a good team he'd be a second/third liner) shutting down the opposition top line. Expect him to be one of the veterans kept around through the rebuild.

#21, Roman Horak (age 22)

Arrived from the New York Rangers two summers ago when Tim Erixon refused to sign. Figures to play on the third or fourth line somewhere, but in what role, nobody is quite sure at present. Needs to start scoring points or be overtaken by other prospects

#22, Lee Stempniak (age 30)

More trade deadline trade bait. Stempniak has developed into a consistent, solid performer in his three years in Calgary since being traded from Phoenix. Can be relied upon for 20 goals in a season and will be a very useful depth signing for a playoff contender.

#23, Sean Monahan (age 18)

Drafted sixth overall this past summer, Monahan will at the least get his nine game audition (any further and the first year of his contract is triggered) to sell some hope for the future to the fans. Projected to be the first line centre at some point in the future, his experience of captaining a really terrible junior team will be useful in the years to come.

#24, Jiri Hudler (age 29)

In the same boat as Wideman; signed last summer as the Flames continued to try and make the playoffs, he may not be quite so keen to hang around for a long rebuild. He has great hands but is diminutive in stature. Lots of powerplay time to come. Would also make an interesting trade target for a side looking to bolster their lineup at deadline time

#39, TJ Galiardi (age 25)

Arrived from San Jose in a trade in the summer, Galiardi (like Colborne) is a native Calgarian and long-time Flames fan. He can play in all three forward positions so expect to see him shuffled around the lineup. This is his dream move, and expect him to fit on the third or fourth line somewhere to provide some more size

#47, Sven Baertschi (age 20)

Drafted 13th overall in 2011, he dominated at the junior level, before a three-goals-in-five-games cameo NHL appearance in the spring of 2012 set expectations rocketing. Didn't live up to those expectations at the start of last year, chiefly through being used on the fourth line, before getting injured, but looked much better in a top six role at the end of the season after the team was blown up. 

#54, David Jones (age 29)

Arrived from the Avalanche in the aforementioned trade with O'Brien. Expect him to slot in on the second or third line right wing, a position the Flames are desperately weak at. 

Another Non Running Post

Two non running posts in a row! To save you all from being bored by another post about transatlantic saucepan shipments, there's been almost no discussion about football here at all over the last few weeks. So I'm going to at least make an effort to discuss football once a week. Maybe I'll call it "Where's The Midfield?" for old times' sake, though the joke is largely redundant now since a certain team in BD8 has a midfield again. It only took them ten years to find one.

Firstly, the continuing good start by that side in BD8. If you'd told me at the outset we'd have 18 points from 9 games, having only lost once by (nearly) October, I'd have called for the men in white coats. It's still somewhat misleading in that we have lost to the highest placed side we've played (the grim Port Vale side of Micky Adams, purveyor of route-one hoofball, 10th), and gained points from sides currently 11th (albeit their keeper was sent off after 25 minutes), 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th and 24th. But at the same time, it shows that (touch wood) the side is more than capable of holding its own at this level and should be looking to make the top 6. Today's game demonstrated the character in the side. 1-0 down to a goal in the second minute, having lost your top scorer injured after 20, and not playing at all well; to still dig in and play to the 94th minute in search of a winner speaks volumes about the mentality of the players, something Parkinson spoke of at length when he first arrived at the club just over two years ago. The current team are anything but nervous about playing in front of a large crowd. They've scored in nine league games in a row, which I don't remember happening much in the last 15 years.

Elsewhere: Whisper it quietly, but are the first cracks appearing in the walls of the red half of the Manchester empire? Between van Persie's goals and the motivational powers of Ferguson, a title was won last year with a really quite ordinary team, van Persie and Rooney (and, arguably, De Gea) apart. But now? If there's one thing apparent this year, it's that absent the reign of terror in the dressing room and on the training ground (and the threat of being sold to whichever side is currently managed by Steve Bruce or Mark Hughes), the dead wood at Old Trafford that should have been shipped out years ago (Jones, Anderson, Buttner, Cleverley, Welbeck, Young, Ferdinand off the top of my head) are a damned sight less effective now there's not the morbid fear of the famous hairdryering anymore. Fellaini? In the right circumstances, yes. But at 27.5 MILLION POUNDS? The 1994 and 1999 sides would annihilate the current side without breaking sweat. Bleating about the fixture list is fine and dandy when the fixture computer man gives you Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool in the first five games, but West Brom? At home? The next few years of Saturday mornings in the Ship as the armchair Manchester United fans plaintively plead "but.......but....." at the TV as they finally realise every sporting dynasty ends sooner or later are going to be glorious.

Also: Chelsea. It annoys me no end that the English football media continues to breathlessly flirt with Mourinho like some infatuated teenage schoolgirl with a crush, instead of querying his bonkers idea that leaving Juan Mata out of the side is a good one. They were unambitious to the point of cowardice at Old Trafford in August given how pedestrian Manchester United are these days. Fortunately, last week on the edge of CRISIS they met a Fulham side even less ambitious than that. His teams play an awful, cynical, not-remotely-entertaining, do-just-enough brand of 'football' that would be pilloried if he were, say, Sam Allardyce, Tony Pulis or Neil Warnock, but because he's some tanned, suave fashionably greying continental, the press love him. I didn't read much critique about his team essentially playing without a left hand side for the final 30 minutes at Everton two weeks ago. You're so dreamy, Jose.

If you'd asked me before the start of the season who'd win the league, I'd say Chelsea, with Manchester United second. Because they're both presently as formidable as Sheffield United are in the third division, a side might win by default this year. But who? Manchester City spent another squillion pounds of the Sheikh's money to lose at notoriously tough away venues like Cardiff and Aston Villa (!). Even Fourth Division sides beat Aston Villa. Spurs will always find interesting and creative ways to muck things up. Liverpool, well, they're on the brink of becoming the Toronto Maple Leafs. It might just be Arsenal's turn to win the whole thing by default, if they can keep the ball out of the net enough. Though with Per Mertesacker (turning circle of an oil tanker, terrorised by ex-supermarket shelf stackers), and Laurent Koscielny (generally an accident waiting to happen) in their defence, that's easier said than done. Wenger inherited a defence from George Graham that won him three league titles, bolstered it with Sol Campbell for a bit, but they've been a clown-shoed circus troupe at the back for years and you know they'll revert to type eventually.

Best League in the world? Pffft.

A Non Running Post

I went to the post office today to collect what I thought would be a parcel that contained a bit of Wembley 2013 Cup Final memorabilia, sent by my recent Beige Towers guests. As I collected it, my first reaction was "this is a very heavy t-shirt". When I got it inside, I found some transatlantic kitchen goods, including a pan from Morrisons (and you can't get more Bradfordian than that). As you can see, the pan on the right was part of the set I bought five-and-a-half years ago when I was thinking "buy a cheap set and throw it away when you leave". Plans change, and so do pans; it'll be nice to be able to eat a meal and not wonder if my rice/pasta/whatever isn't contaminated with tiny slivers of teflon.....

The Running Man - Day 60

So I finally ran the full distance. The weather gods decided to smile and deliver a 13C day for my debut race after several weeks of uncomforable suffering in the heat, which was nice, and steady rain, which wasn't quite so much. Particularly when you've been out for a friend's birthday the night before. And when you're wearing your glasses when you should have your contacts in.

Due to the cooler weather I could manage being swept along for the first five minutes at a speed higher than I wanted to set off at, but was paranoid for the next half hour that I'd run out of steam at the end. Fortunately, as you can see from the split times for each mile, that didn't happen. I learnt that drinking from small paper cups is very hard at race speed, and most of it goes in your face or down your front. 

I didn't really pass anyone until about the 4 mile mark, whereupon I steadily began to pass people as I went up a gear or two, and had enough left for a teeth-clenched, grimacing final burst to the finish line. I was going at 5:15/mile pace at the end. I dread to think what my facial expression looks like in any official photos. Split times for the race: the first half was 28:30 and the second half 25:54 which was nice. I haven't found out the full results yet, but I finished 73rd overall in the race. By the time I left, there were 175 finishers. The previous race last year had 300+ entrants in the 10K race, so to potentially finish in the top 25% is quite satisfying.

Edit: wet glasses are hard to read posted notices at a distance through. I've just checked the website of the timing company, and the result is officially 54:25, 77th place out of 227, so inside the top third of entrants.