Greg and Joe’s Fourth Annual NHL Free Agent Predictions

Where will Zach land?

It’s Christmas in July once again! While we have to admit that this summer’s free agency pool is not exactly laden with the biggest of names, it still includes a player set to become the most sought after and highest paid free agent of all-time, Zach Parise. This summer also holds the fate of his teammate and winningest goaltender in history, Martin Brodeur. Will he retire or stick around for another season? For the sake of the New Jersey Devils, he better come back for one more since their backup is also an aging free agent and there is no can’t-miss prospect in their system.

Anyway, Joe Aiello and I sat down for the fourth straight year to render our predictions, and you can take a look at our track record below which is still, I might add, better than Eklund over at Hockeybuzz. Mayhaps we should start our own rumor mill mega site and charge a bundle—given the stupidity of people and their quest to always be in the know, we could make out pretty well. This year, Joe and I welcomed a good friend of ours to join us for this monumental task, Chris “Gootz” Hoeler, who you all know from his “On the Rink with Gootz” column here on FNYTSF and his work with the FHL’s Danbury Whalers as their assistant director of player personnel.

Copperhead Courier: Meet Director Ron Maxwell

As I said last week, my coverage of Copperhead will be moving to their official website and blog, called the Copperhead Courier. If you have been following it so far, you will note that the few posts I have put up were already posted on this site. I just wanted to get the juices flowing over there, so now, new articles will be coming, some from Jim Lavoie, owner and operator of Bulldog Publicity. My first new post is a little piece on the director, Ron Maxwell. I do not want to call it a biography, because it is more of my personal experiences in dealing with him as well as how the Civil War community views him. Please give it a read over there. The first two paragraphs are below:

“Gods and Generals” Related Magazine Available For Sale in Antietam Visitor’s Center

Just a quick note to all of our readers who live in the Sharpsburg area of Maryland, and to any fan of Gods and Generals who may be visiting the Antietam battlefield: I forgot to mention this a few days ago in my vacation journal, but available for sale in the gift shop in the Visitor’s Center are back-issues of North & South Magazine from October 2002. What caught my eye was the big title on the top of the cover that read “The Making of Gods and Generals“. Though I had read probably everything there is to read on the making of this film, the 99 cent price tag prompted me to purchase a copy, and I was glad I did. The lengthy article written by historical consultant Dennis Frye sheds some behind-the-scenes light on the production, including many little stories that I had never read, involving casting and filming issues, as well as the immense process in sitting down with the script (Frye, assistant director Donald Eaton, and Maxwell literally locked themselves in a room for seven hours with Ron’s dogs to do a final read through of the script, making sure it was perfect).

Pennsylvania Trip Summary: T-Shirt Madness, Cigars, and Chicken

You’re probably wondering what t-shirts, cigars, and chicken all have to do with each other. Well, nothing, actually, except they all involved the last two days of my trip here in the wonderful state of Pennsylvania. In case you missed out on the last two journals, I spent the first two and a half days in Gettysburg, leaving yesterday for Lancaster, before we head back home to an unknown land…oh, never mind, romanticism is dead anyway…back to New Jersey tomorrow. There were a few incidents that occurred, some good, some funny and cute, some stupid, as it usually is. Anyway, below are the final goings-on of my Keystone State adventure. Enjoy!

Announcement: Will Be Blogging About “Copperhead” on Their Official Website

When I returned to my hotel room after a day in the blistering heat here in Lancaster County, I received an email with a formal invite to join the crew of Copperhead’s official website, namely the blog they have set up, titled, “The Copperhead Courier”. This was in the works for the last few weeks, I just could not say anything about it, but it looks like everything has now been finalized. They are currently setting up my account so I should be good to go within the next couple of days. I am very excited to be taking part in this, and I invite you to all visit the film’s official website and click on the blog link.

Gettysburg Trip Day Two: Searching for Booth, a Visit to Antietam

The one thing I wanted to buy more than anything else on this trip is a bobblehead doll of John Wilkes Booth. Sure, I could purchase this novelty on Ebay, but I wanted to get it here because of the special location. There was much controversy surrounding the sale of these dolls, which I wrote about several months ago, and it seems that they are nearly impossible to get here. Most of these stores are selling the dolls of Grant, Lee, and Lincoln, and when I ask about Booth, they seem to get very narrow-eyed: “Oh…yeah…that. We used to sell ‘em. Not anymore, though. Sorry.” As I browsed around more and more, I was met with someone who said, “I wish we could sell those! You’re the third person who came in today asking about it.” Even one of the stores that boasts selling more than 200 different bobbleheads, including many in the same set as Booth, does not carry the item, the worker telling me, “We used to sell Aaron Burr, and nobody saw a problem with that. But this Booth one, after that newspaper article came out, there was such an uproar that most stores yanked them.” Poor Alexander Hamilton…what a schmuck! He then eluded that there may be one store in town that carries it, but did not say where, or with any confidence. I will continue tomorrow before we leave to spend a few days in Lancaster.

Gettysburg Trip Day One; Some “Copperhead” Links

Well, we’re back at the hotel after a fantastic first day in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I have been here at all different times of year, but this may have been the best weather I have ever experienced. There were overcast skies with temperatures in the low 60′s—it was almost chilly outside. For June, there really were not that many tourists walking around the battlefield, which is great when trying to take pictures. I admit, I did not snap as many as I normally do, because there are not that many places on the battlefield that I have not photographed before. However, I did finally find the Lutheran Seminary, where Union General John Buford spotted John Reynolds and his reinforcements after fighting opened up on the first day against Harry Heth’s Confederates. How it took me this long it is beyond me. I guess I have passed it multiple times and just never turned in for a better look. There was some extensive renovation going on there, as well as to the Pennsylvania Monument near the Angle (presumably sandblasting). It was also great seeing so many children’s’ groups and scout troops touring the battlefield, as they are the future of Civil War interest. However, would it kill them and their leaders/counselors to show some respect, as in not jumping from rock to rock in Devil’s Den, or breaking out blankets for a picnic right on top of those same boulders? Not to be picky here, but there is just something about that which bothers me.

A Ranger Fan’s Thoughts on an Impending NHL Lockout

Marian Gaborik is one of the players who would benefit from a partially locked out NHL season.

Say the word “lockout” and any sports fan will immediately cringe, but no more than a hockey fan, who has two instances of nightmares to be dredged up with every utterance of that evil word. The first work stoppage ate up nearly a half a season in 1994/95 and killed all the momentum the league gained from a New York Rangers trip to the Stanley Cup Finals, a moment that no one can argue against that it was the pinnacle of hockey popularity in the United States. Soon after, hockey did recover, and became a very steady sport to watch en route to the second lockout ten years later, in which the NHL became the first professional sports league in history to lose an entire season due to a work stoppage. This second one effectively killed any popularity, as the sport quickly disappeared from television and newspaper coverage, only to be laughed at upon its return as “that sport nobody cares about”. It is hard to fathom that we have yet another potential lockout to face heading into next season, and while I will not get into the particulars, I have no doubt that we will indeed see a loss of hockey, albeit a short one, as TSN’s Bob Mackenzie notes it will probably not last past Thanksgiving. People will cry, people will be angry, and I will be one of those; not crying, of course, because I know better, but I will still be at a loss for words at how the people who are supposedly working to please fans have found themselves creating the very same situation that will leave the fans with nothing to watch.

The Copperhead Chronicles: A Look at the Anti-War Writings of Bill Kauffman

Sorry if too much of my opinion is present here, but I cannot talk about someone else’s without interjecting some of my own, and how it either compares or contrasts.

The author of the screenplay which is being used for the film Copperhead is Bill Kauffman, and though we have never communicated with each other as of yet, I will be quick in my assumption that he is probably the most colorful and intellectual man on the set. He has written several books, giving his very strong opinion on American culture, or lack thereof, and how we, as this great society are falling into a downward spiral, controlled by a government that is out to do us more harm than good. My political spectrum has changed so many times over the course of my soon-to-be 21-year-old life; when I first got interested in politics I considered myself a conservative, but over time, drifted towards liberal, where I partially sit now, though I am finding myself bordering on moderate and have not and will not ever align myself with a particular party. Not to lay down the foundation for my beliefs here, as coverage for a movie is not the place to do it, let me say (and I probably speak for the majority) that I am disgusted with both parties in this country, and every person associated with them, who seem to be more interested in their own egos and playing games with each other [and our money] than actually trying to benefit the people that vote for them once they take office.

My Annual Trip to Gettysburg

The 20th Maine regiment marker on Little Round Top at Gettysburg.

After much deliberation, we decided that we are going to make our annual vacation to Gettysburg next week, and will be there from June 18-20, before moving on to Lancaster and “Amish Country” for the three days after that. As I have said many times before on this blog, I first visited there when I was ten, back in 2001, a vacation prompted by my many viewings (which completely obliterated my first VHS copy) of the film Gettysburg. I have since been there seven or eight times now, and annually for what seems to be at least the fifth year. It just is not summer without a trip to where the most important battle of the Civil War occurred, the second day of the fighting happening on my birthday. While I was there on the anniversary the first time I went, I vowed never again to go during that week, a promise that has held up with both family trips and ventures with friends, because of the amount of tourists that invade the town, due to the anniversary and the reenactment, which usually takes place a few days before or after. The entire summer sees a spike in pilgrimages there, and my work schedule usually relegates me to having to trek out there in late August. With yet another crazy schedule that has me doing hockey or history camps for most of July and August (though I have the week of my birthday off due to the 4th), we decided that mid-June would be best. No insanity can trump the insanity of Gettysburg in July!