okay fine. i'll write. ;)

so here's the thing: i've been busy.

i realize i haven't written a whole hell of a lot in the past few months, and i chalk that up to being pretty flat-out with work, my brother's wedding, my cousin's wedding in NYC, tiny holiday-type trips to toronto (twice), NYC, montreal, and a shit-ton of time in medicine fucking hat. ;) i've re-connected with old, old friends and pretty much fallen in love with my posse (aka: the screaming denzels), with whom i celebrate friendship day once a week, when possible. so here's my thoughts from the past few months, possibly even in chronological order:

1. development camp

historically, i've prided myself on being the only person in the flames' blogosphere without a 9-5 job and thus the only person in the flames' blogosphere with the ability to show up most days during the july prospect camp. not so, this year. i guess i'll hand the figurative torch over to jazzyV who attended more, wrote more, interviewed more, and cared more than this girl. i blame both work and my advancing age. but i digress.

i only got to go once this year, and had to play a little hooky that day ----i told my boss i needed an oil change (which i did), and he didn't seem to mind, so i took the afternoon off. ps: i have a killer job. ;) anyhow, after picking up some important work-related paperwork in the beautiful NE suburb of temple, i grabbed a sub & poutine from king of subs (btw: FUCK YEAH) and boogied over to the ol' don hartman for the afternoon sesh. jazzyV cabbed it over from westwinds station cause we couldn't figure out where the hell it was so I couldn't pick him up.... anyhow, walking into the sportsplex, i was reminded of that time i saw noodles in the entranceway... was that REALLY four years ago !? wow....

first thing's first: jay feaster and his cronies (read: conny) were suitably situated in the snack bar. part of me wanted to sit down and eavesdrop but really i just wanted to hang rinkside and chilly whilst watching the babies play. to be entirely honest, nobody really stood out to me, though i'd expected to see pretty awesome stuff from brodie and max reinhart. i guess you can't base an entire farm of prospects on watching a 45 minute practice... ;)

2. the tim erixon debacle

so the org couldn't sign a kid who didn't want to be here. hm. i think the scariest part is that the kid didn't want to be here because he was leery of getting a shot in the bigs (because calgary never promotes their chirruns). too fair, if you ask me. i wouldn't want to be a flames' prospect, either. not with the logjam of useless veteran 3rd/4th liners and the surplus of mediocre defensive prospects. it's kindof outrageous.

reading deeper into this, you have to wonder if calgary doesn't have a problem signing guys, full stop. there MUST be a reason (beyond sheer lunacy) that feaster has been doling out the no trade clauses like candy at hallowe'en, even though he swore he wouldn't. there MUST be a reason it takes five suits (edwards, king, feaster, holditch, conroy) to sign a non-franchise guy like curtis glencross. a reason brad richards turns down an eight figure contract. it reeks of "bigger issues" and is superconcerning at the very best. i wouldn't imagine this tim erixon situation will be the last time a kid thinks re-entering the draft would be a better option, career-wise. sad.

3. the overabundance of defensemen

i'm not sure exactly what the org was thinking, building a defensive corps of 12 potential big-club blueliners including jaybouw, gio, sarich, hannan, babchuk, smith, butler, henry, mikkelson, negrin, brodie, and breen. hahahaha remember when the flames went to the cup finals with a bunch of replacement level dudes ? yeah. the current incarnation is built for that exact situation. TWELVE !!? whoah. we're gonna win the cup twice this year.

i started writing this three weeks ago so i'm gonna post it now, even though i'm not TOTALLY done my summer sum-up. this is enough for the moment. perhaps there will be a part deux at some point later this week.

until then, enjoy what's left of first nations summer. it's bloody hot out there.
:)

wi