Here We Are Again

You know the feeling. It’s like getting punched in the gut or seeing your high school sweetheart sneak behind the gym to make out with that stoner guy who literally looks like he hasn’t taken a shower in two weeks. It’s the pain you feel when “your team” is eliminated from the playoffs before getting the chance to raise their finger and exclaim, accurately, ‘we’re number 1.’ It happened yet again to me this past weekend.

I know this is a baseball website, but I make no bones about my nearly lifelong connection with the San Jose Sharks. Year after year I buy into the hype, and season after season I end up having flashbacks to that time I caught Suzy making out with that dude on the blacktop.

Last season the Sharks won the President’s Trophy – awarded to the best team in the league (most points) – only to then fall in the first round to the Ducks. I was so distraught I almost turned in my pen after writing When is Enough, Enough? Eleven months later, I’m in the same spot once again.

The Sharks didn’t lose in the first round this time, or the second for that matter, as they lost in the third round – the Conference Finals – which they reached for only the second time in their history. There is some small satisfaction in that, but it rings pretty hollow at this point (you can read more about the battle with the Blackhawks in Frozen Pucks, Conference Finals). Still, much, much more was expected of this club.

* The Sharks led the Western Conference in points for the second straight season.

* They ranked first in the NHL in face-off winning percentage (55.6 percent), fourth in power-play efficiency (21.0) and fifth in the penalty kill (85.0).

* Joe Thornton was second in the NHL with 69 assists and eighth with 89 points.

* Patrick Marleau was fourth in goals scored with 44.

* Dany Heatley was 8th in the league in goals (39) and second in power-play tallies (18).

* Dan Boyle was fourth amongst blue liners with 58 points.

* Evgeni Nabokov was second in the league with 44 victories.

* They vanquished long-time nemesis Detroit in the second round of the playoffs.

But in the end, the results were no different then what we have seen from this club year after year.

In each of the past four years the Sharks have finished with at least 100 points, and in each of the past six years they have totaled at least 99 points as they have taken home four division titles. Still, they have never advanced to the Finals, never had a chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup, and never fulfilled their destiny as one of the NHL’s great teams. I’ve tried to fight the prevalent perception in the national media that the Sharks are the NHL’s version of football’s Buffalo Bills (they lost in the Super Bowl 4-straight years from 1990-93) or baseball’s Atlanta Braves (to be fair the Braves did one title though they made the playoffs 14-straight years), but the fact is they are a great regular season team that can’t find a way to win a championship. They are a consistently good team that can never seem to raise their game to the level of greatness.

I don’t know what the Sharks need to do. They’ll probably lose Marleau and/or Nabokov, you can read move about that in the piece I linked to above, but much of the core will return (Thornton, Heatley, Boyle etc.). I’m certain we’ll hear a lot of tough words from the front office and a certain amount of player movement before next season begins, but in the end, will it matter? Are the Sharks destined to be the NHL version of the Cubs – a team that everyone desperately wants to love despite that little voice in the back of your head that says don’t buy into what your eyes are seeing because no matter how good things look sooner or later they club will break your heart? I desperately hope that isn’t the case, but with each passing year of regular season success followed by failure in the playoffs, I feel a growing kinship with those fans that have cheered their Cubbies on without ever once being able to say – we’re number one.

By Ray Flowers

Giving Thanks

As we approach our national holiday of thanks in America, a day I like to call Turkey Day instead of the traditional Thanksgiving, I thought I would come up with a list of things that I’m thankful for as I look back over the last calendar year.

I’m thankful for — the greatness that is Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer. Pay close attention to this duo folks. Years from now when you are in your rocking chair on the porch you’ll be able to tell the grand kids about how you witnessed their magnificence with a bat in their hands.

I’m thankful for — my new nephew Yonathan who was born on Monday, the 23rd of November just in time for the holiday. He joins my niece Hermela as the two shinning lights of my brother’s marriage. Not only that, he takes the heat of me for grand children since at the rate I’m going I’ll be lucky if I can find someone to hold my hand on Friday night. OK, it’s not really that bad, but you have to keep a brave face on when your younger brother outdoes you.

I’m thankful for — my computer – when it works. Without it I wouldn’t be able to do my job, though on those rare days that it doesn’t work I wish I was living back in Victorian times, that is until I remember that they didn’t have TiVo back then

I’m thankful for — the 49ers. Even though they are nothing more than average, they remind the Bay Area what football is supposed to look like. They haven’t seen competence with a football team in the East Bay in, well, forever (the Raiders are simply dreadful). How bad is it when there is a legitimate question if the local NFL team could be beaten by a college squad (Stanford certainly could give the Raiders a run for it).

I’m thankful for — my job. Lot’s of good folks don’t have one right now.

I’m thankful for — doctors who have finally stepped up and started to do some real work with players who have head injuries. No longer do we see guys with concussions being treated cavalierly. A bruise to your brain is what it is people, and I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty serious to me.

I’m thankful for — pumpkin pie. I never eat it except at the holidays, but when the parties roll around I’m all about the dessert tray.

I’m thankful for — the San Jose Sharks magnificence in the regular season. Now if I could just add thanks for a wonderful playoff run all would be right in the world.

I’m thankful for — the impending release of our 2010 Baseball Preview Magazine that will be on newsstands prior to Christmas.

I’m thankful for — the continued success of Fanball. Can’t say I’m surprised since that’s what happens to good people who put in an honest day’s work.

I’m thankful for — Thursday night football. Wait, I’m not thankful for that in the least. Worst idea in the history of the NFL as it puts players needlessly at risk of injury just for the sake of a few more bucks, hardly what the NFL needs at the moment.

I’m thankful for — the three point line in the NBA, though I wish that Manute Bol was still slinging up those 25 footers, those were the days.

I’m thankful for — being able to watch Tim Lincecum in person. If you haven’t availed yourself of the chance to do just that put it down as a must do in 2010. The moment he walks on the field you simply cannot look away. He’s mesmerizing in a way that I haven’t seen since Pedro Martinez in his heyday.

And finally—

I’m thankful for — the freedoms that we enjoy as citizens of this great country of the United States of America. We should all be thankful for that.

By Ray Flowers