Big Blue Huddle

Steve Smith Jr., for all of his talking during his career, backed it with tremendous effort and practiced more than everyone on his team. That he attends NFL camps, such as the Giants, to coach up the young receivers is a gift and blessing for these kids who can look up to him as an example of how to make it in the NFL and, also, have someone they can always turn to as a big brother of sorts.

We may have despised him as an opponent who tore the Giants up in his heyday; however, to see this dynamic of the man, the person who cares about helping the youngsters breaking in, regardless of the team, is one of the positive stories the NFL should be proud of and lucky to have a man of this character to channel his desire to coach in this unique manner.

Peace!

Film study, lessons learned, go to work to improve one opportunity at a time, strive to become a leader of the team while learning from the veterans ... all the tidbits I would expect to hear from the Giants' young Center given his pedigree.

His initial props on Bricillo are encouraging and hopefully they will translate into a cohesive unit on game day.

Thank you for the tidbits, Rich @MightyGiants !

Peace!

Quote from: coggs on Today at 08:35:14 AMWhen it is 2-2, I always feel like game 5 is a 2-for-1 deal.  I am sure at some time today, someone will post on twitter the % of series that end in 6 when it is 2-2 after 4.  Going tonight.  Pumped.  They need to come out strong as I fear the MSG crowd will turn on them quickly.

Tonight is huge, no question. Is it the end-all if they lose? It might feel that way. But the legend in the ESPN studio will be there to remind you that his team, 30 years ago, got shellacked by the Devils in Game Five at the Garden and we all know what happened in Jersey that's now part of Rangers' lore.

So, it's not about getting ahead of ourselves now. Keep the emotions and focus for tonight only. The Rangers have to get themselves back on track through certain players needing to break through their funk and make an impact. If they can do that, and stand strong at the end of the game when Florida is going kamikaze on them, they'll be all right.

Forget the dominance narratives. At the end of the day, three games have gone into overtime and they've won two of them. They're still very much in this thing and now they have to demonstrate that resilience that's been their key trait all season.

It's a three-game series with up to two at the Garden, with an opportunity to go to the Stanley Cup Finals! This is it! None of us here, back on opening day, if we knew this would be where the Rangers would end up, would complain or have an issue with. Just remember how the season started with the rotten taste of that Devils' series still fresh in everyone's mouth. That's long past now.

Three-game series for the right to play for the Holy Grail. This is amazing and this series, in my opinion, is far from over and will keep us on edge to its very end.

Fingers crossed for the Blueshirts and LGR!

Peace!

Thanks for sharing this, Rich @MightyGiants . At least fan safety is one element of the organization they get right and that does count for something.

If the Giants ever turn it around, to your point, the fanbase may make it a safer environment. But I'll leave that assessment for the ticket holders who actually show up and can provide their experiences. But, still, your point is well taken.

Peace!

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 29, 2024, 07:56:48 AMhttps://x.com/BigBlueVCR/status/1795590881992393071

This was such a cool story that I used it in 10th grade English class as a current events report.

But I really got a kick (excuse the pun) of Pat Summerall's pronunciation of Tampa's kicker:

"IG-WAYYY...BUEEE-KAYYY ... Donald"

Priceless!

Thanks for the share, Rich @MightyGiants !

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 29, 2024, 11:22:55 AMThey did replace the turf last offseason.  This is supposedly the turf that the players and all involved settled on (outside of natural grass being the player's first choice).

You are correct, indeed. Still, despite the new turf, the opinion of it, and the stadium itself, hasn't changed based on the those who have been injured there:

New Yorks MetLife, the cursed NFL stadium

I don't want to sidetrack from the main point of this thread. My intention was only to express concern for the history he will be delving into and the hopes the Giants' organization are truly taking the necessary steps to mitigate injuries on the field which have a direct cause for their seasons ending up in the ditch.

I hope he turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to Daniel Jones.

Peace! 

Can they just fix the damn offensive line first, so the QB can actually have more than 0.3 seconds to look downfield to find their new impact WR? Then, maybe, we can evaluate from there?

Also, with the Sardine Can Turf Monster, no WR, or any player, for that matter, is safe. So, before talking impact, we should probably pray he can survive unscathed first.

I may sound silly, but the injury history remains very much a concerning variable with this organization until the data trends show a correlation between the corrective/preventive actions taken vs. improvement. We don't want to see this young man go down in flames prematurely.

Peace!

Yet, despite all the frustration, they're precisely where we hoped they would be, i.e. tied at two apiece and a best of three game series with up to two games at the Garden.

What is concerning to me is that, at times, certain players go into a momentary freeze in the heat of play and my wife and I are screaming "wake the f&(k up out there!" But one player whom I give full marks to, in addition to Igor, is Miller who bounced back and played a solid game and looked much more in tune with getting in the boards and bringing the puck up with authority. So good on him for bouncing back.

Tough way to lose last night but eventually it's going to happen with the play all tilted in the Rangers' zone. Laviolette is going to have to figure out how to turn the table and get the team to respond because they will need more than Trocheck and Laffy to get it done.

Peace!

Quote from: babywhales on May 28, 2024, 11:30:45 AMI coach middle school baseball and I hate to say it but it cost me the 1st period of the Game 1 and all of Game 2.

Overall, the Rangers got outplayed in 3 of the 4 wins vs Boston and 1 of the 2 wins vs Florida (if not both based on the reports I have read). In that sense they are getting it done but it sure would be nice to play a full game dominating a team more consistently

As well as this playoff series has been going I would argue the Rangers have not even hit their stride. I have read they are lucky but plenty of puck luck is being had by their opponents so to focus on their luck and no other is selective criticism.

Kart- Miller has been off all year imo.  His personal issues required he pull himself from lineup 6 months ago.  He seems to exist on both ends of the spectrum, making aggressive amazing plays at times or absent minded soft play.  In the cap series he did a tremendous job against OV.  Unfortunately, this time of year on this stage 1 mistake can be the difference.  I will say in Game 3 the whole defense was chasing the Panthers.

Hoping my team gets rained out tonight so I can watch the whole game.

GO Rangers

I appreciate your inputs, as always! Thx for the reminder regarding Miller whom I do remember that time. I really felt bad for him and I don't want to sound overly critical since he would be his own worst critic anyway. That article in the paper he graciously allowed to be published was courageous on his part; it spoke also to the Rangers' organization in how they back up what they say when you hear them talk about loving each other and being united; powerful reminder! I am going to say a small prayer for him that he finds his inner strength to make it through tonight and realize his team is there for him, as are the fans despite their disappointment that he didn't have a good game on Sunday.

Regarding the competition in the Atlantic, I don't think it was hard to see that the Metro, apart from themselves and Carolina, and perhaps the hot team of the month making a run, didn't offer the same intensity in competition as the Atlantic Division from top to bottom. As for Boston, a team the Rangers swept this season in three games and two in Beantown, I vividly remember their coach say, after their third loss, that those guys (i.e. Rangers) just have our number this year, in a dejected voice. Would they have offered up the same level of competition as Florida has, to date? I really don't know the answer to that, but I can say that I sure was hoping they'd find a way to beat the Cats the same way I was hoping the Avs would have beaten the Stars, who put on a show last night to take Game Three from the Oilers, 4-3, and lead that series two games to one, but I digress.

Don't you have a video recorder in your home???

I agree with your assessment about "luck" in the Rangers-Cats series to date. More-so, the smallest of mistakes seem to have the most significant of consequences. For Miller, not clearing the puck led to a direct chain of passes that led to a Cats' score. Likewise, Rodrigues losing Wennberg, while the puck was in a scrum, led to #91 sneaking out in front of Bobrovsky, so that when Lindgren got the puck and wristed it goalward, the opportunistic Wennberg's fateful, long-awaited goal finally came to fruition in the form of the game winner in OT. It's not luck, just creating an opportunity from a small mistake and capitalizing on it. All those other stats mean nothing in the final analysis if Florida cannot score goal #5, which they were unable to.

Onto tonight's game, where the bad guys are taking the ice with "the growl," as their coach so eloquently put it. What does that really mean, what are the Rangers in for and what do they do to counter it, if anything at all? Or, will this be the Lions eating the Christians in the Roman Colosseum tonight? What can we expect?

P.S. Fingers crossed for rain for you. Or, please send it my way, where we're 103 and baking under sunny blue skies!

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 25, 2024, 10:48:34 AMI wouldn't have an issue with this, provided it's definitely more accurate than human calls. I don't see a good argument for why sports should not use technology to make officiating more accurate. Why allow for human error when you don't have to? Tennis is way better now that they have the technological arbiter on close calls. What is worse than a team losing a game because of a wrong call that could have been avoided with the use of available technology?

Very true. It is currently in use in the Australian Football League (AFL) for scoring reviews. Still, I've witnessed it being used incorrectly which ended up screwing a scoring decision for a team which ultimately cost them a berth in their Finals (i.e. playoffs).

It has the potential to take the subjective out of the reviewing process as long as the process for using it has been made error-proof due to the introduction of human in the loop error of other variables. For first downs, that would mean discernment of "when" the whistle was blown to indicate forward progress was stopped. (Edited to add) In addition, I wanted to recognize all those here who offered other excellent examples which would require other technologies, such as video, or sensors implanted in the ball, or maybe even microphones to hear the referee's whistle!

Let's hope they figure that part out first before implementing it at large.

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 27, 2024, 05:08:46 PMIt was unreal. Not just the play itself but the deftness and explosiveness of his rush up the ice on the left wing that preceded the play.

This guy was very good in the second half of the season and has been awesome in the playoffs. I'm starting to feel like the Rangers are short-changing themselves by not having him on the PP1 unit.

What a time to come of age! But the aftermath of a game that the rest of the hockey world remains in disbelief that the Cats have absolutely dominated the series but are trailing two games to one in, you take a step back and you realize the stage is set for Lafreniere to come out and live up to his overall #1 draft choice.

The Cats have strategically taken Breadman, Z-man and Kreider out of this series with their defensive focus. Now, Goodrow is getting the looks and capitalizing; his Cup experience rising to the forefront at the most opportune times. Wennberg has quietly done excellent work across all his responsibilities and was finally rewarded with a timely game winner. Trocheck remains the most valuable player on the ice, not named Igor, for everything that he does. All of that teamwork is opening the gates for Laffy to step up and be the scoring machine, which he has taken by the bull horns.

But we need to get real for a moment, folks. We have a serious problem with Miller's timid play to include his inability to clear pucks or engage physically on the boards. Two goals yesterday fall on his back for playing small. I'm beginning to think it might be time to bring Jones back because Miller is completely out of this series, mentally and physically.

A lot of newspaper comment sections were ripping Trouba apart but how can you when he was largely defending by himself at times out there? Even in taking those penalties, I can't fully blame him as he was trying to protect the area in front of Igor.

Despite all the hype about Florida "should be" leading the series 3-0 or 2-1, whatever, they didn't score the fifth goal, so all that BS goes out the window.

I watched the NHL Network's post game coverage and the Cats players acknowledged they didn't get it done and the Rangers did. Maurice was elegant in his remarks but left something not at all surprising on the table as his final comment, but the manner with which he said it was interesting. A reporter asked him about the team's emotions after this game and how he might handle the locker room. He reflected momentarily, then thoughtfully articulated the following (NOTE: edited the post to insert Paul Maurice's actual words):

"Sometimes you want to keep the growl," Maurice said. "A lot of times in the playoffs it's about making sure that you keep that energy full, that you cut off your losses, that you let it go. Then there's times you want to keep it and eat it and let it burn for a while and find a different energy source.

"So when you put up whatever we put up tonight and you don't come away with a win, you should be a little growly."

Just a brilliant articulation and it sent chills up my own spine. Long story-short, if you thought Game Three was crazy, Game Four WILL be a kamikaze no-holds barred all-out attack with no prisoners taken. Expect a goon-fest extraordinaire with ambulances standing by.

So, we'll see what happens but I think we can expect Florida to come out guns-a-blazing and physical to the extreme. It will be interesting to see how Laviolette counters this but you'd have to think if they overpress, or are thinking too much about hitting, someone is going to break loose and create a mismatch opportunity to put past Bobrovsky, who all of a sudden has become mortal.

Finally, it was wonderful seeing all the blue in the stands and reading how pi$$ed off the locals were that their building was invaded by Rangers fans who kept screaming "MSG South, baby!" LOL! There's no doubt that Ranger Nation helps our boys on the road and we're only too happy to give it up for them. It has really made for a memorable year which I hope continues on favorably for them, and us.

Peace!

Quote from: BluesCruz on May 27, 2024, 02:30:26 PMThat gravesite photo cannot be unseen

Sad, Poignant, Unfixable

Its amazing that humans have never learned to drop the weapons and just enjoy their limited time on our planet as fellow residents on this beautiful blue marble.

Im old, have seen many epochs of war having somehow escaped the free trip to Vietnam (high draft lottery number).....I thought it (war) was dying down and yet its only gotten worse in this new century.  Heaven help us. Truly

You, along with many here, have bore witness to life and experience, not merely on a national scale but an entire global, where your message rings even louder and more powerful.

To state that humans have never learned is to dismiss those who have given their hearts, their efforts and, sometimes, their lives, in the name of peace. I understand your global statement, and the frustration behind it, but we should never quelch the indomitable spirit of those who tried, even at the expense of their own lives, to further the cause for peace.

For I have known many who are honored on this day who gave of themselves not to answer the call of a draft card, but to answer the burning passion within them to make a difference in this world. For it this day we mourn their loss, but rejoice their cause, and their legacy will live on because they made a difference.

Peace!

Lest we forget.

Thank you, Rich @MightyGiants , for these powerful reminders of the solemnity of what Memorial Day is all about.

May they rest in peace with the thanks and honor bestowed unto them by their great country and all it's citizens forever more.

OMG!!!

I knew it was coming soon, bit never would I have guessed it would be the game winner in OT. Alex Wennberg has had so many close calls and has done great work at Center and on the boards, but I am so happy for this kid, coming from Seattle, becoming a dad in his early days with the team, and slowly assimilating with the team. What a great way for him to close this one out.

Goodrow starting to show he's a money player in the playoffs while Laffy puts on a show in twisting Bob into a pretzel for goal of the Playoffs.

Rangers regain control the series!

Peace!

Good morning.

You're all on the same page and I'll throw my chips in there with you.

The only thing on my mind is how Florida is going to come out and play. Are they going to turn up their goon factor, or are they going to try and mow the Rangers down early with a kamikaze attack? I don't see them playing the same type of hockey they played at the Garden, so, what's coming at Igor and what do Trouba, Miller, Foxy and Schneider have to do to contain it long enough in order to counterattack?

Will this be the day the fists come flying in a free-for-all?

I feel that Florida is going to bring something different today but I can't put my finger on it. For our boys, be alert on the ice for the cheap goon shots because I feel that's part of what's coming.

Toughness begins in about three and a half hour's time.

Peace!