Six-Sixty-Six

Before you get all freaky-deaky about the ramifications of this date's numerals, allow me to point out that it was much freakier on November 11, 2001 at 11:11:11. And nothing happened then. But the marketers are going nuts today, what with the Omen remake, the National Day of Slayer, the celebrations in Hell, MI, and superstitious moms worried about having their babies on 6-6-06. Whatevah.

I played in my first softball game of the year last night. Can't recall if I wrote of my decision not to run my coed team this season. After 13 years of running the team, it just got to be too much of a burden. The hardest part was making sure we had enough players to field a team every week. And you know what? I don't miss it a bit. I miss the playing, but not the managing. But I am a reserve on the men's league team that my company is sponsoring. Last night was our second game of the season, but the first one I played in; they put me in at catcher, where I hadn't played since the late '90s. This is a modified pitch league (meaning faster than slow pitch), and runners can steal bases if a pitch gets past the catcher. We ended up losing 15-13 after blowing an 8-1 lead; I only allowed one passed ball, but unfortunately it led to the go-ahead run. Nevertheless, it felt good to play, even though I was pretty beat up after blocking balls with my knees, shins, feet, and hands. I also went 1-3 with a sacrifice fly and a RBI. Of course, today my legs were extremely sore and even moreso during and after I ran five miles at lunch. It was my first run since the Vermont marathon, but I'm glad I got it in. I'm still hacking a lot from my chest cold and between that and my legs, I'm skipping hockey for another week.

They call me mellow yellow:

• I watched the last two periods of game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals last night, and wow, what an exciting game. The Oilers raced out to a 3-0 lead and looked like they had the win in the bag, but Carolina never gives up. They stormed back and actually took a 4-3 lead in the third before Edmonton tied it up. Then a goalmouth collision led to Oiler goalie/MVP candidate Dwayne Roloson suffering a sprained knee; he may be out for the series. Enter backup Ty Conklin, the former UNH netminder who shared the duties with Jussi Markkanen all season until the Oil acquired Roloson at the trade deadline. The game appeared headed to overtime until with 30 seconds left, Conklin went behind his net to stop a puck and leave it for Oilers d-man and captain Jason Smith. The puck hopped over Smith's stick and Canes leader Rod Brind'Amour swooped in and tucked it in the net for the game-winner. Just a brutal way to lose. Everyone's blaming Conklin, but Smith shares in the guilt. The experts now say the Oilers will fold, but I don't think so. They've been too good this offseason; if they can get decent goaltending from either Conklin or Markkanen, they'll give the Canes a rough ride. As it was, Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff was robbed of the tying goal with 3 seconds left by Carolina goalie Cam Ward. I still think this series will go at least six.
• My girls will be pleased to know that Dora the Explorer has had quite the impact on these playoffs. First a Dora live show affected the scheduling in Ottawa's first-round series, and now the same show was scheduled to appear in Edmonton's arena on the same day as game six (if necessary). Fortunately for Oilers fans and their kids, the show was moved to another arena in town. Wonder if Dora's a good goalie?