The most exciting two months in sports gets off and running in short order. Sounds like a perfect time for The Gripes to give you a quick preview of each series, before putting on the prognostication hat and telling you who I think ends up surviving round one. Away we go: Western Conference- #1 Vancouver... Continue Reading →
The Gripes: The East, In Review
The NHL regular season is over, and the Gripes has returned to look back at how well (and poorly) my predictions went for the 2011-12 season. I already weaved my way through the West. This time, a look back at the East. Eastern Conference 15. Montreal Canadiens (78 Points, 5th--Northeast Division) Gripes’ Preseason Prediction: 12th... Continue Reading →
The Gripes: The West, In Review
Six months ago, yours truly stepped up to the keyboard and boldly predicted the way that the NHL’s conferences would shake out over the course of 82 games. Now that everything has played out, has Mr. Gripes proved to be a prognosticator extraordinaire? Or will Mr. Gripes be hanging his head in shame? Let’s find... Continue Reading →
The Gripes: Down The Stretch
The Pittsburgh Penguins are headed down the home stretch of the 2011-2012 season, with just 20 regular season games remaining. After 62 games, the Pens sit in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, and their 77 points are good enough for 4th place in the Eastern Conference. As of this day, that would set them... Continue Reading →
Tiptoe, softly.
Wow. It's been a wild 20-or-so days since I last posted. Outside of a truly embarrassing loss to the Sabres, the Pens have been playing pretty solid hockey. James Neal has been signed to a long-term deal at a reasonable cap hit, especially in years 4-6 (operating under the assumption of small increases in cap... Continue Reading →
Imitation of Life
Uncle Walt checking back in. It's been a long while since I last wrote. In that time, the Pens managed to get their act together and play up to their potential. Reeled off a giant winning streak, lost one, and came back to defeat the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins. Evgeni Malkin is completely on... Continue Reading →
Message Received
By now nearly everyone has read the article from Dejan Kovacevic. If you haven't, here's the short version: Sid loves Pittsburgh and wants to play but is not cleared. That wasn't what people, including the folks at Hockey Night in Canada, were talking about. They were, instead, talking about the other odds and ends in... Continue Reading →
Griggsy’s Gripes- The Pittsburgh Penguins: A Season on the Brink
It’s been a while since I’ve hurt your eyes and your sensibilities with my writing. But now is as good a time as any to burst back into your lives. Today, the Gripes sets its sights on one thing and one thing only: The Pittsburgh Penguins, A Season on the Brink.... To say the Penguins... Continue Reading →
The Penguins Are A Bad Team
Here's usually where the wheels come off and people start spewing things like "BAD FAN!" at me. I'm just going to say it. The Pittsburgh Penguins are a bad team. I discussed, at length, the problem the team is facing with injuries right now. I had posed the question to Twitter (from my personal account)... Continue Reading →
The Penguins Problem: Injuries
What in the name of sweet baby Jesus is wrong with the Penguins? I'm not saying it to be a troll or being ironically detached from things. I'm saying it because I legitimately don't know what is wrong with this team, nor do I know if there is any way to "fix" what ails them.... Continue Reading →
Avoid the Clap 