Click the play button above to find out why Block believes the St. Louis Blues will finish above the Blackhawks in the Western Conference standings. I know he did tonight's show a little under the weather, but Block needs to explain this one a little better on next week's show or this weekend on the mailbag show he plans on doing.
A lot of good stuff on this week's show. Even in his absence, the "Superstar" showed his commitment to the show by pre-recording his contributions to this week's show. "The Bite" story also makes its triumphant return atop this week's 90 minute extravaganza. Among the topics discussed:
- Why Block can't communicate with the people. - Superstar fans at the United Center - Impressions of the Blackhawks loss to Zurich in Switzerland on Tuesday - Block apologizes to anyone who read his column in the Committed Indian Friday - An intriguing preview of his next Indian column (Oct 12 home game vs. Calgary) - Patrick Kane love - More on Hawks goaltending woes - Block drafts Cristobal Huet in fantasy by accident while show is on the air - Concerns on the Hawks' blue line - The Third Man In Draft "party" at All-Stars last weekend - Talk of a great Superstar story that never gets told - Man-love for Brent Sopel - Hockey hair, Mullets and the Brent Sopel Dance - Sponsors - HockeeNight speculates on who and what Superstar looks like - Is Superstar actually Pierre McGuire? - Superstar's reaction - HockeeNight's PuckCast and feeling Block's "momentum on their backside" {=0 - Why Block has lost confidence in Joel Quenneville - The Blackhawks "saving grace" in 2009-10 - Hooters down the street driving you mad - Eliminating the New York Rangers from the playoffs on Sept 30th - Why Boston won't be as good this season. - Theo Fluery retirement - Rejoicing in Mats Sundin's retirement from hockey - Should the Hawk take a flyer on Sergei Kostitsyn? - What Block's role will be at a political fund raiser this weekend? - What he is and is not qualified to do at this fund raiser - Women who have issues and Block just doesn't want to hear about it! - Big Bodies and "if You have to rub a guy out, You rub a guy out." - Classifying Block and this week's co-host as men - More sound bites from prior shows, stories and describing the TTMI Fantasy Hockey Draft party and much, much more
Just a reminder, no radio this Tuesday. For this week only, since the Blackhawks-Zurich Lions game will be being broadcast in tape-delay format from 7 to 9pm central time Tuesday on the NHL Network, we're moving The Third Man In ~ Radio show to Wednesday night, 8pm at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
Next week we'll return to our usual time slot, Tuesdays at 8pm. There's also a very good chance I'll be doing a solo mailbag show at some point between now and Saturday. So, now would be a good time to get those questions, comments and criticisms in for inclusion on that program.
On Wednesday's show, we'll be breaking down the 2009-10 NHL season, Blackhawks, East and Western Conference predictions and playoff pontifications.
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The Chicago Blackhawks sent top prospects Kyle Beach and Shawn Lalonde back to their junior teams on Tuesday. The Blackhawks also reassigned Rob Klinkhammer, Mark Cullen, Bryan Bickell, Daryl Boyle and Brian Connelly to the Rockford IceHogs of the American Hockey League.
Beach, who will play for the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League, is considered by many to be the best prospect in the Blackhawks' system. Beach was competing for the starting roster spot vacated by the injured Marian Hossa in training camp, but the strong play of Jack Skille, who was competing for the same spot, made Beach a long shot to start in the NHL this season. Despite the odds, it is surprising the Blackhawks have opted to not use the 9-game trial period NHL teams are granted with junior prospects. If the Blackhawks were to have used that trial period, Beach could have played nine games and still have returned to Lethbridge, without having to use a year of eligibility on his three year entry-level contract.
Lalonde will be returned to the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League. Lalonde played well in camp, but has not physically matured to an NHL level.
Started out just fine, like any other edition of TTMI Radio. But then Block rode into his State Of TheThirdManIn.com address and all hell broke loose. A sleep-deprived Block is a dangerous recipe for us all but awesome radio as well. Objectionable content warnings apply. And there should be plenty of those. Headphones required for the second half of the show at work. Block let loose and no one was safe. I was anticipating him going into his Jesse Rogers is an assclown spiel. Hopefully next week? As for the state of the union, it's a sad day for sure.
The Third Man In ~ Radio will return one day later next week, Wednesday September 30th at 8pm on BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn- (I'd bookmark that show page if I were you.) to accommodate the Hawks-Zurich Lions rebroadcast and a fantasy hockey draft Block will be attending. That's where we'll be next week for sure. Again, www.BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn
Don't forget about The Third Man In ~ Fantasy Hockey League draft party this Saturday night from 6:30 til whenever starting at All-Stars Bar & Grill at 555 W. Madison Street (on Clinton between Madison and Monroe two blocks from the Kennedy expressway) for the live draft party. Any and all comers are welcome. Have a cocktail, listen to the stories Block can't tell here on the radio (can you imagine?) or just get drunk and fall off your stool like you would anywhere else in the city Saturday night. The actual draft starts at 7:30 for those participating in the league. But again, anyone is welcome and encouraged to come down for as long as you'd like to hang out.
Three spots remain available in the fantasy league as of the airing of tonight's show. You can get in still by contacting Block via his email (
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) or (
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) and he'll send you the email with an invitation to join the league.
The first official guest in The Third Man In ~ Radio history, Sam Fels, editor of The Committed Indian and one-third of the Blackhawks blog-monster that is SecondCityHockey.com joined us Tuesday night for a full hour and a half of Hard Hawk Hockey discussion and so much more.
You can subscribe to a full season email (pdf) version The Committed Indian right now by going to this link. The entire season, including all potential Blackhawks home games, can be purchased now for $70. Playoffs excluded, that's a savings of $53 off the cover price alone. Or you can purchase single issues (email version) for $2 a piece. The season preview issue of the Indian will be on sale both online and outside the United Center before the Friday September 25th exhibition home game against the Minnesota Wild.
If you've never had the pleasure of picking up or reading The Committed Indian, Sam has posted the entire 2008-09 season archive up at this page over on the SecondCityHockey site.
Of course you can buy the print edition of the Indian outside the UC at each and every Blackhawks' home game for just $3. Get the news shot to you straight, often with a comedic slant, inappropriate humor and more statistics than you could ever imagine related to the Blackhawks and that night's opponent. And as Sam mentioned on the show, if you think The Committed Indian sucks,
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about it. I've got enough problems I've my own here.
As Sam mentioned on the show, you can read me in the Indian about once a week and a collection of my columns from last season can be found here.
And hour and a half of premium Chicago Blackhawks discussion concluded in the final ten minutes with a "Getting to Know Sam Fels" Q&A which included, but was not limited to the following topics: Beer, Soundgarden, body hair, The First Date, Hockeenight.com and Nazi-Supremacists, Brian Urlacher's wandering willy, Three-Way Death Matches, tall angry females and contemplating the beating of an unassuming taxi driver.
In all, there's a good Dave Bolland discussion and Block rant, some NHLPA bashing, Blackhawks 'bloggers' and unemployment, a great segment where everyone picks their two key Blackhawks heading into this season and we discuss the changeover in fans occupying the United Center. Fans, by the way, who are about to incur a twenty-five percent increase in parking fees at the UC. Join us next week at the same time, Tuesday September 22nd at 8pm here at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn.
It's that time of the week again; Activity and brand-spanking new content here at TheThirdManIn.com. We'll soon enough, anyway.
The Third Man In ~ Radio returns in its somewhat usual time slot tonight at 8pm over at BlogTalkRadio.com/TheThirdManIn for those of you who'd like to stream with us live. If not, the show will be available to listen on archive over at our BTR showpage shortly before 10pm central and on this web site some time around 11pm. You can also subscribe to the show in the podcast section of your ITunes store by searching "The Third Man In."
Tonight's guest is Sam Fels, you know, the editor of that useless rag (last Tuesday show reference) The Committed Indian and also one-third of the braintrust over at SecondCityHockey.com. We will be talking plenty of Blackhawks and much much more you can be sure.
Follow the link to stream with us live. We'll be taking your phone calls on anything Chicago Blackhawks, NHL, fantasy hockey, this web site, Sam Fels-related, or thongs and whale-tail after the bottom of the eight o'clock hour.
Also, there will be a huge news update on this web site at some point tonight after the show. Change in plans. Enjoy the radio show. I'll be back tomorrow.
I would never be categorized as a guy who doesn't take criticism well. The title basically says it all about this show. Well, the first twenty minutes anyway. This rich first segment-goodness is followed up by Blackhawks season-preview valuations, qualifying criticisms of "the French Guy" and setting the table for next week's mega-show with Committed Indian editor Sam Fels. We also touch a bit further on my hitchhiker escapades, whale-ass~!, taking care of those tootsies, the best fourth line in hockey(?), fulfilling the needs of my readers(???) and a reader's wanting for my hard-hitting 'anal-isys.' Even my cats usually won't get too near my 'anal-isys.'
And if you've never listened before or I can't convince you to check us out, get a load of this testimonial:
"I'd love to continue being a reader but you're not cutting it anymore. You're old news and you're new show sucks. You guys aren't funny & your know Steve Doll or whoever the other guy is? How can you have more than five listiners to something so bad as this?"
Thanks to Shawn I think we're guaranteed to double those listener totals this week. Very much appreciated.
As if the Blackhawks need to be any more unlikeable.
ESPN.com Sunday extended a rumor Tim Sassone of the Daily Herald began floating the other night that the Hawks have thrown their proverbial hat into the Dany Heatley ring. But hey, if it happens then maybe he and Patrick Kane go out drinking and riding together? (Maybe just slightly poor taste? It's been a long weekend.)
Sam over at SecondCityHockey.com wonders if this could be signs of a three-way deal in the works leading to a Patrick Marleau arrival in Chicago?
Marleau is entering the final year of a contract which will pay him $6.3 million this coming season. He'll turn 30 on the 15th of this month and almost assuredly test un-restricted free agency next summer. A summer the Blackhawks will already be handing 19-20 per season to Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and team captain Jonathan Toews. The upside is Marleau should be motivated to have a career-best season due to his contract status, but then again it's Patty Marleau we're talking about here. A guy whose never broken through to his expected potential and has failed to lead San Jose to anticipated heights year after year in disappointing playoff returns.
Dany Heatley has six years and $45 million remaining on his deal with the Senators. Heatley wants out of town because rookie coach Cory Clouston doesn't trust Heatley in playing in all situations or 22 minutes a night. Those circumstances likely wouldn't change under Joel Quenneville. Nor should they. Heatley's a malcontent and selfish and players with those traits shouldn't be perceived as pieces to the championship puzzle in Chicago.
How could it happen? A package involving Seabrook, who Ottawa consistently requests in any trade discussions with the Blackhawks (and another reason a potential deal involving Heatley and the Senators makes little sense), Kris Versteeg and/or Dustin Byfuglien. Jack Skille has so little value right now I don't know how his name earns inclusion into these speculations? Mathematically, Brian Campbell is the simplest answer, but for one; try convincing a team to take the seven years and $50 million left on his deal. Additionally, losing a player of Campbell's ability on the blue line would result in damaging affects to the Hawks' transition game, the one facet which sets them apart from much of the Western Conference. Could it be Bowman is looking to unload Kane? Doubtful at this stage, especially since Kane has the ability to exceed Heatley's annual scoring production with some added experience and muscle. Marleau makes more sense than Heatley, but the Hawks would have to give up one of their big three (well, they're not moving Toews under any circumstance but Keith or Kane) and subsequently locking Marleau up long-term. In dropping Bolland back down to the third line where he belongs, that would give the Blackhawks the depth up the middle they need to seriously challenge the best in the West, the Penguins, Capitals, Bruins and Flyers in the East if they're serious about winning a Cup this season and beyond.
-- CT and "Forklift" return from a one-week hiatus for a visit with Toronto Maple Leafs bloggers Down Goes Brown and Pension Plan Puppets. Plenty of hockey truculence on this week's HockeeNight PuckCast~! And it wouldn't be a PuckCast I suppose without further discussion of Chris Block in a thong.
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