"Erik Cole During a Pre-Season Warmup v. Washington"Raleigh, NC - 9/17/2007
I never would have believed it, if I hadn't read it with my own eyes. If you're a hockey fan and you haven't been living under a rock for the last week or so, you know the Hurricanes just shook the Caniac Nation to its core when they announced earlier this week that they had traded Erik Cole to Edmonton for defenseman Joni Pitkanen.
Now it isn't news to the True Believers that Carolina was serious about upgrading its defense corps. And it's no big secret that the Canes were/are stacked at the forward positions. And Cole's name had surfaced in trade rumours before. So the news shouldn't have come as a huge shock to anybody.
It did. It suprised the hell out of me for one. I would have bet that Patrick Eaves would have been the trade bait. Eaves is young, capable and once he's healthy is going to be a force in the NHL for many years. But Cole is also heading into (unrestricted) free agency land in another year, meaning it's possible he could leave the team and they wind up with nothing but photographs and memories. JR's never been one to let value get away, so he dealt Cole while his stock was high.
And it's rarely been higher than it is right now. In fact Cole probably hasn't been as attractive a trade as he is right now ever -- except for the 2005-06 season before his injury.
So it makes sense both for the team and the player, but it's tough watching a guy like this leave for somewhere that's else.
All I can say is that this Pitkanen dude better be worth it.
The eBay Chronicles
It seems my post about the $565 Fritos bag on eBay has brought me quite a few hits. According to SiteMeter, I get about one visitor a week from a Google search involving eBay and Fritos bags.
Other SiteMeter Curiosities
Who do I know in Slovenia??
Where in the hell is Lititz, Pennsylvania?
Somebody in Pittsburgh loves me.
Apparently the United States is 1,023 miles from Raleigh, NC.
The visitor from Slovenia brings the number of countries represented here to an even 10, plus one nefarious "Unknown". To date I've had guests from the USA, Canada, Germany, Belgium, Singapore, Turkey, the Philippines, the UK, Australia and now Slovenia.
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2 comments:
Lititz, PA has the longest continuously running Fourth of July Fireworks display in the country. A German started the first hard pretzel bakery in the country there at Martin's Pretzels. On a warm spring day, the park smells of chocolate from Wilbur's chocolate. It's surrounded by Amish farms and I was captain of the wrestling team. Now I'm living in Cape Town but I still write a column for the Lititz Record. It's a great damn town.
Namaste Lex-Ji,
Who knew so many firsts could come from such a small place?
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