The 2nd Best Defenseman In NHL History Retires

Today, we lose one of the greats - Nicklas Lidstrom will announce his retirement from the sport of hockey. This does not come as much of a surprise as the man is 42 years old without a contract into next season, and it is safe to say that there is nothing left for him to accomplish on the frozen pond.

The Swedish Captain's credentials include:

• - 11 All-star Appearances
• - 7 Norris Trophies (nominated 12 of 14 years)
• - 1 Conn Smythe
• - 1 Olympic Gold
• - 4 Stanley Cups and the 1st European Captain to ever hoist Lord Stanley

Seriously, nothing left. I put only #4 of the Bruins ahead of him in the list of all time greats when it comes to NHL defensemen and would go so far as to say he is the greatest athlete to ever play in the city of Detroit. We can debate Joe Louis, Ty Cobb, Barry Sanders, and of course, I'll throw Stevie Y into that mix, but looking at the numbers and influence, it's going to #5.

Lidstrom played over 1,500 NHL games and very rarely spent time off the ice with injuries. His steadiness, sure hands, and play making ability is not only going to be missed by the Wings, but by the game of hockey. Nik's way of playing the game is hard to find in today's blue liners who rip clappers up over 100 mph with ease and go out of their way for a big hit. He played the game with class and a pure ability that is going to make finding the next Captain in Detroit extremely difficult (although I think Mr. Datsuyk is a suitable successor).

Detroit has seen some struggles over the last decade and continues to do so. Losing this fixture on the Wings blue line is not going to help anyone when next year rolls around. The Winter Classic is going to be something special. You do not have to be a fan of Detroit, the Wings, or even hockey to appreciate what he brought to the spot. The Red Wings are the NHL's most visible franchise and as a fan myself since the early 90s, it won't be the same not seeing Nik block a shot in the last minute of a game, rip one 6 inches off the ice on the PowerPlay, or again hoist the Cup over his head.

People often ask me why I like the Red Wings and I tell them there are two reasons: Steve Yzerman and Nicklas Lidstrom. Two of the games best at what they did and two of the games greatest guys. My first trip over to Sweden in 1994 when I was 12, I was going with my brother's team of 16 year olds as a practice player, pick up skate guy, and glorified water boy, so I spent the tournament games in the stands with the parents and players from around the world on other teams. All of the Swedish kids would come up to me and ask the same things. They would say, "You are from America?? You watch the NHL?? Do you know Nicklas Lidstrom??" He is a legend in his homeland where hockey is a way of life. The Swedes continue to shine in the NHL, but I am not sure any will have the impact on the athletes of my generation that Lidstrom did.

We will miss you, Captain and congratulations on one of the greatest NHL careers ever seen and undoubtedly, the best by a defenseman in my lifetime.

Have a good weekend all!
Marshy

Hoppin' Mad Mud Run

Happy Monday Bloggees,

Yesterday, Nat and I checked a big one off the 30 before 30 list completing the Hoppin' Mad Mud Run 10k in Amesbury, MA.

Here is what we looked like going in:

And here is what we looked like coming out:

Believe it or not, it was a blast. And this is coming from the guy who hates being dirty even a little bit and showers twice a day. We weren't really sure what to expect going in except from seeing pictures of past events that it was going to be muddy and there were going to be some obstacles. So, we were ready for that. What we weren't ready for ... was the hills!

We showed up in plenty of time before our heat, 11:21am, and were able to get the lay of the land, fuel up, stretch out, ya know do some race stuff. What also was promising was that there were tons of families around and they were holding a mini-mud run for the youngsters which was 1 mile. Was pretty hilarious seeing the 3ft, 75 lbs kids going up through a few of the obstacles and obviously ending in the massive pool of mud before the finish line. This one 11 year old did a full back flip off the mountain in front of the mud pool and I was thinking I'd try and do the same for my grand finale. As it turns out, the adults were not jumping after running 6.1 miles. We were crawling - under wires and flags and poles, through two massive pools of just straight up mud to cross the finish line.

When it came time for the big boys and girls, they broke it up into "heats" so the hardo's who were trying to set records got to go off first and then the remaining 300-400 casual mudders went off in 3 separate groups to break out the obstacles. Some of our favorites were the guys from Cody Brewing drinking beers at the start line and then some other larger teams going all out with frog costumes, Jerseylicious outfits, and more.

Then, like it or not, we were off and it started fine. We ran through the farmlands and wineries of Amesbury (who knew Amesbury had wineries??) for about 3 miles which was pretty scenic, but basically up hill the entire time. Not easy and after the biggest of said hills, we approached our first obstacle. Pretty basic wood logs which you had to alternate jumping over and crawling under and then into back to back 5ft high wooden walls to boost yourself over. Not too bad, did a good deed by helping a fellow mudder over the wall who was struggling, and this was promptly followed by the first water break, so ... half way there. Great.

Then it got a little ugly. For the next 3 miles, we were consistently hurling over walls, up a massive hill for half a mile carrying tires (past many "i'm going to puke" comments during this one), through weird wooden obstacles, up soapy wet tarps, up ropes and ladders, etc... and all while crawling occasionally through mini mud pools which as you can see from pic 2, didn't help our closing out the race speed.

Nevertheless, we finished and finished strong. We did not win any medals or set any world 10k records, but we got it done and will be back next year, hopefully with a few of you. The greatest part of the race came after being hosed off by the local fire department with the free beers and live music at the finish line. We threw our shoes away like everybody else and joined the party (a little late, but we made it).

The town of Amesbury and the people of Heat Event Management did an AMAZING job. Local breweries such as Woodchuck, Cody Brewing, Ipswich Ale, and many more provided much needed post run beverages and a band played non stop from the minute we got there until the minute we left. The cops and fire department were great about closing roads and again, hosing down hurds of muddy peeps. Overall, an awesome experience and I recommend it to anybody, because it was the perfect amount of "fun" and "tough".

As they say, I'm just the right amount of "good sore" today ... 

Please pass the Advil.

Have a good week all,

Marshy

The usage of "right?" by today's presenter/executive

I have a new pet peeve which is becoming more and more apparent every single day I sit on business calls or attend meetings, whether internal or external. This may be something completely going on in my mind, an isolate event at my company, or something that everyone can relate with, but either way it is something I had to vent about.

Here's the situaish:

You're at a big company meeting or an internal strategy session or even on a client call where someone is presenting some results. The person speaking is a C-level exec/VP/Director or a Principal Analyst and as they are talking through their material, they end the majority of their statements with, or really even just throw in the word, "...right?" I'm actually not even sure if a "?" is the correct punctuation to put at the end of "right" because sometimes it's a simple statement.

For example, "Hello All. I am here to discuss how we are going to change our strategy of sales. Today, we are selling apples and oranges, right? Well tomorrrow, right, we'll be needing to sell grapes and bananas as well, right? Bananas are delicious. Monkeys, right, are always going to be eating bananas and if they are our key clients, right, then we need to provide them with the fruit they enjoy, right? It seems obvious, right?

DO YOU KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT?

Presenters today are just throwing in this added word ... "right?" or "right" .... as a fluid part or ending to the sentence/question that they are speaking, and most of the time a question is not even needed!! They are not asking you to confirm what they are saying. It's more like they are confirming it for themselves and forcing you to agree with them, right? (see what I did there?) There's no pause for question, because they are jumping into their next point ... or even mid point! And sure enough, ending that point with the word today seems to be nothing but ... "right?".

It's not "do you agree with me?" or "make sense?" ... it's "right?". It is happening more and more every day and my question is, is this a new thing? Am I crazy? Did someone start this "right" trend and now everyone is  on board? Is there a presenter's handbook/manual that I'm not keeping up to date on? To bring out another pet peeve of mine which usually finds itself in emails, but ... "what am i missing?"

I'm starting to notice it more and more and there really is nothing anyone can do about it, except continue to be annoyed by it and listen to it, because usually the "right person" is way above me and who am I to question authority?

Nevertheless, I'm not a fan of publically speaking figures ending their points with "right" or throwing in "rights" left and right these days. And that's that.

Right?!.?.!