DaveZdyrko.com

Still riding on the high of having 8 vials of blood siphoned from my body (and the subsequent replacement of it with new and completely fresh blood not yet tainted by my devilish habits), I was given more to be joyful about in the form of a Flyers 4-2 win over the Canadians and a Celtics 110-85 throbbing of the Hawks.

The Flyers, as per form, got a 2-0 lead only to blow it and make things interesting before finally coming out on top. The finish is all that matters in the end, but if I start getting gray hairs or have a stroke the blame is going to be put on them. I’m really hoping they can close it out this weekend. My fingers are crossed and a blade isn’t coming anywhere near my playoff “beard” (if you can call the long scraggly hairs hanging under my chin a beard).

The C’s did exactly what they did in the first two home games — blow out the Hawks — so now it’s time to see if they can pull things together in Atlanta’s raucous arena to finally close out this series on Friday. I don’t want to see it go to a game 7 in either series, because I’m not sure if my heart could take it.

The vampires at Kaiser drained 8 vials of my blood to do tests for a bunch of stuff, some related to what I wrote about in the previous post and some just for my general physical. It was kind of cool because I felt really euphoric afterwards and it lasted for at least an hour or so. Plus, the intern that poked me was this really cute black chick and she spent a good six minutes feeling up my arm trying to find a vein. I should find out what’s wrong with me — other than the obvious issues with obesity, alcoholism and drug abuse — within the next two days.

I’ve been busy both at work and at home, so the updates have been thin of late. Here’s a quick re-cap of what’s been going on. I’m honestly shocked that Atlanta was able to even up the series at 2-2 with my Boston Celtics. I knew coming in that they had some phenomenal young players, but I figured my boys would be able to turn it on in the playoffs after being in 2nd gear for the past two months and just roll them in four. While I’m still confident we can win this series, it looks like it’ll be a fight to get out of it and a mighty struggle to get out of the supposedly weak East.

The Philadelphia Flyers have been a welcome surprise, though I don’t want to get too confident because a 2-1 series lead doesn’t mean it’s a lock, particularly after they almost blew the 3-1 lead against the Caps. Still, it’s been awesome cheering them on and I’m hoping they can continue to play great and make it to the Eastern Conference Finals against Malkin, Crosby & the Pens (assuming they continue to dominate their series).

On a more personal note, I’ve been experienced what I’ve self-diagnosed as kidney pains. It might just my back muscles, but the signs and symptoms point more to the kidneys. I have a doctor’s appointment today, so I’ll find out more later this afternoon. Shit hurts, though, and really makes it hard to concentrate.

Luckily, amid the kidney pains that started Saturday afternoon after downing 12 diet Pepsi’s in 10 minutes and the struggles of the C’s and the stress of watching the Flyers get big leads, blow the leads, then either win or lose at the end, it was really nice to be able to release some stress killing random people in GTA IV. God, I love this game and this series.

I’ve only played a couple of hours of the single player (going through some really boring parts) and had a lot of fun playing with other 2K guys online multiplayer, but I can see why it’s gotten all the 10s. There’s just so much good too it. So much that you can forgive all the flaws such as the horrid animations, sloppy camera angles, god-awful AI, fucked up targeting issues, etc, etc. It is easily the most-flawed “best. game. ever” that I’ve yet played. I could probably write an IGN-esque 25,000 word review just bitching about the game. Then again, I could write as many praising the hell out of it. In the end, I’m sure the good will mightily outweigh the bad and I’ll love this as much as the previous games in the series and quite possibly more.

I’m not sure if you know this, but I have a weak spot for really pretty girls that have great tits, slap-worthy asses, and seductively sexy figures. Lisa Angeline is one such girl and that’s why she was an obvious choice for Babe of the Week. This lovely specimen of the fairer sex is just flat out dope. Look at that booty and just try not to think about kissing, biting, licking, squeezing, slapping or smothering your face in it. That’s what I thought.

It looks like Disney’s Hanna Montana, aka Miley Cyrus, has created a bit of a stir thanks to more leaked “sexy” and “racy” photos from her MySpace. Umm, seriously…is this shit really controversial? Are these photos really “racy”, “sexy” or “provocative” as hundreds of blogs and celebrity gossip sites claim? Hell, no. People are just hella retarded and ignorant of what teens are doing these days. You’ll find much worse from your average run-of-the-mill teen on MySpace or Facebook. Believe me, I’m on top of this shit! Anyway, I’ve added these “controversial” photos of lil Miss Miley to her Babe of the Week page.

ESPN.com recently had a poll that asked which sport had the best Game 7 and the NHL finished 3rd with the NBA netting 2nd and the MLB coming in 1st. The results were obviously swayed by the overall popularity of each sport because if you’re an avid follower of all three, such as myself, then you’d agree that hockey deserved the top spot. And today’s contest between the Washington Capitals and my victorious Philadelphia Flyers was an excellent example of a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at its finest.

I feel completely exhausted after watching that intense 3rd period and overtime. It was tied 2-2 going into the 3rd, so I was on the edge of my seat for every single one of the shots taken in the period and in OT. Not to mention the stomach-wrenching, heart-pounding, and nerve-wracking feeling I’d get every time Alexander Ovechkin handled the puck or took a shot. The man’s a beast and was clearly superior to everyone else on the ice. I’m just amazed we were able to keep him contained at all for a good chunk of this series. My hat goes off to Coburn and Timonen for their work in shutting him down because he’s everything I had expected Eric Lindros to be.

Anyway, the game was a blast and I’m triply excited about it because we were able to come out on top, especially after they played a game that made me HATE them as blogged about last night. For now, it’s time to celebrate this victory and then prepare for the potential for more heartbreak, hate and, quite possibly, more extreme joy in the next round match up with the Montreal Canadians.

I’d like to welcome Michigan’s behemoth 6′ 7″ left tackle Jake Long to the dysfunctional Miami Dolphins family. As I’ve previously stated, I didn’t have a favorite among the candidates and would have been just as happy with Chris Long, Glen Dorsey, or Vernon Gholston. But, going with Long is a very solid pick and I hope he turns out to be the cornerstone of our offensive line for the next 7 to 10 years.

Two of the most important factors in winning football games are protecting your quarterback and pressuring your opponent’s quarterback. Jake Long will hopefully help accomplish the first task. If he proves to be a stud LT along the lines of Orlando Pace or Ron Yary, the only other offensive tackles taken with the 1st overall pick of the NFL draft, our QB’s and RB’s should be in excellent shape to be successful over the course of the next decade.

Both John Beck and Ronnie Brown should be extremely happy with this pick and I hope for their sakes, as well as mine as a fan, that he proves to be worth the five year, $57.75 million contract with $30 million guaranteed he just signed for. Now it’s all about me anxiously waiting to see who the Dolphins select with their 2nd pick, which is the first pick of the 2nd round but is essentially the same as the last pick of the first round because it’ll be the 32nd player chose because of the Pastryshits’ forfeiture of the 31st pick. Maybe we can get a QB or pass rusher with that selection!

Being a Flyers fan, I kind of get why sports fans in Philadelphia are angry all the time. The Flyers, much like Philly’s other teams, seem to always perform below what the team’s talent would dictate. After watching six games of this first round series with the Capitals, it’s clearly evident that the black and orange is the more talented team from top to bottom. We have legit scorers on practically every line and our defense and goaltending is solid.

Yet, because of mental lapses and lackluster effort once things seemed “in the bag”, the series with the Caps is going to game 7 in Washington tomorrow night. We might still be able to pull this out because home ice seems to matter very little in the NHL, but it shouldn’t have had to come down to this. We’ve let this series slip away, plain and simple. Then again, this inconsistency has plagued this team all year so it shouldn’t surprise me. I was just hoping it was a case of them just needing the motivation of something like being in the playoffs to get them playing at the top of their game. But, I guess I was wrong.

To celebrate her 18th birthday, it appears that Harry Potters’ Hermione Granger, aka Emma Watson, decided to join the celeb upskirt crew upon leaving her party. She’s apparently wise enough to not go panty-less, but still not yet skilled enough to keep the goods better hidden. It is also crystal clear that she’s not yet learned the spell to cleanly wax that bush.