At the risk of stepping on FTF staff plans, I thought I'd throw this out for fun.  We all heard DW say this week that changes are in store.  We've read quite a few idiots in the mainstream press say that Joe and Patty and Nabby and Cheech must go.  

What I'm interested in is what you THINK will happen.  I'm not talking about an in depth analysis of the RFA and UFA situation, or how things fit under the cap, or what the cap might be.  I don't mean necessarily who we should trade for who(m).  What I'm talking about is your gut feeling about what DW will do.

For instance, I don't think Joe or Patty or Nabby get moved.  We can discuss at length, but my gut says there's no way DW does that.

I do think that Ryan Clow goes away.  I don't want it to happen, I just think it will.  I think someone with a lot of money under the cap is going to make an offer that DW isn't willing to counter and away he goes, sad to say.

Part of me wants to think Blake will be back, for a whole hell of a lot less money (that's the only way I see it happening).  But I've heard/read some things that make me think he'll go away, choosing  some serious coin over loyalty.

Do you see what I mean?  I know the staff have lots of things planned where we can get deep into analysis later in the summer.  I'm just interested in what you think. 

And pardon me, Plank, TCY, and Mr K, if this steps too much on something you had planned.

Hi, my name is Dave and I’m superstitious.
Are you?
I am.  I admit it.  Go ahead, admit it. You are too.  The question is how much?  How superstitious are you?  

So, that’s the question I’ve been pondering for a few days.  Weeks actually.  The subject came up a few weeks ago around our house when I was frantically trying to find my “Sharks shirt” about 30 minutes before a game.
    “What is wrong with you?”  Southern Bell asked (It’s okay Mr K, her last name is Bell)
    “I have to have my shirt.”
    “You have a shirt on.”
    “NO, I have to have my Thornton shirt.”
    “Why?  You’re wearing a Sharks shirt.”
    “It’s not the right one.”  Bobbie rolled her eyes at me, like women often do to us guys.
    I pointed my finger at her.  “You don’t understand.  You never, ever mess with a streak.”

Okay, so I played team sports most of my life, and that admonition was ingrained in me from an early age.  My son (who will be 31 this Saturday) has played team sports most of his life.  Our house lived by that rule.  I thought everyone knew that you don’t mess with a streak.  We are both convinced we screwed up game 7 of ‘02 World Series for the Giants by somehow doing something different.  In fact we know what we did wrong.  During that playoff run we ate for dinner whatever we had when the Giants won the previous game.  If they lost, we changed it up.  I learned after we had steaks on a night they won that hamburger was a cheaper source of a win.  That fateful game night of game six some friends came from Reno and convinced us to have a sushi party.  ‘Nuff said about that.

Anyway, I almost digress.  I don’t mess with a streak.  Until the streak stops.  Then I start again.

After the ‘06 season I was cruising the Sharks online store and found a long sleeve black Thornton t shirt jersey for a ridiculously low price.  That’s been my ‘shirt’ since then.  I have a beautiful black authentic alternate jersey from two years ago that I nearly refuse to wear, because every time I wear the damned thing they lose.  I’m saving at as a losing streak buster if absolutely necessary.  That long sleeve tee is the one.  There is still magic in that rag.  I need a new one, but you won’t catch me buying one before the year is out.  I have to wear my black Sharks hat sometime on game day.  It doesn’t matter when, just sometime before the game.  And lastly, I change the wallpaper on my desktop if they lose.  I have a nice face shot of Bouch up there right now.  But I’ll be on Google images to nite and have it changed before the game Thursday.  

So, what do you do?  I’ve heard a few folks say some things....but let’s hear it.  Let it out.  Tell us what kind of crazy stuff you do to help the boys win.   You'll feel better.

[Note by Dave Valentine, 01/24/09 12:55 PM PST ]

    My Sharks history is probably not near as interesting as Morti’s.  It certainly doesn’t involve international intrigue.  It’s more like a long and winding road with a cast of old geezers.  (What else would you expect?)
    My first exposure to hockey was at age 11, when my dad took me to watch the Oklahoma City Blazers.  Wait!  Before you start guffawing at the thought of a hockey team in Oklahoma, let me fill you in.  This was 1965.  These were days of the Original Six, and the Blazers were the top farm team of the Boston Bruins.  The best talent Boston was hoarding skated at the Fairgrounds Arena.  In ‘65, ‘66, and ‘67 the Blazers won the CHL championship behind quite a few future NHL stars.  Most of you young’uns won’t recognize the names, unless a few current and former GM’s come to mind.  But for the sake of  any purists, or students of hockey history out there here are some of the guys I watched when I was a tad.
Harry Sinden, Gerry Cheevers, Bernie Parent, Doug Favell, Glen Sather, Derek Sanderson, Wayne Cashman, JP Parise (Zach’s dad), Ross Lonsberry, Rick  MacLeash, Reggie Leach, Dallas Smith, Ivan Bolderiv, and Jean Pronovost.  Should you actually care about any of those names, Wikipedia has some pretty nice bios on most of them.  So anyway, it’s no surprise I was a Boston fan also.
    Mind you, these were days long before satellite TV, ESPN, or even cable.  I got my news by diligently following the local paper every morning, and eventually Stars and Stripes, when I was stationed overseas in the Navy.
    Fast forward to 1976 when I returned to San Diego, still in the Navy, and had the great fortune to see Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe playing in the WHA, and skating against the San Diego Mariners. 
    In 1981 I ended up in the Bay Area, still a Boston fan.  I mean, what else was there?  BS (Before Sharks, in this case) a group of business men in the Bay Area, hockey enthusiasts all, were working to get a franchise somewhere in the region.  These guys got a few pre season games scheduled in Oakland for several years.  I don’t know their connection to George Gund (although I’m certain there is some thread there).  One of those guys was the Chief of my police department.  We, local cops, always got first shot at great seats for those games.  It became an annual event for us.  Normally a three game series.  The first would be a mauler party.  A whole bunch of drunk cops in motorhomes, playing street hockey in the Oakland Arena parking lot.  The second game we’d take our kids.  And for the final game, we’d act like the first two days didn’t happen, take our wife’s, and hope no one at that last game recognized us from the first.
    Eventually, as history will bear me out, the Gunds landed the Sharks franchise in San Jose.  I was able to attend my first NHL regular season hockey game that year, at the Cow Palace.  For the next 10 years I went to as many games as I could.  Begging, and occasionally buying my own tickets.
    As for Plank’s question, "How the hell did Dave Valentine end up being a Shark’s fan in South Carolina?"  Well, that’s pretty simple (and if you’ve read this far you say "Why don’t you just tell us, already?") I was injury retired from my department in ‘99.  I hung around the Bay Area for a few years.  But, I gotta tell you, my retirement check, while although not bad, wasn’t cutting it in the economics of California.  Then someone told me about NHL Center Ice.  Hell, that made it easy.  I packed up the truck and moved to.....South Carolina. 

So, there you have it.  The old guy in South Carolina.  Playing and watching hockey for over 40 years.