Hey all, so I'm sure a lot of you noticed the blackout that some sites are doing today (like Wikipedia and Google) in protest to the SOPA and PIPA bills.

Niners Nation has a good post up that better explains everything.

Basically I want to encourage everyone to contact their Senators and Representatives expressing concern over these bills and the effects they will have on legitimate websites (like Fear the Fin or any other SBN site, as well as Google, Wikipedia, Youtube, etc.) and the internet as a whole. I've already done so.

Just go to wikipedia and try to look up anything and it'll take you to a page explaining everything better than I can. It'll ask you for your zip code and provide the pages to contact your Senators and Representative.

So I recently moved from San Jose for graduate school and this will be the first time that I won't be able to get all the Sharks games on local television. At first I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, I'd be busy with school and I simply wouldn't have the time to watch the Sharks as much anymore.

However, I figure I can make the time and considering most games won't be on until 10 o'clock at night (I moved to Buffalo) I can get all my work done before then and still enjoy most of the games.

My question to all of you is you guys know anything about NHL Gamecenter Live and if it's worth it or not.

Since I'm living on a campus owned apartment with it's own cable setup, I can't get DirecTV Center Ice. So all that I am left with is NHL Gamecenter. Does anyone have it or know much about it? It's $160 for the whole season (does that include the playoffs?) It seems pretty cool, it has DVR functionality so I can rewind or pause and all kinds of things. And the quality has to be better than shitty firstrowsports and I wouldn't have to desperately look for a stream every night.

Also, do I get to choose which broadcast I watch? For example, if the Sharks are playing in Anaheim, do I get an option over which broadcast I watch, ours or theirs?

One other thing, since I'd be shelling out $160 I'd really like to be able to watch it on TV, rather than my shitty laptop. Does anyone know much about hooking up your computer to your TV so you can watch on there? I have an old MacBook with your basic ports (USB, firewire, and some other stuff I don't know what a mini-DVI I believe) Is there like some chord I can buy to hook my laptop up to my TV whenever a game is on?

Also, does Gamecenter do HD? My laptop isn't HD, but my TV is? Is there a way to make that work?

I don't know if anyone will be able to help me with all that, but if you guys know anything about Gamecenter, specifically if it's worth it, I'd like to hear your opinions.

Thanks and GO SHARKS!

Okay everybody, here's that second FanPost I've been promising with more details about the FTF Pizza Party.

Unfortunately, the High Five Pizza on Branham, where we initially planned to hold this, does not take reservations on Fridays, so we will NOT be having it that location. Instead, we have moved to the High Five Pizza in the Silvercreek Sportsplex (website, GoogleMaps).

The address and phone number are:

800 Embedded Way, San Jose, CA (408) 225-1843 (that was the number for the Sportsplex)

High Five's Number: (408) 365-5500

The date of the party is Friday, April 8th. We will be watching the Sharks' final road game of the regular season, the first game of a home and home against the Phoenix Coyotes. The game is set to start at 7:00, right now I am setting a tentative start time of 6:00. I will update this when the plans are confirmed.

$$$$$ UPDATE AGAIN! NEW UPDATE! $$$$$

I've decided that the raffle will be entirely free of charge, no cost to buy tickets or anything. Everyone who comes stands a chance to win a prize.

Looking forward to seeing you all there tomorrow!

$$$$$ UPDATE OVER $$$$$

*****UPDATE: I have made reservations for 6:30. REPEAT: Start time is 6:30*****

That gives people more time to show up and that way it's not just 2 or 3 people waiting around for an hour as other gradually filter in. Assuming they have a pregame show hat should start at 6:30 as well.

ALSO:

• PLEASE continue to let me know if you are coming. For those of you who listed yourselves as a "Maybe" if you get a better idea next week or even the day before, let me know.
• I could still use some donations for the raffle. So far the selection is fairly small and while I think I can put together a decent variety of packages I'd like to have some more.
• This is just to have a third bullet point, because having only 2 is kinda weird.

*****UPDATE COMPLETE*****

You see, before I can make reservations I am going to need a rough estimate of how many people will be attending. I would like to get this down within the next couple days so if you plan on coming or think there is a good chance of you coming let me know ASAP. Just reply to this thread with how many people will be in your group. All ages are welcome, children must be accompanied by an adult. Invite your friends, they don't have to be FTF readers/commenters to come. I've spoken with the people there and they allow only 2 parties a night and they can fill up spots fast.

Luckily, they require no deposit but they do require a minimum of $5 spent per person attending. That shouldn't be a problem, just don't come if you don't plan on ordering anything.

That brings up another issue: because you don't have to purchase tickets to this event or send in any money, you will be responsible for getting your own food and drinks. However, that is not say that you have to order your own pizza or whatever. At the get-together we had on Saturday it worked out pretty well with people sharing pizza and beer/soda. Just ask around at who wants what and when you find someone who wants the same thing as you, purchase a pizza or a pitcher of whatever you want. It shouldn't be too difficult (but remember we still need to meet that $5 per person minimum).

Someone did mention that Sportsplex does offer buffets for parties and I will look into that when I make the reservations, but for now let's stick with this plan. If anything changes I will be sure to update this post.

The current plan I've come up with is to have everyone arrive before the game so we can have a few drinks, socialize, and I have a few ideas for events planned. We will be having a small raffle before the game (or possibly between periods, depending on when people show up). It will be similar in style to the one at FTF Night at the Tank. However, the prizes must come solely from donations of the fanbase (THAT MEANS YOU!). I am not expecting anyone to go and spend tons of money (in fact i urge against this), but it would be great if anyone had some San Jose Sharks, Worcester Sharks, or Fear the Fin paraphernalia that they would like to donate.

The prizes will vary depending upon donations. Right now, they are leaning more towards "gag type" prizes. I can say for sure that some of the current prizes include a Jamal Mayers autographed puck (no cheering allowed), some custom made Fear the Fin stickers (which may be included in a larger bundle), and a much sought after Lukas Kaspar rookie card. There are also a few other ideas I have cooking up, but I could use some help in collecting more. Please contact me if you would like to contribute or donate. The more we as a group put into this the better it will be.

As far as how the raffle will work, that probably won't be determined until we get a list of prizes. I have a few ideas of how to work it, but I'll have to wait and see. One way we could do it is you get a raffle ticket for every dollar you spend on food or beverages at the party. Another is we could simply hand out each attendee a certain amount of tickets (for free). Or, if we get some good prizes we might charge for raffle tickets and donate the proceeds to the Sharks Foundation. And if we get a decent amount of legit prizes, we may have separate raffles for the "real" prizes versus the "gag" prizes.

As with Fear the Fin night, I think we will be doing the trivia answering style. However, I'd like the trivia to be a little different and probably FTF-centric. f you have ideas for trivia questions, please e-mail me (I'll list my e-mail at the bottom) your questions. The more absurd the better (like average character length of Buttercrunch7's comments). However, I'm probably going to rely on you for up-to-date and accurate answers (especially in the above mentioned example).

In regards to the gag prizes, if you have a good idea for one, please let me know or just bring it. I'm imagining something like a "White Elephant" gift but Sharks-themed. Some ideas so far have been an umbrella, a jar of Vlassic pickles, and Tommy Wingels' blanky and teddy bear. Another one I had, but I don't know how well it would come out,  is a cheap cardboard/paper mask of Antti Niemi's face with a frown drawn on (Nitty needs the starts!).

So if you have any bright ideas, please either list them here or better yet do it yourself and bring it! Those kinds of prizes we don't really need to know about until it happens, but the more the better. This party needs more gimmicks! (I'm sorry Angy, but I don't think that's gonna be forgotten just yet).

One other thing I also need help with is an idea I discussed with Elvis and some of the other people at the Saturday meet-up. I would like to blow up and print out posters for the submissions for best photoshop for the Fin Awards. These would make great prizes. I need help in how to go about doing this for one thing, like where to go (Kinko's?), and some help in recouping the cost of making them. I don't think they should be too expensive but I've already poured a bit of money into this and it would be great if some other people could help out. It might turn out to be just too expensive to do, I'm not expecting anyone to spend a lot of money on this, but if it's feasible I think it would be great. We may only end up doing a few, but even if we just have one (*cough* West Coast Avengers *cough*) it would be awesome. (Maybe we could even get some of the creators to sign them for the raffle?)

Finally, the most important thing I'm going to ask of you all, is please COME! Regardless of how this works out, the most important thing is that we all get together and have a good time and cheer on the Sharks! The more people that come the better. I know for some of you it's a bit of a drive, even if you already live in the area (Silvercreek is a bit out of the way). But it should be a blast and I know some of you couldn't make it to FTF Night at the Tank and it's not very expensive (all you need is a minimum of $5). If you're coming from out of town I suggest you try and get tickets for Fan Appreciation Day, the Sharks last home game (last game) of the regular season the following day on Saturday, April 9th. I'll be attending that game and I know others will as well. So make a weekend out of it and come on down (or up whatever your geographical location may be). It's gonna be a great time!

To contact me, you can email me at:

p n k w a g AT gmail DOT com (without the spaces)

GO SHARKS!

So a week or two a go a couple of us were talking in a gameday thread about meeting up at a pizza joint for a game. I've taken it upon myself to create a FanPost to see who all is interested and what people's thoughts are on when and where we should do it.

I think the conversation started with us thinking about High Five Pizza, but there are other options as well. They definitely have some big screen TVs to watch the game on, which is going to be important wherever we go. Other places that got tossed around I think were Round Table, Mountain Mike's, Pizza Chicago, and Amici's. Those last 2 I'm not so sure would be great places to watch the game. And if anyone else has suggestions, then please go ahead and mention them in the thread. This is more to get a feel for what everyone is interested in.

Also, there is the question of when to do it. Personally, I think we should do it for an away game so that people who go to the home games don't have to miss out. We have 4 more away games coming up: Thursday, March 24th at 7:30 against LA, Saturday, March 26th at 6:00 against Phoenix, Wednesday, April 6th at 7:00 against Anaheim, and Friday April 8th at 7:00 against Phoenix. I think the best option is April 8th against Phoenix, our last away game of the year and second to last game of the year. It's on a Friday at 7:00 and gives us plenty of time to prepare.

However, if anyone has any preferences please discuss them, I'm just trying to maximize the number of people that can come. Also, if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions on how we can make it better or anything else we can do, please share them as well.