Well...I am doing some mobile blogging and I figured that with all this pre-camp Bruins talk there are a few things that I am looking towards.

#1 The progression of Tuuka Rask:

Rask will now be brought up to be the full-time back up to Tim Thomas and it's about friggin time. Last year he had 1 start and shut out a decent Rangers team.

The AHL isn't the NHL and knowing Thomas' injury history, Rask may seem more time than just back-up minutes.

His progression will be key in the Bruins making some noise this year because, as I said earlier, Thomas does have injury problems.

#2 Will the real Marco Sturm please stand-up?

Last year Sturm sat the season out with an injury problem. The season previous ti last year he scored 29 goals (I believe) and was a nice scoring threat. So which Sturm do we see?

If Kessel signs, than it may not matter, but if he doesn't Sturm will need to stay healthy and be who he was two seasons ago for the Bruins to make some noise.

#3 Blake "The Snake" or Blake "The Fake"?

I'll come right out and say it...I am not a fan of Blake Wheeler. I think most Bruins fans over-rated him and when he hit the "rookie wall" he damn near cracked his neck on the stop.

Wheeler doesn't impress me, sans his goal against the Blues. He is strong and he does have hands but I don't think he'll make the right progressions to be anything more than a servicable 3rd line winger.

#4 Where's Kessel?

Seriously...cut this shit out and sign already

#5 Will Timmy be Timmy?

Last year Tim Thomas was able to take the Bruins on his back and carry them to the playoffs as one of the best teams in the NHL. Thomas also took home the Vezina, which should state how those in the league viewed him.

With Thomas more than likely playing in the Olympics in February, will he be able to sustain a heavier workload than in previous years?

Remember, Thomas split time with Shields and was supposed to do it with Fernandez, but ManFran was to busy getting hurt.

Anyways, Thomas is no spring chicken and some added extra work in February COULD sideline him. I was really outspoken against him going to the USA camp but I'm also greedy.

Anyways, its about 11pm and I'm leaving job #2. Just a few things that sparked my interest and I'm sure are on the mids of Bruins Nation.

Here are those attending the Bruins rookie camp in September:

Goaltenders (3): Adam Courchaine, Matt Dalton, Mike Hutchinson.

Defensemen (7): Ryan Button, Scott Fletcher, Brad Good, Alain Goulet, Mark Isherwood, Rob Kwiet, Marc Zanetti.

Forwards (14): Jamie Arniel, Chris DeSousa, Zach Hamill, Jordan Knackstedt, Jason Lawrence, Lane MacDermid, Taylor MacDougall, Jason Lawrence, Jeff LoVecchio, Levi Nelson, Tyler Randell, Max Sauve, Peter Stevens, Jason Wilson.

What is this, Hamill's 4th one haha, damn.

Anyways, you can read more about it here.

Last Thursday I was diligently sitting at work, sifting through client intake files waiting for that digital clock to strike 10:00am so I may try to purchase some Boston Bruins tickets.

Now for those who are not in the know, a group of my friends and I have a tradition where we have been to the Bruins home opener since about 2002. Every chance we got, we made it to that wonderful home opener two weeks after the season started because it was officially the beginning of the Bruins season. It didn't matter if they went 0-for on the road trip because now they're home and they will rectify all the mistakes made on said trip.

This year, although the group would probably be smaller in size, was to be no different...no different until after 2 hours of trying, I realized I wasn't getting tickets. Sadly, my friend Capps was the same way.

So we tried StubHub. We looked at Balcony, row 14...$90 a ticket. WHAT!? $90 bucks a ticket, for the Balcony!?

Well, "I'll give it a few days" I told myself and here we are, a few days later looking at ticketmaster for tickets. Oh wait, it found some!

AT $272 A TICKET!!

Many Bruins fans have complained of a substantial increase in ticket prices, something that DID happen even when the team blew.

Seriously though, $272 a ticket is preposterous to the point where I have to use the term preposterous!

I want everyone to brace themselves for I am about to go on a rant/rave/bitchfest that may be my biggest one on Something's Bruin.

Everyone should've heard the news by now that those without Bruins season tickets will have to enter into a raffle for the right to purchase Winter Classic tickets. If you haven't, here's some information per boston.com.

"Registration for the general public random ticket drawing will begin Tuesday, Sept. 15, at noon online at www.nhl.com/winterclassic. Registration will continue through Monday, Oct. 5, at 11:59 a.m. Registrations received after the deadline will not be accepted. There is no fee.

Those selected in the drawing will be notified by Oct. 20 of their opportunity to purchase one pair of tickets (seated together). Prices range from $50 to $350."

This is where my rant begins, and I must warn you, it will probably be riddled with cuss words, so I apologize upfront. Last week, Patrick (who you guys still haven't heard from, but will, I promise) and I had a conversation regarding the topic:

"If you moved to another city, do you think there is any way that you could follow any of their teams as passionately as you do now?"

Immediately I said no, but as the discussion carried on, I changed my stance on the subject. As a passionate fan of the Bruins, Red Sox and Celtics, it pains me that I have to leave my ticketing for special sporting events to chance. What happened to the days of standing outside of Fenway Park or the Boston Garden for 4-5 hours just to get a ticket to a game? What happened to weekend camp outs in front of the ticket window?

It's bullshit. Complete and utter bullshit.

During the 2007 MLB playoffs, I was lucky enough to win the rights to buy tickets and bought a pair to game 6 of the 2007 ALCS (the one where J.D. Drew hit a grand slam) and sitting beside me were two pink hats that had no idea what was going on.

There used to be a time where I went to Bruins/Celtics/Red Sox games and was able to talk to my neighbor about the sport. Now its a selective process because you don't know who the fuck is going to be around you. Where are the people doing scorecards at Fenway? Where are the Bruins faithful who know the actual history and don't cheer at the video intro because of the song that's playing? Where were the people who suffered through Al Jefferson, Marcus Banks, Gary Payton...hell the whole 2004-2005 Celtics roster?

All of that is gone now and those who have been paying servitude to their team throughout the "shitty years" are fucked. Before this decade, it was easy to get Red Sox tickets, all you had to do was go to the ticket window. Now you have to wade through scalpers, bogus sites like stubhub and ebay that jack the price up and other bullshit that is makes watching a game in person not worth it.

The same thing goes for the Bruins. Where was everyone two years ago? I remember going to a game with my brother and best friend on a Sunday afternoon and the Garden was EMPTY. There was no one in our section, now every game will be sold out in under 5 minutes.

Sure, this is just a simple rant, but how do sport teams honor those who have been following the club for as long as they can remember? How do you honor someone who has watched 70-80 games on TV? Watched "The History of the Boston Bruins" so much I think I could recite everything Esposito says. Purchased jerseys, hats, t-shirts, bumper stickers, etc?

I (and when I say I, I mean the passionate fans) have the same chance as someone who "thinks it would be really cool to go!!!one1one11!" but has no idea what hockey is, what it means or how it's played. They want to go because its the "cool thing to do".

Nothing could ever replace the passion I have the my Boston teams, but I'm sicked and tired of not being able to actually go to a game. I wouldn't mind being in San Diego and going to a Padres game because I get to watch baseball, at the ballpark, with fans who know about baseball and aren't attracted to some marketing machine or following the team because they won.

Online raffles for the right to win tickets is pure bullshit.

Sorry if this offended anyone, I just felt the need to express the feelings I'm sure some of you have.

I have found Patrice Bergeron's twin brother! I swear these guys have been separated at birth.


Yeah, Patrice and the Wendy's guy...and you thought it was a concussion...he was filming a commercial!

Here is the commercial for those who aren't in the "know"

samanthabicica: Hey Shawn! Did you like the third jerseys this season?
Shawn Thornton: I really liked the third jerseys, I think we look mean in all black... and Z looks even bigger.

pichichi: Who would have a better chance at American Gladiators? You or Chara?
Shawn Thornton: It depends on the event.... he might get me in the joust with his long reach, but I would definitely have the advantage in Atlasphere!

Matt Bradbury: Hey Shawn, do you have a favorite player? You know, either growing up or right now?
Shawn Thornton: Growing up it was Wendel Clark, Cam Neely, and Bob Probert.

Ben: Is it true that you're the best Thornton to have played in Boston?
Shawn Thornton: Haha

Craig: Who is better at golf, you or Savard?
Shawn Thornton: Savard, by a big margin.

Pezell: Hey Shawn, how excited are you to tour the Southeastern New England Coast Guard Sector at the Woods Hole Air Force Base tomorrow? What do they have in store for you?
Shawn Thornton: Extremely excited. Never been in a helicopter before. I think the whole itinerary is on the website...I'll get a tour, meet a lot of the officers stationed there and hopefully jump out of a moving helicopter!

It was a great chat and you can catch the whole chat recap here. Thanks to Shawn Thornton and the Boston Bruins for doing this for the fans!

With the offseason crawling at a pace that a snail would laugh at I figured that this should brighten up someone's day, right? Anyways, over at TBN (you know, those adoring, magnificent bastards that host us!) I asked for some of the graphic designers to whip up some Bruins wallpapers.

Well I got a good number of responses so I have decided to post them here.

First off, I want to give a big thank you to the a man by the name of Konsti, who created our new banner. It is clearly badass and better than anything I could whip up. The man is a genius.

Anyways, here are some Boston Bruins wallpapers, I hope you enjoy them! (click the thumbnail for larger wallpaper)












Anyways, this is just one of the few times I will do this. TBN is an awesome place and they have some excellent designers. Pop in, check it out, register.

I know it sounds crazy, ads on an NHL jersey, but don't think it will never happen. European leagues like the SEL have been putting ads on their jerseys for years. A recent article brought to my attention that the NBA and NHL have been softening on the use of advertisements on their jerseys.

The USA Today published an article that got my mind going.

For those who are not in the "know" the NFL recently allowed teams to sell ad space on their practice jerseys. There are five teams who have done this so far, New York Giants, St. Louis Rams, New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears. The article goes on to say:

The Jets will get more than $2 million a year from a deal with Atlantic Health that includes practice uniform patches and its name on the team's training facility, says Matthew Higgins, the team's executive vice president of business operations.

An extra two million dollars for something that many people will not see? WHAT!? The WNBA (insert not a real sport here joke) have already cashed in on this market as two of its more prominent teams sport advertisements on the front of their jerseys.

So this begs the real question,

WILL THE NHL DO THIS?

My answer is yes. Now, I have nothing to back up what I say, but take a look at the world we live in today. I am going to say something that may bring shock to you, so brace yourselves. Hockey is barely thriving in America. The NHL has done a terrible job marketing itself to fans and in return have been losing attendance in some areas such as Phoenix, Tampa and other locations.

In such a down economy, selling advertisement space seems like a logical way to make money. Currently, the only "new" thing that the NHL does is they sell virtual board space during their Versus and NBC broadcasts, but the problem is that the MLB already does this.

The NHL already has advertisements on the ice and on the boards, so how far does the jersey take this? Remember when the MLB put Spider-Man ads atop the bases? People had a conniption!



I am really on the fence about placing advertisements on jerseys. The P-Bruins already do it, but you buy the jerseys without the ads, which make sense. They also have a small ad under the shoulder on their jersey, the last I saw being a Dodge Ram one.



Seems no one has a problem with that and neither do I. A Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, Ford...whatever ad under the shoulder of a Bruins jersey isn't going to make me less of a fan. However, once the ads pile on like the first picture and it begins to taint the sport.

Like I mentioned earlier, money is a HUGE factor these days and companies will pay for the exposure. Why do you think they pay for naming rights of a stadium? A company will more than likely pay a pretty penny to get their logo on ANY type of jersey because someone will see it.

So what do you think? Advertisements on a jersey good, bad? Is the size of the ad a factor?

I'll leave you with a jersey worn by the Michigan K-Wings of the ECHL:



Beauty ain't she?

Well, I wish I could say I have some actual stuff to write about, but sadly the Bruins are quiet. The latest bit of news is that the Bruins are working with Reebok to come up with a jersey for the Winter Classic. Personally, I'm hoping for a variation of the 1929-1931 uniforms.


That jersey is pretty bad ass, although I also like Stanley Cup of Chowder's idea about the Eddie Shore uniforms.




Anyways, I basically came here to do some more "marketing" if you will for our Loochisms page. Unfortunately, Loochisms hasn't really caught on like I thought it would.

Many of you may be asking yourselves 'What the hell is a Loochism anyway?'. The answer is quite simple, a Loochism is a a small tribute made to Boston Bruins winger/enforcer/captain of awesomeness Milan Lucic.

Your Loochism doesn't have to be anything special, it doesn't have to be a Godsend, hell, it doesn't have to be fall down hilarious, it just has to be something you feel expresses how great Milan Lucic is. Express yourself in any way possible; from the hits, to the goals, to the fights.

If you want to get in on this, just leave your Loochism in the comment section of this post, the Loochism page, email us somethingsbruin@live.com or leave us something on our Twitter page. I update the section as soon as I get a Loochism and have already updated it with a couple new ones.

Anyways, get the word out because I'm hoping that Loochisms take off and we get the word of Lucic out to the people!