So, if you were wondering where I've been the past month or so, lemme tell you. It's been a wild ride.

My wife and I were blessed with the arrival of our second child on August 23. Raymond Matthew entered this world promptly at 9:02 a.m., and weighed in at an impressive 8 pounds, 9 ounces. Apparently my wife can only give birth to three-year-olds.

You know how you can tell if you are a real hockey fan? When you plan the birth of a child around the off-season. Actually, Ray Ray was the product of my wife taking the goalie off the ice and me sliding one into the empty net. Who knew I was a sniper?

O.K., enough lame hockey analogies. As you may or may not know, I also have a daughter, Miss Phoebe Fay. I was recently told that one kid was an accessory, but two became a lifestyle. Now, I'm hoping that this doesn't mean I have to go in for a fitting for a mini-van. But there's no doubt about it, I'm in full-on Dad mode right now. I can change a diaper in a pitch-black room, although the added challenge of a boy's plumbing has me scrambling for a light.

I'm also sweating bullets about being a dad for the second time. A true measure of a man is how he raises his kids, and I hope that I do a decent job. Thankfully I was blessed with an awesome wife, so I'll have someone to whack me on the nose with a rolled newspaper if I'm tempted to teach Ray how to burp the Pledge of Allegiance.

Is this too bloggy? Tough crap. It's my blog, I'll post what I want. I'm still all about the puck. I was surprised when Press-Telegram columnist Doug Krikorian gave me a shoutout in his Friday column:

Press-Telegram designer extraordinaire/hockey blogger/aspiring sports talk host Mirthful Matt Murray and wife Brittany are the proud parents of an eight-pound, nine-ounce boy they've named Raymond Matthew. Brittany gave birth last Saturday at 9:02 a.m., Mirthful Matt already has 2026 penciled in for the date when he expects the lad to be drafted by the L.A. Kings...

So now that Ray's here, what better way to celebrate... than to go to Frozen Fury!!!

When the Dodgers acquired Boston slugger Manny Ramirezthis past week, I guess I was impressed. It seems to me that both local baseball clubs are dedicated to winning now. Believe me, I can appreciate that.

So when Manny played his first game in Chavez Ravine, it was must-see TV for me. (Such is the life of a newspaper designer. Never getting out to the game, just watch it on the tube.) And at first glimpse, I was appalled.

Wearing one of the most sacred numbers in all of sports was the Dodgers newest acquisition. No. 99 now adorns the jersey of Ramirez, who hit his first home run as a Dodger Saturday night.

Now I understand there's a whole long-ass story about why he was given 99: First he wanted 24, the same number he wore in Beantown. But the Dodgers have retired that number in honor of Walter Alston. Then he asked for 34, but that number belongs to Fernando Valenzuela. And even though it's not officially retired, could you imagine the uproar that would cause? It was reported that he settled on 66, then changed his mind to 99. When gametime came on Friday, he changed his mind yet again to 28, which was the original number the Dodgers were trying to give him from the get-go. But the Dodgers had already started their markteing campaign, and told him he was "stuck" with 99.

Now I understand Manny's one of the greatest hitters in the game. A first ballot Hall-of-Famer, according to some people. And I also understand that baseball and hockey are not viewed in the same light. But I think you could ask the average fan who was Number 99, nine out of ten people could tell you it belongs to Wayne Gretzky. No other athlete is as closely identified with his number as Gretzky.

Not Michael Jordan, who wore 23 and 45. Not Joe Montana, who wore 16 in San Francisco and 19 in Kansas City. The only pro athlete I could come up with is Jackie Robinson, whose number 42 is retired throughout Major League Baseball.

By putting 99 on the back of Ramirez, it has cheapened the digit to the point of novelty. Why did Manny choose it to begin with? Maybe he thinks he is on par with the Great One, or maybe it's a case of Manny Being Manny. And yeah, before you start... I know there are many other 99s in the world of sports, especially in American football. But in baseball? Come on. The highest number I could come up with on a star player is 72, which was Carlton Fisk's number. There was only one other player that I could come up with that wore 99: Ricky "Wild Thing" Vaughn, Charlie Sheen's character, in Major League. And now we come full circle...

Whatever. Manny's 99 for at least the end of the seaosn and that's going to rub me the wrong way.

Man, when does training camp start?

FAN590's Howard Berger reported today that he has seen the Kings new third jersey, and his description of it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

The Kings will unveil a predominantly black jersey with the letters “L A” inside a pencil-point logo on the front. Broad white stripes will adorn each arm. A thin white stripe will run horizontally on each side of the jersey, just beneath the shoulder. There are no stripes at the bottom of the uniform. The color purple – widely evident in the Kings’ primary jersey – will likely be featured in the number outlines of the alternate, though the photo copy I have doesn’t clearly show it. A better idea would have been a reprise of the Kings’ original purple and gold uniforms from 1967, but the club marketers are apparently not bent on tradition.

Now, Berger apparently cannot post pictures of the jerseys because of his "licensing source." But that didn't stop some fans online, who quickly came up with an image, allegedly from the new Electronic Arts NHL09 hockey video game. I took the liberty to blow the image up.

Now, I tried to verify that this image was actually from the new game on the official website, then I poked around over on GameSpot which has more screenshots. Nothing.

So, as of right now, I cannot say that this is a correct representation of what the Kings' new jersey looks like.
And after Monday's craziness involving the Kings and a certain city in Missouri, I want to make it perfectly clear. This MAY or MAY NOT be the Kings third jersey. It's PURE SPECULATION, people.

But let's say that, for sake of discussion, that it is...

Man, does that uniform suck.<< MORE >>

The reason why I ask is that there has been a slow, steady murmur on message boards, trying to explain why the club hasn't made more of a splash in free agency this season. Fans are trying to understand how the club can justify raising ticket prices for a hockey club that finished last in the West, yet not seemingly pursue any of the top free agents that were available in the off-season. And one of the obvious conclusions many fans have drawn is AEG is planning on relocating the team.

I call this the Rachel Phelps Phenomenon. You remember Rachel Phelps, right? She was a character in the 1989 movie Major League. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, the character Rachel Phelps is a former showgirl who became owner of the Cleveland Indians when her husband passed away. She decides to field a team so bad, so that she'll be able to break the lease with the city of Cleveland and move the team to the sunnier climate of Florida.

Now, I'm not calling anyone over at AEG a gold-digging showgirl. For the most part, AEG has best kind of owners the Kings could ask for. They've basically written a blank check every season, and it's been up to the management of the hockey club to put a product on the ice.

But as Dean Lombardi has tried to scrape away 40 years of mismanagement to rebuild the franchise from the farm system up, the big league team has suffered the past few seasons. It takes time to grow talent from within. And you give any long-suffering fan enough time, like Kings fans, they'll start worrying that time may be running out to see this young club turn the corner.<< MORE >>

Sorry I haven't updated lately, oh faithful Hockeywood dezinens. A close friend of mine at the Press-Telegram, James Melroy, passed away on June 26, and it through me for a loop. I knew him for 20 years, and he will be missed.

It sort of pushed all things hockey to the back burner for me. So, things like Michael Cammalleri getting traded on Draft Day, Lubomir Visnovsky being traded and Rob Blake signing in San Jose... I really didn't care. I mean I normally don't pay much heed to the off-season to begin with. I mean, come on... IT'S SUMMER!

But when a report came out about the Kings ownership have been looking into potential "partners" with the implied intent to sell off part of the franchise, I felt compelled to come out of my summertime malaise and vent.

Now, I'm not naive. This is a business, and all teams face ownership changes. The Kings have certainly seen their fair share of them. But the timing couldn't have come worse for this. First, they fire Marc Crawford before the NHL Draft, Then, they trade their leading scorer and All-Star defenseman from 06-07. Then, they lose their captain, Rob Blake,  to the Sharks. Now the news that the owners are formulating an exit strategy comes out... it just reeks of... well... of something that reeks really bad. ...<< MORE >>

Played: 233 | Download | Duration: 00:41:34

With the 2008 draft now a memory, The Hockeywood Insider has decided that the new season starts RIGHT NOW!!!

What better time to start the new season of podcasts than right smack dab in the middle of summer? And the surprises don't stop there! We have a new co-host! That's right, THI has decided to "go in a different direction." We wish Dr. Naysay all the best in his future endeavours, which basically means we told him to pound sand.

So, listen in to hear our new co-host and be amazed by his hockey acumen, his velvet tones of his voice and his use of potent potables. A true treat awaits you.

Back to the podcast, we touch on the 2008 Draft, including our little breakdown of what we thought of it. (I'm estatic, my new co-host not so much.) We also comment on the trading of Cammalleri, the releasing of coach Crawford and why can't the Kings seem to get off the Bus?

So welcome to Season Two of the Hockeywood Insider! Who cares if we won't record again until the actual NHL season starts? It's our world, you're all just living in it.

I'm sorry, but The Love Guru loves really, really stupid.

And not just because I'm a Kings fan, although I'm not particularly excited
to see the franchise trounced by the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Stanley Cup, even if it is a Hollywood pipe dream.

No, Mike Myers' latest movie simply doesn't look funny. Not funny enough to be released in the middle of the summer, that's for sure.

I'm all for hockey movies, and I'll give any comedy a spin.  But this one just looks  uncomfortably awful. Mostly because I like Mike Myers.  He seems to have hit that wall that some of his SNL co-horts have been experiencing.

Will Ferrell's last movie, Semi-Pro, came and left with little fanfare, and I fear that will be the same case with his new flick, The Step Brothers. Adam Sandler's Zohan movie? Pass. Tina Fey's Baby Mama? Meh. I love Tina, but not enough to fork over 20 bucks.


Don't get me wrong. I'm going to go see Guru. At a matinee. In a different neighborhood where no one recognizes me. But only because I'd be a hypocrite if I sat here and blasted a movie I haven't seen. I'm all about providing
a well-balanced blog here in Hockeywood. I'll report back later with a complete report.

So, as everyone knows, I've been in a dogfight for KLAC's Fame and Fortune II. I've asked everyone I know and everyone I barely know to blindly vote for me. And out of 300+ entrants, I've been elevated to the top 8! A fine accomplishment, considering I'm going against people shuttered in their parents' basments with the lights off, frantically typing in mass emails, hyped up on vodka and Red Bull.

Instead of staring bleary-eyed until all hours of the night, I've been creating things like this video, which is basically my entry set to images. I especially like my Charles Barkley as Cloverfield image.

Yeah, I guess I should've sign up for thousands of emails, but quite frankly, that seems boring to me.

But after I finished the video, I still felt like I hadn't really reached out enough to all my friends and listeners to the podcast to say thank you. After all, it's because of you that I'm here. So, I dragged Doc off his couch and made him record a podcast with me, in a shameless attempt to get more votes. "Hey Doc, the check's in the mail." Believe me, he wasn't doing anything important. He hasn't shaved for weeks.

**SHAMELESS PANHANDLING**

So, if you haven't already, go here and vote for me.

As payment, please accept this limited edition summer edition of the Hockeywood Insider for your listening pleasure. And if you like our little podcast here, please, tell your friends to find us on iTunes.

Hey, it's free. What are you complaining about? Now, go vote!
 

Played: 168 | Download | Duration: 00:16:24

According to a press release from the Los Angeles Kings, head coach Marc Crawford has been fired.

Now when you consider that the franchise has been in the cellar the past few seasons, it seems like a no-brainer to get rid of the head coach. But if you look at the progress of the young players, namely Brown, Kopitar and O'Sullivan. Problem was, he didn't trust them to play them more. It took each player great strides to gain his respect, while the vets were given a lot of leash. And we know how that went.

His biggest mistake was backing Dan Cloutier, and he has apologized profusely for that. That single move set the entire goaltending core back three years.

As we already know, L.A. is rebuilding from the ground up. They've revamped the farm system and stockpiled it with talent. They're one of the best clubs who have figured out how to deal with working under the salary cap. And the future looks bright, with the Kings really in no position but to get better.

It's just that the franchise's future never really had a place for coach Crawford, methinks. Dean Lombardi has had a plan for the franchise from day one, and I'm sure that upgrading everywhere, including at head coach, was part of it. I'm sure he's got a short list on candidates.

Now when the preseason starts, it will definitely feel like a fresh start for everyone, ready to put last season's complete crapper behind them and truly focus on making the playoffs.

... and the dreaded Red Wings hoisted the Cup yet again. And, in true Detroit fashion, they've already dented the Cup. Way to go, guys.

At least it wasn't as bad as the huge ding the Ducks left last year on hockey's Holy Grail. And on the oldest part of the trophy. What do you expect from Anaheim? For more misadventures of the Cup, here's a favorite article of mine. It always seems to pop up the day after someone has damaged the greatest trophy in professional sports.

This season has been a long, painful one for Kings fans. Another year out of the playoffs, another high draft pick. And while I try not to get excited about high school athletes getting drafted, at least this season the Kings have some real good talent to choose from. Even though they might be a few seasons away, you can never look too far ahead.

That's the whole mindset that Dean Lombardi is bringing to this team and preaching to the fans. Patience. It's been forty years of mismanagement, and that kind of damage isn't easy to undo. But this is why Dean's here. So, whoever the Kings take on June 20th, trust that this kid will have a spot on the Kings roster very soon.

And if you don't believe that rebuilding works, just look at the Red Wings opponents for the Stanley Cup was. The Pittsburgh Penguins. There were on the verge of being sold and moved to Kansas City, if I remember correctly, and now look at them. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marian Hossa... They are going to be good for a long time. The Kings could be like that in a few seasons. It all revolves around the draft.

Speaking of the NHL Draft, I'll hopefully be attending this year's draft party. I had a blast last season, although hardly the response I was hoping for when I decided to video it. Check it out...