As I mentioned last month, Sportscenter doesn’t have a great online video archive, so I am without video for all of one of these appearances. I have found alternative video where available.

1) Chris Higgins’ falling down goal, Beanpot semifinal versus Harvard, February 6, 2006

Chris Higgins’ goal, which was representative of this senior class’ contribution as freshmen to the 2006 Beanpot victory, was as awesome of a goal as many BU fans had seen at that time. His ability to stay with the puck despite being covered by a Harvard defensemen like hot fudge on a sundae, and make the shot as he lost his balance made this goal,make this a goal that upperclassmen show to freshman to this day to initiate them to BU hockey.  (That is if they can find it on YouTube. I am having epic YouTube fail this week.)

The play made the Sportscenter Top 10, giving Higgins the first Sportscenter Class of 2009 mention. The play itself is viewable in this YouTube clip – head to 1:25 of the video.

2) Jason Lawrence wins a hyperventilating Beanpot semifinal with a goal that was so…not like him, February 2, 2009

We’ll delve into Lawrence’s crazy career in the coming days, but one of the contributions of his that will be etched in Terrier hockey lore was this high slapper to the right of Harvard goalie Matt Hoyle to win the 2009 Beanpot semi-final with just over a minute left in the game. Even Lawrence admitted to USCHO that that shot was not his usual, and that his father always tells him to “take the high slapshot,” but he rarely does.  But this time, he did, and what resulted ended up in the Sportscenter Top 10 the same night Kobe Bryant scored 61 points at Madison Square Garden.  Because Kobe had to go score a crazy amount of points and set a MSG record, Lawrence’s game-winner kind of got forgotten about. So…

3) Lawrence goes and gets another game winner; Yip assists Bonino; Scott Van Pelt yells, “Your mom goes to college!”, February 9, 2009

So the next week, although the Beanpot final wasn’t so tight against the Northeastern Huskies as the Harvard semi-final was, Sportscenter still featured the game because it was a relatively slow sports night (save for that whole A-Rod admitting his use of performance enhancing drugs, but we all knew that was coming) and because….well, it was a slow sports night and when you can get a clear NESN feed of a hockey game involving the top 2 college hockey teams in the country, you run with it.

Despite the story being the three Terrier short-handed goals, the video highlights from the game only featured Nick Bonino’s shorty with the primary assist by senior Brandon Yip and Lawrence’s game winner, his second in two Beanpot games, which Sportscenter anlayst Scott Van Pelt inexplicably explained by yelling, “Who goes to college? Your mom goes to college!”  Yep. Because that’s hard-hitting hockey analysis right there, yelling lines from Napoleon Dynamite. This is unlike the previous two Sportscenter appearances in this list because it was not a part of the Sportscenter Top 10.

4) Lawrence’s natural hat trick gives John Buccigross something to get excited over while reading the Top 10 copy, February 27, 2009

This latest senior class Sportscenter appearance occured last Friday, as Lawrence’ s third goal of his natural hat trick against UMass Amherst made #2 of the Sportscenter Top 10. They were all amazing goals, but this third one you could watch all day. He comes blazing down the ice, nearly losing the puck before he slaps it in the right corner of the net. I thought Bucci was seriously going to pass out doing the commentary. I think he was just excited that he had three hockey mentions in the Top 10.  (You have to feel for Bucci sometimes. I think he feels hockey deprived without NHL 2Night and after having to spend a few months earlier this season without Barry Melrose around.)

It remains to be seen, of course, if there are any more Sportscenter appearances by the Terrier Class of 2009 in the future. But I think we can all safely say that college hockey is just a tad less obscure to the general viewing public today than it was four years ago thanks to the help of this Terrier senior class, and their Sportscenter appearances are to thank for that.

Terrier fans, am I missing any mentions of this senior class on Sportscenter that you all can remember? Let me hear it in the comments if I am!

I bounded up the three flights of stairs to my office, jumped through the door, smiled to the student who was working the main desk, skipped into my office, and fired up the trusty laptop. I fired off a few emails, and then opened up Google Reader to catch up on the morning’s recaps of the event that had made me full of so much bounce – BU’s blood-pressure-raising win against Harvard in the Beanpot semifinal the night before.

And then, there it was, in the Terrier Hockey Fan Blog. Yet another BU Beanpot goal had made the Sportscenter Top 10. In 2006, it was Chris Higgins’ crazy “How’d He Do That?!” slide into the boards goal.  Monday, it was his classmate from down Route 1 North, Jason Lawrence’s game-winning goal that made the Top 10.

It’s a rarity that college hockey makes Sportscenter.  Sportscenter just recently rediscovered the sport of hockey in general, so for them to pay attention to anything but bare bones NHL coverage could be asking a little much.

And of course, the one time that Sportscenter shows BU Hockey, and shows one of my favorite players no less, I do not yet have cable set up in my new apartment.

Of course, I immediately go to ESPN.com. I search the recently redone site, looking through the glossy clutter for any link to the Top 10. All I see is coverage of Kobe Bryant’s 61 point performance at Madison Square Garden. I click the “Videos” tab. Nothing. I click the “Sportscenter” tab. Nothing. I use the search function. Nothing. I go to the NHL page, and the College Sports page, and still nothing.

I give up for the time being.  I go back to doing my real work.  At lunchtime, I scour the ESPN site again, repeating my steps from the morning and adding even more.  A waste of time – no Sportscenter Top 10 online.

Was I just missing it?  Is it on the site, but just not easy to find? The new ESPN site is definitely cluttered, and some of its organization leaves much to be desired.  Is it available to Insiders only?

Eh, I’m okay with not being able to find it – I mean, I was at the game, I didn’t need to see it on TV – but it leads me to a bigger issue.  If ESPN wants to make a truly multimedia experience, one where their “SportsNation” can comment, blog and interact with their content, why not make a well-known part of their flagship program available on their website?  I’m not saying make all of Sportscenter available online – I understand that as a cable network, that would be counter-intuitive to their bottom line.  But if ESPN is going to place selected shared content online, why not include the Top 10?

Thoughts? Am I just missing it and looking like a complete idiot?

First off, he called ESPN “dumb.” Oh Steve, for all of your smarts, you can sure put your foot in your mouth sometimes. Like the time you called out Phil Simms on national television. I despise Simms as well, and think he was wicked overrated as a quarterback (just like his son), but I’d never call him out on it on national television.

Hmm…maybe I would, but I would do it under a pseudonym and hide for a few weeks following.

Steve, I’ll offer you the same piece of advice I offered Bill Simmons a few months ago. Don’t publicly “dis” your employer. Don’t blog on a underground Blogger account about how ESPN is the man and how they don’t let you post every 7,000 word tomb you write, even if you have a legitimate point. Don’t call out ESPN on ESPN, even if you have pent up anger about having to do a show with Emmitt “I Have Never Heard of Subject-Verb Agreement” Smith and Stuart “Boo-yah!” Scott. Both are examples of burning bridges. I tell my students all the time not to burn bridges, especially with employers, potential employers, and the like. If you ever want a job, it probably isn’t a good idea to burn bridges.

Steve and Bill, you need a career counselor to give you the counseling you obviously didn’t receive at Brigham Young and Holy Cross, respectively. I volunteer. Email me. I’ll help you.

Secondly, in the most egregious assault of one of my favorite athletes since Saturday night’s BU-BC game, a Carolina Panthers fan threw a beer cup at Steve Young. Fortunately, he missed. Steve stayed calm and professional throughout the incident, which does not surprise me. Think about it. For one, he’s a lawyer. Lawyers get stuff thrown at them all the time. (Well, I mean, not all the time. But they are the recipients of a lot of vile comments and hate, which are metaphorically thrown at them. Right?) Additionally, Steve Young has like five children under the age of 10. He has toys, clothes, diapers and cut-up-bits of food thrown at him every single minute of his waking life.

Therefore, having a empty beer cup thrown at him was not going to phase Steve Young. Nothing phases Steve, except for sharing a show with Emmitt Smith or Michael Irvin. But then again, wouldn’t that bug you too?

But enough about my political thoughts.  I come to you today with links to articles that also have nothing to do with politics, because there will be a point sometime on Tuesday where you are going to want to bang your head against the wall if you hear one more iota about the election:

-Julie Robenhymer, from Hockey Buzz.com has fallen hard for the Boston University men’s hockey team. I love this article because she talks about the sense of team that has really seemed to form this year.

-”I claim voter fraud.” announced my partner-in-crime (aka the fiance) this evening.  “There is no way a team needs overtime to beat Merrimack and still stays in second place in the national polls.”  Chalk it up to a national championship boost for Boston College, as they are held up above BU in today’s polls (Colorado College stays in first.)  Boston College goalie John Muse has weaknesses – it’s just going to take a UNH, BU or Northeastern to expose them fully (NU already has.) I also would have flip-flopped Northeastern and Princeton at spots 9 and 10, because I’m wicked scared of NU this year.  Brad Theissen is too good, almost Curry-esque.

-I think I’m going to forgo the whole buying a Trent Edwards jersey/t-shirt, and just ask for a Ryan Miller shirt for the holidays.  Miller from my parents, and a Phil Kessel t-shirt from the fiance.  They are my two favorite NHL hockey players, and I seriously lack NHL wear. I’ll wear a Bruins shirt for non-Sabres related Bruins games, and the Miller when I’m back in Western New York and when the Sabres play the Bruins.  Is this wrong?

-If Bill Simmons doesn’t want his job, may I have it? Seriously, I don’t understand what’s going on between Simmons and ESPN, and I don’t even think I want to know.  His NFL picks are one of the only regular columns I and many others read on the site (along with anything Bucci), and for ESPN to forego publishing it is questionable. Did Simmons miss a deadline or submit something not up to par?

-Everyone’s Favorite Goalie continues his winning ways with a 5-4 win over the Houston Aeros. John Curry made 34 saves in the 4-3 win.  It’ll be interesting to see if they start a goalie rotation between him and former Rochester American Adam Berkhoel, who showed a lot of spark in the games he filled in for Curry.

-Two fun t-shirt retailers from my old and new homes: Buffalo Sports Tees (gotta love the “Remember the Aud” tee) and CPR Gear (fun and catchy shirts for New England sports fans.)

-Last, but certainly not least – I am looking for a few folks to interview for my new stint over at Examiner Boston.  The groups of interviewees I am looking for:

• those of you who play both lacrosse and hockey, for an article on the correlation between the two sports
• parents of lacrosse players, specifically in the New England area, for a series of pieces on getting your child involved in lacrosse.

Interviews will take place over email, and will be three to four questions at most.  Email me at sportsgirlkat AT gmail DOT com if you are willing to help out.

Sports fans, I’m with you on Election Day.  Keep fighting the good fight, and don’t get bogged down with Election Central on every station if you can help it.

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately: With any job, you’re going to have your ups and downs. At some point, you have to decide whether the downs outweigh the ups to the point that it’s not worth it for you to have that job anymore. You could call it a satisfaction/misery ratio. If that ratio swings past 20/80, it’s time to go.

And then this paragraph just totally turned on my “he’s trying to tell us something” alarm:

Speaking of Jay, I joked in last week’s NFL preview that “Any time ‘Our QB should be better this year because he’s finally treating his Type 1 diabetes’ is your best reason for making the playoffs, I can’t pick you to finish higher than 7-9.” That led to a few readers who either have diabetes or know someone with diabetes e-mailing to say they were disappointed that I made fun of diabetes just for a laugh, which immediately got me excited — since that clearly wasn’t the case — and secretly hoping the whole thing would snowball and ESPN would ask me to apologize, creating my dream scenario of me standing up for a harmless joke and the depressed state of comedy in general, eventually getting suspended because the American Diabetes Association was protesting me in Bristol, then having our ombudsman write a post about me to cap things off. That didn’t happen.

Simmons’ growing dissatisfaction with his position at ESPN is well documented throughout sports media blog circles. However, to come out and say that in a column, and let your editor run with it, makes me beleive that he is on his way out.

Do I blame him? No. Bill Simmons needed ESPN to reach a better place in his career, but he has a fan base that could easily transfer to his own site. He is his own brand. He was “Boston Sports Guy,” then became “ESPN’s The Sports Guy,” and, with the right web developers and savvy new media PR staff, could be just the plain “Boston Sports Guy” again. He could write as long as he wanted, as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted. He wouldn’t have to mince his words about ESPN personalities. Bill Simmons, if you are really thinking of the above, go assemble yourself a crack staff and get ready to strike out on your own.

But until then, don’t post loaded thoughts like the quotes above in your column for your current employer. Not a good idea, Bill Simmons. Up there with posting photos of you drinking with scantily clad underage girls on Facebook or MySpace (which he hasn’t done, but college students do all the time), blasting your current employer is not advisable if you want a successful career. We tell students that all the time.