MIKE HOFFMAN:

How about them Pats? I think everyone here got a bit nervous at one point Sunday, but of course Brady pulled it off in no dramatic fashion. I wonder how Peyton feels about his little bro in the Super Bowl? He’s gotta be a bit bitter – it’s a natural thing that comes along with the older brother syndrome. I know I got a few good wedgies in my day from my older bro. I’ll be sporting my Brady jersey for the big game.

So in the past week or so I’ve done two new TV gigs. The first one was a Pirates TV game doing color with Greg Glynn vs. Providence (what a win that was). It definitely went a lot smoother than the Costa Vida commercial, but I was definitely a lot more nervous at the beginning than I usually am just doing radio. And the second was another video big screen bite for kids day at the game on Monday. I must say I still don’t think I have a Hollywood career but I definitely did a better job than Segals Sudsie’s commercial. There was no chicken mango salad in the script so I was OK, but I will be honest and admit I had one today for lunch and it was fantastic.

So finally after six weeks got the OK to skate. I felt pretty good for not skating that long. Although I can stick-handle and reverse toe drag, I can’t shoot yet. I figure McKenna and Colsey need another week or so to get over my blazing shot (sarcasm). I do know, no matter how hard you work off ice you’ll still be out of hockey shape when you step on the ice after a good break. I was also given the worst locker stall in the room. I guess that’s what ya get when you don’t skate for six weeks. I can squeeze my rear in there with clothes no but once the hockey pants come on … not a chance. Definitely nice getting back into things and feeling part of the team again.

So I stopped home last week and my dad says, “I know the answer to your riddle” and I say, “OK what is it?” He says it’s the father’s father. ... Wrong! ... I must say that’s probably the closest answer, but most say it’s the stepdad or it’s his adopted father or something of that sort. But the answer is it’s the kids Mother. No one ever thinks of a doctor as a girl ... it’s the best when I ask nurses or any girl for that matter and get it wrong, they get so mad they weren’t thinking that way too. I don’t’ really have any more brain busters like that for ya. I guess the old classic would be: A man rides into town on Friday and stays three days and leaves on a Friday. How is that possible? If I come across another I’ll be sure to post it.

Got to spend some time back home while the team was on the road, working out with my summer trainer and seeing the family. I always forget that my town (Scituate,Mass.) goes from about 50,000 in the summer to about 18,000 in the winter – very similar to a lot of towns around here. It’s got its ups – such as you don’t have to wait for tables at restaurants, no Cape traffic and just about every other car you see driving you recognize the person. Had the unfortunate time of having my cell phone go dead Saturday morning. It was covered by insurance but they couldn’t’ send a new one till today so I went 3 full days without a phone. I must say it was one of the more painful experiences … I think I’d rather lose my wallet. It amazes me that when I graduated high school my senior year maybe two of my friends had cell phones. No one had e-mail and I was still doing papers out of the encyclopedia for the most part ... I guess it was a bit better than growing up in Weino’s era though.

– hoff

MIKE HOFFMAN:

Well the holidays are over and back to some much needed rest for most. I unfortunately have been resting a bit to long now. Got my pins taken out, it was a bit weird though, I thought Doc Scott was going to numb my thumb and do the deed, but instead just took the pliers out and yanked em out. Didn’t feel like much other than pulling floss through your teeth actually. But I did find out that I have the cast on for another two weeks then can start skating (without a stick, it’s like running a marathon with out shoes … not much fun) for two weeks then game ready by Feb. 1.

Xmas was a blast with the family, stuck to my roommate promise that we had to wear our team Xmas party outfits and wore my green sweater and white polkadot turtleneck. Although Salcido said he wore his I don’t’ think he lived up to his word since it was the first time he was meeting his girlfriend’s extended family. I mean, come on, what’s not an easier way to make small talk meeting the family and winning their hearts over.

I must say the house has been quiet with Carter gone and Sauce’s girl in town. Although I have figured out that Carter was the culprit to all video game arguments. When I first got hurt I had to watch them play and after about a day when it used to be me and Carter arguing for the most part, him and Sauce started arguing right away. Also Carter was the trash man for the house, just figured out we got about 10 bags piled up in the basement. Might have to watch for rodents because I just missed trash day.

So I finally saw my Costa Vida commercial on TV yesterday and I wasn’t lying to myself when I said I had a face for radio (heard it was on youtube, now I’ll never have a chance in a Spielberg movie). So I have been giving my shot at the radio doing color with Greg Glynn during home games. For some reason it comes much more easily than acting. I have to thank Greg for letting me help him in the booth, although I do have some bad ADD and have to catch myself here and there, especially after a goal.

I will end this entry by asking my favorite riddle that only I’d say 5 percent of people get correct. No doctors have got it right so far. And I will be writing more often now that the holidays are over.

Think about this one:
A father and son are at a golf tournament and on the ride home they get in a terrible car accident. They are both injured and take separate ambulances to separate hospitals. They both go to the emergency room and the doctor walks in and looks at the son. And doc says, “Hey that’s my son!” How is that possible?

Until next time ...
- hoff

GERALD COLEMAN:

It’s been a while since I last wrote. It’s been busy with all the hockey and the holidays passing. Since the last time we talked, my sister Gwen came into town for a visit. The first time I have seen her in over a year. She spent Christmas here with Lindsay and me. It was pretty nice having some family around for Christmas because we couldn’t make a trip to see family with the short break we had. A lot of guys either stayed here or went to Boston or New York for the couple of days off. Lindsay and Gwen did the typical things on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning i was the first up trying to wake up the girls. It was the first time my sister and I have spent Christmas morning together since we were 14 years old. My billets in London had a tradition where one person wears the Santa hat and pretends to be Santa and passes out all the gifts. Lindsay and I started our own tradition similar to that. The rest of the day Lindsay and Gwen made a great Christmas dinner, with everything you could imagine. Was I ever stuffed after helping myself to two full plates. To work off all the food we ate, we took a walk down to the beach with the dogs and to show my sister around. We came back and had some hot cocoa and then played a very competitive game of Monopoly that lasted four hours. Anyone close to me knows that I am a very competitive person and hate to lose at anything I do. Little did I remember that she is just as competitive as me, seeing as how we had to fight for things when we were little. There was a lot of tension going around which quickly went away as I broke the kitchen table chair and fell flat on my butt. My fall lightened up the game, which I of course won. It was a nice trip for my sister to come visit. I have such a small family and it was nice for any of them to come and visit me.

We thought we had a little break till two of Lindsay’s girlfriends came into town and spent the weekend with us. It's nice for Lindsay to have her friends come visit to place where she doesn’t know many people. She seemed to have a lot of fun having her friends here. They’ve never been to the East Coast so they did some sight seeing in Portland. They went to the outlet stores and then to the game in Springfield. I’m just glad I wasn’t around as much, too much estrogen flowing around. We finished off the visit at IHOP for breakfast before we dropped them off at the airport.

With the year 2007 coming to an end it's kind of sad to see that year go; it was a great year, with us playing so well. But it will be a good 2008. We got off to a great start. We all got together as a team for New Year’s. Most of the guys had there girlfriends in town and they got a chance to meet and catch up while us guys hung out. Everyone danced and had a great time as we brought in the new year. It was nice to finally go out on New Year’s and not have to play the next day. A first in five years.

Once again we had to say goodbye to another player, Matt Keith. We welcomed Daryl Bootland to the team. Usually we have a little time to say goodbye. This time it was different: we had to play against him the same night we found out he was traded. It was weird – everyone filtered down from the rooms to the bus saying how Matt got traded and that were playing him that night. For some of the guys who play cards on the bus, he was one of the guys who played with us and made it eventful. So I just want to say good luck to Matt Keith, hoping you have a great rest of the year with your new team.

Bobby Ryan just got sent back down to Portland from Anaheim. He was probably a little disappointed, but we also found out that Bobby and Brian Salcido were selected to play with the All-Star team. These two guys have done a great job for us and deserve to make the team. As a team we all thought a couple other guys deserved to make the team as well, but that’s the way hockey goes and we’ll be cheering them on. Congratulations, guys.

I hope everyone had a good holiday and I’ll be writing again soon!

– Colsy