Rick says a bad word on live TV; No one perishes as a result

Yes, that was Ricky dropping the F bomb on live TV during the skills competition. I'd be swearing too if I had split like that to make a sick save on Marian Gaborik.

Who amongst us didn't throw up in their mouth when Rick complained about hurting his hip to Tim Thomas? The half-empties amongst us were sure that DiPietro was hurt and was jeopardizing the rest of the season by taking part in the skills competition and the All-Star game. I tried to stay positive as well...by using an ancient mind trick I first learned about from someone much wiser than I while in college: I tried not to think about it.

So on Sunday, I did what you did: I turned on the game and man, it started out funny. DiPietro was mic'd up again for Versus (see, they didn't hold a grudge) and just as Doc and Eddie were talking to him, he gave up a goal twelve seconds into the game. Rick wasn't pissed or anything; he kind of laughed it off. Then he shut out the West for the rest of the period and Alex Ovechkin had two goals for the East. That's when I checked out of the game. Rick said he was fine when asked about the hip and he played pretty well. He was funny and engaging while being mic'd up and showed a wit as quick as his glove when he had a chance.

Thanks for all of the feedback on the new site and the 1988 Royal Rumble blog. I was going to do one for the skills competition but it seemed a little too ESPN-ish to do that so I dropped the idea. We'll also be doing another live rundown of another wrestling event in the future. I'm kicking around the idea of doing either the 1992 or 1997 Royal Rumbles (I really like the Rumble gimmick, can you tell?) or maybe the 24/7 replay of the first Clash of the Champions from 1988. We'll see.

The Isles are back at it tomorrow at the Coliseum entertaining the Ottawa Senators before the Los Angeles Kings touch down on Thursday night. Doesn't Thursday sound like a great chance to get Dubie back in the cage?

All-Star Rick DiPietro

Newsday reports that Rick DiPietro will be representing the Islanders in the Eastern Conference team as a reserve for the All-Star game scheduled Jan. 27 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. This will be 26-year-old Ricky's first All-Star game..and it is gonna be so cool. Rick is just starting to get his props throughout the league. A hyper-competitive guy like Rick is going to be fired up during the skills competition.

Also, Jeff Tambellini will represent Canada in the American League All-Star Game later this month in Bighamton. Tambellini is also putting up Kyle Okposo in his home now that Okposo has made it to the Bridge. That's what I call a fun fact.

And yes, I stole that picture from our good friends at nhl.com. I have it on good authority that the NHL is not litigious in any way and understands that the internet is the freaking wild frontier!