You know how sometimes you’re watching a game, and its just so amazingly absurd that you can’t help but laugh at it? Well, there have been quite a few moments like that for the Sharks this past season, some that are pure laughers, and some that make you want to – to use an internet colloquialism – headdesk. So, in a fit of boredom combined with the fact that I haven’t updated in 10 days, I have created a list of the 10 most absurd/WTF? moments of the Sharks’s season.

10. Murray’s two-for-one – Video here (35 seconds in)

Douglas Murray likes to hit people. No, that’s not right; Douglas Murray likes to let people hit him, but make them fall down. Its a not very common trait, but it makes for some amazing moments. Like the one during the December 13 game against St. Louis. Murray was carrying the puck by the boards near the end of his bench, when a Blues player saw fit to line him up for a hit. He hit Murray, but instead of Murray going down, the force of impact knocked both the hitter and another Blues player down in one fell swoop.

9. Staubitz’s goal against Roloson – Video here

Brad Staubitz. Alexei Semenov. Douglas Murray. Three players that are not known for their offensive prowess. In fact, before January 9, they had a grand total of two points between the three of them. But in a strange play where the puck rebounded off a linesman, all three picked up points on a goal scored by Staubitz. It was a goal against noted Sharks killer, Dwayne Roloson, which makes it all the more weird.

8. Corey Perry, goalie-seeking missile

Corey Perry crashes Nabokov’s crease and ends up on top of him. Okay, fairly regular occurrence. But then, as Perry is sitting on Nabokov’s legs, he cross-checks Nabokov twice in the back of the legs, where there is no padding. That’s just Perry being Perry, and he should get some discipline from the league, right? Well, not only does nothing happen, but he goes and complains to the media that Nabokov kicked him, and that Nabby should be suspended.

Even more absurd? The next time the Sharks and Ducks met up, Perry attacked a Sharks goalie again, this time Boucher. In the waning seconds, he tackled Boucher into the net, and then proceeded to stomp on him as he was getting up. And still no repercussions from that.

7. Fourth line: Staubitz-Shelley-Semenov

In late March, the Sharks went through a period of time when 9 roster players were injured. Because the Sharks’s farm team Worcester was in the playoffs race themselves, the big Sharks didn’t want to call up too many players to play for a team that virtually clinched the division by Thanksgiving. So, in an effort to get bodies on the ice, the Staubitz-Shelley-Semenov line was formed.

Why is it so absurd? Staubitz is an AHL enforcer with minimal skill who was converted to forward a year earlier. Semenov is a 7th defenseman who has never played forward, and who has probably put more pucks in his own team’s net than the opposition’s. Shelley, by far the most experienced and skilled of the bunch, is a heavyweight NHL enforcer with the ability to get maybe 10 points in a good year. This is not a line that should be seen ever. It still makes me cringe.

6. Semenov’s Glove of Doom
Picture from Fear the Fin

Alexei Semenov is listed at 6’6″, which is quite tall. Add on another 3′ for his arm length above his head, and he can reach around 9′ high. Remember this.

So, during a game against Dallas where the Sharks were leading 4-0, a Dallas forward took a shot that was going way over the net, probably by a good 4 feet or so. Semenov, in a moment of “WTF were you thinking,” decided to reach up with his hand and try to block the shot. The puck deflected off of his hand and over Nabokov’s shoulder.

Lesson learned: if you are 6’6″ and have to reach UP to block a shot, the shot isn’t going to go in the goal. Trust me on this one.

5. High stick on Cheechoo

This moment definitely taught everyone a new rule. Cheechoo was brutally high-sticked by Kane, but the refs completely missed it. He went off the ice to get some stitches (like I said, brutal), and during that time the Blackhawks scored a goal. The linesman then goes to the referee and tells him that Cheechoo was high-sticked that resulted in an injury (aka a double-minor high sticking). They get Cheechoo back on the ice to confirm the injury, then go to video review to see who did it. After all that, they disallow Chicago’s goal, not take any time off the clock, and put Kris Versteeg in the penalty box. Craziness.

4. Grier missing the empty net

Its a December game against the Ducks, and the Sharks are up 2-0 late in the third period with the Ducks’ goalie pulled. Victory is all but assured, but it wouldn’t hurt to get another goal. Mike Grier gets the puck and is clear all the way to the empty net; he could just skate right up to the goal and push it in for the first empty net goal for the Sharks that season. But no, he decides to try and shoot it from the top of the circles. He hits the post.

3. Pavelski’s phantom headbutt

In a heated game against Dallas, there was a bit of a scrum by Turco with 9 seconds left in the first period. Everyone got into it, but there wasn’t much except for a few roughings. Not according to Darryl Sydor, however, who told linesman Mike Cvik that Pavelski headbutted him. Pavelski was awarded an intent to injure penalty and was ejected from the game, with a suspension pending an NHL review. But, according to video replay, there wasn’t anything close to headbutt.

That one March game doubled his penalty minutes despite him playing in one period, and on a phantom call. That is simply amazing.

2. Semenov failing to get a fighting major – Video here

During a Flames game, Alexei Semenov and Andre Roy drop their gloves and start fighting, er, hugging. Each are given two minutes for roughing, odd since they dropped their gloves, but understandable since it wasn’t much more than a hug-fest.

Fast-forward two minutes. Both get out of the box, Semenov whiffs on a scoring chance, and then they immediately drop their gloves again. This time, both throw punches for 20 seconds until Roy takes down Semenov. The result? 2 minutes for roughing. Again.

1. Botched 2-on-0 breakaway – Video here

This one takes the cake. Thornton tried to take a shot from the point but breaks his stick, and goes back to the bench to get another one. Pavelski then pinches to try and keep the puck in the offensive zone, but misses and allows Dustin Brown to pick up the puck. Brown is joined by Anze Kopitar and they skate through the neutral zone to the Sharks’ zone, completely unobstructed by anything – the most obvious 2-on-0 you will ever see. Easy goal for the Kings, right? Well, probably except that neither Brown nor Kopitar even got off a shot, with Brown passing it to Kopitar and then both of them ending up behind the net with the puck – Nabokov didn’t even have to make a save.

Just amazing. A breakout that was absurd in itself that transformed into an EPIC FAIL by the Kings is easily the most absurd moment in the Sharks season.
 

There you have it. The ten most absurd moments on the ice for the Sharks this past season. To be fair, there is one more that should probably be in there above Murray’s hit at the very least, but its a moment that I’d really rather not think about. Internet bonus points (or a photoshop/banner if I’m in the mood) to whoever guesses it first. Hint: its in the regular season. And its a game that the Sharks eventually lose.

Feel free to virtually yell at me for any absurd moments that you feel I have missed.

So, about a month ago, I was watching the Stanley Cup Final, being depressed and interested simultaneously. The absolute slaughter that was Game 5 was ending; there was about two minutes left on the clock, but there were stoppages often because of some of the shenanigans the players were getting into. And during those stoppages, the arena crew saw fit to play some songs. The crowd – pumped up from the 5-0 drubbing their team put on the Penguins – sang along to the songs played, often continuing during the action after the music had been shut off. I’m not a fan of the Red Wings, but that was a pretty cool event (click here to see what I’m talking about).

That got me thinking – there are some songs that people just love singing along to, that are just so iconic in that way that its hard NOT to sing along to them. So I decided to compile a list of the top ten (okay, eleven) songs that you sing along to, in my very personal opinion.

HM: Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger

While this song was immortalized by Tom Cruise in Risky Business (and the subsequent Guitar Hero commercials), and it does have a certain amount of singability, it does not have that magical crowd feeling, the one that causes everyone to sing along to it. However, because it does cause people to turn up the radio, it deserves an honorable mention.

10. Twist and Shout – the Beatles

While this is technically a cover, what has been deemed as the “greatest rock performance ever” has overshadowed the original recording so much so that the Beatles’ rendition of this song deserves to be on the list. Being the song used in what might be one of the greatest crowd singing and dancing scenes in a movie ever (well, at least in my personal opinion) also helps – the construction worker who dances at the beginning of the clip wasn’t part of the movie, he just felt like dancing along to the song and the cameras caught that.

9. Rock and Roll All Night – Kiss

This song’s chorus encourages people to stay up all night to “rock and roll” and to do so every day – presumably trying to convert people into being nocturnal. That said, the extremely simple chorus, almost always preceded with some sort of encouragement (“I can’t hear you!”), just invites everyone to sing along, and definitely gets a crowd pumped up and ready to rock. The awesome alarm clock just makes it even more of a ready contestant.

8. YMCA – Village People

This is probably one of the most famous songs in the world, one that most elementary school kids know. Why isn’t it ranked higher? Well, I never said that people liked it. This song isn’t likely to be playing over your radio any time soon, nor is anyone likely to keep it at the station to sing along to the chorus and do those arm motions that are practically required when listening to the song. It has fallen into the “corny” category, so much so that it isn’t played unless at some family-friendly event.

However, the fact that everyone knows the chorus and the Y-M-C-A dance that goes along with it makes this song’s inclusion on the list necessary.

7. We Are the Champions – Queen

Without fail, when a team wins a championship (or even a division or conference, in some cases), the fans will start singing this song. And why not? It proclaims, “No time for losers ’cause we are the champions,” a sentiment that is perfect for rubbing in the faces of the losing team. This song is known world-wide, and the slow, not very vocally challenging ballad is perfect for crowds, like the Penguins Cup parade.

6. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Imagine you’re at your high school dance. The lame DJ has been playing mediocre rap the entire night, and you are starting to get bored. But then the first few chords of the song blare over the loudspeakers, and the crowd of people born at least a decade after the song had debued starts cheering and singing along:

“YOU! SHOOK ME ALLL NIIIIIGHT LOOONG!”

And so AC/DC’s infectious chorus begins, inviting everyone within hearing distance to shout along, bobbing their heads while throwing up the horns. At this point, I’d try to link to some awesome video, but the awesomeness was never really caught well on Youtube. So here is the music video, which is one of my favorites.

5. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

Besides being one of the more playable songs on Guitar Hero and Rock Band, this song has also been a favorite of fans during the playoffs – “Ohhhhhhhh, we’re half way there-ere. OHH-OHH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!” It signifies hope, a challenge to go on, and has a completely shoutable chorus. Jon Bon Jovi’s insistence to sing/scream in the upper echelons of his vochal range, prompting drunken fans to do the same, helps the song as well. Just a great crowd song. According to youtube, it is also rather popular to sing on bus rides.

4. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

This song has immortalized Alabama in a way that nothing else has. Besides being made into a crappy movie featuring Elle Woods (or, you know, Reese Witherspoon), it has withstood the test of time and is still often played on radio stations across the country. Kid Rock even sampled it, to some success. But what makes it such an iconic song is the chorus (as most songs on this list), which not only imbues a country charm, but also features background singers that urge everyone to join in. And really, who can resist? Certainly not these folk (granted, this is in Alabama, but still).

3. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

“Just a city boy. Born and raised in SOUTH DETROIT! He took the midnight train going anywhere.”

Despite my utter perplexity as to why Detroit fans would love singing along to a song where the boy wants to be anywhere but Detroit, this song has proven to be one of the most popular songs to sing along to – especially in Detroit, but other places as well. But what is unique about Journey’s iconic song is the lack of a recognizable chorus to sing along to until the very end. This has caused the first verse of the song to become the singable part, and there are few experiences like hearing a group of people sing in unison, “Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world…”

The fact that this song has somewhat become a rallying point for fans during dire straits helps it immensely, as well.

2. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

“Hand, touching hands. Reaching out, touching me, touching you! Sweet Caroline! BA BA BA! Good times never seemed so good. SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD! I’ve been inclined. BA BA BA! To believe there never would, oh now I…”

I am no Red Sox fan, but BoSox Nation has made this old, slightly sappy Neil Diamond song into one of the top songs to sing along to of all time. The extra lyrics, shouted as loudly and drunkenly as possible, makes the song what it is. While it is unofficially owned by the Red Sox, virtually anybody can play the song (except for perhaps the Yankees) and get the same level of drunken participation. Except for, apparently, at Jonas Brothers concerts, because I assume that 11 year old girls have no idea who Neil Diamond is (that one girl who shouts the “SO GOOD” part is my hero, even though she was a a Jonas Brothers concert).

1. We Will Rock You – Queen

There really is no other choice for the number one spot – I challenge you to come up with one. Queen’s rock anthem has become so recognizable that two beats into the song, most of the crowd has already picked up the iconic stomp-stomp-clap beat. Hell, even ancient Rome was able to get into it. While the verses of the song are largely ignored, the recitation of the chorus is mandatory, especially when sung as loud as possible – “WE WILL, WE WILL, ROCK YOU!”

To commemorate all these songs, I made a playlist on YouTube, which you can find here. Or, you know, the embedded player below.

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