Boston vs Chicago countdown day 5

the last day of the series, but I'll have one more game preview post in the afternoon...

part I: The Brothers Esposito
yesterday was "brother against brother" photos, today it's "brothers working together." awwwww. first, the photo that convinced me I HAD to check out this 1971 book and scan and post the photos:

and now, a nice All-Star photo:

I meant to introduce this series by noting Aubrey's Hockey Advent Calendar, which is a great idea I wish I'd thought of (sure, I could have done one too, but didn't come up with a theme). she's posted a lot of interesting videos and historical articles, and today posted links to a 1971 Sports Illustrated article on the Espositos (I didn't even bother to look up any extra material to post with the photos!), and a Wikipedia list of father/son/brothers in hockey. so check it out...

I've gotten in the habit of just assuming any players in the NHL/AHL/college/junior hockey with the same name, if it's not a super-common name, are brothers. if I heard of two writers with the same name, I might wonder if they're related, but in hockey I assume they are unless it's proven otherwise. i.e., I saw the Abbotsford Heat play the Chicago Wolves, and Keith Seabrook is in fact Blackhawks' Brent Seabrook's brother. (I know, I should have known that sooner...) the Heat are the Calgary Flames' affiliate, so if Keith moves to the NHL, it'd add more interest to the already intense games between those teams...

part II: when I think of Boston, I think of:

saved the best (well, to me) for last: the MBTA! I've photographed the Chicago Transit Authority extensively, as you can see. (and even had my photos included in a traveling exhibit that's now...ON DISPLAY AT THE CTA HEADQUARTERS.) so I love photographing the transit system of other cities I visit. I had three trips to the Boston area in 2009, and each time I bought the amazingly cheap 7-day unlimited pass ($15! the equivalent in Chicago is $23, $28 for the one that includes suburban buses, which I need to get to Wolves games). I rode the ENTIRE subway/elevated system on my first trip (didn't get to all of the Silver Line, but that's a bus, not a train).

don't know whether regular MBTA commuters would be surprised by this or not, but I found the system so fantastic--on time, convenient, reasonably priced, as noted--that it nearly made me weep to have to go back and ride the CTA. and all the colorful trains! Chicago also names its lines after colors (since the 1990s), but in Boston, the trains actually are the colors of the lines they're named after--they're all plain silver in Chicago. and the variety--Chicago is purely a heavy rail system, while MBTA uses heavy rail, light rail, trolley cars, AND bus rapid transit? I had a couple bad waits, and it's not much fun to be around before/after Red Sox games, but for most part it was great. BUT...the trains shut down after midnight, while the CTA has 24-hour service, so Chicago wins based on that.

and the commuter trains! I was staying with a friend who lived barely a block from a suburban station, so I got to see MBCR trains many times. my first trip on one was to Providence, and I had a few other rides. the MBTA pass even includes short trips on MBCR, so I went to Chelsea for no extra cost.

alas, some of the more macho railfans out there don't like the MBCR colors; they can't appreciate the wonder of PINK (or magenta?) trains. anyway, you can check out more of my MBTA/MBCR photos here. Bostonist.com even used one. I've actually had more fun taking transit photos in Boston than in New York (and technically Boston's subway is older...I've read several books on the history of Boston transit. I even know about lines that used to exist!)...yes, Boston people always like hearing that something there is better than in New York. I went a little overboard posting photos here, but why not?

Boston vs Chicago countdown day 4

I'm leaving the house tonight (yes, on a night when there's hockey on!) because there's a blogger (and not even sports bloggers!) party tonight and I need to be social to make up for the fact that last night I dreamed I was reading a blog. and I woke up before I could "click to read more." and some secret was never revealed to me. and how pathetic is everything I just wrote? anyway, day 4!

part 1: The Brothers Esposito

well, I hope this photo isn't a bad omen:

a photo like that today would absolutely get the nhLOL or LolLeafs treatment

meanwhile:

part II: when I think of Boston, I think of: Boston Harbor

well, not really, I didn't spend nearly as much time on the waterfront in Boston as I should have on my 2009 trips. I only got this shot (on Flickr I was informed it's a car carrier) because I was visiting the Institute of Contemporary Art nearby (you can take some great photos there, but not in the galleries, which is too bad, because I wanted to take photo of people looking at art, not the art itself).

Boston vs Chicago countdown day 3

sorry I fell behind with this--part 4 in a few hours. I had another great game to go to last night...that's two shutouts in a row for the Hawks (and by different goalies, first time that's happened since 1983!). against low-ranked teams, but it still counts.

part I: The Brothers Esposito

I finally scanned all the photos, returned the book, owed $1.60. I hope it's worth it, dear readers! (and thanks to Hockey Gone Wild for the nice mention of this series and the blog in general). now, getting to what we really want to see: BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER in the NHL!

the game above ended in a tie, back when they still had those

part II: when I think of Boston, I think of:

I'm skipping some more obvious ones, like chowder, or medical schools, or friggin' historic plaques every 10 feet, and going to: brutalist architecture!

I think this is right side up...taken on a visit to the Government Service Center. here's Flickr search results; I recommend Seth Tisue's great photos of the place, especially since he was the one giving me a tour the April 2009 day I took this. if you'd like more Paul Rudolph architecture see the Flickr group about him. there's also the Boston City Hall--Flickr search results for that. (if you like American architecture at all, especially pre-WWII, you must look at army.arch's photostream). I know that a lot of historic buildings were destroyed in the heyday of "urban renewal" to build it, and a lot of people thought and still think it's ugly, but it can be damn photogenic.

oh, the Winter Classic

since I'm failing at much Blackhawks blogging this week (but I was one of the first? only? to post a photo of the new Patrick Kane bobblehead, surely that counts for something?), let's just give Boston even MORE attention and post a little on the Winter Classic vs. the Flyers, just over 2 weeks away. for much, much, okay, possibly TOO much more, there's a lot at NHL.com, but you knew that already.

this screenshot is a thing of beauty:

"Hockey," it almost brings tears to my eyes

today Puck Daddy speculated on future Classics: who and where? I'm guessing Capitals get to play next, if not in D.C. they're also running a Winter Classic Parade Float Contest and these are some of the (silly, of course) first entries.

meanwhile, a Flyers blog posted A Flyers Fan's Guide to Surviving the Winter Classic. I skimmed through it and it looks like decent advice, but even I, who haven't spent that much time in Boston, knows that South End isn't a bad neighborhood. what I saw this year was the gentrified dog parks/dessert boutiques/art galleries kind of neighborhood. either they're confusing it with how it was circa Common Ground, or confusing it with South Boston. and even what I saw when I wandered around Southie--an Amtrak yard, a dumping ground for MBTA bus shelters, the infamous Old Colony housing project--didn't seem too bad. I have strict standards for "bad" neighborhoods, and so far I haven't seen places in Boston (or Denver, or Minneapolis, though all these cities definitely have lots of sketchy people around their Greyhound stations) that are remotely close to what I've seen in St. Louis, Detroit, or...well, Chicago.

I'd say some stuff about the Winter Classic in Chicago but I'm in a hurry today...

Boston vs Chicago countdown day 2

more stuff that doesn't really relate to the Bruins @ Blackhawks game I'm going to this Friday. (there's a huge new post right below this one, btw--I've got to space things throughout the day...)

part I: The Brothers Esposito

today, from this 1971 biography, more relatively early photos:

"credit for an assist"

part II: when I think of Boston, I think of...this place, it's pretty popular.

from my first trip inside, June 16, 2009. Sox won 8-2 in an interleague game against the Marlins. the friend I went with will rant at length against interleague games. I was asking him what foods he doesn't like one time, and he said "I hate walnuts. I hate walnuts even more than I hate interleague play!" unrelatedly, I'm thinking of an old Simpsons line I'd always hoped would catch on but didn't seem to: "well, you can cram it with walnuts, ugly!" uh, I'm not going to write much about the Red Sox now, but at least I've given you two useless walnut-related catchphrases...

Boston vs Chicago countdown day 1

yes, it's now only 4 nights until the big Bruins @ Blackhawks game, and I thought I'd do 5 days of...I don't know, stuff that has to do with Boston. then I'll write some quasi-legitimate game preview, but for now...

part I: The Brothers Esposito!
recently I had to take two buses to get to one of the three Chicago public libraries open on a Sunday to pay overdue fines (can't pay online), and browsed the sports books while there so I could get something new to make it worth the hassle, and found this 1971 book, listed as by Phil Esposito and Tony Esposito with Tim Moriarty. it recounts the brothers' childhoods, Phil's time with the Black Hawks (spelled with two words back then) and Bruins, Tony's with the Canadiens and Hawks. so, I'll have photos I scanned from it every day this week. (probably not stories, the book is way overdue* and I don't have time to type them).

the CPL has an interesting selection of hockey books from the 1960s -70s (and more recent ones, of course); I'll feature more of them later, but this book made the most sense for the Bruins-Hawks game.
*ironically, I've racked up more fines on this book than the fines I went to pay that day. but surprisingly someone else has requested the book, so if I didn't read it now who knows when I could get it again.

part II: when I think of Boston, I think of:

Dunkin Donuts! EVERYWHERE! (the chain was started near Boston) more than once, I saw Dunkin stores literally across the street from other Dunkin stores! or in the same train station! my first Boston visit in 2009, I made a point of having DD coffee every day (6 days) and taking a self-portrait with it. that's on my Flickr, as is this shot of a fragment left on Revere Beach, just past the end of the Blue Line train.