Hockey Fans Rejoice! (Well, sort of...)

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It would be easy to overlook (have you seen any promotions?) but the World Cup of Hockey tournament begins today when the Czech Republic takes on Finland in Helsinki (ESPN 1pm EDT).The defending World Cup champion USA team will drop the puck on Tuesday night (ESPN2, 7pm EDT) against Canada. With a strike looming over the 2004-2005 NHL season, this might be the only chance fans will have to watch NHL caliber hockey.

The eight team tournament will last two weeks and will take place at rinks in Europe and North America. The USA, Canada, Russia and Slovakia are in the North American pool and Sweden, the Czech Republic, Finland and Germany will compete in the European pool. The finals will be played at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on September 14th.

With the exception of the German roster which consists of mostly European club players, each team is made up almost completely of NHL players. This will be your chance to see stars such as Peter Forsberg (Sweden), Jaromir Jagr (Czech Republic), Joe Sakic (Canada) and Mike Modano (USA) compete for international bragging rights.

So hockey fans, don't let the summer sun distract you! Pull on your favorite hockey sweater and grab a Labatts Blue from the fridge. It's time to watch some hockey.

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Two! Three! Four! Why we need to sing along...

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This week, Boston's legendary punk band, the Dropkick Murphys, released their own version of the song 'Tessie', the so called "Official Anthem of the Boston Red Sox".

'Tessie', actually a show tune in its original form, first made its mark on baseball during the 1903 World Series. The Boston Pilgrims (now the Red Sox) were losing four games to one in a best of nine series to Honus Wagner and the mighty Pittsburgh Pirates when a group of boisterous baseball fans and bar crawlers known as the Royal Rooters literally sung their Boston team to victory.

The Royal Rooters were organized by "Nuf Ced" McGreevey, owner of the local saloon, "Third Base" (so called because it was marketed as "the last stop before home"--clever, huh?). The Rooters, not your typical t-shirt wearing bleacher seaters, were dressed in black suits with white high collared shirts and black derby hats. They sat right behind home plate with their own band of drums and horns and set to work driving the Pittsburgh players crazy.

It was a scoreless tie in the seventh inning of game six when the Rooters started singing what a Pirates outfielder would later call "that damn Tessie song". The raucous bunch of Royal Rooters sang loud and proud, often altering the lyrics to taunt the Pittsburgh players: "Tessie, you know I love you madly" became "Honus, why do you hit so badly,". Boston went on to win the next five games and won the World Series. "It was a real hum-dinger of a song," a Pirate outfielder admitted, "it sort of got on your nerves after a while. I think those Boston fans actually won it for the Pilgrims."

So 101 years later, 'Tessie' is back. The song is being played regularly at Fenway Park. Nothing beats a good "Yankees Suck" chant or the olde towne taunt of "Rooooogerrr" -- but singing 'Tessie' is a proven winning formula. Here comes the plea: Sox fans, trade in your "cowboy up" hat for a new black derby and let's get singin'. Two! Three! Four!

"Boston, you know we love you madly

Hear the crowd roar to your sound

Don't blame us if we ever doubt you...

You know we couldn't live without you

Red Sox you are the only, only, only..."

'Tessie' is a five song CD single and is available through the Dropkick Murphys' online web store for $5. Proceeds will be donated to the Red Sox Foundation.

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