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Every NHL team to win a Stanley Cup in my lifetime, which does not include the Philadelphia Flyers

Every NHL team to win a Stanley Cup in my lifetime, which does not include the Philadelphia Flyers

Published by Kevin McGuire on June 25, 2024

A new Stanley Cup champion was crowned Monday evening with the Florida Panthers celebrating with the most iconic trophy above their heads after nearly blowing a 3-0 Final lead against the Edmonton Oilers.

Of course, this means yet another hockey franchise has had a chance to celebrate being at the top of the NHL before I get the chance to see my home team, the Philadelphia Flyers, get to do so. It is especially a tad frustrating when a team from Florida that didn’t come into existence until the 1990s gets to win it all.

But I’m not bitter. I’m just sitting in waiting and hoping that the hype surrounding the arrival of Matvei Michkov will help deliver a Stanley Cup at some point down the road.

Anyway, here is a list of every NHL franchise to have won a Stanley Cup since I was born, just to pour some salt on the wounds of being a Philly sports fan a bit.

  • Edmonton Oilers – 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990
  • Pittsburgh Penguins – 1991, 1992, 2009, 2016, 2017
  • Detroit Red Wings – 1997, 1998, 2002, 2008
  • New Jersey Devils – 1995, 2000, 2003
  • Colorado Avalanche – 1996, 2001, 2022
  • Chicago Blackhawks – 2010, 2013, 2015
  • Tampa Bay Lightning – 2004, 2020, 2021
  • New York Islanders – 1982, 1983
  • Montreal Canadiens – 1986, 1993
  • Los Angeles Kings – 2012, 2014
  • Calgary Flames – 1989
  • New York Rangers – 1994
  • Dallas Stars – 1999
  • Carolina Hurricanes – 2006
  • Anaheim Ducks – 2007
  • Boston Bruins – 2011
  • Washington Capitals – 2018
  • St. Louis Blues – 2019
  • Vegas Golden Knights – 2023
  • Florida Panthers – 2024
Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money is in development

Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money is in development

Published by Kevin McGuire on June 18, 2024

I have not entered a new blog entry here in roughly five months. But when a Spaceballs sequel is in development, the Schwartz has a way of pulling me back in.

I have never been shy about sharing Spaceballs is one of my all-time favorite movies. It may not be the best film by the legendary Mel Brooks, but it introduced me to Brooks. It remains one of my favorite comedies to this day. And now, 36 years after the original, a sequel is reportedly in development.

Who knows? God willing, we’ll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.

According to Variety, a Spaceballs sequel is now in development at Amazon MGM Studios with Josh Gadd set to star in and produce. Gadd teased his script on his Instagram account last week.

Brooks returns to produce the movie, which is great. Could he reprise his role of Yogurt? We will have to wait and see.

If you thought I was ecstatic to learn about a new Spaceballs movie, you would be correct! I am looking forward to seeing what can will be done with a new take on Spaceballs. I remain skeptical about this being a true sequel, however. There is not much of a chance of seeing any continuation of the story from the original slapstick sci-fi spoof, I would suspect. But there is a ton of material to be inspired by just off the Star Wars franchise since the release of the original Spaceballs.

Two additional Star Wars trilogies have come and gone with a prequel trilogy and a sequel trilogy. Not to mention a continued expansion of the Star Wars universe with solo films like Rogue One and Solo and smaller series like The Mandalorian, Andor, and The Acolyte. Spaceballs poked fun at other sci-fi movies and more pop culture references outside of Star Wars too. That should once again be expected in a new Spaceballs movie.

Simply put, there is no shortage of content to use for inspiration for a new and original take on the Spaceballs brand. But I do think this will be a modern twist in the spirit of Spaceballs more than an actual sequel. I am still here for it.

When will then be now?

There is no word yet on when this will release, but I am prepared to fast forward and jump to ludicrous speed for it to get here.

The Eagles lost, so the countdown to Phillies pitchers and catchers begins

The Eagles lost, so the countdown to Phillies pitchers and catchers begins

Published by Kevin McGuire on January 16, 2024

The past month of my football fandom has been pretty rough. Penn State didn’t belong on the same field as Ole Miss in the Peach Bowl and the Philadelphia Eagles saw a promising season that started 10-1 end with an abysmal 11-6 regular season record and a blowout loss in the wild card round on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To go from having the best record in the NFL to a wild card round exit on the road against a 9-win division champion is, in a word, gross. This figures to be a massive offseason for the Eagles, which got underway with the news that center Jason Kelce is retiring. I’ll have to share some thoughts on that later on.

But with the Eagles now officially entering the offseason far earlier than anticipated a couple of months ago, the countdown to the start of the baseball season is now officially on. The Phillies had their own rough postseason exit in the NLCS last October, which was an absolute bummer. And they haven’t really done a whole lot to change the team coming back in 2024 to move a needle, but the start of a new baseball season is always something I look forward to.

This is especially true a day after the Eagles were bounced from the playoffs and I spent the large majority of my day outside in the cold and snow and dreading another similar day tomorrow in temperatures that will struggle to rise above 20 degrees.

Oh yeah, that warms the heart a little bit today. The day pitchers and catchers report is on the calendar now, as is that London Series. I’ll be there! I cannot wait.

Oh, and by the way, Happy new year!

Yes, we are already halfway through the first month of the season but this just so happens to be the first post I am writing here in 2024. Every year I try making a resolution to get back in the personal blogging routine, because it truly is something I enjoy doing just for myself. It is therapeutic in a sense but it has become something I quickly learn time and time again that is just not as easy for me to keep up with as in years past in my so-called blogging prime. But hey, maybe this will be the year!

I have a lot to look forward to in 2024, and I would like to share some of my adventures and experiences with you in this digital written form.

The 2023 LEGO Winter Village

The 2023 LEGO Winter Village

Published by Kevin McGuire on December 30, 2023

It is amazing to see every year just how much my LEGO Winter Village has grown over the years. It was 15 years ago when my wife gave me a LEGO holiday train as a Christmas present after I had mentioned how much I always wanted a LEGO train as a kid but never got one. A year later I was gifted another LEGO winter village-themed set, as we learned a new set comes out every year. And with that, a tradition was born.

As the years went by, I would set up my small LEGO winter village collection on a sideboard or around the tree. But in 2020, I decided to pull out all of the stops and take over our entire dining room table. Only I didn’t stop there. I added a folding table. Now, that has become the standard when I set up the village, which only continues to grow.

This year I had to try a few new things with my setup, remove a few ideas I ran with in the past, and come up with some new ideas to incorporate more of what I had to work with. So I added a full ski resort area on one side of town, moved my food and carnival to the other side, and moved the concert stage to the middle of town (which led to removing the looping road previously used for a race track. I also only went with one train track this time.

But I always enjoy inserting some hidden references and tributes, and this was no exception. Unfortunately, I still feel like I left out a good amount of what I’d love to include in this year’s village. But I suppose they can always be implemented next year!

Here is a quick look at some of my LEGO Winter Village this year.

I shared a little bit more about a few details in this village on my Instagram account previously.

The most iconic photo in American history of my lifetime (so far)An old vintage camera with camera reel. What are the most iconic images in American history?

The most iconic photo in American history of my lifetime (so far)

Published by Kevin McGuire on August 25, 2023

The course of American history has seen a great number of truly iconic photos. When I thought about some of the top photos in American history, I started to realize that there may only be a few that happened in my lifetime. Perhaps that is an encouraging reminder that I am not that old just yet. To me, the images of the World Trade Center being attacked in 2001 will forever be etched in my memory, and there is no question the images of the explosion of the second plane flying into the World Trade Center will never leave my memory bank.

Reader’s Digest has a great collection of classic images and the backstories behind many of them. This photo archive from LIFE is absolutely worth a look too for some photos that are not necessarily iconic in nature, but brilliant portrayals of other facets of American history.

In thinking about the top images from American history, I went down a quick rabbit hole on the internet of a few lists of the top images to see how many I was actually alive for. That did bring a few images back to me like O.J. Simpson trying on the glove,

But this may just be the most historic image in American history of my lifetime…

Mugshot of Donald Trump by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office.
The Fulton County Sheriff’s office mugshot of Donald Trump, released on Aug. 24, 2023.

No matter what you think about the man in this photo, a mugshot of a former President of the United States is unquestionably an historic moment for the nation. For the first time in the history of the country, a former United States president was forced to surrender himself to a sheriff’s office and pose for a mugshot. This is a photo that will be a part of history lessons forever moving forward. This is an image that will be used in textbooks, lectures, documentaries and more as long as state governments allow for it in the educational curriculum.

I do wish I was joking with that last sentence, but given the headlines I see from around the country, I do think it is a legitimate concern as we look to properly place these last few years in the appropriate historic context for all to understand for generations beyond ours.

But think about the legacy this image will forever carry, regardless of what happens next in the legal proceedings in Georgia or the other states in which Donald Trump has been indicted on similar and related charges. Mugshots never go away. They are forever attached to your public profile, and even more so when you are a noteworthy person. Trump has always been a notable person, even before he became president. But being the first president to have a mugshot is the ultimate stain for a one-term president who sat in the White House. And this is a man who has been impeached not once, but twice.

I fortunately will not need history classes to educate me on the legacy of Trump as president. I lived through it. This image will be in every lesson those who will learn about his rise to president and political downfall will see.