Thomas snubbed...business as usual, isn't it?

I ask you. What in the world is it going to take to get Tim Thomas recognized in this league? Snubbed on the All Star ballot in favor of both Brodeur and DiPietro? Both of whom are injured and have been for the past couple days, at least? Bergeron, Chara and Savard are all on there, which is great, because they all deserve a shot to go (again in Savard and Chara's cases), but come on.

Tim Thomas is the backbone of a Bruins team which is just starting to come out of the doghouse. Clearly, in order to get recognized the way he deserves to be, Tim Thomas has to defeat the giant monkey man and save the ninth dimension, making it back in time to make a stellar save, in order to be recognized the way he should. Poor guy is constantly overlooked. If he happens to get de-snubbed (I'm making words, here) when they realize that two of their guys are injured? I implore all of you. Vote for Tim Thomas for the All Star Game.

Soapbox stand time.

I'm ignoring the second consecutive shootout loss entirely, because I really just don't want to talk about it. So, abandoning that in favor of a soapbox stand. That's right, I have my ranty stick and I'm preparing my authoritative voice. Be afraid. Be very afraid. The topic of choice? Dennis Wideman. Well, not so much Dennis as the way people speak of him.

Because what are Bruins fans if they don't have something, or someone, to gripe about?

In this case, we're griping about someone who has been our top defenseman so far this season. Forget the penalty on whatshisface Kostitsyn in the Montreal game. Dennis Wideman's game has grown since we got him two seasons ago. He's become one of the (if not the) top defensemen on our team. When we traded Brad Boyes for him, we were just looking for someone to fill a defensive hole. We seriously didn't think we had a top four defenseman here, just someone to kind of be there and fill in spaces, but over the past one-and-a-half seasons, he's developed into one of our stalwarts. He produces offensively, without allowing it to take much (if any) from his defensive game.

Yeah, there have been times where he's gone in and out of the doghouse. But seriously, what player in the NHL hasn't? Shall we recap the top three things he's done for us? Just off the top of my head? Because there are definitely more than just that.

03: The 18,000th goal in Bruins history. We were in an epic scoring draught around that time, if you recall. We were shut out for four and a half periods in a row and he scored, and it happened to be the 18,000th in Bruins history.
02: The tying goal in the Pens game when we came back from 0-4 down. An opportune goal at an opportune moment, which, maybe didn't lead to the result we'd wished for? But it definitely helped.
01: The pass that lead to the OT winner in game 3 against the Habs last season. Because without that beautiful behind the back pass he made, Marc Savard wouldn't have been able to score that goal.

Remember that, guys?

I have so much more to say, but really...he's a great player. And I think a lot of the reason why people like to scapegoat him is because, well, Bruins fans always need something...or, should I say someone to complain about. Get over it, guys. Because a lot of the time? You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. And I'd really not like it if that were the case this time.