That video, released by the New Jersey Devils' official YouTube channel, shows what a celebration looks like -- long after the winning goal has been scored and the Prince of Wales Trophy has been presented (not lifted; that would be bad luck). Players pouring into the tunnel, one by one. Excited. Exuberant. Exhausted. All of those things.

This is what the celebration looked like earlier -- starting with Adam Henrique's game-winning goal, and on to the trophy presentation:

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The X Games has invited 11-year-old skateboarder Jagger Eaton to compete on its biggest stage in Los Angeles in June.

Eaton, who would be the youngest athlete in the event's history, learned he will have the opportunity to drop into the monolithic MegaRamp during the Skateboard Big Air contest.

Trey Wood, also 11, has been invited to compete as well.

The two grade-schoolers, who check in at about 80 pounds each, will join 12-year-old Tom Schaar, 14-year-old Alex Sorgente and 15-year-old Mitchie Brusco as five of the 18 athletes invited to skate in Big Air -- an event that features a steep roll-in followed by a jump over a 70-foot gap to a 27-foot quarterpipe, pioneered by skateboard legend Danny Way.

"I got the invite from X Games like two days ago," Eaton told ESPN on Friday. "It made me feel amazing. I just want to go out there and have fun. I feel ready to go. I'll try a few tricks."

If all goes as planned and Eaton competes, he'll be about four months younger than defending Skateboard Street gold medalist Nyjah Huston was when he competed in 2006 as the youngest athlete in X Games history. Wood will be two months older than Huston was.

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Martina McBride performs her tried and tested rendition of the national anthem at Daytona last year.
Martina McBride knows her way around the national anthem.

She's a go-to performer before big sporting events, including the 2009 AFC Championship Game, and last year's Daytona 500. She said her dream is to eventually sing it at the Super Bowl.

All eyes will be on her again Sunday before the Indianapolis 500, where organizers said they wanted someone who would sing a traditional version.

McBride said that's her calling card.

"For me it's about honoring our country and our servicemen and women. It's not really about making it my own," she said. "It's not my song. It belongs to all of us. I try to sing it in a way that honors that, and that people can sing along with."

Another of her secrets: She keeps the words visible when she's singing, telling CMT "It's just too big of a thing to take a chance."

McBride, who released her 11th album, "Eleven," late last year, has long been a friend of NASCAR, even earning a legendary story on the circuit. After she sang the national anthem before Talladega in 2000, Dale Earnhardt Sr. asked for her autograph, and said he kept it in his car as he won the race.

"That is true," she said. "He said it was his good-luck charm. That was really sweet."

She has even been given a ride around the track, not that she's that excited about doing it again. Ever.

"It's terrifying. I don't know how they do it," she said. "It's amazing to me that they can do that. It's not something I would want to do every day. It's exhilarating. But it's just very terrifying at the same time."

AP Photo/Reed Saxon
Orel Hershiser, Tommy Lasorda and Kirk Gibson recently reunited, inspiring the story below.
“But the Bulldog in him came out when, after the Athletics were disposed of, he walked down the hallway to the interview room in the Oakland Coliseum and an A's fan yelled, “You were lucky, Hershiser.” A couple of dozen steps later, Hershiser blurted out, “Oh yeah – grab a bat.” He wasn't smiling.

-- Final paragraph of the article "A Case Of Orel Surgery" by Peter Gammons in the Oct. 31, 1988, edition of Sports Illustrated.

•  •  •


Orel Hershiser was back in Los Angeles recently as the Dodgers honored him with a bobblehead, so it’s a good time to retell a story from my childhood that makes me feel equal parts stupid and proud.


AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Jose Canseco, fresh off the first 40-40 campaign in MLB history, went 0-for-8 against Hershiser as the Dodgers captured the 1988 World Series.
First, the background. I grew up in Pleasanton, Calif., a suburb 20 miles east of Oakland, and was a rabid fan of the Oakland Athletics. I practically grew up at the Coliseum in those years.

My dad annually bought 20 games from a friend who had season tickets for all 81 games. The seats are amazing and I don’t need a seating chart to list the location -- Section 123, Row 2, Seats 12 and 13 -- on the aisle, just to the left of the A’s dugout.

Even when we didn’t have those choice seats, I’d go to games with my friends. We’d take the bus to the Hayward BART station, ride it for three stops to the Coliseum and walk across that bridge. We’d leave right after school, arriving to get autographs in the parking lot; wed chase down batting practice home runs, watch the game, and stay late for more autographs. We’d buy bleacher seats and third-deck seats, and think of creative ways to annoy the ushers by sneaking into seats that didn’t belong to us.

In 1987, I attended 41 games. In 1988, I attended 53 games. I know those numbers precisely. I’d save the ticket stubs from each game and keep them in my wallet, chronologically. If somebody at school didn’t believe me, I’d show the ticket stubs for proof. If there was a day game, we’d usually skip school to attend. (Sometimes our parents knew. Usually they didn’t.)

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Curious what Brandon Jennings is up to this offseason?

“Me and ten of my friends were up until 5 am last night playing ‘Call of Duty,’” Jennings admits with a laugh when I get him on the phone to talk video games.

The 22-year-old baller recently tweeted a picture of his customized “Modern Warfare 3” Xbox 360 with the caption “Always Got it w/Me,” and the kid nicknamed “Young Buck” isn’t shy about his love for virtual shootouts.


Photo courtesy of Activision
Brandon Jennings says he's a patient player in "Call of Duty."
“I’m not a guy who is going to get shot a lot,” he says. “I’m more of a guy who likes to stand in the corner and wait for people to come across the screen, then I just start firing with my AK-47.”

Jennings and crew were doing battle against fellow NBAer Gordon Hayward in what must’ve been a special tall-people-only showdown.

Here’s what the flashy guard had to say between trigger pulls.

Jon Robinson: During the NBA season, do you still bring your video game system with you on the road?

Brandon Jennings: My rookie year I did. I used to take my video games with me on every road trip. I was still a kid. I was a rookie. But most of the time now, I just play at the house. I think I’m the only one on the team who even plays video games, so it’s no fun to bring it on the road. When I play now, I’m just playing against my friends.

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