I dislike Roger Federer. I don’t like his beady eyes. His raptorish nose. His floppy hair.

I don’t like his steamrolling dominance in his sport. Don’t mistake me; I admire a great talent and he is certainly that. I respect his ability. I think he has great skill and he uses it incredibly well to be so indomitable.

But I still don’t like him. In fact, I dislike him most of all because of his dominance.

In my professional duties as a soccer blogger I once wrote that rooting for Manchester United is like rooting for the A-Bomb. You know it’s going to decimate its opponents. Is it really that much fun to witness total devastation? Would it not be a much more uplifting and human story for the target of such a rending catastrophe to survive and prevail?

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I slept through the Red Wings game today. I couldn’t help it. I was watching the first period and I started to get that feeling, that all-encompassing fatigue that comes from having eaten something containing gluten. When it comes, I have to conk out else expend an immense power of will to stay awake. So, I slept. I missed periods two and three, and the resultant 5-1 victory by Detroit over the Avalanche.

When I woke, my stomach and its associates were extremely displeased. Another sign that I’d eaten something I shouldn’t have. It’s my own fault, though; I played fast and loose with some cold cuts today, buying a brand I’d never before bought and not asking to read the ingredients. Celiac disease is such a bummer that sometimes the frustration and annoyance borne of rooting out every potentially contaminated food is too burdensome to invite. But then the result of not being diligent is so bloody unpleasant that I feel like an ass for being so cavalier about something so debilitating.

I’ve got a hockey game tonight and I always play like crap after I’ve eaten something containing gluten, because I’m totally enervated from consuming it. My hope is that I’ve enough time before the game (11:30 tonight) to try and eat some good carbs and protein, all of the food g-f, and build up a good store from which to draw. Just hope my stomach can calm down in time.

Newcastle played today, too, and they came back from a 2 – 0 deficit against West Ham to draw 2 – 2. The Magpies are now undefeated in their last seven games, I believe. Good stuff all around, sports-wise. Food-wise… I’ve got a long way to go, it seems, before I really learn my lesson about my illness.

I’m not a huge Easybeats fan, but I recognize their place in musical history and that album title is apropos of today. Not thinking about Friday, but it is Friday and I’m thinking. Close enough.

Rangers take on the Islanders tonight at the Garden, the second game of a home-and-home between the teams. I’m a Red WIngs fan but I can’t bring myself to buy the Center Ice package and I like hockey too much to avoid watching it so I’ve adopted the Rangers to have a team to watch and for which to root.

It’s been an interesting season so far. A lot of parity in the league, but my Wings have stormed to another President’s Trophy. I think they’ve got a great shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year, but the team that wins the league isn’t always the team that wins the Cup.

Rangers, I’m sad to say, don’t have a chance. They play a boring brand of hockey to begin with, but their offense is anemic and their defense is laughable. Their goaltending isn’t consistently reliable (not that the Wings have the best goaltending; they don’t) and I don’t think the Rangers have the character to persevere and get 16 post-season wins out of four best-of-seven series.

Still, tonight there’s a game and it’s something to watch. Tomorrow, Newcastle United plays Reading. I’m hoping the Magpies can manage their third straight win, but the Royals have been looking good of late. It should be, as the Brits say, a “cracker”.