Tuesday, December 18, 2007

is there anybody out there? – a problem with the nhl

Note: this is the second part of a two part post, much like the complimentary songs in the Wall or peanut butter and jelly, this post goes hand in hand with the previous post.

It begins with a sorta surreal moment, watching someone play the theme (?) to Halo 3 on Guitar Hero III. No need to watch the whole thing, in fact, I encourage reading and listening to what will probably be the sample track on the top pop song in the summer of 2017.


There have been some issues raised recently with the NHL. They include:

Not enough fighting.

Too much fighting.

Too much expansion diluting the talent base.

Too much expansion into the US and not being able to find an identity.

Gary Bettman.

Lack of respect among players for each other.

The game is too fast.

Economic..... stuff

...and so forth.

I'm here to present another plausible option.

Since the dawn of time, people have gathered around fires and told fables of gladiators, philosophers, kings and paupers. Today, our fire is the internet, our gladiators; athletes.

What stories can we pass on about hockey players in the 21st century? That they were the first athletes to get lifelong contracts? I'm struggling to think of their legacy, and perhaps I've disabled a few brain cells and am therefore unable to come up with stories. Here's what comes to mind, Hockey story wise.

Nagano 1998, Dominik Hasek leading the Czech's by Canada as Wayne Greztky, at the end of his career, chasing the one accolade that he had yet to achieve, sitting on the bench holding back tears.

Leafs playoff runs, pre-lockout.

The Flames and Oilers incredible playoff runs. Fans that cared. Sorry, but with all due respect, I'm sure some south east teams have ardent fans, and I know they have ardent bloggers, but the game is not entrenched in those markets as it is elsewhere. In fact, even in certain entrenched areas, (Detroit, Chicago) the game is fading. Passing away into obscurity. Why? There are probably a hundred and one reasons.

Why do people watch sports, watch tv, listen to the radio? Answer could lie in the entertainment, drama, information garnered from them.

Games that have meaning, games that have stories; those are the ones worth watching and remembering. There are far too many options in this day and age, far too many other entertainment outlets a person can hook their wagon to. Games, all 82 (84?) of them just aren't interesting. Say what you want about football, but at least there are only 18 (CFL) or 16 (NFL) games that have a chance to be boring. 82 games * 2.5 hours per game is a lot of time. Sometimes less is more.

As it has a solid core, a solid fan base, the game won't die. Hockey will just continue to struggle in purgatory until it learns that it is not alone.

dissonance n: 1 a: lack of agreement; especially : inconsistency between the beliefs one holds or between one's actions and one's beliefs — compare cognitive dissonance b: an instance of such inconsistency or disagreement
2: a mingling of discordant sounds; especially : a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

halo cruel world


Photo taken from my car driving home from work yesterday. Snow and ice bending the tree on the left, but you can probably see that for yourself.

It's been a while, and finally there's something to say. Well, two thoughts, really. Perhaps they warrant two separate posts, but I'm going to bob and weave them into one. Putting things off for another day has lead to posting 5 times (or something like that) so far this year.

Let's start with a musical note, because this post is designed as a multimedia experience. One of the problems I have been encountering with the posting is with all the blogs out there, why would anyone read mine (asides from friends and family of course)?

But you have driven me people, in the sea of mediocrity I believe I may have come up with an original idea. A YouTube video, designed as a soundtrack to accompany my poor literary skillz.

Let me set it up thusly. I have an xbox 360. I play Halo 3, and lose to what sounds like little girls online. I make that assumption based on the fact that they:

1. Kick my ass handily

2. Have decorated their online Halo characters to look as close to the colour pink as possible

3. Sound like little girls. With xbox online you can talk to your friends and opponents and these young kids have voices that sound like little girls.

4. I also lose to little boys, old boys, old women, teenagers; pretty much anyone who picks up a controller online, the only person I can beat is my friend Pat. But I haven't gone online in almost a week, so there's a chance Pat can beat me now. I doubt it; but then again, he does stay up and play video games to the point where his wife finds him asleep in the living room with the controller in his hand. So he plays hard.

I'll ignore the social ramifications of the statements I have just made, apologize for personifying Pat in such a light, but until he beats me, I'm not going to issue a retract. Also, he probably won't read this.

So, where was I? Yes, the Halo 3 soundtrack. Today, I was listening to it at work while working away at a spreadsheet, and one song came on and it felt like it was inspired by Pink Floyd. Now, I'm not saying that Halo 3 is as good as Pink Floyd; I'm just saying that one song on the soundtrack sounds like them. And for your information, the soundtrack to Halo 3 is #98 in ALL music sales on amazon.com. Considering it's the holiday season, that's no small feat.

Any who, the song I'm thinking of is track #15 on disc one (it's a two disc soundtrack, 9 hours of game play and tons of original music) called "The Ark. Edge Closer". Marty O'Donnell is accredited as the composer, and a big hand to him for what he has done.

So we're quite a ways into this, and I haven't introduced the multimedia experience. I've decided that this is going to be two posts now (actually the NHL decided it because the Leafs – Predators game starts in 10 minutes) and I'll write that post as I watch. It's about hockey, and specifically problems that I see with the NHL that I haven't found anyone else write about (read: did a search on "problem with the NHL", not as many hits as one might think).

Stay tuned....

hubris: noun: : exaggerated pride or self-confidence

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

the difference between 'y' and 'o'

.....is what the Raptors are providing this year. The difference between 'o' and 'y' is more than 9 letters.

It is a frame of mind.

Not hype.

Hope.

Godspeed gentlemen.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

fade

In another day, another time
This identity which i take,
Cannot be called mine.

I arose from a clouded slumber,
my peacefulness disturbed
By news I had not heard.

Are my thoughts and actions guided?
Should my selfishness be chided?

It came at once,
At all to fast,
My spirit could not spare,
The hole which had been dug.

One text, one call,
One breath that i didn't stall
She said I wasn't there,
so she couldn't give me a hug.

It is one thing to be a victim of senseless violence,
But how can one explain a sudden youth silenced?

These days my spirit pondered,
God's existence I wondered.
At times I may have thought,
well, maybe?
Now, lately,
I sit in not that lot.

What happens when one ceases to have a thought?
Will internal good and evil then have no longer fought?

Perhaps you will consider this blasphemy,
I instead consider it rich irony.

God's existence or power
are thumb-twiddling questions for the vain,
But a single human soul is
to large for the universe to contain.



Apologies for the crappy rhyming. Pain numbs many things.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

holistic hockey hunches

Maybe I'm a sucker for high draft picks cheap. I have not done any number crunching, so I don't know if there is room, but heck, I'd like to see Patrick Stefan on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Here's why. He's Czech. So are Jiri Tlusty, Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle. That's about it, the influence of his fellow countrymen. Maybe Stefan could be good too. Could sign him to a one year contract for under a million dollars.

Perhaps it makes no sense. Just throwing it out there as an idea. So JFJ, if you're reading, maybe give Stefan a call, a little 'howyadoin?'

Maybe playing with Mats could be a selling point. One thing that I definitely don't know about is what the players say between themselves. That being said, neither does anyone else who isn't a player (or close to one). So I'm going to go out on a short limb here and say that Mats Sundin is one of the most Respected players in the NHL, and as Toskala mentioned, perhaps one people will sign with the Leafs to play with. He is the Leader (nananananananana leader, leader, Batman) and should have haiku's written in his honour. That will be my task for the week, haiku's for Mats. Like these:

Oh fearless leader,
Thou art a moose on the ice,
With antlers hidden.

Big Swede with sweet stride,
Slapshot and defence like Thor,
But without the beard

-----

Second point of the day comes to this highlight of Nikolai Kulemin that my friend Kenny sent me. He's a 2nd round pick (44th overall) from the 2006 draft and was signed to a 3 year deal with the Leafs which (I assume) takes affect after this 2007-2008 season where he is signed with the Metallurg Magnitogorsk hockey club in the Russian Super League.

Here's a highlight reel of some of his skills. Big Props to MuscleBob for putting it together.

Monday, July 09, 2007

the tarp is falling

Chicken little, I mean the Colorado Rockies, were safely tucked away in their clubhouse as their opponents and the umpires took to the field to help the Rockies own personal. What does this have to do with anything? Well I'm glad I traded Todd Helton in my fantasy pool, and I'm glad I held on to (as Ryan calls him) Shane Victoriorio.

when your opponent is history

I don't mean that figuratively. When one is playing well, beyond well, and the only players one matches up against are those from that sport's great past; one plays against history more than the man across the court.

Roger Federer knows Rafael Nadal is catching up. It showed yesterday during the Wimbledon final. In the 4th set Federer began to lose his cool, in a way not seen since his younger days. But Nadal took some injury time during that 4th set. And Federer sat there, used that time to gather his composure and focus. Federer was down 4-0 in that set but had a 2-1 set advantage. Unless Nadal couldn't stand up, the match was going to 5 sets.

In the 5th set, Federer seemed to be distracted, trailing 15-40 tied at one game apiece. But he channeled his wandering mind and returned to take the game to deuce and win with four straight points.

Again at 2-2 in the 5th set, again trailing 15-40, he came back to take it to deuce and win the game with another 4 straight points.

That seemed to be it for Nadal. He had Federer ready to be broken at 15-40 twice in that 5th set. Now down 3-2 in the 5th and having held serve for 22 straight games, the weight of playing against a giant was too much for even him to hold.

Federer finally broke Nadal's service. At the end of a return point where Federer hit approximately one hundred lines during his volley with Nadal, the final sideline shot was a return unreachable for Nadal and Federer let out a stream of joy. A sight of emotion usually reserved for those who are human, for those who have been pushed to their limit and have come out on top. It was a sight unseen on the grass courts of Wimbledon for the past 5 years. Roger had owned Wimbledon like a man playing against children. There was no joy in that.

But yesterday Federer, for the first time in a long time, was being pushed. His physical opponent across the net was a 21 year old phenom made from clay. His mental opponents were sitting in the stands watching him. His spiritual opponents were controlling the infallible technology from above and beyond.

At the end, when he was finally victorious, Federer let go. Crumbling to the ground having vanquished his opponents, he covered his face with his hands. Perhaps, at some point, he thought that his opponents would be too much for him.

It was understood that Nadal had the French but Wimbledon was Roger's. That was Roger's home. That was where Roger beat the immortal Sampras and broke Sampras' chance for 5 straight titles away. Perhaps he thought that Nadal has caught up to him as he had to Sampras, and that his chances at pure domination maybe fewer and far between. Who knows what thoughts pass through the minds of those standing on the precipice of history?

As the floodgates of emotion overwhelmed the stoic champion, he returned to his chair and took his time to put on his proper whites. Vest, jacket, trousers.

Nadal sat at his own chair, head down, sweat dripped hair hanging. You could see the thoughts forming in a bubble over his head, "this is what it feels like to lose when you've done enough to win. Remember this feeling Rafa, this is what you will use whenever you feel that you're good enough to win."

We, the audience, sometimes wonder what it would be like for two greats of the past to square off. Soon it may be understood that Roger Federer's greatness not only lay in the amount of majors that he won, but that he had to go through Rafael Nadal to do so.

When it's all said and done, yesterday will be the day that two greats from future's past squared off.

"In my opinion," Nadal said, "[Federer's] tennis level is the best in history."




That's 11 majors for Roger now, Tiger.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

nobody likes betting against the home team

As I drift off between drowsiness and waking life, I realize that I must reiterate the mantra.

We have a wonderful collection of minds.

Many intelligent people spend lots of mind energy (read: thoughts) on sports.
In my youth I watched Don Cherry often. As the years went on, and Saturday nights were for more than just hockey, and hockey was on more than just Saturday nights, I watched less and less.

Then he started, at the end of Coach's Corner, to hold a picture. Pictures of people, in the line of duty, who have been killed.

It started off as a once in a while thing. He'd hold a picture, camera would zoom in, he'd say something poignant, Ron Maclean would sign off (or not) without a witty line.

It just came to me, this evening, a month (or so) after the hockey season has ended and the last Coach's Corner has aired, that for many weeks this season, the segment did not end with a witty line from Ron.

And Don wasn't holding up one picture.

There would be a few of them, and since the CBC was used to graphically portraying them on their news segments, those same screen shots, of multiple people, Canadian Military, would be shown.

There is a war going on. It is nothing less than a war. It may not be the war we're used to, but then again, we aren't used to any war at all.

Tonight I found myself glad that the Jays won. In fact, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about the Jays, as many people may have.

But, if I was constantly reminded that we were at war, would I care? Wouldn't I want the war to end so I could enjoy the Jays or whomever at peace?

But I'm firing in the dark here. I've always been firing in the dark. I'm sure there are motions, movements, protests afoot. I'm not connected to them. Seek, and ye shall... but I'm buried in work/school/books/sports.

Kurt Vonnegut fought in a big war. He realized that there are a few things that will continue to happen that cannot be stopped. Those things include Ice Ages and wars.

Maybe I'm using the wrong forums to extract public opinion. Maybe I should use the internet better. But it gets hard. There's a lot of hate out there. A lot of ignorant, misguided, quick-to-judge bullying. And it's the sort of thing that can wake one up when one is about to fall asleep, and derail one's soft journey into dreams.

If I dream tonight, it probably won't be pleasant.

Walk tall, kick ass, learn to speak Arabic, love music and never forget you come from a long line of truth seekers, lovers and warriors. -Hunter S. Thompson

Thursday, June 07, 2007

good riddance

"Makes me laugh that Daniel Alfredsson took a lot of heat and was even called "classless" by American TV broadcasters for shooting the puck at Scott Niedermayer with time running out in the second period of Game 4. The only thing he did wrong was fire it too low. In the Stanley Cup final, you should be doing everything you can to win. With two seconds left on the clock and standing at your blue line, you're not going to score. Attempting to take out the opponent's best defenceman is the next best thing. Believe it's called competitiveness."


By this logic, there should be lots of journalists lining up to take a hammer at your hands, eh Don Brennar? The only thing they would do wrong is not use a butchers knife.

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Rebirth of radio



Not net radio, but podcasting. As the cell phones leans more and more towards becoming the ubiquitous device for the person on the go and memory chips get smaller and smaller, the radio will be reborn in the form of podcasts.

People like to hear people talk. Personally, there are a few podcasts that I listen to almost daily. They allow me to not read the newspapers as much, and give me the information I require in a short 15-20 minute segment during my travel to and from work. I download the podcast onto my smartphone, plug it in and go. Here's what I listen to (almost exclusively ESPN, because I haven't had the time to search out others).

-Baseball Today - ESPN: Above and beyond the best podcast series I've ever heard (I think I've heard 5). Alan Schwarz does a fantastic job of recapping the previous nights events, has great knowledgeable guests, and talks about baseball. Been listening to these guys since they started last year, and have tremendously enjoyed the whole time. Sure some of the sound bites are gimmicky, but whatever. Great job.

-Daily Dish - ESPN: Chad Ford does a bang up job of talking hoops. Hard to get into NBA for me because Raptors are out, but that is not their fault.

-Fantasy Focus -ESPN: After Baseball today, listening to this makes my ears hurt. They've got intrusive songs with this high pitched beep that goes off every few seconds and the commentators speak in forceful AM radio tones (e.g. "do not pick up Mark Hendrickson on the Dodgers. I will jump out of your computer and stop you from picking up Mark Hendrickson" who ended up pitching 6 shutout innings of 3 hit ball with 7 strikeouts that evening). I guess if you don't follow baseball it might make sense to have these guys advise some moves, but all in all, asides from the injury specific news on players, there isn't much they add. They could cut the podcast down to 5 minutes and simply discuss injuries, transactions, and implications. I don't need to know to hold on to Pujols because he's probably going to hit 15 homeruns in June (my prediction, not theirs).

-Sports Guy - ESPN: Well, he's had one episode so far. Lets hope it turns out better than that cartoon based on him ESPN was putting on for a while.

-Off Wing Opinion: Eric McErlain and Joe Tasca did some podcasts that I listened to last year. Good stuff there about the NHL and mostly the Washington Capitals.

Well, that's all for now, a short summary for sure. Here are some posts about Net radio, which, from what I understand, is different from podcasting.

The Death and Rebirth of Web Radio

The Death of Internet Radio

Saturday, April 14, 2007

he'll make Gretzky's head bleed

Jeremy Roenick is on TSN's NHL playoff panel this year. A few nights ago they were all talking about the overtime situation in the playoffs. If they change the playoff overtime format, I'm going to start simulating the NHL with my old SNES and NHL 94. The way men played.
So, in NHL 94, JR used to be a kick ass player. Not so much now, but apparently he's willing to play for the Leafs next season, and not for much. Will Jeremy Roenick sign with the Leafs? Probably not, but this is still funny.



And I was at that game where Roenick scored over Belfour. I sat at the other end of the rink. I got my ticket off of ebay from a guy in Philadelphia. Things got pretty sour in the arena after that shot went in, guys were picking fights with girls, Flyer fans were cheering, just a bad scene.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

and the heavens danced

Knowing that the universe is a large place and Earth is a speck, the astral heavens flowed as silk linens through a breeze. In other words, they moved to the music, and their music was the wind.

I can't remember which one of my university friends mentioned it to me first, Adam or Dayton. But I was given Galapagos, and my life would forever be the better for it. As the years went on, I digested his words, his beautiful regurgitation of anger into humour. When I read the news today "Author Kurt Vonnegut dead at 84", oh boy. I thought "wow, he's gone, this sucks." I then went through some of his quotes, smiling through each and every one. Wikiquote is what i used, and i feel it is a good resource.

As I write this I am finding hard to keep my composure. It's cold, grey and damp outside. So it goes.

Of all the beautiful things he has written or said, I have chosen the following. The first I use myself now when people ask me of my religious affiliation. The rest just make me smile.

"I am a humanist. Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead."

"Beware of the man who works hard to learn something, learns it, and finds himself no wiser than before," Bokonon tells us. "He is full of murderous resentment of people who are ignorant without having come by their ignorance the hard way."

"A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved."

"The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral. All moments, past, present and future, always have existed, always will exist. The Tralfamadorians can look at all the different moments just that way we can look at a stretch of the Rocky Mountains, for instance. They can see how permanent all the moments are, and they can look at any moment that interests them. It is just an illusion we have here on Earth that one moment follows another one, like beads on a string, and that once a moment is gone it is gone forever."

"I am, incidentally, Honorary President of the American Humanist Association, having succeeded the late, great science fiction writer Isaac Asimov in that totally functionless capacity. We had a memorial service for Isaac a few years back, and I spoke and said at one point, "Isaac is up in heaven now." It was the funniest thing I could have said to an audience of humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, "Kurt is up in heaven now." That's my favorite joke."

Thank you Kurt Vonnegut Jr. You're up in heaven now.

Kurt Vonnegut 11/11/22-04/11/07

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

uh oh, I hear a banjo

and hockey players? Tomfoolery ensues. This is a great NHL commercial and makes me smile that the guys at MyNHL finally woke up and started piecing together some good stuff (if this even done by those guys).



Ovechkin is to Crosby as Newman is to Seinfeld?

Saturday, February 10, 2007

i'm dwight howard

"and you really have to put a body on me. I shot 13 for 14 from the field against Toronto this week, and last night this old guy, Tim Hortons (Duncan, Dunkin Donuts, donuts, coffee and donuts... from Tim Hortons) or something tries to stop me. And, yeah, he's got the right idea, you really do have to put a body on me, but good luck finding on. 'Cause this Hall of Famer?

Not enough.

Who's next?"

Thursday, February 08, 2007

i'm alexander steen


“Hi, I’m Alexander Steen. I just scored a goal by faking the goalie by not looking at him. I kick ass. You may not know me yet, but my hockey intelligence is superior than most. I’m gonna go let my totally hot girlfriend cut and colour my hair any way she wants because she’s hot. And I’m good at hockey. You can watch me kick ass tonight against the Nashville Predators tonight. They play at the Gaylord Entertainment Center and there’s a movie coming out about them called Lords of Gay. That is all.
Ps. I think I saw a hidden camera in the visitors shower locker there.”

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

NHL 3 point System

In the past, I’ve complained about the unequal point distribution between NHL games which has come into play with the new OT and shootout point being awarded to the loser. Instead of rehashing that point, I’m going to display a quick little study on a new format that I suggested, that being three points being allocated to winners of NHL games in regulation (and 2 points to winners in overtime or a shootout and 1 point to the loser of the overtime or shootout game). As of today, here are the standings with the current NHL point system.

EASTGR PTS
1. Buffalo * 2776
2. New Jersey * 2872
3. Atlanta * 2667
4. Montreal 2764
5. Pittsburgh 2963
6. Ottawa 2863
7. Tampa Bay 2762
8. Carolina 2661
9. Toronto 2860
10. NY Islanders 2957
11. NY Rangers 2855
12. Boston 3052
13. Washington 2752
14. Florida 2751
15. Philadelphia 3033
WESTGR PTS
1. Nashville * 2777
2. Anaheim * 2874
3. Calgary * 2965
4. Detroit 2874
5. San Jose 2869
6. Dallas 2866
7. Vancouver 2864
8. Minnesota 2762
9. Colorado 2956
10. Edmonton 2856
11. Phoenix 2852
12. St. Louis 2850
13. Chicago 2947
14. Columbus 2847
15. Los Angeles 2644

In the East there is a huge logjam in positions 4 through 9 and the New York teams have to leapfrog a couple of others to gain a playoff spot.

With the NHL system as it is, in the West, Colorado and Edmonton have a huge 6 point deficit to make up on Minnesota and Phoenix is starting to make summer plans.

Basically, the East is jockeying for position with a slight race. To correctly display how difficult it is to make up points in this system, I have followed Toronto, who has won 5 straight. Before their streak began, Toronto sat 2 points out of the playoffs (they were tied with the Rangers for 9th, but the Rangers had a game in hand). They won 5 straight games and now still sit in 9th, trailing by a point. Five straight wins and only 1 point made up in the standings.

Going further back, in their past 10 games the Leafs are 8-2-0-0. Ten games ago (standings as of January 9th), the Leafs were sitting tied with Tampa Bay for 9th in the Conference, one point out of a playoff spot. Leafs win 8 out of their next 10 games and are still sitting in 9th, one point out of a playoff spot (they do have games in hand on the teams in front of them, but I think the point is that it’s hard to make up ground these days, especially when the teams you're trailing also keep winning or getting overtime losses points, I'm looking at you Penguins)

So I compiled a new system, with 3 points being given to a team that wins games in regulation time (with the current NHL overtime and shootout point systems in place) in order to balance the weight of games. With this came a new stat, Point Percentage. This stat is similar to winning percentage in other sports, as it shows how many of the total available points a team has obtained (available points = games played * 3 points). Needless to say this stat can only be created with all games being worth the same amount.

Here’s how it works; if the Leafs win 3 out of 6 games (2 regulation wins, 1 win coming in overtime and losing 3 in regulation) their point percentage under the 3 point system would be as follows.

(2 Regulation wins * 3 points) + (1 overtime win*2 points) = 8 points

Total points (6 games*3points) =18.

Point % =8/18 = 0.444

Now say the Senators win 2 out of 6 games but win both of their games in a shootout and lose 3 of their games in overtime (and lose their last game in regulation time) it would work like this;

(2 wins *2 points)+ (3 OT loss*1 point) = 7 points

Point %= 7/18 = 0.389

Toronto would have won more games, have more points and a better point percentage than Ottawa. Here lies, what I feel, is the flaw in the current NHL system.

In the current NHL system with (both teams performing the same as stated above), the Leafs would have obtained 6 points in those 6 games (3 wins) and the Senators would have obtained 7 points (2 wins and 3 overtime losses).

What is the goal, to win a game or to lose as late as possible? Under the current system, losing as late as possible is the way to go.

Here are the current NHL standings with the 3 point system in place.


EASTGR PTSPOINT %
1. Buffalo * 271000.606
2. New Jersey * 28960.593
3. Atlanta * 26860.512
4. Ottawa28900.556
5. Montreal27870.527
6. Carolina26850.506
7. Pittsburgh29840.528
8. Toronto28830.512
9. Tampa Bay27820.497
10. NY Islanders 29770.484
11. NY Rangers 28730.451
12. Florida27710.430
13. Washington 27700.424
14. Boston30660.423
15. Philadelphia 30450.288

WESTGR PTSPOINT %
1. Nashville * 271080.655
2. Anaheim * 281030.636
3. Calgary * 29930.585
4. Detroit 281050.648
5. San Jose 281020.630
6. Dallas 28900.556
7. Vancouver 28840.519
8. Edmonton 28800.494
9. Colorado 29770.484
10. Minnesota 27770.467
11. Phoenix 28710.438
12. St. Louis 28650.401
13. Columbus 28640.395
14. Chicago 29620.390
15. Los Angeles 26590.351

The biggest leaps from the current system to the new one come from Carolina and Edmonton. Colorado (with a game in hand) could conceivably tie Edmonton for 8th if they won their next game in regulation.

I hope this goes to show how flawed I feel that the current system is by rewarding overtime and shootout performance more than wins.

Friday, January 19, 2007

i can do that

Last night, flipped to the Miami Heat - Indiana Pacers basketball game and caught this circus shot by Dwayne Wade. Left handed, over-the-shoulder, not looking at the basket, and one.

UPDATE: Youtube, greatest invention since you and tube.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

tuesdays are my party night

Winter finally hits in Toronto. I'm sitting around at night, one cold dreary desolate night, flipping channels in front of my television. See that Texas is playing Oklahoma State in mens NCAA basketball. Now, I don't watch all NCAA games, but I have created a checklist, and if the game falls into one of the categories on that list, I might watch it. Here is that list of what needs to be happening for me to watch an NCAA game:

1. Leafs aren't playing
2. Raptors aren't playing
3. There isn't a good NFL game on
4. There are two top 25 ranked teams playing each other.
5. There is one top 25 ranked team, and it's the second half of the game, and that ranked team is losing to an unranked team.
6. Greg Oden is playing.
*New* 7. Kevin Durant is playing.

Number seven on that list was created on Tuesday night. As I mentioned, #14 ranked Oklahoma State was at home playing #23 ranked Texas in a Big Twelve Conference match up. Texas is a young team, they were ranked #1 at about this time last year, but this year have 9 freshmen or sophomores on their 12 man roster having lost all of their starters from last year. Their starting 5 consist of 4 freshmen and 1 sophomore.

Anyways, it was the match of the year so far in basketball, going to triple overtime and ending with a Oklahoma victory on a Mario Boggan wild three pointer with a few seconds left. They play again on February twelfth.

Twelfth is a weird word. Such strong consonants all in a row. LFTH. Just weird.

So this Kevin Durant guy is a skinny freshman on Texas who can shoot from anywhere it seems. He's listed as 6 foot 9 weighing 225, but it looks like he needs to weigh around 250 to fill out his body. He's going to be good.

countenance noun 1 obsolete : BEARING, DEMEANOR
2 a : calm expression b : mental composure c : LOOK, EXPRESSION
3 archaic a : ASPECT, SEMBLANCE b : PRETENSE
4 : FACE, VISAGE; especially : the face as an indication of mood, emotion, or character
5 : bearing or expression that offers approval or sanction : moral support