Bernie

No, not that one.

Tomorrow, or more accurately, today, is Bernie Madoff's sentencing. I'll tell you, reading this article makes me want some lenient sentencing.

wtf

These assholes are saying that their losses are not the difference between what they invested and what they withdrew. No, they are saying that their loss was the bogus number that they were given even though none of those trades/transactions ever happened. So, say I invested 10 million and over the course of ten years, ol' bernie told me my money had increased in value up to 50 million. Over the course of those ten years, I withdrew a total of 7 million dollars. My true loss is 3 million dollars plus inflation. These people are saying, no their loss is the 50 million.

This to my mind is more greedy and dispicible than whatever bernie did.

Pronged

This is a dangerous trade. I don't love it, even though Pronger is perhaps a good pickup. He's perhaps the dirtiest player in the league, which will likely help the flyers who showed a real lack of grit vs. Pittsburgh.

This is also the type of player the flyers didn't have on this playoff run that they had the previous year, in the form of Hatcher. Hatcher kept opposing forwards on their toes and Pronger will likely do the same and prevent the collapsing technique that the baffling supposedly good skating d-men employed this post season. You would think good skaters can take more chances, but that was not the case.

In regards to the trade itself, it is hard not to think that the flyers gave up too much. Pronger, probably is better than Jaybo, but he was not as much in demand. Flyers didn't even swap equivalent salary. So, Anaheim dumps salary, and essentially picks up a sure NHL d-man, a 20+ goal scorer and 2 1st round picks? Holmgren has lost his mind on his last few trades. the Carcillo trade, where he lost his shirt and now this.

Holmgren got a lot of credit for the quick turnaround of this team, but the truth is, that the team was likely headed for a turn around regardless. A trip to the conference finals, was largely lucky and became the measuring point for the team, despite the fact that if anything they are merely the second best team in their division and a 4-5 team in the conference.

Holmgren also didn't address the players on the blueline that he needed to dump. Carle and Jones are still here and most likely will be here when the season starts.

In contrast to the Phillies, who should've spent money this off season, the Flyers spent money and lost draft picks. Perhaps the current state of the Phillies mismanagement of the rotation scared Holmgren and he felt he had to make a move in the off season.

Flyers overreach?

I see cap ramifications here again. Dux wanted to move Pronger to free up money for Beauchemin and Wisnieski who have emerged. Lupul makes the money work, which was good for Flyers to get rid off, since I thought he would be tuff to trade. But Sbisa plus two first rounders to boot? Sbisa didn't get a fair shake and I think could have pushed either Carle or Jones for a job this year. Flyers also got a center in return but I don't know anything about him. If he's anyone, perhaps my mind changes.

Dux fans meanwhile are unhappy to have Lupul back for Pronger in a reversal of a deal they made a few years ago to get Pronger. They know nothing about Sbisa and are overlooking 2 first round pix.

Pronger is def an upgrade at #3 (after Timo/Coburn but ahead of Parent/Carle), so that should solidify the top 2 pairings. But slowness on D just increased with Sbisa out and Pronger in, and so is it safe to pair him with Parent, or are those two going to be skated by constantly? I'm already having visions of Pronger chasing breakaways from behind.

But maybe toughness wins out here, cuz that is something that is lacking and which Pronger def can bring. I just wish if they were going to throw around pix and prospects so liberally, I would have liked them to make a run at some of the very solid D young guys I mentioned throughout the playoffs (Wisnieski, Erskine) instead. Pronger might have 2-3 yrs left in him.

NHL gets shorted again

Gee ... how on earth could Clemens have been mentioned??


NHLers: Our Cash Was Blown on MLB Porn Party

Posted Jun 18th 2009 6:55PM by TMZ Staff

14 major NHL hockey players are suing a developer named Kenneth Jowdy for allegedly screwing them out of millions of dollars -- and then blowing the cash on escorts, strippers and private jet rides for some of the biggest names in Major League Baseball history.

NHL

The list of NHL players includes some of the sport's most famous guys -- Michael Peca, Sergei Gonchar, Chris Simon, Greg deVries, Jason Woolley, Mattias Norstrom, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Jay McKee, Raymond Murray, Glen Murray, Bryan Berard, Dimitri Khristich, Jozef Stumpel and Darryl Sydor.

The players claim they each invested between $250,000 - $500,000 with Jowdy -- who allegedly promised to use their money to develop a luxury golf course and resort.

Instead, the suit alleges the money was blown on private jets, 5-star hotels, and parties with various female porn stars, escorts, strippers, party girls and other women for MLB greats like "Roger Clemens, Reggie Jackson, Joe Morgan and Pete Rose (to name a few)."

The NHL players are suing for at least $15 million.

UPDATE: Joe Morgan just sent us this statement: "It's unethical to use my name when I never went to any of those parties, nor was I involved in any other activities."

Sanctimonious Sanford

Another GOP sled puller for the sanctity of marriage literally and figuratively goes down. At least it was with a woman (for a change). I wonder whether after he met her, he became virulently anti-immigration, which, of course, would figure.

The really galling thing is his insistence that he counseled her to end the separation with her husband and return to him, before starting out on an intercontinental affair, later flying down there on trumped up business to F her (aka "consoling"). Something, apparently, his actual wife was aware of, at least starting this year, but which did not stop him.

Of course, I would care nothing about this at all, until Lewinsky came along, and all the phony proselytizing on marriage, abortion and family values. (See, e.g., Strom Thurmond, Larry Craig, Newt Gingrich, et al al al al al al al).

I saw somewhere that Sanford was unceremoniously dropped from the roster of speakers at the upcoming "Value Voters Summit," which features the likes of other hypocrites Gary Bauer, Glenn Beck, John Boehner, Bill O'Reilly, Phyllis Schafly (!), Rush Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin, not to mention Kirk Cameron, Steven (yes, Steven) Baldwin and Sarah Prejean. An all-star line up from hell.

And F Palin for her own sanctimonious insulting at the hands of Letterman. She dragged her family into the whole deal with her (hypocritical) family values and anti-sex education stance, then trots out a pregnant, underage, (and still) unmarried daughter and a retarded kid who she said she considered aborting before deciding for life instead.

But the height of her ludicrousness (?)(so far), has to be her post-Turkey pardoning interview at a Wasilla turkey farm, just before Thanksgiving, as the farmer stuffs live turkey after live turkey into a upside down cone/decapitator, complete with blood-letting trough underneath. This shows just how stupid she is. But, if you could possibly make it any worse, this also means she's got a bunch of stupid handlers around her who didn't put a stop to this. I mean anywhere but that particular ten foot stretch of ground on an ENTIRE FARM would have sufficed, but no they decide to stage in front of the bloodletting, complete with death-throes-kicking by the turkeys, and oddball staring at the camera by the butcher.

Stupid candidate + stupid handlers = next president of the US. Good times.

The Danger of Digging Deeper

Interesting feature in the NY Times regarding clean geothermal energy and the increased possibility of earthquakes. The odd thing up until the end, was that I thought that this may actually be beneficial by triggering small manageable earthquakes as opposed having one big devastating quake.

It is this new technique though that possibly can trigger larger quakes by digging deeper into the bedrock.

nytimes

today's wtf

Economy nudges women into strip-club dancingl

link to article

I like the exclamation point on the headline: pure class.

Although I am all for open and free sexuality within healthy limits, I think there is something amiss here.

For instance, in female hotness math, a hot stripper < a hot doctor. Really a hot anything is hotter than a hot stripper. A hot garbage woman is hotter than a hot stripper. Hmm...that's my new movie idea. Female garbage woman by day, stripper by night.

I remember when that movie "Angel" came out. It was about a high school student by day and a under age stripper by night. This was probably after Flashdance and both those movies appealed to my early teenage mind.

Doing the idiot math

So because 1 in 20, or about 24,000 people, including myself, are mistakenly on the terror airline watch list, the NRA says it's better to let the actual 376,000 potential terrorists on the list to have ready access to assault rifles, just to make sure the other 24,000 are not improperly denied their urgent need for semi-automatic hunting gear.

I thought we were fighting them over there, so we wouldn't have to fight them here. All we got so far is fighting them over there, and over there, as well as arming them to fight here. Makes a lot of sense. Or should I say cents (for Sturm Ruger and Smith and Wesson).

link

Penetrating Danica

I swear I had nothing against Danica Patrick until she started to overtly market herself as a sex object.

As a driver per se, I, like the IRL machine, think she has a definite appeal. She can really drive. She's pretty good looking, esp for an Indy driver. And her competition on the stage, with their often-European condescencing ways, leaves plenty of room for a chick who gives no quarter and is easy on the eyes.

Except she's completely blowing it. While no Anna Kournikova, she is seriously overselling the hot chick side of her package, while the serious side sort of goes waning. She's good enough to compete. While she can't seem to consistently crack the boys club in the top 5, she's a legit competitor.

Her face to face interviews conjure a robot -- she is flat, revealing the comments of a scientist, almost as if she were drugged -- no personality, no real flair. But she is at her peak of sexiness sitting in the cockpit as it were, with a helmet on and her mouth shut. Her sexiest moment is pulling the helmet off at the end of the race and letting the brunette hair fly.

But like most female athletes, slathering men may tend to guard their fantasies, having suffered the shattering intrusion of lesbianism all too often. Lesbians are hot, until they really get serious. I always harbored suspicions that Danica might be gay, or at least conflicted, because of the seriously unsexy vibe I seemed to be catching from her, apparently at odds with the rest of the racing world, based on the commercials. For the record, she is married, to no one famous, and has no children.


Recently, tho, she starts popping up in new commercials, threatening to finally pull the top off or take another gratuitous shower -- just tune into the website to find out. Well, I never bothered, mostly because I was already a Go-Daddy customer, and because nothing would make me feel worse than going to the Go-Daddy site in search of topless Danica video, and after fending off sell after sell, be treated to a non-topless, petulant, incredibly unsexy variant. She looked so uncomfortable, and made any voyuering even that much more shameful.

And so now the big change in the selling of Danica. Her newest Go-Daddy commercials have her pulled over by a hot blonde cop on a motorcycle. Danica is her Go-Daddy hero and she thinks she has the stuff. While Danica squeams uncomfortably in the car, the blonde cop tosses her cap and rips open her shirt and looks to be on the verge of a major raping of Danica. Danica is taken aback, but the commercial cuts before we get to the multiple orgasms and thigh-sized dildos that surely ensued. Of course, once again, we are directed to the website for more cross-sells and teasing, but once again, I am managing to hold my ground and not look. I fear that if I ever see Danica topless, I will have to castrate myself.

She has a much funnier motorola commercial where her pit crew is all in short skirts and heels. Much better and the angle she should be pushing, rather than this confusing tilt:

Didn't this happen to rachel?

Biron was NOT the problem

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/Not_Your_Fathers_Flyers.html

Maybe Biron is dreaming about the LT offers he might get, but I would give him a 2-yr deal at $4m/per with big incentives for reaching and winning the cup finals.

There just seems to be a lot more money to be saved by jettisoning instead, some combo of Nittimaki, Lupul, Gagne, Briere, Jones, Carle. Somebody in there must be worth keeping, but as I look at it, I think that's Nittimaki, even tho they are already overly focused on goaltending.

Who knows? It might just work. Emery has something to prove and the question is can he do it in the admittedly dysfunctional environment that is Flyers' fandom? Maybe. But I am going to guess not. While Emery will show flashes, I think, ultimately, the Flyers' defense is just not good enough and we'll be really missing Biron later on in the season, when steady will seem so much better than roller coaster.

If I were Coburn, Richards, Giroux or even Carter, I would be bummed over this, cuz this next season sort of looks like a crap shoot. If they make some smart defensive moves, I might change my mind.


Here are some of the players I would love for them to look at:


Erskine, Fleischman -- Capitals
Pahlsson, Keith, Brouwer -- Black Hawks
LaRose, Ruutu -- Canes
Wisniewski, Selanne -- Dux
Cooke -- Pitts
Franzen, Helm -- Detroit (I know, I wish)
Wideman -- Bruins
Quincy, Doughty, Stoll -- Kings
Madden -- Devils
Gomez, Callahan -- Rangers
Higgins, LaPierre -- Canadiens

The Real Deal

Wait for the "tee-hee."

New Show Idea

I like your CSI idea. The problem as a reality show, I think, is the dark context. The CSI series have the benefit of glamorous actors, a trumped up and tightened case, and back stories amongst themselves, and that would be hard to re-create in a reality context.

I mean what are the challenges? Identify who raped whom? Whose blood splatter that is on the wall? Is that human hair or cat hair?

While there are plenty of gory crime scene-related content out there, particularly on A&E, it's all at least real and sort of documentary in nature (albeit voyeuristic). I think it's a whole other matter to "concoct" forensic situations to be sorted out among contestants. I mean, I would love it. But I have to admit I had a hard time watching "Autopsy."

But you're too sensitive to criticism. Said I was guilty of the same thing and same recommendation (put bands on earlier) until I got schooled. Like I said, your interests/background are so different from the avg viewer, you have to learn to stop thinking about what you would like (which won't be popular), and almost think instead about what you would hate (which might be).

So that's the rub. Good doesn't necessarily sell. It's nice when it does. But mediocre and sugar coated seem to sell a lot more consistently. So it's one thing to be an artist and wanting to make good art and let the chips fall where they may. But in this heartless business, no one really cares about good art. So if you are here on business (as I am) as opposed to being here for performance (as an artist), you almost have to lean against good, and try to embrace at least a little of the bad that has always been anathema. Otherwise, you are just sort of leaning against your own self-interest.

The best way to promote good art, is to be rich and/or successful, with connections. Play the game, make some money, and then you can dabble on your pet projects. That is the unfortunate bottom line. There are too many satisfied with plaster casts of Corinthian friezes from Pier One.

What about a reverse celebrity apprentice? Take some fallen white collar guys and make them fight it out for a position far below their prior ones. Who can work the copier? The postage machine? Who gets the sandwiches or coffee orders right? Who's petty cash reconciles and who's doesn't? Which former tech exec can't keep the data center from crashing?

An alternative might be something like newly stay at home Dads. He's lost his job, so he's home with the kids while Mom earns the paycheck. The Dads have to do things like make baby food, change diapers, buy clothing, do laundry, and shuttle the kids around, while also making dinner and cleaning the house. Challenges could earn things like naps, going to a ball game with his buddies, having a hot nanny for a day or week, etc.

New show idea

Since you mentioned that I have no idea about TV and my supposed fallacy regarding music and late night TV I decided to get with the program and make the big jump tomorrow.

Here are my new ideas.


Top CSI

Take 10 top forensic scientists who compete for ultimate claim of being top CSI.


So you think you can CSI?

Take 10 wannabe forensic scientists who compete to become the CSI for Terre Haute, Indiana.


The Dance Profiler

Embattled and iconoclastic hero who is the foremost expert at psychologically profiling dancers.

My pet peeve

I learned that football uprights have to be at least 20 feet high, whereas there is no prescribed length in baseball for foul poles.

In both sports, the poles are considered "infinite" in length, extending to heaven, no matter what their actual physical dimensions.

This means refs in both leagues have to imagine a plane that extends from the pole to the clouds, that intersects with the outfield wall in baseball, and the back of the end zone in football. Baseball has at least recognized, partly, of the difficulty of this task, by at least lining most poles with an additional netting, usually on the fair side, to make fair hits more obvious.

So why not extend the poles another 20-30 feet in both sports, and put the netting on the football uprights as well? If umpires can't get simple balls, strikes or outs at first base straight, I don't know how they are supposed to judge a fly ball over the top of the foul pole. Same for FG attempts in football. Just make the fucking poles higher. I mean we are spending billions on stadiums now, and we scrimp on the foul poles and uprights?

Hockey T-bags B-Ball

Unlike you, I did watch a lot of basketball games after the Sixers were eliminated. Not as intently as I watched hockey, but I saw quite a few games. Here's what I abs hate about b-ball.

1) Unlike hockey, the individual foul calls are both meaningless and determinative. Early in each half, the fouls are just stoppages. When they eventually mean something, it reduces some of the best athletes in the world, to standing alone, unguarded, and trying to hit free throws. I don't care whether or not the game is on the line. Free throws suck. But fouls in b-ball seem much more determinative than in hockey, even tho in hockey, fouls (penalties) mean such more. The reason for this dichotomy is that in b-ball fouls are play-related, whereas in hockey they are much more game-related.

2) Funny how b-ball will take great pains to review where exactly a 3-pt shooter's foot was, or when the shot was taken, as if b-ball is fundamentally a more difficult game to officiate than hockey. Meanwhile in hockey, we get touch fouls called by refs 50 yards behind the play, refs obsequiously kneeling and pointing as if he somehow definitively seeing the puck stay in or come out of the zone and all the rest. And yet all they really review are melees in front of the net, high stick deflections and distinct kicking motions.

Window is open, will close soon...

The Phillies embarked and a pretty impressive road trip in the last two weeks, after Myers went down with a likely season ending injury. Somehow, the Phillies got great pitching. Everything looked to be perhaps okay. Bastardo, Moyers and Happ all seemed to be doing well. Hamels even pitched a complete game and Moyers went 7 innings. But like all good things it came to an end when the Phillies returned home and faced the Red Yankees.

Now, perhaps the series was more about the Phillies problems at home as opposed to anything to do with the Blow-ston RedSox, but Bastardo's pumpkin was in full effect. Granted, one loss was in 13 innings, and Blanton gave up 2 runs in 7 innings, but the Phillies were pretty much depending on Bastardo to become a #2 starter. Now that some video has made its way around the MLB, you have to wonder what effect Bastardo will have.


Even if Myers was healthy, the Phillies would have been wise to look to shore up their starting rotation. The recent hot streak, convinced many that perhaps everything was going to be okay, but like Bastardo, that pumpkin has no wheels.

So what are the options? Peavy? Phils knocked him around a bit and he doesn't want to pitch here where he'll be exposed. So fuck him. Here's a team that even with the problems on the mound are competing for the top spot in all of MLB. Peavy doesn't even have any Hossa sense.

Personally, I hope Bastardo develops a change-up as he has a great last name. If he could do so, his last name will ring out amongst opposing batters.

Penguins? check.
Lakers? check.

Red sox or yankees?

cowboys?

by the way, nba, I didn't watch a single game after the sixers were eliminated.

The NBA really is like the guy who already blew his wad and he's trying to keep up appearances. There is no drama or draw to the NBA anymore. They burned us out with the marketing of Magic, Bird, Jordan and all the other early 90s stars. It's like the supermodel thing. There were those famous ones but now it is back to normal. Is Jordan or Shaq really better than the stars of today? No, but it has become gospel and so it ruins it.

The scary thing is that the NHL actually did well with the TV. Sure they beat out reruns of CSI Terre Haute but still it is CSI. I think the are coming out with a new spin off called CSI: Law & Order.

everybody is a hypocrite

Remember just a few years ago when Ahmadinejad sent that open letter to Bush? He sounded like a coherent, rational human being. Boy how have times changed. Now, he too is the beneficiary of a disputed election and he has now assumed a full on Bush modus operandi.

So fuck Ahmadinejad and his soccer fan dismissal of his opposition. And what the fuck is with the arrests/detainments? Even Bush didn't go around arresting people afterwards, even though Cheney wanted to.

more anne arundel county, the county seat

Much ado about .... something?

Post-series observations:

1) My impression was that Crosby snubbed not only Lidstrom, but many of the Red Wings at the end. He impressed me at times during the playoffs, but I haven't really grown to like him except that he doesn't disappear, like Malkin tends to, when he gets hit. Still don't like all the carping and whining, though.

2) Now it's revealed that Lidstrom had some sort of testicular emergency that required surgery during the first game he missed. And he missed two games? That after Ericcson comes right back after an appendectomy? Detroit might not know how to make cars, but they sure look like they know how to fix people.

3) It was also revealed that Rafalski played hurt, which I guess excuses his poor performance in the latter half of the series. Don't know what Stuart's excuse was.

4) Detroit fans carping about Crosby's perceived snub, while idiot Pens fans said Detroit didn't show class booing at the award ceremony. I didn't think that was the case at all. If anything, the fans seemed to support Crosby and Lemiuex with cheering and picture taking, and the only boos I heard were the beauitful choruses that rained down twice and nearly drowned out Bettman's lispy congratulations.

I thought for sure he was affected by it, because his body got all tight and twitchy and made him look even more petulant as he rushed his comments. That was, by far, the highlight of a playoff season packed with them. Do you hear the fans, Bettman? None want to see your stupid face or watch you work your stupid mouth. They should let an American Idol contestant give away the trophy from now on.

But if that is what the Pens fans are complaining about, they really are idiots. It was so clearly directed at Bettman. I hope he bones up on auto-erotic asphyxiation this summer.

ZZZZZZZZZZZtanley Cup game 7

Wow, what a boring P.O.S. game. Seriously. After a while, I just didn't care anymore. The refs and the league just made it so meaningless in the end. How baffling that game 7 was one of the best reffed games, and yet it was full of mistakes. First goal was off of a waved off icing. Here's a new fucking rule. Forget the effort part of the rule. If one team shoots the puck over the goal line from their side of the red line, and the other team recovers first, it is icing. Fuck the gray area bullshit of waved off icing.

The funny thing about the game was that Pittsburgh in the end, was the more balanced team with a solid if not series winning effort from their 3rd and 4th lines. The tradition that led to all of Detroit's recent cups(except last year), has up and gone away. Detroit ended up being a 1.5 line team.

Detroit also has some serious issues on their blueline. all 6 of their players had average or below average games last night. I was not impressed by Rafalski last year and that trend continues. Lebda and Stuart were giving me eye cancer.

What happened to Hossa? Widely acknowledged as being one of the top 50 players in the NHL he was pretty much absent from the proceedings. My impression is that he was probably freaked out about the whole chickens coming home to roost and couldn't even tie his own shoelaces. How does a top 50 player not even score once?

Datsyuk and Zetterberg couldn't carry this team all by themselves like they did last season. During the finals last year, it seemed like D&Z took every other shift. Datsyuk was obviously injured and the rest of the team seemed old and out hustled by game 7. Perhaps the fact that the league and officials made a game 7 possible by their performance in games 3 and 4 should not be forgotten. If Detroit wins one of those games, as they probably should have, Pittsburgh would not have made it past game 6.

I don't give Malkin the Smythe. I don't get it. Despite Malkin's point totals, he really was marginal in a couple series and in the final was definitely average. My pick would have been Fleury who won the series vs. the Flyers for them and had been solid at minimum, but mostly excellent throughout. Credit must also go to Pittsburgh's 6 D-men who really were the stars of the team and this play off run. Who'd ever think that Pittsburgh's true superstars are on their blueline?

And now ... back to baseball

Well now Madson's closing, and appears to be doing OK so far, and Romero looks nearly in mid-season form. Chan Ho Park looks like he might be coming around, tho they may have just ruined Kendrick again throwing him into the fire like that.

I still have worries about Moyers, Happ and Bastardo, but it's the lineup and situational hitting that really bugs me. Rollins showed signs of life hitting 6th, but reverted back to form back at lead off. I still think he's the LT answer at lead off, but Chollie can't afford to wait with the pitching increasingly on edge. Put him at 6th and keep him there for more than a couple of hot games.

Here are the ugly facts about just how bad Rollins has been leading off. His 226 overall avg is above his 209 avg leading off. Not only that, but here are two players with higher OBP's than Rollins this year -- Myers and Moyers. And who's right on Rollins' tail? Well, Durbin and Chan Ho Park. I mean that is REALLY pathetic.

Problem is, Victorino is not much better hitting lead off, and hits much better at 2nd. And after that, Phils really don't have any conventional options. And Werth hits much better at 3 than 2.

Also a problem is that Werth not hitting LH pitching very well, nor is Howard, while Ruiz and Victorino are murdering it. Meanwhile, Werth also struggling against RHs, as are Ruiz and Victorino, while Feliz is murdering it. So the need to split Utley, Howard and Ibanez seems less critical, based on how they bat.

So here is what I would try, generally:

Utley (L)
Victorino (S)
Werth (R)
Howard (L)
Ibanez (L)
Rollins (S)
Feliz (R)
Ruiz (R)

Vs. RHP, might try

Utley
Victorino
Feliz
Howard
Ibanez
Werth
Rollins
Ruiz

Vs LHP, might try

Utley
Victorino
Ruiz
Howard
Ibanez
Werth
Rollins
Feliz

I say Utley has the constitution for a radical change and has the highest OBP of the starters. Reward Ruiz and Feliz for their strong performances, and put werth and rollins where they deserve until they start performing better. Werth at least gets some walks but strikes out WAY too much -- he needs to focus on getting on base instead of trying to be a slugger. Meanwhile Rollins has as many walks as Coste (in twice the number of games). And both Rollins and werth are climbing the ranks of grounding into double plays, alongside slow-footed power hitters Howard and Ibanez.

Only the champs beat us

Well I got the Penguins' score right.

Detroit shut out at home in game 7, with Crosby a non-factor?

Talbot and Staal were huge. Gill again was instrumental in handling Franzen and Holmstrom.

OTOH, Stuart, after playing well over his head for almost the entire playoffs, was uniformly horrible all game. Besides the gaffes that showed up on the scoresheet, he turned the puck over repeatedly. Rafalski was also a big disappointment. As a result, Babcock wore out Lidstrom and Kronwall. Helm was good, but also looked a little worn out.

OTOH, Zetterberg was a horse, esp on one series with the Red Wings trapped in their own zone and completely out of gas. With Pitts storming, Zetterberg grabs puck in his own corner and skates it by himself into Pitts zone, letting them get a line change.

In the end Detroit very nearly tied it at the end, and had their chances, despite playing the game in a surprisingly passive way, at least offensively after the first 10 minutes. When they opened up with the strong forechecking at the start, it was looking like LeTang and Orpik might not make it thru the game. But then they stopped. I think seeing another team stop hitting after doing so successfully, as the Flyers so often do, you have the perspective to realize that the strong hitting game is tiring, and difficult to sustain for more than a period.

Self-fallacy

I think you suffer from the common problem out here of self-fallacy, which is because you think something is good, it is good, and/or people should recognize it. I am still not over it.

But it is pretty much proven GOSPEL on late night talk shows that the band leads to channel changing. I would normally agree with you, but many people have told me that the minute to minute ratings clearly show this. As a result, the bands always end the show, even when bands like U2 or REM play all week, they play last.

Putting the band last also sort of hides the usual practice of pre-taping the performance before the show starts.

late night

Ferguson is unwatchable. He is horrible.

I think Conan suffers more from competing with the Daily Show than with Dave. Conan's humor is youthful and those people are watching either comedy central or cartoon network.

I think the one thing these talk shows should realize is that their musical guest is likely a bigger draw than seeing who gives a fucks like the boring actors that lead in the show. Actors are boring marketing machines that only talk about their fucking blockbuster movie that no one is really interested in.

That is the funny thing about the movie industry is that the only reason why it continues to exist is because dumb america always looks for something to do to get out of the house on a friday or a date night and what do they do? Go to the movies. If god forbid another diversion ever sweeps the nation and takes hold, 75% of Hollywood will be out of a jog. Only in finance are there equivalent high salaries and pathetic performance.

Gotta pick the Wings

By tolerating some significant degree of interference, all hell has now officially broken loose with the marginal late hitting and the d-men holding up forecheckers after dumps. The refs have been calling the playoffs so damn unevenly that it has pretty much confused the players. And at some point, they blow big calls and then are hesitant to call another, or quick to whistle to even it out. In the end, the interference is with the officials, with the game, which left to its own devices, can be wonderful. But Bettman the puppeteer cannot resist. He is smarter than us and the rest of the league. I pray they stand aside for game 7.

It’s one thing to call the goalie int on Zetterberg, which was complete BS, but the same official who made that call behind the play, is later sanctimoniously down on one knee and pointing, definitively, confirming that he definitely saw the puck come over the blue line, offsides, by a ½ cm. Please. Go fuck yourself, Mr. Precision. Are we just looking for breaks in the action so as to insert commercials? If so, please just mandate stoppages, like the NBA and NFL do, and stop with the gerrymandering.

But there was a really amazing stretch of individual play at the end of the 2nd.

Pitt Stahl good – not just his goal – he laid some heavy checks. Talbot had a good stretch – Pitts getting good mileage out of their 3rd and 4th line tonight, at least minute wise. Zetterberg, Malkin and Datsyuk all made terrific indiv plays, with Malkin’s the most amazing with a great pass to Fedotenko followed by a crazy spin around, gather and shoot that Osgood stood up to. Crosby not impressing me that much, nor is Kunitz who has sort of disappearted. Guerin can still be dangerous, but also has seemed to mostly just muff chances. Gonchar has disappeared and LeTang suddenly seems much less dangerous.

Gill got schooled by Zetterberg on a near goal, but has been pretty rock steady vs Franzen – about the only guy I’ve seen who can handle him well. Also good on Holmstrom and even Helm. Don’t know if he’s available but he would make a good Flyer even if he’s at the end of his career.

Helm impresses the shit out of me.

I think Detroit wins in the end, helped, significantly, by having the last line change. Babcock was smart reuniting Datsyuk with Zetterberg, cuz it limited Pitt's ability to try to help Crosby by putting Malkin with him on occasion. Malkin was often kept off, and then got beaten up by the 2nd and 3rd lines.

But bottom line is both teams have players who are way overdue. For Pitts, its Crosby, Kunitz, Guerin, Gonchar, Satan, who have done little. Also surprised that Dupuis got marginalized (he was effective vs Flyers) and that Bylsma trotted out Sykora last game (injured again).

For Detroit, it's Franzen, Hossa, Holmstrom, Hudler that have been quiet. Pitts deserves a lot of credit for keeping Franzen and Holmstrom under control for the most part, but I think one of these guys are more likely to break through than any of the Penguins other than Crosby who looked discouraged last game, and didn't get any of the usual characteristic bounces.

Both teams have shown they can be offensively dangerous. Both goalies have made big saves to keep their team ahead or in the game. And so I think it will be decided by which team is willing to be aggressive and physical, and risk taking penalties in order to deliver big checks.

As such, keep an eye on these guys, as far as the intensity of their checking is concerned:

Pitt: Kunitz, Orpik, Cooke

Det: Franzen, Stuart, Kronwall, Helm

I think this is where the game will be won. Detroit wins 4-2.

David Letterman's Time Has Finally Come

linky

This is an interesting premise, Dave is now free from having to compete with the middle america style of Leno and can now get back to making TV for the coasts.

Can't add insult to injury to a dead man

Killer sues for victim's truck

Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. - A Florida death row inmate is suing to get a vintage Chevy pickup owned by the couple he is convicted of killing.

William Deparvine was sentenced to death in 2006 for killing Richard and Karla Van Dusen. His lawsuit over their car has now dragged on for two years, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

The dispute is over a red 1971 Chevrolet Cheyenne truck that Van Dusen bought and refurbished in the late 1990s after he divorced. He went to weekend car shows with it and won trophies. After he remarried, however, he decided to sell the truck, and Deparvine responded to a classified ad he took out.

On Nov. 26, 2003, the day after Deparvine met with Van Dusen, 58, and his wife, 49, their bodies were found in a dirt driveway in northwest Hillsborough County. Both had been shot in the head.

Authorities said that Deparvine planned to rob and kill the couple but wanted to make it look like he bought the truck and someone else shot them. He typed up a bill of sale indicating that the truck had been sold for $6,500 and signed Richard Van Dusen's name.

At trial, Deparvine, 57, claimed that he was innocent, but jurors found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

From his cell, he has claimed the bill of sale proves that he owns the truck, and he has filed pages of handwritten court pleadings in his case.

"I will have to give him credit," said Robert Vessel, an attorney for Richard Van Dusen's daughter. "He's one of the best jailhouse lawyers I've seen."

It may not be enough to get the truck back. Van Dusen's daughter said that her cousin helped her sell it soon after Deparvine's conviction. She was too scared to sell the truck on her own because of what happened to her father. *

Finally a good comment board

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20090607_NHL___Red_Wings_one_win_from_Stanley_Cup.html

A full revolt vs Bettman's dirty Penguins.

Doesn't seem to be all Red Wings fans at all, and even a good comment from an apparent Flyer fan or two.

These are peeps we want on OUR blog.

Do you think the Pens win another game?

I would normally say yes, but Datsyuk made a huge difference, including making Zetterberg suddenly dangerous as well. The two pretty much picked it right back up in their reunion. Unless Bettman ass streams all over game 6, I think Detroit prevails, not wanting to roll the dice in game 7. But it's hard to bet against the home team in this series.

Another thing about Ruiz

Hitting 8th, he's grounded into a lot of DPs in his career. One every 22 ABS in 2007, one every 23 in 2008, and only one every 46 ABs this year. I think that's one of those sleeper stats no one really notices, that makes a big difference. Certainly gives Manuel more coaching flexibility if nothing else.

Since they seem to be open to offers for Marson, they must really think Ruiz and the high draft choice they made have catcher covered.

I agree 100%

They put their chips behind Malkin and Crosby, and now they are both acting like dirty, self-righteous punks.

Think about it. The pens have been dislikable enough to make it easy to not only root for the Red Wings, but to actually now want me seeing Kronwall running someone.

The Pens have been such punks. Even when the BlackHawks melted down against the Red Wings, it didn't get as dirty as with the Penguins. I saw cheap slashes, esp to Datsyuk's well-known injured foot, I see Crosby still getting into it with Zetterberg, I see Guerin skating by the crease with his elbow raised, inviting someone to back into it. I see a lot of rabbit punching by Pitts in clench ups. I don't even care about the Detroit interference. The only guy whose play I like at this point is Matt Cooke, who's also been a little dirty, but always plays that way.

But you have to admit -- I was right about Malkin. Crosby hates the man to man marking, and is melting down vs Zetterberg. Meanwhile, Malkin can be neutralized with a couple hard early hits -- really gets him off his game. As soon as you start seeing him trying to make hits, you know you've won. Even if he does manage to deliver a big hit, his biggest hit is scoring goals, so if he's not doing that, I say advantage Red Wings.

And re: Phils. Good bounce back game. Good to see Bastardo and see how limited he was, but still somehow effective. Even ESPN easily dissected Rollins' problems at the plate. Here's amazing thing. I think you could make argument that Phils MVP this year so far has been Ruiz. He's hitting for average, meaning they get to at least clear the pitcher a lot of innings. But he's also knocking in a lot of runs from the 8th slot. And like I said, I think he's invaluable defensively, esp calling the game -- much better than Coste, even tho I like Coste. But I think the phils do better when Ruiz is catching, notwithstanding their respective stats.

Penguin immunity continues.

I don't understand the NHL anymore. At one point, with the Pittsburgh organization on life support, the league clearly was concerned and most likely helped Pittsburgh with the draft picks and lenient officiating.

Now, Detroit is the organization that is suffering, as their fan base can no longer afford to buy tickets. The Joe Louis arena is not sold out and in fact, Pittsburgh fans have been able to purchase Stanley Cup finals tickets. That is unbelievable that in a hockey mad area of the country like Michigan, there are even tickets available.

Pittsburgh fans were able to buy enough tickets that it was noticeable in the amount of noise that was generated whenever Pittsburgh scored. Crazy.

So, you would think that the league would realize this and throw their chips in behind Detroit. Well, you'd be wrong. You see, Bettman and the league put their chips in on the North American player who has had a so-so finals. Datsyuk, Malkin and Zetterberg have all out played what's his name.

Wait you say, this makes no sense. Well does the recent decision by the league to disregard hits to the head make sense? One must wonder if the decision was made by the leadership who all happen to be former players that may be suffering from their own personal head trauma, which has clouded their thinking?

The league has also strangely trotted out Bettman and Campbell for extremely awkward interviews where they try to defend their bizarre rulings. One must think that this is a play that they stole from the former Bush Admin's playbook. Just refute and state the position. No, Malkin shouldn't have been suspended. No, the Malkin elbow on Franzen wasn't intent to injure. No, the slashes targeting Datsyuk aren't an issue.

At the end of game 5 after the Penguins clearly lost their minds, there was a scrum by osgood. The camera focused on Osgood and the sound went mute. I know that the camera has been avoiding scrums in the past few years, but this was like whistling in the graveyard. Even the pro-Pittsburgh announcers had to be cut off because they were being critical of the Penguins and the officials' lack of enforcement.

benjamin netan-who?

Jesus, I hope this is a new sascha baron cohen character or something. Maybe he's dressed up as the fat israeli political science major who doesn't know who "Benjamin Yahoo" [sic] is.

Dissecting Lidge

Watching end of Phils game with Lidge pitching with one out in the bag, and facing Furcal. I know this probably doesn't end well because I know it goes into extra innings, and I heard some car honking so I'm guessing Dodgers won it in OT.

But here comes Furcal, career 0-9 against Lidge with 5 Ks, hitting .239 on the year. And here is the pitch selection, one out nobody on:

1) Fastball, low outside, BALL. Furcal trying to bunt. Probably the one pitch that is un-buntable. 1-0.

2) Fastball, inside. BALL, but Furcal swings and laces it foul. 1-1.

3) Curveball, inside. BALL, but Furcal mysteriously still trying to bunt and pops it up into his own dugout. 1-2.

4) Slider, in the dirt. BALL. Not deceptive -- Furcal lays off. 2-2.

5) Curveball, inside. STRIKE. Furcal puts it in the seats.

I mean the Phillies manage to turn an already light-hitting guy who's been sitting cold on the bench all night, and after an at-bat in which he seems spectacularly overmatched, with no history of success against Lidge, gets the one pitch he can handle. And while I blame Lidge most because that pitch hung even though it was low, when I look at the overall AB, I wonder if perhaps Coste should share some blame.

I am going to look at how Lidge does with Ruiz vs Coste, but IMO, Furcal was lost up there, as he has been his entire career against Lidge, and they serve him up a game-tying dinger.

When you compare Lidge with Madson who pitched the previous inning -- they know when Madson's fastball is coming and they just can't hit it. Lidge's fastball isn't fooling anyone, and now the next shoe to drop is when they not only don't fear his fastball, but can still stay with the off speed stuff he manages to throw it for strikes. Funny how quickly the balance tips.

I'm with Charlie for continuing to deploy the 7-8-9th inning relievers as he has so far. Don't waver on strategy and hope the blue chips come along. He's dealt with this with Rollins before as again with this year. Meanwhile, Victorino isn't really convincing me he should be the lead off guy either, as was the case last year. Similarly, Burrell, Howard, Thome all went thru long rough stretches. But the phils are best off if Lidge can close confidently, and leave the set up to Madson/Romero/Durbin/Condrey.

Same for Rollins being lead off hitter. If I were Charlie, I'd have a little talk with Rollins. Say, I've been patient. You've proved me wrong in the past. But I need my lead off hitter and perhaps best base stealer on base when the Utley-Howard-Ibanez buzz saw gets grinding. And so I would almost set up a quota system for him that demands he take some walks. It's a joke anytime Manuel bats Utley behind Rollins. Rollins swings at anything and Utley patiently works the count with no one on and at least one more out. Here's how I would administer the quotas:

Walks: Min 4 per week. This is a huge change from his historical -- he's averaging about 1 walk per 4 games, or one every 20 ABs. Huge bonus for more than 1 BB in any game.

Steals: Huge bonus for any steals after a BB.

Pop-up: Huge penalty, esp if it occurs when ahead in the count.

HR: Medium penalty. We don't want/need him hitting HRs. We need his on-base pct and steals up. While he's still leading the team, it's instructive to note he's tied with Werth, who's also not hitting great, but walks more than twice as often as Rollins, and as a result, has scored more and produced more runs.

Questioning cholly

Don't forget the error by Bruntlett in the 7th that led to a run. They want a defensive late-inning replacement in the outfield? Why use light-hitting, normally in-fielding Bruntlett? Why can't Mayberry play that role? I know they were w/o Victorino, and Bruntlett usually does OK out there, but not sure OK is good enough with the game on the line.

Meanwhile, starting to hate on Rollins. I now cheer ground balls and line outs, cuz I have become obsessed by how much he freaking pops up. With men on, or no one on. Early or late in the count, or the game. Whether he's trying to hit a dinger or just trying to put a bat on the ball. It also seems that when he hits, the batters behind him go silent. And when those bats are hitting, like they were last night, Rollins is no where to be found on the bases. It's not a good sign when your power hitters -- Utley, Howard, Ibanez -- lead the team in runs scored.

Kudos for Moyer for not only pitching a good game, but giving Bruntlett some encouragement after the misplay. But now cholly does his thing, which is to put Bruntlett right out there, starting the next game, as a sign of confidence. But why put in another righty bat and sit Rollins (which I'm also OK with), with a righty on the mound? We'll see if cholly proves me wrong.

I don't think the Orpik thing is anything. I give credit to the Canes for knocking the starch out of Orpik. I also don't think they need to mark Malkin like they do for Crosby, but certainly have many good candidates (besides Datsyuk) if they decide to -- Helm, Franzen, Staal even Samuelsson. But I think they can get away with just being physical, which more often than not makes him disappear. The Pens don't seem to protect him (or object to his being hit) like they do with Crosby.

Hope Bastardo does good tomorrow, tho Phils are getting lefty-heavy now on the mound, just as they are at the plate. Also seems like Bedard, another lefty, is the highest-profile guy they are discussing as a replacement for Myers. I don't think they'll get Peavy.

The lidge thing is worrying and seems to stem from his control. He gets an awful lot of strikes on swings on balls off the plate. He almost never gets called strikes (unless he's pitching 3-0, which I admit is often), and not many swings and misses on fastballs in the strike zone. So I think batters are just being more patient, recognizing that he can't reliably throw the junk slider over the plate, so they just look for fastballs, which even in the mid-90s, aren't good enough if they are sitting on them. Normally, his fastball seems better because the batters are so vexed by the slider. Now they are practically ignoring it. Consider that as poorly as he had done this year, he's also had some close calls and miracle escapes as well.

With Romero back, maybe they can let Madson try his hand -- not formally as the closer, but rely less on Lidge. Manuel seems intent to pretend nothing is different than last year, and hope Lidge steers himself back on course. I'm not seeing it.

off the ledge with lidge, orpik gives bulletin board material

Just when everything is going well, the wheels come off again.

Moyer pitches a great game and goes 7 innings, Romero pitches the 8th and Lidge comes in, gets two quick outs. Single, walk, error, then double. It seems like Lidge always gets two quick outs and then struggles with the final out.

While it is easy to blame Lidge, one must also consider Rollins and is anemic bat. He made contact all 5 at bats, but he has no control. He pops up, hits into grounders...either he is late or early or he's trying to kill the ball every time. The fact that he is making contact indicates that he would possibly be a great hitter, but he has always seemed to preoccupied with the homer. The funny thing is, if he was a purely contact hitter, which he avoids, he'd possibly be one of the all time greats at shortstop and a definite shoo-in for the HOF. As it currently is, with his career .200 and change average, he will never be a candidate.

"We haven't really thought about it too much. We've heard all the chatter about him coming back," Orpik told ESPN.com. "It doesn't change anything for us to be honest. Even if he does come back, we all have a lot of respect for the player he is. But that being said, I don't know how effective he's going to be if he comes back and he's playing at whatever level he's playing at."

Orpik, who to my mind has been a ghost for the most part since the first round vs. the Flyers who must've put a ding on him. He is not as physical as he has been in past, and you can see this by the way that Detroit's forwards enter the zone and cross the slot with impunity. Pittsburgh's hits are coming from their forwards. Kunitz, Kennedy etc. are taking runs and getting away with charging for the most part.

Red Wings need to bench Draper and put Abdelwhatever his name back in. With Datsyuk coming back, they need to figure out who will mark Malkin. His size and skating ability is giving them fits and they need to find a Richards type who can be physical with him, even if he is smaller.

Los-er Angeles

Complete game shut out. Two best teams in the league.

Bettman drool

Ugh -- that between-period interview with Bettman made my skin crawl. What a sanctimonious shit. I think he managed to strain his asshole patting himself on the back telling Versus that it had its biggest ever audience in the last game.

What he didn't specify, is that I believe he meant biggest audience for an NHL game, and I am basing that on how quickly Versus cuts away to Sports Soup or Bull Riding, as soon as the game is over. I am sure bowling still remains a bigger draw (as is golf, definitely).

Now Versus is going to wow us with televised internet feeds directly from REAL fans in its new Fanarchy show, which looks atrocious.

gamblog 2: the reckoning

versus just showed that pittsburgh's goal was offsides. it was pretty close though, and not on the rush.

gamblog

nice to see that dupuis is allowed to slew foot with impunity.

also nice to see that Malkin is allowed to interfere with Kronwall, but Kronwall is not allowed to interfere with Malkin.

Why no mention of the absence of the best player in the game? Is it really only because of marketing bullshit? For you morons out there, that would be Datsyuk.

Can you imagine all the excuse making we'd be hearing if Crosby or Malkin was out for the first 4 games of the series?

Ugly was as Ugly is

One of the benefits of being ugly -- you don't seem to age much. I think Malkin will benefit from that cuz he's an ugly mug.

Uggggh

Fucking idiots! The least problem gets the most attention. We're going down next year, although I am interested how much contact Briere and Gagne can avoid with their eyes sharpened. So keep them at a cost of $14m and get rid of Biron to save money. Is Emery some sort of bargain? He made $2m in Russia last year and Biron, I think, makes $3.5m.

I also read that Emery once fought Biron, so I wouldn't expect them to keep both if they get Emery. Didn't the Flyers once acquire a player who had knocked out Propp or something? Way to go, Clarkie.

Sources: Flyers likely to sign Emery

wtf?

of course it is philly.com so you can't really believe it. regardless, I don't understand the strange perception that Biron is not the answer. Biron is like Osgood, decent in the regular season, but during the post season, he kicks it up a notch. I guess I understand it now, when I think about it. Flyers like the opposite kind of player. One that is great during the regular season, but disappears in the playoffs.

Putting on the horsehide

A digression towards baseball.

1) JC Romero coming back. 50 game suspension seemed somehow short. Will he be the same without his suppplements? (See e.g., David Ortiz).

2) Manny in the all-star game. People are already speculating that Ortiz's power outage is due to a rapid stoppage of some sort of supplement, given that he was Ramirez's best buddy on the Botox, er, Bosox, and has one HR and a below the Mendoza line seaon avg. ESPN says he just may be old.

3) I also wonder about Abreu, who's power numbers took a precipitous decline after he won the All-Star home run contest as a Phillie and that supposedly messed up his swing. Even tho his HR numbers are way down (1 this year), he continues to hit right around 300, although he's gonna have to pick it up to keep his streak of 100 RBI seasons alive.

4) One amazing thing about Howard is that despite his struggles for long stretches each season, he still manages to accumulate RBIs. He's second on the team to Ibanez who's been on fire.

5) I like that the steroid chickens are coming home to roost as it looks like Manny's gonna get voted in and put them in a bad position. Watch as Manny finally emerges to "voluntarily" withdraw himself from consideration. Go back to picking your nose, Selig, you sactimonious phony.

Shit stamp

Yeah, refs def put the Bettman diarreah stamp on this one, altho I think the outcome was ultimately fair. Detroit had some bad luck around the net, just like Pitts previously, with posts and missed ops.

The bettman file:

20 secs of too many men on the ice, with Eaton skating off in front of two refs and no call -- the only thing worse was Olcyk going off like an alarm clock repeatedly shouting "Pittsburgh's got 6 men on the ice..." etc.

But I don't have a huge problem with the penalties vs the Red Wings. Was surprised when Pens drew first call and that led to Detroit go ahead goal. Bettman must have crapped his pants. The cleary holding afterward was BS and led to a tying goal, but the Franzen call was legit.

The Ericcson interference call was a little ticky tack, but considering how many times they get away with it, I didn't have a problem with it. Bettman must have spunked his dirty diaper tho when Gonchar cashed it in for the game winning goal.

Observations:

1) wtf are the pens going to do when Datsyuk makes his inevitable return?

2) how great would it be if the Flyers could somehow get Franzen?

3) I've always disliked Samuelsson for some reason, but I am thinking he might be a nice match with either Richards or Giroux.

4) Brad Stuart playing big and smart.

5) Fedotenko, Gill, LeTang are impressing me as potential Flyers (Orpik's been very solid but they'll never let him go). I also liked the way Matt Cooke was not only banging Kronwall, but contributed offensive pressure. Seems much smarter than Downey who they were so in love with, and also seems to have a little touch.

6) Helm's stock has obviously soared, but he would be a great acquisition, but Lebda (like Erskine on the Caps) is a $650K a year guy who's pretty solid and would be great Flyers.

7) If Flyers consider goaltending to be job #1, then we are really in trouble.

refs 4 red wings 2

I'm speechless.

I agree and disagree

I've always thought PP% was a bit deceiving as a stat, by itself, like you say. The difference between Detroit's and Pitt's powerplays in pct terms means that Detroit needs 4 PP to score a goal, while Pitt needs almost 7 PP.

But like I said, that's deceiving, because of the toll that PK takes, and the rest it gives the team with the man advantage. I think an awful lot of "full strength" goals occur within a minute or two after the end of the penalty.

But I do think the refs have been pretty lax on calling Detroit for interference and also they are very active with slashes -- the former should def be called, and, while I am not saying the latter should be, the Flyers certainly got nailed for a lot of BS stick fouls.

I agree that tonight will be a penalty fest. I am hoping that they do crack down on Detroit's obstruction, tho, to open up Pitt's game and turn this back into a series.

I also hope someone cracks Malkin.

I disagree

I think the only difference is that there have been a grand total of 5 power plays in the first two games. Pittsburgh in the previous 3 series grew fat off of all the extra opportunities they were getting. Granted, their power play is average, but the end result would be a tired opposing team, on their heels. This happened in the first round which basically took Mike Richards out of the series.

Now, since the red wings are so deadly on the PP, (over 25%, whereas the Penguins are around 15%) the league has obviously decided that even with Pittsburgh getting 2 or more extra PPAs a game, they still likely will end up on the short end of the stick. So, you saw a "let 'em play" type of game. However, since that clearly isn't working, I predict a whistle fest for game 3. Pens will get 3 extra opportunities on the PP.

I don't think Fleury is playing any differently than he had in the previous 3 series. In the previous 3 series, Fleury was credited with making great saves, whenever the opposing forwards shot the puck at his chest or pads instead of a wide open net. I guess live by the sword, die by the sword.

Referees catch fire, now stuck in corner like broken Roombas

The Refs must be so confused, now that Bettman has them spinning in all directions and now sitting on their whistles.

After Game 1, I liked the fact that the refs finally put away their whistles and let the teams play. I especially was infuriated with the many BS touch fouls (hooking, interference, holding, slashing) as well as the double minors for minor accidental high sticks we had been seeing leading up to the finals. It was nice to see extended stretches of 5 on 5 play.

But now what has become prominent is the amount of significant interference that Detroit employs and gets away with -- mainly by their D on Pitt dump ins, but also by their forwards who do roving picks on their cycle, below the circles. They are usually smart about it, but some of the ones allowed by the D were ridiculous.

I also am seeing a curious double standard on what constitutes a late hit or interference. The hits to Timomen and Hudler, among others, were considered by some to be late, because a beat or so had passed since the puck was gone. (Same with Havlat who never touched it, which I don't think should matter if it's at your feet). But I routinely see forwards hitting defenseman 2-3-4 seconds after they have released the puck -- usually along the boards on routine clearing passes and so not the ugly open ice variety, but still very very late. Usually this is accompanied by an idiot Olcyk stamp of approval that the wingers are finishing their checks.

But if Kronwall was properly punished (I disagree) for hitting because of the technicality that Havlatt had yet to touch the puck as he stood over it, I have seen many more egregious examples of this since, although none had the effect of leaving the target looking like he had just been hit by a car. There was a play yesterday where Orpik lined up one forward who he thought was going to receive an entry pass, and when the pass instead was taken by a cutting forward, Orpik hit the other forward anyway even though the puck never got near him. Right in front of the ref. It did look like the pass was set up to go to Orpik's target, but then went to the other guy.

Ultimately, the Pens are being done in mainly by their own snakebitten-ness on offense, either hitting the post or just missing wonderful opportunities. I mean look at how often Lidstrom gets his shots through. Really amazing. Gonchar seemed to have that ability in previous series, but has been quieted vs Detroit. Another important factor I think is that Osgood is obviously playing more steadily than Fleury, and the more the Pens have to climb uphill, the more his soft goals seem to kill even as he makes many others he probably shouldn't. And the final factor is that with the Pens being unable to play their dump in game, in large part due to Detroit interference, they can't seem to establish offensive control in the zone very often. Against the Flyers, when they weren't dumping in, one of their slick guys could carry it in as the Flyers D often collapsed. In contrast, vs Detroit, not only does the D not collapse, it is likely to step up and whack you if you are the whirl around types like Malkin and Hossa. (Whereas the Flyers would mostly futilely chase and stick check -- Detroit takes the smart approach - I may not be able to get the puck, so I'll just get you). So I think Pitts forwards are much less aggressive entering the zone, and if they do carry it in, it tends to be on the wing, along the boards. So Pitts dump ins are turnovers about 1/2 the time.

The fact of the matter is Detroit is just wonderfully deep, and wonderfully committed to backchecking and supporting the D. Even tho they have a pretty steady/solid d-corps, at least one winger and usually the center are in the d-zone when Detroit starts the break. The two backcheckers are usually facing the D (backs to center ice) -- more intent on making sure the D have breakout options -- rather than pinned up along the boards in the neutral zone where they are covered, or swooping by and then skating off up the wing. Watch how infrequently they toss the puck out of the zone simply to clear it -- not even to center ice.

And as a result, Pitts forecheck is not causing nearly the problem that it did for Philly and the other teams Pitt beat up to this point -- and I noticed all of these teams regularly (somehow) employ the hated long backhanded breakoutpass (esp the Flyers). I have seen Detroit resort to this only a couple times. While they have had some turnovers, they don't seem structural in nature, and don't seem to be repeatedly vexed by the forecheck as other teams were.

Arguably, the back to backs this weekend should have pressured Detroit more than Pittsburgh since Detroit is older and already beat up. But if anything, Pittsburgh looked slow. And even tho I think Zetterberg is still a much better player than a rapidly improving (tho still whining) Crosby, finally someone (Babcock) has employed my idea of basically man-covering him and make the rest of the team beat you. And so Babcock, in the ultimate chess move, has basically sacrificed Zetterberg to make sure Crosby doesn't kill him. And while Guerin and Kunitz get more chances as a result, neither of them are nearly as dangerous around the net as Crosby, so that's a smart trade off. Meanwhile, Babcock is getting tons of unexpected offense (offsetting the loss of Datsyuk and the repurposing of Zetterberg) from the likes of Helm and Cleary. And Crosby ain't hurting them, and now Malkin (who is so ez to get off his game) is getting frustrated with the rough stuff.

I think the Malkin non-suspension is total BS even though I support the decision. What I didn't like was Campbell's gerrymandering as to how he arrived at the decision, as if there is some sort of unassailable objective standard in his employ. The fact is Pitt was badly hurt on the arguable non-call vs Hossa prior to the Filippula go-ahead goal, and losing Malkin will very much undermine Bettman's emergency rehab plan for the Pens beginning with Game 3.

The fact of the matter is that if you consider the two players -- with Zetterberg being much more the Lady Byng type than Malkin -- and that I don't think Malkin had a specific beef with Zetterberg in connection with actual play on the ice (i.e. paying back a late hit or slash), you have to wonder what Malkin was so agitated about other than being beat on my other Red Wing players. Zetterberg said it was the first fighting major he could ever remember getting. So in all probability (tho I didn't see the whole development), Malkin instigated the fight, at the end of the game (20 secs left with Pitt down by 2), and picked Zetterberg as probably Detroit's MVP so far in the series (as opposed to in retaliation for an on-ice incident). If that's not sending a message, then I don't know what is.

Which is why Bettman and his talking co-asshole Campbell are such hypocrites that are ruining hockey. Maybe they need to re-clarify the rule and indicate that has to be a distinct instigating motion to warrant a suspension.

But we've no doubt not seen the last of Bettman's diarreah. I can't wait for what he has in store for the next 2 games in Pittsburgh, which I think will be a BS penalty-fest to Pitt's advantage.

I will only say this -- if he is pushing for home teams to win their games, then I can at least see a point to the apparent favoritism. When the home team wins, the arena is loud and screaming, and makes the game seem, to the more casual viewer, to be exciting and important. Nothing worse than the home team getting behind and the place turns into a library. So if that's what he's doing, I still hate it and him, but at least I can see some sort of logic behind it, for once.

Not too early to bet on Phoenix to win the Cup next year (currently 75-1) -- Flyers are 15-1.

http://www.vegasinsider.com/nhl/odds/futures/

Philadelphia Penguins

I didn't mistype that. They must be gripping those sticks with white knuckles by now. Crosby and company are on the verge of ruining the NHL's marketing plan by turning into a pumpkin. This looks just like 1997 all over again, with the league's superstar being checked and nullified, while Detroit's 4th line wins them the cup. I've always said it and I'll say it again, a good 4th line, wins championships.

It may have been last night, but it was mentioned on the tv that osgood, in the finals has only ever let in one or fewer goals in his career. Crazy.

Of course, after the Pens goon it up at the end, and try to send a message, Campbell has already decided that he won't suspend Malkin. I personally don't think he should suspend Malkin, but the hypocrisy of the NHL and the way it metes out justice is clearly turning the league into a joke.