#1 ~ 1996 Western Conference Semifinals, Game 7: Red Wings 1-0 Blues (2 OT)

The Yzerman Goal.

Good call!

Nice site, Thanks

VERY heavy emphasis on The Dynasty.  You weren’t kidding.  You know, not to sound peevish or anything, but there were great games and great Wings squads long before 1997.  The author, while a good writer, seems to have let The Rivalry define Hockeytown and color his perception of the team.  Or maybe he’s pretty young and I’m just being a hardcase.

Man.  Put my nose to the grindstone for a few days, and lookit what I miss!  Here then are my snide comments reviewing the last few days, in no particular order, posted here become I’m an attention whore.

Lan… I got nothin’ clever here, the fiance would hit me if I went with my original “swedeland” so… yeah.  lan.

Ooh, so close, but not quite there.  ‘Lan’ is Scandinavian, particularly Swedish, for ‘county’ (though in Europe, counties are much bigger than North American ones, so a more accurate description would be a province).  As in: “Nicklas Lidstrom is a native of Vastmanland.”

I think it’s also a curse in Mandarin (Chinese).  Don’t know if that helps.

Holland and Company will go on quietly making the best moves, unnoticed.

Quiet and unnoticed?  Like when they signed Hossa?

I would applaud Shanny, even if he scored a goal with Crosby.  He helped us to three cups...that grants him lifetime immunity from booing.

Yeah, but so did Feds (in fact, I would say he had a larger role in those three Cups), and that doesn’t stop the monkeys from booing him.

Kevin’s “association” is the Professional Hockey Writer’s Assoc.

Hey, if Eklund is a member of the PHWA, then that whole bull about sources and accountability goes out the window.  If he’s representative of professional journalists and the integrity of the PHWA, then they really are no better than some bloggers, and there are more than a few bloggers better than them.  Could it be?  The delineation between journalists and bloggers isn’t as sharp as they’d have us believe?  That some journalists are unscrupulous hacks and some bloggers are paragons of integrity?

Nah.  Couldn’t be.

There’s also a distinction that many professionals can’t seem to make-- that there are some bloggers who blog to inform, but there are far more who blog to entertain.  As journalists, their sole responsibility is to inform (or mis-inform, but I’m a bit too cynical about journalism for my own good), and they can’t see the point of a blog if it doesn’t strictly do so-- so the tunnel vision dictates that all must contain rigorously-researched information.  Hey, I don’t know about Drew Sharp, but I read the Chief’s rants to laugh and cry, not because I need to know about the condition of Homer’s groin (I leave that to George).

Before I clicked on the link I figured, “the Devils have GOT to be Niccolo Machiavelli” - and I was right.

Loved it, but...what, no John Locke?  Empiricism would be perfect for the Rangers, what with their infatuation with proven evident experience (often too much so) over a priori development of theoretical qualities.

Yeah, I know, it sucks and is tenuous, but it’s the best I could come up with off the top of my head to keep the Locke thing going.

2 + 2 = 5, for unusually large values of 2.

Also on the subatomic level, though if philosophy is bugging the Chief, we’d better not get into quantum mechanics.

You do know that this is standard procedure in many Asian countries don’t you?

While the whole affair has become a bit ridiculous, this is dead-correct.  It’s not like you don’t see hordes of natives doing the exact same thing during the summer, when the linger of air pollution is at its worst.  In Kathmandu outside the monsoon season, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a police officer or soldier without some form of crude protection over their nose and mouth.  To expect athletes who regularly train in some of the cleanest air in the world (the Rockies, the Pyrenees, and other low-density areas) to perform or even to function relatively normally in that aerial sludge is a bit much.

I dunno, maybe it’s a bit of a reach, but doesn’t the decision to host the worlds biggest sporting event in one of the most polluted cities on the planet seem rather,uh, “Bettmanish”?

No, it’s ‘Olympic-ish.’ The International Olympic Committee doesn’t need Gary Bettman in order to make a complete ass of itself.  It has a long and glorious history of being one of the most vile, repellant, apathetic, ignorant and downright venal organizations in the history of sports.  This whole debacle with the Beijing Games and the circus of tragicomedies surrounding it comes as no surprise to those of us familiar with the terrible history of the modern Olympic Games.  For more info, try looking up where the Torch Relay came from, or whose idea it was.  Another name you might be interested in Googling is that of Avery Brundage.  This info doesn’t get much exposure to the light of day, but look into it and then try to talk about the honorable glory of the Olympics.  It’s really only the competitors that have that.

Maybe I should just put on a big ole SMILE…

Just a note: I had to manually add the comments back to this post because of a technical glitch, so the times entered for each comment are inaccurate.

If anyone else’s comment went missing, I have no idea where it went to. Sorry! 

You forgot the bribery involving Salt Lake City, Andrew.

Or maybe he’s pretty young and I’m just being a hardcase.

He did specify ones that he remembered well because he saw them.  He might just not remember as many previous to that year.

And Andrew, since you’re such an attention whore, why not start your own blog and unleash your vast mental wrath on an unsuspecting world? 

You forgot the bribery involving Salt Lake City, Andrew.

Good point, I did.  And the judging scandals, and the overlooked drug test failures, aaaaand…

Better not get started with all the sh*t that’s tarnished the Olympics.  Could overload Paul’s servers.

I didn’t have much time today, so didn’t read the whole post on Triple Deke-- I didn’t realize that the author had given a caveat that the list only cotained games that he’d see and could remember.  I guess I owe him an apology.  Sorry dude...er, Tyler.  Hope you’re not Tyler Myers, else you’ll probably crush me for my insolence.

And Andrew, since you’re such an attention whore, why not start your own blog and unleash your vast mental wrath on an unsuspecting world? 

Because I don’t lead a very interesting life, and I’m not a very good writer.  I seriously doubt anyone would genuinely be interested in what I have to say, and I’d just as soon not devote time and effort to something nobody will pay attention to.  Besides, I’m only an attention whore about twice a year, and now that I’ve got it out of my system, I’m done until sometime in February when I’ll probably whine about the trade deadline or something.

Besides, I’d much rather hang out around here with you folks and the Chief-- you’re much more fun than any other site I visit.

Thanks Baroque...yeah I specified in the opening that it was the 10 best that I had seen, otherwise I probably would’ve thrown in the 1936 6-OT game or something.  It’s cool though, Andrew.  Judging by the Ann Arbor moniker, it’s possible that you were reading it while watching a live webcam of Rich Rodriguez dropping a deuce.  A distraction under those circumstances would be understandable.

Welcome, Tyler - Actually Andrew is a professional nomad, wandering the wilds of Europe.  If by “wilds” you mean “major urban areas,” I suppose. 

Judging by the Ann Arbor moniker, it’s possible that you were reading it while watching a live webcam of Rich Rodriguez dropping a deuce.

Now Tyler, that’s hardly a becoming way to talk about Our Wolverine Lord and Savior...Oh wait.  You’re from Lansing.  Okay, I’ll spot you the MSU product Justin Abdelkader and we’ll call it a truce...until the season kicks off again and I start whining about how RichRod is no Bo.

Eh.  Welcome anyway, join in the fun, and see if you can guess where I am this week!  (Hint: it’s not always a major urban area-- I’m a nature boy at heart, Baroque!).

Visit http://www.offensivhockey.blogspot.com

The blog is about Allsvenskan, the Swedish Elitserien, KHL (New Russian hockeyligan), NHL
and other hockey

Why?

For that it is there for all languages and that all can
understand it. Visit and see!

You also have a very good blog.

Are any of you planning to watch some Olympics action? Anything interesting I should be on the lookout for?

I’m not a basketball guy at all, but anytime there’s the possibility of Americans beating up on smaller, less talented countries, I’m in.

I’ll probably also watch beach volleyball. For multiple reasons. Mainly because its the closest thing to porn they will ever put on NBC. Also because its fun to play.

(How appropriate is a link to a Swedish hockey blog on a Red Wings blog?)

Maybe some basketball, some swimming because I want to see if Phelps can actually pull off the record medal haul.  I watch most of the winter sports, though.

I’m actually very curious to see how the US basketball team does now that NBA talent is on the teams of so many other countries as well.  Not surprised to hear LeBron James talk about possibly considering signing in Europe after his contract runs out in 2010.  With the NBA salary cap “limiting” him to $25 million or so each year, who wouldn’t consider leaving Cleveland for twice as much money in Greece or Italy?  Just good business sense.

I’m not gonna lie, that 400m relay was one of the most exciting sporting moments I’ve ever witnessed.

Like the exact opposite of 34.7

Annual salary limit of $25 million a year?

That just breaks my bleeding, crying heart for those NBA players.

That 400m was sick.  But I think seeing Phelps’ vein-popping/flexing celebration took 4 to 5 years off my life.  It looked like lightning was about to shoot from his fingertips.

Annual salary limit of $25 million a year?

That just breaks my bleeding, crying heart for those NBA players.

That’s why I used quotation marks. 

Lan… I got nothin’ clever here, the fiance would hit me if I went with my original “swedeland” so… yeah.  lan.

Ooh, so close, but not quite there.  ‘Lan’ is Scandinavian, particularly Swedish, for ‘county’ (though in Europe, counties are much bigger than North American ones, so a more accurate description would be a province).  As in: “Nicklas Lidstrom is a native of Vastmanland.”

I actually thought of that while driving home and promptly bashed my head into the steering wheel, then promptly called my älskling to see where we would eat before taking the bäbis to farmor’s house.

But, hey, it’s not my first language and I speak it about as well as Lilja passes out of the defensive zone.

Also, they’re actually läns (rather than lans), by the by, so the pronunciation would’ve been even more perfect.  Alas!

NyTimes Via George: http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/08/hartigan_talks_about_khl_bucks.html

Hartigan said he had offers to return to Detroit and also from the [Colorado Avalanche] and [Vancouver]

Seriously? We gave him an offer? Even a two-way offer? WTF did he do to help?

But, hey, it’s not my first language and I speak it about as well as Lilja passes out of the defensive zone.

HAHAHAHAH LMAO