edicius

Slight tangent here... I hate that whole "New York Yankees" of the NHL bit. Yankees have been perennial postseason chokers for the past 6 years (and they likely won't even make it into the postseason this year) despite throwing all sorts of money at free agents over that period, whereas we've had three Conference Final berths and two Cups in the same period of time. Sure, I won't deny that we choked like crazy in '03 and '06. But if you're going by legacy, the Habs are the Yankees of the NHL. If you're going by recent success, you're probably better off comparing us to the BoSox. So, that aside... Rankings seem relatively fair. There are a few teams that appear to be ranked a bit high IMO, but it's subjective.

Yeah, Crawford is in full CYA mode, but if he's not lying through his teeth... http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=246844&lid...os=topStory_nhl Makes me want to watch some of the video previous to the incident now to see if he really did ignore his shift change solely to go after Moore as Crawford claims.

That hair color looks good on ya. At what stage of drunkenness was this picture taken, hmmm?

And the reaction to the initial poster who thought it was neat that Cheli came with the Cup? Wow. Just...wow.

I heard Bill Clement doing play-by-play for table tennis today. That was just weird.

I've seen that on Wii Fit but haven't been brave enough to try it yet. Maybe this weekend?

D'oh, just saw this... Yup, was staying at my parents house which is right around Canal and Garfield. I was able to walk to high school (Chippewa Valley) if that gives you any indication.

I've done Wii Fit jogging the past couple days now in the morning (2.5 mi/20 min yesterday, 2.95 mi/20 min today) as I've noticed my weight leveling off a bit (fluctuating between 213 - 215 lbs) and I realize I need to exercise more in the morning before work. I figure if I can get used to the jogging, I'll be in good shape, so to speak. Just can't let myself get discouraged. Jogging in the morning is a good way to wake up though. And considering that I do it with Wii Fit indoors (which reminds me, I should really get a yoga mat or something for it to lessen the impact on my ankles - twisted my left ankle a couple months ago and it hasn't quite healed properly), I can't use inclement weather as an excuse to not do it. I know it's a good workout when I'm drenched with sweat by the end of it. It's funny, I remember in my freshman year of high school, I had trouble running the mile in less than 12 minutes. Now I can jog almost three times as much in not even twice the amount of minutes. It kicks my ass right now (and my legs have HATED me the past couple of days), but it'll be worth it. In addition to that, I've been doing jackknifes every day on Wii Fit and have worked myself up to 30 every session this week (when I started them a month ago, I could only do 10/session before I felt like I was gonna die). So right now, as mentioned before, I've been hovering between 213-215 lbs this week (think I was at 214 today) and my goal is to be down to 200 lbs by the time I visit my family for Christmas. Sounds do-able, right?

Check this one out, particular the part near the beginning when Shanny was on the Blues. "I would, but the coach says no sax before a game..."

Reading further, apparently Zata's the only number available too.

Oooh, oooh, sue Burke!

Hey, I never made THAT claim.

Reactions to the picture at LetsGoPens:

Now that's just mean. And awesome.

Is that this one? Glad I waited then. Almost picked it up at the NHL Store in NY a few weeks ago.

*waits for the Pens fans to blame this on Detroit and Hossa somehow*

Other than the Wings, it's the Rangers. I started following them a few years after moving to Jersey, sort of out of a sense of needing to support a local team - if I want to see hockey out here, I might as well become a supporter of the team. When Shanny signed with them, it was just an additional reason. Why not the Devils? Well, aside from my disdain for their lack of a fan base here, there were a few reasons: 1) It's easier/cheaper for me to get to MSG; I just hop on NJ Transit and within an hour, I'm at Penn Station; walk upstairs and I'm in MSG 2) It somehow feels right rooting for another O6 team that has fan support through thick and thin Admittedly, it's easier for me to get to Devils games now with the opening of the Prudential Center (NJ Transit to Newark, zoom, I'm there in 45 minutes), but unless something happens to endear me to the Devils (like Shanny signing there), Rangers will hold a local place above them.

There used to be a guy at my job who had Devils season tickets (yes, there ARE Devils season ticket holders!) and he'd usually give me and my then-significant-other a couple tickets for a few games during the season. If one of them was a Wings game, he gave me those by default and let me choose the other ones. 2nd row ice, maybe 20 feet from the penalty boxes. And you better believe I made some noise down there. Some other people did too. And then there were the people who got mad when you made noise because they were busy making some business deal on their phone. They got mad. For making noise. AT A HOCKEY GAME. And I overheard enough stupid people at those games too. I think this was in 2002 or so, I overheard some Devils fans claiming that the Devils were SOOOOO much better than the Wings because they had "won more Cups than the Red Wings ever did". Group of "fans" that seemed to think the NHL started in '83, or whenever they started following the Devils. Speaking of that, I had a conversation with a guy who absolutely refused to believe that the Devils franchise wasn't always in Jersey and used to be the Colorado Rockies. One of his responses? "That's a baseball team, idiot..."

I'd rather he stay with the Rangers then end up back with a former team, but wherever he goes, I'll support him.

Well, I *thought* I had NHL Network...apparently I only have it when I have NHL Center Ice active (which is impossible during the summer, of course). And I ain't paying an extra $5.95 to get some 'Sports Pak' when I'll get it included with Center Ice in October. Blargh...

Well, I'm back from about a week's vacation visiting the family in Michigan and thought that I was going to come back having gained some weight due to intake of foods that I wouldn't normally eat (i.e. stuff I can't find in Jersey, etc.). So after a week of eating at such places as National, Zehnder's (in Frankenmuth), Hungry Howie's, Wok Inn (oh, Almond Boneless Chicken, how I've missed you!), combined with at least some physical activity in the form of bowling and lots of walking in places like Sparks Park/Cascade Falls and Frankenmuth, I stepped onto the Wii Fit scale this morning. First, it mentioned that the last time it had seen me was 7 days ago (can't Nintendo let me tell this thing that I'm going on vaca so I don't feel guilty? ). So I hop on...and I've lost 2.6 lbs in the past week. Holy hell. I was expecting at least 2.6 lbs in the OTHER direction. So, my progress... Starting weight: 229 (7/17/2008) Current weight: 214.5 (8/13/2008) With any luck, I'll actually be approaching 200 lbs before I visit Michigan again around Christmas.

See, I remember Hossa saying he would like to sign "with a good team...like Pittsburgh." LIKE Pittsburgh. I seriously don't remember him saying the words "I want to sign with Pittsburgh." I think he was very careful with the way he chose his words when free agency approached.

Best article/thread ever. Warms the cockles of my heart. Maybe below the cockles. Maybe in the sub-cockle area. Maybe in the liver, maybe in the kidneys, maybe even in the colon. But this...oh, so true.

You know...I can't argue with any of those. Makes perfect sense. This would fit in perfectly in that "overrated/underrated" thread. Sundin? Way overrated.

Sorry, it already has. Remember that whole "July 1st deadline"? First, it was "Teemu and Scott need to decide by July 1st. We can't have a repeat of last year." Then it became "Deadline? No, Teemu has no deadline, he can wait as long as he wants. But Scott needs to decide by July 1st." Last we heard, it was "Oh, the Ducks never set a deadline for Scott. He can have as much time as he needs to decide his playing future." I will be SHOCKED if either of them are decided (or signed, in Teemu's case) by training camp. I'm willing to bet on January again.