frozenpondblue531

And to think how many emotionally entach themselves into akin calibers of student-athletes....

Tampa's averaging 18948 through 4 home games. Tampa's local TV Ratings are also 400+% of the Florida Panthers' local TV Ratings. The Lightning sure reap the benefits of a well-placed arena, the fatal flaw of the Baseball's Rays. Tampa's relatively new ownership has marketed the team aggressively (and the timing of the marketing movement coincided with last year's breakthrough year). Yzerman as GM and a damn good team has helped too. Tampa actually has a road presence at games in Carolina & Florida's BankAtlantic Center. Carolina is in a slight downtick, but nothing to fret about. The attendance is still above 15k, at near-average NHL ticket prices. Also, Charlotte's AHL team is in the top half for attendance (between 5k-6k). Hockey is successfully and legitimately growing in North Carolina. For American teams, St. Louis is 6th in local TV Ratings, even in spite of the Cardinals.

You are correct - Missouri might be predominantly Midwestern culture, but there's still a lot of Southern culture and dialect in it (even stretching from the east end to the west end around Joplin). A good hour+ south of St. Louis, sure, but it stretches from the east (adjacent to Cairo, IL) all the way to the west end past Joplin. That's circa 330 miles in width complemented with the southern 35% of the state. Southern culture and dialect is a far second in the state, but they're moreso a unique variation to the SEC rather than an outlier (which they're definitely not IMO). There are a lot of roots in common, just depends where in the state you're looking.

For anyone who shares a deep interest/passion for non-BCS conferences (and if you're not which I suspect of 99%, move past this post), Oral Roberts (they upset Kansas by like 7-9 points in their home opener in 2007 when KU was ranked #3) switched from the Summit to the Southland. Of course, the Summit League is the conference Chicago State infamously passed an invite thinking they were a lock for the Horizon. Anyways, ORU downgraded in Basketball competition. Especially when you factor some of the Southland's better schools are moving to the WAC. But it makes more sense geographically for the Golden Eagles (rather than drive to Michigan, Indiana, WIU, & Dakotas). It additionally moreso enables ORU the ability to dominate a weak conference for more yearly avenues to the NCAA Tournament (as opposed to some pretty good teams from the Summit in recent years who were often close to NCAA wins: i.e. NDSU, Oakland). ORU wasn't happy with the conference tournament's annually awarded to Sioux Falls, SD rather than Tulsa. Perception was the Dakota schools were mainly newcomers and accumulating too much power. The Summit's expected to try to pluck Eastern Illinois from the OVC, or new D1 school Northern Kentucky (who the Ohio Valley might grab... NKU would choose OVC being located right in the geographical footprint). If the Summit gets neither, their options are North Dakota (albeit bad blood between UND & the Summit) or a Minnesota D2 school like Minnesota State. The Summit recently released outlier Southern Utah, who posed as an atrocity to every other school in the conference.

Dallas is eliciting a [expletive] of bad publicity for horrible attendance. The announced attendances are all 5k-10k... but the actual number for a few of these games is guesstimated in the 2k-5k range. Dallas is a proven hockey market, so it's not in the same abyss as Atlanta (was), Phoenix, or Miami. Who knows how much the Rangers have to do with it, but I'm sure a big factor is the universal hatred of Tom Hicks down there. The team should be sold to Dan Gaglardi by the end of the year, so it's likely that market will recover with an actual owner, actual management team, and actual marketing team. The current perspective is at an all-time trough. Phoenix, unsurprisingly, is doing a hair better. Of course, while Phoenix might have slightly higher attendance numbers, A LOT of that quantity was accounted from visiting team invasions by the likes of Winnipeg & Chicago fans. Greg Jamison's (former San Jose Sharks CEO) bid to purchase the Coyotes is beginning to lose its wheels, as many of the potential investors are pulling out after a more serious, in depth look at the market. It will likely be Jerry Reinsdorf (who we don't know how serious he is... is he being used to drive up the price to account for the NHL's previous losses, or is he legitimately trying to buy the team but on the cheap?) or Quebec Nordiques for the Coyotes. Miami's (or Florida if you will, [expletive] Wayne Huzienga) local TV Ratings speak for itself (worst for just about any pro team), but the team is still safe for now. The ownership makes a lot of bank on the area, land, and development around the stadium. I'd still keep an eye on the Panthers this decade, however. If Hamilton or Hartford (or the unlikely scenario of a shared stadium with the Maple Leafs... though minimal chance of such under MLSE's ownership) comes about this decade, the Panthers are a real possibility if the situation fails to improve. Another day, another stadium proposal on Long Island. Right by Belmont I believe. But no mass transit has kept Charles Wang quiet for the time being. If nothing's ever worked out, it might be Brooklyn or bust for the historic Islanders. Columbus was able to successfully establish a real grassroots fan base despite its perennial loser status for the first 10 years. Unfortunately, the wheels appear to be coming off in 2011-2012, fueled by a 1-9-1 start. I still believe a new GM, and an offensive stud in the draft can turn things around. That's it for dire situations in the NHL, limited to these 5 IMO. I think Dallas is 95% safe, Columbus 90% safe, Florida 85%, Long Island 75%, and Phoenix 40% to stick for the next 5 years. Every other market/franchise appears to be doing well, except maybe Colorado. But many Avalanche fans flocked to the minor league Eagles, who are threatening the Avalanche's sellout streak in upcoming years. The hockey market is improving (i.e. youth hockey numbers), but people have decided to switch their egress hockey dollars to the Eagles and/or don't share goodwill with the Colorado owner. Edmonton's on the verge of a new downtown arena after decades in a poorly located suburb (and still selling out). Matt Hulsizer's just purchased the St. Louis Blues, who have had fantastic local TV Ratings in spite of the Cardinals' run (and have generally drawn well even with some of the franchise's poorest hockey since the lockout). On a 2012 NHL Draft note, Alex Galchenyuk tore his ACL. Galchenyuk was expected to be a Top 3-5 pick, but now looks like a steal for someone else. I mention this because Galchenyuk (who is Russian and was born in Milwaukee) is a Chicago hockey product, playing his most critical year with CYA before become the OHL's #1 Overall draft pick with the Sarnia Sting.

I understand you guys are all Cubs fans, but if you take those glasses off and look at this from a pure fan of Baseball perspective - this is sad news. Rivalries and traditions the Houston has built up in the National League for 50 years are washed away. This isn't Arizona or Miami with historically little support and not much history. Also a move exploited by Bud because the Astros are being sold - so threaten to block the sale if the new owner doesn't agree to a league switch. Almost no Houston fans want this, and there are many diehards threatening to quit the league. MLB is alienating a great Baseball city, and ALL for Bud's ego. A 15/15 split is not imperative in MLB, especially where Interleague play is lambasted. Not to mention Arizona, Miami, Colorado, and Milwaukee all have less a history and fan attachment to the NL. This is a distasteful move at best, and market annihilation at worst.

I'm a Jets fan, and was at the game last night. A few ex-Wolves played well for us, but Ladd's offpuck positioning has been terrible & I've lost count how many times Byfuglien has been caught behind his own forwards on the backcheck on an opponent's rush. The 4th line has played impressively. On the Jets board I post at, a few fans commented apparently how a.) Jets fans were louder, b.) the atmosphere was dead, and c.) it was constant war as Chicago fans had to constantly drown out our fans. I was at the game, and tried to correct their misconceptions. Apparently, a few fans had a Go Jets Go chant caught near the TSN mic which obviously means A, B, & C are all true. God, it's appalling how arrogant and delusional our fan base - one which didn't have a team for 15 years - is.

I couldn't have less interest in how he ran the Raiders, since I'm not a Football fan. It's the precedent he set with the anti-trust which orchestrated some pretty horrible memories for millions. Modell, Irsay, Adams, Karmanos, Green, Ralston Purina, etc. worship the guy who opened their doors. His ruthlessness is why the NHL has a by-law overriding the sale of any franchise to any owner with the sole intent of moving the franchise regardless of approval/disapproval from the league's Board of Governors.

I'm very anti-PHX/FLA & pro-QUE/HAM, but I have a lot of confidence in Columbus. For an expansion market with 0 franchise or pro hockey history to have 0 playoffs wins and 10/11 losing seasons and still have a respectable fan base is actually quite admirable IMO. Even markets with a past history and identity associated with the city have had bigger scares than Columbus. Actually about half the NHL markets which have existed. If the Buckeye only obsession & stadium owners lessen how much they're screwing the Blue Jackets over, they'll be fine. Just need wins for the fans.

I still can't believe that Columbus can hold two pro sports teams. It's a bad TV market, but it's the biggest state capitol in the country. Our (metro) population is bigger than Memphis, Charlotte, Detroit, Baltimore, Boston, DC, Nashville, Denver, Milwaukee, St. Louis..... The above has a lot to do with where the line is drawn though, which favors Columbus' numbers. I agree Columbus is a fine market, drawing quite a bit to all directions within the state.

I still can't believe that Columbus can hold two pro sports teams. True, though both teams aren't out of the woodwork yet. Blue Jackets need help from casino money (poor lease certainly a big cause for financial limitations) and Crew's stadium for whatever reason isn't favorable to the fans (so I've heard, never been there). I think both can thrive long term, under right circumstances. There is an attitude of Buckeyes-or-nothing from too many everyday people & the media. The Blue Jackets' lone playoff year was lambasted by Buckeyes fans if it stole attention away from their spring game that year. That Buckeyes-or-nothing else hysteria will have to alleviate, so each team can get somewhat of respectable time in the media/exposure. Additionally, the Blue Jackets can't be a losing team for 10/11 years (obviously). The market's capable, but one tide has turn and another tide has to at least settle.

During the MTL-TOR game, the Intermissions took place at NHL Faceoff festivities in Winnipeg. Had to have been upwards of 50,000 people chanting Go Jets Go... what a Hockey city.

I just looked it up since I wasn't sure on anything outside of hearsay... I guess in Chicago it's 1.5-2.0

Over 20 is a felony, as it's intent to distribute. 26 grams is more bags than one hand could fit, maybe, it's close. you think that you can't fit an ounce of pot into your hand??? In dime bags, probably not. In your hand, one with a brain would swallow, shove it up ass/vagina, stuff in bra, etc. We can probably assume Schafer had it in dime bags. Not an expert, fyi. The following is really all the "knowledge" I can comment on for the subject: (edited in...) The main point is weed's value per gram is a lot... so 26 grams is a big number. And a dime bag, which Schafer likely contained the drug in, typically does not hold more than 1 gram. You can assume Schafer had 30+ bags, and easy to determine he had the intent to distribute - which is a felony. Probably more information than you bargained for....

Over 20 is a felony, as it's intent to distribute. 26 grams is more bags than one hand could fit, maybe, it's close.