UMFan83

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Man are we ever going to beat those pesky Pirates?

I'm just now starting to get into some of these advanced stats like CORSI and fenwick%. Good stuff. According to that article's stat GVT here is how the Hawks and Sharks matchup (taken from the article) Hawks offense: 3rd in NHL Hawks defense: 1st Hawks goaltending: 30th Hawks PK: 2nd Hawks PP: 12th Sharks offense: 5th in NHL Sharks defense: 21st Sharks goaltending: 6th Sharks PK: 5th Sharks PP: 7th Now look at them against each other: SJ OFF vs. CHI DEF: San Jose Sharks Offense: 20.6 GVT (Rank: 5th in NHL) Chicago Blackhawks Defense: 30.2 GVT (Rank: 1st in NHL) Chicago Blackhawks Goaltending: -20.7 GVT (Rank: 30th in NHL) Total: San Jose Sharks +11.1 GVT CHI OFF vs. SJ DEF: Chicago Blackhawks Offense: 29.5 GVT (Rank: 3rd in NHL) San Jose Sharks Defense: -7.1 GVT (Rank: 21st in NHL) San Jose Sharks Goaltending: 13.9 GVT (Rank: 6th in NHL) Total: Chicago Blackhawks +22.7 GVT SJ PP vs. CHI PK: San Jose Sharks Power Play: 6.2 GVT (Rank: 7th in NHL) Chicago Blackhawks Penalty Kill: 16.7 GVT (Rank: 2nd in NHL) Total: Chicago Blackhawks +10.5 GVT CHI PP vs. SJ PK Chicago Blackhawks Power Play: 0.6 GVT (Rank: 12th in NHL) San Jose Sharks Penalty Kill: 11.7 GVT (Rank: 5th in NHL) Total: San Jose Sharks +11.1 GVT Based on that it looks like Chicago has the 5v5 edge and SJ has a slight edge on SP, but we're looking at 2 teams that are among the elite in the league at everything except 1 thing, SJ's defense and Chicago's goaltending, though I suspect if we had Niemi playing goal all season long, we'd be marginally better there, maybe 25th instead of 30th. I still say Hawks in 6

I don't even think a Celtics fan would be caught dead in that.

BTW, it sucks that there is really no transcendent superstar in Chicago right now like Sosa or Jordan were in years past. (until LeBron) I feel like of the names on this list, Derrick Rose would eventually be the biggest named star in Chicago sports. As cool as Kane is, he's a hockey player so unless he gets to the level of popularity of Ovechkin or Crosby, it won't be him. Urlacher used to probably hold the torch and maybe does now, but he's on the downside of his career and has been out of the spotlight for almost a year with his injury. Cutler throws too many INTs and has a bad image among the rest of the sporting world to be the biggest "star". Derrek Lee is a nice guy but no superstar. I forgot who else you listed. That said, I'm gonna have to go with Chris Richard.

Who?

??? Lol? Dempster, Lilly, Wells, Silva, and Gorzelanny?...Yeah, that's pretty embarrassing. There is a reason we are 15-20. Yeah and it's not the rotation.

Wait you said Rondo was a douchebag too?

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/05/carlos-zambrano-dances-on-tables.html Heh. Petey Pablo? What is this 2001?

i don't really get the point of these comments. people have this memory of jordan who would singlehandedly will his team to victory in the playoffs - and yes, he usually took the last shot - but he had good players around him and that's why they won. lebron has mediocre players around him and doesn't win. maybe he's not as good as jordan but it's dumb to denigrate him against a guy who clearly had a better supporting cast. No Truffle, he actually did singlehandedly will his team to victory. He walked on the court with 3 seconds left down by 2, and the women swooned, the men kissed his feet, and he calmly knelt at 3/4 court and swished it. Blindfolded. Doing it all with the confidence of somebody who's done it 1000 times before. BECAUSE HE HAD. After the shot he went over shook his opponents hands and told them to buck up, tomorrow is another day. Besides it's just sports after all. He casually exited the arena with his loving wife at his side and went home to hear about how her and the kids' day went. Cause that's just how Michael was. You forgot when he saved a burning building full of blind children on the way home. And then he cured the blindness of most of them. The rest were Knicks fans.

Also 4 out of the 5 newspapers that cover the Knicks in NY sent their beat writers to cover the game/press conference. Maybe not such a big deal because Boston is so close to NY, but it was significant enough to maybe make LeBron take notice.

Well you beat the Magic in the Finals and lost to the Celtics the year before in the finals, so at first glane I'd say you would rather play Orlando. But the Celtics are 2 years older now, and you have a better team than 2 years ago. So I guess maybe Boston?

This is really random but I was just thinking about this. This is the first time since 1991-1992 our last Cup appearance that we are still playing and the Red Wings are not. Of those 18 years, 16 of them they played in a later round of the playoffs than us and 2 times we were eliminated in the same round they were (92-93 and 93-94 I think)

Yes. And with the Huet buyout and Barker being moved, we only need to move one of Versteeg/Ladd/Sharp/Byfuglien, etc. Does that include a raise for Niemi this offseason? Because he's an RFA and I'd bet some team with some cap space and a need for goalie, or a need for the Hawks to get more strapped financially would make an offer. Especially if the Hawks won the Cup with him in net.

Someone on RealGM claimed that he heard LeBron say to KG when they were hugging post game "come see me in Chicago". But I don't know it's probably BS. Actually I'm sure it's bs. But it's fun to discuss little signs like this. As a Bulls/Cubs fans, all that's out there to discuss is the Hawks and this. And the Hawks don't play until Sunday.

I hate when everyone tries to compare a player to Jordan, they use Jordan's exact career arc for comparison purposes, like you have to win a title before your 7th year, or "Jordan's team never did this". Every career is different, and every players circumstances are different.

I'm just not sure what cap space does to help a LeBron-less Cleveland. Yeah they might get someone in a trade but they don't necessarily need cap space to make the trade. It helps them more than bringing in Luol Deng. Maybe if a lottery pick came with it or something, or even just Chicago's 1st that they could package it to get into the lottery, I don't know. They could also get a 3rd team involved that can use Deng, and get something better back in return. Either way, I believe the Cavs won't work out a sign and trade no matter how dumb it might be long term.

I like to think of it as a Cubs team with Pie, Soto, Castro, Vitters, Lee (Hak-Ju), Jackson and a rotation of Zambrano/Cashner/Jackson/Carpenter rotation :)

I just hope we can sustain it. Our biggest advantage over the Canucks and the Sharks has been our depth. To be honest, the Sedin line and the Thornton Heatley Marleau is every bit as good as our top line, and the Pavelski line is as good as our second line for the most part. The key is when you get past those and you have players like Versteeg, Madden, Ladd, Eager, etc. Madden is a UFA, he's not gonig to be back, both Ladd and Versteeg are possibilities to be moved. Not to get too far ahead of ourselves, but do we have enough at Rockford to suggest we can survive a big loss of depth this offseason?

Flyers or Bruins tonight? I'm rooting for the Flyers to do the unthinkable, but think the Bruins will somehow pull it off. I definitely think whoever wins this is going to lose to Montreal at this point. Both teams are pretty banged up, and Boston especially is having big issues scoring.

I'm just not sure what cap space does to help a LeBron-less Cleveland. Yeah they might get someone in a trade but they don't necessarily need cap space to make the trade. Either way, if LeBron left Cleveland, the pressure is on to do something with that team immediately. My theory is, even without LeBron the Cavs can still be relevant for 1-2 years just because of how in the spotlight they were during the LeBron years. If they can't make something of that team in that time frame the Cavs will quickly become Cleveland, wasteland of the NBA again (providing they don't strike it rich in the lottery). Grim assessment but that's what the Cavs would be looking at without LeBron IMO. That said despite everything that's been said and everything that's happened, I still think theres a good chance he stays after some reflection. His postgame quotes talked about discussing his situation with his teammates to help him make the right choice.

We are Cubs fans I dont feel sorry for any other teams Cleveland is so far below Chicago on the levels of sports hell. As someone who always bitches about how bad Chicago sports can be, I completely agree. Even though the Cavs losing could benefit us, at this point I almost feel bad for them, and I never take pity on other cities. Chicago might own the longest championship droughts in half of the major professional sports leagues, but they definitely don't have the longest city championship drought.

Do the Cavs think they still have another quarter to play. I know it's nearly impossible to come back from 9 down with 50 seconds left, but it's the end of your season, at least look like you care.

With that awful turnover he just had, he's 1 TO short of a "quad double"

I shouldnt be enjoying this as much as I am, but Im lmao at this board. Man it sounds like Cubs fans lol What board is this? I'm guessing www.realcavsfans.com