brinoch

Sagarin's rankings have them at 9th in the NHL with the Blackhawks being first. On the other hand, Puck Prospectus has them a surprising 25th. Personally, I think they are playing above their ability and will come back to the pack, similar to the Avalanche. It is tough to be a very good team in the NHL when your GS/GA ratio is almost one-to-one. For comparison (playoff ranking 1-15 in the Western Conference): 1. Blackhawks -- 100/71, +29 2. Sharks -- 115/93, +22 3. Avalanche -- 109/107, +2 4. Predators -- 106/101, +5 5. Kings -- 111/108, +3 6. Flames -- 101/87, +14 7. Coyotes -- 91/83, +8 8. Red Wings -- 98/93, +5 9. Stars -- 105/108, -3 10. Canucks -- 109/90, +19 11. Wild -- 90/99, -9 12. Ducks -- 99/111, -12 13. Blue Jackets -- 103/126, -23 14. Oilers -- 105/113, -8 15. Blues -- 81/94, -13 Obviously, this is an interesting tool, but it doesn't tell the whole story of course. Injuries, strength of schedule, and empty netters (for and against) need to modify it. In the post-strike OTL/shootout world, teams are a lot closer in points. I tend to think the playoffs will shake out as such: 1. Blackhawks 2. Sharks 3. Flames 4. Red Wings 5. Canucks 6. Kings 7. Predators 8. Coyotes

The Blackhawks have three games in hand and they are winning 71% of potential points. Ignoring strength of schedule, that equates to more than 4 points, or an equivalent of 51 points to 47 points.

offensive line without question. There are no receiver stars, but there are a couple guys capable of being solid 2s. The line is completely inept. I will not debate this. No need to debate it, either. It really is self-evident.

Agreed. Good game all around.

I fully expect some goonery/thuggery from the Blues in 2nd.

I did notice that...

Nice cycling before that goal.

Academics Every conference should have a drunken party school. It's the only thing Indiana brings to the table And even then, they can't hold a candle to Wisconsin. Mock Indy=okay. Mock IU=not okay. Death. Death. Death. (But it's true, Wisconsin is a great party school.)

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a small town -- which my previous post should demonstrate. It's a mid-tier city, on roughly the same level as St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Portland, Charlotte, Baltimore and Raleigh-Durham. Certainly not one of the smallest in the entire country with a pro sports franchise. That would be Green Bay, of course. But smaller cities with franchises include Jacksonville, Nashville, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans.

NFL Teams by 2008 MSA/DMA estimates (MSA numbers are in people/DMA by household): 1/1. New York (19,006,798 / 7,493,530) -- Giants and Jets 2/2. Los Angeles (12,872,808 / 5,659,170) -- None 3/3. Chicago (9,569,624 / 3,501,010) -- Bears 4/5. Dallas-Ft. Worth (6,300,006 / 2,544,410) -- Cowboys 5/4. Philadelphia (5,838,471 / 2,955,190) -- Eagles 6/10. Houston (5,278,143 / 2,123,460) -- Texans 7/17. Miami (5,414,772 / 1,538,090) -- Dolphins 8/8. Atlanta (5,376,285 / 2,387,520) -- Falcons 9/9. Washington, DC (5,358,130 / 2,335,040) -- Redskins 10/7. Boston (4,522,858 / 2,410,180) -- Patriots 11/11. Detroit (4,425,110 / 1,890,220) -- Lions 12/12. Phoenix (4,281,899 / 1,873,930) -- Cardinals *13/6. San Francisco/Oakland (4,274,531 / 2,503,400) -- 49ers and Raiders 14/2. Riverside/San Bernadino (4,115,871) -- None; (including in LA DMA) 15/13. Seattle (3,344,813 / 1,833,990) -- Seahawks 16/15. Minneapolis (3,229,878 / 1,732,050) -- Vikings 17/28. San Diego (3,001,072 / 1,073,390) -- Chargers 18/21. St. Louis (2,816,710 / 1,249,450) -- Rams 19/14. Tampa (2,733,761 / 1,805,810) -- Buccaneers 20/27. Baltimore (2,667,717 / 1,093,170) -- Ravens 21/16. Denver (2,506,626 / 1,539,380) -- Broncos (smallest MSA to have all 4 major sports) 22/23. Pittsburgh (2,351,192 / 1,154,950) -- Steelers 23/22. Portland (2,207,461 / 1,188,770) -- None 24/33. Cincinnati (2,155,137 / 918,670) -- Bengals 25/20. Sacramento (2,109,832 / 1,404,580) -- None 26/18. Cleveland (2,088,291 / 1,520,750) -- Browns 27/19. Orlando (2,054,574 / 1,455,620) -- None 28/37. San Antonio (2,031,574 / 830,000) -- None 29/32. Kansas City (2,002,047 / 941,360) -- Chiefs 30/42. Las Vegas (1,865,746 / 721,780) -- None 31/6. San Jose (1,819,198) -- None; included in SF DMA 32/34. Columbus (1,773,120 / 904,030) -- None 33/25. Indianapolis (1,715,459 / 1,119,760) -- Colts 34/24. Charlotte (1,701,799 / 1,147,910 ) -- Panthers 35/43. Virginia Beach (1,658,292 / 709,880) -- None 36/48. Austin (1,652,602 / 678,730) -- None 37/53. Providence (1,596,611 / 619,610) -- None 38/29. Nashville (1,550,733 / 1,019,010) -- Titans 39/35. Milwaukee (1,549,308 / 901,790) -- None 40/47. Jacksonville (1,313,228 / 679,120) -- Jaguars 41/50. Memphis (1,285,732 / 667,660) -- None 42/49. Louisville (1,244,696 / 668,310) -- None 43/58. Richmond (1,225,626 / 553,950) -- None 44/45. Oklahoma City (1,206,142 / 694,030) -- None 45/30. Hartford (1,190,512 / 1,010,630) -- None 46/52. New Orleans (1,134,029 / 633,930) -- Saints 47/52. Buffalo (1,124,309 / 633,220) -- Bills ... 153/70. Green Bay (302,935 / 443,420) -- Packers *Obviously, using only MSAs has a few problems. San Jose, for example, is really within the San Francisco/Oakland area. I think the better way to measure metro areas is by DMA, since that looks at households watching the games -- rather than census areas that often don't really measure the true size of a region. The average US persons per household is 2.59 (2000). Again, though, that's not entirely accurate since these vary by MSA. The Census has begun using CSAs, Consolidated Statistical areas, to measure large areas in part because of this problem.

I hate that the WGN games force me to watch crappy non-HD with the opponent's whiny broadcasters. Seriously, it was like Cyno was calling the game with all the whining and bitching.

I'd take that.

Very, very, very pretty.

Wow!! Buff!

Eastern Conference points are irrelevant, though.

[attachment=0]original6.JPG[/attachment] Another one of the staff is a Red Wings fan, so I felt spending five minutes to paint this would be well worth it.

Looking forward to tonight's game... one of the guys who works for me is a HUGE Rangers fan, and we've been having a good time taunting each other. Just win!!

Absolutely. The highlights only showed about a second before they went to the ice, but it didn't look like Fraser did anything to deserve repeated cross-checks to the face. I do have a related concern about this team. They can play their high-flying offensive style all season, but they need to be able to play the physical hockey come playoff time. Seems like last year's team (albeit the same guys) was more physical and didn't take any crap. I hope this team can flip that switch at the end of the year. Also, glad to see Kopecky was scratched last night. He deserved it. I thought this game was a good reminder for the Hawks, physically. They weren't particularly intimidated, but rather than play to that style, they stayed disciplined and played smart hockey. It was good coaching. Only Fleury standing on his head a couple of times kept it close. Probably the best game by goalies, all in all, I've seen this season.

Keith got the shoulder, but given Cooke's actions this game is was entirely justified (to me). He probably deserved a charging call, but Cooke sucker punched him. Malkin really is a goon, along with several other Penguins. They did a *lot* of interfering that wasn't called and a lot of questionable hitting. Frankly, Malkin should be suspended for repeatedly cross-checking Fraser when he was on the ice. I am reminded of why all my Eastern Conference Hockey fans are united in one thing: HATRED for the Penguins (Caps, Rangers, Habs, Leafs, Bruins, Flyers, Panthers and Canes).

Wins have been the #1 standard for the effectiveness of a starter since baseball began. Not true. And wins are a team statistic and a completely useless stat when used to measure a pitcher's effectiveness. The number of times a team won and a pitcher was arbitrarily awarded a win aren't interesting. K, BB, K/9, BB/9, K/BB, WHIP, IP, RS, OBP/A, and ERA (+ inherited runners scoring for relievers) are much more interesting and telling. But that's just me.

At times, Pittsburgh dominated -- particularly in the second period. The Hawks looked a little tired, but they played very, very solid in the third and were very unlucky not to have scored a couple more goals (as was Pittsburgh).

Yes. Ignoring any other results, an Algeria-Slovenia draw would be really, really good for the US.

Yes. Brazil, Portugal and Cote D'Ivoire? Ouchouchouchouch.

YES!!!!! Slovenia!!!

Phew. Got Algeria. That isn't bad at all.