Catching Up!

Hockey and the Pool

The NHL playoff’s first round is about at
its midpoint. Although it is not unheard of for a team to turn it
around, the teams are falling into place. Calgary looks absolutely
horrible. They play tonight at home. If they loose this, they are done.
The only thing that holds them together is the knowledge that Detroit
lost 4 straight (after winning the first game) to the Ducks last year.
The Wild are competitively loosing as expected. I expected a little
more from the Thrashers. This is KeithTkachuk’s shot at the cup. Go For Keith. Turnaround time, again, is tonight.

So
far, the playoffs have not disappointed. I finally got to watch some of
the Predators/Sharks series last night. They need to televise the games
when they are in Nashville. Early is better.

As for the pool, I am currently chasing Grimjack
for the bottom. 82 out of 84. I’m coming for the last place prize.
Keeping in mind, that the stats mean little while the series is going
on, as of today, Paige is in 1st (an entry of Vinnie’s) and Donna (wife
of Vinnie) is in 2nd. Hoey is a close 3rd.

A Night At the Roxy
This article from Yahoo reports that Brian Ferry, of Roxy Music fame, has publicly apologized for Nazi Remarks.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070416/people_nm/britain_ferry_nazis_dc
He was quoted as saying:
"The way that the Nazis staged themselves and presented themselves, my Lord!
"I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags -- just fantastic. Really beautiful."

I personally don’t see that this is condoning the whole Nazi thing. Stating that Hitler was brilliant, is saying that he wasn’t
an evil demented bastard. They can be mutually exclusive. I you watch
the films of all those people goosestepping through the streets, it’s
horrific and depressing. Objectively, looking at it, it is very
impressive. . . .which kinda makes it that much more horrible.

Health Report
“Gaetan Duchesne,
who played in the NHL for 14 seasons and helped the Minnesota North
Stars reach the 1991 Stanley Cup Finals, died while training at a gym
Monday. He was 44.”
I am using this as further evidence that I should stay out of the gym. Pop Tarts anyone?

Virginia Tech
Horrific!!
I was glad to see a report on television that showed that a high
percentage of people attribute this rise in youth violence to
irresponsible parenting. I think that parents today, on the whole
stink. Their children are raised to believe that whatever they do is
wonderful. By the time kids get in to College, or high school these
days, they realize that they have no boundaries. The human Psyche needs
boundaries. We all have them. We all test them and try and extend
passed them at times. When therearen’t any, the world becomes a scary place. Prays go out to all those involved in this horrible tragedy.

In a related story. .
After
another year of teaching Religious Education, I am firmly convinced
that one of the causes of the type of behavior above is the changing
church values due in part to the changing family values. Despite, the
changes in the Catholic Church, I explain to my students that the new
(and improved) “Awe and Wonderment” used to be “Fear of the Lord”.
Without “Fear of the Lord”. We have lost a lot of religious respect.
Showing up at Church with a Marilyn Manson T-shirt is not acceptable.
The “Goddoesn’t care what you wear!” is bullshit. It’s a matter of respect. You wouldn’t show up to Court appearance like that. Why? Because you fear (respect) the Judge.
Taking this down a peg, kids today have lost “Fear of The Parent”. . .Trust Me. . not mine!

When I was growing up, I had two thoughts regarding my Father.
1.
If I did something wrong, my Father would kill me. Punish me, sure. If
I did something REALLY wrong, the thought of him actually killing mewasn’t out of the question.
2. If I got in trouble or had a problem, my Father could fix. He could fix anything and rectify any situation.

Those
two things are what I try to emulate. Your parents should be invincible
when you are a kid. A parent should NOT be your friend. It is not your
job to be your children’s friend.

Unfortunately, I don’t see this changing anytime soon.

The Stanley Cup Race!!

They are in!
I’ll blame the Flyers for the low turn out this year. Still 84 pools is not too shabby. Of course, that’s less money I’ll win this year.

If you click on the sheets, they will expand so that you can read them.

Below is list of everyone’s picks. At the far right of the sheet at the bottom (in blue) is the calculated average of teams rank based on all the pools. Vinnie is an Excel Mastermind.

If you are viewing this (and there aren't many who view this) click on the sheets and find your pool. If there are any problems, let me know. Everything should be aces.

A BIG disappointment this year is WYATT. Wyatt chose to forgo the playoff pool this year because he’s too busy.

“Between lacrosse and work, been too busy. . .” I think that’s where I stopped listening. Let’s see work . . .lacrosse. There is time to post 1500 blog posts but not enough time to do a five minute pool. Weak. Very Weak. Not only that. But there were two new blog posts last night. From the FHL standpoint, an absolute disgrace.

Once I get a chance to review the picks, I will update with commentary.

Good Luck Everyone!!

Prepare For Battle!

Tonight is the night! Even without the Flyers involvement, the National Hockey League begins their playoffs tonight.

As I frantically gather up the playoff pools, I am hoping that there are enough games televised to satisfy my Playoff Hockey hunger.

Here is how the first round matchups look:

Looking over the matchups, I think the Nashville Predators vs San Jose Sharks series looks to be the best of the 8.

DROP THE PUCK ALREADY!!

Raise The Cup!!

TOUCH!

That’s it! I can finally touch the money. This year’s winner of the 2006-2007 FHL Stanley Cup is .. . . . . .TEAM PINCHY!!!

A long shot from a couple of months ago, Team Pinchy kept a slow and steady pace, while other teams far in the lead self destructed. Despite a lack of goaltending this year, a few well place pickups and trades early in the season paid off in the long run. Added to the win this year, a whopping $15.50 were accumulated in Sidebets and another $30 (should be $40) in The Lock’s Yearly Vegas Odds.

I finally get my name on the plaque . . .all to myself. The last (and only) time I won and ended up tying with the Lock. Although I calculated a victory with all the tie breakers, I Samaritaned the decision and put both teams on the plaque. TEAM PINCHY stands tall.

By draft next year, I should have the Championship shirt.

Now, before I can REALLY celebrate, I have to gather the Playoff pools. Who’s in!?

And Then There Was One!!

One day to go in the NHL.

Wyatt has locked up LAST place in the FHL. The award for that is a bill for $60 bucks and all the shame you can eat.

Pays to be nice. . .or so I hear. Today, I am taking my daughter to the Flyers. The 1st Place Team vs the 30th Place Team. If that isn't the makings of a great game, I don't know what is.

The girl that sits in front of me gave her tickets to the guy who owns the season tickets that we have. I am now taking the whole family to the game. Funnel Cake and Ice Cream all around.

Deathlok's First Caption Contest

I am honored and proud to have been selected as the winner of Bullwinkle's and RightPundit's Caption contest. I felt there was a need to reciprocate. So, here is my first ever attempt at the Caption Contest.


I'll post the winners on Friday.

Thanks again to everyone that has chosen Deathlok in the top three in their recent Caption contests.

And The Winner:
The Conservative UAW Guy - Mellisa the Dalmatian remembered why she didn't talk to drunks after Shorty offered to "go up" on her.

Similar to Wyatt's last week, lack of participation means only one winner.

Congrats!

Quickie

With few games to talk about the final to day of the hockey season are upon us. Stay Tuned for further developments. . . . .

Grind It Out!!

Well, I just got back from seeing GRINDHOUSE! Let's start off by saying that I'm feeling conflicted, as we plan to watch The Passion tonight and today's double feature should probably bother me than it does.

Grindhouse, the new double feature by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. With the two movies and the extra stuff, the movie runs 3:15. . .Bring a snack.

For me the best part of the movie was the previews (the GRINDHOUSE previews, not the real previews) Notably MACHETE! "Don't hire Machete to kill the bad guys. . .if you are one of the bad guys!"

As for the two movies themselves, Planet Terror was a classic Grindhouse movie in the Zombie genre that did not disappoint. It was the better of the two movies. Great dialogue and a gore fest that was a wonder to behold and all on Good Friday. Deathproof was also very good, but Taratino missed the mark a little. One thing that a friend of mine said a while ago hit me during Deathproof. He said that if you write down all the Tarantino dialogue from his movies and mix it up, it's hard to tell which movie it's from. It all sounds like Tarantino. As I watched Deathproof, there were things that I could here being recited by Uma Thurman or Samuel L.

Overall, if this gory, violence and sexploitation extravaganza, you will be happy with it. Violence and humor a perfect mix.

Pat Benetar Says.. . . .

Get Nervous! Get Nervous! Get Nervous!

No Stat Shot today, sorry!

3 days to go and although "touch the money" accusations are flying, I am not even close to thinking that I have this won. Last night was a scary one. Lock called in a late replacement for an injury. Fortunately, the call came late and the original player was taken. Why? Because the intended player, one Tom Poti had 3 points. Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!

To make it more "Fun", my goalie bites. I am going downstairs a melt my Raycroft figure.

On a change of sports, while I at the Flyers game last night, I picked up tickets for the June 1st Philadelphia Soul Arena Football game.

I bought a "door to door" salesman's coupon book for $30.00. Add that to the $46 dollars that I spent last night, I got 8. . .count em 8, tickets. Should be fun.

Fourplay!

Four days left and the mix just keeps changing to make it interesting. Lock's third winger is due back in the lineup tonight, which gives him an extra game. . . . not that I was getting comfortable at all.

Wyatt had a string of points last night taking him out of last for the nonce. (Please note that Wyatt has nonfunctioning Semin).

Fish has several players that have been known to grab the occasional 4 point night, so don't count him out just yet.

As for Modo (AKA Vinnie) - that 7th or better bet is fading fast.

Tonight is Father/Son night at the Flyers game. Normally, a crap, worthless game. However, since Brodeur is going to try and break Bernie Parent's record tonight for most wins in a season, it would behoove the Flyers to clamp down on them tonight.

Since the season is over anyway for the Flyers, I think that they should take my Brother's advise and sign Bernie Parent to a 1 game contract and stick him in net tonight.

T - Minus 5 Days

Just five days to go and the battle continues. . . .

With but two or three games left for all the teams, the General Managers are glued to the boxscores.

Rob has a mere 1 point lead on everyone’s favorite blogger, Wyatt. Hopefully, Wyatt has found a way of making money from this blogging thing because it seems to have taken a higher priority than his team this year. . .if 11th place is any indication.

So, today, we will look at the differential. From the top:

Team Pinchy
Team Lock – (-6)
Team Fish – (-8)
Team OtherKev – (-27)
Teams Badger & Ant – (-5)
Team Grimjack – (-7)
Team Sean – (-1)
Team Modo (-12)
Team Rob (-11)
Team Wyatt (-1)

So the battlefield is divided into the top three teams, teams four through eight and then the bottom three.

Playoff Fever!

As the final week of the National Hockey League winds down, it’s time to gear up for the playoffs.

Sure, the Flyers tossed up one of their worst, if not THE WORST, seasons ever. Sure, I still have to games to attend. Sure, one of them is the afternoon of Easter, but I look forward.

This week is very exciting in the Fantasy League as of last night the stats are as listed below:

It’s a nail biter this year and with a three way battle for 1st and a three way battle for the basement, everyone is glued to their stat sheet.

Meanwhile, in another part of the country, I am putting the final touches on my Annual Hockey Playoff Pool. The easiest and most fun playoff pool ever. You don’t need to know players. The rules are simple. For a mere pittance, you can rank the 16 playoff teams 16 to 1. The 16th team is your best team, the 1st team, you worst. Every game that a team wins, you get that many points. I sent a spreadsheet out with everyone’s picks so there is no question whom the winner is. The 2003 playoff pool had 155 entries.

Anyone interested in joining, let me know and I will get you the form (or ask your Local Gunfighter)