Monday, May 30, 2011

the game77 theory: an htp original !!!

y'know what drives me crazy ? stats that don't matter.

while i'm interested in hockey statistics in general (like the stuff that got me to third in my fantasy pool like G/A/PIM/SOG/Sv%), and i'm HUGE proponent of advanced metrics (corsi, qualcomp, zonestarts etc --all definitions can be found c/o behindthenet), when you watch a hockey broadcast or read pregames in the MSM, they often toss around meaningless numbers that make me want to throw things.

the one that comes to mind immediately is that the flames haven't won a game in anaheim since january 2004. that's a lot of losses, admittedly, but let's also consider that the only players who have endured the entirety of that dry spell were iginla and regehr. on the night of december 10th, 2010, when the flames rolled into the pond and every sportscaster in the universe was announcing the aforementioned seven-year win drought, mikael backlund's record in anaheim was a perfect zero-for-zero. brendan morrison's record in anaheim, whilst displaying a flaming C on the front of his jersey, was also unblemished.... as were babchuk's and kostopolous'. ultimately, the 2010 incarnation of the calgary flames had never played in anaheim as a group, and therefore (to me, anyways) the factoid is rendered meaningless...

in effort to show how thoroughly inconsequential some of these media-regurgitated items are, i came up with the game77 theory. i intend to use it as a retort to peter loubardias proving to the world that he can read the game notes, and therefore is aware that miikka kiprusoff is undefeated in the month of september against teams that wear green (or something equally insignificant).

cause here's the thing: the flames have won game 77 every year since 2000-2001... that's like 9 straight years !!! so this obviously means that they'll probably win game 77 next year, and that prospect clearly makes the data thoroughly important for mass consumption. OR, the flames are about as likely to win game 77 as they are game 76, and even mentioning the nine year run is sortof foolish...

these are the things i do when i'm bored.
see here for the actual data (and if you can't read it, i can email you a bigger version).
:)

Sunday, May 29, 2011

separated at birth: mmm... sweeedes...



i saw the photo at left of alexander skarsgÄrd (from true blood) and it reminded me instantly of the forsberg shot at right.

thought i'd share.

Friday, May 27, 2011

on the canucks winning the cup

there.
i said it.
i've been quietly saying it for weeks now, but there is no point pretending it's going to play out any other way (though i'll be more than happy to be wrong !!): the hated rival vancouver canucks are going to win the 2011 stanley cup.

but here's why it upsets me the most: i don't like canucks fans. i used to say "i don't like canucks fans... save for the select few of my pals who are NOT bullies about it and THOSE guys are AWESOME and i'm honestly happy for them," when the orcas won.... but then there was that one night where that one friend said some unnecessarily vicious and deplorable words following my congratulatory message post-OT victory v. chicago... and everything changed.

i hardly slept that night.
i kept waking up with his comments in my head and i couldn't believe they were ever even imagined, much less stated, by such an upstanding dude... amazing what a few too many pints and a first round victory can do... (apologies have since been offered and accepted, cause i know he's an incredible guy, but i fear there will always be lingering sadness, on my part, that the incident even occurred).

so here are the ground rules. let's try to follow them, mmkay ?

1. flames fans and canucks fans will never agree on things NHL, so let's acknowledge that we are and will always be enemies and move on.

2. FRIENDLY gloating/ribbing/goading is allowed, VICIOUS gloating/ribbing/goading (such as that which appears on theo fleury's twitter) is embarassing and reprehensible. nobody needs to make fun of sexual abuse, child abuse, or drug/alcohol abuse (EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES), and straight up: nobody likes a braggart....

3. jealousy will occur naturally and unabashedly when one's hated rival is on the brink of a championship. let's just be respectful about it.

4. the canucks are going to win the cup. it's inevitable. i think we can all agree on this, so let's allow our canuck fan friends to be HUMBLY proud (almost lost in R1G7OT), and excessively happy. we, as flames fans, can sit back and dream about tim erixon and max reinhart....

5. canada's team IS team canada.


i remember when the flames beat the canucks in the '04 playoffs, 1st round, OT (i skipped the pixies live show at mac hall to watch game 7). my reaction to the massive victory wasn't "screw you canucks fans !" it was "OMG i'm SO excited, let's go somewhere i can take my shirt off and spend 45 minutes driving a single block !!!"**

good ? yeah ? now let's just all get along, shall we ?
#gobolts.
:)

**i'm paraphrasing cause i don't remember my exact thoughts, but it was something along that line i'm sure cause that's what some girls did.... more likely i was just repeating "HOLY SHIT WE FUCKING WON !!!" over & over in a trance-like state.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

i guess the green men took the night off


screengrabbed by htp buddy and steinberg bff, mitthands, during the broadcast of last night's disaster on ice (aka: game 2). uncensored version here. bummer you can't see the look on ben eager's face....

this post is for you, domebeers. ;)

Monday, May 9, 2011

monday randoms (it's been awhile)

every year around this time, FFWD magazine polls calgarians about their favorite stuff, later published as their "best of" awards. please go to ffwd's website to have your say, but here's some stuff i submitted (cause i like a theme).




ps: alex ruiz only narrowly won "sexiest woman," because i don't find matt stajan that sexy.
pps: i just wrote "matt shatjan" by accident. hilarious typo.
ppps: i entered domebeers over my own blog cause it was the only way to appease AZR for me writing "loubardias" in as the local tv personality (which was a jab, but seemed like a vicious-roundhouse-to-the-head type jab).

:)