Snake

Got ours yesterday!

Unless it happens to be the third-place game at the NCHC tourney and you somehow still miss the NCAAs...

It's true for slew-foots!

Our favorite was Eagle Street. That side-hill with all the rocks and crushed aluminum cans was treacherous at 2AM!

Just. Keep. Winning.

Yes, I mentioned that in my post. The article you linked was evidence of a potential change that would make the kicker more relevant. I don't necessarily agree with moving the XP back, but it's pretty much a gimme so I can see why they want to do something different. I don't like the fact that moving the extra point back to the 25 would virtually eliminate the chance for a botched extra point to turn into a two-point conversion. Also, the threat of a Fake XP two-point conversion play may be reduced. I definitely don't want to see kickoffs eliminated...that would be foolish. It's FOOTball!

The greats have always been good at drawing penalties simply because they're tough to defend. I was mainly responding to Dave's argument that guys who whine about other players diving need to just keep quiet and play the game. The same should be said for guys that tend to embellish and complain about not getting calls. Suck it up and play regardless if you feel a guy is diving or if you feel a ref didn't make a call he should have.

I think Gardy played guys like Punto, Casilla, Rivas, etc. out of necessity rather than because he had an embarrassment of riches at the middle infield positions. Terry Ryan liked to build teams that were strong defensively up the middle, and back when they were making the playoffs consistently they did play good defense.

Because players who embellish and whine about not getting calls shouldn't "shut the hell up and play the game?"

I'm not sure how moving the extra point back to a 43 yard attempt will effectively eliminate kickers. Now, eliminating kickoffs and going to the automatic 7 would do just that. The option in the article posted above would actually make the kicker's job more important.

Just win, baby...I don't care who we play! If we're scared of getting past last-place Miami in a best-of-three at home, then what hope do we really have for the rest of the playoffs? Every team is "desperate" in the NCAAs.

Having a string of high draft picks has allowed them to draft the "power arms" they have been lacking. Re: Sano - Unfortunately, he is having season-ending Tommy John surgery this spring. Well, Punto does have a WS ring on his finger...

It's really of no consequence because the games that really matter are officiated by refs from the other leagues.

I haven't been following them as closely as I usually do the past couple years for obvious reasons; but I actually like the fact that the Twins have tanked. They're getting a chance to reload their farm system. It seems that every MN sports team just hangs around the middle of the pack and then never gets the chance to draft potential superstars. With the recent drafts, it sounds like the Twins have been building one of the best groups of prospects in baseball. Look at what the TB Rays have become after years of last place finishes and top draft positioning. Free agency is definitely not the way to go in my opinion. They neither have the money nor the nucleus on the team to have a free-agent acquisition make much of a difference.

I'm pretty sure we're not the only fan base that thinks the officials in their respective league are substandard.

Fri - Rocco

I got this same email today, unsolicited. I guess my tickets are "commemorative," whatever that's all about. I've seen a lot of posters mentioning their seats in the upper level...anyone with lower level seats have their tickets in-hand yet? Just wondering if that's where the "commemorative" distinction comes from. Edit: never mind, I see some in the lower level have theirs. I just don't remember choosing "commemorative stock."

Still waiting for my 6 tickets. Booked at the Marriott also.

Mike Parks

We made it in about 3.5 hours from Elk River (normally 2-2.5 hrs) this morning. Got here about 11:15. Gotta think the roads have improved since then.

...because they were down two goals. It's pretty easy to be in "attack mode" when you have nothing to lose. The question is...would they have done the same thing as the US had they been up 2 goals? Did USA "play not to lose" or did Canada "have nothing to lose?" Desperation is a funny thing.

I saw some internet/twitter chatter about the idea of going to U23 rosters for the Olympics. Whether or not that included U23 players in the NHL was not mentioned.

Here is what Brad posted in the comments about UND's offensive rank by season: Irony? Hak's "worst" scoring team is the only one to make the title game.

I'm curious to know the trend, not just what the slug of data from the past 10 years tells us their overall ranking has been. I asked Brad on the blog, so maybe he can provide the information. I'd like to see a chart of "Offensive Rank vs. Season" to see if our #3 ranking has held steady over the past 5 seasons, or if there is any indication of a trend downward. If it is indeed trending downward my guess is it would be more indicative of a relative talent decrease rather than the system all of a sudden not producing results.

But...now that there are 16 teams, isn't it easier to "just get in and see what happens?"