...

That's just awful goaltending for Pitt.

He reads like he can be Ennis' replacement. I like that.

True, I can see why you like this SJ team. They play a calm, heavy style. I'm impressed by how both the offense and defense attack in waves. I still want the Blues to win this series, but the Sharks are respectable. The boobies.

Abacab? At a playoff game?

Jones will want that back. SJ had all of the momentum before that.

That's it for Tampa. No way they have a chance without Bishop.

I won't deny you the sore spot you have. However, those population drains aren't happening willy-nilly. Over my life-time, I've heard countless anecdotes about how people may not want to leave, but they have to. So, in my view the problem isn't with the people leaving, for whatever reasons they have, the problem is that the area they're leaving didn't do enough to keep them there. That's on the people and, by extension, on the government the people elected.

Yes, I got that. I just stumbled over how you put it together, and it read to me like an umbrella accusation. Sorry. I should know to read posts thrice if they get me riled up the first time. In my defense, the replies you got prior to mine confirmed what I thought I had read.

I will blame PA for, perhaps, not writing his post in a more neutral manner, but I will blame myself more for reading too quick while trying to work. But, I would like to apologize to PA for misconstruing the objective of his post... I'm guilty of doing this too much, reading too fast, and I thinking I understood what I read. I try to teach my kids not to do this very thing. After re-reading his post a few times, I see that PA is only trying take that angle AS one facet. He is not accusing all people of being that way. He is musing over that particular type of motivation. And, I agree it is an interesting angle in itself, although, I contend it applies to a small proportion of people. ------ By contrast, I guess since the thread is already derailing, I'd like to see the list of superficial reasons, other than saying the destination is "trendy". And hippies moving to San Francisco thanks to Scott McKenzie isn't good enough.

Again, I don't mind expanding the topic, there's only so much information one can share related to me specifically. For myself, I never really wanted to move back here and stay in the first place. I have moved from here twice. Once was indeed a mistake, but not a superficial one. We stayed because of family and because we had kids and it was convenient. Using PA's terminology, it could be argued, and I would assert, that we have denied ourselves the ability to fully "self-actualize" by staying here. ....edited because I'm a doosh.

I misconstrued PA's post. It happens to the best of us.

You know, I could name a handful or two of contemporary female artists who are the real deal, but I have recently been turned on to Loretta Lynn's story and, while she's still with us, she has got to be the queen of the rest. She paved the way for female artists to take control of their careers and be more than just a packaged performer. You can add some of the ladies from late 60's pop to stand beside her, but LL definitely paid her dues. And Prince was a tiny little guy, too. First time I saw him in person it was shocking, really, considering the size of his media persona (and, yes, despite his smallness being evident in the media).

The SAP Centre looks dark and depressing, despite the crowd.

Maybe. I think the Blues take it and agree Elliot is hot, but if the Sharks can smother them like they are the Preds right now, it could extend that series to where it's boring.

Average salaries there are equivocal to the salaries here. I'm trying to wrap my head around that economy supporting real estate costs that are approximately double what they are here, at least from what I can tell. Maybe more like 1.7x more on average.

A Sharks/Blues series ought to be fun, I guess. They both play a heavy game.

Goodness. This is no fun.

I wonder why he effectively never freezes the puck. The pace of this game isn't working for the Preds.

Rinne has been paid to throw the fight.

I can't guess who will win this one. All of the intangibles are equal.

In my book, the idea is to go and watch the top 10, since we're in the top 10. Of course, the highlight being our pick. It's something interesting to attend as a free event. As a pay-per-view, its interest is replaced by annoyance.

I would like that match-up.

I'll let her know - I don't know what it means to her. Thanks! Thanks, all. On allergies - my thinking is that since WNY is one of top worst locations for allergy sufferers (like me), it's probably a wash with Tennessee. On the job market - cool, my wife was a big shot in the healthcare industry and could be again if she wanted to. On crime - I walked the city, mainly downtown and then West End Ave. essentially from one end of Vanderbilt to the other and then some, except for one instance where I was definitely followed by a bum. But, I could be followed by a bum in Vatican City. The only area that I thought was sketchy was east on the 70 headed out of town. On the critters and environment - bugs and spiders are fine. They will rule the Earth one day, after all. Honestly, very few things give me pause about the whole idea, but one would be tornadoes. I have researched that to the nines. If I could find a place with a '50s era fall out shelter I'd be all set. On neighborhoods - where we settle will be highly dependent on the schools. Highly. We are unlikely to buy in the city while our kids are still of school age. We're pretty convinced we want to be outside of town, south toward Franklin if not in Franklin. If my wife works full time, I'm certain we'd have no problem being able to buy in any upper-middle class neighborhood we choose. We do pretty good with her working part time right now, and she'd like to keep the dynamic, so if that's the case, by the numbers we'd still be "upper middle class" but from a house-buying perspective, thanks to the prices, we might actually be middle-middle.

Pittsburgh was clearly the superior team going in to this game and they played like it in that OT. I thought Washington looked pretty good before this series, but the Pens looked just as good. I thought Holtby might get the Caps through, but that Murray kid held his own. I had no horse in this race, but I do know I'm not a fan of Crosby, Malkin and doughnut boy.

I wouldn't pursue Sutter or anyone else at this point. I'm happy to give DD another year to see what he can do. I bitched a lot about him, but it started to become evident that he was tinkering all year and toward the end he found some things that looked promising. I'm not sure Ruff, if he were available, would make a good fit here at this point. The Stars game belies Ruff's fundamental coaching philosophies, and they get trapped in their own zone a lot much like Ruff's Sabres did.