TrueBlueGED
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I'm watching the Blackhawks-Canucks game right now to see the "new and improved" Kassian. 1-0 Canucks after the first. I have to admit, Kassian does look great and, no, it's not because of the Sedins. He did a great job screening Crawford on the Vancouver power play and later made an awesome pass to set up the Canucks' goal. He's been involved in a few other scoring chances as well. He isn't using his size to punish the Hawks but he's using it to protect the puck and by going to the net.
IMO that's his game. The impression I always got from listening to him or watching him was that he wanted to be a skill guy who could fight if necessary; not a tough guy with some skill.
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My good news: I know there are many here who dislike the NBA, but my wife and I were invited to VIP seats for the Nets-Bulls game tonight. Free fancy food and booze are included -- and I can see myself having plenty of everything after a hectic week.
And I'm still happy about last night.
Love the NBA, that should be a blast.
And like you, I'm still giddy about last night's game. I've had a pretty bad week, but man, that game has me smiling today.
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Obviously Hodgson is benefitting from playing with Vanek and Pommer, but keep in mind Vanek and Hodgson snapped out of their collective slumps at the end of last year when they got paired for the final 10 games. There's chemistry there, and it's more than Hodgson simply riding coattails.
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You're right. What I should say is "soft"
Callahan is undersized.
Thank you. It's like you have so many insults for so many players, you get it all messed up. May I suggest a spreadsheet to organize it all? :P
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Sabres need a center but go and get another undersized one to be 1+2
Foligno was on fire when playing on instinct but has regressed this year into the Lindy System
:censored: :wallbash: :doh:
My original response gave me the following error: "You have posted a message with more emoticons than this community allows. Please reduce the number of emoticons you've added to the message." There aren't enough emoticons in the world to properly describe the absurdity of those two statements.
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As a Center, you would hope to see more assist (any) from Hodgson, especially while being teamed with Vanek and Pommers. Hodgson is also averaging almost 4 minutes more of ice time a game 19:44 to 15:57. Kassian has also recorded 19 hits so far. It is too early to say who will turn out to be a better player in the long run.
I was never crazy about getting rid of Kassian, but we needed a center and I had hopes for Hodgson, although right now I do not see Hodgson as a first line center, hopefully that will change (soon), but this regimes record for developing players is not the greatest.
Kassian's also shooting 33.3% with 65% offensive zone starts. The zone starts probably continue that way, but no way the shooting percentage stays anywhere near that.
Taking into account the roles each player is supposed to play it looks like Vancouver is getting more out of Kassian at this point. Kassian 19 hits & 2 fights, Hodgson 0 assists. The goals are gravy for the Canucks at this point.
If you think Vancouver gave up their top prospect to get a 3rd/4th line banger and fighter, you're crazy. The plan was always for Kassian to score as well as bring those other elements.
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I try not to think of it in those terms. Zack was never going to live up to the hype we as Sabres fans placed on him. He's more of a positional scorer and puck possession guy. He fought because he was bigger than everyone.
Marcus is more of a policeman on the ice. If he sees dumb stuff happening on the ice, he addresses it. His scoring comes from mostly mop up duty although I think his shot is underrated.
Wholeheartedly agree. I think Kassian will be good and has more offensive skill than Foligno, but my money is on Foligno laying more big hits and whatnot.
Also, Kassian is currently shooting 28%. Anybody who thinks that's going to continue I've got some beach front property in Hawaii I'm looking to sell.
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Yes, I am happy he got out and am hoping that Vanek, Pom , and Regehr are smart enough to escape too. Buffalo is in a rebuilding process, has been for five years. They just did not know it. There is no place here for mature players who wants a shot at the cup. It will take them five years and a prayer to see the second round. The tragedy is they could have gone out and added what they needed to make a run but they did not or could not. I am sad for Cody.
I thought we were having a civil discussion and a honest difference of opinion... Please feel free to correct my spelling , doctor true blue.
The most significant difference... Vigneault knows talent and how to use it., he knows how to manage a game.. beyond that only about 100 other items. The system you use is based on the abilities of the personnel you have. If lindy had the Sedins they would play on different lines.
You could have simply said "I don't know what Ruff's or Vigneault's system is." I can't fathom how somebody can make a judgment that X player is succeeding because he went from Y system to Z system without having a clue what Y and Z are. And obviously Ruff would have the Sedins on separate lines because he always splits up our best players.... I mean, Vanek and Pominville never play together.
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IMO ..Ruff's record in Buffalo speaks for itself......His willingness to throw players under the bus and embarass them publically when they make mistakes is part of the historical record . His system has not and will not work with personnel on the roster (this fact has been true for the past five years)
We were talking about Kassian I believe. Not Ruff. He is prospering now partly because of the differences in system and most importantly coaching .. Cudos to the assistant coaches in Vancover too. IMO
He was never going to prosper in Buffalo regardless of the amount of time he was given to develop/mature in the AHL...
1) Humor me and explain the differences in the systems Ruff and Vigneault use.
2) Thanks Nostradamus. On that note, I fail to see how you can be upset about the trade....if he was never going to be successful here, then you should be doing backflips we traded a player doomed to failure.
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The "system" does not permit it ,,,,,,,may be the point
The Kassian trade was foolish.... imo. (not a change of opinion) ..he had the potential to be exactly what the Sabres needed...water over the dam now.. he would have never been permitted to flourish in Buffalo
They put him on the first line.with the Twins. In Buffalo , he was so far away from Vanek he probably did not know he played on the same team.
None of what you said is accurate regarding Kassian last year though. If he was timid because of "the system", then why was he just as timid in Vancouver after he was there for two games? As far as playing him with the twins, again, that didn't happen last year. He was quickly relegated to 4th line duty and got a whopping 5 minutes per game in the playoffs. He was used the same way last year in Vancouver and in Buffalo. Give him another half season in the AHL during the lockout, who can say how he would have been used here this year? Nobody can. All we know is usage last year was the same, and this year he's been given an expanded role in Vancouver. Personally I think it goes to shrader's point about a young player taking time to adjust, but I'm going to assume those who think Ruff is a horrible coach who ruins players will never give that thought much serious consideration.
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Serial DUI. San Fransisco 0.49ers.
If you don't want to root for criminals on a regular basis, you're not going to be able to watch football.
Being involved in a double murder is a wee bit more serious than what your typical NFL criminal does. On top of that, most NFL criminals don't get touted for their intangibles anywhere near as much as Lewis does. I'm basically numb to watching criminals play football, but to glorify Lewis for things other than his physical play on the field is what really irks me.
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What ray lewis thing?
The glorification of an individual, who at the very least, was involved in the cover-up of a double murder?
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I can't root for the Ravens simply because the whole Ray Lewis thing. I'm all-in on the 49ers!
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I'm not so sure about that. Zack has plenty of skill. His hockey skills weren't the issue when he was here, it was his willingness to due the dirty work. He barely hit and shied away from nearly every fight. Apparently upon his trip back to Canada, he remembered what he's supposed to be doing.
I agree with this. At least from what I saw out of him he's not a 3rd/4th line physical monster, but rather a top-6 offensive player who can control the puck along the boards and occasionally drop 'em.
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To say everyone juiced and he won it fair is ridiculous. Not 100% of all cyclists juiced... The guy who came in 128th might not have juiced and he could have won it, if no one else would have used steroids.
He juiced and so all he has accomplished in races does not matter. He is not and will not be the best racer of all time because he didnt prove that he can do it without.
To stick with your example, I'd give it approximately a .00001% chance that juice can catapult an athlete 128 spots higher on the pecking order. My general feelings on doping is they can move a player up a single tier of ability: grocery clerk-minor leaguer, depth player-low end regular, very good-great, and so on. I think people tend to either overestimate the effects juicing has, or underestimate the quality of athlete somebody is before doping.
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I agree, the good he's done does not mitigate the evil he leveled on people. I agree with peppy, I don't care about the race, everyone was doping in the race, I care about the lawsuits and intimidation and blacklisting.
I also don't think the wrongs he committed take away from the good he's done in the fight against cancer. He is a man of extremes.
Completely agree on the races. He dominated the field when the field was doing the same things he was. He didn't cheat to win, he was better than everyone.
Obviously what he did to certain individuals to try to keep his doping secret is/was reprehensible in every way, and nothing will change that. That said, I think the money he raised has contributed more to society than his actions against individuals has detracted from it.
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Well, the other end of my neighborhood just got it a couple of months ago, and my neighborhood is densely populated with yuppies who will shell out for it, so I am semi-optimistic that it will get to my block eventually.
You have rekindled hope that I will one day be able to get Fios (of course I'll probably have moved by then, but whatever). Hope you end up getting it!
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My beef: Time Warner Cable, a/k/a the only broadband option I have at home. It is so GD unreliable and spotty. Everyone I know complains about them. I've had those bozos out to my house a half-dozen times over the years and nothing ever changes.
Last night, during my fantasy hockey draft, I made my first-round pick and then promptly lost my internet connection until round 16. (The autopicks yahoo gave me will probably end up being better than the team I would've chosen, but that's another story.)
Fios is allegedly coming to my neighborhood, but who knows how long it will take. In the meantime, I'm stuck with the joys of an unmotivated monopoly provider.
TWC internet does suck. I haven't had the problems you describe, but it's extremely lackluster at streaming video--I either can't get HD (which I should given the cable speed I pay for) or the stream always catches up to the download and I have to buffer every 10 seconds or so.
That said, I wouldn't count on Fios. It's been awhile so maybe something has changed, but I read early last year that Verizon had ceased expansion of the service.
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I'm not going to get any sympathy for this from anyone who can't work from home, but whatever. I have to be on campus every single day this semester, but that's not really my complaint. On two days the task I have to complete will take about 10-15 minutes, that's it--everything else I'd be working on these days can be done at home. But the entire process of getting to and from campus means I'll be spending at least an hour of my time for 10 minutes of work. Talk about inefficiency.
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If it was the "steroid era", can you really look at the best performers and say they weren't doping?
The best argument I've heard so far, is that Bonds won 3 MVPs before his head grew 3 sizes. he could probably be voted in for his "clean" years.
As far as Rose, this makes no sense to me, unless you think he bet against his team. Betting on the Reds had NO effect on the game. Steroids had a HUGE effect on the game. The hall is about the game.
The only players who I'd be surprised to learn doped would be Griffey and Jeter. Everybody else I'd just shrug my shoulders at.
Obviously steroids had a bigger effect on the game than Pete Rose gambling. My point was that everybody in the world knew gambling on baseball would get you banned if caught, and Rose did it anyway. He deserves his ban for his complete stupidity, and I have zero sympathy for him.
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I was 13 in 1998 and my main memory from that summer is Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. It was the biggest athletic phenomenon of the past 20 years. Keeping them out of the Hall will not take away those memories--it just makes the Hall look stupid. Put them in and say "May have used steroids."
Done.
I think there should be more than a "may have used steroid" sign. I like the idea of an entire exhibit/wing dedicated to the steroid era--the good, the bad, and the ugly. It's part of the game and should be remembered as such; pretending it didn't happen by excluding players of that era is doing the game a disservice (similar to the disservice those players themselves did). I used to be of the opinion nobody connected to steroids should ever be let in, but I've mellowed on that simply because we don't know all the names, so it's probable somebody who juiced gets in anyway.
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Until they put Pete Rose in, baseball is a joke.
I'd put the steroid users in before him, if for no other reason than the stupidity of what he did--he knowingly did something that he knew for a fact would get him banned if caught.
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SEC still sets the standard in the FBS. I wanted Alabama to win but I was expecting a 10 point difference, this was unexpected
I think it's more accurate to say Alabama (or whatever team Nick Saban coaches, really) sets the standard. LSU and Florida lost (and Florida lost to a Big East team!), South Carolina barely beat Michigan. The only teams which dominated were Alabama, TA&M, and Georgia, the rest either lost or were very close games. I will be curious to see what kind of teams Urban Meyer puts together once he has a few recruiting classes, I wouldn't put it past him to put together a team which could beat the SEC powers.
I think next year I'll be an adopted A&M fan because I think they have the best shot at unseating Saban's Alabama. Go Johnny Football!
I didn't believe this, and I found ample evidence not to, but after last night, I have no doubt that LSU, Bama, and Georgia are a level above, SC, Florida, and TAMU are probably a little behind them. There is no doubt, this league should get an automatic bid to the playoffs when they start. Not that they'll need it.
That said, losing bowl games to Louisville, Northwestern, and Clemson shows that outside of Alabama, they are vulnerable in any given game.
Is Nick Saban the best "big game" coach in a generation?
Probably. But I still enjoy laughing at how he struggled, then chickened out and ran for the bus with the Dolphins.
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Seriously. What the hell is this? Super Bowl 27?
I don't know if I was blinded by ND homerism, or my complete and utter disdain for Nick Saban, but I never saw anything like this happening. This is awful. And that sound you hear? That was Te'o dropping to the mid-late 1st round. Not saying he should based on one game, but I can't see him going top-10 now.
I am a bummed ND fan, but we still had a good season
Solace is that nobody expected them to even get to this point. Hopefully they can build on this season going forward.
Kassian to Vancouver for Hodgson
in The Aud Club
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You can blame Ruff all you want, but listen to Ray and Peters talk. Guys don't want to fight all the time, they don't want to be forced to play that way on a nightly basis. Kassian has the skills to play a different way, to prolong his career, and to earn a higher salary. All while keeping his body in tact. You think Ruff ruined Gaustad, but maybe he was just tired of being hurt? Plus, it earned him several million extra dollars to play differently.