That Aud Smell

Can anyone recall a sabre from the 80s/90s who would qualify as "remember that guy" obscure, and would have been a bit of a Short King? not nathan gerbe short, but built much like nathan was/is -- like a brick sh1thouse. the name is escaping me. Wait. I see it above: Gates Orlando. Whew - what a career that guy had. Half a lifetime spent playing in Europe!

And immediately, I picture a young #18 winding up so far and hard that the blade of his stick is almost touching his skates, attempting a slapshot from 5 feet in front of the net. That, of course, never happened. But it didn't stop us, as kids, from imagining that it did. Also: He borders on non-obscure. If I were to go obscure from that era, I'd offer Sean McKenna.

I am partial to Keith Gretzky, even though he never played for the big club. Greg Brown is another good one. I was convinced that the Hobey Baker finalist was gonna light sh1t up for the Sabres. Not so much, turns out. And TIL: He's created a good coaching career for himself. Final honourable mention goes to Norm Lacombe. Great name. He was a bit of a bust, I believe.

I think the joke reached its completed form with "Mike Peca Smehlik Zhitink!" I think the best joke I ever made was -- in real time, at a game with old friends, with no pre-planning -- bursting out into "Never gonna clear the puck, never gonna leave the zone" in the midst of some defensive futility on his part. I mean, my friends and everyone in ear shot burst into laughter. This was also before "Rick Roll" existed.

It's well documented that TBI's can cause personality changes and mood disorders -- some of which can persist a long time. Whether those effects are consistent with CTE is a totally unresolved question, AFAICT.

I'm not really suggesting anything, seeing as I don't really know anything about this evolving area of study. But if we accept as true that subconcussive impacts are the driver of CTE, then I would suggest that, of all positions on the field, wide receivers in (American) football are probably the least affected by repeated subconcussive impacts. That's not to say that they're unaffected by them. But they sure aren't experiencing them like linemen or linebackers, who basically crack heads on every single play. As for your mention of "being tackled repeatedly," I'm not even sure whether garden variety tackles of a WR would register as a subconcussive impact -- I'm sure some of them would, but if, say, a DB grabs a WR by the waist and spins him to the ground? That's probably less of a subconcussive impact than each of the O-linemen experienced on that play when they came out of their stance and engaged with a defender.

"Currently, the best available evidence suggests that subconcussive impacts, not concussions, are the driving force behind CTE." https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/subconcussive-impacts

I've also heard people talking about the CTE angle. I have no idea on that front, and no one else does either AFAIC. (FWIW, I would tend to doubt that he's a CTE sufferer -- the big CTE risks seem to be players who crack heads with other players on just about every play.)

I'd wager dollars to donuts that he is essentially broke. I heard the interview with the guy who picked him up at Newark Airport yesterday -- Brown could just be a class-A arsehole ... but it sounds to me like he might actually suffer from some sort of manic mental disorder -- bipolar or the like. Really good post, especially this last piece. It worries me that the Bills rely on Allen as much as they do. There were plenty of "MVP" chants in the stadium yesterday after his second rushing TD, which of course is not happening with that passing stat line. But it's true, IMO. No player is more valuable to a playoff team than Allen is to the Bills. They need to get him a little more help, both in terms of personnel and play calling.

Hear, hear. At the stadium, I sort of lost sight of the fact that his passing stats were subpar. (Quick aside: I specifically recall 3 or 4 early-ish drops, although without the benefit of replays, I lost track of them.) He was the heart and soul of the offence, for sure. He found a way to win, and led his teammates in doing so.

With early variants, there was data to show that the vaccines inhibited transmission. With Delta, that effect started to wane pretty significantly (and pretty quickly following the second shot). I have no idea what effect Omicron is having, but I presume that vaccines (and their boosters) remain highly effective at reducing severe illness, hospitalization, and death from the novel coronavirus's variants ... but are probably not effective (or, if effective, very minimally) in preventing transmission.

That throw to Davis was bonkers. Beat the Patriots!

I'm talking like within a matter of days ... or hours. Also, it strikes me that the professional leagues' COVID protocols are an ill fit for the Omicron wave. They're going to have to revamp their rules because, under their current rules, they just won't be able to play. It'll be impossible.

NHL's gonna pause play, aren't they? It seems inevitable at this point.

Maraschino Welts.

Maybe I haven't listened long enough, but what I just heard is that, when he's watching the games, he's "99%" focused on watching the game and is almost entirely not looking at his laptop or peripheral monitors. His discussion of how the data and the eye test work together is very smart, balanced, reasonable. One big takeaway: The data is a tool - it's not a religion.

HC DG would never.

Alternatively:

I watched most of this one. They were good early, got absolutely sh1t pumped there for a while, and then somehow turned it around. Even when they were struggling, I didn't hate watching them. As has been said, they make their mistakes while falling forward. Something that occurred to me this morning: Days gone by, when the W/L results were similar but the style of play was quite different, the team would be criticized for a lack of effort. I think maybe what fans and writers were seeing was not a lack of effort, but a concerted kind of effort that was mistake-avoidant, reactive, passive ... the result often looked limp and lame (i.e., lacking effort). With the current approach, the team generally looks frantic and disorganized when they're struggling, but they at least they look like they're working towards getting on a front foot. And then sometimes it snaps into place, and they get rolling. I'll keep tuning in.

^^ YOU PLAY. TO WIN. THE GAME.

Watched some of the Friday game and most of the Saturday game. I liked how they played in both. And I think they actually deserved a better outcome in the Saturday game, at least. I can recall fans (myself?) saying things like: "I could tolerate the team losing tons of games, so long as they were enjoyable to watch." Or something to that effect. That's what's going on right now. I see a lot of honest effort and pretty good hockey. The results just aren't there -- yet.

There may be some confusion here between hernia and groin? Those athlete hernias (they have a shorthand name - can't recall it) - like the one Briere had - are in the abdominal region, I believe, and that would be upper body (above the waist).

So strange. I've tried to remain open to the guy, but that sort of stuff is just so indicative of him being a thin-skinned doofus. Also:

Sure. But it's a smell that Hamilton presumably loves (boiled hot dogs, roasted peanuts, popcorn oil, tobacco tar, and such).

I am still confused about the re-injury to the wrist and a limp down the tunnel. Also, Hamilton apparently reported on this, but he's blocked me on Twitter. No idea why.