That Aud Smell

The slurring of the white male. So tragic. I shouldn't poke fun, actually. That exact sort of feeling wound up having a truly surprising effect in November 2016.

Leave who alone to do what?

Fwiw: p.s. I submit that without really understanding what it means other than blue looks "good" and red looks "bad." I know nothing about the two players. And this, in fact, is a reason that #fancystats can be helpful. I can have some understanding of the players without knowing much about their play.

Let’s go, Buffalo!! Whither @rickshaw?

I’m not sure I’m an analytic folk, but I distinctly recall such a conversation after a loss to the Rangers early on this season. I think this happens regularly when the Sabres lose, but deserved better. Not for nothing: That hasn’t happened too much this season. I look forward to digging up and replying anew to this post while sitting in a self-driven Uber. Shoot. They’re back online in Pittsburgh, yes? (Only for testing?)

“White men are inherently privileged and powerful in America.” Please allow me a modest LOL.

Something something about the mind that can simultaneously hold two contrary thoughts. This is routinely how I experience things: I enjoy the game in the moment (or I don't enjoy it ...) and then I peruse stats during off-hours.

Sir! Sir! Please do not burden me with such metaphysics. I am still working on @X. Benedict's demand to know how many hockey-pirouettes a young Phil Housley could have fit on Bill Hajt's head. It's an interesting question, on a lot of levels. I'll venture this: It would present a different analysis. A different set of solutions for a path forward. From the young lady's point of view, I don't know that it would matter all that much what her harasser's race was/is. I'm getting there.

I don't want to descend into the weeds on this. You and I have very different viewpoints on whether and to what extent being white and being male give rise, singly and jointly, to certain inherent and certain acquired privileges and powers in modern America. A black or Latino boss would not, like his white counterpart, hail from an historically advantaged, privileged race in America. So his race probably would not factor into my perspective in the same way a white boss's race would. White men in America have a specific and unique place in our society -- they (we) are, as a cohort, ensconced atop the social pecking order. I trust and expect that you would disagree with, dissent from that perspective.

Ideally, Jack would have a running count of how many times he's missed from a low-percentage spot on the ice before taking another shot from that spot.

This was my initial response. Preach. I made a funny sound trying to suppress a laugh at this one. Some of this was from me, earlier today. I'm not telling you how to feel. I'm telling you my view of the world: That last night's win means less to me than a win where the team had the better of play. Please, it's: Your an idiot. Take off. This is a curious confluence of debate. That goal was, to borrow a term, RIDICULOUS. Filthy. Somewhat insane. In part was it also lucky?** Sure. But that's sport. ** Skinner scored one the other night - against the Devils? - that was similarly crazy. He shot that thing through a keyhole (h/t to Bucky Gleason for providing me with that phrase when he was talking about Paddy Kane). That's not just meaninglessly lucky. That was also amazing.

I don't think that's a fair reading of my rejoinder. And I meant it sincerely. Let's consider the situation as it may reasonably be understood (inferentially): Gibby is a 50-something mid-career executive who wasn't abusing his privilege or his power. He's just a galoot who's recently divorced (that is a total guess on my part, btw (but a reasoned one)), he was feeling frisky, he's decades separated from the dating scene, and he came on too strong with a foxy young lady after he'd had a lot to drink. Ignorant behaviour, that's all. But what precisely was he ignorant of? Current social mores? Sure, maybe. But might he also have been operating in ignorance of how his position and status (which, I submit, bestow on him certain privileges and power) inevitably made his encounter with that young woman inappropriate and upsetting? I think maybe so.

I'm genuinely uncertain as to what your point is. Sure as shinola it does. I say that as someone who firmly believes that it starts with me. #CuetheMichaelJacksonSong More seriously, I think about this spoken-word song a lot. The whole yarn is terrific. The relevant part of the homily starts at around 3:50. The struggle is real. Ignorance of one's privilege and/or power, maybe.

Yes, let's get middle-aged white dudes to act better as a cohort without addressing how they deal with positions of privilege and power. Yes, let's.

Best I could do for a faux amazement, no s**t, Sherlock sort of reaction. (Btw: In your scenario, the offender lacks power over the person being harassed.)

It strikes me as utterly non-controversial to say that there's a fairly pervasive and persistent problem in the country with white male executives harassing female colleagues and subordinates. A tale as old as time, maybe. But Time's Up, motherpluckers.

I'm talking about the news report, which had a fair amount of detail regarding Gilbert's conduct. Is it? I'm asking. If someone says: I'll talk to you about this matter off the record because I don't want to suffer any personal consequences -- does that make the source's content off-limits for a reporter?

To some.

It's a new ad that has a very strong, overt #MeToo theme. Riffing off "the best a man can get", I guess -- telling men "look, we all need to be better." And, from what I can tell, there are a lotta dudes losing their ever-flipping minds over it. In this thread, I was mostly busting chops when I alluded to the ad.

I became disillusioned with Kim Pegula over a lot of the creative output from PSE. I still think that what she finds interesting or compelling is stuff that I largely find uninteresting or tired. OTOH, her apparent influence in creating a proper workplace environment is impressive. Full marks, there. I swear. That Gillette ad has white dudes all in a tither. Sure we do. His boorish and creepy behaviour was described in some detail in the report.

GIlbert knew precisely why he was going to Brick Bar. He had a room booked back at the Marriott, after all. Not for nothing: The original report from TBN had a statement from the one (716) server who said something about how she didn't want to say anything to management because she was concerned it would be ignored like it usually is (or as usually is the case -- something like that). It was a fairly vague quote or attribution. It wasn't clear whether she was just saying, "in general," she didn't think she'd be taken seriously (given how the world works, etc.), or whether there were issues with PSE specifically. In any case, that quote or statement from her is no longer in the article. Unchecked, unexamined privilege is a problem.

I'm talking about the fact that 2 SOG in the 3rd is generally a sign of a team that is not getting the better of play at the game's end. I'm talking about the fact that going 3 for 3 in the team's final 3 SOG is not a formula for long-term success. I'm talking about a desire to see the team's overall underlying metrics move in a positive direction (they've been fairly stuck in or around the same mediocre spot for months now). I'm talking about how a team that has those kind of positive metrics is getting the better of play and will tend to win more games than they lose (unless they're Carolina, I guess). But I think you knew all of that, more or less, and feigned ignorance of what I was talking about as a means of being dismissive of the point I was making. If I'm watching or attending a game, none of these kinds of issues affect my ability to enjoy the game in the moment. Like, if the Sabres pull off a relatively improbable win because the goalie stands on his head and the team gets a few bounces, I'm no less happy with the result. I didn't get to watch much of last night's game. So where, as here, I'm considering the game more from a numbers standpoint, certain issues and considerations come to mind. Why are you discussing facts? A win is a win.

Not all wins are equal though. (Yeah, yeah. “2 points.”)