That Aud Smell

Who pst in your Cheerios? This isn't a narrative -- it's a reference to multiple credible reports of the demand for the 3OA being made, and then substantiated by the MTL GM himself saying Buffalo's price was too high.

It was a rumour sources by multiple credible journalists. And then you had the Habs GM say in a press conference -- we're interested in ROR, but JBOT can call me when the price comes down.

When the gay rights movement was having a "moment" a few years ago, I was a full-blown cheerleader. And I continue to be. I have many gay friends. I know several gay couples -- married and otherwise -- who are raising children. I completely support, and intuitively understand, their inherent rights to associate with the person they love in the precise same way that I associate with the person I love. The transgender issue is trickier for me, though. For many reasons, I think. Perhaps most fundamentally, the hang-up I've long had is that there is, on the one hand, a philosophy to which I long ascribed that essentially says "hey, those GI dolls (or, whatever, that American FOOTBALL helmet) aren't necessarily JUST for your son, and those dress-up dolls (or, whatever, that make-up) aren't necessarily JUST for your girl -- there's plenty of room within each gender for a full expression of "masculine" and "feminine" behaviors. A super "effeminate" boy is just as fine and wonderful as a super "butch" girl. "Straight, not narrow," as it's often said. The trans movement, though, seems rooted in a simultaneous insistence on gender having no definition, but also being rooted in gender being very much a divided house. If you're a boy who *feels* every bit like a girl, what does that mean? It means, what? Often, that you feel drawn to loving men? Because that's something that (only) women do? Does it mean that you want to wear a flowery sun skirt and crop top, and put on some makeup? Because that's something that only women do? Do you see where I'm getting with that? It seems that the trans individual's desire to be of a certain gender is rooted in a fixed way of viewing gender. Which is just ... more than merely ironic. I'm truly not intending to be insensitive. I may just be ignorant. In my view, if you're a girl who feels in every signifiable way that you are really a boy, then you can just go ahead and be the most boyish girl in town (and vice versa).

I'll check it out. As a rule, I avoid punchlines that make certain people feel badly because that, by definition, makes the joke cheap, gratuitous, and therefore unwelcome. So that's not quite what I'm getting at.

*Sigh* I mean, I guess. Maybe I'll visit the OT Politics club or whatever when it opens to discuss this topic. I'm a self-identified cultural progressive in most ways, but that's an area where I have true ambivalence.

This is gold, Jerry. GOLD! This is also gold.

To each their own (like, you do you, right?), but, as my oldest kids became the age of these prized prospects, I really started to internalize and understand this sentiment. It's even changed the way I experience sports, really. I'll wear my Perreault, and that's about it. I have a Rob Ray goathead as well -- that I will bust out ever so occasionally. I also have a bootleg jersey (it might be a Drury?) that I bought off the street during the 2006 Cup run -- I've worn that twice.

That was effing brilliant TV. They sang to the tunes of some famous opera ... I'm too much of a Philistine to remember which one.

Ya - was gonna make the same observation. I feel like certain modifiers get attached to certain nouns without enough thought. "Blind optimism" being one. What dudacek wrote was optimistic - but it was far from blind.

Is that now out of bounds?

I was never clear on that, myself.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffling glue.

I'm sure I have no idea what you mean.

I love it. You stop that. Man, I scowl and shake my head disapprovingly at kids in U-12 soccer leagues who wear the 99. SHOW SOME RESPECT, KID. That guy can't think his way out of a brown paper bag. No thanks. It's Jack's team -- for good or for ill. I'm actually quite unsure about what the means for the franchise. But it's time to find out.

I'm glad for England, honestly. And, man - Hendo owes Pickford a new car or something.

Lord help us. Let's pour some out on the curb for small ice and grindin' them b1tches down.

I was watching a World Cup game - before the knockout rounds started - and a commentator was observing, rather wryly, that the two teams pitted against each other wouldn't know how to go about winning the match because both teams predicated their success not on possession, but on skillful counter-attacking. For the life of me, I can't recall who the two teams/countries were. But my sense is that they were both fairly good sides. I realize it's a bit of apples and oranges, but it did provide me with some food for thought on the subject of possession as an end-all-be-all advanced stat.

Also: He wore 9 at BU. I say do it, young man.

I sorta love the idea. A fresh start. I recall him going through a bit of a thing with his number when he arrived. He first requested 11, IIRC. (Ha.) I think he knew 9 was taken, but he had a history with that number too. I think 15 might have been his 4th choice -- he talked about it being a lucky number for his father (maybe his birthday?).

Give it time. What was being stated upthread was that: It's an open secret that ROR went through benders of heavy drinking last season, and there were times when heavy use of the sauce could, by way of inference, be linked to his inexplicably inconsistent play.

They have? Edit: Bartenders and liquor distributors?

Days gone by, I think many players did get away with it. But the professionalization of the league's players on just about every level has made it much, much more difficult to do that -- unless, perhaps, you're getting a bump or boost from another substance to get you through a bad day.

Oooh, man. Now I'm getting fired up. LLLLLEEETTT'S GOOOOOOOOOOO! Interesting - I think that's right, actually. When did Samson get slapped for the missed team meeting? Or was that during Hot Daniel's tenure? "Benders," as in he drinks too much? I inferred as much when he drove his fancy truck into a Timmy Ho's.

I think that's right, Liger. Dahlin's attitude and temperament ("I'm boring," he said) *and*, as others here have said, his elite level of play should all help push Eichel in a good direction. Hamilton did reiterate that point about ROR, but he also acknowledged that Eichel acted like an entitled jackass in his early time with the team and pissed off just about the entire room of veterans in so doing.