That Aud Smell

I saw that show a couple years ago. They do a good job with it.

Bad things, man. Bad things.

Just basic reading comprehension, bruv.

His choice of words, which was poor and imprecise. Better words? This isn’t that deep.

Also Lance’s wording was poor. 🤪 Christ I hope not.

So encouraging. Keep going, KP!!

There's an old joke about a lawyer being stunned by the invoice he got from his plumber. "Why ... this is more than I charge MY clients per hour!" "Yeah. It's more than I charged my clients per hour when I practiced law as well."

TIL that dude hails from Chilliwack, BC. Hell yeah!!

Damn, man. We've had a Vulcan mind meld on this topic. I use the term "racket" all the funking time when I talk about Higher Ed.

Hear, hear. The 1 percenters - or the .01 percenters or whatever - have come for everyone's scalps, everyone's margins. Higher Ed got caught up in that mix, for sure. And they're not done yet. Shoot. With AI coming on the scene, I suppose they're just getting started. We're just about at a stage in life where our own parents would have considered themselves nearly done with the direct support stuff. Their kids were more or less launched by now (this was about 30 years ago, give or take (grunge was a big deal at the time; so too, somehow, were the Barenaked Ladies)). Now in 2023, we're looking to put a modest addition on the home and reconfigure a few things so that our 20-somethings can use their childhood home as a way station of sorts. It's brutal out there.

There I was thinking that the story about being drunk in a packed car in Lake Placid with a 14 year old girl at the wheel (because she was sober) wouldn't be topped.

It does feel like something's got to give. Of course, that is greatly complicated by the fact that the NFLPA is a weak union. I don't mean the leadership, per se. I mean the union's members. There's just so many of them - especially as compared with other pro sports. A large majority of the members do not have it in them to take a strong stand against ownership. They need to get what they can now, here and now. The absence of contract guarantees -- in the pro sport that is the most brutal and debilitating -- still blows my mind.

Thing is - I don't think there will be a showdown. The war is over, for now.

Saquon Barkley's 1-year deal notwithstanding, the dark clouds just continue to gather over NFL RB's. It's pretty astonishing how bottomed out the value of that position is. (I'm looking above at the tweet re Dalvin Cook out there begging for a deal.) If you're a 15 year-old soon to be blue chip recruit in Florida - and your HS coach has you playing RB and DB (I assume that elite football prospects still play on both sides of the ball (??)) - and Florida State comes calling - you and your family are definitely asking to be recruited as a DB, not a RB, right?

ADEA was passed in the late 60's and these companies are just repeatedly citing your age as an obstacle to hiring? I mean, FFS. It's gracious of you to frame is as a duty-related inquiry. But it's effing unlawful. And has been since before you were born. I'm also glad to hear that the turntables have turned (shoutout Michael Scott) and that the dynamic is shifting in your favour. No surprise there, as employers in our region are just hurting for qualified people in skilled positions like yours. Stupid on their part not to understand that dynamic.

brief as it is, this story took some *turns*.

Tyler Myers was going to be a Norris Trophy candidate. Perhaps my early enthusiasm was influenced by the fact that Myers was the dance partner for none other than Patrice Bergeron's first (and only?!) fighting major.

I definitely recall Quinn and Peterka sort of hitting a wall last season (and, in fact, being bashed into several walls (boards)) and consequently having their ice time cut way back for a long stretch. The team was expecting and needing both of them to take a substantial step forward in that department this season. So I wouldn't view Quinn's ice time from last season as particularly relevant to what's needed to "fill that void" for this upcoming season. That's to say nothing of replacing his actual production, nor to touch on finding a player who looks like a smooth criminal out there.

I'm (risking) being a pedantic as#hole, but sometimes the shoe fits so I wear it. Lance wrote that the Sabres would be looking at Murray, among other fringe forwards, in order to fill the void left by Quinn. If he'd written that Quinn's absence opens up a roster spot for a fringe forward to claim - as you suggest - I would have glossed right over the statement of an obvious truth.

he was wearing a silky bathrobe. not precisely this robe, but one very much like it. Come to think of it ... maybe it was that robe.

Bergeron announced his retirement. (Thank God.)

I feel like this must be the case. I say that because, when a local t-shirt company came out with a "BRETT HULL IS A CHEATER" t-shirt with a graphic of an icy crease, goal posts, intruding skate, and puck, Hull bought dozens of them (nearly 100, I think). He apparently distributed them to friends, former teammates at the charity golf tournaments he went to that summer. He also took a picture wearing one and used it as his first Twitter profile pic. He's a beauty for that.

I’ve got several stories, but I’ll stick with this occasion: I attended a few Chet and Muffy preseason STH/corporate sponsors luncheons at the arena’s club setting (what is it even called? Lexus Club? What was it called then? Harbour Club?) The one I’m remembering is from a year that they had players and other notable personalities (RJ, Ray) sitting as guests at each sponsor’s table. We had an utterly morose young European goalie at our table, who, I predicted to colleagues after the event, would be back in Europe within 12 months or less. I’m pretty sure I was correct. I can’t recall his name. Not sure if he was Finnish, Swedish … . As the event was dispersing, I asked for and got a picture with Nathan Gerbe. Nothing but basic pleasantries exchanged. What I remember is that, when I bro-clapped my hand on his back for the picture, I felt like that I’d slapped a slab of granite. A small slab, sure. But holy crap. Dude was a rock. This was also the luncheon where I almost literally bumped into Kim Pegula outside the venue and, after she regally said “hello,” I said something to the effect of “DURR DURR HAHN MAHN NK NK.”

The level of inexperience amongst jet ski operators -- in areas where there are lots of them -- is astonishing to me. I feel like it's a situation that is begging for regulation (licensing). But there's too much money being made for the fun to be reeled in. Also, lol at the Belichick joke. I would not put it past him.

Ha. Oops. I took it the other way, based on how commonplace it is and how dangerous it looks for a group of inexperienced jet skiers to be idling around a dock. VROOM! (sh1t!) WHAP!