Generic Off Season Thread

[ACM]

Ahh, so that's what we're supposed to do with a 5 minute PP in an important playoff game.

Dustin should come talk to the team when he's visiting family. Hopefully the advice will be better than "Shooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!"

Maybe more along the lines of "Shoot the f**king puck!". Only without the asterisks.

[Trotsky]

Dustin should come talk to the team when he's visiting family. Hopefully the advice will be better than "Shooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!"

I suspect it will be.

[css228]

Dustin should come talk to the team when he's visiting family. Hopefully the advice will be better than "Shooooooooooooooooooooooooooot!"

I suspect it will be.

Utley's was better.

[billhoward]

I was hoping for a Devils' Stanley Cup, Brodeur retires in glory, and Parise maybe gets re-signed. Instead, the sum of the season is that a team that almost didn't make the playoffs loses to a team that almost didn't make the playoffs ... and Devils fans now have their own Bill Buckner.

[Beeeej]

I was hoping for a Devils' Stanley Cup, Brodeur retires in glory, and Parise maybe gets re-signed. Instead, the sum of the season is that a team that almost didn't make the playoffs loses to a team that almost didn't make the playoffs ... and Devils fans now have their own Bill Buckner.

I think that's a gross overstatement.  I know that having the Kings score three goals on them in a four-minute span might have taken a certain amount of wind out of the Devils' sails, but the Kings still scored three other times last night, to the Devils' one goal total.  I don't think the major was the only difference in last night's game, and I don't think Bernier is going to be nearly as reviled as Buckner has been.  I guess time will tell.

(Granted, those who actually remember what happened in game 6 in 1986 also know that Bill Buckner making that play merely would've ended the inning with the score tied, not ended the game with a Red Sox win - and that before Kevin Mitchell tied the score on Bob Stanley's wild pitch, there were about a dozen separate pitches on which the Sox could have won the World Series outright - so Buckner's not the best guy to blame either, he was just the most visible and obvious scapegoat.)

[jtn27]

I was hoping for a Devils' Stanley Cup, Brodeur retires in glory, and Parise maybe gets re-signed. Instead, the sum of the season is that a team that almost didn't make the playoffs loses to a team that almost didn't make the playoffs ... and Devils fans now have their own Bill Buckner.

I think that's a gross overstatement.  I know that having the Kings score three goals on them in a four-minute span might have taken a certain amount of wind out of the Devils' sails, but the Kings still scored three other times last night, to the Devils' one goal total.  I don't think the major was the only difference in last night's game, and I don't think Bernier is going to be nearly as reviled as Buckner has been.  I guess time will tell.

But at least one of those 3 additional goals can probably be partially blamed on Bernier too. The 5th goal was an empty netter with 3:45 to go. If the Devils weren't down 3 goals at that point in the game, Brodeur probably still would have been in the net. And then on the 6th goal, to me it looked like the Devils had just given up. If we assume other than the 3 goals on the power play and the empty netter, everything would have happened the same way (yes I know that's a bit of a ridiculous assumption, but let's go with it for a minute), it would have been 1-1 with just a few minutes left in the game. Whether or not the Devils gave up on that last goal or not, it's still a close game (and if they did give up, they certainly wouldn't have with the game tied). So  really Bernier takes more blame than it would initially appear. He very well could wind up as a Buckner figure.

[billhoward]

I'm sure you'll see Buckner allusions from Devils fans who want a scapegoat and something to make the series memorable. Meanwhile in attempt at making the Devils the victims of uncalled LA infractions, the Newark Star-Ledger site is asking fans to vote on Which was the worst officiating moment of Game Six?. See, if the refs had called LA for maybe-boarding five seconds before Bernier's Andy Warhol moment, then the Devils wouldn't have gone into a funk, given up three goals, hit the crossbar when the penalty was over, and so really it wasn't their fault they lost. We're all victims here.

And we're almost at the point where the entire population that knows the name Bill Buckner believes he booted the ball in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 that let the winning run score.

What a treat to have Mike Emrich calling the game. I think he said he'll be doing the Olympics, too. Water polo, I believe. Well, the kid has to start somewhere.

[Beeeej]

And we're almost at the point where the entire population that knows the name Bill Buckner believes he booted the ball in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 that let the winning run score.

I wonder, do more people believe that Bill Buckner let the winning run score in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, or that the U.S. victory over the U.S.S.R. in hockey in the 1980 Olympics won them the gold medal?

[Rita]

And we're almost at the point where the entire population that knows the name Bill Buckner believes he booted the ball in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 that let the winning run score.

I wonder, do more people believe that Bill Buckner let the winning run score in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, or that the U.S. victory over the U.S.S.R. in hockey in the 1980 Olympics won them the gold medal?

What about Ken Dryden leading the Cornell Big Red to its undefeated season? ::bolt::

[Beeeej]

I'm sure you'll see Buckner allusions from Devils fans who want a scapegoat and something to make the series memorable. Meanwhile in attempt at making the Devils the victims of uncalled LA infractions, the Newark Star-Ledger site is asking fans to vote on Which was the worst officiating moment of Game Six?. See, if the refs had called LA for maybe-boarding five seconds before Bernier's Andy Warhol moment, then the Devils wouldn't have gone into a funk, given up three goals, hit the crossbar when the penalty was over, and so really it wasn't their fault they lost. We're all victims here.

The other thought I have on this issue - and then I'll leave it alone, as I have too much else to do - is that the Devils have won three Stanley Cups in the last twenty years.  There's no "curse" that they were trying to overcome, no 78-year old drought in progress.  I doubt the Devils' fans will give it nearly as much weight as the Red Sox's fans did.

[Beeeej]

And we're almost at the point where the entire population that knows the name Bill Buckner believes he booted the ball in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 that let the winning run score.

I wonder, do more people believe that Bill Buckner let the winning run score in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, or that the U.S. victory over the U.S.S.R. in hockey in the 1980 Olympics won them the gold medal?

What about Ken Dryden leading the Cornell Big Red to its undefeated season? ::bolt::

I was going to mention that, too, but there aren't nearly enough people who know about Cornell's undefeated season at all to make it a contender with the other two.

[billhoward]

The other thought I have on this issue - and then I'll leave it alone, as I have too much else to do - is that the Devils have won three Stanley Cups in the last twenty years.  There's no "curse" that they were trying to overcome, no 78-year old drought in progress.  I doubt the Devils' fans will give it nearly as much weight as the Red Sox's fans did.

When someone posts something stupid, and they will, there's always time for a reply.

I don't feel bad about a team winning its first cup, or first title in a long-long time. It's part of

The Rule of Rooting When Your Team's Out

Root for the better team academically (the Ivy Rule).
Root for the team from your league, your region, your state.
Root for the team hasn't won in a long time.
Root for the team whose presence annoys the NCAA (e.g. Union being too small to be a proper D1 hockey power)
Root for teams with smoking hot cheerleaders (the Rule of SEC football schools)
Root for teams playing the team you can't stand
What else?
There is an exception to the Ivy Rule.

[jtn27]

The other thought I have on this issue - and then I'll leave it alone, as I have too much else to do - is that the Devils have won three Stanley Cups in the last twenty years.  There's no "curse" that they were trying to overcome, no 78-year old drought in progress.  I doubt the Devils' fans will give it nearly as much weight as the Red Sox's fans did.

When someone posts something stupid, and they will, there's always time for a reply.

I don't feel bad about a team winning its first cup, or first title in a long-long time. It's part of

The Rule of Rooting When Your Team's Out

Root for the better team academically (the Ivy Rule).
Root for the team from your league, your region, your state.
Root for the team hasn't won in a long time.
Root for the team whose presence annoys the NCAA (e.g. Union being too small to be a proper D1 hockey power)
Root for teams with smoking hot cheerleaders (the Rule of SEC football schools)
Root for teams playing the team you can't stand
What else?
There is an exception to the Ivy Rule.

These two contradict each other.

[French Rage]

And we're almost at the point where the entire population that knows the name Bill Buckner believes he booted the ball in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 that let the winning run score.

I wonder, do more people believe that Bill Buckner let the winning run score in the bottom of the ninth in game seven, or that the U.S. victory over the U.S.S.R. in hockey in the 1980 Olympics won them the gold medal?

I like it on sites or shows where they correct people thinking that USSR was the gold medal game by saying that Finland was the gold medal game.

[css228]

Root for teams playing the team you can't stand

With the exception of rooting for the Kings because I wanted Gagne and Hexy to get a cup, this pretty much dictates my rooting once my team is out.