nl5xsk1

Are you saying there's some ambiguity over whether Mikhail is really dead or not? The dude is 100% dead. No, I'm well aware that he's dead now. But there were two 'false alarms' about him being dead, first when he was shoved into the electric fence and then when he was shot in the chest, with a spear gun, while in the Looking Glass. Both of those incidents were more concrete (less ambiguous) than Jin being on or near the freighter when it blew up, and yet both turned out to be non-lethal injuries. So to re-re-word my original point: Unless the powers-that-be explicitly say "So-and-so is dead, he's not coming back" it's difficult to say with any uncertainty if they're really dead or not. And since they haven't said that Jin is dead (or not dead), I'm firmly in the "he's not dead" camp.

There are a few forwards that I want more than this player, but the really good defensemen are dropping like flies, so I'm bumping him up on my board and taking him now. With my 8th pick, I'd like to welcome Dit Clapper to the Northern Lights Five. Please note: Clapper will be patroling the blue line for the Five. - Longevity: One of the first players to play 20 years in the NHL - Versatility: Played both defense and forward, and played both well enough to be named to the All-Star squad at both positions - Leadership: Set the record for longest reign as team captain, only recently surpassed by Stevie Y & Bourque - Importance: The guy was a Bruin, which obviously makes him awesome ... but he was also given props in Slapshot as being "Olde Tyme Hockey"

After we, the viewers, were led to believe that he died going through the electric fence around New Otherton. There was at least one false-alarm with him. The way it was presented, though, I think we were all supposed to presume that he was dead when he was shot in the back by Richard. The way it was shown, we were supposed to think he was dead then. And I think I should have worded my post differently when I said "They were pretty definitive about Mikail being dead ... and Keamy being dead". What I was trying to say was that unless they specifically suggest that someone is dead, there's no way to be sure if they are. Both Mikhail & Keamy were seemingly dead and neither were, so since there is some ambigiuity about Jin's survival, I'm leaning towards the "he's still alive" side.

Ratings Info: ... Cup Runneth Over And across the board, ratings are up compared to last year. I'm presuming some of it is because there are two US teams, and neither of them are recent expansion teams. But regardless why the ratings were up, it's good to see that people were tuning in.

Wait, what? I thought that his VH1 show was going to lead to him "playing Giants Stadium" ... and that nothing ever came of it. Where did he perform as a result of that show? (Not trying to call you out on anything, legitimately uncertain if he ended up actually accomplishing by doing the show) I know he had a somewhat big comeback a few years ago when he was paired with Opie & Anthony (I think he played MSG, although not anywhere near a sell-out) but I didn't think he had much success after the 'reality' show.

Maybe the writers/producers just want us to think that he's dead, so when he has his reunion with Sun (when the always-exciting O6 make it back to the island) it'll be more special or surprising or something. They were pretty definitive about Mikail being dead ... and Keamy being dead ... and yet both of them came back for one more go-around. So saying with any real conviction that Jin is alive or dead is difficult.

Finally! The long drought is over!! These last 5 seasons must have been brutal for you Wings fans. Sorry to bust balls, but when your team has won 4 in like 11 seasons, it's tough to see a "Finally" and not make jokes. Try being a Bruins fan or a Leaf fan who hasn't gotten to see a Cup celebration in their life time. (Especially a Leafs fan, I'd say ... at least us B's fans have seen our team play for a Cup) EDIT: And having said that, congrats to the Wings fans. Your boys really did deserve the Cup this year, they were the best team all along and deserved the win.

It's funny that Leary & Hicks were mentioned side-by-side, seeing as the former stole the latter's act every bit as blatantly as Mencia's thefts have been. Unless you mean "yelling the punchlines instead of just saying them", I don't see how Leary made any of it "his own". He just retold another person's jokes (sometimes in the same words) and pretended that they were his own.

There are a few players whose careers beg the question: What would have happened without injuries. Three of the biggest names have already been selected: Orr, Neely & Forsberg. To that list, I'd like to add Pat Lafontaine, newest center for the Northern Lights Five. Battled concussions & PCS for the latter half of his career, forcing him to hang up his skates at the age of 34. Still managed to score 40+ goals 7 times (including two with 50+), break 100 points two times, and average more than a point-per-game for his career.

In hindsight, I was stupid for thinking that Phil Housley and Pat Burns would be available in a few picks, the former especially.

I've been waiting for someone to take Kelly, mostly out of curiosity if they'd pencil him in on the blueline or as a center.

I wanted to take a forward in this spot, but good defensemen are going quickly, and I'm afraid that if I don't grab another top d-man now I'll be SOL at the end of it all. So with my 6th pick, I'm proud to welcome Rod Langway to the Northern Lights Five. - Two-time Norris Trophy winner, and probably would have won more if he wasn't playing at the same time as Bourque & Coffey - Runner-up to Gretzky in the Hart Trophy voting in '82 - A pure "defensive" defenseman - Ok, I just wanted a guy with a mustache who was named "Rod' I figure there are d-men with better numbers out there, but a top defensive defenseman would be nice to have paired with Harvey ... plus the Robitaille/Crosby/Neely line might need some defensive assistance.

Once you go assloads, you never go back?

A lot of the players that I'd wanted to get with this pick are falling off the board. Except, of course, for the RW that will anchor my top line ... Cam Neely - 3 Seasons with 50+ goals, including one in which he potted his 50th in only his 44th game of the season - Fearsome hitter, and terrific fighter - Has to be up there in the "assume they're not injured" rule - He was a Bruin, which makes him superior to players unfortunate enough not to wear the Spoked B /sorry for the big-ass picture, I wanted one of him punching Ulfie and that's the best one I could find

Not to tip my hand, but, yeah, I'm thinking of using my 12th forward pick on an enforcer ... and LB is definitely on the list of players that might join the Five. EDIT: and while I was babbling about LB, AiG took one of the players that I most hoped would still be there in a few picks.

I'm only around until 7:30 (eastern) or so. I'll try to send my picks to someone that's recently picked and have them make my choice(s) for me. I figure I have two picks before someone that's 1-8 picks again, so I can give a couple of names without too much concern of them cherry-picking one of my stupendous players. Plus, it's not like I'm leaning towards the most obscure players ... yet ... so it's not like I'll be name-dropping some surprise player.

Damn, in Tretiak, Fetisov & Mahovlich, three of the players that I really wanted - but thought would be available in a few rounds - were taken off the board. The good news, though, is that it means that the players that I wanted more - but presumed would be taken - might slip to me.

While I agree with Perrineau on some things (it was absolutely idiotic to bring him back for such a small role in a handful of episodes) I have to laugh at his attempts to make it a race thing. To paraphrase someone from the fark boards: evidently in Perrineau's world, Hispanic Hugo & Middle Eastern Sayid are "white".

Question about flops: Could they do something comparable to what they're supposed to do in hockey (but don't do as often as they should) and call a foul for the flop but NOT the foul on the slight contact that caused the flopper to dive? Basically: Stuckey nudges Allen, Allen goes sprawling like it was a flagrant foul, and the only foul called is the one on Allen for unsportsmanlike conduct (or whatever they want to call it). That, I think, would decrease the dives in a quick way ... or at least make the divers more subtle about when & where they're diving. And while I don't have the numbers in front of me - and am too lazy to google them out - I think Perkins finished in the top handful of players in technicals against this season. He hasn't gotten many in the postseason, but he was certainly called out on his looks/words a ton of times in the regluar season.

That's just completely wrong. I don't see how him making a choice to jump out of the chopper to save everyone else was anything other than him choosing to stay behind. Jack made it sound like a completely different sitation to what it was though. And was Sawyer supposed to do? Kick Hurley or Kate out of helicoper? Jack wasn't going anywhere, so Sawyer had to sacrifice or they would all die. He didn't have much of a choice at all. For Jack to turn around and say 'he choose to stay behind' is pretty dickish. If Jack was so serious about getting everyone off the island, he should have been the one that vacated the chopper. And for all the shit that I give the writers, I will give them credit for one thing: they didn't just make the male protagonist a 100% altruistic angel. If anything, he was the one that was portrayed as being the least likely to listen to reason, or the least likely to go along with what other people wanted. It added a tinge of reality to the character. Then again, it adds fuel to the fire to those of us that hate him.

Sunday is better for me than Saturday, but I can do Saturday if it's not too early in the day (or too late at night, for that matter - I'm not going to meet a promiscuous woman sitting at a computer on a Saturday night, people!)

First bolded part: My question is, How did Keamy even know that the underground, hidden station was even there? And if the answer is "Widmore knew and told him", why didn't Keamy & company go down and ambush Ben down there instead of just patrolling around the greenhouse? He was the last person I expected to see coming out of the elevator, and not because he was presumed dead ... but because we were led to believe that the Orchid was a hidden, not-well-known station. Second bolded part: At the time it seemed like it was an insurance policy, to prevent the freighter captain from stopping him (Keamy) from torching the island, kind of a "you can't stop me without killing yourself". But it was obviously just done for a reason to blow up the freighter & kill Michael and maybe Jin. Just lazy writing, IMHO. "We need to find a way to blow up the freighter. Hmm, how about this......" I like the fact that so many people have so many questions about the finale, and have so many examples of inexplicable occurrences or contradictions. At first I thought it was just me being a cynical dick, but obviously there's at least some merit to my unhappiness.

But didn't they already "confirm" that wreckage as being 815, even though they couldn't go in and ID the bodies? Unless my memory is off (which it might be) the plane was pretty much intact when they found it on the bottom of the ocean; if that's the case, how would these 8 people have gotten out of the plane and ended up on the island?

It would work for me.

Negative niskie in 3...2...1: Last night's show did next-to-nothing for me. There were a few good scenes, but the bad outweighed the good and they really left me apathetic about, well, everything that's forthcoming. The Desmond/Penny reunion, which I - like so many others - was looking forward to, seemed relatively anticlimactic. So does this mean that we won't see them again until Ben (presumably) goes to kill her to get revenge for Keamy killing his daughter? Because at this point, that's their only tie-in with the people still on the island & the O6. Michael's dying was well received, as he's always been one of my least favorite characters. But it's infuriating that they spent so much of the first two seasons based on him & Walt (hey, remember when Walt had special powers and seemingly could make things happen with his mind?) and now his work for the island is done, so he's dead, even though there were other things that could have been done with that subplot. I'm just thrilled that they spent a full-season with him getting his boy back, just so it could be dropped almost immediately. And underground wheel to move an island. Really? They couldn't have used pseudo-science & magnetism, something that could be explained with science that goes over my head? A fucking wheel moves the island in both space & time. <shakes head> Next season is a season that's focusing on the Oceanic 6, right? (and, yes, I recognize that they'll probably still show the people on the island & whatnot) It looks like my Thursday nights just opened up a little, because I'm done with Lost. A season of them trying to get back to the island just doesn't interest me enough.