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If they started from the beginning, Jason wouldn't be the killer, his mother would be. So they're more or less combining parts 1 & 2 together for this one, I think, and just starting from there. Or something.

I've got nothing but confidence in you, HQ ... treat the Patriots well.

Are we voting on which is better (which we like more) or are we voting on which one is the definitive "internet darling comedy"? Because if it's the former, I'm voting The Office. And if it's the latter, I'm voting AD. I don't want to mis-vote, so ....................

Apples to oranges, max. My argument against the Ward signing was that they re-upped him for 2 years. If he had a year left on his contract, I wouldn't have been averse to bringing him back ... my complaint was signing a guy that missed time due to injuries to a multi-year deal, knowing that he'd likely miss time in the coming seasons. Murray's under contract; I wouldn't even think of advocating that they re-sign him. And are you really going to use the "can't make plays without Savard or Krejci" as your argument? He'd undoubtedly be paired with one of them, so his inability to score away from them is irrelevant. Might as well add "stuggles to score when he doesn't have a stick or when the ice isn't frozen" to his 'cons' list. I'll agree that he had to go for financial reasons - the team just couldn't afford to keep him. But without him, I really wonder if this team can even match last year's offensive numbers, and last year's B's aren't going to get confused with the mid-80s Oilers any time soon. It seems that us fans are hanging all of our hopes on "if"s. If Krejci continues to play the way he did at the end of last year, if Kessel is as good as his potential would indicate (instead of just Samsonov v.2), if Bergeron can come back at the level he was pre-injury and remain healthy this year, if Soderberg decides to stay in the States, if Kobasew is actually the goal-scorer he was last year compared to the grinder he was in year's past, etc. The Wideman thing, I'll just admit defeat. I think it sucks that we endured a lock-out so the league could establish some financial structure, and then within just a few years unproven players are getting long, high-salaried contracts. We can only hope that he continues to improve and thus justifies the contract.

Evidently "Bring something of relevance - instead of just a jaded, douchebag opinion - when you post" was left on the cutting room floor as well. Back on-topic: I hate the first few weeks of a season, where there's just too many people for the editors to really give us a good view of their characters or who to root for. Other than the blatantly unlikable - such as Jessie or Renny - or the ones that I like for aesthetic reasons - April & Keesha - I'm largely apathetic about every one.

RE: The snake. I'd say it's real but purposely misleading ... it's big, but not as big as the camerawork implies. There's nothing to really use as perspective for how big it really is, and thus the camera work can make it seem bigger than it really is. For a comparison, GIS "kimberly fishing" ... the snake in that looks huge, but it turns out that it's a pygmy cow (or whatever) that it's lifting and thus it's not as big as it looked at face value.

Another quality post from The Czech Republic! Let's hear it for him, folks! Don't be a douche, Czech - you don't like something, don't go into the thread.

Signing him isn't a bad thing; signing him to an almost $4m/year contract after one good year is a bad thing. He's a good offensive defensemen, but I'm hesitant to call him a good defensive defensemen. If he is indeed improving (e.g. improves off of what we saw last year) then I'd agree that it was a good signing. If he plays the same as he did last year - especially in his own end - I'll be unhappy with him getting a $4m/4year contract. RE: the bolded part ... I hate the 'well, that's how much players like him are getting paid' argument. Some GM's are throwing out 6, 8, 10 year contracts to players that don't deserve them. Some GM's are handing out NTC or NMC clauses like they're after dinner mints. Some GM's are making bad decisions ... I don't think other people's mistakes are good justification for making a move. And I think it's crazy to think that being paired with Chara wasn't a big part of Wideman's improvements. He sure looks better when he's paired with Chara then when he's paired with, well, anyone else. EDIT: His goal scoring left him? He scored 17 goals in only 63 games last year! While not Richard Trophy-worthy, it was respectable for a Bruins team that really struggled to score. I won't argue that he's injury prone - that's inarguable - and I'll even agree that he's not as prolific a goal scorer as he once was. But he had a better goals-per-game average than the people ahead of him on the B's scoring sheet & had one of the best scoring percentages on the team. To say that he's incapable of scoring goals is inaccurate. And while I agree that he's overpaid at this point for what he produced, what is the team going to benefit for moving him now? (other than getting under the cap, which they need to do once the Wideman signing is official - and I'd argue that there are other players that should be moved before Murray) It's too late to clear cap space to acquire a free agent and he's going into his last season under contract, so the urgency to move him has fizzled.

MySpaceTV still has the video. While I wouldn't be surprised if this was indeed a work, I really struggle to see what IWA-MS is getting out of this except for bad press. You can't argue "any press is good press" because most deathmatch fans already knew of their shenanigans, and people that hadn't seen them before are likely to be unimpressed with what they see.

I'm not feeling the Wideman deal. While I recognize that both teams "gave something up" and thus it's - on paper - a fair signing (the B's overpaid for him, and Wideman gave up those UFA years) ... I just don't know if I'm certain that Wideman will continue to grow enough as a player to be a $4m/year dman. I'm ready to be wrong - and really hope that I am - but I saw a player that made more than his share of bad plays last year. Bad decisions with the puck, bad decisions defending the puck, and - most egregiously - a lot of misplays when just gathering the puck in his own end. I'm probably guilty of being hypercritical of him, and will certainly agree that he's better than Alberts, Ference or Hnidy ... but I hate to see Chiarelli overpay for a young defenseman just because other GM's are. Unless Wideman improves a lot of off last year (and I'm thinking more of him in the defensive end than his goal-scoring abilities) it's a bad signing. And, like max said, the Wideman signing is the nail in the coffin in Glen Murray's tenure in Boston. Yeah, he's injury prone ... but he's also the best goal scorer the team has/had. I don't know how excited I am with the top 6 without Murray in there, the team is going to need career years out of a lot of players to make up for Murray's loss.

In, as the Patriots. But only because it gives me an excuse to PM with kkk. I <3 him so much.

Ivy/Ivory ... you knew what I meant. Although I'm not quite sure how I typed in such a noticably incorrect word. I must be off my game, as I normally message board much better than that. And the ivy being dead is easily fixed:

Harley Quinn does not speak for all ESTers. Many, if not most, of us recognize that games are played in the most appropriate time zone for the home team. While it can lead to some unfortunate circumstances - e.g. ESTers staying up late to watch a game played in Cali or the PNW, or PSTers forced to miss part of a game that starts at 7:00 pm EST - it's a necessarily evil associated with living in the vast landmass most of us call home. USA, love it or leave it.

Yes, Montreal has the ASG this season ... and the draft next summer, so they're getting plenty of attractions even without the Heritage Classic. I'm presuming, though, that most Habs fans would choose the outdoor game over either of the other two events. And I think the NHL is banking on the allure of Wrigley to compensate for any level of discomfort or unattractiveness associated with the location & weather. Plus it's not like Buffalo or Edmonton provided any real scenery above & beyond the ice on a football field. At least Wrigley will have the ivory & the scoreboard and ... uh ... a partial view of the L from the third base upper deck section. And you know Chicagoans, Czech - they'll be too drunk to notice the weather regardless.

I should preface this with admitting that I don't really think they should take it more seriously ... treating it like the meaningless exhibition game that all-star games are would be preferable for me. But having said that: They could impose some restrictions to ensure that a pitcher didn't over-exert himself. Maybe no more than 5 innings (or even 4) or no more than 60-75 pitches. Yes, it would still be less than a 'real' game, but it's insane to see a pitcher removed after one inning just so the manager can get 8 or 9 pitchers into one game. Another factor (and this is based off a conversation from the other board, so might be redundant to people that read both) is to have non-active managers manage the ASG. That way there wouldn't be any controversy of, say, Tito Francona trotting Wang out for 7 innings to tire him out and then Rivera for two even if he wasn't needed to close.

Ahh, duly noted, naiwf. I thought you were condeming the lie, not the "it's not as bad if I take my USMC hat off" aspect of it. I think it's admirable (but hilarious) that he thinks it's disrespectul to lie while wearing his marine gear. He's definitely old-school about it.

As much as I like April aesthetically, she was beyond pitiful when she confronted Ollie. I liked how upset she was that she thought that he really cared for her & it might have just been gameplaying. Ummm, April, you two met a week ago while competing for half a million dollars; it's safe to say that this relationship won't be a long-lasting one. Still, though, she's hot, and I think Ollie made the right decision in distancing himself from Brian and alligning himself more closely with April's smoking body. Being untruthful is a huge part of the game; someone that was 100% honest wouldn't last long. The trick is to lie enough that you get to the end but be honest enough that people want you to win.

Regarding the length of the ASG, and the usage of the players ... MLB has to make up their minds instead of trying to butter their breads on both sides. Either the game is a meaningless exhibition game - so the managers SHOULD switch out players throughout the game & give pitchers only an inning or two - or the game means something - so the managers should really manage to win, even if it means some (many) players don't play. It's tough to swallow that the game means something & is serious business when JD Drew plays more than any/all of the starters & lights-out pitchers only go an inning to ensure that the next pitcher gets his turn on the mound.

While I agree that it would make sense for MTL to have the outdoor game in their centenniel year, I can see why the NHL would want to go somewhere else with it, (1) the Habs were just in an outdoor game a few years ago, so to have them in another now would be a bit much when there's so many other teams that want to be in one & (2) Montreal suffers from a definitive lack of America, and I think Bettman's NHL would rather have two American teams play. And I got a good chuckle when I first heard of the alleged three-way trade that was discussed yesterday ... LA giving up Kopitar for so little is asinine. If he was available, and I think it's safe to presume that he's not, there'd be a line of teams ready to give up a whole lot more than the package of mediocrity that was heading West.

Brian was stupid to try and become the ringleader in week one; the people that do that NEVER last long once it becomes obvious what they're trying to do. The best thing to do is lay low for a while and fly under the radar. Look at that guy from a few seasons ago (the Donato-love-fest season) - Zach, I think his name was. People (online) bitched about him having no personality all season, and yet he got himself to the final 3 as a result. So far I'm having a tough time deciding who I think will win: I'm torn between Dan, Memphis, Angie or Keesha. I'm not having the same problem with who I want to win: April FTW. She's hawt.

My biggest complaint with Big Brother is how blatant the producers/editors/whatever are about forcing the show in a certain direction. Between that "America's Player" joke a few seasons ago (after which the guy admitted that he was pushed to make certain decisions while in the "diary room") to Dick & Danielle getting the ultra-kind edit to make them both look less douchey (and to continue the charade that they were estranged but brought back together due to the show) to last season's ultra-push of James ... the show is supposed to be a non-scripted show, yet they seem so bent on creating subplots throughout the season. And that, for some reason, really bothers me. Having said that, for this season: Rooting for April because she's chesty and unable to differentiate any of the males from each other with the exception of Ollie & Jerry. Oh, and the bitchy muscle-head that thinks that people are against him because of his puffed up physique, and not because he was a crybaby douche when the horrendous older woman woke him up ... umm, you're in a house with a dozen roommates, it's safe to presume that you're going to be woken up occasionally.

Since your PC is having problems, CG, is it safe to presume that the team write-up that I PM'ed yesterday morning wasn't received and thus I should write another one?

No "H". Sledgehammer is one word, so it's just UTSU. I always wonder what the Highlanders record is in televised matches is, and without him to tell me, I realize - sadly - that I might never know.

About half-way through the draft I decided that I wanted Grapes as my coach (and I'm thinking "too many men" era Grapes, not the current loud mouth-era version) and made a conscious decision to draft as exclusively North American as possible. Only a couple of French Canadians and one Euro ... Cherry should be Ok with the team.

While it's far from my favorite sport, it's the only one that I'm actively playing right now: Beer league softball. Strengths: Quick: able to beat out most balls hit to the left side of the infield & frequently scores from first on balls hit to the OF ... Versatile: plays all 4 OF positions, along with 3b & 2b ... Good contact hitter: hitting roughly .850 on the season and capable of hitting the ball to all fields ... Strong arm: among the team leaders the team in assists (or putouts, whatever they're called when it's an OF throwing someone out) ... Likeable: hooked up with the 19 year old catcher from the DSS team (even though player is almost twice her age) as well as the cather on own team (even though she lives with her BF) Weaknesses: Power: virtually non-existant with 0 'over the fence' homeruns in 3 years of play ... Apathy: it's obvious that player only plays for the excuse to drink during the week, and he regularly forgets how many outs there are, what the score is, or what inning they're in ... Knowledge of the game: e.g. not sure about putout/assist in "strength" category Overall assessment: Should have a long, productive career in beer league softball.