TheOriginalOrangeGoblin

The NHL must be loving this from their American standpoint. 4 of, arguably, the top 6-7 American fanbases/hockey markets are in the second round (NY, Det, SJ, Buf) and one that comes pretty close (Dal) could be in too.

Foul trouble. And neither team showed up today with Dixon, Graham and Bargnani doing nothng although Graham played Vince well. Atleast the Raps got the jitters out of the way and could've easily won it if they could grab a rebound to save their life in the 4th. For whoever questioned Jose Garbajosa's worth, I am certain that, had he played, the Raptors would've won. He excels in games like this especially when the Raptors can't get much going offensively.

Lucky me, then, that my cousin is a season ticket holder and not only am I not paying face value, I'm paying less than that. Unlucky me, they're green level seats. Overall, I'd feel a lot better if Garbo didn't break his leg. He's the best Raptor that you've never heard of if you don't follow them. Watching them play, he just kinda seemed like a big guy with a nice, consistant stand still jumpshot. Not saying they don't miss him, because dude was important, but I didnt see him helping with much outside of clearing the paint out for Bosh with his accurate jump shooting. He's Toronto's "glue guy" who does a little bit of everything and always makes the second/third pass that sets up a basket. Very underrated player. I'd compare him to Shane Battier. He's also an elite defender which makes his loss pretty huge.

Sabres should be scared of the Rangers. Nothing is worse in the playoffs than facing a team with a very hot goalie that has the tools to score a lot of goals. If Buffalo slacks, the Rangers take the series.

For us Raptors fans this is the best/worst scenario possible. What's better: the chance to defeat Public Enemy #1 and basically define the franchise or a free ticket to round 2? I'd probably have preferred the free ticket (Washington). Ah well, still should be fun since apparently every Toronto playoff game is already sold out with even upper level tickets going for 4 times their face value on EBay (ALREADY). Anyways, East: Pistons in 4 - No doubt here. I'll be shocked if the Magic win one. Cavs in 4 - Any playoff team in the East sweeps Washington (eventhough Lebron and co. are really good at finding ways to lose). Raptors in 7 - Should be a tough series since the Raps are the superior in basically every aspect but Vince and Kidd have enough experience to offset that. Heat in 6 - Wallace won't slow down Shaq like he did a few years ago and the Bulls STILL don't have a crunch time game-changer. West: Mavericks in 6 - Golden State will put up a good fight and tire the Mavs out in preparation for the Spurs. Suns in 6 - I say Kobe's good for 2 games all on his own but other than that, Suns shouldn't have much trouble. Spurs in 7 - Iverson will win a game or two by sheer will-power and, as someone said, nothing's ever easy with the Spurs. Houston in 7 - Ummm TMac has to win atleast one playoff series in his career, doesn't he?

Hogan Heenan Monsoon Blassie

Dammit! I figured it was gonna go to a 5th OT so I went to bed about 2 minutes before the Sedin goal. Argh! San Jose/Nashville was spectacular. Ottawa curb-stomped Pittsburgh. Minnesota/Anaheim was as boring as expected. Vancouver/Dallas was nowhere SJ/NAS for quality but almost as fun.

Mackie!

I still think the East Final will come down to Ottawa and Buffalo and the West to San Jose and Anaheim with the Sharks and, sadly since the Sens are my team and all, Buffalo making the finals. In the final I'm picking Buffalo to finally bring glory to the city and win the cup.

I have trouble buying into Cleveland as a contender. Chicago, Toronto, Miami and Detroit have improved as the stakes have gotten higher while the Cavs have been in a rut. As long as Lebron continues to believe his "on/off" switch is all the effort he needs to give, the Cavs are going nowhere. And even if he plays out of his mind, they won't get far. PS: I may have said Toronto has a shot at the 2 seed but that doesn't mean I think they'll get it. I'd bet on Chicago hanging onto it and avoiding the Heat in round 1.

After the Raptors trounced the Bulls last night, they have a legitimate shot at 2nd place. Not really sure I want to face Jersey when we could get the Washington sweep that is guaranteed to whoever is 3rd but beating Vince Carter would be pretty sweet. The east should be scared. Toronto's really rounding into form and they're peaking without Bargnani (one of their hardest guys to position against). He's back this week and thus making their depth unrivalled in the East. Along with Bosh they have several bigs to eat up minutes (Rasho, Humphries), 2 legitimate point guards who could run the game (Ford, Calderon), several shooters (Bargnani, Peterson), several energy scorers (Graham, Dixon) and a quality glue guy who does everything (Parker). That kind of depth will be really big come playoff time. Although I still REALLY don't want to play Miami. PS: Juan Dixon has been a phenomenal pick up.

******** ROUND 4 ******** NORTHERN DIVISON FINALISTS (1) Jack Bauer - 24 SOUTHERN DIVISION FINALISTS (1) Vic Mackie - The Shield EASTERN DIVISION FINALISTS (5) Andy Sipowicz-NYPD Blue WESTERN DIVISION FINALISTS (10) Macgyver - Macgyver

Pontiac - 2 (Hogan/Andre is all spectacle while Savage/Warrior is a great match and, arguably, the most emotional moment n WWF history) Atlantic City - 3 (Savage/Flair is my second favorite of all-time and my favorite Mania match in general so it gets the vote) Toronto - 2 (Very tough call but I gotta give it to Bret and Owen since it's Owen shining moment) New York City - 6 (Savage/Steamboat I'm not big on, not even my favorite match between the two) Houston - 1 (No contest) Seattle - 10 (Eh I don't like either match much but atleast Christian/Jericho isn't an hour long) Chicago - 1 (No conest) Anaheim - 5 (This should be Rock/Hogan but whatever, still better than the overrated Angle/Brock match)

I can't believe all these gimmick matches are getting votes over Rock/Hogan.

ROUND THREE ************ (12) The Incredible Hulk (2) T-Bag - Prison Break SOUTHERN DIVISION (4) B.A. Baracus - A-Team (3) Sawyer- Lost EASTERN DIVISION (5) Andy Sipowicz-NYPD Blue (10) Dr. Gregory House - House M.D. WESTERN DIVISION (1) Tony Sorpano-The Sopranos (10) Macgyver - Macgyver

That whole game wiht the brawl, Detroit's comeback and the McCarty's OT winner is one of my favorite hockey games ever.

Pontiac Region - 1, 2 Atlantic City Region - 1, 3 Toronto Region - 1, 2 New York City Region - 1, 6 Houston Region - 1, 6 Seattle Region - 1, 10 Chicago Region - 1, 2 Anaheim Region - 1, 3 The only hard pick was Christian/Jericho against Taker/Flair, the rest were no contests for me.

Ditto. I'm really hoping they catch Jersey.

You're not the only one who likes Savage/Crush. One of my favorite (and most underrated) feuds of the 90's and a match I like a lot as well. Savage's last WWF hurrah. Couldn't pick it over Hogan/Warrior though. I'm surprised how many are voting MITB over Rock/Hogan.

There are three big changes that I'd make through WM history (I have ideas for more but these are the biggest ones that wouldn't require a LOT of changes): 1. Wrestlemania 9 -> Bret Hart Vs Randy Savage: Bret was still struggling for credibility and wasn't ready to face, let alone lose to, a monster heel. Savage was still the #1 babyface in the WWF in the fans eyes (his pop at RR93 dwarfs everyone else including Bret) and was the Rumble runner up anyway so just switch the ending of RR around and have Savage win and the 10 guys eliminate Yoko earlier (PS: the Rumble itself I'd rebook for the hell of it - whose bright idea was it to have 3 of the 4 most credible guys (Flair, Perfect, Taker) in the match get eliminated by the halfway point?). Atleast WM9 would have ONE standout match from a workrate perspective and having Savage put him over (and then shake his hand) would have cemented Bret as a credible champion. 2. Wrestlemania 11 -> Bret Hart Vs Owen Hart: It's a crime that one of the hottest programs the WWF ever did got no blowoff. Piper could still ref and it could be billed as part of a triple main event with BBB/LT and Shawn/Diesel. Bret wins, ofcourse, Owen has another great match under his belt and they could play up Piper's history with Bret at WM much more than they did. 3. Wrestlemania 18 -> Steve Austin & Triple H Vs Outsiders; Chris Jericho Vs Kurt Angle -> Rock/Hogan would be the sole main event with two very strong semi-main events. Have Jericho and Angle put on a good match and let Jericho retain and then do the Hogan thing (HHH's 1 month reign was meaningless in the long run). Austin gets HHH's help in dragging a good match out Hall and Nash (I know Nahs was hurt but he was mobile enough to get heavily involved so Hall could've covered enough for him).

Pontiac region: 1 12 3 2 Atlantic City region: 1 4 3 2 Toronto region: 1 13 6 2 New York region: 1 4 6 2 Houston region: 1 4 6 7 Seattle region: 1 12 6 10 Chicago region: 1 5 6 2 Anaheim region: 1 5 6 2

Mitchell should definetely take coach of the year. What he's done in bringing together a team filled with so many different guys from differnt backgrounds, getting them on the same page, then guiding them to wins has been phenomenal. I sense a movie with Denzel playing him .

RIP. A real bad motherfcuker.

Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart, 3/23/97, WrestleMania 13, "I Quit" match

Ottawa vs San Jose is my pick. The alternative for the East is Buffalo while for the West it's Detroit.