Brush with Greatness

A few from the westerns: Lee Marvin as Liberty Vallance in the Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance Gene Hackman as Little Bill in Unforgiven Henry Fonda as Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West and also not a western but Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet Here is a link to AFI's top 100 Heroes and Villains AFI 100 Heroes & Villains

Nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest The Warden in Shawshank (for that instance where he finds out that Robbins is not guilty but does nothing about it, instead having the Marcus Alexander Bagwell lookalike killed)

Not that I really care one way or another but you seem to be blowing a lot of facts up people's asses that aren't very true Bob. Your first claim about the 19 million dollar budget is somewhat true, but that is merely the production budget and does not take into account the fair sized advertising budget the movie had of 30 million. Your entire sentence about Hilary being a better opener is a totally flawed argument as well. Mean Girls in a less crowded market place? It was competing with the one week old 13 going on 30 which appealed to some of the similar core demographic, along with a number of other movies that would have appealed to the same crew. The type of people who went to see Cinderella Story had no other real options, apart from maybe the few week old Notebook. Secondly, tell me when they changed the rating system to make PG movies less accessible than PG-13 movies? I'm not sure if this was an outright lie to make your argument look stronger or what, but a PG 13 rating is stricter than a mere PG rating. On top of this, if you talking about marketplace affecting whose the bigger draw, then I think you would have to consider percentages of the overall weekend take that these movies made to be fairly important. And looking at it that way, Mean Girls grabbed 28% of the total box office gross on its opening weekend, Confessions grabbed 13% and Cinderella drew a mere 10 %. Not that I really care one way or another, I was just tired to listening to the biased rants of you and Mole for a second consecutive week. BTW Mole, 14 million is a far cry from "at least 20 million next week". Stupidest (yet strangely fun for some reason) argument ever.

Wow, France has managed to somehow pull 4 points out of their ass, and without luck on their side, their tournament would be all but over.

If it came down to a straight up rematch between Fedor and Nog, I would probably favour Fedor, albeit minimally. However, when it comes to this tournament, I gotta agree with RRR and say the Nog should be considered the favourite. Guys always get slapped with that "unbeatable tag" (hell, until Fedor beat him people figured Nog was virtually unbeatable). But the thing is, everyone is beatable and everyone eventually gets beaten (often surprising many). Nog has faced so many different styles throughout his career and persevered through them to victory that in almost any fight he goes into, you know what to expect beforehand. Fedor has not faced all that many challenges and we still don't know how he will react to certain fighters and certain situations. Just using Crocop as an example. Going into the tourney, we knew what to expect if we got a Nog-Crocop matchup. However, with a Fedor-Crocop matchup, there are way too many question marks. Fedor could very well walk through the tournament and beat everyone. He could also lose out in the second round unexpectedly. With Nog, there is not that uncertainess. It is virtually asssured that he is in the final which to me makes him the favourite to win the tournament.

Curb Your Enthusiasm Season Two. I really have to question how you could not list that as a notabe release. Anyways, it's ordered and on its way.

FINALLY, got around to seeing this movie last night and it was just as awesome as I expected. Will definetly be purchasing it in the future. The best comparison would potentially be a Brazilian Goodfellas. This movie was just great. The little sub-stories and just the grittiness of it all put it over the top. One of the best movies I have ever seen.

Anyone watch this show? I find it mildly amusing and the one judge (not Ton Loce or Vitamin C) is pretty funny. Discuss.

Titanic, Armageddon and Pearl Harbour. Don't plan on seeing them either.

Was game one on ABC? I thought they only carried 3 through 7 for some reason. Also, part of me wonders if hockey would be more popular if Americans recieved the kind of quality coverage that CBC produces. Watching ESPN (or ABC) coverage just makes hockey look bad and dull. Even the production on TSN and Sportsnet is subpar to CBC. Games on CBC are just miced (?) better and have better camera work and lighting. Analysis isn't always the best of Canadian coverage but their analysis is still far superior to American analysis (apart from J.D.). What the hell was with Dwayne Roloson doing colour for games anyways? That could be part of the problem.

Wow, that game was awesome. Easily the best game in the finals so far and one of the best in the playoffs. That was one of the most physical games I have seen in a long time. It amazes me that hockey is so unpopular in the States. Just what is it that American's don't get? Is the game too fast or what? On a side note, game one was the second highest rated playoff game in CBC history behind only VCR-NYR game 7 in 94. CBC drew close to 3.5 million viewers while the American telecast (was that one on ABC or ESPN?) drew just over a million. Bizarre.

Wow, lest we forget Iron Mike's deals. First off, plucking future Hart trophy winner Chris Pronger from the Whalers. Sure, it came at the price of Brendan Shanahan, but Keenan was one of a few people who still saw potential in Pronger after Pronger was being hailed as somewhat of a bust after his second season (which is funny considering he was taken #2 behind Alex Daigle - but Daigle actually was pretty good his first two years on a BRUTAL Sens team). On a side note, its funny looking back on that class of 93 and how much hype they had surrounding them. The top 10 (and especially the top 7 were all hailed as superstar potential players at the time of the draft). On top of that, Keenan nabbed Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe and a 3rd rounder (Jarkko Ruttu) from the Isles for Trevor Linden. Again, Bertuzzi was considered by many to be a bust, the potential was there but he couldn't put it all together. Keenan took advantage of this and grabbed him. Not to mention a defenceman who turned out to be pretty good (not his fault Vancouver gave him up for virtually nil). Meanwhile, Linden went on to score 18 goals and 47 points while being a -13 the next season in Long Island. Mike Keenan has one of the greatest eyes for talent around and will only help benefit the Panthers. Keenan's lone weakness has been letting his coaching conflicts play too much emotionally with his GM duties and sometimes as a result he is too eager to get rid of players in his dog house. This time around as only G.M., there will not be those problems. And hopefully this answers the first question about whether he is qualified or not.

Primeau has been excellent, but no more than should be expected from a captain. By no means should he win it if they don't make the final. And even if they make the final he will need a hell of a performance and need to outperform Iginla, Kiprusoff and Conroy to get it if Philly loses. I don't consider Gelinas a legit contender although he does have some clutch goals. I would actually say the biggest omission on your list is Brad Richards, who has arguably been the best Lightning player. Richards leads all players on his team in ice time, has 5! game winning goals and is a plus 8. He's been better than Lecalvier, marginally better and at no worst equal to St. Louis, and I don't think Khabibulin has faced the pressure to warrant the Conn Smythe. On top of that, Danny Markov has carried the Philly defence on his back this postseason and should (be he won't) get consideration were they to win. Non Stanley Cup winning MVP's: Roger Crozier, Glenn Hall, Reggie Leach, Ron Hextall, J.S. Giguere. The only non-goaltender there is Reggie Leach and in 76 he set a record that still stands today of 19 playoff goals, which came in just 16 games. If there ever was a player in the past few years who could have won the Conn Smythe (and who was actually more valuable than the man who did win it) without his team making the final was Peter Forsberg in 2002. Lidstrom got it that year which was a farce considering Steve Yzerman carried that team on one good knee from down 2-0 after the opening two games at home to Vancouver to the Stanley Cup.

Flik, are you from Edmonton? I'm just curious how Oiler fans are taking this. Are people from Edmonton cheering for the Flames or against the Flames?

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Anyways, I got an expansion team in a keeper league and we're drafting a bit late and all but whatever. Anyways, I pretty much have my starters put together but plan to fill out my roster with prospects. To give you a feel for things, there are eight teams (I'm the eighth). You count points for two guys at every position (so two catcher, two 1B, six OF, etc). So basically the only worthwhile guys are starters. For pitchers you have 3 RHS, 2 LHS, 2 RHR, 2 LHR. Points are scored: Batters - Total Bases + RBI (simplistic, yes I know) Pitchers - 10 pts win, 5 pts save, 1 point K So here are some guys I'm looking at and if any could help me out with their long term potential: Jose Molina, C, Anaheim Rod Barajas, C, Texas Humberto Cota, C, Pittsburgh Bobby Hill, 2B, Pittsburgh Esteban German, 2B, Oakland Nick Green, 2B, Atlanta Hector Luna, SS, St Louis Abraham Nunez, SS, Pittsburgh Andres Blanco, SS, Kansas City Tim Hummel, SS, Cinncinatti Jason Smith, 3B, Detroit Eric Valent, OF, Mets Alex Escobar, OF, Cleveland Coco Crisp, OF, Cleveland Prentice Redman, OF, Mets Ramon Nivar, OF, Texas Val Pascucci, OF, Montreal Darnell McDonald, OF, Baltimore Tim Raines Jr, OF, Baltimore Claudio Vargas, RHS, Montreal Sergio Mitre, RHS, Cubs Bronson Arroyo, RHS, Boston Ryan Drese, RHS, Texas Ryan Vogelsong, RHS, Pittsburgh Jon Garland, RHS, White Sox Sun Woo Kim, RHS, Montreal Joaquin Benoit, RHS, Texas Doug Waechter, RHS, Tampa Bay Victor Santos, RHS, Milwaukee Justin Miller, RHS, Toronto Chris Saenz, RHS, Milwaukee Juan Dominguez, RHS, Texas Jason Young, RHS, Colorado Josh Hull (?), RHS, Cinncinatti Juan Rincon, RHR, Minnesota Rodrigo Lopez, RHR, Baltimore Brad Lidge, RHR, Houston Francis Beltran, RHR, Cubs Jason Frasor, RHR, Toronto Brian Reith, RHR, Cinncinatti Grant Balfour, RHR, Minnesota Steve Colyer, LHR, Colorado Erasmo Ramirez, LHR, Texas John Grabow, LHR, Pittsburgh Mike Johnston, LHR, Pittsburgh Jason Kershner, LHR, Toronto Jamie Cerda, LHR, Kansas City Franklyn Gracesqui, LHR, Florida Cliff Bartosh, LHR, Cleveland I don't really know much about any of those guys. Some may be total scrubs while others have potential. I realize the list is really long and any help is appreciated. There are a couple of no brainers like Scott Hairston, Kevin Youkilis, Chad Gaudin, Chin Hui Tsao, etc that I will be able to pick up. Also to be picked in the draft a player has to have played at least one major league game. Most of the big prospects like Mauer, Kotchman, Edwin Jackson, Crosby, Morneau, etc are gone. If anyone knows of any dark horse prospects or late bloomers that would be good too. Thanks. P.S. Any good websites with prospect scouting reports or anything would be good too.

OMG~! 4 GOALS AGAINST! WORST GOALTENDING EVER! SERIES IS AS GOOD AS OVER! TBAY WILL WIN EASY!~~~!!!~!~!~~!~!~!~! Nl5xsk1, I think Sledgehammer proved he is not really a hockey fan with his last two posts. The first one praising how dominant Philly is at home while failing to realize that T-Bay is undefeated on the road in the playoffs. The second post he states that Tampa should worry about the Bulin Wall (Berlin??) giving up six goals when he only gave up four. Not to mention all his statements regarding Tortorella. (Although admittedly he could use to lose the goatee) On a side note, the Eastern final is shaping up excellently. Normally, I'm not really a big fan of watching sunbelt teams (even if I enjoy actually watching the team, its their location that bugs me. If Tampa played out of an actual hockey town, I would enjoy them more. Guess it's the tradionalist in me). However, this series is really entertaining. Not to mention the great series in the West. How awesome would the Flames in the final be?

How is this any different than the Cleveland Browns?

Exactly. There is very little home ice advantage in hockey anymore. On a side note, back in 2002 (?-too lazy to research for certain), the Wings lost the opening two games at home before coming back to defeat the Canucks.

4-3, Flames in OT. Montador with the GW.

The other thing to remember about Carolina is that they had the fourth fewest losses in the league that season so it wasn't a huge surprise that they went on if you really studied things before the playoffs. Only Detroit, Boston and Toronto had fewer losses than Carolina.

So what are everyone's thoughts on this incident? In my opinion the actual incident itself was far worse than Bertuzzi, McSorely or any of the other recent incidents. However, in Perezhogin's defence, that other guy (Stafford?) took a swing at Perezhogin's head right before that. As well, I'm wondering if Perezhogin intended to nail Stafford in the back of the head (although that doesn't make it any better) seeing as how Stafford turned his face around right before getting hit.

So when Chin-Hui Tsao is healthy are they going to call him up and use him as the fifth or what?

The name of Tarantino's war flick should be changed to "Coming Home in a Bodybag" .

Looks like you didn't get a chance to see any of the Calgary-Vancouver series