CanadianGuitarist

We should have a drink off sometime, if I'm ever in SoCal. My roomies and I once talked about going to that area to be Family Feud contestants.

I have no problem with that. Maybe I'm grasping at straws a little bit, but with Washington's poor road record, how much will that hurt Ovechkin? As long as the topic's brought up, who else is on your Hart shortlist? I'll name a few that are head-and-shoulders above the rest of their team at this point: * Ovechkin * Kipprusoff * Parise As far as vaguer suggestions: * Malkin and/or Crosby * Any one of four or five Sharks * Fill in the blanks, Max * Three or four Hawks, primarily Patrick Kane I'm not suggesting everyone there is a bonafide Hart contender, but there's five or six legitimate potential winners in that list, in addition to Datsyuk.

Lots to learn. Lots to learn,....wait, are you Koab? Fuck a buncha name changes. You're Koab, right?

Can I get some kind of Round 2 bye, Round 3 do-over if Kreese is dead? Edit: This, of course, hinges on whether or not Kreese made it to the final four. Did he?

Yeah, what is that? Is that a Whatchamacalit? I haven't seen those for sale since I was eight years old - 1992.

Anyone else see this? It was on PTI this afternoon - it's a unique hybrid of ridiculously stupid, yet kind of likeable: Pittsburgh Mayor to Change His Name

Anyone else notice that? I have a porno that starts the same way.

Fuck you, Cran. I was all over that.

^ Beat me to it....from the end of PTI, no less. Someone must have him.

I also see Gerber in Long Island, or possibly Philly.

Don't be lumping us in there. Our Hershey plant in Smiths Falls is closing down. All those jobs are going to Mexico. It hasn't closed yet? I remember hearing about probably 18 months ago. I can't decide. Give me a few days - my Dad and I had a discussion about our five fave chocolate bars, and it took, like, a week of decision.

^ As I mentioned to Mike, the problems with plasma tend to get blown out of proportion - hearsay and whathaveyou is enough to scare most customers away from plasma.

By the way, what else was on everyone's lists that wasn't picked? My five or six shortlist still included: Guess Who's Coming To Criticize Dinner, Kill The Gator and Run, Skinner's Sense of Snow, Little Girl in the Big Ten, I'm With Cupid, and Lisa Gets an A.

Funny, I was just watching Tuesday in Texas clips on YouTube today, speficially his match with Jake. I've often mentioned what I call 'wrestling amnesia' (which the Internet has kind of prevented), where I'd be able to go back and see highlights of a certain wrestler, feud, match, etc. without knowing what happened - I think interest in the career of Savage is probably at the top of it. But, from what I recall: 1. Will we ever see Randy Savage in the world of professional wrestling again? Even in a non wrestling capacity (say getting inducted into a certain Hall of Fame)? Or do you think he's the rare case of a wrestler who saved his money over his career and is content in retirement? I'm inclined to say he's fine being retired (because, really he hasn't made cameos or indies or anything since) - but this longstanding feud with Hogan over, for all intents and purposes, nothing - part of me thinks he has some competitive spirit left in him. 2. Do you think his sterling WWF heyday was in anyway tarnished by his mostly mediocre WCW (Post DDP feud) and TNA runs? Has it been tarnished by the rumors regarding his WWF departure that sprang up after his retirement? I can't really say, as I never saw him in TNA, and was anything good in WCW circa '99? As for the potential Steph thing....I think it's a little too vague. With shoots becoming more and more prominent, especially from now-retired wrestlers in Savage's heyday, surely someone would have confirmed it or at least shed something on it. 3. Where would Savage rank in a list of The Greatest of His Era? Greatest of All Time? Probably 'no' to either, but very high in his era, and top 10-15 of all time. Again, I can't be entirely fair having not seen all his work, but his era on top did include Dynamite Kid, Steamboat, Bret in their primes - that's a tough mountain to climb. 4. Don't usually like to divulge in this type of gossip but what are your thoughts on the rumors RE: Savage's estrangement from WWE? Is it a result of his unreasonable demands? A result of an affair with Stephanie? Savage just being content in retirement? Something entirely different? I would probably say no(for reasons already mentioned), but the Steph thing wouldn't surprise me. On the other hand, we're seeing plenty of his work with 24/7 and boxsets and whathaveyou -a different generation altogether will probably become fans of his work, and he's already a household name. I think it's a matter of time before he's in the HoF, but don't ask me to estimate that time. 5. Favorite moments, matches, etc. My two favourite Wrestlemania matches that don't involve Bret Hart are Savage-Steamboat and Savage-Warrior. The feud with Jake Roberts was phenomenal.

Two things of note happened in the late minutes of HHT: 1) My email made it on, which was kind of cool (Like when AlKeiper won a prize during a Phillies game last year). Sadly, it was defending the Bruins. Oh well. 2) Says likeable caveman Steve Ludzik: The Habs have officially made an offer for Vinny.

The greater benefit of hockey in HD (which you'll learn quickly in the infancy of your hockey love) is not so much the vastly improved picture, but the fact that it's naturally widescreen - it's a night and day difference, and you'll get to learn, and appreciate, a lot of things you wouldn't on a 4:3 game.

Trading away star players, fan favourites, and draft picks, in return for nobody was the raison d'etre of Rejean Houle in the late 1990's. It's been anywhere from nine to thirteen years, but I still get amnesty, since Bob Gainey has been phenomenal; moreover, the answers to your questions with Gainey are "not really", "not applicable", and "not at all", which won't light a fire under the ass of this conversation. Thus, I'll bitch about Rejean Houle: 1) Low-risk? Yes, one or two: Dave Manson came from Phoenix for Murray Baron and Chris Murray. Trevor Linden came over under Houle - a first round pick was probably a little too rich, but I'll let Branislav Mezei slip away. (Are there any Islander fans here to pick apart Milbury, while we're at it?) 1B) I essentially answered this already, so I'll bitch about the big four trades: Leaving Montreal were the greatest goalie of all time, three of the top fifty scorers ever, and three captains. (Roy, Recchi, Turgeon, Damphousse, and Keane). Notable players who came to Montreal as a result: Shayne Corson*, Jocelyn Thibault*, Andrei Kovalenko*, Martin Rucinsky*, Dainus Zubrus, and Marcel Hossa. No one too bad (with the exception of Kovalenko, who was Daigle-levels of disappointing), but certainly not stacked up against the players for whom they were traded. By the way, the asterisks indicate players who would no longer be with Montreal when Houle was fired. 2) To sum up, Rejean Houle traded Patrick Roy, Mark Recchi, Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse for Dainus Zubrus and Marcel Hossa.

Gaaaaaaaaah. What the hell happened? Streaks and consistent play against Team X have historically held up pretty well for the Habs. I didn't see any of the game (dammit, I miss Centre Ice), and judging by the shots on Thomas, it wasn't a game like Thanksgiving night, but this one hurts.

I called Treble "Canadian Slayer" in Round 2. It's befitting.

Gatorade with breakfast. I've long hyped the McD's breakfast, but Gatorade may trump it.

I don't like the idea of splitting up the Kostitsyns, even Sergei (who has turned it on after a very slow start). Plekanec is grossly underachieving this year - he might not hit 20. If we can get Vinny and rid ourselves of an underachiever, awesome....and we haven't even discussed the need for some size up front, which Vinny certainly brings to the table. I'd like to hang on to Suppan, but the Bolts are surely going to want at least one prospect to complement a draft pick.

Though it doesn't look like cost was a great factor in your decision, you made a very good choice. To elaborate on that, during my seasonal tenure, we had two screen sizes (42 and 46) in the W, Z, and XBR series, each with a significant increase in price. It was a pretty tough sell on the W to the XBR, at an additional cost of 800 dollars, when the HD feeds looked identically beautiful side-by-side. I've probably mentioned this before, and I know you have as well, but I can't think of any channel I watch with any consistency, that's standard definition, so an improved SD engine seems a little frivilous (sic) - I'd rather keep the bills. We're even for the pineapple pork chili, Mike.

I'm a little late to the party, but one of my New Year's Resolutions was to make the leap from Blue Jays fan to Baseball Fan. This is a good way to start, but sorry if we've beaten this horse: Why isn't Andre Dawson in yet? He did play five seasons longer, but his numbers are as good as Rice's.

So, let's say 3ish million dollars in wiggle room - some combination of Plekanec, Higgins, Gorges gives them the space to do it. With ten UFA's (Koivu and Kovalev among them), there's going to be an awful lot of Hamilton Bulldogs on the Habs next year. Don't care how. Win the Cup this year. Whatever it takes. Don't care how.

I just finished reading McKenzie's piece on it. A simple "Don't trade me" from Vinny would wrap up this story pretty quickly, but I'm getting awfully excited about this possiblity. I like the alleged package for him, as well: Suppan, a few picks, Plekanec and Higgins. I remember the potential offer last year being one (or both) Kostitsyns, Higgins, and a first-rounder. What's his contract like? Is it even, or is it front (or back) loaded in any way? The idea of paying a player 11 million a season, in an era where the cap will decrease, shortly before Koivu and Kovalev become UFA's......that sits poorly with me. Know what? Fuck it. I said it five weeks ago, but fuck it. Do whatever the hell you want or need to to in order to win the Cup this year. Don't care how.