CanadianGuitarist

The Hockey News put out a magazine during the lockout (which, by the way, still has that mustard stain on it, Baron) called The Great Debates. It features a great 'what if' section, featuring probably the most debated 'what if' issue in recent hockey history: What if Gretzky had been called in Game 7?

For how generally lacklustre his time with the Leafs was, and how much of a flop his career is considered, imagine if he had played for the Leafs mid 90's? He never was as good as he should have been (a combination of too much hype and injuries, to be fair), but he still was a legitimate top 10 player for most of the decade.

I disagree. Valeri Kharmalov, by the way, was the player. Canada won the Series, and hockey did change forever.

He'd have certainly hit 3000. I don't think he'd quite touch Aaron's home run record, but he certainly would pass Mays, and probably catch Ruth.

I played FreeBird on medium 15 times yesterday (FIFTEEN!) in the hopes of getting the 400k and 1000-note streak achievement. I never quite did it, but in one instance, I got every note but two in the entire song. This meant a score of 387,000, not quite good enough for the 1000-note streak, but enough to keep me motivated. I figured, with the difference in notes missed, 400,000 would be a lock if I played the song perfectly. This morning, my first try, I played it perfectly. Got the 1000-note streak, but wound up with a score of 399,517.

Big news out of Oil Country: Edmonton has put forth a 7-year/50 million offer sheet to Thomas Vanek. Buffalo would receive FOUR first-round picks as compensation if Vanek does indeed go out west. Vanek had 43 goals and 84 points last season, his second.

Yeah, let him join Brett Hull. Maybe we can work Kerry Fraser and Alan Eagleson onto that commentary roster.

We've needed it for about six or seven years. Maybe he'll be the policeman that Bill Lindsay and Gino Odjick weren't.

The Habs have signed ex-Kings tough guy Tom Kostopolous. Twenty-two points and 212 pims in 73 games last year. Not bad, we certainly need to be bigger up front. Calgary has resigned both Regehr and Iginla to extensions.

What's this my bitter Sabres-fan buddy tells me about Brendan Shanahan being found with a transvestite a few years ago? He mentioned that two Buffalo talk-show hosts kept pointing it out, if you can believe it, during the Sabres-Rangers series this spring. CanadianChris may remember him as the guy I contacted CC over, re: his anti-Heatley campaign during....wait for it.....the Sens-Sabres series that followed.

It's not so much a golf question per se, but how do the Nascar's playoffs work? (Nextel Cup? Isn't it sponsored by Sprint now?) Top ten finishers into a 4-race playoff? Do their accumulated points reset also? On that note, discuss the set-up of the FedEx Cup, if it needs re-tooling, how you'd lay it out, etc. I'd like to see it as the top 70 money earners and not points, and then dwindle down in the final four events, say 50, 40, and 30 in the coming weeks. If points were to be done, maybe try and have as few points as possible, say 1 point for a win, 5 for a fifth-place finish, 100 for a missed cut, etc. I don't think I like the idea of the points resetting as they are. I have no problem with a little advantage to the guys who won the most points throughout the season, but I don't like that they need to give each player a new point total. I suppose it's akin to the hockey point system, and then a playoff seeding, but.....What bothers me most is that we'll potentially be remembering who missed out on next week, instead of who won a tournament, which is no small feat. How often does that happen in sports with playoffs? Steve Bartman might have an answer for you, but that'll be about it.

Except for the span of of about two weeks in the winter of '05, I've had at least a goatee since I was old enough to grow one. I typically have a chinstrap along with it, except I'm a terrible shaver, so I'll try to clean it up, overdo it, and have to shave everything off. Ditto with having a full beard.

There's a thread on GameFaqs entitled "Which achievements are you just letting go?" I've given up on the 500,000 song and the 5-starring of everything on expert.

I like Hamrlik coming to town, even if it does punch Souray's ticket from town (although I had pretty well come to terms with that). There's no replacing his 25 goals on the powerplay, but last season, the two were 47 points apart on the plus/minus scale. That makes things look up. Back on board, King?

Briere will be good enough to get Philly back to the playoffs. They still need to address what's between the pipes, though. The Rangers are the other big winner at this point. Depending on who signs whom, Philly might get knocked off the 'Winner' pedestal, but I can't imagine anyone making as big a splash as the Rangers.

Mind if I ask what the story on this spreadsheet is?

I didn't realise the workings of Briere's new contract. At first glance, it's not surprising the Flyers beat out the Habs, as I don't think any player alive would turn down 10 million, let alone the 5 million signing bonus. But it's kind of tough to imagine he'll be making three and two million in the final two years, isn't it? As I just told a buddy of mine, won't 2 million pretty well be the average salary in six or seven years? Briere will almost certainly be one of the league's top 5 players at that point. I recall saying in 2003 that he'd be Captain Canada at the 2010 Olympics.

Really good finish looming at Warwick. Brian Bateman has a chance to outright win with a birdie on 18. If he pars, he'll join Justin Leonard, Jason Gore, and Woody Austin at -13. And Scott Verplank is still on the course at -12.

I ate them a lot out of convenience when I worked at Wal*Mart. I still remember, vividly, having a conversation a few years ago that ended with the worst thing about them being that the cheese was listed as 'processed cheese food'. Processed cheese would be ok, cheese food would be iffy, but fine. Processed cheese food was all kinds of unsettling.

A buddy of mine picked up The Bigs, said it was pretty fun. And he doesn't really like baseball. I put it on layaway, so I won't have it for about 3 more weeks, but I've always liked arcade-style sports games, even if I do prefer sims. I've still got about half a season in MLB to keep me occupied til then.

The Bruins, TSN is reporting, have acquired Manny Fernandez for a fourth-round pick and Peter Kalus. Manny went 22-16-1 last year, stopping 911 of 1000 and letting in 2.55 per game. Max, have you seen Kalus play at all? I don't remember him suiting up for the B's at all, but his stats in Providence were pretty good: 13 goals, 17 assists in 43 games.

Actually, you could unlock Kwang in Raw for Genesis 32X. Remember that thing? I can't figure out which half of your first sentence was more awesome.

Historically, Mullen men have hated animals. My brother liked them until he was about 12, but then it wore off. Pets especially were not well-received. So, "kick it off" won out before I even read the other choices.

I like Matt. And he's right in this case. I don't recall anything Pujolswhathisname posted, but the Power Rangers ay-yi-yi-yi-yi-robot is memorable.

I suppose this belongs in the food folder: There's a commercial for McCain's new CoolQuenchers frozen juice. They suggest defrosting it in the microwave. This reminds me of something I'll inevitably bring up the next time "Menial things that piss you off" pops up in The Chocolate Socket: Why is frozen juice always kept frozen? Doesn't it make sense to leave it in the fridge, so it's thawed already when you make it?