Eleven

It's no longer must see TV for me. And it's certainly not must go to the game, either. If they're on and I catch the game, fine. Otherwise, there are too many other pleasant pastimes in life.

He will be this summer and I want him here.

Yep. I don't have a plan for watching tomorrow's game, and I don't care. I cannot watch much of any games in the next two weeks because of work, and I don't care.

This board sometimes... "Team's not tough enough." and "Let's ship Risto and Bogo out."

Absolutely. He's a great locker room guy and will be an excellent mentor for Ollison.

On No. 3, it's a "no, but" for me. I supported tanking once the calendar changed from January to February, or around then. This team learning how to win again is more important than a draft pick, IMO.

Should be fairly obvious; using taxes to line the pockets of the powerful is a younger idea than the idea of tax itself by about three hours. If we want just one pre-baby boomer example in the US, there's the Teapot Dome scandal.

I am so happy that I went to trivia tonight and concentrated on that rather than on this Sabres nonsense. This is five losses in a row. I do realize that the captain is out, but oh, I am happy that I spent my time otherwise. Here's to doing something else again on Thursday!

My birthday shifts with the stars and planets, and other stars, and other planets. Currently, my birthday is in the fourth case of Orion, but only when Venus is in alignment with Jupiter. Some other day, my birthday might be more aligned with Mars, Ah, Mars! But only when Mars can see Titan.

I do not. What is it?

Me to.

If there's a hit like that on Ovechkin, his teammates wouldn't have time to respond. The other guy would already be dead.

Two years ago, Getzlaf was fined $10K for something similar. He was not suspended, but it was the playoffs so no one gets suspended unless it's attempted murder.

The f in Rielly's word (which will not be legislated out of the NHL) and the "rag it" shouted from the Tampa bench combined to produce the auditory illusion of a word that should be out of the game.

Everything I hear is a Tampa player yelling "rag it rag it rag it" from his bench. Apparently (TIL) , "rag it" is an instruction to kill time with the puck in the offensive zone while on the PK.

Yeah. I just think way too big a deal is being made of this situation.

What if he hears a whistle and looks over and sees that three of his teammates already are in the scrum and that it is being addressed?

Everyone went at Zed, and few got at him. Even Scandella was in there. This is a non-issue. As was Lucic-Miller, BTW. Everyone went in there, too, and the linesmen and refs already were there to protect the Boston man. Let it go. This team isn't weak on account of either of these incidents.

I'm actually a little bit encouraged. These aren't bad FA signings, Gore came cheap, and maybe there's room for a certain Buffalo-based running back in the fourth round? I really can't hate the moves so far. Still need a #1 WR.

Any word on when the final will be played? (Or the other semi, for that matter?)

My expectation is playoffs. This was the year where maybe they make it, maybe they don't. Next year is the year where heads should roll the minute it becomes apparent that they are not on a path towards hockey in late April. I'm not making predictions. This group is unpredictable.

The Pegulas definitely did. Started no end of conspiracy theories on here.

We did it twice. Both times were great; the second time, when we met up for dinner before, was better. I'd gladly do it again. As for garbage plates: doesn't Nick's close really early now?

I've got "Phyllis" and "Redskins" within three posts of each other. Fantastic.

Oh, tell me about it.