Justin Bourne Drops F Bombs On Wisconsin

I sent an email to Justin Bourne yesterday.  He's a busy guy writing columns for  The Hockey News, USA Today, Puck Daddy, Hockey Primetime and christ only knows who else.  The guy has really made a quick go of getting some paying gigs since deciding to write about instead of play hockey.  Today he fulfilled my request for a letter to the team regarding this weekend's games against Bucky.

Sunday Potpourri: Cultural Learnings ...

Today you get some of my "Best of the Internet". I'm not fooling myself that what I present here is any sort of ultimate best list. It's just the best stuff I know about.

The Best/Funniest YouTube Series:

The Retarded Policeman. He likes eggs. And he had a puppy named Adolph. He draws good too. Here's episode #1 to get you started. Take a half hour of your life and watch them all.

Watch them drunk. They're even funnier then. And don't even start with the feeling sorry for the guy. He's getting paid.

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The Best Sports Pirate Streams:
Click on this link for pretty much any sport that you'd care to watch. Live. Sometimes, they're not the best quality. But watching something grainy live is better than highlights. I won't say that every NHL game is on there. But more are than aren't. I watched Curtis Glencross score a beauty backhand goal to put Calgary up 1-0 over the Oilers yesterday and then got to see the Khabibulin flub with under a minute lose the game for Edmonton. And you don't have to pay DirecTV or anyone else mega-dollars to watch. Listening to something in Portuguese could teach you something.

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The Best Historical Drama Ever:
This series didn't start on the Internet, it came from HBO. But you can watch every episode on it in pretty high quality by clicking on this link. If you remember and enjoyed the old PBS series "I Claudius" then you'll love "Rome". The stories are told primarily from the perspective of two members of Rome's 13th Legion, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo. Here's probably the grittiest scene from the series. It is entirely an adult drama ... "R" rated. It gives you a good idea though. Pullo is condemed to die for a murder he committed and is prepared for his death as Vorenus watches.

I found everything in this series so compelling that I've watched it 3 times over. And yes .. a scene with this much gore and violence is tough to watch. But the whole series is so much more than just that. If you don't want to watch it pirated and all ... then buy it. It's worth it. The producers deserve to get paid for making it ... I guess. Best TV eVAh! Thirteenth!!!

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The Best Online Video Guide:

Where do I find all this stuff? Simple. It's called ovguide.com. If you can't find what you want to watch linked somewhere by OV Guide then you're not trying very hard. Pirate links abound so you can watch films that are still in the theater that some douchebag recorded with a handheld video camera in Moscow. If you want. I prefer to wait for some douchebag with the DVD that copied and upload it. Sometimes some douchebag with an advanced DVD copy will upload it while it's still in the theater; I watched Terminator 4 in HQ online when it was just being released in the theater. Hooray for douchebags?

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Best Fake Movie Star Show:

Anyone watch Entourage on HBO? It's a show that follows a fictional movie star and his friends through his life and the guest spots are always actual Hollywood movie types. I'm addicted to it. I don't know why. When I think about it, Johnny Drama is pathetic, Turtle is a wuss, E is just painfully dumb and Vince is just dumb lucky. I guess I love Ari. If you've never seen it because you didn't want to pony up the bucks for HBO then you'd have to know I'd have a link for it online. TV Shack is "teh shit". I found it using OV Guide of course.

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Stay tuned this week for lots of hockey coverage. Mighty Mercyhurst and Michigan are coming to town this weekend. I'll have previews of course. I'll probably bust the chops of both programs in some manner. Red Berenson is a bit of a tougher target than any WCHA coach though. So the quality of anything coming off my keyboard is difficult to predict.

Why is College Hockey News offline? The site has been completely down all day.

CHN "pwnd" USCHO

For the uninitiated "pwnd" is gamer/web-speak for completely and utterly outclassing the competition. My use of that term today is in reference to a great article posted on a Siouxsports.com blog by Jim Dahl. The article delves into an attempt by USCHO to trademark the term "Pairwise" with regard to College Hockey Ranking systems. I won't begin to try to detail any of that here but encourage you to read the whole post. Dahl has done the college hockey community on the Internet a great service with this article. It is an awesome look at some goings-on "behind the scenes" that most of us would otherwise not be aware.

Back in March of last year USCHO filed it's initial application for the trademark and from there Dahl picks up the story:

Apr. 17, 2006

The next action in the file, described as “Paper Correspondence Incoming”, came from a bunch of names you might recognize as formerly associated with USCHO: Mike Machnik (founder of HOCKEY-L, now affiliated with CollegeHockeyNews), Adam Wodon (founder of CollegeHockeyNews), John Whelan (developer of some pretty neat hockey ranking analysis tools, wrote USCHO’s Pairwise analysis tools, now with CollegeHockeyNews) and Keith Instone (long-time HOCKEY-L ranking guru, first devised the pairwise technique to mimic the selection process). Their letter raised quite a few objections to USCHO’s application, including the following:

• Pairwise is a generic mathematical term that describes how the comparison is performed
• The algorithm, in relation to college hockey, was developed by Keith Instone before USCHO existed
• USCHO doesn’t use the term “pairwise” in commerce, as they claimed
• The sample of “advertising” submitted by USCHO was not, indeed, advertising, but a page of hockey rankings
• Lots of other sites cover college hockey and publish pairwise rankings of teams

Again, for the rest of the information go to Dahl's blog and read the article. And when you're done with that, start visiting College Hockey News more often. Regular readers here will note that they've long been a preference of mine both because of the quality of their writing as well as my own disassociation with the USCHO fan forum (for being such a bad poster on their fan forum). And it helps CHN that they complimented me a couple of times. Or that USCHO editors want stupid shootouts and CHN is against them.

Linkages: The Joe Cocker Edition

UAA Athletic Director Steve Cobb is expected to release information on Tuesday regarding the Shyiak "job opening". Why am I writing this late tonight in advance of that announcement? I'm impatient and didn't want some of the things I have to say to be overshadowed by that news.

So let me link to some friends of the UAA program that graciously shared their views about the whole matter. Any regular readers here will already know that I'm enamored with the musings of RunninWiththeDog's UMD blog. Last week I sent emails to several bloggers asking them to "help a brudda out" and RWD was the first to share an opinion (with her usual irreverence). Nicely done "Run". You're officially "The Shit" in my book.

Up the road a bit from Duluth is Dave Shyiak's former stomping ground. New blogger and NMU Student Newspaper editor Kyle Whitney has also got Dave's (and UAA's) back with his views about the situation. I've been reading Kyle's blog from time to time and the kid probably has a future writing about sports when he's done with school. I wish I'd figured out what I wanted to be way back when I thought computers would be a good career. Rock on Kyle. You're "The Shit" too. And let Matt Butcher know that Josh Lunden is doing well would ya?

Lastly, are my heroes at College Hockey News. Adam Wodon has a look at the situation with some exclusive information. Read the whole article. Adam got Troy Ward's comments and reasoning while crafting a comprehensive article that gets to the root of the matter. It is exactly the sort of article (notice I never call anything that I write here an "article"?) that separates CHN from the fluff and hoohaw that USCHO's latest Wisconsin-based WCHA writer (Eric Schmoldt) spewed recently when he inferred/asserted that Troy Ward was a "qualified" applicant. Jess Myers at INCH ought to buy Adam Wodon a couple of beers the next time they come across one another (wanna guess where Jess lives? ... um could it be um ... Wisconsin?). Dropping to his knees while saying "I'm not worthy" wouldn't be a bad idea either. His most recent mention of the matter was "pretty thin" as he too asserted that Ward was "qualified".

Ron at the College Hockey News blog (like me) has a nice pat on the back for his "boss" Adam while wondering if

"making sure Anchorage doesn't erupt into a riot of epic proportions"

is a qualification for the job. Nicely put Ron. I'm not sure yet if you're also "The Shit" but Adam certainly is. No worries though ... you're stock is rising on "The Shit" ladder.

Here are some good excerpts from the only section of USCHO worth reading; the Fan Forum and this thread discussing all this junk.

12/27/06
Dirty -- Cobb better sit by the phone as he'll be getting a call from the Dahlie Llama. Oh wait, it said qualified.

ecbrevik -- I'd think it would be considered something of a professional no-no for another coach to go after Shyiak's job.

AlaskaRox -- I'd take Coach Shyiak over 10,000 Coach Hill's any day of the week!

Puck Swami -- This way, by doing it now, after Cobb's seen what a good coach Shyiak is, it probably makes Shyiak's case for residency stronger.

scsutommyboy -- come on, nobody in their right mind would apply for this job when they know their employer would be pissed as hell at them and the fans would hate him.

Dirty -- If I was a player and some guy came in and "stole" the coaching job from Shyiak, I'd tell him to stick it where the sun don't shine.

UAA Fan in Florida -- UAA IS NOT LOOKING FOR A NEW COACH !!!DO NOT APPLY IF YOU KNOW WHATS GOOD FOR YOU!!! We'll find out where you live, and send mean postcards to you.

01/23/07
dggoddard -- Any serious candidate who applied would be risking getting blackballed in future gigs ...

dude -- Why anybody would apply is beyond me. They should realize that by applying they are going to scorned upon. This would be a pretty lame way to try and land a job. I think the rest of the hockey community would not look kindly on this.

01/24/07
dggoddard -- Wait til UAA does the background check on Ward and calls Mike Eaves...

UAA: What can you tell us about Troy Ward.
Eaves: I fired the guy and we immediately won the National Championship the next season.
UAA: Thank you very much for your time.

aparch -- Who would want to be known as the guy hated by all for taking Shyiak's job? Coach "I got a guy deported?" Mr. "A legal loophole got me this job."

con1977 -- He (Ward) was fired because he was perpetually sniffing around for another job.

dggoddard -- In a profession where, on average, around three jobs open up each year, you don't want to have too many enemies.

01/25/07
Wolfman -- I would just like to say that I hope Coach Shyiak is not forced out of UAA. He has done such a great job for our program, best thing to happen to UAA hockey in a long time. Hang in there Coach, we are all behind you.

Wisconsin Wildcat -- Man, this whole deal sucks. I don't think I can stress how much respect and admiration I had for Shyiak during his days at NMU. I too think it's below the belt to apply for the man's job knowing that he's in a position where it's hard to defend himself.

And what has Doyle Woody had to say about this situation in his blog? Um ... Squat. Too busy planning for the big ADN/Aces weekend I guess. Hooray for the Aces in making a Co-Marketing agreement with the ADN ... good marketing is important to the success of any business. Shame on the ADN for doing so ... is that what "journalism" has come to? Is Doyle's blog becoming a traveshamockery? It's called "Woody on Hockey" ... should be "Woody on Aces" or would that more appropriately be "Aces on Woody"? I used to think he was "The Shit". I'm not too sure anymore.

New Year Linkages

Badger Backer at Wisconsin Hockey Blog has returned from Xmas vacation in time to preview the UW-DU series. Which is a damn good thing since (our favorite blog swapper) DG over at LetsGoDU seems to have no idea DU is playing this week and is instead focused on the Gophers, reprinting an article from NHL.com about the Pioneers and wishing Matt Carle had been sent down to DU. Luckily Peter over at CO14er's LetsgoDU.com has a series preview.

Down in Garden of The God's land the CC Hockey Blog has a review of CC's series split with Bemidji St. and how the suspensions from the fight with the Seawolves probably cost them a game. Yeah. I know that feeling.

Over at MTU's Blog there is a review of the GLI and Tech's participation. I'm not big on the multi-colored text. But then again I had the hard to read green background.

Over at College Hockey New's Adam Wodon had this piece expressing his rightful disgust with shootouts deciding hockey games. Then their Blog chimed in and if you read the comments you'll see what I said. Mike Machnik at CHN provides a rundown of how the wretched deed might come to be as well as decrying it. And over at Goon's World our favorite UND Blogger is scratching his head about and thumbing his nose at hockey "purists" who don't want to sully the game with horseshit gimmickry designed to mollify "the mob".

begin rant
Deciding any team sporting event by using a single element of the game in some sort of last resort attempt to appease "the mob" is an affront on many levels. A tie is a valid result. It says two teams were equal. I'm well aware there are players that like it. I'm already well aware that "the mob" likes it. Implementing shootouts may be inevitable with the prevailing fan attitude much more akin to Goon's than mine but that doesn't mean it won't lessen the game. Lessen? No ... It invalidates the rest of the game. You take 65 minutes of hockey where neither team deserves to lose and condense it to 10 one-on-ones? There's no reason for the actual game at all. Let's just have 2 hours of shootouts. Let's eliminate the teams who played one game 150% better than they've ever played from going home with a well-earned tie against a 43 time National Champion with 5 future NHL snipers. Those programs should just all fold. That'll leave the NCAA with about 15 - 20 teams full of shootout experts.

I'm so far beyond disgust with the prospect that ultimately it could affect my status as a fan of the game. College Hockey is the last sport that I follow regularly (English Premerie League intermittently). I gave up on Baseball as a teen, I stopped watching all Basketball in the mid 80's, and pro Football is a steriod-ridden joke. I guess I could start a Fulham FC Blog? At least the EPL understands the relevance of ties. I honestly don't know how enthusiastic I could be about being a fan when/if that crap comes to be. It's time for a last stand I say. Whoever is in charge of drawing a line and saying, "NO! we will not let you cross this line!" ... needs to get to drawing the damn line and rallying the troops with a stirring "But it will not be this day ..." battle speech. No to the Shootout? Not just No ... fuck no. There must be someone in a position of authority somewhere who can at least be given the opportunity to express that "purists" don't want this crap in the game they love. Adam Wodon better be right when he thinks they'll be an outcry.

The only way to follow that little rant is to welcome a new Blogger to the world. NMU fan and school paper sports writer Kyle Whitney has began Sports Thoughts to express his. I've linked to him in my "Other Hockey Blogs" section as well as updated the existing link for NMU.

Chris over at Western College Hockey went to Detroit and watched the GLI and provided his summary.

And honored with my last Linkage is RWD with her most recent Gauntlet with Bulldog's radio guy Bruce Ciskie. How awesome would it be to have an interview with the radio guy. I wish I'd thought of that. During the interview Bruce gave me a big raspberry for not stopping by and meeting him when UMD was here and well ... I deserved it. I promised to meet him twice next time.

Linkages: Thanksgiving Edition

What am I thankful for? I'm thankful that people take their own time to spew a combination of BS and heartfelt stuff on their hockey blogs. Why am I thankful for that? Well it gives me something to read when it's 4 below outside and they've replaced the Sully's ice with a basketball court.

Over at everyone's all-time favorite blog LetsgoDU has installed an ultra-cool scrolling banner to give everyone nice little updates. I dig it and I want one for Xmas. If I ever had an opportunity to steal it from him I'd do so in a NY minute. I wonder who he stole it from? In any case, when DG isn't stealing stuff (or bashing CC) he's a good friend to Al Gore by helping with recycling stuff and saving the earth. The new and the recycled (John Hill is still good for a laugh even if it is the second time around) are included in his weekly CHN column which is about not angering the hockey gods.

The CC blog earns a link with his first post since 1957 (kidding ... I kid the CC) discussing the weekends sweep of Mankato along with other observations.

Goon down in the great plains (nether regions) is still distracted by the lawsuit and all its various aspects. I think he was also distracted by a trip where he killed and ate bambi but I don't have a link. Hey ... not every blogger posts everyday. And I'm thankful for that too; else the world would be full of people like me.
Besides the razor sharp commentary she is becoming known for at UMD's message board RWD has her thanksgiving list up. UMD is the Seawolves next opponent and she has this awesome series called "The Gauntlet" and apparently I'm her next victim. So far this season she's humbled the aforementioned DG, FireHelmetGuy from gopherland, and sweet little MeanEgirl from MTU. She's decided that SCSU doesn't have anyone in need of humbling (my words) so she's skipping them this week. I tried to encourage her to throw down said Gauntlet to "The Pope" so I could read his colon-laced answers but she didn't bite (and who can blame her really). Meanwhile, MeanEgirl gives the real WCHA Huskies an A for effort following their tie and loss at DU.

Badger Backer on the Wisconsin blog posted his thoughts after the first loss to the Gophers this past weekend. I don't think the second loss made him jump ship but I doubt there was much happiness with being swept by their arch-rivals. Hammy at the Gopher blog took a break from his usual fare (recruits and mn elite/hs hockey) to analyze the Gophers.

Speaking of the Sunday win by the Gophers. Chris at Western College Hockey posted the video of the winning goal in the Sunday game and said "You Make The Call". Naturally, that enticed all sorts of folks to impart their comments (including me ... I said it was a goal) which of course devolved into a typical internet flamefest (me? in a flamefest? say it ain't so!).

Chris also does most of the writing over that Maverick Hockey Nation. He sounds a bit frustrated with the 06-07 season and is advocating using the season to build for next year and the years after. I know the feeling from last year. Things might be looking up here in Seawolf country but most of the schedule is still ahead and frankly MSU could still make a run; even teams that are looking good today will probably take some hits in the long season ahead. Who knows? Anyway, (in past years) I usually haven't thrown in the towel until sometime in February.