Everything Else

Into The Great Wide Open – Stanley Cup Final Preview: The Tampa Forwards

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This is where it might get to be tough reading for everyone. It is rare that you would find yourself saying, “Boy, I’m not sure the Hawks want to get into a track meet with these guys.” Generally games against Colorado have fallen into that category. Dallas is sort of edging that way. And generally that’s about it.

But Tampa would almost certainly be on top of that list. While the Preds tried to go plaid and wear the Hawks out that way, the Lightning will try and do some of the same things Nashville did. Except they’ll try it with a consistent 40-goal scorer who once pierced 60, two Calder finalists from last year who are Conn Smythe contenders this year, and a some pretty clever centers. Yeah, little worrying.

But much like the defense, there’s an upper echelon here and then a Looney Tunes cliff-like drop. Let’s get into the nitty gritty.

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Beard Of The Day – June 2nd – Philip K. Dick

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Philip K. Dick

As one of the masters of modern science fiction, the salt-and-pepper bearded Philip K. Dick was not only responsible for some of the genre’s greatest works, but also for some of the most adaptable source material for science fiction in cinema as well, due to his worlds being so fully realized on the page.

His list of works includes but is not limited to A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report, The Adjustment Bureau, Total Recall, and the crown jewel, Blade Runner, which was based off of Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? Dick famously remarked that he was terrible at writing concise catchy names for his stories, as evidenced by the aforementioned Sheep, and Total Recall being based off the novel We Can Remember It For You Wholesale. Even the concise titles were completely esoteric, something we can identify with around these parts.

Dick’s most decorated work was The Man In The High Castle, which fleshes out the scenario of what would have happened had Germany won WWII, and yes, it is finally being made into a series soon available on Amazon. Dick’s stories often explored the topics of dystopia and theology, questioning the origins of human creation through the lens of things like computerized intelligence. And though he died in 1982, the vast majority of his work still holds up today, and there is even a Blade Runner sequel in the works currently. 

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Take Away This Ball And Chain: Hawks 5 – Ducks 3 (Hawks Win Series 4-3)

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Box Score

Event Summary

War On Ice

Natural Stat Trick

Maybe it’s better that the Hawks won it this way. After all, other teams got to enjoy coming back from 3-2 to win a Game 7 in Anaheim, so why should the Hawks be left out? The Hawks were clearly not going to get caught stretching and yawning in the 1st period as they did in Game 5, and Toews had them up two barely halfway through the 1st. Though no one would say it out loud at the time, I’m sure most felt the game was already over at that point, considering the Ducks’ reputation and history. The Hawks had to weather some storms, Crow had to make a couple big saves to keep the gap where it was, and after Getzlaf earned an assist on Saad’s goal (rounding out his complete passenger performance in this series), the Hawks were content to sit back, absorb, and break when the Ducks got over exuberant. Considering how many odd-man rushes the Hawks had from the 2nd period on, they could have (and perhaps should have) put up seven or eight. Hossa was the only one able to pot one of those breaks, and it’s debatable whether it should have counted.

But no one cares about that and it probably wouldn’t have made too much difference. It’s onwards and upwards for the Hawks, so let’s clean up this series before we look forward to Tesla coils and Petty references.