🫶
Monday, June 24, 2024
A 50-50 house 🤦
Shawn Hook
@ShawnHook
Great game so far. The crowd singing along to the anthems with @Alanis
was amazing. Feels like a 50/50 house. @EdmontonOilers
@FlaPanthers
#StanleyCupFinals
8:53 PM · Jun 24, 2024
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100
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G7
In three hours or so the Stanley Cup will be presented to the winner of tonight's game. Those are the rules. The winner of G7 gets the Cup. Like elections and jury verdicts the process legitimizes the result and cannot be questioned. By lengthier process each of these is worthy of the Cup. Florida finished the regular season third in its conference; Edmonton fifth in theirs. Then they ran the playoff gantlet to get to the Final and now, after seven games, it’s time.
These are the two best teams! You can look it up. They are, I did, and I don't question it. The winner is by definition of process the best. So conceding that my question is, "Are these great teams?" You can make the case (although few do) that every Stanley Cup winner is great, and that the runner-up is among the all-time second-greats. Doesn't that follow since the process is infallible? It does.
So what is the point, Benjamin? The point is this: Every U.S. president except one has been legitimate. That does not make every American president great. Since I don't have to follow the irrefutable logic of process and pronounce winner and loser tonight as great and near-great teams, I’m not going to do it. I’m not going to because of the process. Its logic has produced an illogical conclusion, viz, that a great team is one which loses its first three games and wins its next four, and becomes the legitimate Cup holder; OR A great team is one that wins its first three games then loses its next three, then wins its fourth, and the Cup. That does not compute with me. I can’t dispute that one of these is the best team but I’ll be goddamned if anybody’s going to drag the word “great” out of me and stick it on one of these two.
I predict that in three hours or so Edmonton will win tonight and will be awarded the Stanley Cup. They will be worthy winners. OR Against my prediction, Florida will win the game tonight and be awarded the Stanley Cup. They too will be worthy winners. Congratulations, may the best team win. Neither is a great team. I further predict, and with greater confidence, that the winner of the Stanley Cup tonight will never be considered company with these best of the best:
“The most significant NHL game ever? Probably.”
Even in Toronto sports commentators are asking if this game is the most significant in the history of the NHL. In Montreal at a pop music concert last night, the fans took up a “Let’s Go Oilers” chance. A Toronto sports executive prodded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare Monday a national holiday.
The Edmonton Oilers have done what nothing else has done in years, their improbable comeback in the Final against the Florida Panthers uniting Canadians in the hope that a Canadian team will win the Stanley Cup for the first time this century.
Damien Cox, columnist, The Toronto Star
The most significant NHL game ever? Probably.
Canada disunited? From America that looks absurd. But, they are. Politically, linguistically, geographically. Sounds like America. I take it tonight is to Canadians what "Do you believe in miracles?" was to us lower 48'ers. Go "Panthers"!
Why was Charles Dickens so manichean?
Esther Summerson is perfect. She has no faults. She is pure good. Every adult who treats of her is flawed, bad, evil, a fool, or in one instance only, John Jarndyce, unrealistically selfless. I'm having trouble getting through the first "Esther's Narrative" in my replacement copy of Bleak House. There never was an Esther Summerson. There may not have been an Addie Pray either, but she is WAY more believable as a character than any child in Dickens oeuvre.
Espo predictions G7
Ryan S. Clark: Edmonton 4-3
Victoria Matiash: Edmonton 4-2
Arda Öcal (who predicted 8-1 1-6): Edmonton 3-2 in overtime
Kristen Shilton: Florida 4-3 in overtime
Greg Wyshynski: Edmonton 5-2
The OFFICIAL Publocc prediction (winner not score) at 7:32 pm.
OH! Are all Russians Palestinian?
Russia appears to be placing military facilities near civilian areas in Crimea to deter Ukrainian strikes, experts say
The influential Institute for the Study of War reached the conclusion in an assessment on Sunday, citing a reported strike against Sevastopol, where Russia has its Black Sea Fleet headquarters.
On Sunday, Russia's Ministry of Defence accused Ukraine of launching five American-made MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, also known as ATACMS, with cluster warheads on civilian infrastructure in Sevastopol.
Four ATACMS were shot down, it said, but the impact from a Russian air-defense interceptor caused one to deviate from its trajectory and its warhead to explode midair over the city.
[OH! And so it was Russian incompetent air defense that caused the Ukrainian missile to explode. Russia: FUCK. YOU.]
Placing potential military targets near civilian infrastructure is a strategy Russia has leveraged in the past, with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and schools in occupied Ukraine used to shield Russian military equipment, the ISW reported.
However, in doing so, Russia is likely breaking its own International Humanitarian Law, which says that military command must refrain from placing military targets close to or in highly populated areas.
[Or are all Palestinians Russian? Palestinians and Russians FUCK. YOU. SLAVA UKRAINI!
The NBA draft is…sometime. I think this week. One projection has the top tyoo picks coming from overseas, France and Austrayliyaa, to be precise. A third, another Frenchman, is projected eighth. Next to soccer, basketball is the world’s game.
And for the first time in a long time, a Pitt 🐆 will go in the first round. Yahoo predicts Bub Cunningham will be a lottery pick by OKC.
"The Panthers are trying to avoid one of the most calamitous collapses in sports history..."-Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
Yeah. It's the top thing on their minds, and fear is a terrible motivator. It paralyzes you. If it happens this will trail the coach, the players, this entire org. forever, like a tin can tied to a dog's tail, you can't outrun it, the faster you try to get away from it the louder it rattles and bangs. This is pressure Edmonton does not know. If they lose, this is still a miraculous comeback that just fell one game short. But if Florida loses...
Desperation?
"Panthers" head coach Paul Maurice is playing 36-year old Kyle Okposo in the starting lineup tonight. Okposo replaces Nick Cousins--who replaced Okposo for G6. Desperation, yes.
“Russia vows retaliation against US”
MOSCOW, June 24 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Monday directly blamed the United States for an attack on Crimea with U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles that killed at least four people and injured 151, and Moscow formally warned the U.S. ambassador that retaliation would follow.
…
But directly blaming the United States for a deadly attack on Crimea - which Russia annexed in 2014 and now considers to be Russian territory although most of the world considers it to be part of Ukraine - is a step further.
…
Russia said that the United States had supplied the weapons, while U.S. military specialists had aimed the weapons and provided data for them.
…
Russia summoned U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy to the foreign ministry where she faced accusations that Washington was "waging a hybrid war against Russia and has actually become a party to the conflict". The attack, Russia told Tracy, would "not go unpunished. Retaliatory measures will definitely follow."
THAT is the step further, vowing retaliation. Moscow bluffs, but in vague warnings, not with direct statements. They are going to attack us.
…
RETALIATION (original emphasis)
Since the United States allowed Ukraine to use some U.S. weapons against Russia, and Britain suggested Kyiv could do the same with British weapons, the Kremlin has sent several signals that it views the moves as a serious escalation.
Putin ordered drills to practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons, suggested Russia could deploy conventional missiles in striking distance of the United States and its allies, and sealed a mutual defence pact with North Korea.
…
Peskov recalled Putin's words on June 6 about supplying conventional weapons to regions near to the U.S. and its allies.
Korat the Magnificent
I just made coffee. The kitchen sink is right next to the stove and I stood between them to make sure Eleven didn’t accidentally burn herself, for she was under the sink faucet taking a shower; that’s what it was, she wasn’t playing with the water with her paws, she was letting it run over her back.
There is No. Doubt. in my mind that Eleven is a Korat.
From this site:
When I started my initial research in order to purchase a Korat almost eight years ago, I never imagined that I would become so mesmerized by the beauty and intelligence of what many call "just another blue cat." Well, guess what - the Korat is not just another blue cat! Underneath that silver-blue exterior is a feline with remarkably human characteristics - and a history that has spanned hundreds of years.
…
Not Just Another Blue Cat
[Blue? Okay blue. Blue is my favorite color.]
The Korat has a unique color matched by no other breed in the cat fancy. It is defined as silver-tipped blue, and it gives off an aura, or shimmering effect. …
It is a single coat, short, and close-lying. The roots are light silver blue with the color increasing in shade up the shaft to a deeper blue until it reaches the tips, which are silver. The silver tipping is more prevalent on the muzzle and toes. The Korat is also only one color - silver-tipped blue; there is no other color accepted.
Another unique feature of the Korat giving it a captivating mystique is the head structure. …Looking at the Korat straight-on, you see the Valentine-shaped heart of the head…
The remaining features complete the overall beauty of the Korat. The eyes are large, wide-open, luminous, alert and always observant. The color is peridot green…
[That’s peridot green and that is exactly the color of Eleven’s eyes.]
…in the mature cat (two to four years of age), but kittens have an amber to golden-green eye color which gradually changes as they mature.
The ears have rounded tips, with a large flare at the base.
They give the Korat a very "alert" expression…
When it comes down to looks, personality and intelligence, the Korat has it all - especially intelligence. Korat owners will readily tell you it's the most intelligent cat in the fancy. Korats are extremely expressive. You can look at Korats and almost KNOW what they are thinking; and the scary part is they DO KNOW what YOU'RE thinking, as well! It's a look which wins you over completely! Once you meet and live with a Korat, you'll understand. They are extremely observant, will watch everything you do and then try to duplicate it…
[That’s Eleven.]
Korats are either going 100 mph around the house or are in "velcro-kitty" mode! They want to be with you, near you, and helping you all the time.
[THAT’S Eleven. (Murder is a form of “help”)]
…
In closing…
The Korat is still a "unique" breed that has yet to be found by many. …
[And I found her on the street as a stray! I am the luckiest man alive to have had this “unique” cat choose me.]
G7
The line on tonight's deciding game is dead even, -110 both ways. Personally have never seen that before.
Sunday, June 23, 2024
I agree
The Florida Panthers are choking, and everyone can feel the panic setting in
(The Globe and Mail)
What war?
Ukrainian women dancing at the midsummer night festival Ivana Kupala.
Many Ukrainians keep an air raid app on their phones to monitor the danger from Russian missile and drone strikes, while at the same apparently determined to cling to regular life — filling cafés and attending indoor live events, including concerts, stand-up comedy shows and circus performances for children. Generators rumble into action during power cuts.
Nothing like the Ukrainian people man, nothing like them.🌻
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- On the next-to-last day of the NHL season, Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky wasn't on the ice for practice.
The Panthers are sure that's a good thing.
Bobrovsky was a serious Conn Smythe Award candidate at one point in this Stanley Cup Final that ends with Game 7 on Monday night, with Florida winning the first three games and the Edmonton Oilers basically rendered silent by the Panthers' goaltender. But in the last three games, Edmonton's offense has exploded and Bobrovsky's numbers look horrific -- a 5.06 goals-against average and a .793 save percentage.
I have a post in the publishing queue set at 7:32 pm tomorrow night where, inter alia, I make my prediction for G7.
Paul McLean, a former NHL coach, has an interesting take on G7:
1) First goal wins. (Edmonton has scored first in the last three games.) Players are going to be afraid to make a mistake that costs them the Stanley Cup.
2) Edmonton has the venue advantage. There is more pressure on Florida because they are at home. "I think the road team has a bit of an advantage getting to Game 7; there is no show to put on and they can just go out there and be themselves."
3) This will be Florida's fourth time gaming out how they are going to win the Cup. It's Edmonton's first time. Edmonton has only known the pressure of survival to this point. Florida has lived with the pressure to triumph. Advantage Florida. "For the Edmonton players now, they have to think about what they’re going to do with this opportunity and the advantage could be to Florida, because they’ve had three games to think about it, so they might be over it by now."
4) Edmonton made tactical adjustments that changed the trajectory of the series. Florida was suffocating them in the Edmonton zone, so Edmonton extended their zone into the neutral zone. Florida has not come up with a counter. "I think what changed in this series was the way the Oilers were able to exit their zone. They stretched the neutral zone, they made the zone harder for the Panthers to cover, they took away Florida’s aggressive pinch and forecheck."
Where is President Biden?
Trump is being bold and he is rattling Democrats. Here, he has gone into heavily Black, urban, higher education North Philadelphia. He has been to the heavily Black and Latinx Bronx; he went to sapphire blue New Jersey and 100,000, some of them his MAGA extremists, from all over attended. He has been to California, for a private fundraiser, but MAGA extremists greeted him on the streets. Where is President Biden? Out of sight, out of mind.
Saturday, June 22, 2024
This is the problem. Where is the president?
Politico is the leading webzine devoted to politics. These are Politico’s political ledes at 10:02 pm.
Trump addressing an evangelical rally.
Trump, Trump, Trump
The guy playing Trump for President Biden in debate prep.
Biden and Netanyahu
That’s four full political stories on Trump before one even gets to the first story that mentions President Biden, and then in the context of debate prep against Trump. And then—the sixth story of Biden and Netanyahu. That’s 4.5 stories on Trump, two half stories on Biden.
That’s unacceptable! That’s incompetent political campaigning. You would think he was the Secretary of HUD, or the Secretary of State for all the public appearances he makes. No wonder his base is unenthused. We never see him!
President Biden should be giving his own speeches to his own supporters frequently. Instead he goes to California for a private fundraiser with President Obama to raise $40M. This election is not going to be decided by advertising. I’m sorry Mr. President, the people know who you are. We need face time with you! He needs stories being written about him alone.
He is going to lose this race if he doesn’t get out there in person.
My son’s cat, Bird 🙄
Anything we can get you, Bird? Bowl of warm milk? Mastodon leg to munch on? Girdle?
The lack of killer instinct goes against everything Florida showed until this point. Now it will be harder than ever to get the job done because Edmonton has all the momentum and every reason to believe it is on track to finish the job. Can the Panthers notch just one last victory?
…to this point in elimination games, Florida simply has not produced a dominant skater capable of taking over and single-handedly securing a victory. The only player the Panthers can rely on to do that -- in a crunch-time situation -- is Bobrovsky. He's been their most consistent postseason performer, and the Panthers have been right to invest as much faith in him being a difference-maker. That will never be more pronounced or critical than in Game 7.
The Panthers have been listless out of the gate since Game 3, allowing the Oilers to take leads they don't relinquish. Florida's previous commitment to all-around defensive play is rapidly evaporating and leaves Sergei Bobrovsky vulnerable. Florida's special teams haven't been clicking, either. The Panthers stars are (mostly) nonexistent, and all the yelling from coach Paul Maurice can't shake anything loose to help Florida get over the hump.
Now, the Panthers are in a do-or-die position. And it feels like Edmonton is in far better shape to handle Game 7 better than Florida.
I don’t know how old the 🐆 are but “listless”, defense “rapidly evaporating”, the coach not able to shake them from it, all point to a team that is either gassed and doesn’t have anything left or is psychically “shattered”.
Maybe it never should have been there in the first place?
"After over a year of planning and meeting every obligation required under Arizona law, the Arizona State Land Department unilaterally cancelled the auction that was scheduled to occur on June 27 for the site that has been identified as the future home of the Arizona Coyotes," the Coyotes said. "This unprecedented action by the State of Arizona seriously jeopardizes the future of NHL hockey returning to the desert."
😂 👏
Mike Golic Jr
@mikegolicjr
has anyone tried unplugging the Panthers and plugging them back in?
9:58 PM · Jun 21, 2024
·56.1K Views
THAT’S TRUE!
Florida Panthers In Same Situation As Miami Heat Last Year: "Don't Let Us Get One"
The difference is we knew, Coach Spo knew, and the players knew that they were mentally strong. They never lost their confidence. The "Heat" were never "shattered" psychically.
…three games later and the Oilers have flipped this shit on its head.The city of Edmonton has put the entire nation of Canada on its back and have the Oil about to do something we haven't seen in 80 damn years.
Truly moving: O Canada G6, The entire city of Edmonton singing Livin’ on a Prayer
I mean what do you even do or say on that flight back to Florida if you're the Panthers last night? The fact that you had to gas up the bird and head to Edmonton for a game 6 was already brutal enough. But now you're flying back home and you still don't have the Cup on the plane with you? Those assholes have to be puckered up so tight right now.
And sure, it's easy enough to say you're just going to treat it like any other game. That all you have to do is win this one final game and the last 3 don't matter. But..I mean…come on. You know they'll be thinking about how bad this collapse is going to be the entire game on Monday night. It would be impossible not to. This team's psyche has to be shattered.
Truly moving: O Canada G6, The entire city of Edmonton singing Livin’ on a Prayer
I mean what do you even do or say on that flight back to Florida if you're the Panthers last night? The fact that you had to gas up the bird and head to Edmonton for a game 6 was already brutal enough. But now you're flying back home and you still don't have the Cup on the plane with you? Those assholes have to be puckered up so tight right now.
And sure, it's easy enough to say you're just going to treat it like any other game. That all you have to do is win this one final game and the last 3 don't matter. But..I mean…come on. You know they'll be thinking about how bad this collapse is going to be the entire game on Monday night. It would be impossible not to. This team's psyche has to be shattered.
Monday is going to be insane. We either see the biggest collapse in the past 80 years of sports go down, or we see the hopes and dreams of an entire nation come crashing down with Florida putting an end to this comeback. Either result ends in one of the most traumatizing losses imaginable.
Scaredy Cats
Matthew Tkachuk said after G5 that he felt "we were gripping our sticks too tight". Coach Paul Maurice inserted a loosey-goosey type into the starting lineup before G6. They all see it, they all feel it; diagnosis is not the same as cure.
The Florida Panthers’ lead in the Stanley Cup Final is gone. Their confidence seems to be, too.
The Panthers went right to work on their mental state in a locker room meeting following their 5-1 loss…
...
The determined Panthers team that was on a mission to win the Cup for the first time after losing to the Vegas Golden Knights in five games in the Final last season has unraveled...
It is surprising. Florida is the veteran team that has been there before. The young novitiate "Oilers", with the weight of 1M who have no other interests besides thawing ice, and of all of Canada on them, would have been odds-on to crumble. Nope.
They...will need to regroup and find a way to regain their composure.
Florida fell behind in the first period and never led in each of its first three attempts to close out the series.
I thought, I could be wrong, that Paul Maurice deliberately had his "Panthers" begin G6 as the hitting, bone-rattling physical team. If not, it was a good theory. It didn't work but if that was the theory it was a good one. Football players say the jitters disappear with the first hit. But it didn't work 😁
...
The Panthers played all season with a poise and purpose after losing in the Cup Final last season. That carried them through the first three rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers and the first three games against the Oilers.
Yeah, and that is surprise too. Last year their goal was to be "annoying" to the other team. The "Golden Knights" ignored the annoyers. This year--all season--they played with seasoned maturity...until these last three games.
In a series that has made fools of the prognos, who knows, maybe playing with the desperation that the "Oilers" have for three straight games, is Florida's entree to the red carpet and the Stanley Cup on the dais on the Sunrise ice. I'm not making a prediction but the "Panthers" mental state is the immense obstacle on that path. Maurice and the players have said the right things after L's and have changed tactics, to no avail. G7 is on a summer Monday night, June 24 at 8 pm.
Sunrise in Edmonton, Sunset in Sunrise
…the fever pitch of a city that was awash in a sea of blue and orange downtown in the hours before puck drop. Friday might as well have been a holiday in Edmonton, the home of nearly a million people now fully able to let themselves dream of the Oilers adding another white championship banner to the rafters...
And it is not just Edmonton--it is all of Canada! I read a tweet, of course I don't think it was literally true, that "all of Canada's divisions will disappear" if Edmonton wins and the Cup is returned to Canada. Down here, I haven't seen 1) one "Panthers" bumpersticker 2) one "Panthers" car flag 3) My building hasn't reverberated with cheers when the "Panthers" won as it did when the "Heat" won a playoff series (much less the league title) 4) I haven't heard fireworks go off. It doesn't matter to South Floridians. It matters to Edmontonians and Canadians. Here's to you our greatest friends and neighbors 🍺
The Wreck of the Florida 🐆
The Panthers in front of their goaltender looked tight and timid…
The 🐆 shrinks into a 🐱 and the oil well gushes its effluence up our asshole.
Friday, June 21, 2024
FT 5-1 (two empty net goals)
Edmonton outscored FL 20-5 in their three wins and the third period of their 4-3 loss in G3. 20 goals in 10 periods to FL’s 5 in 10 periods; 2 goals a period for the “Oilers” to one-half a goal a period for FL. Edmonton has “figured Florida out” and have the momentum of a tsunami heading into G7. Florida has run out of answers for this “Oiler” machine.The consensus favorite to bring back the Stanley Cup to Canada for the first time in 31 years is Edmonton.
McLeod 16:45 4-1. I’m turning off phone and computer.
There will be a G7 in Sunrise. I really did think Paul Maurice had an inspired game plan at the beginning: be super physical, shock & awe Edmonton, rattle their bones, throw them off their game. But my son said when I pitched that view that he didn’t like what he was seeing on TV. We weren’t able to gain possession. That made sense too. It’s one thing to rattle them but when they slither free with the puck, you’re not generating any offensive chance, and that was the story of the 1P, at the end of which we were down one goal. Then the early 2P goal and we were really behind the 🎱. We’re just not as fleet or as resilient or as talented offenively as the “Oilers.” Connor McDavid said after G4 that they were “figuring Florida out.” They have completed their education and they have FL facing the ignominy of the first reverse sweep in the Stanley Cup Finals in 82 years. The 🐆 will lose G7 unless some deus ex machina comes down from the heavens as savior for them. Exquisitely painful for this franchise if they do lose four straight games after being up 3 games to nothing. Nothing like it has ever occurred in the memory of living man.
‘Ton didn’t score. Time’s just running out on 🐆. 14:55 3-1
FL is not a team that can get two goals in 5’.
PP over 3-1 8:34 3P
The 🐆 remind me of the 🔥. Good defense, below-average offense. If they don’t take advantage of offensive opportunities, they lose. FL’s PP is awful this series. Edmonton has scored short-handed goals, more it seems than we have PP goals.
The shots have evened out, they’re now 13-10, but Edmonton is faster than we are. On both their goals they got a man behind our defense, one on a long pass, the other off one of our turnovers. And when they get a break, they have snipers. They remind me of Lester when they won the EPL. They had that fuck Jamie Vardy who was fast. He'd lurk near midfield and wait for a pass. When he got one he just outraced defenders. We’re not as fast, not as skilled, and don’t get as many quality shots like that.
FL had a goal called back at :51 for offsides.
The call on the ice was goal but after video review they saw it. I watched the play. It was offsides but it was close. It was devastating to the 🐆. From 2-0 to 2-1 in 10” to 2-0 again. Changed the whole game to that point. It was the correct call. Just nobody saw it until after the goal. Crushing for FL.
Homicide Scene?*
A flood of blood?
An x-ray?
Signs of recent life. Always the most poignant for me.
Eerie, blurry. No sign of anything living.
*My apartment June 12, 2:30 pm.
Footis gurra mutha safood asha meena
Brian Scalabrine: “You guys have been on a lot of hard-fought trips to Miami, was this one a little sweeter?”
Jayson Tatum: “They’re always easy.” 
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