Thoughts on a Game Day

-Sometimes you have to chop things up in order to gain some perspective on your team’s standing. In my case, at least the Avalanche aren’t the Nuggets, (far from them actually) who were swept out of the playoffs by a beatable Lakers team in the first round.

And observers wonder why few people take the Nuggets seriously in Denver. You think Avs fans are fair weather, Detroit? HA! Just try living with a basketball team that has never even been in the NBA finals, despite featuring an owner who will spend at will to acquire talent and coaching for a team which features two of the top five scorers in the league.

The Nuggets may be the only team in history to have a fan base strictly composed of bandwagon fans…of their own creation of course.

-You ever get through a fantasy season in which there was a controversial trade only to discover in the playoffs, after the fantasy season is over, that the trade was actually quite fair? Let’s just say that my “fleecing” of Joe Thornton from one of my league’s rookies this season is looking like an actual win for the rookie.

Tell me what you think of a trade The Rook offered me that I accepted:

Joe Thornton (who at the time had potted all of four goals in the previous month and a half, was the 9th ranked center on yahoo, and is currently being dominated by the Dallas Stars)
AND
Brad Boyes (who did lead the Blues in goals, only to basically do nothing after the trade until the final week of the season)

FOR

Marty Biron (who may make the conference finals)
AND
Cory Stillman (who ended up on Ottawa’s top line before they were mercifully shot down by the Penguins in the first round)

I’m sure many of you will bust on me for fleecing a rookie, but in a season in which I fell literally ONE GOAL short of making the finals I’m sure Karma took care of what ever discrepancy existed from the trade. The lesson here is that it is of the utmost importance to fleece the rookies in your fantasy hockey league early and often, despite the objections other “protectionist” managers.

How else are the kids gonna learn?

-Speaking of Marty Biron, this caught my eye over at Dobber Hockey today:
“You know... I said this two years ago the moment the trade happened, but I would just like to say it again - If the Leafs were going to trade Tuukka Rask for a starting goaltender, they should have done it for Martin Biron not Andrew Raycroft. What were they thinking? It was no secret that Biron was available and the Sabres definitely would have jumped on the offer. Am I really that much superior in the pro scouting department as the entire Maple Leaf organization? Hmmm, I think I just answered my own question there.”

My reaction to this was to smack (in my mind) every dissenting manager in my fantasy league right in the baby maker for being so stupid. And yes I’m quite bitter.

-Finally, one of my hobbies is to go on to Red Wings fan sites and read the comments. I do this in local papers as well, because few things angry up the blood quite like an uninformed opinion.

An ongoing theme on Abel to Yzerman at Kukla’s Korner has been for Wings fans to make fun of the phrase “old time hockey” as it relates to the Avalanche. I actually owned an Avalanche shirt with this phrase on it at one point, and even I thought it was kind of silly, which is why I bought the shirt. If anything it proved to me that marketers will do anything if it means a sale. Like changing the home colors of the jerseys from white to dark. And yes, Bill Hicks is break dancing in his grave right now.

True, Colorado may not have as deep a professional hockey tradition as those cities that were granted an original six team, but here are a few facts and figures that should bring the Wingnuts back to earth a bit…as I flip through this month’s edition of Scientific American and wonder where this world would be if reading that mag were a required activity, instead of endless hours of Hannah Montana reruns…

Stanley Cup Championships
Red Wings- 10
Avalanche-2

The Wings were founded in 1926 and have existed for 82 years.
The Avalanche came to Colorado in 1995 and have existed for 13 years.

The Red Wings have averaged .12 Stanley Cups per year of existence.
The Avalanche have averaged .15 Stanley Cups per year of existence.

Major Relevant College Hockey teams (NCAA Titles)

Michigan-
University of Michigan (9)
Michigan State (2)
Michigan Tech (3)
Lake Superior State (3)
Northern Michigan (1)

Colorado-
University of Denver (7)
Colorado College (2)

Michigan NCAA titles-19 spread between 5 teams
Colorado NCAA titles- 9 spread between 2 teams

I’d like to point out that Colorado ranks #2 behind Michigan in total NCAA hockey titles, besting other “hockey states” like Massachusetts, Maine, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. In fact, DU (tied with North Dakota) is second only to Michigan in total titles (9 to 7), and was the last college to win back-to-back championships.

So tell me again how Colorado is lacking a hockey tradition, Wingnuts. If anything information like this should make the rivalry run deeper.

I’ve got the Avs squeaking out a close one tonight, assuming the Wings are allowed entry into the Can from DIA. I expect the “barn” to be noisy and raucous…and to my peeps in the upper deck, try not to literally kill anyone wearing red.

We are Americans after all…

For my next act I'll attempt to pinpoint exactly why Coloradans hate the color red beginning with the inbred Nebraska Cornhuskers and ending with the arrogantly stupid Boston Red Sox.