TrueBlue4ever

This is kind hilarious, in a pathetic way. Lindell offered $5 million to anyone at his cyber-symposium who could disprove his election fraud claims and someone took him up on it. Proved that Lindell’s data was total nonsense, and then demanded payment. The courts just upheld this as a valid contract and ordered Lindell to pay. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/politics/mike-lindell-2020-election/index.html I will never understand what compelled Lindell to go down this road. Was his business model failing to such an extent that he figured the publicity, however negative, would boost his sales? Or is he a true believer?

Adin Hill, who won all 3 regular season games, might be the back-up. I think he is healthy again. Maybe we’ll see all 5 Vegas goalies by the end of the series.

Stuff like this always reminds me of Carlin. A couple of NSFW words in here (or as it used to be called, “swears”):

The word “weaponization” to me is tricky, because the label is applied by the opponent of that religion. So when someone says “Many of us don’t weaponize our spirituality” they may be speaking truthfully, but it is a subjective viewpoint. A Jewish person will say they don’t weaponize their religion, but were persecuted for their beliefs and almost exterminated in the Holocaust for it. But a Muslim will say “and you weaponized that into getting a nation state of Israel and kick us out of our land”. A Catholic will say all life is sacred so we must protect those rights of all humans, but others will say that stance has been weaponized to make abortion illegal and subjugate women’s rights. An Indigenous person could say their culture was stolen from them by the residential school system whose weaponization of the Christian beliefs tried to indoctrinate us to their ways. And those Christians may say that the Indogenous groups are now weaponizing their beliefs to create white guilt, forcing modern Canadians to make reparations for the sins of their fathers, and getting the laws of Canada in the Criminal Code altered to account for Indigenous status and give them a different standard of Justice. So it is weaponization or is it appropriate measures taken to right a wrong. Depends on which side of the fence you sit on. Why these labels can be inflammatory and subjective.

I won’t dive too deeply into someone’s spirituality, and I myself differentiate faith from religion, with faith as a useful moral guidepost as how to live one’s life as opposed to a strict dogma that must be rule-bound and followed as the one absolute truth. However, this quote from noted atheist Ricky Gervais regarding religion vs science stands out to me:

And welcome back to all the fans who were “so done with this team” 3 weeks ago.

His tears sustain me.

I thought that was for a separate graph. But either way it seems to be a flawed methodology. This is the problem with how some of these surveys are done, and they just feed the “fake news” disinformation confirmation bias. And this is a survey I would tend to agree with.

Open question - what qualifies someone as “informed” or “misinformed” As the baseline for trust in certain news sources. I think those numbers probably correlate with education level, but what objective stats establish that someone is labelled as “misinformed” to create the table’s “truth outcome” that the misinformed follow right-wing sites?

We are back in the playoffs for the 5th time in 6 years.

Garner looks like the love child of Keith Urban and Ryan Dinwiddie.

First round picks: Boston - really hope not and the illness running through their locker room gives a sliver of hope. But they are just way too good. But seeing Paul Maurice upset them would be sweet. Toronto - rooting hard for Tampa, but I think the Leaf curse is broken. Which is fine because the Bruins will likely sweep them in round 2. But if the series goes 7, could easily see Tampa pull it off then. NY Islanders - since the 1 v 8, 2 v 7 seeding was re-introduced, the #7 seed has won almost half of the match-ups (25 of 54). Since Seattle isn’t beating Colorado, this is my #7 seed upset NY Rangers - more top end talent, goaltending, and playoff experience gives them the advantage over the Devils Colorado - most likely sweep in round 1 Dallas - dark horse to run to the Finals Edmonton - game 7 OT anyone? The two hottest teams since the trade deadline, either is a legit threat to make a run to the Finals, but McDavid is video game cheat code unstoppable right now. Great equalizer could be the refs burying their whistles and eliminating the Oiler power play, which is their greatest weapon Vegas - the fact I am a Winnipegger and am wavering on the Jets convinced me that Vegas is the logical pick. Jets just too inconsistent this year to trust them to bring their best, which would be enough to beat most of their Western foes. Plus, they play best when no one believes in them, and there are still experts who see the upset happening. So it likely won’t.

Playoff hate-o-meter rankings (who my heart is rooting for/against in the 2023 Stanley Cup, #1 being my nirvana and #16 being wrist-slitting territory: 16. Boston - anything and everything about that city’s sports fandom is nauseating, and the national media piles on by making their suffering “special” when they have had more good fortune than any fan base recently. Bonus hate points for Brad Marchand. 15. Toronto - “average” fans have suffered and I could be happy for them if the team broke through, but the media overload and celebrity fans like Steve Dangle acting like their misery makes them special makes them an easy target to root against. Plus it’s always nice to feel superior to someone and revel in their failure. And the talking heads would be so insufferable to listen to if the team ever won. 14. Edmonton - this is largely a jealousy hate ranking because no team should be gifted “the best player the game has seen in a generation” more than once plus the media will whine about how he never gets the calls until he hoists the Cup. Major bonus historical hate points for all the times Gretzky broke the Jets’ hearts. 13. Vegas - really torn on this given how many Manitobans play for them, but they are the ultimate “buy a winner” mercenaries in the NHL, and have a tax and location advantage that will always hinder Winnipeg. Can’t be happy for a team that has never felt the sting of adversity and had to scratch their way to the top. 12. Colorado - they just won 11. NY Rangers - exciting team, but the media hype if they had any success would get intolerable almost immediately 10. New Jersey - meh 9. Carolina - double meh 8. LA - playing the Oilers in round 1 gives me a reason to cheer for them 7. NY Islanders - the forgotten little brother in New York makes them a decent underdog to root for 6. Dallas - good fans and a sneaky great team 5. Tampa Bay - yes they have won tons, but they have won without hotdogging or scandal. But mainly I have a high school buddy who is part of the staff there. 4. Minnesota - it would suck seeing Ryan Reaves win a Cup, and they are a chippy bunch, but these are knowledgeable die hard hockey heartland fans who had their team snatched from them and will never compete with the New Yorks and LAs of the world for star power, and I have always been treated well when visiting Minneapolis by their fans. Winnipeg south. 3. Florida - almost exclusively a Paul Maurice vote here. Only Matt Tkachuk keeps them out of #2. 2. Seattle - ultimate underdogs, they did a less mercenary build than Vegas so they are an inoffensive winner for me. 1. Winnipeg - duh. But I still want to see an upheaval on the team for next year. Even if I was a neutral fan the Jets are an easier team to root for, given the fans’ passion, the reclaiming of a moved franchise, and being constantly overlooked by the media and most NHL players. Underdog stories are popular. Even saw a playoff article today asking “is this the year Toronto or Edmonton breaks the Canadian Cup curse?” Once again Winnipeg is not even an afterthought.

There goes my work day.

I agree another owner would be better, but I don’t think that exists right now. And yes MLSE would block them from using the stadium. Which is why I say better to have an owner who at least pays the bills and keeps the franchise financially viable as opposed to having no owner and the league pays the bills again. If anyone can identify a willing owner, I’ll revise my statement.

League is still better off having MLSE owning the Argos than not. Their pockets are so deep that losses are not consequential, and I don’t see other buyers lining up.

True, but for a double header it makes more sense to have Leafs/Tampa early (6 pm Central - 7 local, and Edmonton/LA 9:00 pm Central - 8:00 or 7:00 local depending on home team) rather than starting Winnipeg late, but Sportsnet wants to maximize ratings on every day, so split up the sexy market interest of Toronto and McJesus.

Stubhub has a bunch still. Our schedule coincides with the Leafs, so they get the prime time, we get the afternoon or late time. The Oilers will draw more eyeballs than the Jets so the powers that be would not want to double stack them with the Leafs on the same day for TV ratings purposes.

GO(LF) PENS GO(LF)!!!

How exclusive of them. Thanks for the link. I don’t care how we got into the playoffs, I am excited we are back and will be at game 1 loud, proud, and adorned in white.

Rittich with a really ugly goal against right after Lowry can’t bury a golden chance.

Jets not mailing it in so far, tied at 2 after 40.

Live updates: 8:35 pm - NJ, who trailed 4-1 at one point, score twice in the 3rd to get to OT and earn a point to temporarily move into first in the Metro. 8:39 pm - Carolina survives a wild 3rd period (4 goals for each team, 2 each in the last 2 and a half minutes with the Panthers net empty) to win 6-4 and claim top spot in the Metro, and relegating Florida to the #8 seed in the process. That result resolves all the playoff spots in the East. Boston will play Florida, Carolina will play NYI, NJ plays NYR, and Toronto plays TB in round 1. 8:44 pm - NJ, unaware of the other result, wins in OT 5-4, but Carolina’s win makes it moot. 9:30 pm- Dallas blanks the Blues 1-0. Colorado now needs to win to keep their division title hopes alive. 9:37 pm - The Avs do their part, putting away an undermanned but determined Jets squad 4-2. Avs still need a win tomorrow in Nashville to claim the division crown. 10:30 pm - Edmonton beats San Jose 5-2 to stay in contention for the top spot in the West. Now they need Vegas to lose in regulation. 11:43 pm - LA tops Anaheim 5-3 and clinches 3rd in the Pacific, which also mean Seattle will finish as the #7 seed. The Kraken will face either Colorado or Dallas, which will be determined tomorrow. LA will face Edmonton if Vegas can hang on against Seattle and nab at least one point. The Knights have a 2-1 lead with 16 minutes left in the 3rd at this moment. BONUS NOTE: Anaheim finishes last in the NHL as Chicago got a point and Columbus beat the collapsing Penguins. The Ducks have the best lottery odds to land Connor Bedard. 12:18 am - Vegas ends the night with a 3-1 win over Seattle and clinches the #1 seed in the West. The Knights and Laurent Broissoit will face Connor Hellebuyck and the Jets in the first round. Edmonton will host LA. The other series match-ups will be set tomorrow after the Avs-Preds game.

Only way is the Conference Final.