Divisional winners and playoff seeding.

The Spin:

Mats Sundin isn’t wrong to wonder why divisional winners are automatically granted one of the top three seeds in the each conference, or whether that’s a fair system. It isn’t. Divisional winners should be guaranteed a playoff spot, not a high seed.

Then what value is winning the division? This is basically saying the divisions are a sham.

Which, of course, wouldn’t be the end of the world.

I’m guessing that we may see this partially fixed in the offseason. I’ve recently had the chance to talk to some people about the scheduling setup because I’ve written about the damn broken schedule once or twice (or three times, or…) –then again, I proposed nuking divisions back in 2001, too, for all the good it did.

the folks I talked to don’t want to be publicly identified, but they’re at least as well hooked into this problem as Eklund claims he is.

They claim that part of the reason the schedule was left alone was Pittsburgh — and that at the time the decision had to be made, nobody knew whether or not they were moving, but they did know if they changed the schedule and they DID move, they’d have to rejigger it again. So there wasn’t any real enthusiasm among the board of governors for having to rejigger the schedule twice. Assuming that has any basis in truth — I can sympathize, and they made a good decision under bad circumstances (the people I talked to were not happy with Mario for, as they put it, dragging this out way too long. OTOH, they’re staying in pittsburgh, which gives the league Kansas City for expansion down the road, or maybe the new home for the Panthers, or Thrashers, or Predators. I wouldn’t be surprised to see two more teams added, but not for a while. Expect expansion to start being talked about at some point, but I doubt we’ll see it in less than 5 years)

As to the schedule, I fully expect it to be revamped in the offseason, and based on these talks, I have hopes for a couple of things:

We’ll return to Home and Home with the other conference, reducing the 8 games in division to make room.

And I believe you’ll see the divisions redone, and the league more to two conferences, each with two divisions instead of three. That’ll simplify things and sanitize the playoff seeding somewhat.

I don’t think you’ll see re-alignment. Detroit wants to move into the East; to put it bluntly, the rest of the West will be pissed if they get to, because Detroit is frankly a huge draw on the road and everyone wants it — there are a number of west teams still pissed at having lost access to Toronto and Montreal back when the canadian teams were allowed to play each other more frequently (um, when was toronto last in San Jose? It’s been so long I’ve gone senile…) — only to see this new schedule screw them out of dates against the eastern Original six and teams with players like Sydney Crosby. You honestly think if Crosby played for the Ducks that the eastern teams (and Versus, and NBC) would be saying “yeah, it’s okay that these guys only get into MSG every third year…. yeah, right).

Now, things change. But there seems to be a general consensus for making some good improvements and evening things out. the division-heavy schedule has, frankly, not worked as hoped — for every rivalry it encourages, teams end up with a lousy or boring series that drops interest to balance it out. oops. And rivalries are built in the playoffs, not in the regular season.

Here’s hoping. I get real tired of hearing my Sens fans friends around hear looking at the schedule and going “no Senators. Again. Bastards….”

Is it time to do away with fighting in hockey?

Kudos to Commissioner Bettman:

Fighting not up for debate: Bettman:

Commissioner Gary Bettman said Monday the NHL isn’t going to debate the issue of fighting in hockey, but admitted the league may have to find a better way to protect its hulking players from fighting-related injuries.

The quick answer on fighting in hockey is — it stays. However, the league has to figure out how to stop the stretchers, and we’ve had a serious string of players carried off on stretchers this season after fights (one TWICE). As Bettman makes clear, as has Colin Campbell (who’s been widely misinterpreted as saying fighting has to go; what he said was this had to be looked at, and that the league elders couldn’t hide from the problem any more, basically).

My view: “banning” fighitng won’t solve this problem, it’s part of a larger set of issues that need to be addressed. Fighting is ingrained in the sport, and a key aspect of the strategy of coaching this sport at the pro level, whether you like it or not, and you aren’t going to see that change any time soon. I’ve come to the view that we shouldn’t try to make that change, either.

But the reality is that in the last 30 years the average player has grown by four inches (and the fighter-type player probably half a foot), and put on 40 pounds or more, all in muscle. They’re in better shape, they’re stronger, they’re faster, and unlike players 30 years ago, train seriously offseason, and if you’re a “gritty” type player, you probably train with a boxing coach now, so you’re trained in fighting, rather than the “bar brawl” style of the days of Phil and Tony.

And now bones are breaking, and faces are being (literally) re-arranged, and players are being concussed. And THAT will kill this sport more effectively than any 11PM sports jock showing 10 second clips of hockey fights. And sooner or later, it’ll kill someone.

We’re at the same point with fighting that hockey was when Ted Green took that stick to the head. It’s time for the league to get a grip on it and figure out how to manage fighting to get the injuries under control, the same way it finally figured out that two players taking sticks to each other, or teams leaving the bench for massive brawls, were simply unacceptable.

And now we’re here with fighting.

What I really want to see — but I won’t — is the union step up here, and getting involved in making sure their members are protected from unneccessary injury.

I (of course) have some ideas on this, as part of a larger view. More soon, but I wanted to support Campbell and Bettman and the NHL leaders for their admission that the time has come to stop the stretchers….

Go for the Win

Kuklas Korner:

Gary Thorne: Third periods should be all-out attempts to win close games, not attempts not to lose. The pressure is there for teams that need points to shut down the offense in tied third periods, especially if they have the personnel to win the shootout.

I keep thinking that the answer is to downplay the shootout, but not do away with it. How’s this sound?

Extend overtime to 10 minutes. There’s a very good chance of a goal within ten minutes. Winner gets two points, loser gets zero.

Then go to a shootout. Only — winner gets ONE point, loser gets zero. Not three points for the game, one. Strong encouragment for finishing before a shootout.

Then, add two tie-breakers to playoff seeding:

fewest overtime games: the team with the fewest overtime games wins the FIRST tie-breaker.

fewest shootout losses: the team with the fewest shootout losses wins the SECOND tie-breaker.

the third tie-breaker would then be total wins.

Instead of awarding an extra point for surviving into overtime, we remove a point for failing to win prior to the shutout. But we also make the shootout and overtime potential deal-breakers over playoff seeding. That should encourage teams to go for it (because the best way to win those first two tie-breakers is to have no overtime, much less no shootouts). And by adding five minutes to overtime and going for ten, we make the shootout fairly rare, but don’t eliminate it and go back to having ties.

Right now, we reward ties. I’m suggesting we shift to penalizing “not winning”.

Kuklas Korner: Where’s the union?

Kuklas Korner:

Despite a number of injuries in the past few years as a result of illegal or malicious play by fellow union members, the union’s only action — in marked contrast to similar bodies in soccer and football — has been to represent the assailants at disciplinary hearings.

“The N.H.L.P.A. will be reviewing and checking hits to the head with our membership at our annual player meetings this summer,” the union’s director of hockey affairs, Mike Gartner, said Friday in an e-mail message.

Well, I hope someone else in the union remembers to take this up, now that Gartner’s gone.

But given the players are all talking about the need for players to respect each other, wouldn’t it have been nice for them to do something, rather than decide to get together over a few beers and argue about it? Like, say, kicking Chris simon out of the union for two years? That’d cost him a chunk of money in licensing and etc — and send a real message that the players won’t take midnless abuse any more. Btu then they’d have to kick out half a dozen other players this year, too… but it’d be a start.

Of course, the union is too busy fighting the league’s wish to get everyone to wear visors, because it’s more important for the union to protect a palyer’s right to decide than it is to protect that player’s body….

Mike Chen’s Hockey Blog: Heads up!

Mike Chen’s Hockey Blog: Heads up!:

You hardly ever see clipping called, and a big part of that is probably because players have always been trained that it’s off limits. If that’s the case, why not implement a similar rule protecting a player’s head?

Well, here’s one good reason, and it’s almost a direct quote from Colin Campbell and also from Gary Bettman, who’ve both said basically the same thing within the last two weeks:

How do you create rules that outlaw hits to the head in the NHL, and then explain to a non-fan why it’s okay for them to drop their gloves and punch each other in the head and face?

The NHL has a huge problem here, and the league’s aware of it. And the Fedoruk injury tonight just brought it front and center. If the current situation is a farce, playing the “we don’t tolerate hits to the head, unless you drop the gloves first” would really cement the league’s status as a farce…

Darth Vader, violinist

Darth Vader, violinist

Originally uploaded by BrooksT.

Having heard him play on a few trips to Victoria, I can say that Vader the Violinist isn’t bad at all.

In general, the huckster scene in Victoria is pretty rocking. A lot of pretty good musicians and groups and a few other things — jugglers, etc.

of course, there are exceptions. Bad Shakespeare guy, as I like to call him, offers to recite sonnets to you and your loved one for a kindly fee, and then there are the bagpipers out by the harbor. Very popular — but only if you don’t know bagpipe music… As photo ops, yes. As musicians, not so…

(via gadling)

a quick note on the sharks at the trade deadline…

woo-hoo!

I like the deals, all three of them.

Rivet for Gorges and parts.

Guerin for Niemmenen and parts.

And as I predicted, the Sharks traded a goalie, only it was Nolan Schaeffer, For two bags of pucks, more or less.

The two players off the roster: Gorges and Niemmenen. Gorges was a solid and amazingly hard working Defenseman, but showed himself at times to be outmatched. he tried, but he couldn’t always make it happen. He’s definitely a 5th or 6th D on pretty much any NHL team, but not much more. Rivet is clearly an upgrade, and the one weakness on the Sharks D was that when hannan or McClaren were out of the lineup, the kids struggled to take up the minutes. Rivet will help solve that problem from any number of dimensions, plus he’s a right shot, something we didn’t have. We dropped a 5-6 for a (more or less) 3 Dman, and didn’t give up much of the future to do so.

Niemenen was rapidly slipping off the depth chart (effectively, this year’s ‘Todd Elik’): you might as well have shipped off a Worcester kid for the impact on the Sharks locker room. And the futures here were moderate, much less than Atlanta paid for Tkachuk. That I find interesting, but Atlanta felt it had to make a move and couldn’t wait, so it paid a good price. the Sharks seemed to think that waiting would cause prices to moderate, and comparing what Tkachuk cost and what Guerin cost indicates to me they were right.

And Schaeffer lost a numbers game in San Jose, and now he has a chance to show if he’s an nHL goalie (his 5-0 record notwithstanding, the 7th round pick we got back indicates most NHL teams think “not”. Time will tell)

As a Sharks fan, I think it was a great set of deals — and a nice price. fun. no complaints, either on deals done, or not done.

Update: realize I forgot the Scott Parker to Colorado for parts trade. This has the feeling of “going home to retire as an Av” to me. Parker’s been injured more and more, and has been less and use used (and useful) to san Jose. I”m not sure what’s left in his tank, and I think this was a “thanks for all the fish” trade for Scott. I’ve got nothing but praise for Parker for what he brought to the team and how he set an attitude and work ethic for the team but he was sliding well off the depth chart, and the sheriff has gone home to ride off into the sunset.

A phrase to live by…

When I was talking to the pulmonary nurse about the CPAP, I made an off-the-cuff statement that amused both of us, but the more I think about it, the more I think it’s something I really like.

I know Jason’s been really pushing the fatblogging meme, and I’m following it with interest and some enthusiasm, although I haven’t formally bought into it yet. Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun — once again, I’m a bit ahead of the curve. (and yes, I’m 30 pounds heaviler 3 years later than that abortive attempt. This is — really — why I left Apple. I just needed to get away from the stress and while we tried, I just couldn’t work it out without a clean start. At least I was smart enough and willing enough to do so — eventually.

Anyway, the phrase I’m now using to define my state of mind on all of this:

I’ve given up denial for Lent.

(I think much of the healthy lifestyle, or lack of it, is tied up with denial. presuming I didn’t have severe apnea is denial in some ways — but refusing to get tested is true denial. Of course, getting tested and then ignoring the results is the ultimate denial…

Another aspect of denial I find I’ve been doing is focussing on the next 20 pounds, or the next 50 pounds. In the last couple of days, I’ve actually taken a step back and looked at the bigger picture again; the reality is, if I’m LUCKY, I only need to lose 170 pounds — that’d take me down to 200 pounds. More likely, I should be headed towards 180 (my high school wrestling weight was 145, and while I don’t expect to need or want to get there, it’s a useful hitching post for the reality of things….). That means half of the weight I’m carrying is excess fat.

And that’s easily a two year project. breaking it into chunks and worrying about the first chunk is important, but hiding the rest of it from myself is denial. And I think ultimately, it’s not about whether you post your weight every day (or week) — but if that helps, go for it! and for me, it did, for a while — it’s about getting to the roots of the problem and coming clean with yourself and being honest about the situation. Because if you lie to yourself (another form of denial), it’s all over.

One other thing to keep in mind: if you set a goal and don’t reach it, you haven’t lost. Making ANY progress towards that goal is a win; five pounds helps. 20 pounds helps. And if you want to take of 20 and only take off ten, you’re that much closer; take a break, maintain the win, and when you’re ready for the next round, go for the next part. The only loser is one that doesn’t try…

frack! earthquake….

As I’m typing the previous, the earth moved — literally. A couple of quick, sharp jolts.

The joy of living in the Bay Area. Long history of living through earthquakes made me think it was a reasonably strong quake, but not nearby. (checking USGS…. early estimate is 4.5, east of Berkeley… that’s gonna make a lot of people’s evening out in the East Bay….)

(Wheeze) Luke (Wheeze) I AM your father…. (love me, love my CPAP)

The latest in geek fashion:

A couple of weeks ago, I said this:

Chuqui 3.0: About Me:

And we’ve been chasing something that’s popped up since I left Apple — I’ve been having some intermitted periods where I simply don’t have any energy. It’s not tired or fatigue, it’s just sudden drop-outs of my energy levels. Because of this, I’m going to be doing an apnea sleep study next week, although I don’t believe that’s “it”, with my weight, it’s a logical next step to check and (hopefully) eliminate (or deal with).

Yesterday, I got the results of the apnea study, and it wasn’t pretty. I also got my CPAP machine, which I’m lovingly modelling above. The details of the study were a lot worse than I expected — averaging 50 events an hour, with a worst-case O2 drop to 58% (the O2 scale runs from 50-100, with 90-100 being normal).

The reason I felt that apnea wasn’t the problem was that — from my point of view — none of the most obvious symptoms of apnea have been present; I’m not waking up during the night, I’m not doing the “active dreaming” (because you can never get into deep REM sleep), I wasn’t waking up tired or fighting the alarm, and in fact, was doing pretty well on 7 hours a night; and a while back, all of that WAS true, before we worked on clearing out the nasal congestion (Allegra for the cats, sudafed for what the allegra doesn’t clear out, and breathe-rights to open the passages; breathe-rights rock, by the way — if you snore, try them…). given that I STILL had what’s clearly a severe case of apnea, one can only wonder how bad it was before we “fixed” it.

That, of course, is why you don’t guess about these things, and in retrospect, I should have taken the test a few years ago.

So, for those who are wondering — what’s Sleep Apnea? Apnea is a condition where your airway closes down, and your ability to breath stops. You can sugar coat it with lots of medical terms adn conditions, but effectively, its as if a cat keeps crawling onto your face and going to sleep. As the sleeper, of course, you end up moving around and starting to wake up to clear the airway (and shoo away the cat), all the while your blood oxygen drops. Apnea can lead to all sorts of fun things, from exhaustion (and more fun things like falling asleep randomly, like when driving), or raised blood pressure, or stroke.

Some apnea stats: current estimates are that 1 in 5 Americans have some form of apnea at least some of the time. The testing/results/training classes I went to started with about 60 people, and they ended up handing off 45 CPAP machines (now, as they noted, you don’t end up IN that class until you’re far enough down the road that the diagnosis is pretty clear… but still); while being overweight and being older don’t help, it’s not a “fat” disease or an “old” disease. the class I was in ranged from a girl in her mid-20′s to a man in his 80′s; and the girl, if he had 10 pounds of extra ‘her’ hanging around, hid it awfully well. So to speak. Not that I was looking; I am married, of course.

The tube of the CPAP wanders off to what can only be described as an aquarium air pump on steroids. The idea is to flow air into the nose to pressurize the system to keep things open. If that sounds, well, funky, well, I can tell you that going to sleep that way the first time was weird — you essentially have this small, localized windstorm going up your nose. Some folks adapt to wearing a CPAP well, some take a couple of weeks. In my case, I had about 20 seconds of claustrophobic panic the first time I put the thing on — and then last night, fell asleep right away, and as far as I can tell, stayed asleep all night. Seems like it’s not going to be a hassle for me.

And — results are very, very early, but I was up a bit late, and we had to set the alarm earlier than normal (5:30), so I’m running on around 6 hours instead of 7-7:30 today, and despite that, I feel more energetic and rested than I have in weeks. It’s a subjective feeling, and after one day, way too early to tell, but — it sure seems like a noticable and huge change for the better.

And I mention it because — maybe, it’ll trigger something with some of you out there, and convince you to go talk to your doctor about it. If you sleep but don’t feel rested. IF you have a tendency (like I did ) to sit down somewhere and “go nappies”, if you’re a heavy snorer — you should at least have the talk.

Although I fully realize that doing the Darth Vader thing is not necessarily going to make your evening if you’re single and bring a friend home, if you fall asleep on the barstool (or at the wheel), she might never come with you in the first place…

Now, off to go study up on CPAP equipment and technology, because if I can guarantee one thing, it’s the the one Kaiser will pay for as part of the coverage is a perfectly decent unit, but not the best on the market, or the one I’ll likely want to stick with.