Goat Entrails…

The ancient seers got nothin’ on modern-day sportswriters. Whereas the ancients killed a goat, a chicken, or other such domestic animal and examined the entrails for omens and signs, professional sportswriters turn to statistical analysis…which is much the same thing, minus the blood, gore, and stench. Case in point:

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings have positioned themselves best for the heavy lifting that will come, largely because they’ve managed to avoid a lot of heavy lifting through the first half of the playoffs.

And because of that, if history is any indicator, the Penguins and Red Wings will meet in the Stanley Cup final with the Penguins emerging as slight favorites at this point.

The fact Pittsburgh played three fewer games than the Philadelphia Flyers through the first two rounds and the Red Wings two fewer than the Dallas Stars might not seem like much, but history tells a different story.

There have been 20 playoffs since the league went to the four-round, best-of-seven format in 1987 and it has been proven time and again teams that get through the first two rounds quickly stand the best chance of winning the Stanley Cup.

[…]

As an aside, THN picked the Stars to defeat Detroit in this round over my vehement objections. And the reason we chose Dallas is the same reason why I’m choosing Detroit – Stars goalie Marty Turco.

Yes, Turco has been the star of the playoffs so far, but for some reason he has a serious mental block when playing at Joe Louis Arena. He comes into these playoffs with a 0-7-2 record as an NHLer at the Joe, which is odd considering the fact he was spectacular in the building as a college goalie with the University of Michigan. (ed: I just had to include this aside. Coz it’s semi-relevant to the issue at hand.)

Why is it I’m reminded of that ol’ “lies, damned lies, and statistics” saying? I’m not discounting either history or statistical analysis, mind you… I’m a big fan of both. But statistics don’t consider the intangibles, or the relative skill of the teams in question, and they can’t possibly reveal or even divine the most closely guarded information in the playoffs, which is the health of the teams in question, overall or individually. Aside from health, one of the keys to winning a championship in any sport is “Who wants it most?” Sure, everyone wants to win and no one wants to lose. But the guys that want it most are the guys that usually take it home. That’s been proven time and time again, to quote our guy from The Hockey News. Still and even, it’s fun to read the tea leaves… or rather someone else’s interpretation of what those leaves…or entrails… may or may not be saying.

We’ll know soon enough.

―:☺:―

Islamic garden? Really?

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Continent: Europe
Country: Romania (Facts)
State/Region: Iasi
City: Iasi

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Time of Visit: May 7 2008 10:06:59 am
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