May Day 10

That was the greatest hour of television of all time And i have been a fair critic of this show

Lame Figured there would be more deaths in the second last episode

And leadership has been anything resembling good?

I just dont know what it is. There is a cloud over the lockerroom there. We can say they have "no talent", but how many 1st round and high first round picks started the season in 2017 and then 2018? I think murray made a critical error plaguing the young nucleus with kane and bogosian. I truly believe they were the poison in the pudding and had a bad effect on eichel and reinhart, among other young players. They had the right idea bringing in gionta and gorges for leadership, but by some accounts, the team fissured into factions, and gionta/oreilly/bylsma were on the side of the "losing" faction. There is no on ice leadership.... and i fear any leadership presented will be rejected like a foreign organ transplant. Im not sure eichel has the right attitude. Great player... but the team has quit each of the last 3 seasons. You see eichel often throwing his head back and showing up his teammates, which has resulted directly in opposing rushes. I do think tippett could be the guy to get through to eichel and show him how to lead and establish order and accountability within the lockerroom.

I wasnt a big fan of the first one. Special effects were kind of cartoonish, and the story was not well adapted from the book. They just made the clown scarier, which people like

That would be fine. As I said, I'm waiting to see the results of this... but if things break in a way I do not like, my mind will definitely go to this Euro Trip as a source of displeasure.

I do realize this is a world of connectivity, cell phones, etc... but I don't know. If nothing else, it is really bad optics. Seeing the condition his NHL team was in, he really should have declined the Canada job. What if Tippett is waivering between Holland/Edmonton and Botterill/Buffalo, and a face to face meeting or bringing him into town to show him the facilities, introduce him to some people/staff and such could win him over? I am very close to tossing my season tickets. Waiting to see the results of this coaching search and this isn't helping.

I have not read that yet. I am currently reading A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (another prequel tale). Its formatted a bit differently, but I like it. Lots of illustrations, and quick tales which is nice after the long-game of the Song of Ice and Fire series. After that, I plan on reading Fire and Blood.

Since I recall (1987 through now, but more vividly perhaps 1990 on), the blood was to detect a double-minor

It has always been based on flagrancy/amount of 'carelessness'. 2 minutes for HS, double minor for blood, 5 minute major if severe violation. I always loved how hockey has a penalty tangibly based on if there is bleeding or not.

I really liked the 4th book and consider it on-par with the first 3. The 5th book has some great chapters, especially in the first half (a few even made me exclaim "yeah!")... but as I said, they bogged it down with the Meereen/Slavers Bay logjam, introduced a few new and worthless characters connected to that logjam that wasted time, lots more travel and too much world-building in Essos, which I really didnt care about.... and also spent too much time with Jon/Castle Black... which for the most part was a stalemate (until the last Jon POV of the book). The 5th book IS worth it for the "Reek" POV chapters. The best chapter IMO was a Davos one (one that made me exclaim)... it was about halfway through the book, then nothing really great (until the last Jon POV as well as the epilogue). With that said, Im super-duper looking forward to Winds of Winter. Meereen is almost through, and its going to cut into the nitty gritty.

Whether its a valid complaint or not.... i think its a bad look that botterill is in europe working a second job at the loser tournament instead of "focusing" on this team that is a heavy lift and obviously needs a lot of work. His co-gms are both unemployed. It looks worse that the coaching carousel is continually spinning. If edmonton lands tippett while he is gone, im going to have trouble not being angered by this. I guess when a stated goal is to "be in a position to be in games"... the bar is set low enough where there is plenty of room for error

Yeah. Meereen in in the last book is the worst part, with all the political machinations and people slowly travelling there. There were/are various plots i really wanted to see, but it seemed that 95% of the 2nd half of the last book was centered on meereen... and also castle black which was kind of at an impasse through much of the book. Other than that, all 5 books are dynamite imo. The books arent a difficult read at all. Grrm has a way of writing that takes a little adjustment (f.e. tyrion liked the contents of the letter not at all). But its a fairly easy road. Especially with familiarity with the general physics, map, politics, major characters, etc. The worst part, i would say is the in depth description of everything in every meal, as well as detailed descriptions of what people are wearing.... that paints a great picture though and sets tones.

Yes, they have drilled down way too deep. The baseball example is a good one. After being safe, a player's cleat bumps off the bag by a millimeter while the tag is being applied. I guess they can break their ankles. In this case, Im perfectly fine with the umpire making the call (whether it goes for or against my team). The Offside rule in hockey... the spirit of the rule is so a player doesnt go in before the puck to gain an advantage. It isnt an 'out of bounds line. IMO, over history it has been called way better than adequately. I never desired super slow-mo ultra zoomed in reviews to see a molecule of ice between a player's toe and the blue line (before a play that went behind the net, the defense gains control, cant clear it, and the team ends up setting up a play and scoring. The Offside rule only serves to remove goals and excitement by way of a technicality. It cannot add goals or offense. A linesman blows an offside call the other way, the offensive team cannot 'challenge' that to get their offensive rush back. It is looney tunes. Now there is momentum to reviewing 5 minute major penalties.... honestly, in my 35 years of watching hockey, I have never come close to desiring this.

One of the great things about the Red Wedding, especially in the books, is that it was kind of laid out there for us to figure out, and not a lot of people/anybody did. They laid out nuggets building up, right up to the strange/loud/crappy music gallery. Even after what happened to Ned Stark it came as a huge shock. In a matter of pages, he essentially snuffed out what we thought was the main revenge plot. Then you put it all together with Tywin's letters/certainty that Sansa would be the lord, the makeup of the Westerling family, the mistreatment of the Karstarks, etc... It was genius. That kind of thing sets an unfair bar though, and after that, everyone is just waiting for the writer(s) to knock your socks off and analyzing every little thing trying to guess the next 'twist'. This is what has poisoned the opinions of M Night Shyamalan's movies since the Sixth Sense. Everyone is expecting a major twist at the end and disappointed every time because they are let down (personally, I still like most of his movies)

Its a terrible rule. Whether it goes in favor of, or against the Sabres, I loathe it. It is the stupidest thing the NHL could do.

I was luke-warm on Gronborg anyways. The concept was interesting.... but IMO, this team is not in the position to take such a risk and dive in on a coach who is not experienced in the rigors of an NHL-length season. The next coach needs to somehow fix the reasons why this team has quit during the past 3 seasons, as well as provide sound schematics. To me, Tippett is perfect, as far as what is currently available, and honestly, I would choose him over Quenneville for this team.

fats is currently dealing with the canadian team in the euro tournament, so probably nothing will happen for awhile.

yeah, maybe she was out, but still on the hook for the trial, and in theory, we could still be on a path to the Sept of Baelor getting burnt.

The books havent gotten that far. Margaery is still imprisoned far as i recall (loras on burnt on dragonstone)

I would love holland and tippett to turn this ship around.

My kid is just getting into it for the most part. He just turned 6 and finished his 2nd year of hockey and starting his 3rd year of baseball. I would say we have not encountered anything rough as of yet (its coming I'm sure). We do hockey in a fairly skills-oriented, low drama organization though, at least at early age groups. We did spring hockey last year at a different place and witnessed a trashy family hooting and hollering when their kid would knock a smaller kid over, steal the puck, score, and do a celebration. My kid is doing spring hockey this year, and is at the high end of the age group. Had the first game last weekend, and he was too good, where the other kids were probably not having a good time. He wasn't passing and ended up scoring about 30 of the game's 35 or so goals. I was hiding my face in my hands. I had a long talk about passing and being a good 'role model', so we will see how this week goes. If its a disaster again, I might inquire with the coach on what we could do, or if we can move him to the higher age group.

Everyone hates Tyrion and Varys though and the common people would not follow them under any circumstances... let alone any of the remaining lords. Mind you, people hated Tyrion as hand and he is still wanted for Regicide and Patricide/Kinslaying. When he was Hand for Joffrey, the people despised him despite him protecting them from Joffrey's stupidity/cruelty and also saved them from being sacked. One of his last public appearance, he basically told everyone he wishes they were all dead. I also suspect that people of King's Landing will have had their fill of Lannisters ruling after this battle/war. Nobody likes or trusts Varys either.

Well yeah. If I want to swim, I cant in our basement. I also do not own a sauna, but don't really desire that. I understand if a club offers something you feel like you need/want. Some people just like to go. For me, I just want a workout. Home workouts with a 'follow the leader' type of deal with a trainer using mostly gravity and body weight.... set to a timer to work quickly and efficiently, are much better than a beginner or even someone who is moderately versed on gym equipment.... doing "chest day" and spending 25 minutes on an elliptical. Most of the workouts are based on Core-Strength, and that is something most amateur gym-goers do not develop. The most important ingredient is DIET anyways. The exercise part is just showing up and actuating your muscles. Jumping down into the basement and flipping on a 25-30 min video to me breaks down the whole barrier of driving to and from a place, trying to analyze when it is 'crowded', etc. Especially with spouses who work full time and 2 very young kids. Just cant carve out 1-2 hours a day. I have a basement gym. Had it set up when it was unfinished... but had the basement finished with a half-open gym room with a pullup bar, mounted TV in the corner, adjustable dumbbells (with the dial), adjustable bench, and semi-professional lockable flooring. Have a shelf with all sorts of other items like weighted gloves, resistance bands, DVDs, etc... That, and going for a job gives me everything I could ever need.

yeah, the story went a long way with Jaime.... like 5-6 seasons worth, and unlikely to just cast all the development away due to cold feet.