Taro T

I'd take them over Carolina (minus Cole, they are not as scary as they should be). NJ is the other team that scares me. They have experienced goaltending, decent/good speed, and an ability to still play a pseudo-trap without tackling people. Let's hope, either Hasek doesn't come back for round 1 and the Otters have to play Atlanta, (1st round minus Dom, that team could be beat by Kovalchuk and Savard and Hossa and Bondra and ...) or the Atlantic winner takes the Louganis that I expect them to and then the 2nd round team does the TO number on the Otters.

Ran out of "hockey night Blue". Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. (Don't even have any company over shooting stick.)

You assumed wrong. And if you read what you previously wrote, actually you DID say that I "wrote" they would win the SC. Where exactly would I have written that, if not in a post here or on TSR? I would absolutely love to see it happen. I know this is probably sacrilege on this board, but if I can only see one in my lifetime, I'd much rather see the Sabres pick up the greatest team trophy in all of sport than the Bills get the football on the triangular post. That being stated, at the risk of sounding very repetitive, I think the Sabres are a dark horse candidate to win it, I do not believe "deep down inside" that they will. But I guarantee you, if they do win it, I WILL be at the Mmarena when they do. (Either watching it live, or on the jumbotron.)

Woo, hoo. "Now this is just a horrific piece of goaltending." - J. Lorentz 2-2. Darn, I should be there. Edit: We wuz robbed! Get it back boys!

I don't need to reread it. You might want to go back and reread the original, as your comprehension of it seems incomplete. Also, please indicate where / when I posted that the Sabres would win the SC this season? I have consistently stated that the Sabres are a dark horse candidate to win it all. If you would like, I could explain to you what a "dark horse" is; but you might save me some trouble by going to GG's site on your own.

Oh, come now. In 14 years the kids will be about 18, which based on previous threads, doesn't sound to be out of your league. Going w/ 10 years from now would Hab been a cheap shot.

Actually, I'm really looking forward to the playoffs this year, as I am expecting the refs who have been calling the games the tightest to be getting the assignments. High intensity with pointless hooks and holds called should make for some terrific hockey, especially if they aren't calling penalties on good clean checks.

Eball, I saw that "code of ethics" commercial just before I switched to hockey after my wife was watching the LSU game. Was there some particular scandal regarding unethical realtors that I missed? I just thought it was strange that they were using "ethics" as their pitch, unless they had something occur recently which caused their "ethical rating" to drop recently.

I'll grant you that Ottawa is better than the Sabres. I will not agree that Carolina is simply better than the Sabres. Yes, Buffalo is 0-2-1 against the 'Canes this season, but have not even remotely been that badly outplayed by them. Heck, if Tallinder doesn't break his stick, even though Buffalo was outplayed that period, they probably get out of the 2nd down only 2-0. Carolina was out of gas in the 3rd. Remember, in 2000-'01, Philly beat Buffalo all 4 times they played in the regular season, twice by shutout. When the playoffs rolled around, Buffalo won in 6, with a 8-0 drubbing in Game 6. Just as Philly wasn't simply better than Buffalo in '01, Carolina won't walk over the Sabres either if they meet in the real season.

Excellent post.

I now understand what the VERY old SNL skit with Bill Murray and Steve Martin going "what the h*ll is that?", "hey, you kids, get your lips off of that thing", and "well, get my picture with it anyway" was all about. So, what the h*ll is that? And, are they fun at parties?

No, the scary thing is: they reproduced! My money says the daughters will end up being stunning knockouts in about 20 years (14 if you're Meazza ) and neither one could spell "sugar daddy" even if spotted the consonants and the a's.

Agnes was only a tropical storm when it nearly topped the Mt. Morris Dam, so that doesn't count. The fact it killed almost 140 people (primarily from flooding) apparently doesn't count either.

Not everyone in WNY gets CBC (at least not through their cable system / satellite, and there are a few locations where "rabbit ears" won't help either). Also, if OLN picks up a Sabres playoff game that is on at the same time that CBC shows a different game (Montreal or Ottawa, perhaps) or in a timeslot that CBC decides not to show a game (less likely), then if you are in WNY and don't get OLN but do get CBC, you will still miss the Sabres game. If you were out of town w/ DirecTV w/ or w/out CI, you would get that game.

Provided their relative gets OLN, which is not universally available on all systems in WNY. If they are out of town, signing up with a cable carrier / satellite provider that has OLN on a low tier and signing up for CI will get them even more games than locals get; as 4 games were blacked out this regular season. It's my understanding that 3 of those games were shown in the other team's market. (Atlanta (3/1) being the lone exception.) So, if you had OLN and CI, you'd have seen 81 Sabres games and would see all of the playoff games. Live in WNY w/out OLN and you got 75 games and will most likely miss some early round games and will most likely miss all semifinal games and the 1st 2 finals games (assuming the Sabres are to make it that far).

I thought he called them all on the 4th.

Probably because it is Canadian and several of its programs are already shown in the States. My guess is that it has to do with other entities having US broadcast rights, but I don't know that for certain. Perhaps the Dean or someone else with more knowledge of TV operations could answer with more authority.

OLN is 608 on DirecTV. They have 11 more NHL regular season games on the schedule, including Buffalo at Carolina on the 18th.

Outdoor Life Network. They are the cable network that won the rights to the NHL after ESPN didn't renew their contract. Prior to getting the cable NHL contract it primarily showed fishing shows and Survivor repeats. OLN isn't seen on all cable systems, but apparently is on most systems. IF OLN is on an upper tier with that particular cable system, they may not show NHL games. Dish was having issues with OLN and their NHL coverage as well at the beginning of the season. I don't know what the current status of their showing games is, as I have DirecTV and CI. DirecTV and Comcast cable systems show all the OLN NHL games. I am assuming your provider doesn't have OLN, as you haven't heard of it.

Agreed that the teams in 10th and 12th look done. But, aren't you forgetting Atlanta? They looked pretty good to me last night.

For the Finals, OLN will show the 1st 2 games and NBC the rest. I am expecting the Semi-finals to be entirely covered by OLN and NBC (with NBC showing 1 game per week) and expect MSG not to cover them. That is the way the TV contracts worked with ESPN and ABC/Fox. OLN claims that they will show "wall to wall playoff coverage". What that means, I don't know. My guess is that they will show 1 or 2 games most nights, much as ESPN and the Deuce did. I expect MSG to show any Sabres game from Rounds 1&2 that isn't picked up by OLN or NBC. NBC will show 1 weekend game each week until the Finals. Center Ice will also pick up anything not shown by OLN or NBC.

While CTM correctly pointed out that there could be significant potential for manipulation, I think your reason - the volume that they would have to purchase calls for in order to provide any meaningful hedging is simply too large, so there is no available market to try to obtain the hedges. The number of fuels and lubes involved wouldn't be an issue, as I was just looking for hedging crude and a few distillates, but the sheer volumes that would be involved would definitely be an issue. Unfortunately, no, I wasn't making a funny (at least not intentionally ). I've gotta remember not to post here late at night after not getting much sleep. As Emily Lutella used to say: NEVERMIND.

What I want to know is, with all the millions of gallons of various fuels and oils required to keep the equipment running, and with all of the procurement channels and personnel that the military must have; how in the world did the military not use futures contracts?

Because if he is, the Crayola Eater might be able to make you a star!

Wonderful news. Thank you for the update. Will keep you in the kid's prayers.