It certainly appears that this year's defense of the Stanley Cup will be nothing like the 2010-11 season in which the Blackhawks had to creep in after grabbing the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference. Unlike the fire sale that followed the 2010 Cup win, this year's team has been kept largely intact and is storming through the NHL 41 games into this season. Consider that Chicago has scored five or more goals in nearly half of their games this season. Name a player on this team and chances are good that he is having a solid campaign thus far. When a waiter at a local restaurant saw my Blackhawks cap during a recent visit, he asked who my favorite player was. It had been a while since I'd been asked this and I had to think about it. Based upon the very Norris Trophy-worthy season he's having thus far, my reply was Duncan Keith. But it could have just as easily been Patrick Kane. Or Patrick Sharp. Hell, why not Brandon Saad? Blah blah blah. In short, there isn't a whole helluva lot that 'Hawks fans shouldn't feel good about right now. The champs are playing like the best team in the league, and it once again remains very hard to imagine that any team is going to be able wo win a seven-game series against Chicago come April. If there is one worry, it is undoubtedly the penalty kill that currently ranks among the league's worst after going on an amazing streak of success in last year's playoffs. Then again, with the team scoring as often as it is right now, simply avoiding stupid penalties would seemingly be the easiest fix to that, ahem, "problem." Oh, and then there's the whole three-week interruption we're about to go through for what I hope and fervently pray is the final NHL player participation in the Winter Olympics. In addition to the fatigue concerns and how the sudden time out of the country will affect the roll the Blackhawks have been on, there is as alawys just the overwhelming fear of a star player sustaining an injury. Sure, Chicago has more than enough contributors right now to possibly make up for the inevitable player loss or two that will happen between now and the playoffs, but I'd still prefer safe than sorry. And it's hard to ignore the fact that the last time there was a mid-season Olympics break, the 'Hawks won the Cup that year.
I see no point in lying. I attempted to listen to the Bulls game last night, but only made it about two quarters in before I decided to watch TV instead. (This, for the record.) OK, I lasted less than two periods. This is likely to be the story for the remainder of the season. Oh, sure. The Bulls could be hard-working and grindy enough to make the playoffs in an appalling Eastern Conference, but this season's hopes for any sort of deep playoff run were vanquished as soon as Derrick Rose—fresh off missing an entire season—went down a mere 10 games into this one. The Bulls quickly announced Rose would be out for the season. No playoffs, no nothing. Year over. End of story. Commence talking about the possible draft pick even though management will have to publicly dismiss any discussion about possible benefits of tanking. It seemed we would get through another painfully disappointing regular season, but things were considerably worsened when Rose talked about a possible return if the "situation is right" in his first public comments. *SIGH* Which means for the rest of the year, the media is going to be obligated to have headlines just like theseones. I'm casting my vote early: He won't be back for the playoffs and I'm not holding out any hope for the team even he does. Like many of us thought, this year appears destined to come down to Miami and Indiana in the East, with the rest of the field being a sideshow.
While not yet technically eliminated from the playoffs, it seems to be a safer assumption that this first season of the Trestman era will end immediately after Week 17. For me, it's more or less what I expected coming into this year, although the loss to the Vikings in Minnesota that concluded this most recent quarter of the season was more discouraging than anything I could have imagined. Much of the week on Chicago sports radio has been spent calling to question the logic of attempting a 47-yard field goal on second down in overtime. Indeed, for a guy who has seemingly been as smart and analytically aware as Marc Trestman has seemed to be all year long, his defense of the decision left a lot to be desired. Then again, perhaps a poor defense is the best summary of this Bears season. The team continues to deal with a set of highly consequential injuries to arguably two of its most important players on the two sides of the ball in Cutler on offense and Briggs on defense. There's been plenty of bright spots on the offense this year (for once), what with Matt Forte's continuing efficiency, Alshon Jeffery breaking out, and Martellus Bennett being a tight end who can actually, you know, catch. Oh, and that McCown guy's been pretty effective too. The defense, however, is even more dreadful than my initial fears about depth led me to fear they would be. Never in my lifetime can I recall Chicago having a league worst run defense. I don't doubt that the team will continue to battle in these final four games, what with the North being similarly pathetic and underwhelming. Oh, and Jay Cutler has a payday coming up.
Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, E-mail Me
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"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
— Herbert Bayard Swope
Interesting Lawsuit
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*This will be a "must follow" for us*:
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Schumer Fucked It All Up
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Here's the thing that's bugged the shit out of me about Senate Minority
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Casting bad joojoo on a jerk
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I had a trump voodoo doll years ago and gave it to the dog to chew up. I
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"You run into an asshole in the morning, you ran into an asshole. You run
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The U.S. president first announced that there were no casualties from the
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Update: Execution put on hold
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Today a federal district judge granted Dexter Johnson's request for a stay
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disabi...
Bret Stephens is Wrong
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On February 9th, Bret Stephens penned an Op-Ed for The New York Times
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Earthquake drills are being practiced all across the country (#ShakeOut),
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Hello! My hubby talked me into posting on my blog. What.... it's been about
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since th...
I want to be a photographer
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All I have is my eye and a lens. I want to start a new life as a
photographer. I only have a few months of sobriety. I know that drinking
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It Only Hurts When I think... I Think, OUCH!
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In this era of space-age technology and Velcro, you’d think that the
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So, I dug up some old zip disks and 3.5" diskettes (amazing, I know—what
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Fandom Awakens
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The internet almost broke last week with the debut of the *Star Wars: The
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hour...
We've Moved!
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My new website is up! For all the latest information on myself and my
books, go to www.hockingbooks.com.
All my old blogs from here have been moved over t...
Time Keeps on Slippin' ... Into the Future
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I disappeared again. I feel as though I am just resurfacing. After the
holidays. After life changes. After ... It all just goes fast, doesn't it?
This past...
Dat dere orange spray tan
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Unnatural looking, streaks, overpriced, wears off in just a few days, weird
chemicals cause you to break out.....what more could you want!?!?
Hibernation
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Thanks for dropping by!
I'm taking a break from blogging (or more to the point, taking a break from
feeling guilty about the lack of blogging but stil...
Oh dear
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I am not a patient person.
I couldn't finish the healing journey I had the other day.
I was taken to a deep blue pool and many of the gods and people I kne...
Where To Find Me
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As I mentioned in my last post, my writing was in the process of being
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my stuff ...
60 Days of Art... round 2
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I missed last years 60 days of art by roughly 2 weeks. I'm going to try and
officially complete it this year.
I started July 30 with this version of Adam W...
HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY HOCKEY
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"THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN," - sings Uncle Jesse with a mullet.
The boys are back (but not in town)! However, according to NBC's broadcast,
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Jordan
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I saw this and this a while back but never shared it, since it's probably
BS. Nevertheless, it's still funny and I've sent both links around to
people b...
He who blogs and runs away
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*He settled *Hoti*'s business--let it be!--*
* Properly based *Oun*--*
*Gave us the doctrine of the enclitic *De*,*
* Dead from the waist down....
Icon Packages Download
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Dear users, I'm having trouble keeping the downloads directly from my
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Some of my works...
Book #9 -- The Dirty Life
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I had the pleasure of reading The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball over spring
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Pheasant Tale
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*Pheasant Tale Fascinator by Arturo Rios*
*Artist Statement:* This is a beautiful hat i love from my collection, its
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the year of living almost celibately
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it's been a strange year.
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So after a long hiatus from the world of blogging...... I AM BACK!
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I bought the largest package of Italian sausage I had ever seen. Three
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I don't really know where to begin with this post because of how much life
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Finding The Flow To Let Yourself Go
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This is supposedly how you find your flow to let yourself go. The point is
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HOME PAGE:
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Click sequentially on the topics below to experience God's presence among
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*1. "I am who I am*"
2. "Understood from what has been made"
*3. "Male and f...
work in progress
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Our world of wealth and prosperity
Religions with alien deities
No spirit left in our arteries
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Courtesy of Natania Barron, authoress of the the book and blog The
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What do you know? Happiness is IN! How do I know this? From a November 27,
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Post #1377: The Relatively Short Goodbye
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Hello, everyone.
After 21 years, and almost 40 million posts (we'll have to check those
numbers, but it's something like that), we have decided to bring F...
Jesus Christ...Martin Luther King, Jr...Ken Lay
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Until I became a martyr recently, the only time my name was uttered in the
same sentence as God's only son and that black civil rights guy would be
when so...