General discussion thread 2/13/2010: Gary Matthews Jr, All-star Edition

[Squadron Nye]

po-tah-toe, pah-tah-to

[Squadron Nye]

i'm in some serious pain this fine afternoon. oy

[Bob A. Booey]

what happened nye ?????

[Squadron Nye]

drank like a fool booey... like a goddamn fool

[Bob A. Booey]

ha ha ha that happens,,,, my advice gatorade ,,,,, i had a few last night myself not like a fool,,, where you on the upper east or what ????

[Squadron Nye]

gatorade it is... I actually stayed in my lovely borough last night. I love me some Qns

[Squadron Nye]

competitive eating is a winter sport?

[Bob A. Booey]

yeah yeah queens is cool ,, i used to party in m bayside ,,,,,

[Bob A. Booey]

oh an that beer garden is cool in astoria ,,, ever been ??

[Squadron Nye]

I live in Astoria booey! The beer garden practically my backyard in the summmer. You used to go out on bell blvd? That place luckys used to be awesome but then it got like a dance club. I think it was named something else back in the day.. Any ideas?

[Bob A. Booey]

i used to go to a sports bar in was cool first edition i think ????? dont knokw the place you refered to,,,
you are talking about the dive beer garden righty ?? not the fancy one ,,,, ??? sushe at a berr garden yuck ,,,,

[Squadron Nye]

I think first edition was the place I'm talking about, I think it may be lucky's now.

Of course I'm talking about THE beer garden. That abortion on steinway can't hold a candle to the classic. It only opened last year, have you been in my nabe?!

[Bob A. Booey]

yeah its cool joint been there after a few mets games ,, we gotta do a group geek outing at cite field then do a little booze after ,,,,,i wen 4 times last yerar and los mets were 4 and o ,,,

[Squadron Nye]

good idea dude. The beer garden is a perfect post-geek destination. Plenty of room, lots of beers, no frills. I think shea wants to schedule geekday at citifield this year, we should bring that up. You're a lucky mofo, I was well under 500 last season and I went to over 20 games. I didn't get season tix this year so I gotta choose my games more wisely...

Did you hear they're opening a bar in citi too? Like the place at CBP, it has doors that go into the stadium and the parking lot so you don't need a ticket to go there.. pretty neat idea even if it's a philly copy cat

[Bob A. Booey]

tha sounds cool the bar at citi,,,,
its cool to drink on tht concurers too near blue smoke ,,,,,

wabt to sit in lf so i get a good view of the filed this year ,,,,,,,, hmmmmmm beeer !!!!!

[Bob A. Booey]

ok ok nye ,,, gotta run see ya ,,,,,,,

[Squadron Nye]

by the way, pj and dep and all the amateur scientists out there. The canucks must have been reading the geek yesterday. They did exactly what I said they should do, put a padded wall in front of those polls to disperse the energy of a crash over a larger surface area. Physics class is fun :)

(they also moved the starting point down the track to slow it down a bit)

[Squadron Nye]

later boo

[Lunkwill Fook]

No US medal in the 5000. Hedrick just got completely blown out of the water.

[Squadron Nye]

that belgian guy win?

[Future]

Hedrick looked pretty poor there.

[Tim]

bring on the capitals...I predict a 5-4 Blues win in a S/O

[bcuster]

getting ramped for olympic hockey? i am :)

[Lunkwill Fook]

getting ramped for olympic hockey? i am :)

Can't wait, dude. It's my biggest sporting event every four years.

[Future]

I can't wait for Olympic Hockey.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Who would you say is the favorite? Most people are talking about either Canada or Russia.

[Future]

Russia. Canada will choke at home. They won't be able to handle the pressure.

[Lunkwill Fook]

I dunno. I don't like Russia's defense and particularly their lack of physical presence on the smaller NHL ice. Plus, Canada's goaltending is LEAGUES better than Russia's and all it takes is a hot goaltender.

I think the USA is totally fucked if Parise is really hurt. He's their only really truly gifted goalscorer.

[Future]

I don't expect us to even medal. We have no depth. Miller has to play like a champion every single night.

[bcuster]

Russia. Canada will choke at home. They won't be able to handle the pressure.

on paper the russkies should walk away w/the gold; that is a given. usa can make a super-bold statement by taking the silver.. the canucks will choke like they always do and will be lucky to take home a bronze w/the benefit of a few home town calls in their favor...

[Lunkwill Fook]

I don't expect us to even medal. We have no depth. Miller has to play like a champion every single night.

I agree. Miller's going to have to stand on his head. USA is only going to place if they have the best defense in the tournament. They can't match firepower for firepower.

Another thing about Russia: half their forwards are from the KHL because of politics. That's really going to hurt them.

[Lunkwill Fook]

How do you call the Canadians choke artists, by the way? Yeah, the blew up in Torino but the won the Gold in Salt Lake City.

[Future]

There are really only two great teams: Russia and Canada.

Everyone else is fighting for bronze. That's a group of the USA, Sweden, Finland and the Czechs.

[Lunkwill Fook]

I wouldn't put the USA in Sweden's league. In my mind, it goes more like:

Tier 1: Russia and Canada
Tier 2: Sweden and Czech
Tier 3: Finland, Slovakia, USA

Everyone else should just go home.

[Future]

I wouldn't put the USA in Sweden's league. In my mind, it goes more like:

Tier 1: Russia and Canada
Tier 2: Sweden and Czech
Tier 3: Finland, Slovakia, USA

Everyone else should just go home.

Well there are only 8 teams total. So you're telling Switzerland to go home and with Hiller they could win the whole thing.

[Lunkwill Fook]

You gotta love how young team USA is though, outside of the Langerbrunners and Drury's. I could see them becoming serious medal contenders by 2014.

[Lunkwill Fook]

There are twelve teams in the Olympics. You're forgetting Belarus, Germany, Norway, and Latvia.

[Future]

Yeah...we're young. But we're really not good and young. We have Kane and who else that's young and a superstar?

[Lunkwill Fook]

Yeah...we're young. But we're really not good and young. We have Kane and who else that's young and a superstar?

Kane, Parise, Kessel, Pavelski, Callahan, Bobby Ryan, Stasny. As well as the Johnsons on the blue line and Suter. And Quick should be in his prime by the next Olympics.

All these guys should still be playing at the top level, possibly better than they are right now, by 2014. And that doesn't even include guys like Okposo and TJ Oshie.

[Future]

Quick isn't that great. I'm not impressed with him.

Kane, Parise, Kessel (like him), Pavelski (love him), Callahan (nuff said), Bobby Ryan (impressing me), Stasny(good).

But we need more than that. Hoping for big things from Kreider.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Well, that's the idea. We have four years for the prospects to develop. Meanwhile we have a decent core.

I've seen Quick a couple times. He's impressed me. Not flashy but solid.

[Future]

Sorry, only 8 women's teams. I think more than 8 for the Men.

[Future]

12 Mens Teams.

[Lunkwill Fook]

12 Mens Teams.

Yeah, the Men's brackets have a lot more also rans.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Ono's on a short track qualifier.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Canada's women beating up on Slovakia, 5-0 in the 1st.

[Future]

I'm watching Life on DVD and listening to the BU game. So I'm not watching the Olympics right now. Well that and I bet NBC won't show me anything live.

[Lunkwill Fook]

The hockey game is on CNBC right now. NBC is showing short track skating.

[bcuster]

usa is tier 1; you really under-rate them lunk...

[Future]

USA isn't close to Tier 1. You can argue Tier 2, maybe Tier 3. But no way Tier 1.

[Future]

The difference between Canada and Russia with the USA is huge.

They're better in almost every category, and that was before we lost two of our best defensemen.

[Squadron Nye]

Are there any non-nhl players in the olympics?

[Lunkwill Fook]

Are there any non-nhl players in the olympics?

A lot, especially on the European teams. Lots of KHL players in addition to Swedish super leagues.

[Lunkwill Fook]

usa is tier 1; you really under-rate them lunk...

Tier 1? No way in hell, dude. I love team USA but they don't have the talent to compete with Canada or Russia and, in my opinion, are a step or two behind Sweden.

[Future]

Are there any non-nhl players in the olympics?

Germany is almost all comprised of guys who aren't in the NHL. Oddly enough they didn't take a lot of their NHL players this time. Makes no sense to me.

[Squadron Nye]

A lot, especially on the European teams. Lots of KHL players in addition to Swedish super leagues.

KHL is the russian pros? Is the level of play on par with the NHL?

[bcuster]

if you want to put russia as the only tier1 team that is ok w/me.. many giants have fallen in hi-intensity tournaments like this...

but i refuse to accept that the usa team is not on level w/canada... sorry i just don't accept it... call it whatever tier you want usa is at least equal to canada...

[Future]

KHL is the Russian Pros, it's a pretty damn good league.

I don't think quite NHL level of talent. But some superstars.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Germany is almost all comprised of guys who aren't in the NHL. Oddly enough they didn't take a lot of their NHL players this time. Makes no sense to me.

They don't have a lot of NHL players. I think the highest profile German, now that Olaf Kolzig is retired, is Marco Sturm.

[Lunkwill Fook]

if you want to put russia as the only tier1 team that is ok w/me.. many giants have fallen in hi-intensity tournaments like this...

but i refuse to accept that the usa team is not on level w/canada... sorry i just don't accept it... call it whatever tier you want usa is at least equal to canada...

I said Canada and Russia are tier 1. And in NO WAY do we matchup even close to Canada. Not even a little close.

[Future]

If Canada is Tier 2. We're Tier 3. Or Tier 4.

[Future]

Alright, I'm out for the evening.

[Lunkwill Fook]

If Canada is Tier 2. We're Tier 3. Or Tier 4.

Russia's good but they have holes. Canada is solid enough to make them in the same tier.

[bcuster]

I said Canada and Russia are tier 1. And in NO WAY do we matchup even close to Canada. Not even a little close.

that's bs, lunk and you will see. the american team is so easy to underestimate. canada is bloated & FULL OF FAT CHOKE ARTISTS

[bcuster]

i guess germany owns the luge... :(

[Lunkwill Fook]

that's bs, lunk and you will see. the american team is so easy to underestimate. canada is bloated & FULL OF FAT CHOKE ARTISTS

Ummm... pretty sure it isn't. The American team is easy to estimate because we don't have depth or many dominating scorers outside of Parise and Kane. And I still don't see how you can call the Canadians choke artists other than because it's fun to say.

[Future]

How is the American team so easy to underestimate? We're just not very good and US Hockey is down across the board.

But since the play the sport out instead of playing it out on paper sure the US can do it.

[Lunkwill Fook]

Is there a chance? Of course there is. Finland shouldn't have made it to the silver last time around but they rode a hot goaltender. So anything's possible. But on paper, we don't have a chance against Russia, Canada or, in my opinion, Sweden.

[John]

Ohno got lucky

The Koreans was gonna sweep the medal stand before they crashed lol

[Lunkwill Fook]

Ohno got lucky

The Koreans was gonna sweep the medal stand before they crashed lol

Yep but it was there own damn fault so pthptttt!!!!!

[Squadron Nye]

i like the little metal tips they wear on their fingers. like tap shoes

[Tim]

bring on the capitals...I predict a 5-4 Blues win in a S/O

Darn, I guess 4 to 3 in a S/O is close enough...Eastern Conf. is OVER RATED!

[Lunkwill Fook]

Good for you guys. Fuck the Caps.

The Caps aren't getting too far in the playoffs unless they find a defense and a consistent goaltender sometime in the next two months. Right now, they just overpower with offense.