Ramblings. Mostly on Sports.

I've been told that I need to write about something other than politics. Which is a bit problematic for me these days, since a lot of the things that piss me off and get me thinking fall into the general categories of 'politics,' 'economic,' and 'human stupidity.' Which, as above, I'm supposed to try and avoid writing about.

Apparently, the end result of being barred from writing about anything is that I don't really write about ANYTHING. So time to get back on the horse, and failing a specific subject, I shall simply ramble. Mostly about sports.

FIRST: I remember way back when, in the early 90s, the Chicago Blackhawks had by far the best power-play in the known universe. They were scoring shitbags of goals, even in an era were GAAs hovered around 4.0. I remember some (non-Chicago) coach being asked about it, and the coach in question responded, "Yeah, if I had Gary Suter and Chris Chelios running the points on my powerplay, we'd be pretty good too."

I remembered this statement while watching Game 3 of the VAN/LAS playoff series on monday. The Kings powerplay went 3 for 3 that night. The LONGEST amount of penalty time that passed with a man in the box before they scored was about 43 seconds. In game 1, they were 2 for 3 on the powerplay. They only scored 2 powerplay goals (in 6 opportunities) in Game 2, making them 7 for 12 for the series. Yes, the worst game they had so far involved only 2 power play goals. Their conversation rate for the series: Over 50%. That is OBSCENE. Especially since Vancouver is not bad at all. Their goalie was the starter for Canada's Olympic Gold Medal team. (He got pulled in the second period in Game 3.) Henrik Sedin led the NHL in scoring during the regular season. He's got no goals and three assists IN THE SERIES.

All of this is just a long way of saying that Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson are REALLY good. So long as they are standing at the points, the Kings powerplay is right up there with the best in ability to score. And so long as those guys are playing 25 minutes a night, a lot of big-money scorers are going to hate playing against the Kings.

I really don't think the Kings have what it takes to make a serious cup push this season. While Anze Kopitar is quickly becoming a elite-level center, they still lack the sort of scoring winger who will rifle in the clutch goals. (Expect GM Dean Lombardi to do something about that; he was the guy who brought Joe Thornton to SJ.) Right now, the Kings remind me of DET during the early years of the Yzerman era; the core is CLEARLY there, but they still need a few pieces.

SECOND: The NFL Draft is tomorrow. In prime time. Which I'm not a believer in, but what the hell. I admit to being way on the outside, but this looks like another Manning/Leaf dichotomy year, which will necessarily result in heads rolling in the front office of whoever ends up on the wrong side of that coin. While there will be 1 or 2 QBs touted QBs who shine, there will also be 1 or 2 touted QBs who bust, perhaps catestrophically.

My personal feeling, which I know is worthless, is that Sam Bradford is not going to be a star in the NFL. Nor is Tim Tebow. Both of them spent their entire collegiate careers playing substandard competition: running up the scores against Cupcake State and Whatsamatta U. Bradford spent his career calmly scanning the field for receivers while his All-American offensive line cracked heads in front of him. He has never had to deal with edge rushers beating the snap into the backfield. It will not be an easy transition. Tebow has never had success against pro-style defenses even in college, and has certainly never had to face tacklers as big, as fast, and as athletic as he is. Neither of them have had to deal with serious adversity at any point in their lives. All that is going to change, and I don't think it's going to be an easy transition.

If I had to take a QB this time around, it's be Clausen. Lots of starts playing in a pro-style offense, where the talent around him was good, but not leaps-and-bounds better than the guys on the other side of the ball. He might not have the numbers of the others, but the numbers that he does have seem a lot more likely to continue at the next level.

THIRD: I'm looking forward to beer and hotdogs in the sun at Minor League baseball games this summer. I'm not a fan of baseball. But I do like beer, hotdogs, and sunny days.

FOURTH: I frequently consider that, as a professional mercenary, my workload would drop by about 30% if there were even a slight increase in net human IQ. I spent pretty much all day today reviewing corporate records in a defamation and business tort case; over 1,200 pages, each requiring individual review for significance. Nearing the bottom of the stack, and none of the pages that I've seen have any immediately apparent relevance to any damages sustained by the Plaintiff. Yes, it is billable, but it would be nice if it were even a little bit PRODUCTIVE as well.

My other notable task today: dealing with a Plaintiff in a resolved case, who keeps calling my office. This is about the fourth time he's called, even though the message is always the same: "I'm sorry, [HT] cannot speak with you. Even though the formal lawsuit is resolved, you are represented by counsel for this affair. [HT] is required by law to limit communications to your counsel. If you have ongoing concerns, they need to be addressed through your own attorney."

I'm setting the over/under for about three days before he tries calling me again. While this is an even bigger waste of time than review of random documents, I do find it moderately amusing. I mean seriously, so far as he's concerned I'M THE BAD GUY! Neither he nor his attorney did their job in presenting his case. He was pretty much required to accept token settlement on the eve of trial, when it became apparent just how badly I going to beat him. At this point, months later, I know that he thinks his own attorney is trying to screw him. But he spent about $20,000 of other peoples' money trying to screw MY client (and doing a bad job in those attempts, to boot), so I can't figure out why he thinks that I would be even a little bit sympathetic to his plight. I mean really, WTF?

All for now. Gotta go walk my dog.