A Little LeBron James to Lighten Your Day
April 19, 2009Yankees Top Tribe 7-3: Umpires Bad, Bullpen Worse
April 20, 2009While We’re Waiting aims to be the round-up of the recent WFNY-esque information for your morning viewing. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email in the sidebar.
If we don’t land Crabree with the fifth-overall, “”There are some good receivers who will go late first and in the second round,” he said. “I really like Hakeem Nicks [North Carolina]. He could slip into the second round because he runs only a 4.55, but I like his size, his hands and he’s the kind of guy who would fit with the Browns because I believe he’s close to NFL ready.” [Terry Pluto/Plain Dealer]
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End of an era in Motown: “Even though I’ve had years to prepare myself for the eventuality the look in Sheed and Prince’s eyes convinces me the end of an era is truly here. But still I’m sad because this might be the last season I see Wallace in Motown and it’s got me feeling kinda blue. At the same time it reminds me of the last time the Pistons won back to back championships. They owned Jordan, Pippin & Co. until Jordan expanded his game and upped the ante. The Bad Boys were unable to stop the juggernaught and saw the writing on the wall before it was too late to begin rebuilding from the ground. Looks like that time is near.” [Sherman Johnson/SLAM Online]
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Dawgs By Nature mocks an addition to our defensive backfield in the second round with Patrick Chung out of Oregon. [Dawgs By Nature]
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Not to say we told you so, but… “Since Stephon Marbury has been in Boston they have had no chance of regaining the #1 seed in the East, Ray Allen punched a guy in the nerds, Mikki Moore has become a necessary part of the rotation, Rajon Rondo now cries himself to sleep at night and The Sports Guy has spent no less that 489,000 words convincing himself that Marbury could be “the greatest late season acquisition of all time. Ainge does it again!” […] The last two men who have believed Stephon Marbury could possibly be a good addition to their basketball teams and made deals to bring him there have nearly died! Isiah through depression and a suspected overdose. Ainge through a near heart explosion. These are not independent occurences.” [Corndogg/Hardwood Paroxysm]
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Playoff shock in Columbus: “Right now the Jackets seem to be out of their league and in over their heads. These playoffs have been a wakeup call of ginormous proportions.” [Light the Lamp]
12 Comments
I’m generally not a huge believer in “playoff experience” being a huge factor in general, but you can see that the Red Wings have it and the Jackets do not.
Saturday night’s game looked like a regular season game from 2003. The Jackets looked THAT out of their depth.
Thanks for the linkage!
I’m excited to be covering the Cavs/Pistons series at HP. Will have some stuff out soon.
Keep up the great work.
Playoff experience is one important factor in the NHL Playoffs, but it’s not the most important factor. Goaltending always has been and always will be the most important factor. In no other sport other than maybe basketball can one single player control the outcome of a series. I’ve seen Red Wings teams that have been overwhelmingly superior to lower seeded teams end up losing to them despite out-shooting them nearly 3-to-1 (I’m looking at you, Giguere and Kiprusoff).
That’s why I was worried about this matchup with Columbus coming into the series. I thought Mason could be that type of goalie to give the Jackets every chance to win this series. Unfortunately for you Jackets fans, Mason has been just average, and that won’t get the job done when you play a team that is vastly superior and deeper.
Having said that, though, we’ll see what happens in Columbus now that the Jackets can control the matchups and keep Nash away from Lidstrom. If Mason picks his game up and the Jackets can create some favorable matchups, they can still easily tie this series up.
I would be more than happy with Orakpo, Percy Harvin, and Chung as our top 3 picks
I guess they’re looking at Harvin as a Cribbs type. Might not exactly pan out as a go-to receiver, more used in the flat/special teams. I think we already have one of those.
@scott-
Very true. I have loved Hakeem Nicks for a while now. He reminds me of Andre Johnson. Big and physical wth great hands. I don’t think he will be available for our 1st second rd. pick though.
#3 Rock: it doesn’t help that the guys in front of Mason took 10 penalties on Saturday, either. Also, on Thursday, the Jackets knocked two into their own goal trying to “play defense” and “block shots”. The Jackets are deer in the headlights right now, but hopefully home ice and better matchups will help them win at least one at home.
I have been trying to say for a while that Nicks would be a great draft pick if he falls to the 2nd round. If not him the Mathews III. Kiper thinks both have potential to fall to the browns, and if the rumors of trading Quinn for a first rounder (or high second) then these could be 2 players that I would expect the browns to take.
@DP: For sure, and that’s where playoff experience comes into play. The Red Wings understand how playoff hockey is officiated much better than the Blue Jackets do. But my point about Mason was not to say he’s the reason the Jackets are losing this series, but to say that in order for Columbus to win, he needs to play at a whole different level. He’s capable of playing there, but he hasn’t shown it yet in this series.
It might also help if Mason didn’t have to play all the defense in front of the net as well as guard it…why was he the only one that I saw knocking Holstrom down? These guys gotta start playing better defense and hitting some people. If you’re gonna get called on every little flinch anyway, you might as well make it worth your while…
Correction: Holmstrom.
@ Scott #5
I guess they’re looking at Harvin as a Cribbs type
So they are looking to have another guy with loads of potential under-used?