Playoff Threeview: St. Louis & Chicago

by J.R.

CIII2. Blues 52-23-7 (111 points, 2nd in Conference III) vs. CIII3. Blackhawks (46-21-15, 107 points, 3rd in Conference III)

Season Series— Blues 3-2

Leaders— Blues: Alexander Steen (33G, 29A, 62 Points, 9 GWG), Alex Pietrangelo (43A), David Backes (10 PPG); Blackhawks: Patrick Sharp (34G, 44A, 78 Points, 10 PPG), Patrick Kane (10 PPG, 6 GWG), Ben Smith (15.6% shooting)

Probable Goalies: Blues: Ryan Miller (25-30-4, .918, 2.64); Blackhawks: Corey Crawford (32-16-12, .917, 2.26)

DemocraThree: 28 March 2014

by J.R.

Every Friday bloggers from around The Heptarchy will update us on the news and notes from their teams (with that fancy header image courtesy of Mike D; like democracy itself, it’s a perpetual work-in-progress). Yes, we ripped this off from TRH’s Pacific War Room; no, we don’t care. And since we ripped it off, we’ll follow their lead and go in standings order.

DemocraThree: 21 March 2014

by J.R.

Every Friday bloggers from around The Heptarchy will update us on the news and notes from their teams (with that fancy header image courtesy of Mike D; like democracy itself, it’s a perpetual work-in-progress). Yes, we ripped this off from TRH’s Pacific War Room; no, we don’t care. And since we ripped it off, we’ll follow their lead and go in standings order.

DemocraThree: 14 March 2014

by J.R.

Every Friday bloggers from around The Heptarchy will update us on the news and notes from their teams (with that fancy header image courtesy of Mike D; like democracy itself, it’s a perpetual work-in-progress). Yes, we ripped this off from TRH’s Pacific War Room; no, we don’t care. And since we ripped it off, we’ll follow their lead and go in standings order.

DemocraThree: 7 March 2014

by J.R.

Every Friday (except this week obviously) [Ed note: I’m an idiot] bloggers from around The Heptarchy will update us on the news and notes from their teams (with that fancy header image courtesy of Mike D; like democracy itself, it’s a perpetual work-in-progress). Yes, we ripped this off from TRH’s Pacific War Room; no, we don’t care. And since we ripped it off, we’ll follow their lead and go in standings order.

MedaIIIsts

by J.R.

Congratulations to Conference III’s Canadian, Swedish and Finnish players for their Olympic medals.

And congratulations to the rest of us for returning to our normal state of hating David Backes.

DemocraThree: 10 February 2014

by J.R.

Every Friday (except this week obviously), bloggers from around The Heptarchy will update us on the news and notes from their teams (with that fancy header image courtesy of Mike D, updated anew this week, and like democracy itself, it’s a perpetual work-in-progress). Yes, we ripped this off from TRH’s Pacific War Room; no, we don’t care. And since we ripped it off, we’ll follow their lead and go in standings order.

Great Game Previews In History: 23 January 2014

by J.R.

Today In History

On this day in 1790, the HMS Bounty mutineers burn the ship in what is now called Bounty Bay at Pitcairn Island, an effort to prevent both detection of the ship and escape by the mutineers.

It sealed the fate of the mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, who had rebelled against their captain, William Bligh, in part because they’d gotten a taste of the South Pacific and, by gosh, who can blame them if they didn’t want to go back to England after that? It was also necessary for this to be an arduous and difficult journey so it would be appropriate for a movie starring Marlon Brando some years later.

Great Game Previews in History: 14 January 2014

by J.R.

Today In History

In 1933, the controversial Bodyline Ashes between Australia and England — the Conference III-est cricket series of all time — culminated when Australia captain Bill Woodfull was struck on the heart by a lifting, short delivery and fell to the ground in his crease.

It doesn’t take a lot of cricket understanding to grasp the idea behind Bodyline, so here goes: Australia had some of the world’s most dangerous batsmen at the time, including Donald Bradman, perhaps the greatest batsman ever. In an effort to curtail the strong play from Down Under, England decided to have its fast bowlers bowl short (so the ball would bounce up into the batsmen’s bodies and head) and down the leg side (that is: towards their bodies). To make a baseball analogy, England had its fastest guys do nothing but brush back the batsmen. In addition, England set its field so that there were a number of fielders behind the batsmen on the leg side, effectively eliminating the only way to combat such a strategy, which is to try and tuck the ball behind (now, the Laws of Cricket only allow teams to put two fielders behind the batsmen on the leg side).

It was a brutal, brutal series (that England won, by the way) that changed cricket and the relations between England and her colony forever.

The [Redacted] Week in Review with Obscene Alex: Team USA Edition

by obscenealex

As he does every Monday, Obscene Alex joins us with his thoughts of the week. My redactions are in brackets: