Hongbit

Lost in last night’s predictable Leafs effort was the superb Panthers forecheck. It was a clinic on what an aggressive forecheck looks like. Too many in-zone turnovers to count for Leafs trying to get the puck out. Even when they could get it out, it was a battle that took at least one extra pass. Great work by Paul Maurice and staff. They will be tough to beat going for the repeat.

Carlos Sainz is a great driver so maybe he could’ve done the same but that was a great ride from Lewis today. That definitely wasn’t a 4th place car.

I don’t quite understand it but this is a team that underachieved. Darcy Kuemper quietly played like a top 5 goaltender in the league and Quintin Byfield was electric the last part of the season as a 2nd line Center. They can roll out 4 quality lines and a solid defensive group. They had the roster to make it to Conference final. They need a new voice and a better system than the one Jim Hiller brought in this year. He has a history with Kenny so hopefully his first move isn’t to retain him as head coach.

Part of the issue is there is a 100% chance that these numbers reported today will be revised twice. Next month and again at the end of the year. Every month I scratch my head at why these reports still move markets. Any real accuracy on a month by month number can only get done at the end of the year after the true numbers are finally put out.

You have stumbled upon one of the very big issues with CPI. The BLS use a very antiquated survey system and non-transparent model of how they compline and they later revise that data.

Strong Kenny Holland rumors coming out of LA for their open GM job.

The dreams stay with you.

One of the biggest goals of Draisaitl’s career.

There is a field in YouTubeTV settings for Broadcast Delay. Make sure that it is turned to decreased. Thank me later.

DraftKings posted $1.4B in revenue in just Q1. A 20% increase from last year. It’s ridiculous how much money they are making and scary to think they are only legal in 26 states. I’m afraid their control over sports and media is only going to grow stronger.

It’s amazing he got the job without ever working for Fox News before.

Malort is Chicago’s Vernors. A old local drink that tastes terrible. Theirs is alcoholic because they’re a bunch of drunks.

The memes are great. After I got past that, I started wondering how a powerful leader from the American Catholic Church could be named Pope. There is so much abuse that took place here for decades that was either ignored, covered up, or plainly accepted by Church elders. I find it highly unlikely the Chicago area was a shining light of proper clergy behavior for the decades that he was in charge. I would’ve thought the failure of the leaders to punish and stop the abuse for so long would preclude any American from becoming Pope for many more years.

That’s a gritty interim hire.

Mazzulla is too focused on the Conclave.

Spoke too soon

Got to give props to the home plate ump. He’s calling the best game that I’ve watched this season.

I expect that Jerry will bend the knee. Everyone else does these days.

The Cowboys need 3rd round picks much more than the Lions. Brad can and should value keeping these less. I don’t know the Cowboys roster exactly but I’d guess they have 10 or 15, and maybe as many as 20, roster spots that will be batted over to either make the 53 or get playing time. The Lions have about 5.

Here is the start of his critique on the Lions: Detroit Lions “It’s fair to question whether I should doubt the Lions’ draft strategy after the run they’ve been on the past few years, but out of their seven picks, four were considered reaches by our consensus board, including all three in the top 70.” He fails to mention that his system said the same thing about Gibbs. It said the same about Jamo and Jack Campbell. The authors stupid system is weighted on positional value. Brad’s system completely ignores it and takes the best player for his team at that moment. The results are overwhelmingly on Brad’s side. His picks dominate Austin Mock’s nearly worthless clickbait model. He just came up with it to try and be different from the now 100 other draft experts that have conned us into believing they are smarter than everyone else.

Don’t forget the purpose of this article isn’t to show how knowledgeable they are about the draft. It’s to draw more clicks. Views are just like TD’s, sacks, or INT’s, to a staff writer on a big site like The Athletic. Leadership isn’t using success rate at predicting draft picks when they decide who to gets a raise and who gets fired. It’s all based on data and math.