pantaloons

C'mon guys, credit where it's due. Congratulations to Collingwood on nearly equalling the four straight Queen's Birthday wins Melbourne achieved from 2004-07 when the Demons cruised to wins by 9, 45, 47 and 13 points. I'll see if I can find some articles from the time suggesting Collingwood be removed from the annual June fixture.

Hmm, worst coach of all time or second-worst coach of all time? Can't we have both?

Interesting. I'd be very surprised if one of the East teams wins the cup. The Penguins goaltending situation is horrendous: Fleury is a joke and as soon as Vokoun or whoever else they have gets lit up in one game they'll have a goaltending controversy on their hands in the ECF or Finals. I'll pick Kings over Chicago in 6, Bruins over Penguins in 6, and Kings over Bruins in 5.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Quick just played ridiculously all series and if he keeps it up (which he should - he's the best goaltender around) I don't see them getting beaten. We lost the series in the final two minutes of Game 2, but it's not a series to sit and cry over. We played as well as we could against another great side and came up just short in a series as close as you could get. Next year.

Win of lose on Wednesday, I have to be proud of this team. It'll be a bitter pill to swallow if we lose though as should we and Detroit advance, the Sharks' chances of winning the cup are very good.

This thread perfectly summarises the differences in communication style between myself and my wife. Me: it's time to go, Mark Neeld. Mrs pantaloons: 3000 responses in discussion of what I felt was a pretty clear fact that didn't need much elaboration.

Flop yes. 2-2 headed back to LA. Should really be leading the series but its a best of three now and I fancy our chances of winning one in LA. Just need to take care of business at home in Game 6 as well. Dominant performance from Thornton today. Expect the Kings to throw everything but the kitchen sink in Game 5.

Macca, if we don't have ample space in the cap to get some midfielders, we can add whoever does the books to the list of people to sack.

The horror.

If we play three rucks we'll be going in rather tall. The gameplan will be to score the first point and then erect a human pyramid blocking the space between Richmond's behind posts for the duration of the game. Obviously the unrealistic part of this plan will be scoring the first point.

She will leave for the money in two years.

It will no doubt be referenced more than once in the lead-up to Sunday's Richmond-Melbourne clash at the MCG that not so long ago these two teams, after years of rebuilding, were supposedly heading in the right direction. Sadly, while Richmond continues its climb with speed and excitement of watching real-time photosynthesis, Melbourne continues to stoop to new lows, plummeting to one of the worst performances in club history against the Gold Coast on Sunday. Yet, this in itself is not the main story this week. No, the real tale lies in Melbourne supporters losing an old friend this weekend. For the last 30 years, and throughout much of the game's history, there has been a familiar refrain to comfort Melbourne supporters in times of trouble - "At least we're not Richmond". Richmond, like the ugly best friend, has dutifully played the role of Paul Pfeiffer to many a club's Kevin Arnold over the past three decades of laughable ineptitude. Of course, when a club spends its time playing home games in the carpark of your own team's ground until 1965, it firmly sets the tone for a relationship of pity and mockery. However, with the Tigers at 4-3 and enjoying a period of relative glory, the days of condescendingly patting Richmond supporters on the head at your office/other place of work when the topic of football comes up will officially be put to rest. You see, Melbourne currently owns the second-longest finals drought in the AFL, in front of only, you guessed it, Richmond. For every time Melbourne embarrassed itself at the draft or trade table, Richmond would up the ante by calling out the names of Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls or Anthony Banik early on draft night, or by swinging pick 19 (Callan Ward) to the Bulldogs for Jordan McMahon. Yes, Richmond have always been our friends, always happy to take some of the spotlight off our inadequacies with their own blend of farce. When Melbourne required a step ladder to mount, Richmond always came to the party. There was 1993, when in an otherwise poor year for Melbourne, the Demons slapped Richmond by a combined 214 points in their two meetings. The following year, the Demons were only too happy to kick 27.5 in the final round in Sydney to secure a finals spot at the expense of Richmond. Four years later, with the Tigers needing a Round 22 win to make the finals, Melbourne horse-whipped them en route to a top-4 finish. Even in recent years, Melbourne has trolled the Tigers by 'losing' the services of the likes of Miller, Maric and Petterd to the yellow and black. Alas, the days of Melbourne lampooning about and expecting our derelict, body-odour suffering carpark-dwellers to out-stink us are coming to a close. Due in part to serious errors from the Tigers at the drafting table which has led to them miraculously not botching every pick conceivable, Richmond has assembled a modest yet mildly promising list, and has a coach the players seem to listen to. Instead of turning around with the comfort of feeling the presence of another more useless than itself, Melbourne now stands alone as the guardians of ineptitude. Richmond, for all the boganic mystique about the place, is attempting to join the cool kids group, while Melbourne sits alone, picking its nose in the corner of the yard. When the two sides take the field on Sunday, there will be no shiver of excitement as the crepe paper of the banner is destroyed. No hope of a dramatic upset. Many of the players have made perfectly clear they have no interest in doing anything but barf on the Melbourne guernsey, made patently obvious on Sunday when, despite having half the amount of ball as the Suns for much of the contest, also astonishingly had half the amount of tackles. Matchups in this one are largely irrelevant, as all Richmond will do is leave one or two players to sit on Nathan Jones every time he goes remotely near the ball, leaving nobody else to stop the likes of Martin and co from pumping the ball inside 50 all day in a blitz equal parts frenetic and depressing. Meanwhile, Melbourne players will appear confused and disinterested while leaving time for the odd chain of possession ending in the most horrific forward 50 entry ever witnessed. We lose a friend on Sunday. A friend we thought would always stand beside us and make us appear to look acceptable in comparison. A friend who grew tired of swilling about in the mud and filth for decades on end and decided to move on to better things. No, we aren't Richmond. But today, there are worse things than Richmond.

Someone keep GTG away from the sharps drawer. That was an unbelievably painful way to go. My condolences.

Look, there's always a bit of NorCal-SoCal angst in pro sports over there. I went to a Sharks game at Staples in the 08/09 season and let's just say I probably should have left the Sharks jersey at home!! No, it wasn't too bad, and there were heaps of San Jose fans there. Seriously, I'd say upwards of 1000, and I'd expect good support there this series. I had the good fortune of sitting next to and in front of a large group of Sharks fans on the night so I was able to get into it without fear of reprisal. We've only met once before in the playoffs, two years ago when we beat them 4-2, including Game 3 in which we beat them 6-5 in OT after trailing 4-0 - one of our greatest ever games. Rivalries will intensify with frequent playoff meetings, and this coupled with the geography of the teams should add to what should be a great series. Both teams are very good too, and neither will fear the other. It's shaping as the early pick of the second round series.

I'll tell you what, I am loving the sudden trend towards graphs and charts here. If I had any nous with a computer I'd put up a five-columned bar graph with a raised middle bar indicating my current sentiments towards the club.

Love a good graph. But what on earth were you doing in 1977 to come up with a 100% hope fest?

Good luck GTG and Dave! Hockey game 7s are the definition of intense. I was happy to see Detroit get up today so that we can avoid Chicago in the second round. Bring on LA!

You have got to be joking. The hawks had this many turn up to game at the G against Port a few years ago. Anyone who turns up or buys a membership in support of this disgusting basketcase deserves a medal.

I turned to my dad at half time tonight and said "At least you've got the Niners".

Did any of you see the game-tying goal for Pittsburgh today that brought the game to OT? It came off an horrific deflection from an NYI defenseman. I have no idea what he was trying to do. Anyway Islanders, welcome to our world: Nabokov stinking it up in the playoffs after playing like a hero in the regular season. Another big day of NHL action tomorrow. I'm sure we could all use the distraction from matters football.

It could not get any uglier than today if Bane detonated the G on Queen's Birthday. This was the low point in the club's history today. The bar continues to be lowered. We are all witnesses.

Off to the wood chipper.

That's correct. They reseed after each round. I'm hoping that Detroit wins that series so we play the winner of STL/LA instead of Chicago next. Either way, we will start underdogs and will almost certainly have to beat Chicago AND one of STL/LA to make the Finals, but I'd like Chicago to be in a more battered state when we play them. Whoever limps out of the LA series is going to be ripe for a home loss or two at the beginning of their next series. That Pittsburgh series is another good one. Some of the goals Fleury lets through are just comical.

Macca, I'm sorry! I forgot you were Vancouver! I hope I haven't been too insolent during the series! Usually when a sweep happens in the NBA playoffs, it's a decent reflection of the series, but often in the NHL you can get these results and they don't accurately reflect what has gone on. I thought we played very well, especially at key moments, but 4-0 is a harsh scoreline for the Nucks. They really have to get the penalties out of their system next season. Their 5 on 5 play was fine, but you can't win if you're spending that much time in the penalty box, especially if the other team has effective special teams. Anyway, better luck next season, mate. I sympathise given we've also had our fair share of playoff horror.

Would it have been too much to ask on the weekend to wear red socks against a team with only blue socks? Totally moronic. The redlegs are just as important as the traditional guernsey.