power leveling

The title is because I went to type in 'Power Rankings,' but after the word 'power' this autofill option came up.

Anyway, I frequent Yahoo!Sports. I like it; it's like home. But this McKeon guy... no. Just no.

December 11, 2007 Power Rankings:

9. Pittsburg Penguin: (15-12-2, Previous: 20) – Pens get higher marks for finding a way to win on the road three times when they could have lost all three. For all that skill, they displayed the right mental makeup to grind out victories on the road, something you have to do in the playoffs to go far.

So... you give the Penguins 'higher marks' because they played badly but managed to win anyway? The Penguins move up in the Rankings because... they played badly. And 'ground out wins,' something that kind of makes me equate wins with beef.

10. Montreal Canadiens: (14-11-4, Previous: 7) – One regulation win out of the last five games inspires a lengthy video session Sunday when the players were otherwise expecting a day off. Coach Guy Carbonneau had other ideas, however.

I enjoyed the grammatical wrongness, and how it doesn't make any sense.

11. Anaheim Ducks: (15-13-4, Previous: 19) – GM Brian Burke: "We respect the battle Scotty (Niedermayer) has fought over this decision. He's going to walk into the Hall of Fame someday, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and his shoulders aren't going to touch either side of the doorway." Like we didn't know this was coming all along.

Oh, now I totally understand why the Ducks jumped 8 (!) spots to number 11. Thanks, Ross McKeon! Also: What's with the sarcsm? Was the GM not supposed to acknowledge Niedermayer's return in any way? Wth?

17. Chicago Blackhawks: (14-13-2, Previous: 6) – Key for young team is not to get discouraged despite playing well during four-game losing streak: Outshot opponents 31-25 on average, and penalty kill was 16-for-18.

This is just fun to read as if Yoda or some wise old Asian man was saying it.

18. New York Islanders: (14-12-2, Previous: 17) – Powerless play is 8-for-84 over last 19 games and hasn't enjoyed a game with multi-PPG since Oct. 27.

The humanity! Who could have predicted they'd fall so far so fast? Who, I implore you, who?

21. Toronto Maple Leafs: (13-12-6, Previous: 24) – Winners in five out of six – all by multi-goal amounts – and Vesa Toskala is finally getting help in front of him. It's not the goaltending. Team defense is the key for Leafs.

And, as we all know, team defense and goaltending are mutually exclusive.

28. Washington Capitals: (11-17-2, Previous: 30) – Winners in three of four, but most impressive is the fact they accomplished that feat and scored just one power-play goal in the process. That goes against the grain of today's special teams' NHL.

I wonder if he even has an editor, honestly. No one who knows anything about grammar would allow that last apostrophe.



That was fun.