Blazefire

August 26th, 2010 at 10:58 PM ^

as I do all statsitical projections for football. A fun excersize, but ultimately not much more useful than one's gut, simply because A: Football is so much harder to gauge statistically than baseball, and B: The statistical analysis of football is years behind baseball ad still hasn't been tackled in earnest by many people.

I would be interested to see numbers on statistical projections of games vs well versed sports casters. I will bet neither is particularly better than the other.

joelrodz

August 26th, 2010 at 5:21 PM ^

is that they are predicting an average of 23 points a game compared to the 30 points from last season, even though offensively we have done nothing but improve at most positions. How we can drop 7 points on average with a more seasoned offense i am not sure. Granted, the 63 we hung on Delaware skews that average, but still.

tsabesi

August 26th, 2010 at 9:06 PM ^

Not to nitpick, but we played Delaware State. Delaware is more like App State in football prowess in lower divisions. Plus they stole our helmets, and there were not two sets of winged helmets on the field last year.

931 S State

August 26th, 2010 at 5:36 PM ^

'97 FTW.  All of the first 3 were special.  But '97 was the best one for me.  The parade was the last day of my junior year of high school, final exams were already over.  I was on probabtion for my English class that I had missed a bunch of times and had to be there on the final day to get credit.  Skipped it anyways to go down the the parade w/ a buddy and two chicks.  Got a NC for the class.  Totally worth it.

'02 was pretty awesome too though.  Stayed in A2 through that summer and watched most of the games at Skeeps.  That was an awesome team and an awesome run.  The goal by Lindstrom down 0-2 to Vancouver was what started it all.   

clarkiefromcanada

August 26th, 2010 at 8:55 PM ^

Full disclosure, I am NOT a Habs fan...nor a Wings fan, actually. This said, the 77/78 Habs team is borderline greatest of all time...

Jacques Lemaire, Ken Dryden, Steve Shutt, Larry Robinson, Yvon Cournoyer, Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, Bob Gainey and Ken Dryden, Scotty Bowman (coach)...all in Hall of Fame

The O2 Wings with Hasek, Lidstrom, Yzerman, Chelios (not in his prime but still solid), Robitaille, Hull and  Larionov (all certain Hall of Famers) and Scotty Bowman...that is a formidable team.

It's pretty difficult to compare eras but, realistically the 77/78 Habs team is in the conversation regarding greatest NHL team of all time. The 02 Wings, while particularly talented, are not in that conversation.

Max

August 26th, 2010 at 11:54 PM ^

You're nuts!

I'd contest that the 01-02 Red Wings are not only in the conversation, but are the most talented team of all time.

Sure-thing/already inducted HOFers: Hasek, Lidstrom, Yzerman, Chelios, Robitaille, Hull, Larionov, Shanahan, Bowman

Likely HOFers: Fedorov, Datsyuk

Possible HOFers: Draper (several rings, one of the best defensive forwards/face-off men of all time), Holmstrom (several rings and master of his craft)

Only the 56-57 Canadiens even touch that (10 HOFers including the coach).

clarkiefromcanada

August 27th, 2010 at 10:23 AM ^

Wow, this is too like that whole Olympics thing when apparent hockey myopia takes over; particularly when you awaken the Wings fan. Anyway, I'll stand by my position that Habs team (pretty much every Habs team of the late 70's) is *in* the conversation regarding the greatest team of all time...but for you to contend that the 01/02 Wings are the most talented team of all time (jesus, burn Canada) is absolutely incomprehensible.

To put it in context, the 77/78 Habs were in the midst of a run of 4 straight cups, 5 in 7 years and 10 in 15 years and, incredibly, 15 in 24 years

I don't like that Habs but that team dominated like nothing seen before or since. FWIW I would suggest strongly, however, that the 85/86 Oilers were the greatest team ever seen.

Now as for Draper and Holmstrom in the Hall of Fame? Come on now...it's for all time greats, remember? Fedorov is on the borderline and Datsyuk has a lot more work ahead. That Draper to HOF though, that was amusing.

MH20

August 26th, 2010 at 6:08 PM ^

He usually makes posts that are fairly well-informed, but also has a tendency to fall into the NDNation-type drive-by's that you are seeing an instance of above.

I'm with you on not understanding why you'd want to spend so much time on a rival's blog.  Then again, NDNation...