It's Baltimore. No one lives forever.

Anyone else catch the first couple episodes of Season 5 of The Wire? Shiiiiit. My mind has been blown. Repeatedly. Jimmy? Cmon, Jimmy. Avon? WHAT? No way. I don't believe it. The newspaper angle has been fantastic, though it's not getting the same amount of focus as the port did in Season 2. I guess that's what happens when HBO only gives you ten episodes to work with. Bastards. Has any network abandoned good television as quickly as HBO has in the past couple seasons? Sex and the City and the Sopranos died of natural causes, but the network intentionally harpooned Deadwood, Rome and The Wire. Shameful. Here's a couple of interesting articles on the The Wire, for any who are interested. One's an interview with show creator David Simon by writer Nick Hornby. The other is from the New York Times, and examines what real criminals think of the show.

The Oilers next six games are against Los Angeles, Washington, Carolina, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida. That's six winnable hockey games. The team is relatively healthy, the goalie is hot, and the defence hasn't been too shabby. Throw in the fact that Colorado is without Sakic and Smyth for an extended period of time, and that the Leafs will soon hire Cliff Fletcher to pull off a trade sending Sundin to the Flames for Tanguay and parts, and the Oilers time to move up the WC ladder is now. Will that escalation occur? Never know with this team. But they won't be able to make excuses if they choke on these twelve points, that's for sure.

Cosh has very interesting post up examining the possible impact the shootout is having on regulation-time tactics. His argument is that giving a team a penalty shot rather than a clean breakaway can be the smarter, more mathematically sound, play. I think he gives too much credence to Sheldon Souray's calculating abilities, myself, and he leaves out the fact that teams can also be given a powerplay in addition to the penalty shot (or that the offending player can be tossed from the game, both of which happened in the Phoenix game he references), but it is an interesting argument. If it isn't something the Oilers and other teams are considering, it probably should be.

Of course tonight's game is on PPV. Had to be. No way I'd get to watch my team go for five straight without coughing up an additional chunk of change. Grrr.

Prediction: 3-1, Oil. Pitkanen, Penner, and Hemsky with the most exciting play in hockey, Principe does a story that involves roommates and Warren Beatty lighting during one of the intermissions.


GOILERS!!!

***Update*** Just saw this Ross McKeon piece on Yahoo!. It's a good idea, going through all the teams and identifying who needs to be signed in the off-season. But then I look at what McKeon says about the Oilers, and I just shake my head.

"Ah, where all the trouble started. Funny thing is: Mr. Lowe doesn't have a lot of pressing contractual problems since those who are up are pretty replaceable. The best argument is for RFA Jarret Stoll, the 25-year-old who isn't having a great season but figures to be part of the future. Otherwise, there's the thought of extending Shawn Horcoff, 29, but he's not tearing it up either."

Here's hoping that every GM in the league other than Kevin Lowe is a big McKeon fan. As for Lowe, his 1A and 1B signing priorities should Tom Gilbert and Joni Pitkanen. That Horcoff guy has been playing just fine, btw. Don't feel bad about extending his deal a couple years.