That rather brilliant post header comes from Melt Your Face-Off. While much of the allure of sports comes from the drama of unknown outcomes, and upsets, and underdogs making good, I'm one of these people who feels a certain flavour of satisfaction when the best team wins. That feeling is all the more pronounced with the Wings clinching the Cup; principally, I think, because it puts to rest so many of the unfair raps on the team, its coach, and its players, as well as a few myths and some voodoo about what it takes to win (and what never can). You have to think now that, for any team wishing to knock the Wings off their perch, they'll be focused not on how to be tougher, or "more committed", but on how to be better, period.

I was just browsing through the archives a bit, and found this, which I think in retrospect is pretty good:

From my own perspective: Spezza, Ovechkin, Crosby, and a few others can make defenders look awful on any given shift, but there is no one who is the equal of Zetterberg (and his line) at making the opposition look completely inept for an entire game. They control the puck beautifully, one guy is always finding some open space, and when they don't have the puck, they seem to get in the way of everything. Call them the Line Most Likely to Make You Depressed About Your Team's Ability to Clear Their Own Zone.

Remember when? This was written by Colby Cosh after the '04 Cup was awarded, and I reposted it in '06:

A note about the post-victory celebration: the Stanley Cup ceremony has been allowed to go to hell and someone should put a stop to it. This business of letting the winning coach hoist the Cup, and then letting the plucky assistant coach do it, and then letting the director of player development do it, and then Christ knows who else, is really pushing established religious practice to its limits. Letting Scotty Bowman skate with the Cup wasn't a precedent: it was an exception, made for the greatest coach who ever lived. I suggest that Soapy Tortorella be allowed to lift the Cup over his head when he's won the thing eight more times, like Bowman. At the very least, let's have a little decorum and not give a victory lap with the Cup to the stick boy. It's a simple matter of issuing sidearms to the custodians of the trophy. They should also have a broad mandate to shoot the players' children, who now throng the ice when the Cup is won and wander around crying and confused, giving the whole thing the air of a GE company picnic. I can just about tolerate the players photographing one another like a bunch of Japanese tourists, but generally the intimate-family-gathering atmosphere is getting out of hand.

Thinking back, I might have missed the presentation last season, so I'm not sure when it was reformed, but props to the NHL. Access onto the ice was severely limited until the Red Wings had each taken a turn with the Cup, and had the team photo taken; I didn't see any kids or handi-cams until later. It generally seemed a lot more dignified. Greg Millen pointed this out as well, which reminds me...

I liked Bob Cole and Greg Millen, for the most part. Millen seems to be the rare analyst who gets better with experience; this goes against form, as most get unarguably worse.

I didn't watch every minute of the series, and some of what I did watch was NBC's broadcast, but Millen has definitely cut way down on the, whatever you want to call them, "folksy cliches that directly contradict what is actually happening on the ice". Best, he seemed to have a knack for seeing things right the first time; this is surprisingly helpful to me the viewer, contrasted to having the booth figure out what happened by watching the replay at the same time as I am.

Still with the CBC, "The Song"... I'm grateful for Staples' reportage on the matter (and Tyler's supplementary info). Count me in the "I'll live if they ditch the old theme" crowd. For starters, I find the CBC's reticence to conduct ongoing business with someone who has a major lawsuit pending against them quite reasonable.

More to the point though, I'm personally most partial to the song that kicks off the pre-game at 430MT ("There's a buzz on the street"). That whole thing with the song, the custom highlight package, and the minor hockey team setting up the game broadcasts is one of my favourite parts of the whole evening. On Saturdays when I know I'll be watching that night (usually because the Flames are in the late game), I actually find myself humming or singing it sometimes. It's catchy enough that I even (eventually) got over the fact that they re-arranged it this season: cut out a verse, and had it re-recorded by The Headpins or Lita Ford or who knows.

Jarome: fortunately, it is an honour just to be nominated.

Have a good weekend y'all.