Not sure if the Pensblog boys have caught this one yet.  I’m sure it’s an image that will bring them nothing but sunshine and puppy-like joy.

Oh the anticipation.  A2Y interns straight from Marquette have been scouring the state, soliciting your views on our next entry in the Official A2Y Rivalry Depth Chart.  Tonite: the Blues.  First, a reminder of how we developed The Formula.

Six categories, each with a 1-5 numeric point value.

Quality of team (QT).  Depth of hatred the fans of that team have for us and the Wings (HF, for “hate factor).  Past playoff adventures (PPA).  Quality of bloggers who may choose to say bad things about us (BQ).  Opportunity that team has to make us sad during the regular season (RSSF, for “regular season sadness factor").  Miscellanilarity.  Figure it out.

Colorado. St. Louis. Chicago. Pittsburgh.  Nashville.  Columbus.  Toronto.  Dallas. Anaheim. Carolina. 

Good morning. Hello.  Spent the last eight days in the mountains of North Carolina and I appear before you a dumber man today than I was the last time we spoke.

Now...hold on.  Has my brain slowed due to more than a week of exposure to the good folk of NC?  It’s logical that you may think so.

But that’s not it.

Pressure’s on now Tyler. 

Got an email from a triple named dude named Devereaux tonite, pointing me to his blog, The Triple Deke.

I can’t confirm this, but I’d say PTI on ESPN is a pretty good source.  And I have no imagery, except those you’ll see below (oddly enough they have little to do with the subject).

Apparently, terrified for the lives of their lungs and their critical supplies of stamina, the USA men’s cycling team walked through the terminal at the Beijing airport today wearing those cool surgical masks.

Because of the air quality...outside the airport.

Dude.  I just read something that reminded me of a great piece of advice I received at a young age.

I was 22, a young Sailor doing what young Sailors do in the Philippines.  I happened to wander into a nifty dive called the Irish Rose out in The Barrio, where a few old Chiefs were sitting around doing what old Chiefs did.

As you’re considering where the NHL’s runner ups will fall on the Official A2Y Rivalry Depth Chart, you may want to keep this little ditty in mind:

Brendan Shanahan has allegedly contacted Ray Shero and asked about the possibility of joining the Pens.

Opinions in Pittsburgh?  Perky.

Editor’s note:  I can’t figure out where to put the updates. For two years, I’ve been placing them all over. Italics. Bolds. Military time. Civilian time.  Cursive. French. I can’t stay consistent.  Until now.  There are two updates at the bottom of this post. Neither are very important. But they’re written well. Read them if you must.
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Note for note.  That’s how I play Aerosmith’s “Same Old Song And Dance”.  It’s remarkable.  I just started playing the guitar three weeks ago and I can already do everything Joe Perry does.  Solos, complicated riffs, fingers flying.  Rocking.  A guitar savant is what I am.

Sometimes it’s hard when I have to hit the red and blue notes at the same time, but all I do is press the “+” symbol on the Wii remote and start over.

I’ve gotten so good that while I’m rocking out I let my mind wander to the teams who hate us the most and where they will fall out in our newly designed A2Y Rivalry Depth Chart.  Rocking out.  Thinking.  It’s what I do.

Good god. First they steal our New Year’s Day Game.  Then they take our legend.

And we haven’t even mentioned the fact that they still have our Enigma, the greatest scapegoat in the history of hockey blogging.

Now?

Updated below: looks like Google screwed the pooch on this one. 

I’ve made no secret about my respect for the guys who run The Pens Blog.  I think it’s the most creative, funniest, boldest hockey blog on the Gore.  In my opinion, what they’ve done over there has shattered boundaries and made a lot of shrivs sit up and take notice.

Today?  Censored.

Will Scotty Bowman help the Hawks?  Absolutely.  How could he not?  Will Chicago pose more of a threat due to his knowledge of the Wings?  Maybe.

Does it matter, in the grand scheme of things?

Not when you consider that it would appear he took the job for a pretty damn good reason. 

Good luck Scotty. Thanks for ending 42 years of frustration.  And thanks for doing it again.  And again.  Oh, and again.

You wanted a rivalry?