NHL Realignment Proposal (continued)

Here is one more realignment suggestion for the NHL. This one is just a minor change from the second suggestion in my last post. I just switched the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens. Another change is water-based divisional names. Honestly though, the North Pacific Division could remain the Northwest with four of the five team currently in the division. The South Pacific could be the Southwest or just the Pacific also with four of five teams remaining. The South Atlantic could be the Southeast with three teams being held over. The Great Lakes Division could remain the Central with the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings being holdovers. The North Atlantic could be the Northeast, with the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens remaining. The Mid-Atlantic could be the new Atlantic Division with holdovers Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers from the current version. I also considered North Central for the Central/Great Lakes and South Central for the Mid-Atlantic. However, the name South Central has some negative connotations.

Northern Conference
North Pacific Division	Great Lakes Division	North Atlantic Division
Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers Minnesota Wild Vancouver Canucks Winnipeg Jets	Buffalo Sabres Chicago Blackhawks Detroit Red Wings Ottawa Senators Toronto Maple Leafs	Boston Bruins Montreal Canadiens New Jersey Devils New York Islanders New York Rangers
Southern Conference
South Pacific Division	Mid-Atlantic Division	South Atlantic Division
Anaheim Ducks Colorado Avalanche Los Angeles Kings Phoenix Coyotes San Jose Sharks	Columbus Blue Jackets Pittsburgh Penguins Philadelphia Flyers St. Louis Blues Washington Capitals	Carolina Hurricanes Dallas Stars Florida Panthers Nashville Predators Tampa Bay Lightning

NHL Realignment Proposal

I have previously discussed realignment for the NFL and MLB. I had hoped to cover realignment for college sports, particularly the BCS conferences, prior to the start of the 2011 college football season. Unfortunately, I have yet to get around to that topic. In the meantime, here is a plan for realigning the National Hockey League.

With the NHL franchise previously located in Atlanta moving north to Canada to become the reborn Winnipeg Jets, the NHL will be realigning its teams for the 2012-13 season. The simplest realignment plan would be for Winnipeg to move to the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team would mostly likely displace the Minnesota Wild who would then shift over to the Central Division.

One of the more eastern teams in the Western Conference would be reassigned to the Eastern Conference to replace the Winnipeg team. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators are all hoping to be the team that takes Winnipeg's spot in the east. For these teams, the move represents reduced travel costs and fewer late starting times for road games. Picking which team will get to move will take some politicking. As a Carolina fan, I hope Nashville will get the nod and join the Hurricanes along with Florida, Tampa Bay, and Washington in the Southeast Division.

Instead of the obvious and simple plan, I think the NHL should consider a more radical realignment plan. With the new franchise in Winnipeg, the number of NHL teams located in Canada rises to seven which is 23% of the 30 franchises. However, a Canadian team has not lifted the Stanley Cup since the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. The drought has now stretched to 18 years. Considering Canadian teams made up 20% of the league over most of that span, it would be expected that a team from Canada would win the championship once every five years.

To promote more games between the Canadian franchises, I propose that the current Eastern and Western Conferences be eliminated in favor of Northern and Southern Conferences. Obviously, all seven of the Canadian teams would be in the Northern Conference. The Northern Conference would contain mostly older, more established franchises including all of the "Original Six" teams. Some exceptions would be the Ottawa Senators and Minnesota Wild who are recent expansion teams and the relocated Winnipeg team which began as the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. The Southern Conference would have more recent expansion and relocated franchises but would also have five of the second six franchises (the sixth being the defunct California Seals/Cleveland Barons).

Below a straight geographically-correct realignment. Each conference is split into West, Central and East Divisions similar to the NFL divisions prior to its 2002 realignment.

Northern Conference
West Division	Central Division	East Division
Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers Minnesota Wild Vancouver Canucks Winnipeg Jets	Buffalo Sabres Chicago Blackhawks Detroit Red Wings Ottawa Senators Toronto Maple Leafs	Boston Bruins Montreal Canadiens New Jersey Devils New York Islanders New York Rangers
Southern Conference
West Division	Central Division	East Division
Anaheim Ducks Colorado Avalanche Los Angeles Kings Phoenix Coyotes San Jose Sharks	Columbus Blue Jackets Dallas Stars Nashville Predators St. Louis Blues Tampa Bay Lightning	Carolina Hurricanes Florida Panthers Philadelphia Flyers Pittsburgh Penguins Washington Capitals

I think switching some teams would definitely improve the above proposal. For instance, swapping the Buffalo Sabres and Montreal Canadiens would put all three of the northeast Canadian teams in the same division. The seven Canadian teams would thus be concentrated into two divisions which would result in more match-ups between the Canadian teams.

I would also group Carolina, Dallas, Florida, Nashville and Tampa Bay in a true southern division. I renamed this division the South Atlantic. The other division affected by this change ends up with a mixed bag of teams that stretches from Philadelphia to St. Louis. I renamed this division the Mid-Atlantic. I do not think the names of the different divisions matter too much. I reverted back to the current division names for the Northwest and the Pacific and changed the name of the northeast division to the North Atlantic. The final result is below.

Northern Conference
Northwest Division	Central Division	North Atlantic Division
Calgary Flames Edmonton Oilers Minnesota Wild Vancouver Canucks Winnipeg Jets	Chicago Blackhawks Detroit Red Wings Montreal Canadiens Ottawa Senators Toronto Maple Leafs	Boston Bruins Buffalo Sabres New Jersey Devils New York Islanders New York Rangers
Southern Conference
Pacific Division	Mid-Atlantic Division	South Atlantic Division
Anaheim Ducks Colorado Avalanche Los Angeles Kings Phoenix Coyotes San Jose Sharks	Columbus Blue Jackets Pittsburgh Penguins Philadelphia Flyers St. Louis Blues Washington Capitals	Carolina Hurricanes Dallas Stars Florida Panthers Nashville Predators Tampa Bay Lightning

Interestingly enough, it seems that the NHL is considering what I think is an even more radical proposal which would reduce the number of division from the current six down to four.

My Application

Some of my friends have started trying to pimp this single guy out to their single female friends. One such female friend has some particularly exacting standards for the male of our species, "yes I would like you to find me a single man, mildly intelligent and attractive, all his teeth, has a passport and can keep up with me. Is that too much to ask?"

After some review, it seems that I fail one of her key requirements.

"single man" - There is no ring on my finger, and I have the appropriate equipment in my pants, so that would be a check.

"mildly intelligent" - I would consider "mildly" to be an insult. I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree from well-regarded universities. I am certified in my particular profession, and I am currently employed by a local technology company. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, including books on science and technology. I am currently reading Coming of Age in the Milky Way (ha, he said "coming") by Timothy Ferris. I have previously read Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (known more for his books on travel), and several books by the late Carl Sagan ("billions and billions of stars"). I am also currently reading The Beer Enthusiast's Guide, but I'm not sure that's appropriate here. I would give myself a check plus for this one.

"attractive" - Physical attractiveness is subjective, and opinions vary by person. I did recently star in my own music video. This one would be an incomplete.

"has a passport" - This is a check, but my visa for China expires in mid-September.

"can keep up with me" - This one implies an in-person interview and some sort of competition, so I would mark it as another incomplete.

Unfortunately, I fail her "all his teeth" test. I had braces as a kid, and as usually follows having braces, all four of my wisdom teeth were later removed.

Does anybody have any single female friends with less stringent requirements?

Mystery Beer

I stopped by my local neighborhood bar the other day, and I noticed that there was a new offering among the seasonal taps. The board listed the new brew as "CBC Pale Kolsch." In this case, CBC would be the Carolina Brewing Company. (I have previously discussed the confusion caused by various breweries having "Carolina" in their name.) I did not find a "Pale Kolsch" among the regular rotation of seasonal beers or specialty beers included on the list of brews from CBC's website.

Their main page however does mention a special brew that was recently released. This new concoction is suppose to be a unique hybrid of a pale ale and a Kölsch-style ale. Similar to how Champagne is a sparkling wine that originates from the Champagne region of France, Kölsch is a style of ale that originates from Cologne, Germany. Similar brews from other locations are usually termed "Kölsch-style." (Wikipedia tells me that Kölsch is also a group of German dialects primarily spoken around Cologne.) I will assume that the beer that I enjoyed was this hybrid brew and I will consider this little mystery solved.

After some reflection about this brew, I would say that it was an interesting combination of two styles that occupy opposite ends of the beer spectrum. My enjoyment of the light, clean-tasting Kölsch style is well documented on this site. Equally well documented is my less enjoyment of overly hoppy brews such as pale ales, India pale ales (IPAs) and double IPAs. I found that CBC was successfully able to split the difference between the two types to create a Kölsch-style ale with a nice touch of hops flavor.

Don't Stop Believin'

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia for work. On my way back, I stopped by Portland, Oregon for the weekend to visit my college buddy Alan. I will eventually get around to posting about my visit to those two fine cities. Luckily, the trip to Vancouver was not all work. As proof, here is a short video for your viewing pleasure.

Review: The Road

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My sister, April, recommended this book to me. She gave it four stars. I have to disagree with her however. I read most of this book while I was traveling. I read it while in airports, on flights and in a hotel room. I was also usually sleepy while reading. Perhaps I just missed the coherent plot.

The book is set in a post-apocalyptic world. The narrator and his son are traveling the main road of the title. They are usually cold and are traveling south in search of warmer weather. They are also usually hungry, so along the way, they search for food and supplies while doing their best to avoid disagreeable characters who would like to do them harm such as eating them to satisfy their own hunger.

What caused the state of the world does not seem to be unknown to the characters in the book, but nobody bothers to share that information with the reader. Ash covers everything, and people wear masks or breathing apparatuses to keep from breathing it. However, the source of the ash is left unknown. Did a supervolcano erupt or did a giant asteroid crash into the Earth like the KT event that wiped out the dinosaurs? One of the categories listed in the Library of Congress information in the front of the book is "Voyages and travels - United States". I do not think it was established for certain that the location was the United States. The characters speak English, but I think somebody reading a translation of the book would think the location was some other country. There are a couple of references to Spanish including the son finding a coin with Spanish writing. Perhaps our travelers made it all the way to Mexico or perhaps some Latin American country or countries attacked the US which then retaliated with atomic weapons and thus brought about nuclear winter. That would also help explain why the cities seem to be in ruins.

I will grant that establishing the reason for the dystopian environment is frequently not a top priority in many works of the post-apocalyptic genre. For instance, I do not remember if it was established why society broke down in the Mad Max movie franchise. In more recent movies and televisions series, the situation is caused by an alien invasion or a rampant disease that created zombies or vampires. In the Kevin Coster epic Waterworld, the polar icecaps melt and cover the world with undrinkable seawater. I assume global warming caused the icecaps to melt, but that is a political argument which is not relevant here. Anyway, I think all of those reasons can safely be eliminated as culprits for the world of The Road. The reader is left either wondering or simply not caring.

Another problem that I have with the book is the author's writing style. I have not read any of Cormac McCarthy's other works, but this book has a distinctly spare style. I suppose when the world goes to hell in a handbasket, the first thing that will be lost is punctuation. The lack of quotation marks is particularly annoying and makes the dialogue difficult to follow. Another casualty of the breakdown is names, both for people and locations. The lack of place names leads to the ambiguity in regards to the settings for the book. Neither the man, his son, nor the dead wife and mother are named in the book. The only character to be named in the book is a stranger that the two main character encounter near the end of the book. The man gives his name as Ely, but it is quickly established that he is lying. I suppose that names are irrelevant in this new world.

The book is very emotional and runs the gamut of emotions with some scenes that are touching, some that are exciting, and some that are very disturbing. While the relationship between the father and the son is the primary focus, the book also does a good job of expressing the stress associated with fighting for survival in that trying environment. I found the ending of the book to be anticlimactic except that would imply there was a climax. Like a starving man in a post-apocalyptic world, the book does not end as much as it just slowly curls up and dies.

View all my reviews

Another Random Coffee Post

I was running low on K-cups again. I had two gift certificates for Target, so I swung by my local Target store yesterday to pick up some coffee. I decided to stick with flavored coffee and bought a box of Millstone Hazelnut Cream and a box of Van Houtte French Vanilla. I am currently enjoying the Van Houtte. While it has a nice flavor, it does not seem as flavorful as the French Vanilla Supreme which was my favorite from the Gloria Jean's variety pack. Or perhaps this is a case of time making the taste buds grow fonder.

Century Club

My post from yesterday was the 100th post on this site (which will make this post number 101). I have published 38 posts so far this year which projects to 63 or 64 posts for the whole of 2011. That would outnumber the 62 posts from 2010. My first post was published on January 3, 2010, so this site has existed for almost 19 months. Therefore, the one hundred posts represent an average of over five posts per month.

Back in January, I analyzed the labels that I used on posts for 2010. Back then, the "beer" label led with 37 posts. There are now 43 posts labeled with "beer", but those have dropped from 60% of the total posts down to 43%. (The 100 posts makes the math easy.) The "sports" label is still second with 29 posts, but I have only added 7 posts to the 22 posts from 2010. The "home brew" label has gone from 13 posts in 2010 to a total of 23 posts. The "books" label has grown from six posts to a total of 14 posts which is mostly due to me starting to post book reviews. Awhile back, I started a new "Raleigh" label and went back an updated previous posts. There are now twelve posts concerning the city of Raleigh.

Getting back to yesterday's post (as well as the post from the day before), I found a new "Next Blog" site. His guy who seems to be Canadian is aiming to prove how healthy beer is for you, although most of his posts concern reviewing and rating beer. I notice that his 10-point scale conveniently goes negative.

Next in Line (continued)

After publishing yesterday's post on the "Next Blog" link that lives at the top of most Blogger sites, I have continued to play with the "Next Blog" link from my site. I found that several sites continued to be repeated, but I also found some new sites which mostly followed the beer theme as discussed in the previous post. There was another blog on home brewing and also a couple's site where the guy brews and bottle his own beer. There were several more sites by guys that like beer including this guy who muses about beer and whatnot. In the far-flung category, there was a site for a beer store in San Francisco and a site that sells beer-themed tours of Europe which sounds like great vacations.