Avs-Oilers Game 1

Why go a white-knuckle thrill ride when you can just watch Avalanche-Oilers?

After the first Oilers goal, it took 36 seconds for the Avs to answer back.

After the second Oilers goal, it took 9 seconds for the Avs to answer back.

27 minutes into the game, the score was 6-3.

In the second period, both starting goalies were on the bench.

Game 1 in the books. Holy shit.

Final Four

One of these four teams is going to win the Stanley Cup in the next month or so: Edmonton Oilers, Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, and Colorado Avalanche. 

But only one. 

Let's get nuts.

59:54

Peaks and valleys, strikes and gutters. 

I moved to Colorado and became an Avalanche fan in fall of 2011. This is my 11th season as an Avs fan. I got to go see an Avs game every year I lived in Denver, 8 games in 5 seasons.

It took three years to see them win a playoff game. It was the first time I had seen a playoff win for any professional team. (Since then I've seen the Chiefs win a couple.)

In my 8th season as a fan, I finally got to see them win a playoff series!

In seasons 8, 9 and 10 of my fandom, the Avalanche lost in the second round of the playoffs. 

Game 7 loss in 2019.
Game 7 loss in 2020.
Game 6 loss in 2021.

You see something happen three times in a row, you brace for it to happen again. 

Game 5 of this series was incredible. 

MacKinnon scores two in the first period. The Captain adds another in the second. Avs are up 3-0 at home against a second-string goalie. 

But with five minutes left in the 3rd, the Blues tie it up. 

And then MacKinnon put the team on his back and said no, this ends tonight. He does this with under three minutes to go:

 

Instantly it felt like the best Avalanche goal I've ever seen. Tie game under three minutes in an elimination game to get over the second round hump, coast to coast with turbo speed burst and deke the defender and roof it over the goalie, and it's a hat trick. This absolutely deserved to be the series ender. 

And then it wasn't. 

The Blues scored with a 6th attacker and then scored in overtime. All of a sudden this incredible MacKinnon goal is now a relic.

The Avs have to go on the road for Game 6. Lose this one and the second round hump now feels like a curse. 

With ten minutes to go in the game, the Blues are winning 2-1. I'm sitting here thinking about having to write yet another blog post about how this Avalanche team has all the talent but can't put it together to get past the second round. 

And then Compher lets loose a freaking BOTTLE KNOCKER.

 

As the minutes wound down I was praying for another goal, but I also didn't want it to happen too early. I was afraid of a repeat of Game 5 where the Blues pull their goalie and score, stealing momentum into OT. 

I was content to settle for OT. But not everyone on the ice was...

 

59:54 into the game and the Avalanche get their first lead of the game. 

And just like that...the Blues are dead. For the second year in a row, Colorado eliminates St. Louis. 

And now we're on to Edmonton. 

MacKinnon vs McDavid.

I legitimately don't know what to expect, but it's going to be a wild ride.

2022 Chiefs Schedule

Week 1: Season opener on the road. Mahomes vs Kyler. Cardinals always start hot and fade so not ideal.

Week 2: TNF vs Chargers. Home opener is on Thursday night in week 2, weird.

Week 3: Road game against the Matt Ryan Colts.

Week 4: SNF in Tampa. This will be the 6th time Mahomes plays Brady. They split the first four games, but Tom won the fifth matchup in Super Bowl LV. 

Week 5: MNF hosting the Raiders. 

Week 6: The first Sunday home game is vs Buffalo. Toughest/biggest game of the year?

Week 7: Road game against SF before bye.

Week 9: SNF vs Titans after the bye. Tennessee dominated KC last year, so Chiefs will be out for revenge. 

Week 10: After the toughest first 8 games in NFL history (based on last year's records), the Chiefs get the Jaguars. 

Week 11: Two days before my birthday, road game in LA. 

Week 12: After Thanksgiving, a different LA team comes to KC.

Week 13: Chiefs visit Bengals, another opportunity for 2021 revenge.

Week 14: SNF at Mile High. First matchup vs the Russell Hustle and Bustle Broncos.

Week 15: Road game at Texans. 

Week 16: Hosting the Seahawks without Wilson. Gotta make the most of weeks 15 and 16. 

Week 17: Hosting the Broncos with Wilson on New Year's Day. Could be a pivotal game for division title?

Week 18: End the season in Las Vegas. 

Primetime
5 games.
3 at home, 2 on the road. More could be flexed in. 

Ranking the Biggest Games

1. vs Buffalo. After the epic playoff game last year (13 seconds), everyone is crowning the Bills as the team to beat in the AFC. This game will be nuts.

2.  at Tampa. Will this be the last Brady-Mahomes battle? It has to happen one of these years.

3. vs Broncos. A week 17 matchup that will almost guaranteed have playoff implications. 

Ranking the Best Games to Go To

So this rating reflects weather at Arrowhead, my personal Chiefs hit list, as well as quality of opponent. 

First, I'll look at the hit list. 
Home Opponents already crossed off: Raiders, Broncos, Rams. 
Home Opponents yet to cross off: Chargers, Bills, Titans, Jaguars, Seahawks.

(By the way, the four losses I've seen in Arrowhead: Chargers, Bills, Jaguars, Colts. I'm 7-4 all-time at Arrowhead, with six teams crossed off and 2 wins over the Raiders.)

I don't really care about the Seahawks or Jaguars. 

1. Buffalo. Biggest game of the year and it's a Sunday in October. (best weather) Only downside is it would suck to see another loss to Buffalo in person. 

2. Titans. SNF game after the bye. I want revenge. Early November at night will be cool, but not too bad. Good hoodie weather.

3. Home opener vs Chargers. TNF. Night game in September should have good weather too. 

I wouldn't mind seeing the Russell Wilson Broncos but Janaury 1st could be annoyingly cold and always risky to pick something where playoff implications could not matter. And I've already seen the Chiefs beat the Broncos.

throwing rocks

Last week I rolled a 155. My first game is always my best. After that I rolled a 121 or something. 

Yesterday I took G to a place and I started strong but faded. I think I got a 125.

duchene

Avalanche fans are booing Matt Duchene every time he gets the puck for Nashville. Let's look at some facts.

In 8 seasons with Duchene, the Avs went 5-7 in the playoffs, never winning a single series. 

In 5 seasons since trading Duchene, the Avs have gone 23-18 in the playoffs, winning three series to date. 

Trading away Duchene was the catalyst for division titles and a President's Trophy. Why are we booing this man?

EDIT: Although it was accurate at time of posting, less than an hour later this post is no longer true. The Avs are now 24-18 in the playoffs since trading Duchene. Hoagie Central regrets the error.

chess vs real humans

After only playing bots for months, I finally started playing against other live humans. It's wild, this week alone I've played against accounts from India, Honduras, Brazil, France, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, and Morocco. 

This violates my rule of avoiding online multiplayer games. I started the rule because I would get upset playing ps4 games online and realized it was counterproductive to my goal of having fun playing games. But so far, I've been able to enjoy the online chess. A big part is that if I lose a game, I know that my next opponent will be easier. 

I've learned that a human rated 700 is much tougher than a 700-rated bot. My account started at 400 and after 12 wins, 4 losses, and one draw, I'm currently rated 787. In case you're curious, the best player in the world is rated 2864. 

I've had some comeback wins, a draw that I salvaged from a losing position, some games where I was outmatched and some hard-fought struggles. 

I'll run through two recent wins I'm proud of. 

First up, I'm using the white pieces and it's my move. 

I move bishop to g4. I have a plan.

He takes the bait with his bishop.

I recapture with my queen. It looks like a blunder because there's a knight on e5. But he can't take my queen. My rook on e1 is pinning the knight to the e file.

He then moved his rook to a space that once again looks like it's protected by the knight on e5. But this is a blunder.

I take with the queen knowing he can't move his knight and he resigns down 13 points of material.

New game.

This time I'm using the black pieces and it's my turn to move. 

Using post-game analysis tools that don't appear during the game, the computer recommends the three best moves for me. Although I'm down a pawn (1 point of material) there are two moves which give me a decent advantage. And one move that gives me a full 9-point advantage. 

I find it. Knight to f4.

I'm not merely threatening his queen. Here are the computer's top three moves for white:

The first loses the queen but in a place where the bishop can take my knight. The second abandons the queen entirely to take a bishop.

My opponent being a human player who doesn't want to lose his queen, seemingly finds a space where his queen is safe. But at what cost?

I take the bishop on c4 with check.

He blocks with a feeble pawn to d3 and I take it as well, again with check.

King to g1 is forced.

At this point, I'm thinking I'm doing pretty well. I turned a one pawn deficit to up 3 points of material. I look at the board above and seven seconds later, I make a move.

Queen up the middle to e1. It's not even protected by anything. Just a deep bomb to the middle end zone and it's checkmate. 

Those last four moves starting with the knight to f4, the two bishop moves and the queen checkmate...those were all the top engine moves. Meaning from his perspective, there was no difference between playing me for those four moves and playing the top player in the world or the top computer engine. Checkmate on the 13th move. But hey he never lost his queen. 

What's worth more than a queen? The king.