Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Finished!

Whew! Sleek's been a busy guy lately, not only contributing to BoC's regular reporting brilliance, but doing Pacific Division previews for AOL Fanhouse as well. Today that whole stint got finished up -- my Sharks preview will run later this morning, finishing off my previewing duties there. I can't say that there's anything too brilliant in these previews (I get awfully wishy-washy when it comes to predicting things), but I did draw a cartoon for each team -- that's something, at least.

Anyways, I figured I'd link them all here, not only for convenient clicking but also just as an excuse for my recent busy streak. So there you have it. I've managed to write all five without picking a winner of the Pacific; who do you figure has the best shot at it? Comments are open.

P.S. You do know that I am not the only Pacific Division blogger who draws cartoons, right?

15 comments:

RudyKelly said...

Ducks
Stars
Sharks
Coyotes
Kings

Earl Sleek said...

Actually, I did have to pick this division for a Fanhouse roundtable-thingy, and here's what I submitted:

1. Sharks
2. Ducks
3. Stars
4. Coyotes
5. Kings

Don't tell anyone, but used the old "Barry Melrose Hockey Analyst" trick -- assume whatever happened last year will happen the exact same way this year.

brokeyard said...

1. Ducks
2. Stars
3. Coyotes
4. Sharks
5. Kings

HAHA

Earl Sleek said...

Whoa, was my NHL 09 intuition correct? Did Brett Festerling really earn a spot on the big-league team?

Man, I should put more stock into video game performance.

Anonymous said...

Here's my list:
1. My favorite team. Woo hoo!
2. Team I hate but am worried about.
3. Team I don't care about.
4. Team I hate but can't put last because I'd look like an idiot.
5. Team I don't think about much because they suck.

Gray said...

Whoo! Thanks for the shout out!

Earl Sleek said...

No problem, Gray. I am very much in support of any sort of artistic endeavor on this here internet, whether it comes from legit artists like yourself or two-bit hacks like me.

I didn't even realize until I created the link that your cartooning went so far back (I'm a bit slow). Top notch!

Anonymous said...

1. Sharks
2. Stars
3. Ducks
4. bad
5. worse

Patty (in Dallas) said...

Earl, this was a particularly impressive set of cartoons. I'll rank them instead of the teams:

1. Stars
2. Sharks
3. Coyotes
4. Kings
5. Ducks

And I love your list, Ian.

Earl Sleek said...

Thanks, Patty!

Actually, I'm kind of fond of the Coyotes cartoon the most, I think. It's pretty simple, I really like the way the Star looks playing cards, and the Shark is giving a particularly evil glare.

Sharks one is pretty close, though. It makes its point without being too obnoxious, though it probably has too much text for my tastes.

Stars one comes in third for me, partially because I cheated a bit on that one (I used an actual Red Wings logo image). Still, the Duck and the Shark look nice and pissed off, as they should.

And even saying all that, I'm pretty happy with the Kings and Ducks, also. It was a pretty good set of cartoons, I guess. If only I didn't have to stay up so late writing the actual previews.

Patty (in Dallas) said...

I think the joke of the Stars cartoon is the most clever. With the Coyotes concept running pretty close.

No, I think the King with the cardboard cutout of the Duck is funnier than the poker game. Still, it's very close. :D

brokeyard said...

Either Ian got lucky or he nearly perfectly dissected and mocked the reasoning for my order.

Only problem is (if he was nearly perfectly dissecting and mocking the reasoning for my order) that it was meant as a joke, and that #3 is wrong, I am actually quite fond of the Coyotes.

Anonymous said...

brokeyard, yup. I was sort of making fun of your list, but it applies equally to most preseason predictions. Which accounts for about 85% of all blog postings right about now. 8^)

Earl Sleek said...

Which accounts for about 85% of all blog postings right about now. 8^)

Hey, AOL made me do it! Typically the only thing I'm comfortable predicting in hockey is who besides Pahlsson will score Anaheim's goals on any given gameday.

:)

brokeyard said...

To be honest I was rather impressed with the level of accuracy.