alex_reno's profile

alex_reno
551
Name: alex reno
Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Member since: July 10, 2002
Last visit: February 23, 2016

alex_reno has posted 3 links and 112 comments to SportsFilter and 1 link and 6 comments to the Locker Room.

Sports Bio

I mostly follow hockey and baseball. Goodbye Expos.

Recent Links

I'm going to start a new Strat-O-Matic hockey league (2002-2003) with my friends. The twist is, I wrote a program to generate the cards. But I haven't really been following teams other than the Oilers for the last several years. I'd like some critiques on the numbers I came up with for the players, and also on my formulas. Anyone game?

posted by alex_reno to navel gazing at 02:21 AM on February 26, 2004 - 7 comments

CBC, Ron MacLean fail to reach deal.: I, for one, am disappointed that MacLean will not be on Hockey Night in Canada this year. He is a class act who occasionally did some actual journalism (see the Bettman interviews) and one wonders where the CBC will find someone else who can stand up to Cherry. Who do you think is going to get the second seat on Coaches Corner?

posted by alex_reno to hockey at 11:43 PM on September 30, 2002 - 11 comments

Edmonton Eskimos save woman.: In an incident with an uncanny resemblance to an old joke, a group of seven football players caught a woman who jumped from of the fourth floor of a burning building.

posted by alex_reno to football at 05:46 PM on September 23, 2002 - 2 comments

Selig and Loria sued under RICO: 14 former minority Expos owners have filed suit claiming the gruesome twosome conspired to destroy baseball in Montreal. I think the charges are likely true, but is there a chance they'll be able to prove it?

posted by alex_reno to baseball at 01:43 AM on July 17, 2002 - 2 comments

Recent Comments

The Justice Department has ended its criminal case against Barry Bonds.

Yeah, Bonds certainly brings out the best in people.

I'd have to say my favorite was "Bonds hates white people."

posted by alex_reno at 10:24 PM on July 22, 2015

The Justice Department has ended its criminal case against Barry Bonds.

I was looking for an X years ago I said this, and came across this shitshow of a thread.

posted by alex_reno at 12:35 AM on July 22, 2015

30 dirty players in 30 days

I agree with tommytrump. What a lazy list.

Selecting Pocklington for the Oilers? Sure, the guy's scum - in fact, a short article like that can only skim the surface - but we have actual players here. Some of them were even cheap.

Consider Craig Muni, the skating knee injury. He'd be suspended all the time if he played now. I was glad to see him go.

Mark Messier could be a real cheap shot artiste when he wanted; just ask Joel Otto. McSorley's spear of Gilmour in the playoffs was so subtle, no one saw it until the third replay.

posted by alex_reno at 08:43 PM on September 16, 2009

Pat Quinn takes over as Oilers head coach

At first I had the feeling this was more of a move sideways than forward, but Quinn's record looks pretty good.

The Oil's biggest priority has to be developing the kids. Neither Gagner nor Cogliano really made much progress, Nilsson was mostly terrible apart from a late hot streak, and Hemsky seems to have settled in at a lower level than I think he's capable of. So I certainly hope Quinn's success with the juniors was no fluke.

I see Ken Hitchcock had some nice things to say about Quinn and Renney. I guess I'll believe him.

Ok, I've talked myself into it. Yay! Pat Quinn!

posted by alex_reno at 11:30 PM on May 28, 2009

American Idol: Modano Breaks NHL American Scoring Record

He's killed my Oilers often enough, but discussing him with my friends, we had nothing bad to say about him other than he's on the wrong team. Classy player, incredibly skilled, exciting to watch. What more do you want?

posted by alex_reno at 01:21 AM on November 10, 2007

Edmontonians offering to open their doors to homeless Eskimos

Welcome to Edmonton. We have lots of jobs, but nowhere to live. It's funny how booms always catch us unprepared. On the plus side, minimum wage has gone away. Even convenience stores are offering bonuses. On the minus side, rents have almost doubled.

posted by alex_reno at 03:40 AM on June 26, 2007

The NHL to realign?

You will have to pry the Oilers from Edmonton's cold dead hands. We ain't dead yet and it's not even that cold here.

posted by alex_reno at 01:52 PM on December 23, 2006

Hockey...er...Ball.

Stan Fischler had a series of books in the late 80s where he tried to do some of this sort of analysis. As an example, he broke power plays and penalty killing down exactly as Howard_T suggests, into PP time required to score. If you haven't seen them, they're well worth checking out. About the only thing I remember now is the nicknames, though. The Brantford Biped? I still use that. Oh, and plus-minus is a useful stat if you compare it to the rest of the team and adjust based on team goal differential. My Stratomatic card generator did this and its rankings were fairly good.

posted by alex_reno at 05:22 PM on November 30, 2006

Baseball's Most Disgraceful Moments

11) Jeffrey Loria, MLB and the theft of the Expos. Very much so.

posted by alex_reno at 03:41 AM on August 03, 2006

The heat got to Wie

Your post will be deleted. Unfortunately, you will not be deleted. Pantheon?

posted by alex_reno at 06:15 AM on July 23, 2006

Oil Country vs. Canes Country: A Tale of Two Cities

If the Oilers pull it out tonight, this town (Edmonton) will explode. Completely fucking explode. Old, young, men, women, I have not met a single person here who doesn't care. OILERS!!!!

posted by alex_reno at 06:01 PM on June 19, 2006

A Tale of Two Seasons

I think you just have to chalk this sort of thing up to having a series. In seven games, anything can happen, and occasionally does. I think that the skills necessary to win a playoff game are the same as those that win regular season games, give or take a Claude Lemieux. Legace wasn't good. Get an a-list goalie, and I think Detroit is fine. Certainly the youth movement there, your Zetterbergs and Datsyuks, looks pretty good. And Stevie Y. is one of the greatest players ever to lace on skates. Ultimately, one has to accept that even the best team cannot win all the time. You have to settle for maximizing your chances. Oh, and you mention Detroit's defensemen. that was the one area I think the Oilers had you beat. I'd take the Oilers' defensemen over the Red Wings'. Am I saying the Oil got lucky? Pretty much.

posted by alex_reno at 12:42 AM on May 03, 2006

8th Seeded Oilers knock out the President's Trophy winning Red Wings 4-2

Hey, Sammy, may I say your namesake is a great player. Just the sort of guy the Oil have needed for quite some time. Offensively creative, good instincts around the net. He and Hemsky seem very dangerous together. I sure hope we can keep him. Did you catch that, Mr. Lowe? Keep Samsonov!

posted by alex_reno at 07:22 PM on May 02, 2006

8th Seeded Oilers knock out the President's Trophy winning Red Wings 4-2

Am I the only one happy the Oilers won? Heh. After two periods, I thought the Oil were dead. I was getting ready to jump on Calgary's bandwagon. But Pisani! Hemsky! Clutch! (/me swoons) I'm somewhat surprised to see complaints about the referees from the Detroit side, as I thought games 3 and 4 were very poorly officiated, and mostly in the Wings' favour. Last night, in contrast, was a breath of fresh air. The non-calls weren't egregious, and the calls were for the most part actual penalties. Joannette needs a new job, and soon. Oh, and MeatSaber, I think it's as simple as the fact that Chelios is a punk. Cheap, dirty, and a whiner. That sort of thing looks ok when it's your guy, (we miss you, Esa) but is less than satisfying when he's wearing the wrong colours.

posted by alex_reno at 06:59 PM on May 02, 2006

NHL 2006 Trade Deadline 3PM Thursday

Here in Edmonton pretty much everyone I know was hoping for CuJo. He's remembered fondly. We miss you CuJo, come finish your career here! Roloson is definitely a big upgrade over the other guys. Jussi started the season strong but started to look more and more like Tommy Salo as the season wore on. Conklin has been occasionally decent, but mostly bad, and sometimes brutal. He was pretty angry last night, and I can't say as I blame him. He didn't exactly have a great game, but he hung in there and gave the Oil a chance to win. Still, throwing your helmet is bush league, and it might have affected Morrison's performance in the shootout. I saw Morrison give him a little "don't look at me, I didn't do it" shrug as he was getting ready. Morrison getting waived surprised me. He was the one out of the three who actually looked like he knew how to stop most of the soft goals. It seemed to me that the team trusted him more than the other guys. I'm finding I'm fairly excited about Roloson, actually. That .910 save percentage looks very nice indeed compared to the .860ish (ouch!) we've been getting from the three stooges.

posted by alex_reno at 09:05 PM on March 08, 2006