mega

Say the NHL goes to a four-division format. Here's an idea I had to retool the playoffs:

- Top three teams in each division make it, plus next four highest point-totals (wild cards).

- First round would be by division a la pre-1994. Top seed in each bracket would have choice of opponent; highest top seed by points would have first selection of opponent from wild card group OR third-place seed from ONLY its own division, second-highest would have second choice, and so on. Wild Card teams leftover would be placed into missing brackets automatically in reverse point total order (2nd-seed teams don't get to pick their opponent).

- Higher seeds would have the option of having 2-3-2 or 2-2-1-1-1 series format.

- First two rounds are within division brackets; reseed 1-4 for Cup semis and finals and go across league.

I'll use an example - say the NHL realigned like this:

East: BOS, CLB, MTL, NJ, NYI, NYR, PHI, PIT

South: CAR, DAL, FL, NSH, STL, TB, WAS

North: BUF, CHI, DET, MIN, OTT, TOR, WPG

West: ANA, CGY, COL, EDM, LA, PHX, SJ, VAN

Using last year's final season standings, the playoffs would have looked like this:

East bracket: PHI(E1), PIT(E2), BOS(E3), E4 (wild card)

South bracket: WAS(S1), TB(S2), NSH(S3), S4 (WC)

North bracket: DET(N1), CHI(N2), TOR(N3), N4 (WC)

West bracket: VAN(W1), SJ(W2), ANA(W3), W4 (WC)

Wild card pool: PHX, LA, MTL, BUF

The picking order would be VAN, WAS, PHI, DET. VAN would have the choice of playing any of the teams in the wild card pool or the 3rd seed in the West (ANA) in the first round. Say it picks LA - LA would now be 4th team in the West bracket.

WAS has the next pick - it can pick any of the remaining wild card teams (PHX, MTL, BUF) or S3 (NSH). Say they pick NSH as their opponent. The 4th team in the South bracket remains vacant for now.

PHI goes next - it can pick any of the remaining wild card teams (PHX, MTL, BUF) or E3 (BOS). Say they pick BUF - BUF is now in the East bracket as the 4th-seeded team there.

DET goes next - it can pick any of the remaining wild card teams (PHX or MTL) or N3 (TOR). Say they pick TOR - like in the South, the 4th team in the North bracket remains vacant for now.

There are now two vacant spots (S4 and N4) and two wild card teams (PHX and MTL). The 2nd seeds in the open brackets (TB and CHI) are compared by record - TB had a better record, so they get the remaining WC team with the worst record (MTL). MTL is now in the South bracket. Therefore, PHX is placed in the North bracket and faces CHI in the first round.

The brackets would now look like this:

East: (E1)PHI vs. (E4)BUF; (E2)PIT vs. (E3)BOS

South: (S1)WAS vs. (S3)NSH; (S2)TB vs. (S4)MTL

North: (N1)DET vs. (N3)TOR; (N2)CHI vs. (N4)PHX

West: (W1)VAN vs. (W4)LA; (W2)SJ vs. (W3)ANA

Each bracket would produce one winner (say, BOS in the East, TB in the South, DET in the North, VAN in the West). These four would be reseeded by regular season record (VAN-DET-BOS-TB) and play 1v4, 2v3 for the right to play for the Cup.

Pros and Cons as I see them:

+ Allows possibility of any possible pair of teams playing for Cup (i.e., PIT & WAS)

+ Gives incentive for teams to win division and earn higher records, as it gives more rewards for finishing at the top

+ More divisional match-ups on average in playoffs can lead to more developed rivalries, especially for teams with shorter histories

+ Discussion of whom teams should pick (weak team but with long travel or stronger team but shorter trips, different styles of play, etc.) can stir further interest among fans and lead to some tactical decision-making (i.e., picking the third-seed to force the second-seed to travel a long way for its first-round match-up) and perhaps stir some emotions (i.e., picking a weak team could lead to taunts by opposing fans for wimping out)

- Significantly more complicated

- Likely more travel involved overall (partly why I allow the choice of series formats)

- Might be a nightmare for schedulers having to wait until teams get their choices in before they can schedule games

I would like to hear some constructive thoughts on this idea. Is it workable? What could be done to improve it?

What's the difference between a rocket from a rocket launcher and a rocket-propelled grenade?

With France defeating England and Germany upset by Japan, is whoever wins tomorrow's match in Dresden the favorite to win the title?

Assume for the moment that the NFL will have an 18-game season in the next CBA.

- Start with the current 16-game format (2 vs same division, 1 vs all teams in division in same conference, 1 vs all teams in other conference, 1 vs remaining teams in same conference = 16)

-- Example: Chicago Bears' 2011 schedule (2 vs DET, GB, MIN; 1 vs NFC South (ATL, CAR, NO, TB); 1 vs AFC West (DEN, KC, OAK, SD); 1 vs other NFC teams that finished 2nd in their division (SEA, PHI))

- Games 17 and 18 would be against teams from the other conference that finished in the same position. They would not be from the same division as regularly scheduled - rather, one would come from the inter-conference division the team faced last year, and the other from the division the team would face in its entirely next year.

-- Example: Last year, the NFC North played the AFC East in its entirety, and next year (2012) it is scheduled to play the AFC South. Therefore, the 17th and 18th games the Bears would play would be against whoever finished 2nd in those division (NE, IND). (I know 2011 will not go to 18 games, but this is just an example.)

- Further, who the home team is for Games 17 and 18 can be further standardized by declaring which conference would be the home team for each pair. This would then be switched after one cycle (4 years).

-- Example: Say we declare that for the NFC vs AFC-team-from-last-season's-division, the NFC will be the home team. In the Bears' case, they would visit Indianapolis and the Patriots would visit them. I've worked through the logistics, and this will work for all teams. The reverse (vs. IND, @ NE) would also work.

Advantages:

* Minimal disruption to scheduling pattern (not removing any teams currently scheduled, only adding new ones)

* Standardized scheduling system known in advance (i.e, no picking teams just to fill up the slots before season in question starts and potentially screwing over a team for a more arbitrary reason)

* Still guarantees that every team will meet each other at least once every four years, and a potential reduction in waiting times for teams from different conferences to meet each other (admittedly part of this will be chance, but the odds will be greater than 0% for sure).

* Maintains a measure of parity (1st place teams get other 1st place teams, 4th place teams get other 4th place teams)

Thoughts? Suggestions? Alternative proposals?

During the UNSC session regarding Libya today, the Libyan representative to the UN spoke out against his own government's atrocities against the Libyan people.

Ambassadors are representatives of the government that sent them, so what I'm wondering is whether this is the first time an ambassador of a country turned against the government s/he represents. Most cases I've ever recalled had the ambassador resign in protest long before then or leave when the government fell (i.e., Iraq's ambassador to the UN leaving when US troops entered Baghdad in 2003).

Lately I've been reading the news about how a student in Tunisia set himself on fire, and that led to the wave of protests that eventually led to the ousting of the Tunisian President.

Between this, other self-immolation protests in South Vietnam in the 60's, hunger strikes in Guantanamo and Martin Luther King in the 60's and Gandhi in the 30's, and other such acts of harming oneself to make a political point, what I want to know is how exactly does this work? In other words, how can harming yourself advance your cause?

I've seen several places that say that being happy (or interested) is a choice, that one chooses to be happy rather than unhappy all the time. This doesn't make any sense to me - if you're pretending to be happy or forcing yourself to be interested in something or someone, you're not actually happy/interested.

I don't get how this can work - if something isn't interesting, how can I make it interesting?

A lot of times when I read about a team's playoff prognosis, it might say that team A getting such-and-such seed is a boon because it means not facing a really good team Z until later in the playoffs. For example, today I was reading about the Colts and how getting the #3 seed in the AFC is good for them because they wouldn't face the Patriots until the AFC Championship Game as opposed to possibly the Divisional Round if they were a 4-seed.

I know that the statement that the Colts can't face the Patriots until the AFC Championship Game is true, but my question is this: does it really matter when you face a given team? Would it be easier to beat the other guys if the game was played in a later round? If so, how?

Regarding injuries: Yes, there might be a chance of injury, but that exists regardless of when the game is played. Plus, I've seen similar statements for NBA, NHL, and MLB teams, whose postseasons don't have byes, so I don't see how that could be an argument.

The partisanship and thinly-disguised attack questions in the politics and government section of Y! Answers is blatant, so I'm just wondering: if you think you know how to run the country better then everyone else, how many of you could honestly go three days in the Oval Office without suffering a nervous breakdown?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/nca...

Long story short, the Big East is planning to expand to 10 teams in football. One of those teams looks to be Villanova (moving them up from FCS). Who's the most logical and/or likely second team?

I've heard of some proposals in various places that could beam energy from space into large dish receivers on Earth, which could transmit power without needing to burn fossil fuels or use a nuclear reactor. Like microwave, or something (I'm thinking SimCity 2000). First, is that possible? Second, how would it work (if it is possible)? Third, is it feasible with today's technology? Fourth, would it be economical?

I'm watching the World Series right now, and after Cliff Lee looped a double to left-center, someone comes out and gives him a jacket and he puts it on. I didn't know that was allowed - what's the rule about baserunners and jackets?

ESPN's Sportsnation was at our campus today, but it was raining pretty hard the whole afternoon, and everyone was soaked. After the show was done airing, I went inside to the IMU and came across Michelle Beadle (one of the hosts) and some of the SN support staff, who were using the bathrooms to dry off. I ended up hanging around for too long - long enough for one of the cops escorting her to ask me to move. The cop did nothing but his job: I realized after I had left how it sketchy I must have looked, and now I'm continually scolding myself for being so stupid (I had wanted to return later and thank the cop for asking me to move, but they had left before I had the chance) and socially inept.

How do I stop kicking myself? This isn't the first time I've made a mistake (not of this nature, I mean in general) and every time I do I berate myself.

Well, obviously it's bad for the physical and mental health of the one attempting it, as well as being a major concern for relatives and close friends, but that's not what I'm asking. I want to know what reasons there are for society as a whole to be concerned about suicide in general. If a country or society has a high suicide rate, why is this bad?

I've heard of recent cars designs (esp. hybrids and such) that is able to take the energy generated when braking and store it in a battery. How does this work, exactly? Is the heat generated used to power a generator or something?

Several websites, as well as Wikipedia, claim that Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon for the Sega Genesis can be played with two players. However, I can't figure out how to play the game with two players - I have only been able to play with one player. Can someone tell me whether the two player thing is in error or if there is something that needs to be done to be able to play the game with a second player?

Since at least a large chunk of municipal taxes go to the local education system, if parents are allowed to home-school, would they be allowed a tax exemption by whatever goes to it?