Trifecta Therapy

Insomnia has made an unwelcome return to my life this week. It has been creeping up on me for a few weeks, making a surprise appearance here and there, but this week is the longest bout I’ve had to deal with in quite a while.

Years ago I battled it long and hard, after living with it for several months. Actually at that point in my life it wasn’t so bad. I was still in school, working full time, and had a more than full time girlfriend. Time was at a premium then, and walking around like a zombie for days on end was probably very good for my relationship at the time.

When school settled down a bit and my work schedule was cut I figured the insomnia would die down. After a couple weeks I realized it wasn’t going anywhere and looked for answers. It seems there are a ton of “experts” who have foolproof ways to fight insomnia, or maybe it was a ton of fools with expertproof ways. Either way, I tried most of them. Some seemed very plausible, eating or drinking certain things at certain times of the day made a lot of sense to me Give your body what it needs when it needs it, and this should help restore your circadian rhythm. Others seemed ridiculous, like taping a coin to each of my temples and covering them by wrapping a tube sock around my head, but it seemed I should try them just in case. No luck with the dozens of “cures” I tried.

After many months I found that a balanced diet, lots of time in the gym, and a very active sex life combined to be the best way for me to treat my problem. Even with other issues stressing me out at the time, these three things kept me sleeping well night after night.

In the last few months I have been more active, and have been eating a healthier diet than I had been for quite a while. My stress levels have been low, and I am very happy in my personal life. This week has been somewhat of a break from that. My stress levels have risen and I haven’t been as active as usual, partially due to the weather, which should change this weekend. And now not only is my sleep affected, but I also have this amazing bouncing knee that won’t stop anytime I am sitting in a chair. I’m a zombie with restless leg syndrome.

I know that I need to continue to pursue my insomnia treatment trifecta, and I really hope this weekend will do a lot to get me back on track. Maybe by Sunday night I’ll be in bed at a normal hour getting some much needed rest. Or maybe I’ll just play in the blogger Big Game and/or the FTOPS ME which has more than a quarter million dollar payout for the winner. That would definitely help me sleep better at night.

Speaking of poker, I think I need to find the time to enter a live tourney or at least get a home poker night together with some friends soon. I’ve been playing exclusively online all this year. I haven’t played a serious hand of live poker all year. I like playing on Full Tilt and all, but I am mostly playing limit right now to grind the bankroll to a respectable level and, like I always said about dealing black jack when I was at MGM, I could teach a drunk monkey to do that. It’s not always fun to be on auto-pilot when I am on the digital felt, and with the problems involved with reloading online right now, I need to have a little more padding to account for variance. Smart and responsible poker isn’t always fun and entertaining poker.

Western Conference

My ramble on gene got the best of me yesterday and I didn’t have enough time to get out my thoughts on the Western Conference Finals which begin tonight when the Ducks come to Hockeytown to take on the Red Wings. The puck drops in less than 11 hours, and there are still many good seats available. It’s amazing what can happen to a team with a great fan base when ownership keeps raising ticket prices. Wasn’t there a lockout recently that led to a salary cap to help the owners from going broke? Didn’t the Wings payroll decrease by 40-50% after said lockout? How is it that I got two tickets for game 1 of the Pistons/Bulls series for 60% of what it would cost me to take my mom to a Wings game for mother’s day? Especially considering I sat only 6 rows behind Pistons owner Bill Davidson for game one, and the Wings tickets for Sunday were 18 rows from the glass in the corner. Did I mention the Pistons have sold out 181 consecutive games?

OK, enough of the anti-Illitch rant. He’s done some great things for the city of Detroit so I can’t get on him too much, but I think he needs to learn a little more about the basic rules of supply and demand. The Wings used to be the only game in town this time of the year, but with the great success of the Pistons over the last few years and the recent revival of the Tigers, there are other options for sports fans right now that cost a fraction of the price.

Looks like my ramble gene is still in high gear. Sorry, it’s hereditary. But now, on to the series breakdown.

Western Conference:

#1 Detroit vs #2 Anaheim

While I think the Eastern Conference Finals will be the most entertaining series for casual fans of the NHL to watch, I’m pretty sure the hockey snobs purists will like watching this series a lot more. Both of these teams play great defense (all three Norris Trophy finalists are playing in this series) and have good goalies with playoff experience. Giguere has won the Conn Smythe Trophy, but not a Stanley Cup, while Dominik Hasek has won six consecutive playoff series wearing the winged wheel (including our most recent Stanley Cup victory) and is playing as good at 42 as he did while winning the cup 5 years ago.

One of the first things you will notice about this year’s Red Wings team when you watch them play is that while they are still a great puck possession team they also have a lot of grit and can play a more physical game when needed. That was important in the first two series this year, and should play a major role in this series as well. The Wings are a very balanced team, and may be the most versatile in the league. At times they look unbeatable offensively and defensively, but this versatility also has its drawbacks as the Wings can look like a team without an identity from time to time and actually look a little lost in their offensive zone or on the power play.

This is not the case for Anaheim. The Ducks know how to play D as well as anyone in the league and have two of the three Norris Trophy finalists on their blue line in Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer, as well as a Selke Award (best defensive forward) finalist in Samuel Pahlsson. And if you happen to work the puck through these tough defensemen and forwards, you still have Giguere to deal with. It’s because of this defense first philosophy and outstanding defensive talent that the Ducks have only had one game during the playoffs where they have given up more than 2 goals, and have only lost two games out of the ten they have played.

I really think this series can go either way, but the longer the series goes the better it is for the Ducks. In my opinion the Wings will have to get on Anaheim’s D pretty quickly in each game and shove a couple goals down Giguere’s throat right away to be successful. The longer the game goes, the more the Ducks D will get a feel for the Detroit game plan and adjust to it. The Ducks are probably the best in the NHL at dissecting an offense and reacting to it, which in turn leads to scoring chances off of turnovers from frustrated foes. While the Wings are less likely to get frustrated with a defense, it does happen and some players will try to force a play or make an ill-advised pass that could work against most other teams, but not usually against the Ducks.

Like I said before I think this series can go either way, and as a Wings fan I’ll remain optimistic about our chances, but I really think I have to give Anaheim the edge in this series. Even though Detroit doesn’t make many mistakes in any game, when they do make them they are pretty severe and Anaheim is a lot more capable of capitalizing on those mistakes than the Flames or the Sharks were. Blue line fatigue will become a factor as our top defensemen will be forced into more ice time with the loss of Mathieu Schneider, who just happened to be the quarterback of the Wings power play. I just don’t think the Wings can overcome losing a player as important as Schneider, and the Ducks will go on to the Stanley Cup finals.

Pick: Anaheim in 7

More Hockey Stuff

Two rounds and twelve teams down, two rounds and four teams left. Generally speaking, the first two rounds of the NHL playoffs are usually easy money for anyone that knows anything about the game. Case in point; I have not paid nearly as much attention to the game since the lockout that I did before it and I have gone 11-1 picking the winners in each series so far. No matter how bad I do from here on out, the worst I can be is 11-4. And that might end up being the case because I am a lot less confident about these match ups than I was about the first two rounds, but seeing as I love sports and betting on playoff games and series I’ll stick it out for the rest of the Stanley Cup run.

So now that I got the bragging about my 11-1 record in the first two rounds out of the way, twice now, here are my picks for the Conference Finals.

Eastern Conference:

#1 Buffalo vs #4 Ottawa

I’ve felt all along that Buffalo was the team to beat in the playoffs, and even though they didn’t sweep the Rangers like I had thought I still feel the same. Ottawa did a great job in taking out the Devils last round (my only wrong pick so far), but I really think that New Jersey did more to lose that series than Ottawa did to win it. I really don't want to take anything away from Ottawa's win, as they are a very good team, but I feel that New Jersey would have taken them down if both teams were playing their respective A games throughout the series. That being said, I think Buffalo could take Ottawa even if the Sabres only bring their B+ game every night.

These games should be fast paced with both teams getting a lot of quality scoring chances. This could very well be the best series of the entire playoffs for the fans who aren’t hockey purists. I don’t know that the games will all be high scoring, it’s hard to tell how either goalie will handle the pressure of this series while facing a lot of tough shots. Both goalies have played very well so far, and I am really starting to respect Ray Emery’s (OTT) focus and mental toughness. That being said, I really think that Ryan Miller will be the deciding factor in this series. The kid is a puck magnet. I think he’s let up 2 rebounds so far in 11 playoff games. OK I am probably exaggerating a little here, but that’s what it seems like to me. As a shooter, you better get the puck past him on the first attempt because it’s very unlikely that puck is gonna bounce back your way.

Buffalo’s biggest challenge will be finding a way to contain Ottawa’s top line of Heatley, Alfredsson, and Spezza who have combined for 16 goals in 10 games. All of the other forwards for the Sens have combined for only 11 goals. Buffalo will try to keep Tallinder and Lydman out there whenever Ottawa has their top line on the ice. This defensive pairing did a good job against the Rangers top line last series, and should give Miller a decent look at most of the shots from Heatley and company.

I think this series will go six games and seem a lot tighter than it actually is. This series should be exactly what the NHL was hoping to get after tweaking the rules in recent years to open up the games a little, and therefore should be a lot more entertaining for a wider base of fans….if anyone watches that is. Two small market teams in America’s least favorite “major” sport who have avid fan bases in their respective markets, but no real broad appeal elsewhere. Sidney Crosby may be the player the NHL is counting on to bring more fans to the game, but I think this series could help do that sooner, if only the NHL could get it out there for more people to see,

Pick: Buffalo in 6 (and leaning toward taking the OVER in every game of the series)

Since I rambled on too long about the Eastern Conference match up, I don’t have any time left to do my Western Conference breakdown today. Look for it tomorrow.

Tonight’s picks:

Pistons +2.5

Buffalo -140

Buf/Ott OVER 5