Pod Excl: Is The NHL Playoff Format Unfair?

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1:05Well, well, well, well, well. If it isn't the guy who thinks all children should have cell phones right when they come out of the womb. Well, he might as well teach them it's important that they know how to work a cell phone. Well, if it isn't the guy who said my son won't have a phone until he's 16 and driving, which is a big mistake because then he'll be on the phone while he's driving it. And that's why I hate this society. He won't learn. He won't learn. He won't learn. He won't learn how to drive right. He won't learn how to tax right. Yeah. I've already got a real mess. I've got a whole plan about that. I'm going to set up one once I have a kid. I'm going to just every like every night going to go up to. They're going to have to hold that kid, by the way, because I know you don't like to hold children. Well, my own. I'll get past that with my own child. I don't man. I don't know. I don't know. I get like. Somebody says, hey, here, take my boy. Because I don't want to be the one that like drops him. If something goes. Well, nobody wants that. Yeah. Nobody wants you. Hey, Tyson. Tyson, have you tried not dropping the kid? Yeah. Do you ever just like how often are you just like have something just like? I have you tried when you're holding the kid to hold the kid.

2:07This is like a deeply rooted enemy because I would always squirm whenever someone would hold me as a kid. And there was one time when my whole family was in Florida and we were hanging on the balcony. And I squirmed down on my cousin's arms. And I was about to drop 10 stories to my death. And she grabbed me by my shoulders right as I was about to fall. She saved me. Well, I'm never bringing my kid on a balcony in my life. Now, you just scared the crap out of him. Oh, that's what I mean. You're my Jackson. That I'm like, oh, I don't even want to. I don't want to even put myself in that situation. How do Michael Jackson get away with that, by the way? Did he say it was like performance art? Like that was unbelievable. Everyone was so enamored. You're too young to remember that. I know. You must know this. I remember when it was on like it was on the news. And it was like, what? I was so enamored that they got like back then. If you got a glimpse of Michael Jackson. Yeah. You were like, oh, like if you was ever on an award show or something, you, the whole world tuning because you never saw Michael Jackson. So when he came out, everybody was so enamored with it. Half the world is like, is he hanging that baby over the balcony? Like he was.

3:07What did he do? And the other half was like, oh, there's Michael Jackson with this baby. What is he doing with the baby? Oh, I got away with that. I got away with that. Well, that'll take up the headlines for the next two weeks. So watch this drive. Malik Cruz, like we throw TVs off the balcony all the time. Bill Garryan has come out with comments about the league's current division-based brackets that guarantee four divisional, not four divisional matchups in the 16 tournament. I mean, it's not guaranteed for because there's two wildcard teams and they could be from one division, but yeah, I mean, you're guaranteed at least one of those brackets is going to have four divisional opponents going up against it or not even know. It could be one team from the Pacific. It's a, this is a bad article, TSN. I'm going to call you out on that because it's incorrect. It probably is. It probably is. But it was by TSN.ca staff. I'm calling out TSN staff. But Bill Garryan doesn't like it. He says it's funny. We talk about it a lot.

4:07I would like to see a change, but I understand why we don't. It goes here to here. I think this year is just really unique. And that you have these three really strong teams in one division. You don't see that a ton. You have to be careful about what you wish for those said Garryan. There's a scenario that doesn't really matter because you're going to play a good team no matter what. The parody and the league is so strong that you're going to play someone good. On the other side of it, the teams that work so hard to get to the top maybe deserve at least to play one of the teams that haven't got there. So this is a great year for this discussion because if you look at the West, would you prefer like Minnesota and Dallas are likely going to hook up. This is a great scenario for the Pacific because those three teams are going to beat the living crap out of each other. And then by the time they get out of the, they get out of the central, the Pacific is going to be an easier way. And this is the year to discuss it because there's happened with Dallas as far as I'm concerned. The top three teams are the West in this division, right? Dallas, Minnesota and Colorado. So would you prefer to go one, eight, two, seven?

5:10Yeah, I mean, I remember this year alone. I think there's a prime example of why you would. I remember when they changed it. Do you remember when they changed it? And I thought the reasoning was sound at the time. I still like it. Look, if it's Dallas, Minnesota in the first round, who's not watching that series? The problem is, is one of those two teams is going to be able to... You probably deserve... Well, I mean, it's like baseball. Hey, when you're division. Yeah. In terms of fairness, it kind of isn't fair, but... It isn't fair. An entertainment-wise, every year we always kind of complained about it. We talk about it, but then we watched the first round. That was pretty awesome. Well, because, guys, I'm from the era where it never lined up. The top two teams would be Edmonton and Calgary. Yeah. And you would wait for the Edmonton Calgary or Edmonton Winnipeg battle or the matchup. And then some team in the first or second round would get upset. And we'd just never happen. And you would go five years without seeing a playoff series between the Battle of Alberta. You know, he's licking their chops with this setup, though, as a Utah.

6:11They currently hold the first wild card. And it's like, well, we can get out of time round one at Vegas and Edmonton can bully each other. And we can go through the Pacific division that is just littered with teams with terrible goal tending and terrible defense. It's like, we can really go on a run here. We can easily make the comments finals. But last year to me, the best series was Dallas, Colorado. It was a first round series. Yeah. And at the end of the series. Well, afterwards, in the athletic, they ranked a three best series in last year's playoffs. And those three, the number one series was the Jets and the Blues. Number two was the Jets and the Stars. And number three was the Stars and Colorado in the first round. Yeah. Maybe it's because we covered the Jets. But I thought the best round series, because I'm watching the Jets win anyways. It was Dallas, Colorado. I was riveted by it. I actually had to go to Alberta overnight and was watching with my parents. And they're doing assisted living. And we were like, just enthralled with it. Driving back here, I was just like, that is the best series of the first round.

7:12And then I kept thinking, what if that never happened? Like, what if, you know, Dallas and Colorado played two teams. And one of the teams don't make it out of the first round. And you just, and that's, that's why this was done. Because there was too many times, too many years where the Detroit Colorado. The Detroit Colorado war would never come to fruition. Because it would always have to be the third round. So I think, I think it would, if those teams would win. And it would get to a Western conference final. And those two teams would duke it out. I think it would actually be better for ratings ultimately over the course. Because as we see right now, the NHL totally falls off the map. Yeah. By the, by the Western conference, most people have totally tuned out. It's, you know, we're closing it on June. It's, it's after May long weekend. People are engaged at least in this corner of the world and in something else. But I, I understand it's not fair. End of story, it isn't fair. It's not fair. But the NHL is not, and it's playoffs, it's not necessarily about what's fair. It's about what's entertaining. This is entertainment. And this is a more entertaining format.

8:13That's why I don't think they'll change. That's the philosophy is what better way to kick off the first round. Yeah. That was Colorado. The only other possibility is the one versus 16. But I just think travel makes that implausible. And it also makes it difficult with time zones and, yeah, and matchups and, especially when they like playing this time. Yeah. Because I really like to go back to his back-to-back. The first two games are back-to-back. You have a day off to travel. The next two games are back-to-back. And if the series goes on, then you have a day off in between each game. And you travel. I would love that. I mean, there was nothing better in the Battle of Alberta when I was growing up in the 80s. Then again, I choose day night game one. And then whatever happened, the whole day, the next day, people were like game two. I don't mind that the only concern I have is goalies. I think that there'd be a lot of goalies getting hurt. No one gives up. You're playing for the Stanley Cup. This episode is brought to you by Athletic Brewing Company.

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