I may be a little slow on the uptake, but since the Letters section is new, and it's essentially a comments section, does anyone else find it backwards to have the "letters" listed in reverse chronological order? Shouldn't the first "letter" posted be listed first?

The two letters talking about this represent the debate exactly. I agree with the argument that the letters should go in chronological order. The argument that the newest letter should come first has won the day so far, but the powers that be are willing to re-open the debate, I'm told.

Since there seems to be difference preferences, couldn't we (and by "we" I mean "you") make it a user preference? This is one of the features I like about Slashdot.

Interesting that Elmore mentions Malcolm Gladwell's work in "The Tipping Point". I'm personally a big fan of Gladwell's work, and read most everything he's done. He's written a particularly fascinating article on this very subject, called "The Sports Taboo".

http://gladwell.com/1997/1997_05_19_a_sports.htm

King mentions that Mario would be 3rd on the list of players he'd like to see if he could watch only one game, after Gretzky and Howe. For myself, I'd have to insert another player before Mario- Bobby Orr. There's nothing like Orr's back line rush, really something to see. Mario had some of the best hands I've ever seen, and used his size perfectly, but I never though Mario was "dazzling" to watch, at least in the 90s. He was a very deceptive player and creative, like Brett Hull, only more so.

Shameless Blog plug about this : http://shavedice.blogspot.com/

Funny how the points per game is always used as an arugment for Mario over Wayne. The fact is, the reason Wayne's PPG is so low (if 1.88 could ever be considered low) is because he played through his 30's- a time where players generally tail off in production. Mario (unfortunately) didn't have nearly as many playing years after his peak, which keeps his PPG average up. If you compare Mario's first 12 years (up to his first retirement in 97) to Wayne's first 12, Wayne blows him away - 2.31 PPG vs. 2.00.

I'm not trying to say that Mario wasn't great, he's certainly in the top 5 players of all time. But to try and say he is comparable or even better than Wayne Gretzky is in my mind indefensible.

DavidWilliam, I apologize for not being clear enough. When I said "Funny how PPG is used as an argument for Mario over Wayne," I meant that your mentioning PPG was similar to other arguments I've had over the years with other hockey fans about Mario v. Wayne. I didn't mean to imply that you were making that case, as you clearly weren't.

Instead, I was trying to argue against your original thesis that Mario and Wayne are very close. I don't think they are. Your point is well taken that Wayne played on better teams than Mario did, but remember that Wayne with Luc Robataille (and Kurri and Blake) also led the Kings to the Stanley Cup finals in 1993, a team I don't think was as strong as Mario's 1991 Cup-winning team with Recchi, Francis, Coffey, and Jagr.

I'm just so excited we can have a hockey discussion here, first in quite a while.

Maybe you don't want to put your fantasy team's status in your articles, but will you post updates here periodically? I like fantasy discussions, usually because they create a big argument, which is the best part of sports. Plus, I'm a big Neyer and Jazayerli fan. Given they seem to do nothing but think about baseball 24-7, I'd say you're a 2-1 favorite over them. Call it the "coin-flippinest" effect.

In the Democratic Party there are a lot of people who have the same kind of hatred -- which I find is self-defeating and almost certainly wrong -- towards Bush that a lot of Republicans had toward Clinton.

Yeah, that hatred towards Clinton sure didn't yield any dividends, like control of all three branches of government. Oh, wait.

I'm sure glad the Lieberman has helped the Democratic party form a clear and concise message that will help gain seats in Congress in the midterms. Oh, wait.

And now it's time to teach the guy a new trick. The passive aggressive "I'll clean around you and drop hints so you'll leave" is a crock. It's your place, claim it. If I was in the same situation, I'd let him stay the night, especially if he's intoxicated. The next morning, I may be a bit soft on the language, like "Thanks for coming over, but I'm wrapping things up now." If one of my friends can't take a hint that big, my language would get very direct very quickly. Honestly, I'd be re-evaluating the friendship at that point. Maybe I'm old school, but when I'm a guest in someone's home, I respect that person's wishes.

that OT doesn't last as long. Don't get me wrong, I think the increased obstruction, hooking, and holding calls make the game better, no question. And the refs aren't putting their whistle away in the playoffs either, like they used to. Game 5 was case-in-point, although the special teams goal was supposed to a power play.

So the downside is there will be fewer multiple OT playoff games, one of my favorite things in life. I remember watching a 7 OT game in 2000, I was almost literally on the edge of my seat for 6 hours straight. The best thing ever- game 7 OT. One can still hope.