Bernie Bytes: Last call for Blues

Reading Time 5 Minutes:

* Not that the Blues have much of a chance to make the NHL playoffs; according to the excellent site coolstandings.com the Blues have a 7.5 percent chance of getting it done. But their faint hopes will be inflated or destroyed between now and next Sunday, Feb. 27. Starting tonight in Buffalo, the Blues will play four games in five days, which is part of a stretch that has 'em playing seven games in 10 days. I'm stating the obvious (as usual) but if this team sputters along over the next seven games, it can start making those getaway vacation plans for the second, third week of April.

* There's absolutely nothing to suggest that the Blues can pull off a hockey miracle and save their season. The gloomy numbers:

* The goaltending hasn't been good; the Blues rank 25th among the 30 NHL teams in save percentage.

* Scoring goals remains a struggle; the Blues rank 22nd in the league with an average of 2.64 goals per game.

* The special teams aren't clicking; the Blues rank 25th in PP success rate and 20th in penalty-kill percentage.

* The schedule is unfavorable; 15 of STL's final 27 games are on the road, and the Blues are 27th among 30 NHL teams in road winning percentage (.404).

* Do the Blues have a chance? Sure... kind of like George McGovern had a chance against Richard Nixon in '72.

* Complicating their mission is this: the Blues must pass multiple teams to get into 8th place or higher. Going into the weekend, Anaheim, Dallas, the LA Kings and Calgary are tied for 6th place in the Western Conference with 68 points ... then comes Minnesota (65), Chicago (64), Columbus (62) and the Blues (59) who are two points ahead of Colorado (57).

* And most of those teams being pursued by the Blues are playing very well; since Jan. 1 all have played above .500 except for Columbus, which is exactly at .500. And the Blues, meanwhile, have gone 5-9-4 since Jan. 1.  Over the last 10 games, only Dallas (2-7-1) and the Blues (3-4-3) have a losing record among the Western teams that stand 6th to 13th in the standings. The Blues' rivals don't seem inclined to cough it up.

It is what it is: bleak. And Blues ownership/management will be subjected to major scrutiny after the season. This thing has gone off the tracks, and no amount of smooth, clever spin can fix it.

Now that I've been Mr. Sunshine on the Blues, let's move on...

* Congrats to Jim Edmonds for having such a wonderful baseball career.

* Not that anyone gives a damn, but here are the best three books I've read over the last six weeks or so: (1) Dethroning the King, by Julie MacIntosh. It's the compelling play-by-play of InBev's takeover of Anheuser-Busch. Give MacIntosh a Stella Artois for her excellent reporting. (2) The Last Boy, by Jane Leavy. Just when you think there wasn't much more to say about Mickey Mantle, Leavy comes along and pretty much smacks one into the upper RF deck of Yankee Stadium. (3) Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, by Jon Krakauer. Tillman is an authentic American hero, having walked away from a lucrative NFL career to head into combat for the U.S. in Afghanistan, where he lost his life. Sad story. But a must-read.

* Mizzou's basketball team is in good shape for an NCAA Tournament bid; according to Jerry Palm's CollegeRPI.com the Tigers are No. 30 in the nation, which is the fourth-best RPI in the Big 12, behind Kansas (1), Texas (8) and Texas A&M (29th). Palm updates his NCAA bracket projections every day, and right now he has MU in the tournament as a No. 6 seed. That said, the Tigers (as you know) are 0-5 on the road in Big 12 play this season, and at the very least it would be in their best interests to win at least two of the remaining three conference road games. (At Iowa State, at Kansas State, at Nebraska.)

* Despite being an across-the-board disappointment, Illinois certainly is in position to salvage an NCAA bid. The Illini are in better position than I would have guessed; their RPI is No. 38, which ranks 4th in the Big Ten behind Ohio State (4), Purdue (9) and Wisconsin (18). Illinois has road games at Michigan State, Ohio State and Purdue. That won't help Bruce Weber's team in the standings. But given the quality of Ohio State and Purdue, Illinois wouldn't be terribly damaged in the RPI with losses to them. It's important for Illinois to win at Michigan State, which is trying desperately to stay in the hunt for an NCAA spot.

* "Shameless" is a crazy show (on Showtime) and I thought I'd hate it, but I've come to love it. William H Macy is wonderfully deranged, as usual.

Thanks for reading and have a marvelous weekend...

-Bernie