Coming into the season, most experts agreed that this was the Chicago Blackhawks’ year to win the Stanley Cup. They were a very talented, skilled, young hockey team with more depth than any other squad in the NHL. And thanks to the salary cap era, they had a very small window of opportunity to keep this group together.

Well, the Hawks played with the kind of urgency required in this situation, and won their Cup. Now the summer negotiations begin, and we can be sure that we’ll see a vastly different team when the puck drops on the 2010-11 season in October. There’s simply no way to keep everyone around and stay under the $59 million salary cap.

Kane, Hossa, Toews, and Keith are signed long-term, of course, but the Hawks will have to part with some big, significant players. Guys like Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, Troy Brouwer, Brent Seabrook, Brian Campbell, and Dustin Byfuglien could be moved in order to free up cap space. While I think the Hawks could survive the loss of Brouwer, I would HATE to see any of the other guys go. I think they need to find a way to keep Sharp and Seabrook especially, and then work on Versteeg and Byfuglien.

Niemi needs a raise, Huet is gone, Madden is gone, Burish is gone, Eager is probably gone, Fraser, Sopel… And who knows what’s going to happen with Hjalmarsson.

The only good thing here is that Stan Bowman has known (hell, everyone has known) that the day of reckoning is coming, so he probably already has a plan in place. At the very least, I’m sure he and the coaching staff have identified the players they want to keep and will work around that.

The bottom line here is that the Hawks and their fans need to savor this moment. The team will not be the same in October, so enjoy the great memories that the guys delivered last season.

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Funny, I never thought I’d care much about aging, but now that it’s actually happening to me, I hold a completely different view!

So I was wondering if it would be cheating to wear a kymaro body shaper under my gown? I probably wouldn’t go with both pieces, but I could definitely use the girdle part. I’m convinced that this would not only make me look better, but allow me to actually zip up that dress I need to get into. Seriously, I’ve tried everything else, so why not this?

I’m sorry, but who are these folks to determine which wages are acceptable to others??? There are some people (like me) who don’t need to make a full-time living from these writing “gigs” (note that they’re gigs, not jobs), but would like very much to supplement their income in some way.

Personally, I have been writing content articles for four years now, and have made a great deal of money that way. I have never earned more than $5 per article. Granted, that’s not a lot of money on a per-piece basis, but it adds up. And what some people might not realize is these content places aren’t looking for great literature. You’re basically asked to simply write fluff pieces incorporating certain keywords a certain number of times. As long as the article makes sense, it’s accepted. There are no revisions or rewrites necessary, so it takes maybe 20 minutes tops to write one of these articles, especially at just 300 words each.

Even if I just do 2 per hour, that’s $7 for my time, which is more than what I would make working at McDonald’s or whatever. No, I wouldn’t be able to sustain that type of production for 8 hours a day, nor would I want to make a career out of this kind of writing. But to supplement my income? Sure, why not? As I said, I’ve done it for the past four years, and have made enough to pay tuition for completing my Bachelor’s degree and for one year of grad school (so far) without taking out a single student loan. Not bad for “slave wages”, huh?

I wish these Craigslist Crusaders would just mind their own business. They might be too proud to take these low-paying gigs for themselves, but they shouldn’t ruin it for others. The crusaders think that by removing these ads, they’re “forcing” people to pay better wages. Yeah, right. This has been going on for years and the rates have not changed one iota. Why don’t the snobs go write for the New Yorker or something and leave the other gigs for the rest of us!!!

This last part bugs me. How hard is it to rip that stupid lift ticket off? Seinfeld even did an episode about how annoying that is! Come on, people! We can usually tell from your raccoon face (tan lines around your goggles) that you went skiing, so enough with the stupid lift tickets already!!!

In the summer, I got to the point where I could jog 2 miles at a fairly decent pace without getting too winded. But now jogging even one mile takes nearly everything I’ve got.

Anyone know what the deal could be?

Most of the crimes were petty thefts, such as stealing iPods out of parked cars. How stupid can people be to leave their iPods, cradles, docks, and accessories in plain sight when they park somewhere? Give me a break. Also, there were a couple reports of stolen iPhones. Same idea here… why leave the device in your car in the first place?

Another report indicated that 9 people went into a TGI Friday’s, ordered $137 worth of food and then left without paying. I’ve never heard of a dine-and-dash with such a large group before, but I could see how it would be easy to do in a busy place like Friday’s.

The strangest report, however, was about a guy who stole $675 worth of gasoline from an Amoco station. Apparently he did this by paying for $10 worth of gas, then prying the front panel off the pump (whatever that means) to steal a total of 225 gallons. Huh??? Where the hell did he put it all? Did he just have a line of vehicles come by so he could pump 25 gallons into each?? There’s no way he could have had containers for all that gas!

Boy, what a sorry state this world is in. People stealing crap left and right, assaulting each other, harassing each other… It’s just sad.