The Loser Point: IT'S MY 2010 STANLEY CUP PREDICTION, BITCHES

Last Round just called to demand that I stop trying to be so darn original and start conforming with the consensus pick (which is no fun at all, but Last Round was really angry, so...)

For what it's worth, here's my vanilla pick of the playoffs.

Does anyone think that this is the most epic match-up ever? I'm not talking about the hockey teams: I'm talking about the hockey fans. Philly fans are ridiculous. They intentionally vomit on other fans. They are some of the most in-your-face, disgusting, idiotic, flat-out crazy albeit wildly entertaining group of weirdos you will ever come across. Did I mention that one of them intentionally vomited on an 11-year-old girl? I mean, COME ON.

Chicago's fan base is a bit more "tame," but they mess with you psychologically. I remember one game between the Hawks and the Vancouver Canucks at the United Center. The Canucks were getting shellacked. The score was something bloated and ridiculous. And every time Luongo would let in a goal, the Hawks faithful would serenade him in "Luuuuuuuus," which is customary of Canucks fans whenever Luongo makes a save. Chicago violated sacred territory. It's the same with Philadelphia fans: they touched Montreal's hallmark "Ole Ole" song, which was just...well...wrong. It sounded icky. But Philly fans don't care.

Here are a couple more amusing Philly and Chicago fan links:

Jim Rome's take on "The Philly Fan," here. Rome is one of my favourite radio personalities ever, and his take is no less brilliant.
A female Philadelphia Flyers fan dropped an f-bomb on live television a couple days ago. Let's just say it's...fucking amazing. Find it here.
A Vancouverite wearing a Canucks jersey walked around the upper concourse between innings at a Chicago Cubs game, and got a solid ribbing from the fans, found here.
Here's an assumption if you've ever seen one: this year, the city of Chicago decided to paint a humongous homage to Jonathan Toews and the Stanley Cup he has yet to win. They later took it down, probably out of shame. Find it here.

Oh yeah, a prediction.

So as you may know, I failed miserably in my last two rounds of predictions. The process of watching my picks go spiralling out of control kind of made me want to pry my eyes out with a spatula. So here's my pick outright, no bells and whistles:

Chicago in 6. I guarantee you that this is right (no I don't).

My reasoning in a nutshell: you've probably heard by now how evenly matched these teams are in terms of skill, grit, determination, special teams, defence - even their captains are similar. So here's the X-factor: speed, and lots of it. An older and slower Philadelphia defence won't be able to handle the likes of Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and Patrick Sharp, not to mention the smooth skating, play making abilities of Duncan Keith. Chicago is a deeper team than Philadelphia, and when they come at you in waves, it can be overwhelming.

Here's another X-factor (or a duh factor, depending on how you look at it): goaltending. Antti Niemi stole at least two games for the Blackhawks in their sweep of San Jose and has played well all playoffs long. He's also shown terrific poise whenever he's had a rusty outing, although those have been few and far between. The Flyers' Michael Leighton has yet to face any major obstacles (all he's been doing is winning), but he'll encounter a larger amount of shots versus a high-flying Blackhawks squad. And the Flyers fate will depend on how well he handles it.

I just don't know what I'll do if this is wrong. Probably round up a bunch of chocolate bars and go into hiding. Mike Halford of The Kurtenblog has done even worse than I have in the last two rounds and he's gone a bit off the cliff, started blaming his childhood, etc...