In 1938, American architect Alfred Mosher Butts created the game as a variation on an earlier word game he invented called Lexiko. The two games had the same set of letter tiles, whose distributions and point values Butts worked out meticulously performing a frequency analysis of letters from various sources including The New York Times. The new game, which he called "Criss-Crosswords," added the 15-by-15 game board and the crossword-style game play. He manufactured a few sets himself, but was not successful in selling the game to any major game manufacturers of the day.[5]
In 1948, James Brunot,[6] a resident of Newtown, Connecticut – and one of the few owners of the original Criss-Crosswords game – bought the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for granting Butts a royalty on every unit sold. Though he left most of the game (including the distribution of letters) unchanged, Brunot slightly rearranged the "premium" squares of the board and simplified the rules; he also changed the name of the game to "Scrabble," a real word which means "to scratch frantically."
This game was a lot like a game of Scrabble. Slow, back/forth, lots of four letter words and play all over the board.
1. First beer goes to @CP3FRO for the link on the stream. Unfortunately my dish got some wet snow on the eye and I couldn't get a signal. I'm dumb but even I'm not dumb enough to go climbing on my roof to clean that sucker off. Now, if this happened during the playoffs then... Well, I'll cross that bridge if it ever comes to that!
2. Gonna give the second cold one to Steve Mason in this game. The offense and special teams were no shows but goaltending certainly showed up in this one. I thought he played a very consistent game between the pipes. He was like a big cushion just sucking in those shots and not giving up any juicy rebounds. He was in pretty good position, not overplaying angles as much - at least most of the night. Had some big saves especially in OT on Conway and then Bouwmeester with only a second or two left. Wish we would see this Mason more often.
3. Great holiday crowd of 16,985 on hand to see this one. It's too bad the good guys couldn't deliver a win. On the flip side, at least they made a game out of it.
4. Another game of entering the 3rd period with a lead. Another game with blowing a 3rd period lead. It really doesn't matter the scenario... Up by 1 goal or 3 goals, other teams know they still have a shot. Imagine what you would be telling your players if you were the opposition's coach. Quite frankly I can't recall a team this bad at being able to close out a game. And it's not one individual, but different people on different nights.
5. I have another one to add to the 'nails on a chalkboard' list. Yesterday it was "Jackets out shot 'x' opponent. Today it's "'x' goaltender has been the difference". Once again IT DOESN'T MATTER who is net, the Jackets ALWAYS seem to make 'x' goaltender look good. You could put a frozen Walt Disney in net and he'd win the Vezina.
6. MacKenzie and Dorsett continue to be the Jackets biggest bang for their buck. Those two guys just never take a shift off. Typically I'd put Prospal in that list but he hasn't been as good of late -- and we need him to be to drive up that trade value.
EXTRA SHOTS:
RJ Umberger had a back/forth game. He took two penalties but also played a very physical game (3 hits) and set a great screen on Brassard's goal. RJ isn't playing well if he's not engaged physically and setting up shop in front of that cage. Grant Clitsome had a solid game after a healthy scratch. He notched 20:44 in ice time, finished a +1 and had some nice defensive play. Not one Jacket was a minus on this night -- that may be a season first. Only player not in double digits of ice time was Boll with 8:39. Missed DD's fight with Sarich but from the sounds of it, he got the decision. Dorsett has 10 fights which is 3rd in the NHL. The Jackets as a whole have 26 fights which is 2nd behind the Rangers 30. An unsolved mystery remains on why this team, with this skill, is unable to score more goals. Can't really complain about this shootout loss as we have won our fair share -- would have been nice if that Wiz shot went in though. So Howson has finally lost his patience eh? This ownership group will have lost their minds if they let this guy make any more significant moves.
Jackets remain 3 points behind 29th placed Anaheim but have a game at hand.
Next game tomorrow night @ 7th placed Dallas who is VERY strong at home with a 11-5-1 record.
-LTL
