Sunday, March 6, 2011

Watson and the National Hockey League

By now you all are aware of the recent Jeopardy match played among Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and IBM's Watson.  You will recollect that Watson didn't do too badly until the final jeopardy round on the second day when it was given the clue "Its largest airport was named for a World War II hero; its second-largest, for a World War II battle."  Watson's reply was "Toronto!".  Wrong city, wrong country.

I am curious why Watson selected Toronto and I am thinking there may be a hidden meaning behind this choice.  I'm thinking this was Watson's subliminal way of saying he might be able to help out the National Hockey League with some of its current issues.   So I decided to provide a list of problem areas for Watson to research:
  1. Can you help the Pittsburgh Penguins scouting team provide a replacement for Matt Cooke?  
  2. Can you help the New York Islanders find a goaltender?
  3. Can you help me understand why Trevor Gillies is not suspended for the rest of the season?  He has two minutes of penalties for every minute of ice time he sees - not a really good ratio.   
  4. Can you help me understand why there is an NHL team in Atlanta but not in Kitchener Ontario?
  5. Can you help me understand why there is still no "no touch icing" in the NHL?
  6. Are the New York Rangers for real?
  7. Will the Toronto Maple Leafs make the playoffs?  [If yes, what effect will this have on ticket prices?]
  8. Why can't the NHL rid themselves of a culture that has them employ the likes of Matt Cooke, Steve Downey, Sean Avery and Trevor Gillies?
  9. Should the NHL eliminate fighting?  
  10. Does the NHL need to consider changing the ice surface dimensions given the increase in player size?
  11. Does the recklessness and stupidity leading to concussions register with the NHL ownership or the NHLPA?  Should an independent medical commission look into this?

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