*From High to Low

[kckolbe]

Someone unrealted to the Hawks cleared a guy to play that shouldn't have been. The Hawks were innocent in this one. The fact of the matter is, you could throw these hypothetical situations out all day, but that's all they are, hypothetical. It's unfortunate that it happened, and I'm sure the rest of my teammates feel the same way, as no matter what we do someone will always be screaming "GIBSON!" in the background.

I actually agree. Nothing suggests the Hawks FO did this intentionally or were even aware. My article BARELY mentioned it. However, by TPE and by point differential, the Hawks were the third best team in the conference. The only dispute to that claim was by Blocksdale, who said that the last two games didn't matter, which was a poor argument even if 11 of the 12 games that did matter featured an illegally boosted player.

Even if you take away the scandal, both the Yeti and the Wraiths end the season in a worse spot than a worse team, and this is the second season in a row that a team with NEGATIVE point differential has won the conference.