LCHC Power Rankings: Week of May 24th

The LCHC Power Rankings are our rating system for the top ten people, events, stories, and trends making moves in the world of sports and culture this week. Providing as a snapshot of the current cultural landscape, the Power Rankings offer a guide to hat mattered most in the cultural zeitgeist this week. They are put together every Friday by your humble committee (of one).

1. Game 7 Hockey Over Everything – The NHL Playoffs return to the top spot on this week’s ranking on heels of two Game 7s this week and the start of the Conference Finals about the kick off on Saturday. The visibility and publicity around this year’s postseason is certainly helped by the fact that major markets like LA, Chicago and Boston are still involved, and that “Face of the Game” Sidney Crosby is captaining the favorites to raise the Cup, but more than for any other reason, hockey’s playoffs lead the pack this week because they have provided the most compelling storylines, culminating in Seabrook’s thrilling OT winner on Wednesday night. That game is a classic example of proof that sports remains the home for the most compelling drama anywhere. When sport is at its best, no other narrative device – be it scripted film, literature, or reality television – can touch the raw emotions and catharsis created by sudden-death, ‘win or go home’ sporting events. Moments like Wednesday night are why we watch, and we are all just lucky that there are even more to come in the weeks ahead.

2. The Smiths, Lost in Space – A sampling of the critical response to After Earth: “Is “After Earth” the worst movie ever made?”; “After Earth is not as bad as The Last Airbender. Yes, you heard it here first: After Earth is not as bad as one of the worst big budget films ever released.”; “There is no small irony that this sci-fi action adventure is about surviving a serious crash. The scorched earth left behind by “After Earth” is sure to leave a scar on everyone involved.” Put it this way – the critical response to this film is worse than it was to A Good Day to Die Hard. Leading to a larger question: are we just about done with Will Smith, superstar? Yes, the film will make its money back overseas where he is still a draw, but here domestically it is just about guaranteed to be a flop. The mid-90s were a very long time ago after all, and between some truly terrible films and utterly pretentious interviews, I wonder how much longer until he becomes the Action equivalent to Adam Sandler as relic of another time in our culture. There are only so many times you can go to the Graham Norton/Fresh Prince Nostalgia Well, Big Willie.

#3-10 and Honourable Mentions, after the jump…

Reassembling the ProStars

Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Bo Jackson as Saturday morning cartoon superheroes – as concepts go, it doesn’t get much higher than that.

As their theme song told us, they were ProStars – nay, Show Stars (Note: Please do not ask me what exactly being a “Show Star” entails). They were larger than life, at the pinnacle of athletic greatness while still finding time to fight crime, help children, and protect the environment. Imagine Captain Planet, or the Ninja Turtles, but if they could also dunk, score a hat-trick, and truck multiple would-be tacklers.

And then, *poof*. Like that, they were gone after just 13 episodes, too great to be long for this cruel world.

Well, I for one think we have gone long enough without cartoon athletes/superheroes. After the jump, behold my plan for rebooting this forgotten classic. ProStars Assemble!