Marginal Road by the piers. Spring Garden in front of the Law Courts. The Quinpool rotary. All of these are locations of street harassment that have gone unreported---until now.

Halifax is one of the newest additions to the Hollaback online movement against street harassment, joining the likes of 52 other sites around the world with halifax.ihollaback.org. "I had personally experienced street harassment in pretty much every city I lived in, including Halifax, unfortunately," says local Hollaback director Rebecca Faria, "and I think there's a real need for Hollaback here."

You may not be familiar with the term street harassment, but if you're a woman or a member of the LGBTQ community, you've likely experienced it. Hollaback defines street harassment as anything from vulgar comments and gestures, to groping, to public masturbation, and one study of over 12,000 Canadian women found that 80 percent had suffered some form of it.

"We view ourselves as where workplace harassment was before the 1980s," says Veronica Pinto, Hollaback's international movement coordinator in New York. "It was something that people would just assume is part of their everyday working life and was accepted in workplace culture until people started challenging that." She says in a society that now condemns harassment in the home and workplace, the next step is to stop it in public spaces.

Started in 2005 in New York, Hollaback provides a blog where harassment victims can post their stories along with a map pinpointing the location of the incident. Some even upload photographs. Pinto describes the sharing of experience as "empowering" for both the victim and the cause.

Hollaback's new "I've Got Your Back" campaign has also drawn a lot of attention to the website. The organization paired with violence prevention group Green Dot to encourage safe bystander intervention.

Good bystander behaviour is also the goal of the Halifax Regional Police's "Men ending violence against women" campaign. Launched in time for May's Sexual Assault Awareness month, the campaign encourages bystander intervention when it comes to abusive attitudes and behaviours toward women.

But awareness aside, the law cannot provide much support for victims of street harassment. HRP constable Brian Palmeter says he read some of the stories on Halifax's Hollaback website: "They're unfortunate, awful circumstances, but it"---street harassment---"doesn't appear to meet the threshold of criminal offence."

Last year, the police logged 12 cases of "criminal harassment on the street," and Palmeter guesses they are not of the nature described by Hollaback. Instead, he says, "I would suspect the vast majority of them would be underreported."

Fred Morley compared Halifax to his childhood in a phone call on Monday. "We're like one of those kids, maybe we were all accused of this at some stage: 'He's not working up to his full potential.' I don't think that we're living up to our full potential in Halifax and I think we can find some ways to do that."

Morley is the executive vice-president of the Greater Halifax Partnership. On Wednesday and Thursday, May 23 and 24, he'll be overseeing the GHP's first Halifax State of the Economy Conference. "We are, and will be for the foreseeable future, the economic engine of Nova Scotia, so we kind of should be living up to our potential."

For the last few months, Morley has been building the Halifax Index, a review of the economy that spans shipbuilding, immigration, sustainability and more. Inspired by Silicon Valley's method for economic review, the index will be presented on Thursday morning and be the basis for conversation at the conference.

Morley says the depth of engagement and analysis at the conference is different than anything that has ever been done in Halifax. "It's not just pure growth, pure economics. We're also looking at a lot of other issues that are very important to us. And all of these things relate together. You can't have just high economic growth. You also have to have affordability, you need safety."

The conference keynote is celebrity economist Richard Florida, coiner of the term "creative class"---workers who are innovative, creative problem-solvers. "In Halifax, more than 69,000 workers make up the creative class," says Florida in an email. "A community's ability to attract and retain top talent is the defining issue of the creative age."

All motivated Haligonians, creative class members or not, are welcome to attend the conference. If participants are ambitious and united, Morley believes that they could address pertinent questions like, "Do we really understand the value that the universities bring to Halifax?" or "How can we get density bonusing into the regional centre?"

"That would be ideal," says Morley, "to see real movement come out of the meeting. Short-term movement and long-term focus. That would be pretty cool."

My European vacation brought me to Bielefeld, Germany for a few days (more on that later, perhaps), and then I had the idea to visit Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands.

But, looking on line for a hotel room in Luxembourg, I decided that city was simply too expensive for an overnight stay. Instead, I looked at towns up and down the train line. Arlon also was too pricey, but on the German side of the border is Trier, with several affordable hotels.

Trier is the oldest German city, founded by the Romans. More recently, Trier is birthplace to Karl Marx. That’s basically all my travelling companion and I knew about the town when we pulled into the train station.

But, it turns out, the Trier Cathedral is an impossibly old place that was gifted in the 4th century with the supposed robe of Jesus. A pamphlet provided at a tourist kiosk explains:

When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus, they took his clothing and divided it in four shares, one fore each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one piece from neck to hem, so they said to one another, “Instead of tearing it, let’s throw dice to decide who is to have it.”
Gospel of St. John 19.23-24

[...]Saint Helena, mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine (himself resident in Trier during the 4th century), is said to have uncovered the relic during her pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and donated it to the church of Trier on her return.

Back in my college days, I wrote something about the relic trade of the early church, about how various sacred vessels and body parts of saints and the savior (there were something like 47 foreskins of Jesus bouncing around Europe) were used to link far-flung churches to their distant bishops, and how the relics played an important role in pilgrimages and the development of commercial networks.

It goes without saying that it’s impossible the piece of cloth laying beneath the altar in Trier is actually the Lord’s underwear. I see used underwear for sale at Value Village sometimes, but there’s definitely an ick factor; sure, maybe some Roman soldier ponied up some cold cash for some skid-marked undies, but it stretches the imagination to think that the thing would be passed on, being worn by one generation after the next, for 300 years. I’m lucky if my Stanfield’s last a single season, and I haven’t been riding around on donkeys or hanging out in the desert debating the devil for 40 days; no doubt Roman linen weavers were skilled, but they couldn’t possibly be that skilled. And don’t even get me started on the 1,700 years that have transpired since.

“But they’re holy underwear!” pointed out my partner. I ignored the comment and ordered another biere.

But it’s a good story, this holy underwear business, and the powers that be have got good milage out of the tale for five centuries. As the tourist brochure explains:

In 1512 the German Emperor Maximilian I made a formal visitation to Trier. At his command, the Holy Robe was removed from its place of safety under the high altar and put on display. As word of this spread amongst the general population, pilgrims flocked to the city wishing to see the Robe for themselves, and this spontaneous “People’s Revolution” formed the first official public showing.

Ever since, whenever the Trier economy needs a shot in the arm, the town pooh-bahs convince the bishop to trot out the sacred skivvies, and here come the throngs of tourists to keep the merchants happy. In the last century, the underwear was put on display three times, in 1933, 1959 and 1996.

Fast forward to 2012, and like the rest of Europe, Trier is in permanent recession, still reeling from the Great Banker Heist of 2008 and the austerity regime of Disaster Capitalism. The 500th anniversary of Maximilian’s display of the undies provided a good opportunity to gin up some tourists, but even the pooh-bahs understand that, for better or worse, other than the dozens of rosary-clutching nuns clambering up and down the cobblestoned streets, nobody much believes anymore in Catholicism, much less that the actual 2,000-year-old underwear of the Lord is stashed under the altar at Trier.

The pooh-bahs solution? Heilig Rock Wallfahrt 2012. Best I can tell, Heilig Rock is a sort of cross between Woodstock and Mecca, a horribly misconceived mixed message of messiahs and metal rock, with drum kits set up on stages surrounding the cathedral. The tourism promotion people were evidently desperate, but nobody wants to be beautiful and stoned while contemplating Jesus’ underpants.

Admittedly, I was in Trier for less than 24 hours, but from what I saw, Heilig Rock not unexpectedly wasn’t a huge success for either the Christians or the Capitalists. To be sure, the Cathedral was full for the evening service, and there were lines for morning viewing of the unmentionables, but the lines weren’t long enough to snake through the velvet rope maze set up for them, and the porta-potties were remarkably clean and available---it was clear that much larger crowds had been anticipated.

As for the merchants, the Burger King and Subway had the predictable tables full of acned adolescents, but nobody with real money to spend, and the faux Louisiana cuisine restro a block from the cathedral was able to serve us in under an hour, which is to say rocket speed for the German hospitality industry. A nearby table of soccer fans half-heartedly sang an anthem to their team and downed a shot, before silently admitting their heart wasn’t in it and calling it a night; neither holy underwear nor the prospect of unbridled hoodlumism was enough to keep late-night Trier hopping.

After the surprisingly adequate Louisiana cuisine, we went back to the Hotel Handelshof, a nice place with clean rooms up above Rick’s Restaurant, a beer garden-ish spot that attracts a mix of hotel guests and neighbourhood folks. And the neighbourhood is decidedly blue collar, with just a hint of desperation among the down-scale strip clubs, hookah bars and beer joints shoe-horned into the small storefronts along Karl Marx straße, a narrow lane that stretches two blocks westward from the Handelshof.

Oddly, the Karl Marx Museum, which occupies the house Marx was born in, isn’t on Karl Marx Strasser, but rather a half-block up Brückenstraße. That night we stumbled upon a window display next to a skateboard shop a few doors down from the museum:

It seems the Marxists have used the official sanctioned relic-viewing to put on a tongue-in-cheek campaign of their own, celebrating the supposed discovery of Marx’s underwear: “Im namen der hose!” screams a magazine cover detailing the campaign:

The next day, we made sure to visit the museum proper, spending a couple of hours among the exhibits, which provide a nuanced biography of Marx and a pretty good overview of how Marxism has affected the world.

While we were there, a camera crew pulled one of the museum directors down the road, to interview him before the hosen window display.

I don’t know that this is particularly profound or anything, but it looks like the only people in Trier to profit off Jesus’ underpants are the Marxists.

Halifax council approved $385,000 in funding for hallmark events this week. This category of grant funding targets recurring events with large impacts on the the city's image, identity and economy, whether for the traditions they represent, the attention they garner outside the city or their mere ability to draw large crowds, like the Blue Nose Marathon, which received an increase of $10,000 to bump up its grant to $60,000 this year.

The Halifax Pop Explosion also received an increase of $15,000, up to $25,000. It's worth noting, though, that this falls short of the $40,000 it was given last year, three-quarters of which was contingent on a free concert.

The Halifax Pride Festival got a one-time boost of $15,000. They now have $40,000 to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo received the largest sum at $90,000. The Halifax International Busker Festival received $50,000, and the jazz and film festivals $40,000 each.

The Shearwater East Dartmouth Minor Hockey Association International Hockey Tournament, the province's largest annual sports event, was allocated $25,000, while the chamber music-based Scotia Festival of Music got $15,000.

The special events advisory committee assesses hallmark events annually based on a year-end report that details the event's background, location, date, economic impact, attendance, volunteer numbers and other community support, promotional campaigns and proposed operating budget.

The council also approved $23,700 for festival and events grants. These tend to be annual, small-scale, community events such as Canada Day celebrations and cultural gatherings.

The grant money passed swiftly without resistance from council, unlike last week's decline of funding to several popular events.

An engineering study of extending city sewage and water service to Purcells Cove is pitting some residents of that community against their councillor, Linda Mosher. The study is to determine what it would take to extend existing lines that end near Wenlock Grove along Purcells Cove Road to the cove proper, ending at Fergusons Cove Road. Currently, all property along the route is serviced by wells or water from Williams Lake, and by septic systems. The study is paid for through the harbour clean-up fund associated with the Harbour Solutions project, but if and when the lines are built, construction will be paid for by residents along the entire route, whether or not they want to hook up to the lines. Costs in other communities have exceeded $50,000 per parcel.

Just a short drive to the peninsula, the area is facing tremendous development pressure. The backlands, to the west of the road, is designated “urban reserve” by the regional plan, meaning that it is not to be developed until sometime after the 25-year planning horizon of the plan. But those rules are sometimes broken; in Dartmouth, developers have been successful in removing the urban reserve designation from their property.

Residents are especially worried because the old McCurdy estate, a 300-acre parcel adjacent to Williams Lake, was bought by Clayton Developments just in September, and the sewer and water study was OKed by council just five months later. City staff justified the study with two surveys of residents, in 2006 and 2007; residents question the validity of those surveys, and say that in any event five years has passed with no action, then once the McCurdy land was sold the study suddenly moved forward. There are a lot of details to this story, which I'll get into in future posts.

Halifax council approved $385,000 in funding for Hallmark Events this week. This category of grant funding targets recurring events with large impacts on the the city’s image, identity and economy, whether for the traditions they represent, the attention they garner outside the city or their mere ability to draw large crowds.

Like the Blue Nose International Marathon, which received an increase of $10,000 to bump up its grant to $60,000 this year.

The Halifax Pop Explosion also received an increase of $15,000, up to $25,000. It’s worth noting, though, that this falls short of the $40,000 it was given last year, three-quarters of which was directed toward a free concert.

The Halifax Pride Festival got a one-time boost of $15,000. They now have $40,000 to celebrate their 25th anniversary year.

In accordance with last year’s budget, the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo received the largest sum at $90,000.

The Halifax International Busker Festival received $50,000, and the Atlantic jazz and film festivals $40,000 each.

The Shearwater East Dartmouth Minor Hockey Association International Hockey Tournament, the province’s largest annual sports event, was allocated $25,000, while the chamber music-based Scotia Festival of Music got $15,000.

The Special Events Advisory committee assesses Hallmark Events annually based on a year-end report that details the event’s background, location, date, economic impact, attendance, volunteer numbers and other community support, promotional campaigns and proposed operating budget.

The council also approved $23,700 for Festival and Events grants. These tend to be annual, small scale, community events such as Canada Day celebrations and cultural gatherings.

The grant money passed swiftly without a blink of an eye from the councilors, unlike last week’s decline of funding to several popular events (see here.)

King’s College investigative journalism workshop's project for last year---902911---is a finalist in the Data Journalism Awards, a global competition sponsored by Google and organized by the Global Editors Network and the European Journalism Centre.

Readers will recall that King's project's written component appeared in The Coast as "HRM's worst neighbourhood."

Congratulations to the students!

Besides the ferry issue, Halifax council had an unusually mundane meeting Tuesday. But council did discuss the potential demolition of the former Tip Top Tailor building at 1592 Barrington Street---the cubist-inspired structure sandwiched between the Tramway building (hosting Venus Envy and Obladee Wine Bar) and the Khyber. The building is in horrible condition, but is part of the Barrington Street Historic District, so its demolition must go through a public hearing process.

There is a development proposal for a new six-storey building at the site, designed by Lydon Lynch Architects. Members of Heritage Trust oppose demolition of the Tip Top, and so does Morris Strug, owner of the Tramway next door.

“First, there used to be a right-of-way down there, a big hallway. Secondly, it’s putting an office [building], covering all the windows in *my* office building,” says Strug. “They want to put a building right against my walls; if they want to leave the right-of-way out, it wouldn’t be so bad. But they’re going to cover up my building. It’s terrible.”

Strug owns considerable property in Halifax---he says he has “1,000 units for seniors,” has been in the business for 62 years and has built in Newfoundland, Montreal and Florida. “I’ve never had the problems I’ve had here,” he says. “Somebody has to have a little consideration; I had consideration when I was building my buildings---my next door neighbour was something I had to take into consideration. Here they just don’t care. They just get a permit and try to push it through---it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. That’s the way it works. It’s terrible.”

Council set a date of May 22 for the public hearing.

According to documents filed with the court by Halifax mayor Peter Kelly in 2005, Mary Thibeault’s estate was valued at $503,730.37, almost all of it in cash and bonds.

That amount, plus the $160,000 or so that Kelly had transferred from Thibeault’s personal bank account to his and his son’s control (see “A trust betrayed,” February 16), reflected the fruits of Thibeault’s labours as owner of the Prince’s Lodge Motel, which she and her husband Joseph bought in 1945. (Joseph Thibeault died in 1984.)

The motel was at 554 Bedford Highway, about 200 meters north of the Rotunda. Thibeault’s property had been carved out of the old Prince’s Lodge, the sprawling estate that Nova Scotia governor John Wentworth allowed Prince Edward to use in 1794 to host his mistress, Julie St. Laurent.

Thibeault’s property was in two sections. The first section was a “water lot,” reflecting the pre-Confederation practice of granting title to property largely under water, and totalled about 1.7 acres. It consisted of a small strip of land---about 5,000 square feet---to the east of the highway, which was bisected by the CN tracks, with the remainder---about 67,000 square feet---under the waters of the Bedford Basin.

The motel itself sat on the second section of Thibeault’s property, which consisted of 8.61 acres to the west of the highway. The property rises dramatically from highway, affording stunning views of the Basin and of the MacKay Bridge.

The property was first surveyed in the 18th century, and consists of three parcels. Some subsequent owner bought all three, and they’ve been sold together as one property ever since. The property was nearly square, with the motel sitting directly on the northern property line.

Following up on my report from yesterday, Halifax council today briefly discussed the reduction of ferry service scheduled to begin May 21.

The cuts were actually presented to council in one of the voluminous reports that were given to councillors as part of the budget debate earlier this month. Councillor Gloria McCluskey said she didn't recall the cuts being spoken aloud, a sentiment shared by several other councillors and some reporters, but councillor Jim Smith said he recalled hearing it. I wasn't at that debate, so can't say. Certainly when I published yesterday's blog post, the cuts were news to just about everyone.

Last year, council set ridership standard for the ferries: 390 passengers per hour during peak travel times, and 290 passengers per hour during non-peak times. For non-peak times, where the cuts are being made, that equates to four trips per hour, or a ridership standard of 73 people per one-way trip.

Today, Metro Transit provided more exact numbers for ferry ridership, or at least some charts that provide an approximation, as follows, with the cuts in red:

McCluskey said she did not object to the morning or mid-day cuts, but only to the late night cuts.

For myself, this is a difficult issue. (Disclosure: I live a 10-minute walk from the Alderney ferry terminal, and use it, although probably not as much as I should.) I'm a fan of service standards, and haven't objected to similar cuts in bus service, for instance to the #3 or the Sambro route. There's no sense in having a transit system that is less efficient than it has to be.

But there are some other considerations. One, Metro Transit hasn't been particularly great about marketing poorly performing routes, or making small changes to them that might increase ridership. Second, and more important, there are big changes in the works for downtown Halifax and Dartmouth, and a late night ferry service seems essential to the overall picture.

Consider that the King's Wharf project in downtown Dartmouth is nearing completion of its first stage, which is two large residential towers that could provide hundreds of new ferry customers this summer. After those open, two more residential towers will begin to go up, and eventually a large signature building on the waterfront. All told, thousands of new residents could live within blocks of the ferry terminal. (The developers say they'll have a water taxi service for the project, but that seems geared towards high end business users; most people will still use the city's ferry.)

More long-term, the city has adopted several different initiatives to fast-track and encourage development in both downtown Halifax and downtown Dartmouth. Already downtown Dartmouth seems on the verge of a renaissance, and late night ferry service could turn it into a destination for peninsula residents. Taking that service away right now seems to pull the rug out from much of that.

And a downside to strictly adhering to service standards---as opposed to using them to signal the need for better or increased promotion of routes---is that once you cut a route, it's not clear how you get it back.

In any event, council sent the whole issue to its transportation standing committee; presumably, a few weeks from now the issue will come back to council with some proposed reduced service scenarios with budget numbers attached.

Metro Transit is planning to significantly reduce ferry service, effective May 21. The changes are:

Alderney
Service reduced to every 30 minutes from noon to 2:00pm on weekdays; remove service after 10:30pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and before 11:30am on Sundays. This ferry route does not meet Service Standard of 390 passengers per hour in the peak direction during weekday daytime hours, or 290 passengers per hour in the peak direction during weekday evenings and weekends.
Reduction of 870 annual service hours.

Woodside
Remove last morning trip departing Woodside and return trip (9:37am and 9:52am). This ferry route does not meet Service Standard of 390 passengers per hour in the peak direction during weekday daytime hours.
This trip would be reinstated when construction of the new conventional ferry is completed, it is anticipated that all day service would improve ridership during this time period.
Reduction of 130 annual service hours.

The changes were announced quietly on Metro Transit's web page, apparently after The Coast began making enquiries. Transit employees were only told of the changes this morning last week.

Metro Transit's PR department did not immediately return a call for comment.

As Haligonians emerge from their winter hibernation, they see one area where spring has not sprung: The Oval. The gravel-rimmed concrete track sits barren on the otherwise bustling public arena leaving Common crossers to wonder: With the ice gone, what use is this to me?

“We’re excited about the potential and the possibilities,” said Oval manager John Henry, addressing the attendees of the Oval Public Engagement Session Thursday night. The meeting was the final consultation stage before city planners present their proposal for phase two of The Oval’s development to city council.

Before yesterday’s meeting much had already been decided with regards to The Oval, following what was heard at an October information session, through focus groups and via an online survey conducted last month.

“In most cases, what folks wanted was open, accessible, recreational space,” said Henry. Sound familiar? That’s because in many ways, the public’s vision for The Oval closely mirrors what the Commons was originally intended for and how it looks today.

The planning team’s guiding principles for The Oval’s year-round activities restates the obvious: the Common should be welcoming, offer amenities to the many, be geared towards family and the community, and be respectful of the surrounding neighbourhood.

Perhaps most obvious is the team’s goal to “work within the character of the Common” by following the 2010 Halifax North Common Conceptual Plan. It intends for a better-lit, wider-walkway, increased-foliage, Common entrance plazas, seating nooks, a designated events area and turning that cement circle of questionable purpose into a fountain.

These changes may sound extensive but, by the looks of things, they’re fairly peripheral. What the 2010 conceptual plan doesn’t include is The Oval, which, if it wasn’t clear already, is a pretty big deal on the Common.

In concrete terms (excuse the pun), Common users can expect The Oval area to be built up---$3 million-worth of development. Aside from the general North Common improvements, The Oval area will be hardscaped (read: paved) and outfitted with plenty of greenery. The north side of The Oval will be given its own entrance area replete with warming huts. The south side entrance, in turn, will get a drop-off area for cars and school buses.

“We want it to be warm and accessible from a feeling and a temperature point of view, and we want it to be green,” said city staffer Terry Gallagher Thursday night. “The buildings we’ve had so far on site have not been inspiring,” he added with a chuckle.

Last week, the request for proposals closed for the $1.4 million pavilion building having received nine tenders. Planned for the spot where the skate rental stood this winter, it’s to house the two ice resurfacers, Henry’s programming office and staff room, the skate and helmet shop, washrooms and a lounge. The chosen contractor must create a LEED Gold green building design and---possibly more difficult still---please the public’s aesthetic eye. Those polled were split between wanting traditional styling and a modern look. Gallagher says the proposed design will have to combine the two---a feat one can only fathom.

Meanwhile, The Oval programming plans for scheduled unstructured use: a contradiction in terms that speaks to the city’s desire to appeal to the public’s enthusiasm for free (that’s both cost-wise and option-wise) recreation while also maintaining control over the space. Henry said the winter programming is likely to change little. Based on the survey, popular options for the warmer months are roller and inline skating, road hockey, biking, ultimate Frisbee and special events such as farmer’s markets and festivals.

“Right now, the wonderful part about this (space) is it’s multi-use,” said Henry.

But participants in the engagement session thought otherwise. While many acknowledged the potential for the area’s multi-use, few believe it exists in actuality: all they see is 180 days of skating.

By this time next year, The Oval will hopefully be summer-ready. Until then, Common-ers can continue to use the area as they see fit.

The Halifax Mooseheads became just the fourth team in the forty plus years of the QMJHL to come back from a 3-0 deficit and win a best of seven playoff series on Tuesday night. And they did it with some absolutely mind numbingly great performances. Just like they have all year.  

First year captain Cameron Critchlow, acquired in the dispersal draft of Lewiston Maineaics players after that team folded, had a four goal game, accounting for all of the Mooseheads regulation tallies. 16-year-old rookie, Jonathan Drouin, followed up a tremendous 2 goal 2-assist effort on Monday night with the overtime winner in Tuesday’s Game 7.   

The series with the now defeated Quebec Remparts was the best hockey this city has seen in a long time. And Mooseheads fans needed it. Let’s face it, the Mooseheads haven’t been a particularly good team and low attendance numbers suggested fans were taking a line from Classified’s “Maritimes” song to heart; “Home of the Mooseheads, but I don’t really go there.”   

It was a legendary comeback from one of the best collections of young talent the Mooseheads have ever assembled. Fans naturally had high expectations from a team featuring Cole Harbour’s current wunderkind rookie, Nathan MacKinnon. Unfortunately past playoff iterations of the Mooseheads have found ways to hurriedly doff fans’ somewhat grandiose expectations. No one needs to be reminded of the dream combination of Brad Marchand and Jakub Voracek that seemed monstrous on paper, but was swept away by eventual league champion, Gatineau in the Q semifinals in 2007-08.   

This incarnation of the team seems much different than its predecessors. They have exceeded all expectations. It is improbable for a team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a best of seven playoff series.  It’s impossible to state just how inspiring it is for fans to see their team accomplish that feat.   

We’re not going to see another team like this for a long time.