The end. Finally.

If you want to know the end, look at the beginning.

--African proverb

The Thrashers fell into a deep hole at the beginning of the season, going 0-6, and though they pulled back to even a couple times, never turned it into a winning season. They ended the year where they started it, in the basement. Not so for the Washington Capitals, who bucked the proverb and turned their struggles around to win the Southeast Division tonight in amazing fashion.

While the Thrashers' season was over long ago from a competitive standpoint, the schedule went on and on. And on. Top to bottom there were a lot of grumpy people by the end, so it's going to be good to just get all parties away from each other and distracted by other things. We say goodbye to Bobby Holik and Brad McCrimmon. After the affiliates end their playoff runs, I'm going to be happy to dial down the blog for the summer as well.

Oh and the temperature inside Philips Arena? (Someone asked me this recently) I measured 63.7 degrees. It might have been a little warmer if it had been full. The official attendance was 18,732 tonight, but I just shook my head when I saw that number. There were lots of empty seats, in the areas that sell out last. It was the worst-attended finale I can remember. There's going to be a lot for the marketing department to do over the next six months.