As I write this on Friday, the Sharks have a 50.8% chance to make the playoffs. That's up 13.5 percentage points from 24 hours ago. As far as I can tell from my position here in the past, there don't seem to be any games involving Western teams in the playoff race on Friday, so the Sharks' odds should remain the same going into tonight's game against the Coyotes.

A fifty percent chance to make the playoffs. A coin flip.

For some situations in life, 50/50 odds are pretty nice. In any sort of contest or gambling scenario, a coin flip's chance is fantastic (which is why my favorite game in Las Vegas is the Luxor's coin flip tables). 50% odds of getting a job you want is pretty nice. Sometimes, a coin flip is a very attractive proposition.

When it comes to other uncertainties in life, however, 50/50 is bad. If that's your odds of surviving a disease, then that's certainly a bummer. If an extreme sport killed participants fifty percent of the time it would be unacceptable (though probably really awesome).

At the beginning of the season a lot of people would have said the Sharks had a greater than 50% chance to win the division. Now they need a coin to land in their favor to even see the post-season.

Call it, friend-o.

Prediction: It's tails! Sharks win!