stormboy

pretty....

hmmm...so under what circumstances can someone be sent back and forth twixt the the n- and ahl without clearing waivers? i have to admit, i've never been the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to contract/cba/salaray cap kinda stuff. either way, i'm predicting that downey scores a goal this season. i don't know how, i don't know when. but mark my words. downey will tickle the twine.

cross. while we're on the negative energy (which, don't get me wrong, i don't mind; i can be a pretty negative person) i'll just take this random opportunity to say that i hate it when people make a statement followed by: /thread i'm glad that those people decided that the topic was good enough for them to post on, but that their statement was the end-all-be-all, absolutely definitive, final thought that ever needed to be expressed on the subject (or, at the very least, in this particular context). and it's amazing, somehow, by god's grace alone, your pseudo-html code didn't work out: the thread kept going. maybe you forgot the <>'s. or maybe no one gives a s***. but, yeah, cory cross or whatever. f*** it. i haven't slept in about 26 hours.

as someone who used to play the game myself, i can only imagine how hilarious an NHL magic game would be. of course, if they ever made the game, we'd all ***** about how all the redwings' stats were too low. i'm not sure if kronner would have flying, but he would def. have trample. and i think instead of using photos they should still have artists draw them, but in all sorts of glorious situations, fighting archangels and stuff. haha... i think the goalies would be walls. homer would have a relatively low attack, probably, but then an enchantment that would be something about him screening the goalie which would up his attack enormously. of course, the other player could just cast an instant called "the homer effect" which would instantly nullify the goal. it would also read: "if giggy is under your control, tap giggy and bury holmstrom." okay, i should seriously stop.

*shudders* it reminds me of sometime, i think last year, that hank had gotten some teeth knocked out/chipped/some caps chipped off and had the most nasty maw i think i've ever seen in my life. every time he opened his mouth i just cringed. but, yeah, homer...got a great looking dude back in the day. not that he's a supermodel now....

^ plus, they're probably not willing to devote much of the budget to those things. mlb can use the money they make from forcing people to pay for streamed audio and pay people to investigate this s***. also, i've never understood charging for something that you're broadcasting free over the air (e.g. radio). you woudl think that if they could show that through streaming they had drastically increased the amount of listeners, they could charge more for ads. but, then again, i suppose local advertisers would have no reason to pay more. *shrug* oh well. i'm glad i'm a bigger nhl fan than an mlb fan.

4rd.

although it would be worth three million dollars to see zetterberg in a toga saying "pizza, pizza," with his swedish accent.

i, for one, think this is fun and good. with chicago somehow having our number last season and them looking to be an improved team this year, this could develop into a decent rivalry. plus, this is generating attention not just for the wings-blackhawks rivalry, but for hockey in general. kudos to the county commissioner. just get ready to lose january first. go wings!

it depends on what the definition of "highlight-reel goal" in this context is. people are talking about goals that are really really significant in terms of winning the cup...but maybe the question is like what goal, out of any context, is just the sweetest goal to watch. i haven't been watching the NHL for a long time, so i don't have that much history to look back on. the only other one that i saw this year that really blew me away was that rick nash goal where he deked like three defensemen and then made an amazing move on the goalie. but it seems like, not to take away from that amazing play, but if you watch it really carefully, when he moves in on the goalie, he sort of loses the puck into the goalie's pads, and then it kind of squirts out right on to his tape. if the goalie had frozen it or if it had taken a different bounce, he wouldn't have scored, and then it just would have been a cool looking rush. but that's not what happened, and it was a beautiful goal. another one that i'm thinking of (it may have been last year) is where zetterberg goes for the wraparound, and the goalie assumes he's going to stuff it short side and so goes down to squeeze the post, but then z holds on to it for just another split second and waits for the goalie to commit and then roofs it. that was pure brilliance. for whatever reason, those are the two that come to mind, but that fly-ppula was to me just a more beautiful goal than any other i can think of, regardless of the significance. if that goal had been scored in a 6-0 game in the third week of the regular season, it's still, on its own, just an absolutely amazing goal to watch happen.

i remember last year (i think) this one game where hudler scored a goal...it seemed like mickey was just drunk off his ass in the booth, and after hudler scored, mickey was like, "what a great goal for the tchsezchkoshlowshlackian!" especially since hudler is technically just czech, it was amazing. i dunno...i think hudler is given a bit of a raw deal, and that is small size is given excessive attention. his defensive abilities have really increased in the last year and a half, in my opinion. with the offensive potential he brings and his improved defense, i'll keep him around. he seems like he's been buying into bab's system more, especially late last year, and it's working for him. hopefully he keeps it up next year.

when hossa scores his 300th, we should all act like we've been counting them down since 251.

it's a fair point. i agree that his downturn in playing ability and attitude were the reasons for his downgrade to potential backup, and therefore his motivation to sign in russia. it's very possible that ray emery is just a bad seed. in response to this: i'll go along with that by saying that i can't give you anecdotal evidence to support my supposition that racism has something to do with ray emery's career trajectory. all i'm saying is that it's pretty clear that he came to feel like an outsider, hence his lack of commitment to the team. that could be purely only personal and non-racial issues. but what i'm saying is, and in response to this: when you're a black man in a country, culture, and sport that is predominantly white and in which whites have the vast majority of the power, and in which there is a ubiquitous underpinning of racism from a high percentage of the people, smart money says that his race and our country (and canada's) racist tendencies played some part in his feelings, decisions, and behaviors. i guess because i can't prove it, maybe i don't have a right to speculate. but i guess i'm a little sensitive because i hear people say all the time that they're not racist, and then observe racist tendencies that they themselves may not be aware they're exhibiting but nevertheless influence not only their lives, but the lives of people of other skin colors whom they encounter. and i've heard enough people say, "racism is dead," only to hear people make happy comments that they thought were in private about two black girls drowning in the river in my hometown to know that racism ain't ******* dead. and it pops up where you'd least expect it. so, i guess all i can really do is say, "huh...i wonder if racism had something to do with that. i bet it did, but i can't really know for sure," and then discuss it with my friends/people on the internet and hope that it's something that people think more about and take more seriously. i guess that's what my aim here is. i appreciate your honest comments and your non-inflammatory way of stating your opinions, even if i don't fully understand them.

as one of the few in this thread who has thought that there was some element of race involved, i agree with everything you've said here. my point has never been that emery simply had to sign in russia because of the color of his skin. another poster made a point about sean avery and all the problems people have had with his antics and personality. and yeah, he gets bounced from team to team, but he still keeps getting offered contracts. i could be wrong here, but it seems to me that if a black guy was going what avery does, he'd have a lot harder of a time getting a contract. i've never said that anyone looked at emery and said, "you're black; we're not signing you." my point is that whether it's been in his relationships with his teammates or the attention he's gotten in the media or whatever, it has all been affected in (sometimes imperceptible) ways. i just think when people immediately dismiss any mention of race in a context like this it's a bit ignorant. a lot of people are willing to move on and look past it, but the thing is that a lot--and i mean a lot of people--overtly or not--are still affected by the color of someone else's skin. i'm not a huge fan of the term "race card" because it implies that any time anyone brings up the issue of race, they're just using it as an excuse that is illegitimate. a few weeks ago, i got put in a cop car because i gave a black guy a few cigarettes at the liquor store down the street. the white cop thought we were doing a drug deal. now do you honestly thing that two white guys at a suburban gas station would have gotten that kind of attention? no chance in hell. and if curtis, the guy who i was talking to who also got searched and put in the cop car, said that his treatment had something to do with race, then he's absolutely right. and for someone to say, "oh, he was just playing the race card" is absurd. i know that's a little off topic, but it ties into my point that you can't just dismiss these things. i'm glad this thread was created for discussion. there's no way to quantify what percentage of emery's cumulative problems are a result of race. but it's something that at least needs to be considered and not simply dismissed with an, "oh bulls***" comment. edit: grammar

this one time he did go 33-16-6 with five shutouts.

that's over-simplification. look, the fact is that race in north america and, in this context, north american sports, is a complex issue. when expectations and attitudes are placed on you, it's easy to fulfill them without trying. when you feel singled out as it is--which there's no way to not feel like a little bit of an outsider when you're (to my knowledge) the only black person on the team and one of only a handful in the league--it's easy to go further and further off the deep end. when all your press is "cancer in the dressing room," and "fights teammates," throw in a few "hip-hop style" comments (read: typical n***er) it's pretty clear that emery was getting the "angry black guy" label in the NHL, although most people are too PC to say that that's what they're actually thinking. i'm not saying he doesn't have the ability to transcend this predicament--certainly he could have made the choice to take the high road. but that's a lot harder than it sounds. i'm not saying he didn't get re-signed because he's black. i'm just saying that the entire race issue factors into all of this, and to pretend that it's not there is just not paying attention.

neat. i hope we play atlanta and pitts in the same weak.

yeah, i'm going to have to go ahead and say that i don't give this source an amazing amount of credibility.

i hope so.

i don't know izzy24, and so i can't judge whether this is sarcastic or not. for the sake of the american public, i'm going to hope that people don't actually hold this opinion. if you're being sarcastic, then i'm sorry for jumping on you. but i know that there are people who actually think racism is dead. look, this was supposed to be a "discussion" thread, and so far, all i've read is "f*ck emery" and "oh, of COURSE the racist card." so, for the record, i don't really like ray emery. i think he has work ethic problems, at least from what i've read. but, since this is the internet and no one's probably going to read this post anyway, i'll just tell a little story. i am i white dude (as i assume the majority of the people on this website are), and i live in in a neighborhood that is almost exclusively black. and, occasionally, when i get out of my car and walk into my house, there are lots of people standing in front of the house next to me or across the street from my house and you know, it's funny. i always get this vibe. it's not hate. it's not prejudice (necessarily), but it's much more of a, "what the hell are you doing here, in this neighborhood" kind of vibe. and that's me, being a white male, being the most privileged demographic on the planet. now, i agree that i have never heard about racism in the modern NHL (people getting slurs painted on their lockers, etc.). but that doesn't mean nothing subtle goes on. and it's a lot easier to sit from the position of the people who have always had all the power and all the advantages and say, "stop whining about racial discrimination!" but let me tell you something: white people in north america still have most of the power and most of the money. look at the incarceration rates for young black men. look at the poverty statistics. look at predominately african american inner-city schools, for god's sake. the entire culture still rests on a fundamental (at least perceived) value difference between white folks and black folks. now to say that if he walks into a locker room he is bombarded with overt racial assaults if obviously an exaggeration. but if i feel singled out walking to my house in grand rapids michigan, imagine how emery feels every time he goes anywhere. and to the poster that said saying "hip-hop lifestyle" is really a euphemism for "typical n***er," you're absolutely right. so, look, i'm not saying that emery is justified in all of his antics, and that teams should necessarily be flocking to him with open arms. but my only essential point is that if you think for one minute that his being black has nothing to do with his entire mindset towards the game, his behavior within it, and his exit from it (at least the north american [and incidentally, best] version) you need to look outside your little white box for a few moments. if this is not proof that racism is still alive, then this is:

while it might be a little early to be talking about the finals of next year (although it seems everyone has already put us there), mine is definitely not a cup-or-nothing mentality. the wings are going to win a lot of games next season, and more than that, they're going to play at least 82. obviously, winning is way more fun than losing, but the fact is that i get to watch all my favorite players play a whole ton of games next year. since i love hockey and i love the wings, it's a win-win situation. sure, i'll be dissapointed, and will probably be depressed for a few days afterwards if they lose at any point in the postseason (since, let's be honest). bottom line: are the wings playing hockey next year? then i won't be that disappointed.

the only thing that sucks about this is that all now my non-wing's-fans friends are going to jump all over me if the wings don't easily storm through the regular- and post-season. hopefully our boys handle the pressure and expectations as well as we all know they can.

hmmm...if it's true, damn. kid seemed like he was going to really develop nicely. i mean, i'm sure he still will. just in russia.

now, franzen = 93.

i'm not sure what context this was said in...it sounds like he's saying that because detroit is so good, they get players (e.g. hossa) who will do anything to play there...and that that is a positive thing that his organization aspires to. but, if he's talking about something else, then i'm not sure what he's getting at, or what you mean by "does it again." maybe i'm just missing something here... link?