#19forPresident!

I couldn't agree more. Lower bowl seats usually leave me wondering where the 25$ difference went, thats if you paid to sit there of course. Unless a fight happens right in front of your face its not really worth it, you can see alot more action in the upper bowl. Up top, front 10 rows are perfect.

Oh Pronger's jaw is vulnerable alright, just ask Brian Burke about their special time in his office after practice, it would explain all the "long skate tonight honey, I'll be late so don't wait up" incidents to his wife, and that gap in his teeth.

less than 2 weeks and back to the infirmary

Bowman. Not just because of his resume, but also because of the way he handles himself. He can bring the best out of players, and bring out parts of their game they didn't know they had. i.e. turning Yzerman from a natural scorer into a defensive minded, well rounded leader. On top of that he has fire. When Mark Crawford, who is at least 20 years his junior tried to get lippy with him on the bench, what did he do? Leaned over like he was about to rip his face off and dished it right back. To polish it off he's got a subtle sense of humor about everything, which is hard to maintain when you spend so much time being serious in the leadership role. No. 2 for me is Babcock. Lol, certainly seems biased, but Bowman is a clear first, and while he doesn't have the hardware and history, Babcock reminds me of him in many senses so naturally I like his style too.

"There is a certain etiquette that must be followed for fans that wish to throw octopuses onto the ice. The most appropriate time to throw an octopus onto the ice is after the national anthem is sung or after the Red Wings have scored a goal. Under these circumstances, the eight-legged creature must be thrown onto the ice surface in an area that is clear of all players. It is never acceptable to aim for opposing players. Beforehand, octopuses are usually boiled by fans to reduce the amount of "slime" coating and facilitate the time it takes to clean up the ice and prevent further delay. Al Sobotka is the man responsible for removing the thrown creatures from the ice. He is known for swinging the tossed octopuses above his head when walking off the ice. Since Joe Louis Arena does not condone the throwing of any foreign objects onto the ice, fans often sneak the sea creatures in wrapped around their bellies in trash bags. The boiling process also lessens the odor and allows the fans to get past security. Tactics are also used to protect the identity of octopus-throwers from arena security. It is common practice for the hurler to ask the surrounding people to stand up with him to shroud the task in anonymity." Excerpt from an old article that was still linked on wikipedia, there used to be a video somewhere with the Detroit fish market that pre-prepares them specifically for throwing, I'm sure someone around here with a better memory than me will think of it, and maybe even find a link. Sidenote: People who are identified and caught ARE actively removed from games for throwing them. During the playoffs games I attended last year I watched people get escorted out during the Calgary and San Jose series for doing it either after the anthem or very early in the game.

Malts has quietly been one of the best agitators in the game for a very long time, I couldn't agree more. I don't like it when he starts scoring honestly because his job is so much easier when nobody is paying attention.

Well I can only speak for myself personally here, but I don't think people are rooting for him so much to support him getting back into playing shape physically, that is just something professional athletes do. It happens after the off season every year, hell if you miss a couple weeks from an injury you need to work hard to get back to where you were. So DMac knows what he needs to do, and how to do it, you're right about that. I think most people are being vocal about supporting him because he's reviving his career in the time of personal crisis. He was a serious alcoholic and gambler, which automatically screws everything in your personal life, multiplied by ten if you have a family. I'm sure we have all known someone like this to some extent, but battling your personal demons while you're trying to do something as difficult as compete at the professional level in any sport is a serious accomplishment, and a hell of a turnaround. So I don't think the back patting is because we're worried about his playing shape, so much as we're proud of his recovery.

Well I understand your opinion and optimism on the topic of adversity, but I like to think that our team culture over the last 20 years has taught our players, new and old, that they should play to win regardless of the last time that they lost. There is enough adversity in the playoffs to make my year personally, we don't need to squeak into the tournament (not that we're even close to that point) to be successful. The media loves to hype up the Cinderella story teams year after year, like Edmonton when they only lost a couple games in March barely making the 8th seed and beat us in the first round and went to the finals etc, etc. But I think that if you're motivated by losing then you don't belong in Detroit, you should be driven to win regardless and not be pressured into doing it. Right now this team is just dealing with bad breaks, the quarterback of our puck control system, our team captain, and best player is the league is injured, granted we've got Kronner back, and Meetch and Ericsson have looked good, but we will see a return to grace come in direct correlation with the return of the rest of our top 4 D. Having said that, our secondary scoring has been nonexistant the last month which is killing us, Z and Dats can't do it all, and I was happy to see Samuelsson and Flip step up the last couple games. Cleary's return will be huge etc, etc, but we all already know all this. Tough luck is tough luck, not much you can do but wait it out. Its only a matter of time, we get healthy and we'll be winning again,

Well, all I can say about it without getting as negative as I feel is that if the referees in this league were fined and suspended with the same scrutiny that players are, then someone would be getting a pay dock and some time off in the very near future. sidenote: Thank God Mickey's back, someone to tell it how it is, not that anybody besides Wings fans listen, but its nice to hear it said by someone besides my own screaming voice. Stay healthy Mick, welcome back!

Awesome, keep your ducks in a row Darren everybody's pulling for you

Damnit, now I have to grab my ipod, queue up the old R.E.M. "end of the world" and head to the bathtub with a hairdryer.

"There will be some moves," general manager Ken Holland said The Wings expect to participate. Must be talking about line dancing

Seriously, Lang to Detroit. In return, a box of crayolas (with sharpener!) and a "Playing in April and Beyond, a Guide to Success" coloring book to Chicago. Get it done Kenny!

Live by the sword, die by the sword. I haven't seen a player that runs at people like he does since Ulf Samuelsson, so whatever, I wouldn't wish death upon him but if his career ended early I wouldn't feel sorry for him either.

He's a talented kid no question. In the 1-0 loss to Dallas last week he made some seriously impressive stops. Last night was just a day at the office, you can't win them all, but on that note for as hard as he works its a shame we can't get him a W when he's in net.

He's just mad because he knows Cheli is in better shape at 46 then Roenick was at 26.

I missed everything but the SO due to work, was it a good fight? Please tell me he put Perry's nose through the back of his head. As far as nicknames go I've got nothing worth mention

FSN Detroit Schedule

Did you see the save by Zigomanis at the very end of the saves reel? While it was great, it leaves me with one question. How the hell can they show that, which was from an insignificant regular season game, and they chose NOT to show Lidstrom's circus act against Grier in the playoffs? I'll go ahead and answer my own question, its because they're ESPN and they couldn't care less about hockey so they probably had some intern put these togeather as punishment for screwing up the coffee orders that morning. Leave this stuff to TSN! Only way this could have been worse is if they had clips of Melrose predicting the Ducks as champs hidden in the middle of the reels.

Sadly enough I grew up going to Storm games and while its got ice, sticks, and nets there isn't a lot of talent in that league, it barely qualifies as hockey. It's more like a fight league than anything else, so if they disappear for a couple years nobody would miss them much, which they probably figured.

Well if everyone thought that way there would still be only 6 teams playing each other a million times a season. Not trying to bash you, I'm not a big fan of some expansion teams locations myself, but the game expanding is a good thing in most respects. Also moving teams in markets with solid fanbases (Columbus, Minn), when the North Stars moved to Dallas they had great fans but the city couldn't get a new arena to please the ownership so they up and left, pissing off a ton of people with their lack of loyalty, which sucked for hockey because the game lost alot more fans in the twin cities then it gained in Dallas. Thats not to say they didn't gain more fans in Dallas after several years, nor is it to say they didn't gain fans back with the introduction of the Wild, but the initial hit to the fan base of hockey as a result of that move was bad. Most Minnesotans love the game, not the crowd you want to piss off when your league is "struggling" to compete for viewership but there wasn't much the league could do to stop it. As far as taking Nashville to Canada, I say go ahead, but Basillie disagrees. Their fan support has been less than impressive, despite their high ranking performances which is pretty sad since alot of cities would love that team. So if they moved to somewhere they were appriciated more then thats a good thing. But moving teams around for the hell of it makes no sense, although we all know some people will do it for the right ammount of money. I'm just glad Detroit will never be one of those teams.

I'm in there somewhere but I was on the bench side around center ice, 3rd or 4th row in the 2nd tier so I'm not in that pic

I agree, douchebags are only douchebags until they play for you, because they are usually good at taking people off their game without getting penalized, hence why we hate them. Its like the old saying, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Well an ounce of annoyance is worth a pound of distraction, distraction can be priceless when someone forgets to cover Z for a second and he's already behind them on a break. And guys like Avery can provide alot more than an ounce of annoyance. Guys like that have people so pissed off they forget where the hell they are, let alone their their game plan. Thats not to say some agitators aren't capable of being goal scorers but they are alot better at creating a better scoring environment for our big guns. Think of them as psychological set up men, they might not get an assist on the scoresheet but they can cause so much distraction they might as well. Now thats not saying I'd run out and throw 3-4 million at Avery with hugs and kisses, but he would definitely be a plus for the right price.

He rubbed me the wrong way with some of his lippy comments, Grapes is the only guy that can get away with some of the crap Brett said, and he's no Grapes.