55fan

Some sell their souls to Satan to play with the Wings; others sell their spleens. Both start with S. Not expecting him to bring down the house, but I hope he has a good showing.

Or butterfly, as the need may be.

What time does the second game officially start? The stream I found doesn't come on for another half hour.

winter. Hockey and curling need ice. When your team is losing: Whine and complain, get mad, or accept that you can't win 'em all?

Hope so! If someone streams the alumni games, I'll watch them, and the WC is on NBC.

I wonder if Ryan is actually grey too or if he dyes. Only his hairdresser knows for sure. (And if you remember that commercial, you're old.) I think (barring injury) it'll be Miller- Quick- Howard.

When Cleary loses a tooth, an angel gets its Wings. Seriously, OUCH! I can't even imagine them being half knocked out and the nerves exposed and all that.

Kind of the best of both worlds- he gets the honour and experience, but he probably won't be playing in games. He'll keep in shape practice-wise, but hopefully won't get injured. (knocking wood as I speak)

Top one. Bottom one looks like she's desperate for attention. Canned or frozen fruits/veggies?

Good going, Jimmy! Maybe this will give him a shot of confidence and a little swagger.

DeKe for sure. He does seem to have a good head on his shoulders. I honestly don't know enough about the others to be sure. The few that have been up have only been up for a few games, or don't appear to have what it takes yet. They're still young. Some won't end up here, of course, and others will mature well. There really aren't ones like Hank and Pavel who we knew would be the next generation of leaders, but at this point, I'm not worried. As Kip said, there are enough in between to pass the torch to before these guys get it. The only one I'm really out-of-my-mind high on is Dekeyser. Now that I've said that, he'll probably have a bad sophomore season next year (I'm not counting last year as a season for this purpose) and he'll be like Ericsson where we have to be patient as everyone dumps on him. I'm interested to know what the people who follow the Griffins think.

I think he meant Mark. I was wondering about that too.

No. Creepy is when you run out and buy a bunch of makeup and dress up as the Avon Lady to find out for sure. I'm not sure if I'd want the camera crews to give too many hints about where I lived. Most of us are just interested, but there are stalkers out there. If I was a player, especially one with kids, I'd be keeping it a bit more low-key.

I know. I just had to get "humour" in there. So... would Yzerman have been a "misfit" when he started? I mean, because he was really good and that wasn't what the team was known for at that time, so he didn't really fit the mold as it was. (semantics)

Am I assuming that all goalies will get time in the net rather than the usual starter/backup thing? Man, if I can't see these games, I'm going to die right here and now (although I won't know that until tomorrow, so dying right here and now might be difficult). Serious excitement!

He did do a lot with the team. He took them out of the cellar and into the main floor. Now we need someone who can get them to the penthouse.

You, my friend, have no sense of humour.

It's official: We're getting a new coach. http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000307053/article/jim-schwartz-fired-by-detroit-lions-after-five-seasons

Oh- I get what you're saying now. I went back and re-read your post that I had originally responded to. I thought you were saying that Babs had a lack of leadership. I now realize that you were saying that the team had a lack of leadership from within its ranks. Yeah- I totally agree with that. Sorry for the confusion.

Someone insulting someone else is not "shocking" nor is it news. It's been going on since the dawn of time. If someone says something stupid, don't rush to blog about it. Deal with it like an adult. Did they call your daughter a fat cow? Call your son a limp-wristed nancy-boy? Deal with it, and if you're the parent, help your kid deal with it. Was what they said true? No? Teach your kid to ignore it (or give a smart-ass comment, if the kid is old and smart enough). Yes? Tell your kid that they'll either have to accept who they are even if others don't or change who they are. The choice is theirs. People will be mean jerks. People will say stupid things. It's not news. And after all these years in the history of the world, it's not "shocking".

I don't know about lack of leadership, but he nailed the problem- no emotion, going through the motions, all that. They had given up before it was over. The coach has to have the senior players backing him up there. They're the ones who have to rise up, dig in, and motivate the others. There was a game against Chicago 6 or 7 years ago where we lost 6-0. Malts and Cheli were the only players on the team who put any effort into that game. They were too old to actually make a difference, but they tried to lead by example. They were what Cleary has become.

That's the frustrating part. They have the pieces. It's not like back when we were praying that Hipple could complete a pass to Chadwick before the pocket collapsed 0.343 seconds after the snap. The neutral zone infractions are a bit better, but they're still driving me nuts.

I know you're a Preds fan, but since you like the Wings too you need to sit between fans of both teams. When the Preds score high-five Preds fans with your right hand, and when the Wings score high-five Wings fans with your left hand. I hope your left hand gets slapped silly!

Not really. Kids need more practice. It's like that with anything you do. If you've been doing something for 20 years, you're probably as good as you're going to get at it. If you're 20 years old, there's still a lot of room to grow. Another thing is that the kids are still getting used to the NHL game, and since they're call-ups, they're still fitting into the lineup and getting used to their teammates. The vets that have been here a while know each others' tendencies, and the ones like Alfie may not know the individuals, but they've been around enough to adjust quickly. Both the need for practice and the need for making them more comfortable in their surroundings are reasons to have the kids practice more. Other thoughts: "Go dye your hair." Really? That's like calling the fat kid "fatso". Shows no originality or effort. -oooooooh burn, did you wake up at three in the morning thinking "hey! he has grey hair! I'll tell him to dye it!"- Don't quit your day job. Nice bit on DeKe. It's what the series needs: more slow-mo getting-dressed shots not involving equipment. The whole "putting on skates and/or pads in slow-mo" is getting old. Johan's Eddie is getting to be a big boy. Cute as a little muffin. Hank moved three years ago? After he and Emma re-did the kitchen in their old house? Wow. That rich and still flipping houses. Wonder if this one was a fixer-upper too. That would be a cool show. Hockey + DYI = my kind of show. Smith's dad is funny. Loved the "went down like a cheap suit" comment. Was waiting for "hooker" rather than "suit" but I guess even dads draw the line somewhere. Not in the show, but would have been cool props: Dec. 19th was 3 years of sobriety for Tootoo. Good for him.

The guy on the Fox pre-game show speculated that Jim Schwarz may be gone after this season. My pastor's wife agrees. She says that he's undisciplined and that it reflects in the team. Given all of the stupid penalties, especially in the neutral zone, that the Lions take, I agree. I'm usually the last one to think that a new coach would change things, but in this case, I think she has a point. Any thoughts and/or speculation?