55fan

The Wings did something or other where they played baseball. Kronner thought he got a guy out because the rules are different in Sweden. Whatever position you have them play, make sure to specify the rules. Didn't he look a lot younger back then?

I'd ask Mario. "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" and if he said, "Trade Malkin!" I'd give him the Klondike bar. I work in a convenience store. I can buy another one. As great as Malkin is, I agree with those who say it's not worth breaking the future to get him for a year. If they were looking for a salary dump and would take a lower-level player in return, I'd certainly entertain thoughts of that, but that would be seriously bad management on their part.

It was ok. Their stuff is either average or the funniest thing you've read in a long time. That one was average. The person below me has concentration issues and either repeats themselves or leaves things out or doesn't finish things or repeats them

Ladybug. Dragonflies weird me out. Your friend has big news (engaged, pregnant, etc.): Hear every last detail or just the basic news itself?

This is the big thing. If they're used to them, it won't change anything for them. If they have to suddenly start wearing them, it will. If you've always (or at least for many, many years) worn glasses, you don't even think about it, but if you get a pair after never wearing them, you have to re-learn how to see. I'm at the reading-glasses age, and it's a royal pain. My supervisor has worn glasses since he was a kid, and I've never seen him with fogged-up glasses no matter how hot and humid it gets, but you can put a pair on me in the dead of winter, and I'm apparently exhaling out of my tear ducts. Visors aren't a bad thing- far from it. Having to change your game in the later stages of your career is a pain, and they've avoided it by allowing grandfathering. It's a good call.

No to the D. The rest of it doesn't bother me.

For me it comes down to this: Just how much does a man value his most prized and irreplaceable function? How about his second most? How about third most? Was there this much fight when they mandated helmets and nut cups? I remember that there was when they argued the former, but I don't recall any fury over the latter.

Works for me. I'm glad that you included both Mr and Mrs. They've done this together.

I'm glad it was grandfathered in. Sure they're a good thing safety-wise, but if you're not used to playing with them, it can throw you a bit. They just decided that one area of the plant where I work now requires safety glasses. I hate the things. We haven't worn them in that area since we got the machines over 10 years ago, and no one's been hurt. But rules are rules and we have the whole OSHA thing to deal with, so we're stuck. I wish like crazy that they'd been grandfathered in. I've had to wear them on other jobs and hated them just as bad. (I also hated prescription glasses, but that's neither here nor there.) It's different when you get used to doing something without and have to switch to them than if you walk in on your first day and train in seeing things weird, and that's what I think they're addressing here. Some guys have played for years without them. No reason to make them re-learn skills that call for exceptional eye-hand coordination. Hmm... wonder if they'd let me wear a visor instead...

A retired gentleman went to the social security office to apply for Social Security. The woman behind the counter asked him for his driver's license to verify his age. He looked in his pockets and realized he had left his wallet at home. He told the woman that he was very sorry but he seemed to have left his wallet at home. "I will have to go home and come back later." The woman says, "Unbutton your shirt." So he opens his shirt revealing curly silver hair. She says, "That silver hair on your chest is proof enough for me" and she processed his Social Security application. When he gets home, the man excitedly tells his wife about his experience at the social security office. She says, "You should have dropped your pants. You might have gotten disability too." And another one: An elderly couple had been experiencing declining memories, so they decided to take a power memory class where one is taught to remember things by association. A few days after the class, the old man was outside talking with his neighbor about how much the class helped him. "What was the name of the Instructor?" asked the neighbor. "Oh, ummmm, let's see," the old man pondered. "You know that flower, you know, the one that smells really nice but has those prickly thorns, what's that flower's name?" "A rose?" asked the neighbor. "Yes, that's it," replied the old man. He then turned toward his house and shouted, "Hey, Rose, what's the name of the Instructor we took the memory class from?" And another one: A wealthy man was having an affair with an Italian woman for a few years. One night, during one of their rendezvous, she confided in him that she was pregnant. Not wanting to ruin his reputation or his marriage, he paid her a large sum of money if she would go to Italy to have the child. If she stayed in Italy, he would also provide child support until the child turned 18. She agreed, but wondered how he would know when the baby was born. To keep it discrete, he told her to mail him a post card, and write "Spaghetti" on the back. He would then arrange for child support. One day, about 9 months later, he came home to his confused wife. "Honey," she said, "you received a very strange post card today." "Oh, just give it to me and I'll explain it later," he said. The wife obeyed, and watched as her husband read the card, turned white, and fainted. On the card was written "Spaghetti, Spaghetti, Spaghetti. Two with meatballs, one without."

I'm still trying to figure out why everyone is up in arms about this. "It's very important to sign him" Duh. No one is arguing that. "he's got options, too. I'm going to make a call to his agent. I'd like to have a conversation." Of course he's got other options. We've been debating whether he'll stay here or go KHL for months. Also, he technically and legally does have the option of going to another team, and it has happened where other players have stunned their fanbases by leaving. Pavel has said that he wants to come back, and I believe that he's telling the truth. This isn't a situation like Borque/Hasek/Gretzky etc. where other factors, some beyond the player's control, some involving getting to a winning team, were happening. Still, other teams and the KHL are other options and Kenny can't just assume that we have a done deal no matter how much both want one. Remember Feds. I know, another different case, but still a case for not enumerating pre-natal poultry. Kenny is going to call his agent. Good plan. No one can argue that course of action. Carrier pigeon is SO last century. "We know he's on the team next year." Ya think? His contract doesn't end until the end of next year. If he was going to retire, become a monk, bolt for Russia, or become a lounge singer, he'd have done so already. Trade him? Never! What on earth could you possibly get in return that the league would even allow. Three wishes with the option to use the third wish for unlimited wishes? Not happening. "Negotiations are tough, because the player is trying to find out what's fair for him, and the team is trying to find out, competitively, what makes sense. Just because somebody says they want to stay doesn't mean you're going to have a contract done in a month." Nope. Contracts don't write themselves. Plus since he can't sign another one until the 5th of July, and this quote came before the 5th of June, he can't sign one in a month. All this means is that they need to work out the details. You have to have details. If Pavel wants only red M&M's in his lunchbox, he'll get it, but he may have to forgo the ever-popular NTC to get it. Or vice versa. There's nothing here that says to me that there will be any difficulty on either side, just that they can't do it immediately and that they have to actually sit down and do it. Business, and nothing more, and nothing offensive or dismissive that I can find at all.

IIRC, we did one in honour of Matt, so I guess Mike would be the next logical step. Works for me, although I'm certainly open to entertaining other options.

A high school English teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. "Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being there tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury or illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever." A smart ass guy in the back of the room raises his hand and asks, "What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?" The entire class does its best to stifle their laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles sympathetically at the student, shakes her head, and sweetly says, "Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand."

Two five year old boys are sitting in a hospital waiting room. One leans over to the other and says, "What are you in here for?" The other says, "Circumcision." The first boy says "Oh, man! I had that done right after I was born. I couldn't walk for a year!"

The whole "parity" understanding thing is kind of like how people understand the whole "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."* thing. *Declaration of Independence for those of you not from the US. People think of parity as being the same as being equal, and that being created equal means that we should end up equal. All either of them means is that the rules ought to be the same for everyone, and how well you end up depends on what kind of breaks you get along the way, how you handle adversity, how well you learn from your mistakes- or the mistakes of others- and, in general, just how big of a completly idiotic f***head you are- or not. I think we can see how the people in charge of the successful teams have directly influenced the outcome by depending on their brains, skill, ingenuity, ability, and -on occasion- a bit of luck. To be sure, there will be things that are out of anyone's control- a player gets injured being the biggest example, but over the long-term, the teams that are on top deserve to be there. The day that parity means that we all line up and every 30 years get to raise the Cup is the day that the NHL has truly failed.

Definitely better than last year's. That one pretty much sucked. I like these things if they're well done. I can't wait to read Chicago's.

Quote for pure awesomeness. It's also a good way to start out Hank's reign as captain. I wonder if it was his idea or someone else's. Whoever thought of it should be proud. This year, more than any other year that we haven't won a Cup, I think the fans adore the Wings for what they've put into it. I hope they can feel it.

Plenty. The older players were sitting in the press box. Totally weird that Pavel was the oldest player on the ice for us most games. I'm so happy that he wants to stay. With Brunner and Nyquist performing well, Tatar joining them next year, and Abby coming into his own, I'm feeling pretty good about our forward situation.

I think Cleary's eye has been like that since the Pronger Cat-Scratch incident of '08. If not, we'll just hate Pronger for it anyway, just because he's Pronger. That was a very nice video they did. Is Brunner a little cutie-pie or what?

Sad day when that's good news. Go Griffs!

This is where I am exactly. The Kings are the only team left that I actually like. I'll tolerate Chicago, maybe the Bruins for Jagr if he grows a mullet, but I like the Kings. The problem with them winning it is that no matter who wins the Cup, the next season someone (usually Emerick) says something like, "______________ will be trying to be the first to repeat since the Detroit Red Wings did it in 97-98." That always fills me with such pride that I don't want the Kings to win this year. But I guess it's better than the other teams winning.

Nice of them to make it an even $40. I'd have come up with something convoluted to make it even had they not done so for me. Go Wings, and Go LGW Money on the Board People!

We had one when I was a kid. Never liked doing it. Now I only rent the land and can't dig it up. The person below me has hair on their chest.

Gotta be joking, but talk about motivation if that rumour gets into the locker room!

Oh, I see. Some have been replaced more than once. I was thinking that there were only 6 that had been around longer than 2 years. I get it now. Carry on.