Third Man In

I keep hearing rumors that Jackson, Granderson, Laird, and Cabrera are on the block. How can you even consider trading the first two, your two African American star players in a predominantly African American city? Especially Granderson--he ought to be the face of the franchise, not on the trade block. That's quite a testament to the terrible contracts that Dombrowski has saddled the team with. I can't believe the Tigers might part with those two and have to keep Maggs, Guillen, and Willis.

I'll always remember D-Mac as a guy who made the most out of what he had and brought it every night. He wasn't the most talented player, but he was gritty and stood up for his teammates. He learned a lot from Shanny and had a couple good offensive seaons there as well. It's no wonder he is still so popular. Thanks for everything Mac, good luck behind the TV desk, and hope that you're welcomed around the Red Wings organization for years to come.

They could rename it the Bettman Cup.

I've stayed at the Milner Hotel before--it's clean, relatively cheap, centrally located, and super friendly. My two cents--avoid the casinos unless either of you are really into gambling, because that's not a very authentic Detroit experience. What's the girl into? Detroit's got a great punk/garage rock scene and a great techno scene--check the Metro Times for a calendar of events. Go to Greektown for dinner, or some dive Mexican in Mexicantown at the base of the Ambassador Bridge. Detroit's also got some really neat Art Deco architecture. The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is a great museum. If you manage to get a nice day in January (ha!) the Riverfront walk is nice, as is Belle Isle and the riverfront walk across the border in Windsor.

I think any problem with Homer at the moment stems from an apparent breakdown in the Wings' system. It seems like he's carrying the puck into the zone a lot more this year, rather than making a B line for the corner or the front of the net.

btw, anyone with NHL GameCenter, click on the Sens-Coyotes game. The video is the scoreboard feed from the arena and the audio is the Coyotes radio feed. Classy.

+2

Osgood should have had the second goal, but the defensive positioning has been poor on all three goals. The Wings just completely collapse in their own end. It used to be they'd maintain their spacing and then at the right moment converge on the puck. Now they just seem to converge on a faceoff dot.

Yeah, the only thing he's done good or bad was almost trip over the blue line in the first period.

Wow. The Wings didn't come close to scoring there.

So, to summarize: accepting as part of sports an irrational outburst of violence that we don't accept in broader society and may have resulted in much more serious injury or worse is rational. Got it. The point isn't that one player intending to hit the post accidentally smashed his goalie's head, and this is one freak occurrence among many other harmless ones. The point is that every time a player is angry enough to smash their stick on the post they may be oblivious to the goalie's or another player's presence, even after they've hit them.

uh, I'm quite sure the stretcher was because he had just taken a baseball swing to the head and they were worried about a possible neck fracture. You can have a fractured neck/spine and still have feeling and movement, move the wrong way, and be paralysed.

That and breaking things always solves problems.

And it didn't even happen to Ray Emery...

Considering Penguins don't even get the suspensions that are supposed to be automatic, I'm happy Cooke got anything at all.

You'd have thought we would have learned that too the first time around. Bert lacks all authority driving to the net. He is the anti-Franzen.

The Wings are empirically testing this principle.

Hey, a W! Wasn't pretty, but a win is a win is a win at this point. Hopefully something to build on.

What's also interesting is that Tuesday would be Jackson's normal day in the rotation. Porcello has pitched better than Jackson down the stretch, but that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid. I guess they're counting on the fearlessness of youth. Show 'em what you're made of, kid!

Yeah, this will be a good chance for Dantonio to distinguish himself from Smith and Williams. They can still salvage the season if they build off this win. GO GREEN! GO WHITE!

At least Michigan State and Ohio State have something in common: Michigan can't beat either of them anymore

Boo. Plenty to work on the next 81 games. See you tomorrow. Go Wings.

In Sweden they sell beer on the concourse but you can't take it to the seats!? We've found the fatal flaw.

Noice. Score one for Finland.

4th line's gonna carry us this year