Lidsyukerberg

Oh, cool. Sorry, my misunderstanding. Actually, it's funny because what you posted was exactly what I felt about it, I was just too lazy to type it out. So, thanks for typing that up for me. You were raised on an ARM?! Wow! Who was raised on the leg? As a side question, who got the tooth? I'm just kidding around. I don't want to have Deliverance visited upon me. Really though, I am just kidding, I live in rural farm country too.

Maybe you misunderstood my post. My post was in response to RedFX who said "Soft as Butter?!? This guy's is supposed to be our enforcer?!?!?!?!?! WHAT THE HELL MAN?" I was stating that Downey is not as soft as butter as I think Red was thinking this statement meant, but that he was actually just saying it about Woywitka. I didn't say anything about Downey's intelligence at all. I was just clearing things up for RedFX. Apparently I got it just about as clear as mud. Believe me, I have been a big Downey endorser for a long time on this board, you won't get any arguments from me.

Downey isn't soft as butter, Downey was saying that about Woywitka.

Just kidding, but it would be funny if he did say that. I think this rocks, I like his energy on the ice. My wife and son will be happy too, they like him as well.

According to your lineup here, you took Downey out. I thought you said it would be stupid to take Downey out. Anyway, what I think we are going to see more of out of Mac is drive. Sure Mac used to fight and all that, but he was part of the Grind Line for a reason. He was a grinder. He's a Draper kind of player, he hustles whenever he's on the ice. He's always moving, digging and playing hard. That's what I hope to see out of him. Energy. Sure some fights would be nice, and some definite hitting, but I'm looking forward to seeing that energy of his charging up the team again. Sure he may not have quite as much in the tank as he used to, but he still has the attitude (more so now I think because he has something to prove) and I think that can get a team going too.

Shouldn't you be out on a ledge somewhere? Of course he's not the great white hope, and nobody's saying he is, but he will add a shot in the arm that this team needs right now. He plays with heart and will add grit and excitement when on the ice. You and all the other natterin' naybobs will just have to see for yourselves. As I recall, a few months ago this whole comeback was impossible and would never happen. Guess that didn't pan out either did it? He's come this far against all odds, and with a lot of people saying how impossible it was, I bet that he can go all the way, even though you don't think he can. Your lack of belief is not going to change his reality. You're comparing apples and oranges. During his last year in the NHL he completely lost his focus, heart and drive. His mind was not on the game, it was on things that were destructive to his life. Of course that played out on the ice, what do you think would happen? His life would go down the tubes but his on ice presence would be exemplary? Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, when one area of your life goes down it takes the rest with it. The Mac we are seeing right now is not the Mac we saw in his last year with Calgary. The Mac we are seeing now is the Mac we are used to. The one with heart. The one with focus. And the one with the drive to do what he needs to do, and get it right. Sure he's not the Mac of the 90's physically, he's put on a few years. But I think he's the Mac of the 90's in spirit, and I think we are going to see that for the remainder of his days as a Wing, however long that may be.

What do you mean by that?! Need to spell it out because we're children? Can't figure it out for ourselves? Just kidding guys, I don't know why I couldn't pass that up. Just compelled I guess. That was my sarcasm for the day. Well, maybe not for the day, that's kind of limiting myself. Let's say for the hour. Scratch that, that's my sarcasm for this post. I don't want to paint myself into a corner here.

I am officially stoked. I really do hope that he is called up and actually gets some ice time on the 11th against the Hawks, because I'll be there. That will be awesome. I can feel the Joe shaking from the noise already. As far as help or hinder, my thoughts are this: With the Generals he got 6 points in 6 games and the vibe was "yeah but it's only the IHL, it's not even the AHL, and a long way from the NHL. He'll never make it". With the Grifs he gets 7 points in 9 games "yeah but it's only the AHL, nothing like the NHL, won't happen this year." I think he's getting better the higher he goes. I'm looking forward to see what he can do. Obviously it will be quit different at the NHL level, but as far as I'm concerned he's like a hungry badger trying to get a spot at the table. Don't mess with a hungry badger man! They're mean.

The reason that Kenny would sign him now is so that he is in under the deadline to be able to play in the playoffs should he be ready, and Babs decides to call him up. The reason to send him down right after signing, and I'm going to play broken record here because everyone else has been saying this same thing, is so that he can get into game shape. Once signed, we get him for the playoffs, plus he is locked up and we don't have to worry about another team swooping in and swiping him form us. Now, he can work hard in GR, bag skate, play his can off, and get ready for the call. If he played this weekend I would be very surprised. I am not going to say that it would never happen, because weirder things have happened, but I will say that it is unlikely. He really needs to spend some time in GR getting up to game speed. He does however have 7 points in the last 6 games so that's not too bad. If he were played this weekend, then the only reason I can figure this would happen, would be so that Kenny and Babs can see how he would hold up in a game, without it being detrimental. It would give them a good chance to see what areas he needs to put the most work into, without it costing us a lineup spot. Right now, with all of the injuries going on and the spots open, would be a good time to slip him in. If we lose this game it wouldn't be detrimental to us. We would all be bummed, but we would live. All that being said, again, I really doubt that this is going to happen. But if it does, I could only see it happening for the reasons above, I wouldn't get used to it.

That was hilarious. I wonder if we can pick him up? Make it happen Kenny! "Nice shot NoGoalov" Classic

I would love to see Lucic behind the wheel, but I would get rid of Drake to open a spot for him before Downey. I am curious, what exactly is he supposed to do? Just go out and pound guys every night? There has to be a reason. Taking a penalty for instigating in a situation like this is a well justified penalty. But taking a pointless instigating penalty, every game, just so people stop saying he's not doing his job would just be reckless. Besides that, then everybody would be complaining that he's taking bad penalties and should be off the team because he's a detriment. He's sort of in a "damned if he do and damned if he don't" kind of situation. He's doing exactly what he needs to do, WHEN he needs to do it. No more, no less. When he is getting minutes, and one of our guys gets run at, he is out there to take care of business. That's what we need him for. We didn't hire him to be a bully and just run at guys whenever he's on the ice. I think that's being a little unfair to him, considering he doesn't exactly get the lions share of ice time. Besides, I don't think he was hired to score, he was hired to get under guys skin and pound some bozos. If he was a first or second line forward, then I would agree with you whole heartedly, but that's just not the case.

"He's Ricci ugly" Best line in the whole thing.

I agree, but the concourse wasn't that full either. If they were sold out, then people who had tickets didn't come. Believe me, it didn't have a sold out feel at all.

As far as I'm concerned I like the idea that hockey is a niche sport, whenever a sport gets too many fans and gets too big, it gets watered down and the athletes start turning into showboating jerks. Plus who wants to go watch a hockey game in an arena the size of a football stadium? The nosebleed seats would be pointless. I don't know how they managed during that outdoor game. As it is right now there is no bad seat in Joe Louis, sure it's nice to sit close, but the nosebleeds are good too (almost better from a vantage point aspect). Besides that... I couldn't care less if the hillbillies don't like hockey. The last thing we need is a hillbilly team called "The Good Ol' Boys" with the rebel flag on their jersey and cinder blocks holding up the benches. Plus, I think an intermission tractor pull would spoil the game for me. And the organ is a tradition, I just don't think a banjo, a guitar and a jug are going to feel quite the same.

Actually they didn't. I was at every home game (except his first game there) and there were plenty of seats left. It would have been nice to see them sell out every game.

As I recall Jimmy didn't win one single game for us when he played last. I really hope he does good this year. There was something about him that I liked and I rooted for him to have a good game every time he played. I think he just needed a little more time, I think this could be a good chance for him to make a good name for himself in the NHL. it should be fairly easy having a team like the Wings in front of him.

Actually the call isn't what aggravated me. O'Halloran thought he saw something, and let's face it, deserved or not, Homer has a rep in this league, so O'Halloran called what he thought he saw. That's his job. However, what did make me pop a vein was that; this wasn't a penalty call where there is no arguing it and even the ref has to say "oh well it was a bad call, but it stands and we can even it out during the course of the game." This was a goal in the last seconds of the game. Goals can be reviewed, especially when you have everyone in the entire arena (aside from the other team) yelling that it was a bad call. As a good ref, that is the time that you send it upstairs, review it, discover the error of your ways and call the goal good if it is indeed a good goal. But O'Halloran isn't a good ref, is he? His chance came to show his quality, and when he decided not to review the goal, he showed his quality for what it is; poor and biased. He wasn't even ashamed about it. He was very blatant about looking in the face of Detroit and saying "I don't like you and there is nothing you can do about it." So, again I say, the call didn't bother me. It was his unwillingness to review it that made me blow a fuse. Our Wings were raped yesterday on national t.v. and they didn't even get the benefit of vasoline. If something is actually done about this, I will be absolutely astounded.

Actually, I didn't say I liked him just because he fights. I said I like him because he gets under the skin of the other team and has a way of getting them off their game, AND I like the fact that he won't back down from a good scrap no matter the size of the other guy. Listen to Mickey sometime when he's on the ice, Mickey loves him. Personally, I think Downey is a total grinder, he hustles every time he's on the ice, like a hungry badger looking for a permanent spot. I just don't see that kind of hustle out of Drake. Drake looks more like he feels he's there because he deserves it and therefore doesn't feel the need to work hard for his spot. I like guys with hustle, they make the game more entertaining. And for people who talk so much about how much Drake produces and what he does that makes him so much better than Downey, let's take a look at the stats: Drake: GP: 42 G: 2 A: 2 Pts: 4 PIM: 37 Downey: GP: 35 G: 0 A: 1 Pts: 1 PIM: 57 So in 7 more games, Drake has managed to tally 2 more goals, 1 more assist, 3 more points and 20 less Penalty minutes than Downey. Not my idea of a big producer. As for him having 2 goals and Downey having none, I think Downey more than makes up for that with 20 (an entire period) more penalty minutes than Drake (that's in less games). 57 PIM is a guy who is roughing it up, standing up for his stars and getting under peoples skin. Sure Downey hasn't scored any goals, but let's be honest, with only 2 goals this season, neither has Drake. I can't help but think that if Downey was given an equal amount of ice time, he might have a shot or two find the back of the net as well. 2 goals is not enough for me to rally around someone, unless they have something else to go along with it. But that's just my opinion, oh and the stats opinion.

Regarding the Drake vs. Downey issue. The other night when we were playing the Wild, it was turning pretty physical, even Hank was getting into it and getting face washed and stuff. But no one stepped up to put a stop to it. At some point in the third period there was a play and Ken announced that Drake had the puck. I thought to myself, "Holy crap! Drake is playing tonight?" I didn't even know. On the other hand, you can't NOT know when Downey is on the ice. I haven't seen a game he was in yet, where I was left wondering if he was playing. Everybody talks about how much Drake does for the team, but I can't help but ask "how do you get through 2/3 of a game without having your name mentioned?" That has got to be some pretty lackluster play if you ask me. I'm not saying that he wasn't mentioned at all, just not in any meaningful way that was even noticeable. Downey hits the ice and stirs up a stink that reaches Ken and Mickey, they can't help but mention what he's doing for the game. I would say that my opinion is biased, except for the fact that it is biased because of how they are playing. To be honest I am not sentimental about either, and my opinion is based solely on what I see, but what I am seeing is starting to get me sentimental about Downey. Sure he may not be the toughest guy in the league, but he sure knows how to get under the skin of the other team and take them off their game. And I haven't seen him back down from a good scrap yet.

I think the fact that this is actually getting some air time now is a good sign.

My only concern about regular season stats like this are that teams tend to get fat and lazy feeding on stats like these, and then hungry teams like, oh i don't know Edmonton Oilers maybe, come in and steal our lunch. I love seeing stats like these, but I hate seeing stats like these shoved down our throats in the playoffs. Hopefully it doesn't happen this year, but we already know that we have the best regular season team in the league, we have for years. We need the best playoff team in the league to round out the incredibility factor of stats like these. I don't want to be a natterin' naybob, I just don't want stats like these inflating any egos, or over confidating our boys. I'd rather see them enter the playoffs like the lowest seed in the league; hungry and snarling for the cup. Ready to bite off arms if they get in the way of them and the drink. Just the view from my seat though.

I agree but, I think Holland said it best in the article: He is no longer with Grinder so his focus is back where it needs to be, and he is trying to get his life back on track for himself and his family, there is the passion. I think we are going to get the Mac back that we all love. The one that has been away for many years (even a few years before he left Detroit). I think the prodigal son is returning. It is going to be great seeing him get behind the wheel again.

I knew he had it in him. Now let's see how he does with GR. Only one more step to go, but let's focus on this one and see how it works out. I have very high hopes personally. I am really excited to see him do it.

Which games do you need recorded? I can probably work this out for you.

ANIMAL!!!! Huff! Huff! Huff!