SouthernWingsFan

As has been stated, D.D. wasn't THE end of all end solutions for toughness/grit last season. Granted he did help, but many people on here were not all that impressed with what he brought to the table for most of last regular season, so I think using him as the focal point is a bad example. Unless this team just has a momumental collapse, most of these regular season games are going to be a mere formality more/less before the playoffs start and the intensity gets higher. Drake upped the intensity in terms of hitting et al during the playoffs, but so did others on the roster as well. Again, not sure why Drake is the main focal point although I understand the original poster's general thought process. This team is not soft now, it wasn't a soft team during the playoffs, it wasn't a soft team pretty much all last season. If you think this makes games more boring, I don't know what to tell you. Entertainment is fine and dandy, I like to be excited, but I want wins first and foremost. If this team wins in a boring fashion, good for the team and good for me.

Huh??? Explain.....

Largely on the defense. I haven't seen Osgood really give up much that would seem to be soft goals. Goaltending isn't the big problem and just put Conklin in every now and then like normal, defense just needs to play better.

Not too shabby me thinks. Still a fairly simple look which I like.

Meh, they're just upset that their team lost, can't fault them for that to a certain degree. While I'm definitely in agreement that the penalty was valid, I'll guarantee you fans in here would be doing the same thing whenever we lose and bring the referees into play. It certainly happened a lot last postseason and if the teams/results last night were reversed and the Wings fans got the too many men penalty, I think it's a safe bet some in here would be complaining like Rangers fans would be from what I've read in this thread.

Um........ Yeah...... Anyways.....

In terms of the whining/emotion deal, my defintion is probably too generic/simplistic, but I don't take much stock into the whining card, because every athlete regardless of the sport is going to whine on the bench or to the refs or to the media at some point whenever they are frustrated. I think Wings fans will be a little bit more biased in a negative way towards Crosby/Malkin and Pitt company because the Wings recently played the Penguins in a playoff series, so at the very least a short-term rivalry of a few games was created. As for Ovechkin and Malkin and their own conflict, I don't really know what I would tell Malkin. If they have some biterness towards each other, work it out somehow. If it isn't worked out, expect more yapping or potential big hits or whatever between the two, whether it is fair or unfair.

I will say MSU pulls off the upset and finally doesn't screw up a "big" game.

Depends on the day/mood whenever I read stuff about Avery. I've definitely had a few times where I've wandered what the hell Avery was doing when he opened his mouth with something controversial. Whether you hate/like Avery though or hate/like drama or excess fluff or talking, it creates attention and gives people something to read or listen to and if that is something the NHL wants in more attention, Avery's a guy that will do it, for better and worse sometimes. I haven't watched him on the ice lately, but I'm guessing he's toned down his on-ice antics/PIMs to a degree and I know he's upped his offensive game to a decent degree.

A male swimsuit calendar eh? That could attract the male gigolo's to the sport. In all seriousness though, I do like the PBS idea, completely out of the box but I like it.

They left because they could eat more Wheaties and see more of the dancing girls in New York and Washington D.C. Sorry, my brain isn't quite functioning yet being 7:00am and I got a bajillion things to do today so I can't think of any better jokes quickly.

In a perfect world, I'd take all 3 on my team. All three are top-10 forwards in the league, so I'm not going to swap two for one though. In terms of the whining/emotion deal, my defintion is probably too generic/simplistic, but I don't take much stock into the whining card, because every athlete regardless of the sport is going to whine on the bench or to the refs or to the media at some point whenever they are frustrated. I think Wings fans in general though have perhaps an even more bad biased view towards Crosby than fans of a lot of other teams because not only does he get plenty of attention (deservedly so because he is good etc.), the Wings recently played the Penguins in a playoff series, so the disliking of the Penguins and some of their players are going to be higher than normal.

I am lazy and I suck. There. *shrugs* If this were a 7-game playoff series it'd be a lot different scenario, but just 4 games in an 80+ game regular season is not when you throw white flags up. Plenty of teams are going to go 2-2 in a 4 game stretch at some point in the season, the Wings will go 2-2 in another 4 game stretch again this season. Hell, even though they've lost twice they've still picked up a point in 3 of 4 games.

Contact with the referee in the manner, generally speaking, that Peca did with the officials, is a no-no so I understand the suspension in regards to that. Thankfully they chopped it off some, but I think it should be only 2, 3 games. But, this is only one doofball's opinion.

Baseball may not be more popular to you or myself, but ask 50 random people that like watching sports and I will guarantee you that a large majority will probably identify with baseball first over hockey. Baseball may not be "America's Pastime" anymore (debatable, could be football, something I don't really care about debating right now), but it is still popular to a great many people, it is easier to understand by the average Joe Smith fan compared to hockey, it is cheaper to play, and so forth.

Wherever the NHL is on works for me. It could be on the Weather Channel or Cartoon Network for all I care, just be on somewhere to watch. I'm not one that goes bonkers with the perception that ESPN doesn't give a damn about hockey or constantly makes fun of it. Whether we like the network or not, their reach across the country is very large. If more popularity is the goal, get it back on ESPN then. I do like the NHL on VS. I never even knew the channel existed when it was formerly Outdoor Life Network then switched, but I don't mind games on their at all. VS also broadcasts college football games from time to time as well which has gotten me to like the network more (my school played tonight actually on VS at the same time of the Wings game). VS also opened me up to watching fighting/cage fighting as well as I barely watched that at all before seeing it on VS.

I understand keeping things "traditional". I like the very simple look and simple jerseys that Detroit has always had. I don't want that to change. And I highly doubt that is going to change anytime soon or the Wings will try anything overly obnoxious or gaudy in terms of any jersey tweaking in the future, if it ever happens. I will repeat that I understand keeping things the same, but it's not like we're going to be asking the Red Wings to start being cross-dressing Dennis Rodman look-a-like models here or getting cosmetic surgery a la Michael Jackson. It doesn't hurt to go outside the boundaries sometimes, the lines will still be your friends. A simple 3rd design wouldn't hurt anybody. I'll again suggest something simple like what the Rangers do with the diagonal names across the jerseys, the same with what Pitt did in the early and mid-90s with their dark jerseys.

Lyn Collins - Think

Tonight in football action... #8 BYU - 7 #24 TCU - 32 A Stone Cold Stephen F. Austin "Hell yeah!!!!" :carrot: :banana:

I've been listening and half-watching the Wings game while working and notice the different PA annoucer. Brand new/permanent? Do they use a different PA guy during preseason? Keep in mind I've never seen a pre-season game on TV before until today...

I say something like this for a 3rd jersey. In all seriousness, just to show that I have somewhat of an open mind on this, I'm not completely against a 3rd jersey idea as long as it doesn't go off the deep end like the jersey in the pic above. Something simple like the Rangers jerseys of a diagonal name or what Pittsburgh had on their dark jersey in the early/mid 90s or even what the Avs did for their recent maroon 3rd jersey.

I certainly appreciate Fedorov's contributions to the Wings and him playing a major role in helping the Wings win 3 recent Stanley Cups all 3 years. He certainly has the contributions on the ice. However, him not playing his entire career or just about his entire career with the Wings, as well as the quirky vibe he gave off from time to time that sometimes rubbed people the wrong way just says no to retiring his jersey number. It may not be "right" or "fair" compared to what he did on the ice, but these two things are major reasons why his number won't get retired, at least to me. If his jersey is retired, great and I'll be happy for it to happen and happy to be proven wrong, but I'm not holding my breath expecting it to happen. Fedorov has moved on from the Wings at least from the business relationship aspect, and vice versa it seems. He was one of my favorite players on the Wings in recent Wings history not with the team anymore, but I've moved on from Fedorov being one of my favorites. I'm not trying to throw him on the curb or anything like that, but you eventually move on after a while. As for the whole Fedorov leaving bit, I'm over it, was over it a long time ago. I doesn't matter to me what side fans may take if it is Fedorov's side or management's side in the whole trying to re-sign Fedorov drama. Nobody really knows all the details of what went on behind the scenes, the only thing we know is that both parties played a part in Fedorov leaving, and I'm fine leaving it at that and don't really care on figuring out all the details on why Fedorov left and why it results in him or management being the "good" or the "bad" guy. In the end, Fedorov wanted to seek a better opportunity for himself personally, and it involved going somewhere else outside of Detroit. Good for him. As for the booing of Fedorov at JLA, I understand why it has happened and probably will still go on. Would I take involvement in it? Nope, I don't think it is right, but I wouldn't throw a temper tantrum if it happened as I know many held Fedorov close to them emotionally. I understand the mojo behind it but that's just something I wouldn't want to take part in. That being said, I still appreciate again how he helped the Wings.

Zetterberg's injured?!?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! And just so we are all clear, yes I'm kidding.

Earth Wind and Fire - Let Your Feelings Show Great groove song...

I am giving some serious thought in participating in a half marathon right in the beginning of February. I probably do some form of cardio work about 4-6 times a week when work/personal life isn't too chaotic. The most I have run in one setting is 6 miles, but I ran a 5 mile race once with very little prepping or training before, and finished it without much difficulty. I consider myself in some decent shape, but you'll never see me running Cross Country every day. If I start running now nearly every day and putting in a few miles a day of running, plus a day here/there with a few more (4-5 miles perhaps) when I have more time, do you think I have any chance at all whatsoever of finishing a 13.1 mile race, or is this just a pipe dream? http://www.mardigrasmarathon.com/