SouthernWingsFan

I still blame the terrorists for allowing this horror to happen! Everywhere I tell you, they're everywhere!

BT - Never Gonna Come Back Down http://www.imeem.com/people/MPs7mZ/music/L...come_back_down/

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=3597643

Did you not see game 1 of the SCF. Samuelsson's forechecking and hit on Hal Gill, much bigger than him, helped trigger the Wings 2nd goal of the game, scored by Samuelsson. If $1.2 million isn't a good deal, who would fill the void? What specific player has similar type stats and salary, and what type of game does he play?

The coaching staff likes having both a right-handed and left-handed player on the PP. That's why Jason Williams played so much PP time on the point before he was traded to Chicago. Samuelsson then replace him in that position. Whether that holds true this upcoming season, who knows. Nobody here is saying Samuelsson is like a demi-god, but if he keeps playing on the point, he must either be doing something right or Babcock just doesn't have enough trust for another right handed guy to play the point, because he had/has another option in Chelios as he is right-handed even though he is "old" now. Has Samuelsson made any defensive brainfarts that you can think of that have just been downright awful leading to breakaways or goals for the other team? I certainly can't, not even 5 terrible brainfarts. He's far from my favorite but if he was so bad with defensive responsibilities, he would have been off of a power play point a long, long time ago. For $1.2 million, he's shown that he is more than competent in putting up b/w 40-50 points a year, and hopefully around 15-20 goals on a consistent basis. Not a bad deal if you ask me. The vitol spewed towards his direction, mostly without much logic whatsoever is predictable now as evidenced in other posts in this thread, but still amazing. I'd like to see Helm full-time as much as anybody, maybe even over Kopecky as well, but waivers and the importance of having an enforcer/accountibility to some degree makes it flexible to keep him in the minors for another year. There isn't a worry of having Helm snagged off waivers by antoher team going too/from Detroit to the minors. And even though Downey and/or McCarty are going to probably provide very little in terms of recognizable stats or offensive punch, that is not what they are here for. They are here to play physical and aggressive, and answer cheap shots when needed. Helm's job is not to do that. Downey and McCarty will do that and that will be their primary job, and that is a necessary component for somebody to fill on this team. Kopecky is out of waiver options and personally I'd like to see him try to work out and spend a few more years with the Wings, I think he has some good upside as a checking-type player if he stays healthy. Helm needs as much development/experience time on the ice as possible, and he'd only be playing 5-7 minutes a night in Detroit vs. probably 15-20 minutes in the minors still. Everybody but Helm, Downey, McCarty, or Leino has a full-time spot, and due to waivers and the enforcer issue, I think Downey or McCarty will have the final spot.

Just like any career, regardless of if it is in professional sports or whatever else, if you are serious about advancing in your career sometimes the best chances for advancement might be outside of where you have lived or worked for a long time, or where you might want to first live or work. I'd love to see Yzerman be a Red Wing forever in his years in the front office, but realistically that might not be possible especially if he wants to run his own team. If or whenever the time may come for him to part ways with Detroit, I wish him no ill will, and hope he does well if he does in fact run his own team down the road.

This isn't work and nobody is having a spelling test anytime soon on here or composing a formal business e-mail. I think we can let a few grammar errors slide. For the categories that aren't other, I'll go with Conklin. For others, I've always liked Joseph's and Kolzig's masks. Don't really have a favorite or dislike a specific one. There are others that I like as well but I don't have the time to think of them right now.

Nothing to joke about with this one. No excuse to drive under the influence of alcohol, hopefully he can learn his lesson from this and move on back to normal.

I blame the terrorists for allowing this "injury" to happen. Damn terrorists, they pop up from out of nowhere I tell you!

Good, cause I don't need a pre-mature excuse to start writing out my will.

Not too shabby for either, I like them both. The Blues 3rd is better than both of their current home/away. I'm not big on the colored stripes/lines that go along the sides of jerseys, that's why I don't like a whole lot of football jerseys anymore. I like more of a solid-colored look like those 3rd jerseys bring.

And game 6 is re-airing right now as we speak, flipping between that and NFL football right now.

I honestly don't know anything about Leino, but I'm guessing unless he plays out of his mind in the pre-season, he'll be in the minors. I think it is safe to say that Helm has more upside than Downey or McCarty, but because there is no concerns of him getting snagged by another team in waivers if he goes to/from the Wings to Grand Rapids, I think that leaves the final roster spot to Downey or McCarty. And while Helm might have more upside, Downey or McCarty's role will still be important in terms of physical play and enforcement to whatever degree necessary. I think Downey has a little more upside than McCarty if the final roster spot is to be determined between those 2, but it doesn't matter to me that badly if one gets in over the other.

I only saw bits and pieces of LSU-Auburn game last night b/c my school was on TV at the same time and I always watch them first, but the parts of LSU-Auburn that I did watch were just nuts. Those two never disappoint to bring thrilling matchups every year with defensive slugfests and occasional big plays, and this time was no different. Kudos to LSU for scoring in the last minute to eke out the win on the road. Some cool top-25 tidbits for me at least... In the top-25 now we have, VANDERBILT? In all seriousness, good for them. They played South Carolina a few weeks ago and I watched most of that and they were down and out most game, but made a great rally in the 4th qtr to win. I want to see them make a bowl game finally. And three Mountain West Teams are now in the top-25. BYU is #11, Utah is #17, and TCU is #23/#24, although it won't be surprising if TCU exits after next weekend as they play at Oklahoma.

Don't you dare push that panic button, don't do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RIP.

Ken Wregget Unless one just completely outplays the other during camp and pre-season, Conklin by default. As others have stated already, Howard can go up-down from the Red Wings to the minors if necessary without having to worry about being claimed off waivers, hence it being better for him to play more as #1 in the AHL vs. not play as much as a backup with the Wings.

Anybody watched the college football game last night at all b/w Baylor and Connecticut? I watched some of it and Baylor is looking like they are finally making strides to possibly stop being the Big 12's doormat soon. They almost won on the road against a decent Big East team, and the quarterback that plays for them is only a freshman and people having been pimping him like he's Atlas.

I don't try to brag or gloat like I'm the big and bad tough guy on the block, and the latter part of your statement definitely hold a lot of truth, but to discredit what Detroit did this postseason is pretty silly. True they were fortunate to be healthy for the most part this past playoffs, but you don't win 9 games in a row in the postseason (games 5/6 vs. Nashville, 4 in a row vs. Colorado, games 1/2/3 vs. Dallas) by not being a damned good team.

Can I have a such a policy if I make a damage claim on my home and my insurance company acts like idiots not helping me out? An insurance policy on an insurance policy.

Modern Day Zero - Down http://www.imeem.com/people/u50F3i/music/z..._day_zero_down/

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=3591242 Citing the last three bullet points, any or all questions about Osgood should have been answered last season. And while Kronwall for Norris Trophy consideration is a bit of a stretch I think, somebody considering that for him should show the potential he still has if he stays consistent/healthy and that he still has plenty of upside.

Probably won't care too much about this since it is outside Big Ten news and most people will probably think the Pac-10 stinks outside of USC, but I got to recognize the conference my school is in for their efforts. Mountain West was 4-0 vs. the Pac-10 in non-conference games last weekend. Stanford 14 @ TCU 31 UCLA 0 @ BYU 59 UNLV 23 @ Arizona St. 20 Arizona 28 @ New Mexico 36 TCU was favored to win so that outcome wasn't too surprising, no knock against Stanford. Still a solid win against a Pac-10 team that should be on the rise. Not too surprised about New Mexico either. They started out 0-2 which included a pretty bad loss to TCU but they have enough talent to make a run at a bowl game again this year if they don't slip up much more. The shocking outcomes were UNLV and BYU. UNLV because it was an upset on the road against a top-25 team, UNLV hasn't done squat in football in years, huge underdogs etc. BYU because of the scoring margin, they are definitely a legit and consistent top-25 resident this year and UCLA may not be up to snuff like they used to be, but 59-0?

Here's a similar blurb from SI.com's Allan Muir regarding the Central Divsion. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writ...x.html#?eref=T1