SouthernWingsFan

I live in one of the last places where hockey will ever compete for popularity, but I don't care. If I get goofy looks for requesting a hockey game at a bar, it happens. Doesn't matter to me. I like it and that's what matters most. I got VS, VS is becoming more recognizable in my non-scientific/guesstimated opinion. It's increased its reach in broadcasting college football games to the Big 12 and Pac 10 Conferences as well in addition to the Mountain West Conference in its 2nd season of broadcasting football. This is a football-loving country. I know there's probably little/no correlation to hockey and football on VS, just saying that the network is slowly becoming more noticable OVERALL, not just in hockey speak. Still, there's actually a pretty decent bar/restaurant that has all the sports packages (FSN/Center Ice/NBA League Pass/MLB etc.) and about 40 televisions roughly. You usually wouldn't get much grief from requesting a hockey game there, assuming LSU or the New Orleans Saints weren't on TV at the same time. While I usually watch games in the comfort of my own home, Versus goofed up on my TV for one of the playoff games b/w the Wings-Flames last season and I had to scramble to go to this bar to watch it. To my surprise, I did not have to go to any lengths at all to request the game. Versus was on a good bit of TV's at the bar. Not sure if this bar that I go to every now and then closer to my house has NHL Center Ice, but I know they have VS and I went out to watch an LSU football game at it beginning of the season, and VS was on a few TV's there broadcasting a college football game. I have absolutely no problem with the games being on Versus (even though ESPN would be preferred obviously and be more accessible). I could care less if the games were on the Cartoon Network. For me, as long as it is being shown on a station somewhere, then I'm happy.

I haven't really watched it in-depth yet where I am from, but what I skimmed I liked. As for it blacking out other NHL games, I'll have to reserve judgment on that, never really tried it out if the Wings were blacked out (if they were) or at any point in the season yet. I'm not hard to please. I definitely can appreciate HD TV or 20,000,000 camera angles to show a game, but I just need t the basics. If they show hockey in color, I'm satisfied. Stuff like HD or commentary is secondary to me.

It's never too early to get pumped for everything, sports-related or not. Looking forward to both football and hockey this weekend. Although I get pumped up for such bland things as watching paint dry, making artificial farting noises in the armpit area, spinning around in circles in my desk chair then running into stuff dizzy, waiting to see the owls go "HOOT" in the evening, and watching the Weather Channel. What can I say, I'm a weird strange person. *shrugs*

Grover Washington Jr. - Mr. Magic

Firstly, I'm neither an Osgood or a Hasek slappie. Hasek had absolutely zero chance on 3 of the 4 goals given up. 5-on-3 PP scramble goal, 5-on-4 PP goal after everything broke down and the puck was in the Wings zone forever, and Mayers made a bullseye of a shot that nobody stops unless they are a 7 foot sumo wrestler. That being said, Babcock did the right thing yanking him this evening, and I think it was morseo as a message not just to Hasek but THE ENTIRE TEAM to pull their heads out their behinds. The change did help, but it was not because Hasek was total garbage. Again, absolutely little/no chance on the goals not including the breakaway. Whether some like it or not, Hasek needs to keep playing. I'll repeat what I stated recently about this. Hasek, while he hasn't been dazzling, has been far from terrible like many have or will over-dramatize in here. Consider how the team has played in front of both goalies. Osgood has been rock solid and has probably stolen a game or two so far, but nobody in here can tell me with a straight face that the team has played as good in front of Hasek as they have in front of Osgood so far this season. So Osgood playin well so far this season works out for the both of them, as I have recently stated. Osgood gets some more playing time, Hasek gets some extra rest but STILL PLAYS. It's a 1A/1B tandem, as of right now, where neither goalie is considered a "backup". Hasek is nowhere near done, again consider how the team has played in front of him for some of the games he has been in net for (this evening, Anaheim game). And the only other games he lost were a 1-goaler and a shootout. Until there is a stretch of games where he just flat out stinks, he starts more of the games. Hasek will be fine, Osgood is fine. Please, for the sanity of this forum and its members let's not have overdramatic knee-jerk overreactions.

Prince - 1999

Kopecky to me has never been pegged to be more than a 3rd liner this year anyways, so I don't really get how he was just completely sleeping to begin with. He's just been one of the unfortunate scapegoates in here who gets overdramatized criticism more often than not. He hasn't done a whole lot of things gloriously but it's not like he's been flat out terrible (see scapegoat reference again). I realize he was scratched for a game, but I think that can be attributed to Downey and Ellis playing very well, making the most of their limited chances earlier this season. Downey and Ellis has deserved some more PT I think, but they have not been so dominating that it warrants Kopecky sitting out 5-10 games straight when everybody is healthy. This situation is good for everybody, it creates a healthy competition for ice time for these three as well as Drake, because all of these guys have been playing very well recently.

To the original topic at hand, it's a bit of a stretch I think, but it's a legit topic to an extent. Datsyuk has still had a hand in a lot of the Wings goal production, even if he hasn't been the one putting it in the net consistently. He's still showing he's one of the better set-up men in the game today and it's not like he's just invisible out there. He's also had some pretty bad luck right now with goalies making really good saves on him recently and hit posts. For the most part, he's shooting more than normal I think. That being said, it Datsyuk not scroring hasn't hurt the Wings right now as Zetterberg has been kicking butt as well and the team has been getting some decent secondary scoring for the most part all season so far, as well as my first point above. However, in the event of the offense potentially going dry at some point in the season, or if the injury bug hits, Datsyuk will need to continue to try to create plays offensively, hopefully continue to have urgency to shoot, and get some better luck as well, like when he really stepped up late regular season last year with crazy injuries.

Unfortuantely it'd be a tough sell for Osgood to get in the Hall of Fame I think. He certainly had the numbers to make a strong case, and he certainly had to do his part to win games for the Wings in the earlier part of his career, but it's not like he was completely carrying the Wings to W's, especially in the middle part of his career before he played with the Islanders. Would I definitely like to see Osgood get considered and get in? Absolutely. He has the career numbers for the most part, and I love his attitude and being a team player. Unfortunately, I just don't think he has the popularity/political clout to get in, and also him being a team player and "splitting time" or being "backup" these past few seasons back in Detroit, when he could easily be starting just about anywhere else if he didn't have the injury bug the past few seasons along with the current goalie situation hurts his cause. DISCLAIMER: To the big Osgood fans, I am not "doubting" him or trying to intentionally snub him in any way. I really like Osgood and hope he gets in, and I'm just one opinionated dimwit (thankfully), but I just don't see it happening.

All right people I hate to be a party pooper...while I like big thingies just like any other guy, there's a thread for stuff like this to gawk at in the Cooler, this certainly isn't the place for it. EDIT: And if you thought there was a lot of "OMG ZETTERBERG IS SO HOT" posts in the general discussion either this season or last and it got on your nerves, we're doing the exact same thing with the opposite gender, which definitely doesn't make it all right all of a sudden. Anyways, Zetterberg has been magnifique so far. You would think that he has to cool down at some point, it's hard to keep up such a pace of scoring for even 5-7 games straight, but if he keeps up this kind of contribution, he should definitely have strong consideration for MVP of the league. The only thing that might bring that down though (assuming he keeps the pace up) is that while he's certainly doing a major part in the Wings success right now, other players are helping out/contributing as well. It's not like he's completely carried the Wings on his back.

Negative. While winning a Cup should obviously not be the only thing to judge somebody on getting in the HOF, for somebody who had the rep and presence that Lindros did before he got injury-happy, that would have greatly helped his cause, as he definitely had the numbers and stats early on in his career to help out. Far from a complete bust, but unfortunately once he suffered that concussion from the major hit from Stevens in that New Jersey playoff series in 2000 (?), his career on the ice slowly started going downhill unfortunately.

Seriously people, this shouldn't be new to anybody in here. Hockey isn't the main squeeze in terms of sports entertainment and understanding, and it never will be for a long, long time, possibly never. Not everybody else has to like it or understand it, and we aren't going to change the opinions of those people anytime soon, whether they are unfair or right, snarky or not, so who cares what they say? You like it, I like it, all of us in here like it, quit focusing on the damn negatives. Why can't that ever be good enough to some people in here?

Michael Jackson - Working Day and Night Michael, whatever happened to you man, you used to be so damned good and sane.

Fair enough, when you mention their playing styles/contrasts. The beef I have is not so much on what Babcock should/could be doing. Hell, if he can do better coaching/using players in your scenario, then do it by all means (even though things are working out pretty well for Samuelsson and Hudler and the Wings for the time being given line pairings etc. etc.). My disappointment with people in here is when there's overreactions to the scapegoats, especially when they are doing fairly well in Samuelsson's case for the time being. Good to know you see beyond that with this, as expected.

Herbie Hancock - Watermelon Man

I have Cox Digital Cable where I'm from in the New Orleans area, and was pretty surprised to find it when I was skimming the TV over the weekend (was also stoked that CSTV was added, yippie for more college sports). Not available in basic cable here but in the low 300s for Cox Digi Cable. I haven't really had time to watch it in depth but I was flip-flopping between stuff doing laundry and ironing last night and tuned into it for a few minutes, enjoyed it very much, seems like a good quality station.

Don't you mean Smashville? :rotflmao: Too many peverted jokes in my head right now.........

You are a smart man NN, but tihs is getting a little too dense here I think... Holmstrom gets his points and goals primarily within 10 feet of the net or on rebounds or tip-ins. He still has to score them. Not many people are complaining that Datsyuk only has 2 goals so far this season because he has a boatload of assists and is contributing in a first-line role like he probably should be doing. Yzerman's 3 goals in the playoffs in 2003-04 probably added up to a total of 10 feet. All were virtually tap-ins (game 6 elimination game at Nashville, 2 goals during game 2 against Calgary). Nobody's complaining about how those were scored. He still had to put them in. How about Datsyuk's giftwrapped goal off Nabakov passing it to him in game 5 of the Sharks series? Would you have rather him pulled a Datsyukian Deke and potentially hit the crossbar instead of the sensible thing just wristing it into the empty net, like he did? I know you got more of a pro-bias towards Hudler than others, I certainly want him to kick butt as well. Does it make sense for him not to be on the second line in a scoring role? At first glance, no, but I'm not the coach and don't sit behind the bench during games. Maybe going to fourth line will help bring more chances to the Drake and Kopecky line, which are expected to have no/very little threat offensively. Spread the scoring wealth out. But to downplay what Samuelsson has done so far this season is silly. He hasn't been the main scoring threat, but he's not paid to be. Getting paid to be a second or third liner right now, and he's doing his job just fine. 9 points in 11 games for that role is pretty solid. Would you rather Samuelsson just blow snot rockets and pick his nose while another teammate just grabs the puck from him and contributes the assists? A POINT IS STILL A POINT NO MATTER HOW YOU GET IT. You can debate "style" and how they get the points until you are blue in the face, but the most important thing is Samuelsson IS STILL CONTRIBUTING to the scoring cause, just as Hudler has been recently. I can't get that critical and anal towards players if they aren’t scoring or assisting in the most proper fashion when they are still scoring/assisting, or if he is still scoring/assistng regardless of who the linemates are. That goes way beyond my ridiculous-o-meter. What if he was on the 4th line then with other people who couldn't consistently score or finish? Then people would be bitching about how he's not doing jack squat getting 0 points in 10 games. And trust me, people on here will do that even though it will be a 4th line which is not counted on as much for scoring. You are putting Samuelsson in a no-win situation with this scenario. I don't give a hoot how Hudler scores or assists either, if it's an 80 foot slap shot, if it's a basic empty-netter, or if he performs a bunch of 360 spin-o-rama's passing it to Drake for a tap in, or if he mutates into the Incredible Hulk. He's still contributing as well given his role to try to put pucks in the net every now and then. I'm no Samuelsson slappy but the ripping he is getting, even now when he's contributing to the scoring cause fairly well and doing his job, is beyond ridiculous now.

Overreacting to almost anything/everything in here seems to be the norm unfortuantely. Straight up? Keep dreaming... Again, do not OVERREACT. Think, not overreact.

Well, Nashville was giving Detroit a run for their money in the division for most of last year so maybe that writer was actually on to something. *ESPN sucks because they don't pay as much attention to hockey! Melrose shave your mullet! Stop broadcasting video poker and baseball and basketball you stupid hosers OMG! ESPN OMG YOU STINK!* DISCLAIMER: Yes, that was sarcasm and an extreme overembelishment on my part...because as hard as this may be to actually contemplate for some members in here (not you specifically that I quoted, just generally speaking), ESPN is actually not all that bad.

If that's the case, then let's keep it that way.

Looks as close to 50/50 to me right now as can be with the 4 lines the Wings are usually able to role out. We all know about Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Homer, and I think the line of Rex-Flipper-Samuelsson has just enough playmaking/talent ability to where it makes up well for the line not being quite as big. I'm not sure where Franzen fits into this picture since he's been injured and if you want to put him in more of a scoring or grinding role (and he needs to be playing), but... Then you got the other two lines then of Cleary-Draper-Maltby and variations of Kopecky/Downey/Ellis/Drake providing more of the energy/grit factor and less playmaking to keep the other team honest. I'd say the team looks very balanced right now as it's ever been, in terms of not solely relying on their talent as in years past. But still being able to win more often than not with some of that aspect, along with a continued mode of thinking (that shouldn't be a shock to anybody from last year's playoff run) to never back down and to always hustle and work. Is this too far fetched? Am I sniffing glue again?

I have Cox Digital Cable in New Orleans, and shockingly I found out that I got this station a few days ago...in the early 300's. And for people who constantly gripe "WHY DOESN'T HOCKEY GET AS MUCH RESPECT AS FOOTBALL OR BASEBALL?!?!?!!?", at ease...this station actually appears a few choices before the NFL Network listing down here. NHL Network is 314, NFL Network is 319.

Because they eat their Wheaties for breakfast every day? *shrugs*

I don't think it'll matter all that much. In the NHL and NBA when you have so many games, your extended breaks really aren't all that long to begin with. You play on every day of the week at some point that you grow used to it I think. The only time where long layoffs/goofy schedules have big impacts I think is football, because I think so many athletes get so used to playing on Fridays (high school), Saturdays (college), and Sundays (NFL). I know some colleges play on Thursdays/Fridays at times but I think you see where I am coming from... I think football is the sport where people are most meticulous about trying to stick in a routine with practices/games. Case in point, my alma mater's recent/upcoming schedule of games in football... Sat 10/6 on the road, a loss Sat 10/13 on the road, a win Thu 10/18 at home, a loss - a BIG pain in the rear for football coaches and players to go away from schedule) Sat 11/3 (today) at home - great to rest injuries (which in my school's case, it DESPERATELY needs it), but a 16-day layoff is way too much and screws up routine Thu 11/8 on the road - again, more big altering of the schedule