betterREDthandead

Now I remember why I'm glad I'm not a Spartan fan and why I have very little respect for the fanbase as a whole. After "moment of silence" comment: "HAHAHAHA that's great! Best thing ever said by a Spartan coach! Really put those arrogant scummers in their place! Go Dantonio Go!" After actual "moment of silence": "Dirty classless bastards! HOU DAR THAY!!!!!!" They were happy to laugh their asses off at Dantonio's comment, but later on it's just "well harrumph harrumph, he probably didn't mean it like it sounded." Bunch of loser hypocrites if you ask me :violin:

http://info.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/big...FTOKEN=76691137 Best I can find, but you gotta scroll down some to Angelique Chengelis' entry. I dunno. It doesn't sound all that egregious to me, although I can't find the quote in full context. This is the first I even heard of it - I thought the Wolverines were just gathering for a postgame prayer like teams sometimes do. But what's a rivalry without a couple stunts and a little overreaction to stuff?

They didn't really start the game either. MSU was nonexistent for the whole first half, which is what beat them just as much as the last 7 minutes. State really only outplayed UM for a quarter and a half - the rest of the game belonged to Michigan. And that's what was dumb about what Hoyer said about deserving to win. He's focusing on the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth where State dominated and forgetting the rest. No offense, Spartans fans, but I really don't think this is a different Spartans team at all. The Spartans I remember take dumb penalties at the worst possible times. 2004, I remember a huge 15-yard facemask penalty that kept a late scoring drive alive for Michigan. This year, the dumb hit out of bounds. MSU lost games they should have won this year and didn't really win any they should have lost. As usual, they start fast and give their fans all kinds of hope, and finish up cold as ice. And they still might not go bowling. This year's Spartans remind me of the 2006 Lions more than any other team. They might have the right coach now, they might be laying the foundation for better things to come, but last years Lions went 3-13 and were the same Lions we all used to know. I'd love to see MSU in a bowl - better them than Iowa, which is a truly bad team that does not need to be representing the Big Ten - but it'll have to come against Penn State, because I can't root for Sparty against Purdue.

The Detroit News had the comments too: Linkety-link I think the Spartans are overreacting a teensy bit, but they're going to have to fire themselves up somehow. They've lost six in a row now, and there was a column in the paper (Freep or News, don't remember which) that rightly pointed out that State's main problem is a talent gap. Michigan's got the playmakers and State doesn't, pure and simple. The only comment I really have a problem with is Brian Hoyer saying Michigan didn't deserve to win. Sounds a lot like what Hart said last year about the OSU game, that Michigan "should have won", which also wasn't a bright thing to say. Michigan absolutely deserved to win - this wasn't a case of bad refereeing or some other outside influence, State simply got outplayed.

A Michigan State fan might remember the App State thing above everything else, because Spartan fans hate Michigan and would naturally prefer to focus on the bad rather than the good. Certainly, the App State loss will be remembered for all time, just like the Colorado loss pops up every now and then. But you don't see them flash "1994" along with it. Off the top of your head, right now without looking it up, can you name what is generally considered the greatest upset ever in the history of college basketball? Probably. Can you tell me what year, again right off the top of your head? Probably not. As for if Michigan loses to OSU? Yes, you could define the season a failure. Hart, Henne, and Long didn't come back to win the national championship. They came back to beat OSU. That's it. 9-3 (assuming they do beat Wisconsin) is a good season, as is a trip to the C*****l O** Bowl, but only a partial success at best, because of the seniors coming back for OSU.

Well, it's probably 'cause money is shiny, and oooooooohhhhhhhh hey is that tinfoil?!?!?

Awesome. Just awesome. 9 out of 20. Picking up right where I left off from last year.

Here's a question that might be a bit harsh, but I kind of have to ask. A Spartan fan is of the opinion that the Appalachian State loss overshadows all of the following achievements combined: - Beating Notre Dame (even though they suck this year, beating them is always an extra feather in the cap.) - Winning the Little Brown Jug. - Winning the Paul Bunyan Trophy. - Beating Penn State. - Beating Ohio State. - Winning the Big Ten. - Appearing in the Rose Bowl. Is it fair to wonder if that's a very revealing attitude that highlights the difference between Wolverine and Spartan fans? Namely, that a Spartan fan defines a season by the losses and a Wolverine fan defines it by the wins?

Abso-*******-lutely it will be a successful season. A successful season at Michigan is defined by beating Michigan State, beating Ohio State, winning the Big Ten championship, and going to the Rose Bowl and hopefully winning it. And as a bonus, the Little Brown Jug is still ours too. Appalachian State is totally irrelevant. It's only significant because of the label attached to App State: D-IAA. One tiny extra letter A. If it were Toledo, it'd be absolutely awful, but it still wouldn't even be half the issue. And how can you say that it would not be a significant success to rebound from the worst loss in school history and go undefeated in the Big Ten with a schedule including Michigan State, Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Purdue, and a rejuvenated Illinois? (Hell, it might not even be the worst loss in school history. Getting the score run up on us in the horses*** - I mean horseshoe - in 1968, 50-14.....that one has got to be considered as well.) I think you're just trying to pre-emptively downplay a significant achievement. If the Wolverines win the Big Ten and go to the Rose Bowl, reaching for a way to degrade that accomplishment by bringing up App State is frankly fairly poor sportsmanship and sour grapes.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned: How about Shawn Crable's crazy hustle to run down Javon Ringer? Won't get mentioned in print much, because MSU scored anyway, but Crable was knocked to the ground and sprinted probably about 85 yards, pushed a blocker out of the way at full tilt, and made the tackle. Unbelievable hustle. Worth a couple helmet stickers if U-M still handed them out.

#1: It still happened. #2: True. Something that can't be said about Grand Valley's basketball team. #3: It still happened. #4: That's not the St. Joseph's Hawks of the Atlantic 10 conference. They're in Philadelphia. The St. Joseph's that GVSU will play is the St. Joseph's Pumas of the Great Lakes Valley Conference in Indiana. #5: It still happened. #6: Michigan was actually #5, but details details. Michigan State is ranked #8. Not exactly a big difference, and MSU is the odds-on Big Ten favorite. #7: It still happened. #8: The lower seeds in the Big Dance are filled with teams that won their conference, usually a grueling process because it's win or go home, and they're usually only slightly less talented than the teams they beat. This isn't VCU over Duke or George Mason over UConn. VCU and George Mason are quality teams and nobody would question their D-I status. #9: It still happened. #10: It is not a very long reach to make fun of Sparty for losing to Grand Valley. Don't really need to reach anyway, because one, you lost to Grand Valley, and two, you lost to the team that lost to App. State, which says exactly what about the Spartans? Can a Spartan fan really make fun of Michigan for losing to Appalachian State when the Spartans lost to Michigan? Granted, Michigan is likely to lose to MSU in basketball, but that hasn't happened yet. And as MSU fans were absolutely insufferable about the App State thing - there was talk about how Michigan fans were "put in their place", how MSU was going to take over as the top football team in the state......well, turnabout is fair play. #11: It. Still. Happened. You can cry "exhibition" all you want. The arena was sold out, the players were playing hard, and the coaches were coaching. Neitzel racked up 40 minutes, and all the starters played significant time. Exhibition or not, there was a basketball game between Michigan State of Division I and Grand Valley State of Division II, which Grand Valley State won. It's part of history now.

That's the picture I wanted to see 3:30 is the perfect start time for a big rivalry game like this one. There's something about a game that starts off as a cold November afternoon in the Midwest and ends up with a photo finish under the lights that makes it so you could never ask for a better Saturday, ever..

Again....let's not bother with changing something that doesn't need to be changed. I say we add a splash of silver just once a year, in June.

Wow!! What a game. MSU really put a scare into me that time. Makes you wonder why they didn't spend the entire first half running too. Definitely one of the classic UM-MSU games. Mario is the new Braylon! And you've gotta give Henne some crazy props, he was taking a licking but he stood in there and made every throw when it counted.

I've actually thought that the Wings jerseys would look DAMN SHARP if the logo and stripes and numbers had silver outlines. That'd look awesome. But you don't mess with 80 years of tradition like that.

Those ESPN guys are spot on. Forsberg would be a fantastic fit on a team like Ottawa or the Wings where he can play the second or third line. He can roll out there for 11 minutes a night, take some pressure off the first line, cause matchup problems for somebody's second or third defensive pairing, play the second power play unit, etc. etc. Problem is that teams aren't going to pay more than, I dunno, a base salary of maybe $2 million for that. Whereas some desperate team will pay at least twice that and hope they get the Forsberg of 1999 (they won't.) Forsberg has no reason to do anything but follow the money - he's always been kind of his own biggest fan, and this isn't a thing where the aging veteran longs for one last shot at hockey's Holy Grail, he's already engraved on it a couple times.

I am never bored watching the Wings win. And the Wings have plenty of sources of entertainment outside ZDH. Flip is a joy to watch, IMO. One of the hardest workers in the whole league. The PK is a thing of beauty. It's a clinic in power play suffocation, especially Cleary, who has the best penalty-killing instincts I've ever seen. And there's even been a few fights this year.

Probably hurt it lifting the Guitar Hero controller On a more serious note: DAMN IT. Possible replacement, if healthy: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...RTS02/711010427 Was a very talented pitcher before he got hurt.

Ogrodnick and Larson are actually on the Wings top-10 all-time scoring list. But I would replace Gallant with Ebbie Goodfellow, who I think was the best player of the Wings/Falcons/Cougars early teams of the 1930's. And maybe swap Probert for Syd Howe of the same era.

Friday: Toronto @ New Jersey Philadelphia @ Washington Florida @ Buffalo Phoenix @ Dallas Nashville @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Saturday: Toronto @ Montreal Boston @ Ottawa Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders New Jersey @ NY Rangers Florida @ Carolina Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Calgary @ Minnesota Chicago @ St Louis Anaheim @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Colorado San Jose @ Los Angeles Sunday: St Louis @ Columbus Nashville @ Chicago Ottawa @ Boston

Well, if you're going to include guys who were only Wings for just a couple years, Marcel Dionne should be mentioned too, probably above Lucky Luc. I'm assuming you do mean from the Wings lineup, anyway.

There's a new website coming??? I didn't notice :noevil:

Ai yi yi, I didn't realize there were five freakin' days between games after the Calgary game. I start getting stir-crazy for some hockey when there's a two-day gap. Five. Ugh.

Well, it's not fair to us Detroit fans that our town can't compete with the glitz and glamor of a New York or LA, or the weather of a Miami or San Diego, which has kept more than one free agent in various sports away from our city. And you notice that the Wings and Avs are right there in the mix anyway, even in the third year of the cap. The NFL's cap hasn't prevented the Patriots from dominating for several years now, and it didn't keep the Cowboys and Packers from dominating the '90s. (Look who's on top of the NFC, by the way.)

Definitely there will be a slump or two this season, at which point the sky will fall and we should trade all the bums and fire the bum behind the bench and fire the bum twice who makes all the decisions in the office. Spot on with the last point there for sure. Look at Flip tonight. He scored some major effort goals in the playoffs last year and tonight was a case where it would have been very, VERY easy to say, "Ok, tough building, late night, let's go to OT, take the point, and see where it goes from there." Not Flip. Game-winner in the last half-minute of the game shows me that these guys are playing 60 minutes of hockey. That itself is a kind of grit. With the talent the Wings have, if they're going to give us that kind of effort every night, we're in for a treat this season that just might last all the way to June.