betterREDthandead

It was a legit call though. At least, it was the kind of call I'd like to see them make consistently.

Looking at the picture of McGeough and looking at him on the ice tonight.....why I do believe the old man has lost weight!

Backus is the best lineman, not the worst. I'm still waiting for Raiola to earn his money, but then again I haven't seen any Lions games yet this year, so maybe he's improved and I haven't noticed.

You guys better hurry up and get some of this Kool-Aid before it's all gone All I'm hoping for is that they stay right there with Green Bay to set up a fantastic Thanksgiving showdown. Well....no, that's not quite true. I'm also hoping for the Lions to hit that magical 10-win mark, and for Jon Kitna to march into that postgame press conference and bend over to present the media with a full moon, a 1 on the left cheek and a 0 on the right, yell "SUCK IT IN THE NAME OF JESUS *******! WOOHOO!!" and march back out flipping the bird. Kitna's already leapfrogged such stalwarts as Rodney Peete and Gus Frerotte to be my second-favorite Lions QB ever, he'll pass Scott Mitchell if he does that. Aw shucks, he might just pass Mitchell anyway.

Are you honestly serious? No, I don't think you can be. Baseball: In case you forgot, baseball happens to have the most seriously unbalanced schedule of any of the sports. Bud Selig, in order to make more money, ended over 90 years of tradition by introducing interleague play. In order to make more money, he expanded the playoffs. In order to make more money, there was a player strike in 1994, and in order to make more money, the league used replacement players in 1995. In order to make more money, they damn near locked out the league a couple years ago. And in order to make more money, they expanded the league. Football: In order to make more money, the league has been giving Los Angeles every possible opportunity to have a new team, despite the fact that not one, but two teams couldn't support themselves there. (Sound familiar?) In order to make more money, owners plucked two of the league's oldest and most tradition filled teams and moved them in the dead of night, despite the fans absolutely screaming otherwise. In order to make more money, the league holds the Super Bowl - the most sponsor-filled, money-grubbing cashfest in the history of sports. Basketball: In order to make more money, the league locked out the players a few years ago. In order to make more money, the league drafts 18- and 19-year olds who are absolutely not ready for the prime time and ruins their careers. In order to make more money, the league is perpetually accused of rigging the draft lottery. You are out of your ******* mind if you think the NHL, NBA, NFL, and MLB are not businesses, their decisions driven in the direction of money, money, money, money, money. MLB tried to put advertisements on the bases for the All-Star Game. They have an arcane and absurd blackout policy that nobody likes, in order to make money. The NFL blacks out home games if the stadium doesn't sell out. (Didn't we hate Bill Wirtz for exactly the same thing??) I don't think Bettman's decisions are exactly made of gold. I do think the NHL's marketing efforts blow donkey chunks. I do think - no, I know - that the NHL is no different than any other league when it comes to trying to make money.

Food for thought: Fighting is not actually legal in the NHL. In fact it's a worse infraction than accidentally heaving your stick into somebody's eye and making them bleed. More food for thought: In hockey, players who leave the bench to participate in a fight are automatically suspended for quite a long time. In baseball, players who leave the bench to participate in a fight draw no penalty, fine, or suspension. So it's all relative. Anyway, it's important to remember two things here. One, no publicity is bad publicity where hockey is concerned. (Up to a point at least. But PTI talking about hockey is still, you know, talk about hockey, which is better than no talk about hockey.) Two, Kornheiser and Wilbon aren't paid for thoughtful, intelligent discourse on a subject. They're paid to rant, rave, and generally run their mouths nonstop. So you get what you pay for.

You have to separate the two. That's like saying there's a ref that was convicted of child molestation, so no referee may do volunteer work with kids or go to a school. Playing poker with your buddies and fixing games for the mob are so far apart on the right-and-wrong spectrum it's absurd to see a link between the two.

The SEC is wicked fast.

What a shocker that 30 businessmen who also own hockey teams are out to make money Sound about right? What makes the NHL special?

Please don't I kind of like this new Lions thing. Whoever came up with the wacky idea that the Lions should try this winning deal for once needs a pat on the back.

C: It shouldn't do anything negative to the NBA. Who cares??? "Gambling" in this case includes things like buying lottery tickets and playing poker at the yearly refs' convention. No need to overreact. Stern is doing the right thing by rewriting the rules - a referee going into a casino to blow 100 bucks playing blackjack should not be a big deal. The rules are now going to be more enforceable and more realistic.

Look on the bright side....Iowa fans (pathetically) rushed the field after the win. When's the last time anyone rushed the field after beating MSU?

Our house hasn't exactly been all in order this year either. I wish Michigan was playing Iowa this year. If there's one kind of offense Michigan will always, always stuff with impunity, it's one run by a pocket-passing quarterback that makes terrible throws.

I'm not gonna condemn Thornton for one night's worth of work. Yeah, it was a pretty lousy night for him overall, but that happens. A playoff series, yeah. A regular-season game in October? Nah. Pronger's the one that falls into this category for me. Up til 2002, when he made it his singular mission to take a run at Yzerman every time they were on the ice together, I had thought of him as a fearsome defenseman who works his tail off and commands respect on the ice. And the '07 playoffs confirmed what we saw in '02.

I think best of all, this game shows what can happen when the Wings have a second-line scoring and playmaking threat. That was Filppula last night. Take away his contributions in the early going, and we're talking about a game where it seemed like the Wings probably outplayed them, but nobody could finish the job until Zetterberg and Datsyuk came to the rescue once again. Instead we're talking about a dominating performance against one of the conference's better teams. That second-line scoring threat, if we see it consistently, will take the Wings back to elite status.

Let's discuss in the original thread about the same article.... http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45663

That booing was probably the loudest I've heard the Joe this season so far, and I've watched every game this year so far except for Phoenix (road game anyway) and Edmonton. In fact I'd say that tonight's game was the best overall I've heard from the crowd this season. Particularly pleased by the OZZIE chant.

If the reports are true that he came into camp out of shape to play hockey and wasn't willing to work as hard as it took to make the roster, that's softness, regardless of PIM racked up.

Oops, you're right, slip of the tongue somewhat....the Wings trade away their 1st rounder so often it's hard to always remember which top picks come when.

How the hell can you think I'm "backing him up"? Because I called him highly talented? Uh, he is. You don't get picked in the first round without it. Period. Loads of very talented players haven't made it in the NHL, because as you may notice, talent isn't all it takes. I think you're being blinded by sheer hatred. Hell, you didn't even see the point of what I was saying, which is to point out the Wings' apparent evolution of mindset - bring in some grinders instead of loading up the team with highly rated, highly drafted Europeans that didn't necessarily earn their spot.

So, the Wings just let a highly talented but apparently soft European go, because a couple of gritty characters earned their way onto the team instead. Can we put to rest some of the complaints that the team lacks "toughness"?

Maybe because he tossed the puck out of play after the whistle? Just a guess, cause I don't know either.

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

Nice call on that one. By the way, the Cardinals released Mike Maroth. The Tigers could use some bullpen help, especially a lefty. I say we ought to go get him back, if the elbow is healthy. Partially a sentimental choice.

Fact ^ If the Wings rely on ZDH as a single line for the whole season, the opposition will find a way to counter it and it won't work in the postseason. It's nice to know we have that to go back to, but the Wings absolutely must find other dependable ways to score outside of a single line.