betterREDthandead

Where would they put it? I can't think of any decent-sized stadiums in the entire province. The Alouettes play at an inky-dinky little set of glorified bleachers, and Olympic Stadium no longer opens up.

Ten days after the fact, it continues to embarrass me that there are Wings "fans" questioning their effort. NICKLAS LIDSTROM'S ******* BALLS WERE SLICED OPEN.

Actually I think the equipment is at least half the reason he is where he is. He's gone from Dodge to Chevy, which is an outhouse-to-penthouse kind of switch. But he's definitely changing his mindset too. P.S. he intentionally spun Shrub during a race too, last year at some point.

JPM is 14th in the standings and only 43 points out of 12th, and the first road race of the season is coming up. Looking forward to seeing Juan Pablo in the Chase standings. Be nice if it stays that way the rest of the season, too.

Oh, Matt Millen. You crazy guy. Always good for a laugh: http://freep.com/article/20090615/SPORTS01...+from+failures+ Ford kept him employed for four years longer than anyone else in the world would have; the fact that he's a huge fan goes without saying. I don't know how genuine the love is for Detroit fans, but I just have this hunch it's not reciprocal.

The MLB draft usually goes more or less unnoticed, but I like that the Tigers picked up Austin Wood. He's the guy who went thirteen innings in the Texas-BC marathon earlier in the NCAA tournament.

I heard Fleury is working on a shutout. Shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout shutout.

Are you at some point going to shut the hell up? We get it. You think the Wings coasted all the way here and don't want the Cup. Please stop talking. I want the Wings to pull off this comeback if for no other reason than to shut you up.

Regarding their play, yes. Regarding their effort, no. I might criticize their effort in February. I will never, ever, ever criticize their effort in a SCF Game 7. To say they just quit, gave up and went home now, of all times ever, is absolutely the s***tiest, stupidest ******* thing I've heard around here. It's uncalled for and frankly, you should be ashamed of yourself.

No. I didn't think Wings fans would be that s***ty about their team. I seem to have been mistaken.

Bulls***. Maybe they've got more injuries than we know. Maybe the Penguins are talented team too. It's a load of s*** to assume they're not trying hard enough and start talking s*** about losing respect in one period for a team that's brought you more success than pretty much every other hockey team has ever brought their fans this decade. It says more about you than the Wings.

I'm more ashamed of fair-weather-ass Wings "fans."

Jesus ******* Christ. All you stupid mother f***ers criticizing the Wings effort need a reality check. Now. You should be ashamed of your ******* selves who've never played in a game like this. Lack of effort? Lack of desire? Go tell ******* Kronwall and the rest of them they don't want the Stanley Cup. You wouldn't say that to their damn faces. Get over your ******* idiot selves and learn the difference between playing like ass and not wanting it. Has this period sucked? Yes. Giveaways killing us. Lack of desire? f*** off.

Not bad. We all know the Wings get better as the game goes on, it's been the story of the playoffs. Both teams pretty good in their own zone. I'm OK with a 0-0 start.

I got my two-or-three-times-yearly dose of the Hawk yesterday. If Verlander wasn't pitching such a gem, there's no way I'd have sat through it, but a Verlander strikeout is a thing of absolute beauty.

You've said repeatedly it's about how Hossa left, but frankly I'm at a loss to understand the how. If you've ever said it, I missed it. Care to elaborate?

I guess you weren't around last year when all the talk was about how the Penguins were "younger and hungrier" than the Wings, and all that hunger led to a two-game trip to Detroit, after which the Penguins left having not scored a single goal. I do find it pretty funny that you root for the one person that has more media exposure than the whole rest of the league combined and you can't spell his name right.

No, he was bush league. I'm sure the Penguins fans would all agree. I totally agree though. How ******* hard is it to give the Penguins even a modicum of credit? When the Wings lose, hey, newsflash - it's not always because they didn't "show up." That's bulls***. What if the Penguins are good enough to beat the Wings every so often? How goddamn hard is that to accept? I suspect most of the naysayers and nervous Nellies are the "Wings in 5" crowd that refused to listen when others (LIKE MYSELF, not to blow my own horn or anything) told them it would be a dogfight of a series. Now they have to rationalize the fact that they were wrong, but somehow do it without giving the Penguins any credit for being a good team, so the "Wings don't want the Cup" excuse is what's handy. Well, it's a steaming pile of monkey s***.

I predicted a win on Friday a week and a half ago, before the series even began. Naturally, I stand by this.

Huh. I guess Rob Scuderi is as big a bush-league piece of s*** as Zetterberg.

Real bush league play by Zetterberg on that PK to slap the puck out of the zone big league hockey players don't do that. Should have let a Penguin come get it instead.

I agree that Byslma's nigh-impossible to hate, but I don't think it's necessary to hate the other team's coach in order to make the series enjoyable. Besides, no coach in the last twenty or so years has been as despicable as Crawford, so all the others pale in comparison and it's tough to work up as much hatred.

I would. I think the Smythe belongs with the winning team, period - except for seven-game losses when it's completely clear the losing team could never possibly have made it even remotely close to that far except for the efforts of a certain player AND there's no clearcut choice on the winning team. Giguere's win fit that. But if the Pens lose and Malkin wins the Smythe? I'd complain. And I suspect the general feeling of the boards at large would be rage-spitting furious.

Whenever announcers say, "If you're _________ then you have to ___________." For example: "If you're Mike Babcock you have to feel good about that last period." Or: "If you're the Red Wings you have to limit your turnovers." There is a zero percent chance that I, or anyone listening to this broadcast, am Mike Babcock, or the Red Wings. Acceptable: "If you're a Red Wings fan you have to feel good about that last period." Fine. Many people listening to the broadcast are just that. The "if you're" construct is an obnoxious, passive-aggressive way of getting out of directly saying "Mike Babcock needs to do such and such." Oh, and I'm with C-Town. I like Doc's weirdness. It's not contrived, or at least he's very good at concealing it if it is, but I figure it's just the way he talks. It's not a Doc-broadcasted game unless he says DRIVE! and waffleboarded. At first his nasally voice bothered me, but I've gotten used to it and I think he's one of the better broadcasters now.

I don't think it's fair to place the blame on the Packers organization like that. The guy waffled every offseason for three or four years about retirement. It's not fair to the organization to do that, because they'd have to go into free agency and sometimes the draft not knowing if they'd have a quarterback or not. I can't blame them for getting tired of his act.