betterREDthandead

Money is always an issue. The Red Wings are a business. Ilitch sells out the Joe for nearly every game, and until these playoffs, we used to be able to sell them all out. So why remove seats for "fan comfort" when the only result is less money in the pocketbook? What benefit is there in that? Secondly, not one dime of profit from the casino will go towards the new arena. There's a reason Marian "owns" it and not Mike. Mixing gambling and sports (both baseball and hockey) would look extremely bad. If Mike were to own both, very uncomfortable questions would be asked. And yes, Ilitch will need a corporate sponsor. He may own a large empire, but he doesn't exactly have $200-$400 million in cash just lying around. A sponsor would help defray the building costs by anywhere from $50 to $100 million. A new arena isn't about more seat room or grungy bathrooms or an ugly building. What's wrong with the Joe can't be fixed with renovations. P.S.: The Ilitches have nothing to do with Cobo Hall, except that their hockey team's arena is in the way of a badly needed expansion. Cobo is not a cash cow for them. But if they did, there'd already be a new arena, and they'd have already broken ground on Cobo's expansion.

Reducing the number of seats at the Joe won't happen - period. The Joe can't be given a corporate name and provides little to no opportunity for fans to patronize other Ilitch-owned establishments due to its locations. Therefore the number of seats is crucial for revenue. Ilitch won't sacrifice a key revenue source that way. Renovating the Joe just isn't feasible. To me, that's a halfway solution that doesn't fully address everything; remember, the fans' desires are only a small part of the story. As I've said....the only reason to renovate is a false sense of traditionalism. There's no reason to keep it around, except that the city of Detroit and its residents are absolutely notorious for clinging to buildings that have far outlived their usefulness.

By your logic, Yzerman should keep playing til he's 80. Unfortunately, what he accomplished when he was 28 or 32 has no bearing on what he can accomplish now. What did he do in '05-'06 that convinced you he could repeat or improve on that in '06-'07? This isn't about what happened in 2002, or 1997, or 1986. It's about 2007. And the 2007 Yzerman would have been a worse player than the 2006 Yzerman, who wasn't as good as the 2004 Yzerman, and so on. It's not a a knock on Stevie. It's what happens when hockey players who have been playing on iffy knees most of their career reach a breaking point.

Very true....Datsyuk is a better stickhandler and near unstoppable on breakaways, and most of the time, a better passer, but at all around hockey, Zetterberg's got him beat in almost all facets of the game. Scoring, instincts, defense, penalty kill, leadership, physicality, shot strength.....Datsyuk does most of these things well, Zetterberg does them better.

Well, let's just shut down the boards then. What's the point of ever having a discussion if we wait til the games are played to determine everything? Anyway, the Kings, most improved team? They better be. They certainly have nowhere to go but up. And as for the Blues, I certainly hope they are improved. Beating St. Louis in the playoffs used to be a ritual.

Yes, he's underachieved, even his most ardent supporters have to admit that. There's no way he can be said to have played up to the potential he was billed to have. He gives the puck away too often, doesn't always make the best decisions with it, and his offensive production is lacking. Yes, he gets injured a lot. He's missed a lot of games. But he's played a lot, too, and honestly, he hasn't shown much on the ice. He did play 68 games last season - that's most of the year - and registered all of one goal. I think the most telling thing is that he missed the whole playoffs and rarely, if ever, did anyone say, "If only we had Kronwall on the ice, we'd have done better against the Ducks." Like I said before....I'd love to see what he can do for us in a full 82-game schedule. But even your own words betray the fact that up til now, Kronwall is an underachiever.....you're talking about what he will do versus what he has done. We've been talking up his potential for seven years now. If we're still talking about his potential after this year, then more and more, the discussions will be about wasted potential.

No, they can't. The Joe is hemmed in by Cobo, the river, and the Lodge. Fixing all the common complaints (poor concessions, overcrowded concourse, inadequate bathrooms, etc.) requires more space, which the Joe doesn't have on its current plot of land. I've only been to one other NHL arena (GM Place in Vancouver) and it was much, much bigger than the Joe, and had all the niceties, and plenty of room. The Joe doesn't have that much space to expand into. The best solution - hell, the only solution that makes any sense at all - is a new arena. It's best for absolutely everyone involved: the city, the team, the organization, the fans. It's a false traditionalism that wants the Joe saved - it's only 30 years old, it's not exactly Tiger Stadium or Fenway Park.

I'll grant Kronwall this: Due to injury, I think he's only played roughly about as many NHL games as Sidney Crosby, despite having been in the NHL since about 2002, Crosby having been around only since 2005. If Kronwall has an injury-free season, great.....we'll finally see what he can do in a full 82 games. If he can't stay healthy, it'll further hurt the Wings, who will have to keep an extra defenseman under contract or available for call-up at all times.

True....Sammy cannot make plays for himself or others. Doesn't bring much to the table. But he doesn't take anything off the table either, which is a lot more than can be said for a lot of players out there. The key there is that he's been "enhanced" by the presence of more talented linemates. The alternative is that he detracts from those linemates, which really, he doesn't do. And he doesn't eat up much cap space. My problem with the contract is the length. If Kronwall does drop to a #4 defenseman, the Wings won't be able to trade him for a couple years because the contract is long.

This isn't a strong division - in fact it's possibly the weakest in the league. May as well get ready now for all the "disrespecting" the Wings will get from various sources for having an inflated record thanks to a bad division.

It'd better be. Kronwall's underachieved so far. Too many defensive breakdowns, and not enough display of that offensive prowess he's supposed to have. If he doesn't break out this year, I don't think he ever will, and that big extension will turn into a liability very quickly.

Yes. It's almost like management was afraid to change too much about the team with Yzerman still on the roster. That combined with the necessities of building a team in the salary cap era, and the fact that Yzerman's number is in the roof along with everyone else from the past makes this a whole new team. I expect similar successes from this team, but for entirely different reasons than, say, 2003.

Hockey fans will pooh-pooh soccer at their own risk. Flavor of the month, indeed. I didn't think MLS would survive when it first appeared on the scene, but survive it has. And it's grown - in popularity, in revenue, and in legitimacy. Personally, I'd be all over MLS if it had a team in Detroit. I suspect there are quite a few others, in large cities all over the country, who feel the same way.

It doesn't matter who's carrying the ball. Bell and Jones will both do well if the O-line steps up. They'll both suck if the O-line is up to its usual tricks. This offense is supposedly explosive, but what do we really have? A genius in the booth and Hall of Fame talent out wide. Our running backs have potential but are still mostly unproven, the quarterback has never led a winning team all his life, and the offensive line is, uh, the Lions offensive line. If Foster and Mulitalo are what they're cracked up to be, and if Woody ever turns into what he was cracked up to be, and if Raiola stops getting plowed by opposing defensive tackles, and if Backus' porcelain ankles have been replaced with something that won't collapse the moment the season starts, then the offense can put up 40 points a game and we won't even care that our cornerbacks can't cover bread with butter. If not, the Millen Era will still fall well short of 30 wins in 7 years. (Hint: He's at 24 now.)

I think the sleeves are going to look a little goofy on TV. All that orange catches the eye before the white or blue, so it's gonna look similar to when NBA players wear those silly tight sleeves over their arms.

Hockey doesn't have the big money wagered on it that the NBA does - therefore I would consider it fairly unlikely that any of the NHL refs are on the take. You can't make enough money gambling on hockey to cover the price of buying a referee.

It's officially time for the malaise to end. Rodney struck out the side, Zumaya's coming back very soon, Kenny says he feels good. Porcello's signed, that's some more good vibes for the organization. One game up on Cleveland with the chance to put them in a hole they're not coming out of. Polanco just set a major league record for most consecutive errorless games by a second baseman. We're coming out of this! LET'S GO TIGERS!

I don't agree 100% with the prevailing opinion that Stevie CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY is a Red Wing first and CLEARLY and OBVIOUSLY just absolutely LOVES Detroit, because we're all Wing fans here and of course we think that. But.....being that Stevie is a dual citizen, having attained his American citizenship a few years ago, I think that's at least some proof that "Red Wing for life" does extend past his playing career. After all, he spent almost 20 years as a Canadian citizen living in Detroit and only with a couple years left in his playing career did he become a citizen. Why wait so long, if he didn't intend to stick around?

Yeah, that was Nike. Every time I see the new NHL uniforms I say a small prayer of thanks to the hockey gods that Nike didn't manufacture these uniforms. Nike is an abomination. They have a tendency to impose designs on teams that never asked for them.

No strings or fancy stuff. Easy question (or is it?) Pick a favorite. My choice: Osgood. You can't help but root for him. I think it's awesome that he came back, even though he knows he probably won't ever be handed the starting job here again, not with Legace being the anointed guy last year, Hasek around now and Howard waiting in the wings. The guy seems to really like being a Wing. I got no problems returning the appreciation. And besides that, chanting "OZ-ZIE! OZ-ZIE!" is just a lot of fun.

Dead on. If Harbaugh wanted to make a statement about Stanford vs. college athletics in general, why didn't he use any school but his own? Or why even name names? And why, when Jamie Morris called him up, didn't he clarify instead of stubbornly restating his exact words? Sure, there'd be a "circle jerk" in Ann Arbor if someone said that stuff about Ohio State....but you can't tell me there's not a circle jerk in East Lansing right now over this. You can't tell me Mateen Cleaves wouldn't get the same treatment from State fans if he were to badmouth Tom Izzo.

I never thought of Nebraska or Texas as a choice....no way in hell the Big 12 would let one of its marquee schools leave. Texas just doesn't fit the Midwestern geography, and for that reason alone, I'd be uncomfortable with it. Besides, would Texas leave behind the rivalries with Oklahoma and A&M? One or the other - most likely the A&M rivalry - would suffer greatly. Nebraska on the other hand doesn't have such rivalries....with OU, mostly, because they've both been so good. But that's like Michigan/Penn State - always a good game, but the history and hatred isn't there. Incidentally, I'd love to see Nebraska in the Big Ten. Then Michigan would have a yearly shot at those bastards to pay back the championship they stole in '97 and the Alamo Bowl they stole in '05.

I have no idea what my pulse rate is when I run....the treadmill doesn't have the sensors, and I don't bother trying to count. But, I'm not only trying to lose weight, I'm trying to boost my cardio so that I can run faster for longer. If I can do that, I won't have hands on knees on the basketball court after 10 lousy minutes, and I'll be able to burn more calories in the long run by going farther in the same amount of time.

Not as much any more. 14 of the 16 games are on a rigidly set schedule that rotates each year.....you play each team in your division twice, plus each team from a certain division in your conference and each team from a certain division in the other conference. That's 14....the other two are against the teams from the same conference but the division you didn't play, that finished in the same divisional position as you did. 14 of the Lions' opponents are known through (in theory) forever, because of the rotating schedule. This year, the NFC North is paired up with the AFC West and NFC East, so the Lions will play each team from those divisions (and the teams in those divisions will play against all teams from the North.) Plus, by virtue of finishing last in the division last year, the Lions play the 4th place team from the NFC South and West, which happens to be the Buccaneers and Cardinals. What I'd like to know is, why is it, every year, the Lions have to visit Green Bay in the dead of winter? We always play the home game against them early and the road game late. This year it's no different....the Packers are the Thanksgiving opponent, then we have to go there on December friggin' 30th. I can just see (no joke here) both teams being 8-7 and fighting for a wild card spot and guess who has the clear homefield advantage? Every damn year.

Lehman and Paris Lenon are having one of the top camp battles for that middle linebacker spot.