betterREDthandead

New update for me. Maybe I shouldn't have weighed in so soon after lunch.... 195.9 - May 11 194.5 - May 23 190.7 - June 8 186.2 - June 25 182.2 - July 2 183.3 - July 16 Guess I need to hit the treadmill that much harder.

Huge, HUGE improvement for Tampa IMO. The best thing of all is getting rid of that 3-D, Lego-block lightning bolt. Since when is lightning three-dimensional? This is much better. I always dug the black and blue color scheme, very storm-ish, but always hated the logo. This one's better. If I had to nitpick I'd also get rid of the Tampa Bay word mark and just have them wear the updated bolt in the circle, but I can't complain much about an actual improvement.

The papers have been talking about Murray and Mohammed as trade bait, but I can't see anyone giving up a player or even a first round pick for them. I think we're stuck with those two. They're not horrible, but they're not totally dependable either.

Yeah, hey, wait a minute.....OK, granted, the secondary is almost always the weak point - Michigan has always loved having a monster front seven and recruits that way. But there's almost always at least one very good player in the secondary - Woodson, Jackson, Hall, Ty Law, Cato June....the secondary doesn't always suck. It just never measures up to the D-line.

You just activated my logonerdness. Let's see....teams with hockey sticks in the logo..... Capitals - no Cup Islanders - 4 Cups Penguins - 2 Cups Thrashers - no Cup Panthers - no Cup Coyotes/Jets - no Cup (no stick now, but the Jets' J was a stick and the old Coyote logo had one) Ducks - 1 Cup (though none when the logo included a stick) Sharks - no Cups Canucks - no Cups (no stick now, but there used to be)

I wish there weren't such high expectations for Michigan. With so many new starters on defense, it's more likely than not that there'll be disappointment. We'll have to hope English really is as good as advertised, because the offense should easily be up to the task.

I still wish they'd get rid of the stick. It's an OK logo but the stick is cartoonish. And it's trying so hard to be futuristic, it makes me worry about the uniforms.

I think now that the first half and then some has been played out, it's pretty clear who the AL playoff teams will be. Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Los Angeles. The Yankees are the only team really capable of making a miracle run, and they're way out, and I don't think Boston is going to let them. Seattle's decent but flawed, and the Angels have a chokehold on the division. Minnesota's the same, but they needed Liriano this year. All four teams are equally dangerous, so I don't think it matters who plays who in the ALDS, both series will probably go to five either way. This would be the first postseason without the Yankees in, what, 12, 14 years? HALLELUJAH. As for the NL, way more unpredictable. I'd say it's plausible that at least half the teams there have a legit shot at the postseason.

All kinds of developers have popped up over the years, proposing everything from a condo development to a Wal-Mart (BARF BARF BARF.) Some didn't really have the money, City Council killed others. Personally, I think they need to figure something out soon. It's gone on too long. But whatever they do, I hope it preserves the field. No matter what development occurs, I think the site should have a baseball field on it forever.

Rafalski in place of Schneider is an upgrade. I'm not disappointed about the loss of Bertuzzi.....it would have been nice to keep him, but not at the price Anaheim signed him at. I don't mind how this offseason has gone. There are spots open to continue evaluating the up-and-coming talent that the Wings are going to need. There's room for guys like Filppula, Hudler, and Grigorenko to shine. These are names we've been hearing for a while and it's time to see what they got. Lots of overspending going on, but not by the Wings, which will be a plus in the long term.

I don't have a problem with brutal physical play. I have a problem with being excited about cheap shots and wishing we could cheap-shot another player right out of the game.

Pity that some of us are willing to sacrifice principles for winning. Yeah, I can't wait for the Winged Wheel to turn into a symbol of dirty play thanks to a 38-year-old has-been. I do think Drake has something left to offer the Wings, but if the only weapon he's got left is his elbow, then it's not worth it. And if you want to see your team win the cheap way, maybe you should go be a Duck fan or an Av fan instead.

If those empty seats are bought and paid for, that's money in the pocket of the club. Teams don't leave town because of poor attendance, they leave town because they can't make money. It takes nothing more than a look at the Joe to prove this. Empty seats all over, every game, even during the playoffs, but the team isn't panicking. They're making money. As long as a team makes money and can pay the bills, they're OK, no matter what the actual number of butts in the seats is. Even if they suck in the standings (i.e, the Blackhawks model.) Not that that's a very fan-friendly way to run the team, but the Blackhawks are on rock-solid financial ground.

How did you keep the weight loss so steady for so long? I'm kind of worried that at some point, I'll hit a new equilibrium somewhere and level out, still above where I want to be. Ideally, I think I want to be about 155, but I weighed between 170-175 for so long, even while working out in the past, that I'm afraid I'll get to that point and find it much harder to drop any weight.

Why? It's a team's cash flow that determines how strong and stable they are. Ticket sales drive that cash flow. So that's what's really important. If a team sells out every game but the arena is only half full, that's a problem for those of us fans that want to get in the game, but from the team's perspective, they're doing just fine. And the lockout was over money, not attendance, so it's pretty obvious that's what really matters.

I saw Corazzini play when I lived in Norfolk, because he was a top-six guy for the Admirals. He's fast (for the AHL game, anyway) and he's got some skill, but he's smallish and isn't real strong. I don't think he's soft, exactly, it's just that if he were to hook or hold someone it probably wouldn't make any difference.

Have to totally disagree. Not that Rip isn't worth his weight in gold to the Pistons - he's extremely valuable and should not be let go - but Tayshaun, overrated? With Ben gone, Tay's the best defender, hands down, on the team. And the Pistons' offense really clicks only when Tayshaun is able to take advantage of a mismatch. Prince and Sheed are the two real catalysts to the offense because about two-thirds of the league has no way to defend them. When Prince is off, the offense is off. See the Cleveland series for proof.

'Nother update! It's a little old because I weighed in on the 2nd and here it is the 7th. 195.9 - May 11 194.5 - May 23 190.7 - June 8 186.2 - June 25 182.2 - July 2 I can barely believe the scale.

I like it. Except, I think there's enough money to re-sign Hasek and also sign a 2nd or 3rd line forward....I'd prefer not to have to use Ellis regularly as the 13th forward. Gotta count on injuries happening, so that 13th guy will get plenty of use. It ought to be Grigorenko until he gets accustomed to the North American game, and then, whichever forward is contributing the least. Let Ellis play in Grand Rapids, I think he's suited to a Mark Mowers back-and-forth role but not much more.

I say, Hear Hear! on letting the kids play. Why panic? I think Filppula ought to be rewarded with major minutes, I think we ought to find out if Hudler really is the goal-scoring threat he's worked up to be, I think we ought to see what Kopecky can do when not handed the 13th forward role, and I think we've waited long enough for Grigorenko. Plus I badly want to see Ericsson take a job too. Bring on the youth movement. It's not really even a movement so much as it is an evolution.

Well, we don't have Jason Williams sitting around taking up cap space and ice time. That's a plus.

Vent? Panic? I think some people need a paper bag to breathe into. Nobody that's left the Wings should come as a huge surprise. And Rafalski for Schneider is an upgrade.

Forget Markov. It's time to bring in some new blood to the defense, whether it be Kindl, Meech, Quincey, or my personal choice, Ericsson. Markov was solid but unspectacular. As for Bertuzzi, well, I'd have liked to see him stay, but there are other options out there. Why get worked up? Bertuzzi certainly did not make or break the Wings in the playoffs.

Looks like another trade to shore up the bullpen. Tigers get Jose Capellan from Milwaukee. The pitching has really been on and off. When they're on, they're nasty but when they're off, they're awful.

No, those represent a desire to stay put rather than join a new team. Thornton is not from the Bay Area and Zubov is not from Dallas. Rafalski is from Detroit (Dearborn) and as such decided to turn down a bigger offer from a third team (someone other than the Devils). And I don't really think those are discounts. Given what Schneider signed for, the price looks right for Zubov. Pretty close to what he could have commanded anywhere else. Thornton, too. Anyway, we should consider ourselves lucky that the Wings are situated to get a discount like this one. One of the few American teams that can. You won't see the Coyotes getting that kind of treatment any time soon.