betterREDthandead

How bout some defensemen for whom the first priority is defense? Too many forwards masquerading as defensemen seems like a pretty big problem for them.

The league has absolutely nothing to do with this.

You totally forgot, "Hockey doesn't belong in the South."

The lowest rated NBA Finals ever were in 2007 at 6.2. The highest-rated Stanley Cup Finals this decade were '02 and '08 (imagine that) at 3.6 and 3.2, respectively. Last year, the NBA was at 9.3 and the NHL at 3.2. Don't get me wrong - I'm not disrespecting hockey. But the cold hard facts are that the NHL just can't touch the NBA for ratings.

Not bloody likely.

I'm nervous too. But the Sharks are trying to shut down that monster line with a bunch of forwards masquerading as defensemen. Rob Blake, Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Boyle....these guys aren't especially defensive defenseman. Boyle and Blake have always been known more for their offense. I like our odds with Lidstrom or Kronwall much better than the Sharks' odds with Christian Ehrhoff and Marc Vlasic.

If PTI is your definition of media coverage, it might be time to broaden the horizons a little bit.

I'm also going to continue the Inge love-fest for a little bit, if I may. Absolutely clutch fielding in the ninth there. No way Cabrera gets that ball, if he's at third instead of Inge. Everett would have gotten it and I don't think Everett would have been able to start the double play. Instead of no runners on and two outs, there'd be a runner on second and one out, which brings the tying run to the plate.

Brashear's not without fault in that one either. He'd beaten McSorley in a fight earlier in the game, then spent the entire rest of the game (including directly after the fight) taunting and embarrassing McSorley and the Bruins. He might have been the victim of that incident but he helped bring it upon himself by showing up the other team. And he's one of the league's sucker punch kings. He's been suspended at least six times. He's as bad as Marchment in my book. Frankly if he were suspended for life it'd be no loss to the league, and it'd make all his opponents safer. If I were a Rangers fan I'd be screaming for his head, and no doubt all the rest of us would too. Given his history, he ought to sit a minimum of 25 games for this, just to make sure he can't play in the playoffs any more this year.

Brashear is a piece of s***. Always has been.

I'm not really complaining about the Brown pick too much. I think you can never have too much RB depth and you should probably pick one up at least every other draft. I will say, if they wanted a running back, there wasn't even any need to trade up - they could have just stayed where they were and not traded their 6th-round pick to the Broncos (they got a 5th-rounder next year for it - no biggy) and gotten either Ringer or Ced Peerman, both of which are surely better than this Brown character. That said, though, the more chances to bump Aveion Cason off the roster for the 8th or 9th time, the better.

They must have been reading my posts here at LGW http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...t&p=1616606

Man, Slovakia's having yet another rough time. Bet they wish they could have Hossa. I also say, watch out for Latvia against Sweden later on today. Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see Sweden get upset.

It's great to go on a West Coast swing and come back with a winning record, especially when you can cap it off with a series win against a division rival. Not too shabby. I'd love to rehash the argument we had a year ago with the Inge-hater around here, but unfortunately he's long since banned (Inge-hating is a severe crime punishable by death and dismemberment, so he got off lightly )

One day all the famous people in Sweden will stop coming over to play hockey in the States, and then you'll understand.

I really don't understand the selection of a TE with that last pick. OK, it's the last pick, 99% chance it means nothing, but I think it's a symptom of a totally directionless draft. Lack of tight end depth was not really a major cause of 0-16. If you're so high on Pettigrew that you ignore massive holes on defense and the O-line to get him, what on earth do you need another TE for?

I dunno, I don't think it's something to just brush off. Very legit concern, as it always is when you sweep. But three things can happen: - Anaheim wins in six and we get the Ducks - Anaheim wins in seven and we get the Ducks - San Jose wins in seven and we get the Canucks I think the only really worrisome thing is if Anaheim wins tomorrow. If Anaheim wins in seven, they'll have to fly right out from the West Coast and play a game probably with no more than a day of rest. I don't mind that. And if San Jose comes back to win the series, the Canucks have been resting just as long as the Wings have, so it's no deal at all.

You'll notice hardly anything has been said in criticism of the new coaching staff. Jim Schwartz, ultimately, is not in charge of the drafting decisions. Martin Mayhew has final say. And Martin Mayhew was a key contributor to the 0-16 mess. Good lord, if we can't say bad things about the team after a season in which they don't win a game, when can we?

WOW how about the Michigan native Brad Keselowski with the win at Talladega after Carl tries to block him! Too bad Keselowski's only a part-time driver, cause he's the only Michigander in the series, but maybe he'll be in a full-time ride soon. That'd be sweet. Pretty spectacular crash for Carl, too. Don't see too many cars go airborne any more with the CoT. Exciting finish to the race.

That's just it. The moment you go 0-16, you open yourself up. That's the point where absolutely no human being in the world could have done worse than they did. You, me, anyone, could have coached, quarterbacked, or managed that team to 0-16.

I actually really liked the Calvin Johnson pick. As a UVA fan I watch a lot of ACC football and saw more Calvin Johnson than I ever wanted to see over four years and he was always one of those guys you just knew would be a stud in the NFL. Total, complete domination, and always a top character guy too. Joe Thomas was my #1 choice for that draft but I was really happy to have Megatron. I don't senselessly ridicule the players. I ridicule the management. I'm tired of giving them the benefit of the doubt. They no longer deserve it. When the Wings were the Dead Things they were under incompetent, apathetic management from ownership on down and nothing changed until management changed 100%. The Lions are the same. Hm. The Lions just traded the 3rd round pick.

I'll say this: I've certainly been wrong about drafts in the past. I hated the Charles Rogers pick but liked most of the rest of that draft. Thought Boss Bailey was an awesome pickup. I loved the '04 draft when we got Roy Williams, Kevin Jones, and Teddy Lehman. (Though in fairness, I think I would have been very much vindicated if Jones hadn't always been hurt, since Williams was a Pro Bowler.) OTOH, I was none too happy about either the Charles Rogers or the BMW picks. I thought the '07 second round in which we had three picks was an absolutely pathetic waste. (Drew Stanton, Gerald Alexander, and that Ikaika guy.) And mark my words, trading out of a spot in which we could have taken Branden Albert last year and instead taking Gosder Cherilus - we will rue that pick for a while. That was a things-get-thrown-at-the-TV pick. Anyway, it's not that I think Pettigrew will suck. It's that we need a damn defense and don't have one. And it's not that you can just brush off the lack of O-linemen by saying we don't need to protect Stafford this year because he won't play. We still have a quarterback to protect, whether it's Stafford or Culpepper. And if Culpepper gets hurt, what then? Do we throw injury-magnet Stanton out there for the sole purpose of keeping Stafford on the bench?

Yeah, Friday's game, that was a write-off. Absolutely ridiculous scheduling. There's no way a team should play a night game on the West Coast, fly east the next day (losing two hours along the way) and play a game the very next day. Should never happen, ever. Totally ridiculous. There's no reason that couldn't have been a day game in Anaheim; or better yet, make the series M-W instead of T-Th. Both teams had Monday off and LA had a day game in Minneapolis. Inexcuseable.

Maybe the Pettigrew pick was sheer genius. Most of the disappointment I felt about picking Stafford has melted away entirely, replaced by the utter disbelief and anger over totally pissing away the 20th pick on the least important position on the roster. I had just managed to convince myself that teams almost always get a really solid starter at 20th and we could get a linebacker or a lineman almost as likely to start and make an impact as Curry would have been. And then this. I'm sure Pettigrew's a fine player and all and he might well be a Pro Bowl tight end. Great. But can he stuff the run? No. We'll still be 33rd of 32 in rush defense.

Looks like Stafford will wear #9. There's a picture in the Freep of his jersey on display at Ford Field. Interesting. I think the last Lions QB that wore #9 was Rodney Peete.