betterREDthandead

Can't keep 'em all. If the guy hadn't shown us anything in 7 years, he probably wasn't ever gonna.

I sure hope so. I'm kind of afraid they'll go on this great roll then get poleaxed by the All-Star break and lose all momentum. I so wish I could find this old picture I once had. I was like six or seven years old, and my aunt took me someplace where there was a photo-op with some of the Tigers. I think they were Bergman, Rozema, Gibby, and Petry. Pretty sure about the first three, not so much Petry. It was a signed picture. I have no idea what happened to it.

Euro schmuro I was more interested today in the United States win over Barbados, even though it was a flat steamrolling - in fact the worst loss Barbados has ever taken. First step on the road to the World Cup.

The only non-winged-wheel jersey worth wearing is the very first one, with one red stripe across the front and the old English D that sometimes shows up on ballcaps these days.

Trust me on this.....if you don't like the stripes (and I don't) then you REALLY don't want a Detroit Falcons jersey. Think more stripes, and the only time a color other than red or white ever showed up on a jersey other than on a patch.

Pittsburgh's original colors were powder blue and navy blue. It's not like it was a random decision. Because that wasn't really a design change, more of an evolution of material, and I think because of that it would look goofy. To "throw back" to any year more recent than 1956 would result in essentially the same jersey, because that's when the Wings put the red on the sleeve instead of just a thin red stripe. And to throw back any further than that, except for the one season of '55-'56, means the Blackhawks would have to wear those awful seizure-causing licorice stripes. I suppose it'd be OK if the Wings wore red and the Hawks white, going against the grain, because the stripes weren't present on the Hawks whites, and they had a different logo.

I hope to hell not. One of the best things about a Detroit-Chicago matchup: No throwback jerseys are necessary. The candy-stripe jerseys are terrible. And I don't know why everyone considers them such a traditional throwback - they were only worn for two years, separated by one. And those old Blackhawks (actually Black Hawks) jerseys are like watching a test pattern. They need to come with epilepsy warnings.

I probably wouldn't have had a problem with telling her, "Sweetie, Daddy likes to elbow fools in the head, because they deserve it. You'll know what I mean when you're 16 and the worst kind of people are asking you out."

Lilja. I'm only half joking.

If Detroit is dealing, here are six trades that work - ESPN A lot of these trades involve the Pistons trading for cap space. I can't see Dumars trading two of his core players for cap space. Honestly, what with stiffs like Mohammed, Flip Murray, etc., Dumars record in the FA market is mixed at best. My take on these: 1. Chauncey, Tayshaun for Melo, Chucky Atkins, #20 pick Atkins is useless and worth only $3M of cap space. Not great. Leaves us with: Stuckey Rip Melo Sheed Dice Bench: Afflalo, Max. Not a bad starting lineup, but there'd need to be a major bench fix, and a big leadership void that'd need to be filled. 2. Carlos Boozer, Ronnie Brewer, Jarron Collins, Morris Almond for Rip, Tayshaun, Afflalo. Chauncey Stuckey Boozer Sheed Dice Bench: Max, Brewer. Terrible. Boozer can be a force down low but he's not a go-to guy and can be stopped by good defense. If we're gonna give up two players from the core it had better be for someone the caliber of Melo. Brewer is a decent young player with promising upside but Collins is a ******* stiff, and Almond is totally raw and unproven. Great deal for the Jazz only. 3. Josh Howard for Tayshaun or Rip. Say Tayshaun, since they play the same position. Chauncey Rip Howard Sheed Dice. Bench: Stuckey, Afflalo, Max. A steal. Howard is an upgrade. Trading Rip instead would make the deal more even for Dallas, but it would probably force Dumars to trade Tayshaun for 75 cents on the dollar due to a logjam, so that wouldn't happen. 4. Gerald Wallace, Adam Morrison, Sean May, #9 pick for Sheed, Tayshaun Chauncey Rip Wallace Max Dice Bench: Stuckey, Afflalo, Morrison, May, draft pick Never happen. Wallace is not the Bobcats' best - Dumars won't talk about anything else. But they don't have the pieces to make us better. Morrison and May are serviceable players but are essentially cap space. This trade is 4 dimes for 2 quarters. 5. Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic, #10 pick for Sheed, Tayshaun Chauncey Rip Jefferson Max Dice Bench: Krstic, Afflalo, Stuckey Can't happen until after the draft for NBA-weirdness reasons. So we wouldn't get to choose on the 10th pick. Bad deal right there. Jefferson can score a LOT but does nothing else. Krstic is a potential All-Star but also a potential stiff. That alone sours me on the idea. 6. Tracy McGrady, #25 pick for Rip, Sheed Chauncey McGrady Tayshaun Max Dice Bench: Stuckey, Afflalo, etc. Tempting, but ultimately way, WAY better for the Rockets than for us. McGrady is overrated these days - he's not the superstar he once was, just another quality second-tier star. The main thing would be the long-term cap space from trading 2-for-1. Not interested.

ESPNified?? You really think that the importance of the playoffs and the Stanley Cup is the product of ESPN-esque hype? If the playoffs weren't more important than the regular season, they'd award the championship to the regular season leader.

Sure. Since the regular season is what's REALLY important, let's abolish the Stanley Cup and make the President's Trophy the real deal.

Best hood ornament EVER. NFM brings up a good point. Are we talking about if I was a player on a Cup-winning team and this is my traditional day? Or are we talking something like, I won an NHL-sponsored raffle and I get to have one day as a fan? What I do with the Cup is way different if I earned it. If I were a player with my one day with the Cup, I'd take it back to my old high school. But I'm not gonna show it off like I earned it if I didn't.

I'll bet if you asked any player which trophy they'd rather have - Smythe or Hart, but not both - the vast majority would take the Smythe every time.

I would actually put the Hart above the Pearson because of the age of the award. I tend to think of the awards as having a top 6 - Smythe, Hart, Vezina, Adams, Norris, Calder - and then another tier below that: Pearson, Selke, Byng, Masterton, Jennings, Ross. And then whatever's left. However, if I were somebody with every one of those awards on my shelf (ignoring the fact that nobody's eligible for them all), I'd probably like the Smythe and Masterton the best.

Correction: He worked his ass off for the Stanley Cup, and the Selke was given to him in recognition for the player he is.

Good lord. I think of all the trophies the league hands out, the Wings won half of them. Between the Wings and the Capitals there are only three trophies left, one of which the Wings aren't eligible for, and one of which they were nominated for. What a year.

I'm doing all of this. (Except for the close eye on what I eat. I tend to just eat what I like and try and minimize portion size. It's not like I'm out eating McDonalds every day. It's things like tuna sandwiches and a cookie for lunch, Stouffers for dinner, stuff like that.) I do some interval stuff twice a week, and I've definitely been working my way upwards in both speed and time on the treadmill for the other three days. And three times a week I lift weights. All muscle groups - or at least, as many as I know of. I think I might have lost an inch or so off my waist, which I suppose is progress, but the scale says otherwise. Hopefully it's just that I've added muscle weight at the same time, but I can't imagine adding muscle weight as fast as losing fat weight.

So far I seem to be behind schedule. A week past June 6 and I've been stuck at 190 all this time. It's pissing me off. I eat about the same as I always did.

Nope. Ulf wore #2.

That's a good point. This just shows why it's easier to get to the top than stay there.

You forgot jersey. Some of these guys are wearing sleeping bags out there.

You all remember Tim Donaghy. Going to jail for betting on the games he reffed. Take a gander at ze link: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=Av3x...p&type=lgns Donaghy claims the league ordered the refs in an unnamed playoff series in 2002 to fix the series so it would go seven games. He doesn't say which one, but only one series went the full seven, and it's the one that people already had their suspicions about: the Lakers shot 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone against the Kings and eventually advanced in seven. Donaghy also describes a 2005 series in which "Team 3" fell behind 2-0 in the series, then benefitted from favorable refereeing to come from behind and win the series. Only two series that year fit the bill, and as Donaghy refers to an owner bitching about the refereeing, the obvious choice is that year's Mavericks-Rockets series, which Dallas won in 6 after falling behind 2-0. He has a few other, less specific accusations for the league. I'm torn on whether to believe him. On the one hand, a lot of what he's saying fits right in with the conspiracy theories that float around. That '02 Kings-Lakers series is notorious. So fishy that Ralph Nader wrote a letter of protest to the league on behalf of all the "consumers" who were supposedly robbed of a competitive series. On the other hand, it seems to fit too well. He could very easily be making stuff up that he knows jibe with the perception, so as to stir up fan and media trouble for the league. Donaghy doesn't name names (even though it's obvious what he means.) He also refers to "NBA Executive Y" and "Referee Supervisor Z" and such. Why not name names if it's the truth?

We have a complete and total logjam at defense. Four under contract, three free agents, and three prospects waiting for their shot. That adds up to 10 for six spots. And we should bring in someone else completely outside the equation? I don't think you thought this out too well.

Carmelo is a whiny prima donna, for sure. But then again I thought Sheed was a complete ass before he came to Detroit. I have a whole new respect for the guy ever since. Dumars is a fantastic judge of character. If Joe D thinks it would work, then I do too. If Carmelo becomes a Piston he'll have Michael Curry and probably Chauncey and Dice as examples to live by, and these guys don't allow shenanigans. The Piston locker room will change Anthony, not the other way round. P.S.: I still don't think, and never will, that Darko was the wrong choice. Given the makeup of the Pistons at the time, they could afford to gamble, and if they'd hit a home run everyone would be talking about how brilliant they were for it. Nobody at the time called it a bad pick, so it's a little disingenuous to pile on now. Besides, Dumars turned Darko into Stuckey, who is on track to be the cornerstone of this franchise.