betterREDthandead

You gots to realize, Jack, a huge part of the fun of college football is arguing, bitching, in some instances whining, hating the bad guys, and in general disagreeing with everything except that which exalts your own team. It's part of the reason why I don't want a playoff. How could we have rivalries without it? "Each conference has great teams" is no fun whatsoever.

Agh! I TiVoed the wrong game. That's what I get for not buying the box that can do two at once. Way to go Lloyd! I'm absolutely thrilled that he gets to go out on the right note, and the seniors too. If there's anyone that deserves a going-away present it's Lloyd Carr. Proud to have never jumped on the "fire Lloyd" bandwagon by the way. Anyone TiVo the game? Anyone? I have GOT to have this one burned to DVD. I picked the UVA game to TiVo and got burned by the ******* OFFICIALS (more on that later if I'm still hot) and now, no record of the Michigan game.

I can't believe nobody thought of this yet! Protest marches, orange-outs, signs all across the country, and walkouts haven't worked, but this just might do the trick. [/sarcasm] Sorry dude. I don't do online petitions, because, well, they never, ever, ever work.

45 points is nice. Even nicer is how evenly spread the minutes were. Stuckey and Afflalo got almost as many minutes as the starters. If the Pistons can continue rolling and playing the bench the way they have been the past few weeks, it bodes well for both this year's playoffs and beyond. Stuckey and Afflalo can be huge parts for the Pistons down the road if they develop.

Oh good, it's not just me.

Landing one punch to Walker's helmet and another one on his back does not win you the fight. Draw.

I could give a s*** what Blues fans think of the Wings. I absolutely love that they hate us so bad, because I know where all that hatred is rooted: in the fact that the Wings crush their hopes and dreams every single time they meet in the playoffs. It's cute.

So true. LGW's been awesome for giving me an outlet for my Wingfandom since I don't spend much time in Detroit any more. So thanks Matt! (And Trey....the man behind the curtain!)

Objectively speaking, the way this season turned out is probably better than if the Lions had muddled their way to a 7-9 record by starting out 3-5. If they'd done that, we'd be talking about what wonderful progress they'd made and getting all complacent. Instead they decided to give us one of their patented 1-7 streaks and now nobody's satisfied, again. 7-9 looks a lot worse when you used to be 6-2. Apparently, drinking the Kool-Aid this year turned out just as badly as the last time I guzzled Kool-Aid at a party.....had a great time, was working all the right angles.....and then the load of bricks fell and I ended up barfing my intestines out into the bushes and passing out on the s***ter. Worst three hours of my life. Kind of the same as a six-game losing streak. Kansas City was even kind enough to provide the recovery beer.

This would also work. And to answer your question....******* everybody but stupid-ass WCF.

Best news is there are 6 other 7-9 teams besides the Lions and we lose the strength-of-schedule tiebreaker to each and every one of them. Almost.....we tie with Chicago and whether we get the 13th or 14th pick will depend on a coin flip. So, who should the Lions look at? Will Mario Manningham be available, or will someone like Limas Sweed or Early Doucet be there? Maybe Devin Thomas will come out early? Or perhaps Greg Orton, who looked mighty impressive once already in Ford Field.

That's my thoughts too. Streaky players usually have their performance tied to confidence. Hopefully that nice easy goal he scored yesterday will help out there. Sammy's no good at making plays of his own but he's very good at finishing others and he's a legit scoring threat when he's on.

Agreed. I can't hate Tom Brady. I don't even really hate the Patriots as a team. I do hate Belichick though. Worst-case scenario: a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl. We'll be drowning in media drool. Half of them will be slobbering over the potential for a 19-0 season and the other half will be beating each other up to be first in line to provide oral satisfaction to Brett Favre. It'll be set up as the Good vs. Evil Super Bowl. Brett Favre, who is Luke Skywalker and Rocky all rolled into one, will bring his rugged sexy manly good looks and his precious golden arm into the tilt against the Eeeeeeeeeevil Empire and their juggernaut of complete and total perfection. Worst part is: The NFC playoffs will feature six teams I hate. Well, I don't hate the Seahawks much. But I do have a friend who's very obnoxious about his Seahawk fandom.

Back on topic: Playoff locks: Detroit Ottawa Dallas New Jersey Playoffs likely: Montreal Minnesota San Jose Colorado San Jose Not a chance: Washington Tampa Bay Los Angeles Edmonton Phoenix Everyone else, I consider it wide open: 9 players for 4 spots in the East, and 7 players for 2 spots in the West.

UCLA now has 100 national championships, having just recently won the women's lawn bowling title or whatever. C is Roman numeral 100. They have a gold C instead of a blue one on the white unis.

The Avs announcers didn't seem quite so bad to me, but then again I've heard Hawk Harrelson call Chicago White Sox games. Harrelson makes Bob Ufer sound like a debate moderator.

Well, everyone on the team but Lidstrom takes a backseat to Dats and Z. But I think Flip's coming-out party was last year's playoffs. Specifically, when he outraced a Calgary Flame to the puck and scored a key goal in I think Game 2 of that series - at least, that's the play that sticks out in my mind as when I first "noticed" Flip out there. Since then all I've seen out of the guy is hustle, hustle, hustle.

Friday: Buffalo @ New Jersey Boston @ Carolina Montreal @ Florida San Jose @ St Louis Saturday: Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay Los Angeles @ Colorado NY Rangers @ Toronto Washington @ Ottawa New Jersey @ NY Islanders Boston @ Atlanta Carolina @ Columbus Buffalo @ Pittsburgh San Jose @ Nashville Edmonton @ Minnesota Detroit @ Phoenix St Louis @ Dallas Anaheim @ Calgary Sunday: Philadelphia @ Florida Los Angeles @ Chicago Montreal @ NY Rangers Anaheim @ Vancouver

He might take a home team discount of $750K a year. Not a full $3 million. If Kenny comes at him with $5.5 million, Hank will be a St. Louis Blue the very next day. The negotiations will probably start no lower than $6.75, minimum.

I would not complain if Holland signed Flip to a 10-year extension. It's hard to find a Wing with more hustle than he's got, and that's saying something. I suppose there'd be a worry that giving a guy that much security would take away some of the hustle, but with Flip, I doubt it. Giving him and Cleary good long extensions would be the right way to set in stone the foundation of the New Wings, post-Stevie.

Ordinarily I'd have pulled for CMU, it being a Michigan school. But Purdue is my brother's school so I root for them when it's convenient (i.e. not against Michigan) and our whole family was decked out in black and gold for the game. And in case it needs saying again - what a game last night! VERY partisan CMU crowd. Just one of many road games the Big Ten has to play this bowl season. What with Chicago and Indiana being not much of a drive from Detroit, I expected more Purdue fans, but I would guess not even 10,000 in the whole place. As an added bonus, it was my first-ever trip to Ford Field.

Slightly different set of priorities for me: Michigan beats Florida Virginia beats Texas Tech (ordinarily this would be like, #1 and #1A, but Michigan's got the better storylines this year.) Purdue beats CMU Texas beats ASU Giant sinkhole opens up directly underneath the Superdome and swallows the field just as OSU and LSU are jogging off for halftime. Screw those teams.

Going to the Mo City Bowl tonight! Brother is a Purdue grad so we'll go against the local grain and be wearing our black and gold. Too bad they're playing Central because I like pulling for the other Michigan schools, but not tonight.

Just 2 on 2? I'll take any player plus a goalie

The rivalry, as it used to be, is dead......but I still look forward to Avs games more than the others. Still hate 'em. Probably has everything to do with being the fairly impressionable age of 14 when Clod did what he does to Drapes, and I don't think it'll ever go away. And I like it that way. First game I ever saw at the Joe was a 7-2 thrashing of the Avs and I always get more pleasure out of watching that than a 7-2 thrashing of any other team, even the Blues, Stars, or Leafs. Incidentally, I spent the plane ride back home watching the 3/26/97 game. It never gets old