BlakChamber

Oh dear...has it really been a week since the last "ESPN hates hockey" thread?

That's absolutely awesome. I wish more coaches would call out media hacks. *coughrobparkercough*

I've got over a year until my wedding, I don't think I need to lose weight that fast. Thanks though

MSU is ranked #23 in the coach's poll. Not sure they deserve it, but they are 4-0 and I'm not about to complain about being ranked for the first time in a while.

I just hope we like the answers. I'm not expecting a win against the Badgers, especially playing in Madison. But if MSU can keep it close and play strong all four quarters, than I'll be happy. Yesterday's game was pretty ugly in the first half. But here's what I liked. At halftime, Dantonio and the Spartans made adjustments and had a great second hafl. Coach Jabba, the offensive genius with the huge contract didn't do anything. Hey Chuck, how about that promise you made to the boosters that you'd never lose to MSU again? And the Spartans set a record yesterday. They're the first team to beat the Irish 6 straight times at home. Rumor is that Notre Dame Stadium will be renamed, Spartan Stadium South.

No way in hell. They'll get votes by beating PSU, but that's it.

Time to take my working out a little more seriously. I weighed myself at the gym today. I'm going wiegh myself once a week on Saturdays. My goal is to get down to 150, which was what I was when I started college. I've got a 13 months until my wedding, so I've got plenty of time, but I need to buckle down and work harder. After law school, I was close to 200. I've lost about 20 pounds so far. 9/22/07: 178.4 lbs. And of course, as I type this, I'm sitting here drinking a beer watching football

I think you've be better off comparing Maple Leaf Gardens and the Forum to Olympia, not The Joe? And when did the atmosphere in The Joe all of a sudden get so great? All people do is ***** around here that the place is too quiet and all the suits sit on their hands.

Not gonna lie, I'm nervous about today's game. This is a game that MSU has absolutely no business losing. So as a MSU fan, I've been conditioned to know that these are the type of games MSU finds a way to lose.

Good call. Ten is one of my all time favorite albums. Right now I'm rockin'

There isn't that much history, the place is less than 40 years old. It's not like Tiger Stadium. A new arena is coming, bank on it. Cobo needs the room. Ilitch has all the land over by the Fox. Its not a matter of if the wings get a new arena, it will be when. And it will have a corporate name.

A&M just got flat out humiliated last night. There's going to be some angry, Fire Coach Fran letters in the paper tomorrow.

American football was based off rugby, which is English.

If the NHL wasn't popular on ESPN a few years go, why would it be popular next year?

Amen to that.

Solution to Casey. Get A-Rod, move Guillen to first I'm disappointed in this season, but not that badly. Considering the number of injuries the Tigers faced and how poorly they played at the end of July and August, its amazing they were able to stay in the playoff picture as long as they did. It's probably the best for the team if they have October off giving them an extra month to rest and recover. Come back to spring training healthy and ready for another run. The last time the Tigers had back to back winning seasons was 87 and 88. Even with the disappointment of missing the playoffs this year, we're witnessing the rebirth of baseball in Detroit. It's a good time to be a Tigers fan

He didn't prove your point at all, son.

The NFL has the most parity, but I wouldn't say that every team is competitive. I also think that given the shorter NFL season its a lot easier to give the illusion that everyone's on an equal playing field. One team can get a few upsets and find themselves in a playoff hunt. If the NFL played a longer schedule, you'd probably see more talented teams pull away.

How do you define having all 30 teams competitive? There's no league in the US, probably the world, where every team has a legitimate shot to win the championship every year, it's unrealistic to expect the NHL could be like that. There's always going to be the haves and have-nots.

A good TV contract (which the NHL needs) can only get you so far. I've never felt the NHL translates well to TV, anyone will tell you it's much better live. If you want to grow the fanbase, you're going to need a game for people to go to. If the NHL wants to capture or even make any headway into the south and southwest markets, you're going to have to give people the chance to go see a game live. You mention NASCAR, one of the ways they became the #2 sports league in the country is expanding into untraditional markets.

I asked the same question you did earlier in this thread and never got an answer. How do you make more people interested if there's less teams. And why is it just assumed that because a city has cold weather they'll support a team? When's the last time a warm weather team went to a cold city? Atlanta to Calgary?

There isn't going to be any contraction, you can bank on it. And can someone explain how a league that is already hurting for ratings/publicity going to benefit by having less teams and less places to develop new fans? I don't think expansion is really needed, but I'm surprised Houston hasn't been mentioned. They've got an NHL ready arena and the owner of the Rockets has been trying to get a team for a while now.

Your explanation really doesn't hold water. Recruiting class rankings under Ty and Jabba have been almost identical, and as Eva pointed out, Weis is playing with his kids now. Furthermore, your explanation that "Weis has only lost to good teams" doesn't fly either. If that makes a good choice, than John L. Smith is at least a decent coach, he lost to Michigan and Ohio State plenty of times. The real question should be, what games did ND under Weis win that they shouldn't have? As far as I can tell, it maybe be UM in 05 (using Ty's players and Michigan had a down year) and Penn State last year. Hell, even JLS beat some teams he probably shouldn't have. ND better hope that Weis lives up to his billing as an offensive genius and someone who can recruit kids since he'll turn them into NFL players. Because ND is stuck with him for a long time.

At least they're not really college football towns. I'd love to go to this, I was at the Cold War a few years ago and it was a blast.

Agreed. They are getting votes though, which is a step in the right direction.