Yzermania19

I'm sure being soaked with sweat all the time is a really pleasant feeling, and of course it has to smell really good in the locker room after a game. *sarcasm* :puke: Seriously, though, did they not think that maybe these guys might actually perspire just a tad when they are physically exerting themselves to the degree professional athletes do while playing their games? And I think the players are smart in ordering the sweaters 2 sizes larger - first of all, with the pads and everything on they looked like stuffed sausages. Secondly, they look really uncomfortable in those sweaters, like they are too small.

But that is exactly what you said - by saying if Stevie had been in the lineup we would have won the Cup this past year, you are saying they can't win without him. Of course they won Cups without Stevie...the last time the Wings won a Cup prior to 1997, in 1955, Stevie was 10 years away from even being born. I never denied Stevie was always one of our best playoff performers and yes, he often was a difference maker in the playoffs. BUT as I said Stevie might not have made as much a difference in these playoffs as you seem to have convinced yourself he would have. His knees were bad, his back was bad, his neck (the fused vertebrae) was bothering him, he was starting to be bothered by lots of little nagging injuries - a groin problem here, a shoulder problem there - and we all know he nearly retired in November of 2005 until Robert Lang got hurt and Ken Holland asked Steve to delay his retirement until they had enough healthy bodies (and before you say it, yes I know Stevie started to play well and decided to finish out the season). So who's to say he would have even physically made it to the playoffs? Yes, he did. And they were. So what's your problem? We also must have different opinions of what is respect and what isn't. It is so crystal clear to myself - and nearly everyone else on this board, and just about every hockey fan I talk to - that the level of respect Yzerman gets is so very high. There is probably not a more respected athlete - current or former - in any sport in North America. Nick has certainly learned from Stevie...he even says so himself. He observed Stevie all those years and learned how to lead while practicing a quiet restraint. He learned you don't have to yell your fool head off to get your point across, that sometimes a simple statement is more powerful than a curse-filled rant. Stevie definitely gets credit for that. What rock have you been under? Yes I saw that and I disagree with it. Back then Nick was still a puppy, wet behind the ears. He might have had the makings of a leader back then but still had much to learn. Steve was still developing into the great captain he turned out to be. There is always a choice. The Wings didn't have to retire Stevie's number or give him a job. They wanted to. There is mutual respect between Stevie and the Ilitches and really, how do you thank the man who pretty much put Red Wings hockey back on the sports map? You retire his number. You give the man a job. They know that Stevie's got a great hockey mind and for years they have been grooming him to join the front office after his retirement. That is a fact. You know what? I'm through with you. Your constant whining about Stevie not getting respect and backpedaling when people tell you you are wrong are really far beyond ridiculous and I hope someday that you can see that. I am sure you are a reasonably intelligent person but you make yourself look silly and uninformed when you continually beat the same drum. I'm putting you on my ignore list. It's pointless to continue this because it's the same song, different verse. And it never ends with you. It just drones on and on and on and on and on and on and...oh sorry, I got stuck for a minute - just like a broken record.

Good God, how many times do we have to go through this? Do you have a lack of short-term memory or something? THERE IS NO LACK OF RESPECT FOR STEVE YZERMAN!!! PLEASE get that through your stubborn brain!!! All the article says is that, people thought the Wings were going to go downhill after Stevie retired and Shanny moved on, and that didn't happen. That's no disrespect to either Stevie or Shanny; if anything it is a compliment to them. I mean, how do you think Stevie would feel if, after he retired, the Wings said, "well that's it...we lost our Captain and our leader so we might as well just forget it. We can never be a good team again, not without Stevie. We're going to fold up the tents and go home because there goes our best chance of ever winning a Stanley Cup again, at least for the forseeable future." Do you see how ridiculous that is? Instead, the Wings said, "okay, no Stevie, no Shanny, but we can do this! We've got a lot of good players, both young and veteran, who have played alongside Stevie for years and have learned from him...let's take all that knowledge and honor him the best way we know how - by winning!" Steve mentored a lot of the younger Wings players - can you imagine how proud he must have been over the way they played last season? You really insult Steve when you say things like "If they respect him so much then why don't they admit they were a better team with Yzerman in the lineup? Maybe it's because the Wings think they are better without Yzerman or at least that's what they want us to think. It's not true. The reality is with Yzerman there instead of Calder we probably would've won the cup." I mean, really, what a slap in the face!! And also, once again - Stevie retired because he felt he could not play at the level he needed to be at in order to be an effective player for the Wings. And no, the Wings would not necessarily have won the Stanley Cup if Stevie was in the lineup this past spring. With that logic, the Wings should have 20 Stanley Cups, one for each season Stevie played for the Wings and they made the playoffs. Please stop this insanity!!! You are an Yzerman fan - so am I. I miss him terribly on the ice and it's still strange to see Nick with the C. I would have loved to see him play several more years but his body - especially his knees - wouldn't let him do it. Let him go. He's not a player anymore. Let him enjoy his retirement and focus on being the best team VP he can be and perhaps work his way up to a GM position. Every professional athlete - great or not - has to retire at some point and leave the game behind. The truly great ones know when it's time to step aside and let the next generation take over. Stevie knew his time as an NHL player was over. He bowed out gracefully rather than being forced out. He is to be admired for that. He gave the Wings and the fans 22 fabulous seasons with enough magical goals and thrilling moments to fill hundreds of hours of video. He's a surefire Hall of Famer. No one will ever wear #19 in Detroit again. He deserves to be honored and revered like the Wings greats who have gone before - Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay and the others whose numbers have been retired. You do him no honor by whining every time someone says something you view as a slight or an insult to Stevie. And you do him a great dishonor by implying the team cannot win the Cup without him in the lineup.

Fought what? His own shadow? And how many of those fights did he win? It was hard to watch him last season (when he actually played, that is) because you could just see how he was such a shadow of what he once was. It was sad, really There is no way I'd take Mac over Kopecky. For one thing Kopecky is a lot younger than Mac. That alone makes him more attractive. Yes, Kopecky miss most of last season recovering from a broken collarbone, but Mac's had a history of weird injuries his entire career. He hasn't been a physical presence in about five years. Also, Kopecky is still feeling his way around the NHL...give him a little time and he will be the big, banging body we need. Like Mac was (hopefully better) and will never be again. Then there's salary - Kopecky's a damn sight less expensive than Mac. The 2007 version of Mac is really an overpriced, washed up player who was a fan favorite but whose hockey skills are less than mediocre at best. Even at the peak of his career he was a mediocre player. I will say he did have a knack for scoring a timely, dramatic goal or two (the Cup-winning goal in 1997; his hat trick against the Avs in 2002). But his time is done. His only value now is as a mentor to younger players, and he is just too pricey for that, not to mention the Wings have enough veteran players to act as mentors to the kids.

Smart ass...

Excellent, excellent job, Leafs!!! I would have liked to see them keep the double bottom stripe but I can say I am very pleased to see they didn't succumb to the vertical striping and colorblocking so many other teams have. Good job!!

The Ducks' sweater might be plain but it's the best of the three. The other two are just fugly. Buffalo's new logo is the worst by far in the NHL these days, even before the sweater change - which has made it even worse. The Avs succumbed to vertical striping which means they suck even more than they did before...heh heh But I'm curious, too - just where will the C and A be placed on the Avs sweaters??

Wow, I thought this was a new thread...then I saw the date of the original posts. lol Anyway, as far as I know, Fisch has not officially retired, but for all intents and purposes he is done. No team is going to take a chance on him, regardless of how badly he wants to play - he hasn't played in almost two years, he has to wear a defibrillator vest 24/7 (except when he's bathing), the docs still can't figure out what went wrong...I'm sure the desire and passion are still there but if he hasn't already, Fisch is going to have to admit his playing career is over. Perhaps the Wings will hire him as a scout or something.

Wow...the back of the sweaters just kill it. Fugly. :puke:

I just voted...we're 148 benind, now.

Ugh. Horrible, just horrible. The striping is bad - choose either vertical or horizontal, not both! And I've always hated that black flaming C...it doesn't make any sense to me. At least have the flames in red or something. The shoulder patches just look stupid...what is the blue patch? Is that the Alberta provincial flag?

I agree...the white one looks too plain, like something's missing...it should have either a red or blue bar around the middle, like the blue bar on the red sweater. They had it on their old ones...I wonder why they didn't leave it on the new ones. Overall, though, very nice! As with the Wings' sweaters, you don't mess (except for some minor tweaking) with perfection!

They're not too bad...I mean, with all the excessive striping, piping and colorblocking we've seen on the other new jerseys, Philly's looks tame by comparison. Sure it could be better, but it could be way worse, too.

That logo looks too swishy. But I agree with you about everything else. I freaking hate Buffalo for starting the number on the front trend, and yes Dallas' dark sweater looks like a long sleeve college basketball jersey

Oh I hope they are fake...not another sweater with the number on the front!!

I guess that's what happens after all those years with Bill Wirtz as your owner...you'd be depressed, too!

Not bad...if you take the logo off, I had a rugby sweater like that about 20 years ago...lol

That is so unbelievably freaking bad, it defies words. Things like that make me so glad the Wings have only minimally messed with their logo over the years. Those old Cougars unis wouldn't be so bad as a third sweater, actually. At least it's a homage to their past and not some supposedly modernized logo that looks like it was designed by a mediocre art student on crack.

I actually agree with the Sportsnet poll - in order of preference, I would vote for the Vintage Stick jersey, Johnny Canuck, then the new Whale jersey. But those underarm color block patches on the Johnny Canuck and the Vintage Stick jerseys definitely have to go.

Pink??

This is BRILLIANT!!! I love it! Hey, if Pittsburgh can have a skating penguin, why not a skating whale with legs??

You got the quote right...but it is a misnomer. Trust me, I've worked in public relations for the better part of the last decade and we spent countless hours and client's money trying to avoid negative publicity like that which has befallen the NFL, NBA and MLB. All negative publicity does is keep your name in the news, but it damages your reputation sometimes so badly that there is nothing you can do to repair it. While it never happened to any of the clients I serviced, I do know of other agencies' clients who have gone out of business because the pub was so bad they just couldn't recover from it. There's a reason PR is sometimes referred to as "reputation management"...the goal is to build a positive reputation for your clients and then maintain it through various programs, campaigns, goodwill gestures and events. A story such as the Michael Vick story can undo all the good you have just done to give your client a good reputation. People tend to remember the bad...think about how many times you hear, "You don't want to shop at Acme Fashions...their service is terrible!" Or, "John Doe? Wasn't he indicted for embezzlement once?" Once something like Vick happens, it makes the PR person's job that much more difficult. It's not impossible, but it takes a whole lot of crisis management, a huge effort on the client's part to behave themselves, a lot of apologizing and eating humble pie, very public acts of contrition and a whole lot of luck. IMO, as a PR person, the best thing the NFL can do is distance itself from Vick as much as possible. Suspending him without pay is a good start. But they need to remain firm in their resolve that this type of behavior won't be tolerated, and they don't seem to have a history of doing that...yet.

Okay, I think I understand you now. But if you had just said this to begin with, you could have avoided four pages of people trying to figure out what you meant...lol But could you please point out where the Yzerman bashing is in Crymson's original post that started the thread? Here it is -

WTF?? You say you're an Yzerman fan, and you say stuff like this, that Stevie's number should not have been retired before Nick's? And earlier you said Yzerman should have been in hospital getting his knee operated on rather than on the ice in the 2002 playoffs, yet you also said his 2002 playoff performance is the main reason why his banner is hanging in the rafters at the Joe. I'm confused. Which is it? You can't have it both ways. In fact, I don't think you're an Yzerman fan at all. I think your intention all along was to get us all riled up and defensive of Stevie. Well, congratulations, mission accomplished.

I believe it is three years post-retirement, so that would make him eligible in 2009. I really don't think it's going to be a problem for him to go in on the first ballot. I think Stevie's probably as close to a slam dunk as possible.