Muse

Well, obviously the team SUCKS if they can't win the cup by sweeping the entire playoffs. Duh! So psyched for this game. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the Wings are not doomed to utter failure because they lost game one of this series. In fact, I'm going to go way out on that limb and say that they have a better chance at winning this game than Rebecca Black has for a major record contract. I'll even go further out on that limb and say they have a better chance of winning the game than Donald Trump has for staying married to his current wife for 3 more years. I'm venturing out to a very tiny branch of said limb to say that the Wings have a better chance at winning this series than Don Cherry has the chance of being chosen as the Prime Minister of Canada (as the new leader of the NDP, predictably). 6-2 Wings.

Hey Mike - thanks for the friendly hello. This will be a very good series!

There will always be people who come out and suddenly show support during the playoffs when they didn't show much interest in the regular season. A lot of people believe "there is no point in paying attention until the playoffs" (ugh). But who cares? We obviously have such a strong true fan base, as evidenced by how many Wings jerseys show up at every away game. The Wings surely are supported by many real hardcore fans, and likely a smaller percentage of "fair weather fans" than most teams in the league. If people don't want to pay attention until now, I don't worry about it. Engage them and get them interested. Educate them. Perhaps they'll find themselves more informed and interested, watching regular season games, too. That is how I got into hockey - and I'd imagine many die-hard Wings fans can say the same.

I use pencils all the time - seriously, every day! And yes, I usually prefer mechanical. I haven't had have a pencil sharpener since I moved to my new place 1.5 years ago, and I have so many dull pencils around here, it is annoying. I've been thinking about buying this: http://www.amazon.com/MEOWing-PENCIL-SHARPENER-Novelty-OFFICE/dp/B001UI2SEM The person below me has woken up from a drunken night to find their face has been drawn on. Hopefully not with a Sharpie permanent pen.

I'm ready to see them come out with fire in their eyes. Although Phoenix stepped up the thug treatment, we keep stepping up our game. I don't think the Wings will resort to playing nasty - I think they'll come out in the first period with 3 goals. Ruthless defense, keeping Phoenix from even getting near our net. Sure, our guys can dish out nasty hits, but they don't need to against this Phoenix team. Embarrass them and leave them in the desert! Prediction: Wings 4, Phoenix 1. Maybe a s___-ou_.

damn... impressive comeback in the 2nd for SJ. Here's hoping the Kings wake up from their nap in that long, painful period!

Agreed! The Sharks are having quite a bit of trouble with the Kings. Me likey!

I'll be around through NYE. Definitely up for doing something, though I can only make an earlier appearance for NYE. I have a feeling that a lot of LGWers are coming to town in December. We may have a lot of get togethers in December! Woot!

It was a fun evening! Amberlynn - I can't believe you were there! I wish you'd come over and just started asking tables full of people if they were with LGW. Oh, BRTD: don't worry about Vladdy16s threats about being late. She actually LOVES it when people are late. Then there was that one time when she was about an hour late for our breakfast meeting with SWF... hehehe. (V16 is perpetually early for meetings, and I'm perpetually late. She puts up with me. Then there was that breakfast date when she forgot to set her clock ahead - gotta tease her about that relentlessly because I never arrive at a place before she does, except for that one time. Heh!

I was glued to the tube for the entire match. Holy crap. That was amazing, bizarre, and stressful! I have no idea how Agassi pulled off the win. Baghdatis was nervous at first and very sloppy, then played well and worked hard to make it a helluva match. Then, as the younger guy cramped up so painfully, he still managed to play well. And you know Andre had to be in pain and exhausted. I had no idea who was going to win. I'm hoping for a rainy Saturday in NYC just so Andre can get an extra day of rest. Baghdatis is a better player than this "no, I'm not Boris" Becker, but each match has to be wearing on Agassi. If Andre can pull out a win in round 3, I'll be astonished - and very, very pleased! I'm looking forward to the Safin/Nalbandian match tonight. That could be very interesting. Ooh, I didn't realize Martina Navritolova was playing mixed doubles in the US Open - for some reason, I thought she was retiring after Wimbledon. Gotta catch her & one of the Bryan brothers.

Aargh. Put me on the "tentative" list. I may have a family commitment that day. I'll let you know within the next few days.

Count me in! I'm glad we'll do it at Cheli's Chili - it's good for those coming from the south and west, it shouldn't be too crowded (unlike downtown), and I haven't been there yet! Are we doing RSVPs in this thread, or is Vladdy16 taking PMs?

Tkachuk could bring a cup to Detroit? Nah. I think he's more likely to bring an empty box of Krispy Cremes.

TSN is reporting that Markov has been signed by the Wings. See this LGW thread to discuss: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=36820

Yeah, military guys never spark the bong. Ha! You're gonna have to give us dates for when you'll be gracing the Detroit scene, and we'll have a toast to all things liberal in your honor. Anyway, back to the July 22 event: 1. a quick reminder that there has been some construction in Dearborn (when I went down there the week of July 4th, they had a bit going on in the area off of the Southfield Freeway. I took Southfield to the Michigan Avenue exit, headed east, and Cheli's Chili is about a couple miles up on the northeast corner of Michigan Ave and Oakwood.) Here's a link to AAA construction & traffic info for the area: http://www.autoclubgroup.com/michigan/auto...affic/index.asp 2. do we have a confirmed number of people going? It looks like they'll only take a reservation if we have 15 or more *and* we're arriving before 4pm, and from what it looks like to me, we're looking at a later time. Just wondering if Vladdy16 has been keeping track of the plan, as I've been out of town. I'm definitely going, and Mr. Muse is a "maybe" again... consider him a last minute decision.

Are we going to do dinner, or just munchies and drinks? That might determine the best time. Godfaddah, you might want to put your two cents in, based on babysitting availability.

Count me in for July 22nd at Dearborn Cheli's Chili. What time? I'd prefer evening (I work until 4).

So, what's the plan. Does Godfaddah want to wait until after daughter #2 arrives, or is he gonna have one last party before having two handfuls of joy?

ROFL! I can't believe this idiot got a lawyer to file this case.

This has no confirmation by any other source (including the team), so it belongs in the Rumor Mill.

I'm skeptical about how up-to-date that TSN story is. It's reporting rumors we heard several days ago, and they've been debunked by other team reports or media reports. Boston has definitely bowed out, and the reports we heard before Boston said they wouldn't offer him a contract was that Boston had offered over $5 mil. So, I'm guessing that the info in this TSN article (which is quoting a Montreal-based source) is based on that and other rumors that have been debunked. I'd be frankly shocked if anyone offered him more than $4 million. I just don't believe Detroit is going to offer him $5 million when the highest paid forwards on the team are making between $2 and 3.5 million, and he's 37 years old. They don't need to offer that much, especially they know he'll stay unless he gets totally dissed by management here. Do I remember correctly that the last time his contract was up, there were all these rumors about him getting $5 mil or more from other teams, and all these rumors that Holland was offering that much or more, and then we were surprised to find out he signed for a little over $2 mil? Me thinks this is deja vu all over again. EDIT: I don't think the title of this thread is correct. The TSN story does not provide any confirmation that Shanahan is asking or demanding $5 mil a year for two years. "believed" is a wishy-washy word for news, in my book. There are no statements from him nor his agent, and no statements on record from any teams saying this number is being discussed. I think this is old rumor being regurgitated and interpreted as new facts.

I really enjoyed the women's final. They played pretty evenly, there were some great points, and I was happy with the result. (I won't give it away in case you all haven't seen it). Well, we predicted Nadal vs. Federer for the finals. I'm hoping Nadal takes it, just cuz Federer has won it so many times in a row. I'm watching the mens doubles right now. Bryan and Bryan are still just so impressive!

Shanahan made less than half last season than he did in the season before the lockout, right? (Yes, I'd agree that his $6 mil or whatever it was wasn't warranted last year at all). I think it's very fair for a player who was your top goal scorer, put in 40 goals, has been in excellent physical shape (the only player on the entire team who has not missed a game in the last two playing seasons) to try to get a raise. If I agreed to take just over one-third of my regular salary for a year because times were tight, and I performed very well (higher than anyone else in the company) during that salary cut year, I sure as hell would ask for a raise. Lidstrom is making something like 7.6 million - of course he's a nice guy for making a few hundred thousand less than he could. Shanahan is a greedy jerk for asking for a raise after taking about a 60% paycut the year before? They *both* were on the team that didn't get any farther than the first round. And as I expect, all of this talk of big money contracts for Shanny with other teams is just BS. Kenny knows that. Other teams claim they're interested and numbers get floated to the media, but it's a ploy to see if Kenny will jump and sign Shanny at a higher rate than necessary, get us to waste money. Kenny didn't jump. He hasn't signed Shanahan yet. I bet he'll sign here for no more than $4 mil - in fact, I'd bet it'll be more like $3 mil. He also needs to sign someone like Shanahan so he can trade away one or more of the underperforming forwards that are costing us as much or more and returing us less value. I don't have a problem with Shanahan getting a salary between $3-4 million for one year. He contributed more to the team last season than Datsyuk, Lang, Draper, or Maltby.

I'd bet that Shanny feels he gave them the "hometown discount" last year. He took a huge paycut. He proved himself in the regular season, and now he wants a raise. I don't blame him for trying, and I don't blame him for shopping around. After all, this is a business, and he's probably only got a couple more years left in the biz.