Packer487

It's unfair that the legendary starting goalie got a chance to play through his slump and the backup wouldn't necessarily be afforded the same luxury? Are you serious? Not to mention that Osgood was pretty bad for most of 2005, very very average for a good portion of last year and then he was great from January-ish on. It's just a liiiiiittle bit different when you're comparing that to a guy who's done what Hasek has done. If Osgood got off to a bad start, there would've been doubts and rightfully so. Also, I'm not actually convinced you would have seen the reaction that you claim. There'd be a few bashers, sure, but 95% of the regulars (at least)? No way. Hell, there were people that thought he should be starting at the beginning of the 2005 playoffs, even after the way he played for most of that season. The man can do no wrong by the masses in these parts. If you want to talk double standards, it was amazing in February how quickly poor defensive play because an acceptable excuse for bad outings by a lot of people. No one wanted to hear that in Mid-November. When has there ever been a Hasek love-fest this year? Definitely not. But he should get to start the playoffs based on the fact that he's a better goalie and he's playing great hockey. If he wasn't playing well, I wouldn't be saying "YOU HAVE TO START HIM BECAUSE HE'S DOM!" But he is playing well--extremely well as a matter of fact--so the "he's only starting because of his name" argument is moo. Like a cow's opinion. So why is this the start of the games that matter and not, say, two or three weeks ago? What if Dom sucks his next two starts then gets four shutouts. Do we still care about the first two bad performances? What if we get everything locked up in the next week or so? Do we care about the way the goalies play in games where we've got nothing to play for--and I assume the effort by everyone will go down? Babcock already knows who the better goalie is. I suspect both goalies know who the better goalie is. Osgood's going to get his shot again in the next three years. Hell, he might get his shot at some point during this playoff due to injury or a couple bad outings. I suspect if Dom has a bad 2 or 3 games to start the playoffs, Osgood will get his chance. And sports isn't about fair. Babcock is going to start the guy he feels gives us the best chance to win a Cup. It's his neck on the line to end up having success. He's not going to play someone that's inferior just because of his name, as some people like to suggest. Touche. Though Dom doesn't seem all that worried about it. Knowing him, if it was a playoff game, he'd be good to go. Because that always works in the post-season.... If Babs thought a rotation would be best for the team, I'm sure he'd do it. Like I said before, it's a credit to Osgood that this is even potentially a debate. But you're all bat****-crazy to think that they shouldn't start Hasek in the playoffs given the way he's played. A team's starting goalie, who leads the league in goals against, and who has been an absolute wall for the last 3 1/2 months isn't getting benched. It's not going to happen. Osgood has played well enough that he's likely put himself in position to be handed the reins if Dom falters in the playoffs (he also played well enough to earn himself 3 more years here), but that's really all you can realistically expect. I know it's disappointing that your guy is having a career year but is still likely taking a backseat in the playoffs, but you got him for 3 more years now. He rejuvenated his career, earned a new contract, you probably got to see him this year more than you expected to, he started the damn All-Star game, he's played a huge role in the success of this team, and he likely had something to do with Hasek playing as well as he has since December started. He did his job. Now it's time for Dom to do his and if he can't, Osgood will probably get a chance. There's no shame in playing behind Dominik Hasek.

Where? Certainly not around here. By and large it's been an Ozzie love-fest since the get-go. Much of it earned. I did say that Osgood would level off (which proved to be correct), simply because he was playing at such a high level, there really was no way he was going to keep that up for six months. But I was pretty adamant that I didn't think Dom stood a chance to catch him in save % (which means I certainly wasn't throwing out 2.30/.905 as potential numbers). When a guy has a .907 career mark and a career high of .913 for a full season, it's almost unfair to expect him to keep playing at a .930+ level for an entire slate of games. The "Hasek starts slow, it's no big deal" talk also has proven to be correct, no? Being that you'd be really hard-pressed to find someone with a better GAA over the last 3 1/2 months... I have said that if their level of play was anywhere close, Hasek would and should be the guy. But I'd be the first to say that if he was playing badly, that Osgood should get the nod. ...which is the case with Dom getting more starts down the stretch. I'm not sure what the issue is here. If the playoffs started tonight...who's your guy? Edit: Assuming both were good to go health-wise (good point tazzer)

I actually think that's going to be a pretty good series. NMU just swept MSU not too long ago. Granted it was in Marquette and this is at Munn, but don't sell the Wildcats short. I don't know how they managed to get swept by Wayne State, but they swept Sparty, gave Michigan all they could handle, split with Ferris, split with Notre Dame. I picked MSU to win that series, but I'd be pretty surprised if they aren't close games. I've got that one pegged to go 3. Actually, Miami/Bowling Green is the only series this weekend that I don't think will be competitive.

Because Hasek is going to be the starter in the playoffs and it makes sense to get him some extra work heading into the post-season maybe? It's also probably not entirely fair to just say "The guy with the worse numbers is getting more games". It's true, but it also completely ignores the way that Dom has played for the last 3 1/2 months. There was no way he was going to dig his way out of an .864 hole to have a good year in terms of save percentage with the amount of shots the Wings give up. Actually I highly doubt that more than a couple people on this board would say that. And those who did would be run off by the mob. I'm still not sure what you're getting at here. Dom's been fantastic for 3 1/2 months, he's clearly going to be starting in the playoffs (as well he should be), why is it so offensive that he get 2/3rds of the starts down the stretch instead of 1/2? Nobody is knocking what Osgood has done this year. He's had a great season. If we need him, he'll be there. Chances are, he'll get his chance next year. But it would've taken a lot to supplant arguably the greatest goalie in the history of hockey, and when said goalie is playing at the level he's playing (going 3 1/2 months giving up like 1.7 goals a game), it'd be pretty much impossible. There's just no reason NOT to go with Dom at this point. Like the defense helped Dom a ton in the games he got shelled against Chicago and St Louis back to back. C'mon. If Hasek was playing .864 hockey still, I'd have absolutely no problem with the idea that Osgood should start in the playoffs. But there's no reason Dom shouldn't be playing at this point. We went through this in November. I said that if Dom still wasn't playing well come April and Osgood was, then fine, start him. But if their play was even close, then Dom would and should start. Why on Earth would you NOT play him at this point?

No more flawed than using save percentage as your sole basis for saying Osgood has outperformed Dom this year, never mind the fact that since December started, Dom has closed the gap in Goals Against by 1.1 goals per game and the gap in Save Percentage by .047--and has played a tougher schedule doing it. (14 games against playoff teams to 6) It's not a no-brainer to say Dom gives Detroit a better chance to win. Both goalies have been fantastic this year with the exception of one slump for each of them (mid-to-late November for Dom, early-to-mid February for Osgood), which I don't put a ton of stock in at this point in the year. Pretty clearly, they're both capable of leading this team to wins a high percentage of the time if they get any goal support. But Dom has gone 3 1/2 months now of playing great, great hockey. He's been significantly under 2 goals a game, has lost three times in regulation in that span, and he's made it out of the first round this millennium. Why wouldn't you expect him to see more action down the stretch and play in the playoffs? Because he sucked in November? Please. If he falters, Osgood will come in and I expect he'll be just fine. But it's been obvious from the get-go that Dom was going to get first crack at this thing if his play came around, and with the way he's played since December started, there's no reason he shouldn't get first crack. It never mattered how he played the whole season because Hasek has been great for the last 3 1/2 months. If Dom was playing well, then no, there was never a chance Osgood would play in the playoffs. If Dom wasn't playing well (or doesn't play well), then I'm sure Osgood would've gotten his shot. But right now, there'd be absolutely no reason to go with 30 over 39. The playoffs are going to be such a joy around here. This is true. Just like with his play down the stretch against Nashville last year, he's a big reason for the Wings being where they're at in the standings.

Usually bye weeks help teams recuperate from injuries, but for Michigan Scooter Vaughan is out with a broken jaw sustained while he was wrestling with a teammate last weekend. Then yesterday in practice, Rust and Elmblad collided knee to knee and Rust has a hairline fracture of his fibula and is week to week. The good news is that Kolarik is playing this weekend and expected to be available for 5 on 5, PK, and PP time.

Oh Esa, Esa, Esa...we're getting into the whole "He's been better for the WHOLE SEASON because his stats for the whole season say so" argument again? October: Osgood: 6-0-0, 1.50 GAA, .931 Dom: 4-2-1, 2.68 GAA, .877 November: Osgood: 6-1-1, 1.97, .920 Dom: 1-3-0, 3.35, .836 December: Osgood: 5-1-0, 1.67, .941 Dom: 7-1-1, 1.64, .922 January: Osgood: 4-1-1, 2.35, .913 Dom: 5-1-0, 1.51, .934 February: Osgood: 2-5-1, 2.99, .873 Dom: 2-1-1, 1.99, .909 March: Osgood: 1-0-0, 1.00, .950 Dom: 3-0-0, 2.00, .909 Hasek's gone 3 1/2 months (and the LAST 3 1/2 months to boot) giving up less than 1.75 goals per game, stopping 92%+ of his shots, and losing a whole 3 starts in regulation (and 5 overall). But certain people still seem to think that what he did in Mid-November actually matters. Whatever. This is kind of interesting...against teams currently in the playoffs: Hasek: 14-3-0, 1.69 GAA, .919 save percentage, 4 shutouts...29 goals on 360 shots Osgood: 9-2-1, 1.83 GAA, .919 save percentage, 1 shutout...22 goals on 273 shots Sparkling numbers out of both of them to be sure (I'd take either one in the post-season), but maybe when we're comparing them (and talking about how many more shots Osgood has faced), we should take it into account that more than half of Dom's starts (17 out of 33 or 52%) and almost half of his shots faced (49.6%) have come against playoff teams while Osgood has started against playoff teams just 34.2% (12 out of 35) of the time and those teams account for just 32.5% of the shots he's faced. Yup, Dom sucked against Chicago and didn't do so hot against St. Louis this year. But guess what? Barring a huge comeback, we're not going to have to deal with either of those teams when we start playing for keeps. Hasek's better. He always has been and he always will be. Deal with it.

Very interesting article in light of the little discussion Jeremy88 and I had about the tires. Stewart is standing by what he said, but several drivers have said that he probably overreacted. http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?s...&id=3286668 Apparently Stewart and Mike Helton had a nice little discussion about it on Stewart's radio show this past week. I would've liked to have heard that....

Just for some context, previous winners of the award per Wikipedia 2007 - Erik Ersberg, HV71 2006 - Johan Holmqvist, Brynäs IF 2005 - Henrik Lundqvist, Frölunda HC 2004 - Henrik Lundqvist, Västra Frölunda HC 2003 - Henrik Lundqvist, Västra Frölunda HC 2002 - Stefan Liv, HV71

I most definitely was referring to Stewart and his comments to that effect last year. Yeaaaaaah there hasn't been a good Nascar video game since Papyrus/Sierra lost that license. NR2003 Season is awesome. I really should play that game more often than I do. When my gf got me a day at the Richard Petty Driving Experience as a birthday gift (SO effing cool, by the way), I must've spent 3 hours doing laps around the Milwaukee Mile (imported that track) to get used to the braking zones and whatnot. That was another example of Stewart going over the line. The debris cautions are a little iffy sometimes, but I don't believe for a second that they rigged Junior's car in Daytona/Johnson's car at Martinsville. They've got too much to lose if something like that were to get out and there's still way too many factors that can determine the outcome of a race. It's impossible to guarantee a winner like that. But with that huge spoiler, it's a LOT easier to save a loose racecar now than it used to be. Hell, Kyle Busch spends half the race sideways. At least the driver still has some input with a loose car. With a blown tire, you're screwed. And an extremely high percentage of the time, they deliver. I can't imagine how hard it is to come up with a tire compound when you've never been on that track for a race with the COT. Everyone's learning and there's no reason to think that Goodyear won't improve the next time they come to Atlanta (or when they head to Darlington). To me, this race was akin to a motor shop building a bad batch of motors. If it's not a regular thing, you don't need to fire the shop or even call them out in the media. They know they screwed up and they've got a track record of doing great work. By no means was it warranted to throw the shots at them that Stewart took. I respect the hell out of him as a driver, but I'll never cheer for him because of crap like that. He's the first to throw stones at everyone else, but he'll run and hide or pass the buck when it's his fault.

I don't deny that he's earned the right to be a strong voice in this series. Stewart's biggest problem, though, is that he goes WAY overboard regularly. I don't have a problem with him criticizing the tire. I have no problem with what Junior said. I have no problem with what Jeff Gordon said. But to say that Goodyear can't produce a racing tire worth a crap and that Hoosier could do better? That's way out of line. Goodyear has been the sole supplier of tires for almost a decade and a half, and there haven't really been all that many races with major tire problems. By and large, Goodyear does a great job in Nascar. You said it yourself. "For one Nascar was 43 guys driving in circles". Goodyear bringing a bad tire to the track is a very rare occasion. People need to remember, this car is still new to everyone...not just the teams and drivers. The COT on its own has proven to be a handful thusfar, so I'm not sure it's even fair to blame everything on the tire Goodyear brought. It most definitely contributed to the problems today, but it ain't like these things handle real well as it is. Carl Edwards had a car that was on rails for a lot of the race, and he had no real problems with the tire from what I heard. Do you remember what happened the last time Nascar had a tire competition? It was a disaster and people died. With no competition, Goodyear can focus on providing a fast, safe tire. And a very very high percentage of the time they succeed. Today they failed, but they failed because they were trying to bring a tire that wouldn't explode and they went too conservative. Again, unless I'm mistaken, this was the first time this car raced at Atlanta which was (at least previously--don't know if it still is) the fastest track in the series, with a lot of it being corners and putting a heavy load on the right side tires. When there's a tire competition, the companies have to worry more about speed. With no competitor, every team is on equal footing and Goodyear can bring the fastest safe tire that they can come up with. When did Goodyear have their problems in CART? When they were battling with Firestone. Since then, have there been any major problems with Firestone being the sole supplier? Not that I can recall. When you have tire wars, you get things like this. Do you think there's any way that incident happens if F1 has a single tire supplier? I sure don't. You're kidding right? A couple of blown tires are a LOT more dangerous. If you blow a tire, a good amount of the time you're going into the wall at a severe angle and it's not going to be pleasant. To the best of my knowledge (and I was flipping with the Wings game) Sadler was the only one that even hit the wall in a wreck today and he just touched it. It wasn't entertaining, but I'm sure Goodyear knows that they stuffed up and they'll do better next time. They don't need Tony Stewart telling them that they can't build a racing tire for anything and that they should get out of the series. That's completely out of line. Saying what Junior said would've been sufficient. Saying what Gordon said would've been sufficient. Saying what Stewart said--but behind closed doors with Goodyear--would been sufficient. I understand that with Dale Sr. gone, someone needs to step up and be the voice. And with Stewart, Gordon and Junior all saying the tire was junk, that's enough to make me believe that the tire was junk. But don't try to tell me that it was necessary to go as far as Stewart did. By and large, Goodyear does a great job in Nascar. There have been very few incidents since Hoosier got out of the series. The vast majority of races have a tire that provides great competition and is as safe as it can possibly be. One bad race doesn't change that--especially since no one even really wrecked. Boring? Sure. But we've seen boring races due to the aero package Nascar came up with as well. It doesn't mean the sanctioning body should step aside. The tires today were probably third in the "least safe" things that have happened over the past 3 races alone (driving with the wet track in California, no SAFER barrier + the opening in the inside wall at Vegas). I fail to see how a race like this warranted the reaction Stewart had. If the integrity of the tire kept failing? Sure. If this becomes an ongoing problem and Goodyear won't listen? Sure. But a bad race with a new car on an extremely fast track where NO ONE WRECKED and suddenly Goodyear should get out of the series? C'mon. There's a classy way to make a point (Junior, Gordon) and then there's saying what Stewart said. Par for the course, I guess. It's not like I should expect anything more out of him. I'm not sure why Stewart cares about being able to race anyway, since Nascar just fixes races, right? ****** bag.

What Stewart said about the tires today was absolutely absurd. I can understand criticizing the tires for a single race. Junior and Gordon both agreed that the tires were junk today. But to say that Hoosier or Firestone could do a better job, that they got out of the other series because they can't build a decent racing tire, and that Nascar should open it up to competition is idiotic. How many guys actually wrecked today that weren't named Elliot Sadler? I can think of Kahne wrecking and that's really about it. How many tires blew? None? See, the problem with opening it up to competition is that the tire companies stop worrying about safety and worry more about speed. Does Stewart not remember what happened when Hoosier entered Nascar back in the mid 90s? Talk to Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr about how well that worked out. Goodyear has had issues in some of the other series, but how many Nascar races in recent memory have really had tire problems? Maybe Goodyear did go too conservative this week, but it's rare that they have major issues. And if anyone has problems with tires blowing, people are a lot MORE pissed off because that's dangerous. I guess Tony needed to find something to really ***** about. It had been a couple of weeks.

Mmmm hmm. If it hangs around, we're going to have a wonderful shot at this thing. If it doesn't, we probably won't. It's that simple. Nice to see Hudler put one in. Hopefully that gets him going. I think the chances are much higher than Flip and Mule get it done in the playoffs than Rex, but if they all want to get on a role, that's fine by me. So nice to see Nick back in the lineup. It actually didn't even register with me right away. I saw him out there for a few minutes and all of a sudden was like "Holy crap! Lidstrom's back!" Warm fuzzies.

The rumor is that Joey Ballgame might be coming to the Packers as the backup. I probably deserve that for all the jokes I've made. I'm not prepared to be one hit away from having Joey Heisman as my team's QB. Lord....

That was more of a joke about Kitna, Jackson, and Grossman than it was me saying "Rodgers is amazing". I do think he's going to be a good QB, and I think he fits their system pretty well. I was really questioning him until this year. Previously, he didn't show anything even in the preseason. This year, he was spot on whether he was playing with the starters or backups, and whether he was going up against the defensive starters or not. And he was amazing when he came in against Dallas. I was impressed with his arm and his mobility. I'm just slightly worried that he's made of glass. I definitely think they can make the playoffs with Rodgers at the helm (though there's also a lot of offseason to go), especially given the division that they're in.

DUDE! Thank you SO much! That's absolutely fantastic! Re: Beer I can't say I disagree either! I owe ya big for this one. I really do appreciate you nabbing those for me. If you want something in particular beer-wise let me know and I'll bring some next time I'm up there--or if you're going to be able to come out and tailgate when I'm in GB (and I WILL go to a game or two next year) I'll buy ya a beer or three. Either way is great! Also, did you get/do you want a copy of the Wisconsin State Journal? If you want one and didn't get one (not sure if they distribute up there) I'll go grab one for you. I had to order the MJS one from them. I think Barnes and Noble is like the only place that gets that paper, and they were out. I can't believe more places don't carry that paper. We're only like 70 miles away. It was only $5 though, including postage. Not too shabby. Cheaper than ebay will be. Thanks again! I'll PM my address to you if you feel like sending them, otherwise, I'll probably be in GB in the middle of May. My uncle is running in the GB marathon so I'm going up there to support him. You know this doesn't change anything. Rodgers is still probably the best QB in the NFC North. And I say that having only seen him for like a half. I really love hearing other teams' fans talk about how much they liked watching him play/respected him. That's a true measure of greatness right there.

It was really smart of him to align his team with Gillette Evernham. That's probably going to pay off, even if the switch to Dodge might have cost him 100 points b/c of that penalty. He almost ran me over on Belle Isle like 15 years ago. That dude absolutely FLIES through the paddock on his motorscooter. Nascar is VERY inconsistent with the penalties that they apply. They kicked Harvick out of a Cup race because of rough driving in the Truck series, but guys like Jarrett and Robby Gordon have (admittedly) intentionally wrecked other drivers and nothing happens. The Jarrett one was the worst. I forget who he got into it with at Richmond two years ago, but he intentionally wrecked him and it took Harvick (and maybe Ryan Newman?) out of the race, and ended Harvick's chances to make the Chase. Even though it was clearly intentional, Nascar penalized Jarrett five laps. Too bad he was 15 laps behind the car in front of him and 10 laps ahead of the car behind him so it was NO penalty whatsoever. They really don't make sense sometimes. I'm excited about Harvick's start. He hasn't really been in contention for any wins yet, but last year when the car was bad they'd get like 20-25th place finishes out of it. This year so far, he's managed to get top 10s. And I don't think his car was very good at Daytona or California. It's a nice change.

Vastly overrated. People never talked about Elway's picks and Favre's INT% was very similar. Favre threw picks on 3.28% of his passes. Elway was at 3.12%. That works out to less than one fewer interception per season based on Favre's average of attempts. Marino's was 3.02%. But he wasn't "interception prone". Even when compared to Joe Montana and Steve Young, who were two of the best at taking care of the ball, Favre averaged about one more pick every five games (when you look at their INT%s). Even Manning, who also has a reputation for REALLY taking care of the ball, would only average about 2.5 fewer picks a season. He consistently threw touchdown passes, threw for a ton of yards, and won games. What cost them the Philly game was Mike Sherman pussing out and failing to go for it on 4th and inches when they could've sealed the game. And the defense giving up a 4th and ******* 26. And Green tripping over a blocker on 4th and goal from the one when they could've put Philly away early. And a lot of other things cost them in that Giants game. Like Al Harris forgetting how to play defense, Brandon Jackson not getting enough separation from his lineman on a screen pass that was a sure TD, and Jared Bush not being smart enough to fall on a fumble. I'm not saying he shares no blame in those losses--particularly the game against the Giants--but there were a LOT of factors that contributed to each of those losses. The other times in the playoffs, plain and simple, the team wasn't very good. That gunslinger mentality was half the reason he was as good as he was. He made a lot of throws no one else could make. Sure some got picked, but he made a helluva lot of plays, especially considering he never played with another player on offense that will go to the Hall of Fame. It's Wisconsin in the winter. What else we gonna talk about? The Bucks? Favre wasn't the one who kept bringing it up. I don't really see what the issue is with Favre taking his time to decide if he was coming back. If there were any free agents that spurned them because he hadn't made up his mind, I didn't hear about it. A tiny part of me thinks there might have been one (Lavar Arrington maybe?) but it wasn't anybody that made any impact. It didn't hurt their offseason planning and they've had more than enough cap space even with him the last few years. Favre does plenty in the community. He's really involved with Make a Wish among other things. Plain and simple, he's one of the most likable people in sports. If you didn't appreciate him, honestly, it's your loss. How you feel about Stevie--hell, how most all Wings fans feel about Stevie--is how NFM and I--and most Packers fans--feel about Favre. NFM, on one board I was reading, it said that everyone should toast at 4:42 today. I'll have a shot of somethin' right then! I guess the GBPG is putting out a special edition at 3 pm today, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel will have a special section tomorrow as well as one on Sunday.

True. And it's my opinion that your opinion was baseless and idiotic. Until you provide some support for what you say it will remain MY opinion that you were just talking out of your ass. If you'd like to back up anything that you said, I'd be a lot more willing to listen. You could make a case for any of them and probably throw in a couple others, like Starr, as well. I'd have a hard time accepting Marino as someone's answer at this point since Favre broke all his records and won a Super Bowl, which Marino didn't. Favre's clearly top 5 and I could make a damn good case for him as #1. If he had won another ring, there'd be no contest in my eyes. But, he was--without a doubt in my eyes--the funnest player to watch play...I was just fortunate enough to have him playing for my team. It's always sad when one of the all-time greats hangs it up. I'm sure going to miss watching him.

How exactly did it hurt them for their QB to take his time deciding if he wanted to go through the rigors of another season? I suppose they could've waited to draft a QB if they knew he was going to play for a coulpe more years, but Rodgers looks like he will have a strong chance of being a very solid player in this league, so it's hard to say that hurt them. He had 2 (not several) so-so seasons, and they just happened to coincide with the rebuilding effort when the supporting cast was at its worst. Go figure. There's not a QB on the planet that could've done more with those teams. I'm not sure how you can rip him even when compared to one of the sports greats like Yzerman. Neither one bailed on their team for FA, both among the greats to ever play their sport, both great men and great leaders, both incredibly fun to watch, both were tough as hell (Favre's consecutive starts streak...Yzerman's guts during the 02 playoffs). Oh, right. You were just talking out of your ass. Thanks man, I really appreciate it! I'm sure they'll be printing a bajillion papers tomorrow. Definitely something I want to have--I was so geeked when my dad tracked down a copy of the paper from the day after the Super Bowl win. He worked for GM and he called up the Chevy dealer up there (who he knew) and asked him if he'd go get one for me. SO cool. That quote from Berman is great isn't it? It's just crazy to watch that video, to see the quality of it, and realize that no other QB has started a game for the Packers in all that time. I was ten freaking years old. This is going to be weird. I'm not ready for all these guys I grew up watching to retire. I'm still not used to seeing the C on Lidstrom's jersey.

Thanks for everything Brett. Football just got a lot less fun. At least we still have the best QB in the NFC North And Ted Thompson has given Rodgers a pretty darn good team to quarterback. I don't think I was ever correct about if he'd retire or not. I wasn't even worried this year... Hey NFM, could you maybe grab me a copy of the Green Bay Press Gazette tomorrow if you stumble across one? I can get the State Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel down here, but I don't think I've seen the GBPG. I'd really appreciate it! I've got the one from their Super Bowl win, and I'd like to have this one. Also, from 12-2 (central) today, Sportscenter is running a special about him. The one plus to his retirement is that we'll get the tributes, highlight dvds, and hopefully reairs of a some classic games. It's kind of crazy. On youtube, someone put up the NFL Priiiiimetime clip from Favre's first start and even though I hadn't seen it in probably ten years, I could almost recite everything that Berman said, I've watched my tape of it so many times. I'm officially bummed out, but no one can say that he should've hung it up years ago anymore, and that's a good thing. Even though we didn't quite reach the goal, I was still thrilled to be in Wisconsin to watch this magical season. So many amazing games...

That's a lot more like it! As other people have said, Kronwall and Franzen were both fantastic tonight. I'm still not used to Kronwall playing that well, but I like it. Now if he could stay healthy for the rest of the season we'll be in business. Hasek played a really solid game. The first goal wasn't the greatest (though it was a 3 on 1), but he was great after that. He made some huge, huge stops. I don't have the foggiest clue what that second goal was. That was quite possibly the dumbest thing I've ever seen a hockey team do. The goal SJ scored was 100% the refs' fault. This one is 99% on the Wings. Yes there probably should've been a call on Buffalo, but you just can't send 5 guys into the scrum when the play is still going. Even as our guys were skating over there I was thinking "Umm...whistle? Please?" and then Ken is like "Look out here!" and I started yelling profanities. That was moronic. Flip looks like he's busting back out of his slump and I've actually got more hope for Franzen to be effective come playoff time than I do Sammy or Hudler. If we can get Raffy, Lids, and Cleary back and keep that second line going, we're still going to have a great shot at this thing. I wish we had found a forward because I do think it would've helped us a ton, but when everyone's back we've still got a great team, with a great goalie. Man that win felt good!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0wuraHWRGg

This isn't arena football. They could put some slack in the net so it doesn't rebound right back onto the ice and it wouldn't affect the viewing experience more than it already has. I've seen this happen twice in the last month and a half now. That's too many times. If you're going to have the nets, then there needs to be a definitive way of telling when the puck goes out. Move the netting back a few feet to make it more obvious and put some slack in it, so the puck will just roll down like a foul ball. It can still be connected to the top of the glass, but moved back and not as taut. Right now they've got it like a volleyball net so the puck just springs back. I'm not really sure why.

Bump to congratulate the 2007-08 CCHA Champion Michigan Wolverines! Great accomplishment for a team that was picked to finish 4th in the preseason polls. BTW, media and coaches, we haven't finished that poorly since 89-90. Maybe they'll learn next time... Still a couple more trophies to bring home. Can't wait for the tournaments to start!