Lou_Siffer

Because they were #1 (i think...) and also had the track record of being a top notch team behind them. Because theyre great every year they get a little benefit of the doubt. Michigan hasnt been USC, and although Appalachian could probably beat Stanford its still the 1A vs 1AA thing. One more thing about why a basketball upset isnt as big as football. Its similar to baseball, where even the worst college team can ride the arm of 1 great starting pitcher on any given day and beat one of the best teams. You cant do these things in football, you have to have a full 30 man or whatever effort.

Babcock was quoted a few days ago in the paper saying that Drake wasnt expected to be a regular for the first half of the season. The way it sounded was him saying this was the thought process when he was first signed, but i happen to think its just Babcock's way of nicely putting that Drake is pretty useless with a cage on. I really expect him to be scratched alot, with Downey's real competion being Kopecky and Ellis right now. Oh, and also i dont know if you heard, but in the same article Babcock said Kopecky was scratched the other day because "he needs to play tougher". If only he'd have been coming on LGW Babcock wouldve figured this out alot sooner! I actually wouldnt be surprised to see Kopecky attempt to fight the next game he plays. Well wait...i'd still be surprised, but i wouldnt be on the floor having trouble breathing surprised.

Both our yesses and no brainers.

It has to be Dixon right now...but if Oregon loses again that might be the end of it. He doesnt have the name value playing at Oregon, so the team needs to be exceptional to push him over the top. Similar to the way Matt Ryan is all but eliminated imo after losing to FSU. If Oregon loses again, and Florida loses no more games....Tebow will take it i think. Unlike the other 2 i mentioned, he has the name value and exposure of playing at Florida to possibly overcome the 3 defeats.

I was thinking the same. Downey goes to the box one time and its like oh s***.... The problem here is we really cant win. If Downey starts playing poorly, he'll get sent down. If he continues doing a sound job and getting compliments from Babcock, eventually a team WILL pick him up if he continues going on waivers. Some team will say "hey, if this Downey is good enough for the Wings, maybe we should give him a place here on our 4th line". So really either way, the outcome will probably end up bad! Most, if not all teams already have a main fighter. But injuries happen all the time, and all it takes is that one team to decide they need another fighter and its bye bye Aaron. And you damn well know we wont replace him, so thats another reason why many of us are in such support of him.

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

Im starting to feel uneasy about this now...

Im pretty sure he'll clear, but you never know. I thought they did this before just because of Grigorenko,..so im a little annoyed its happened again.

Agree with the last 2 posters. Its not bigger than Mich/App St because its basketball, and crazy upsets are alot more common. In basketball, on any given night a team can just have the game of thier life and nail all their shots left and right....with football you cant just be lucky like that. Hell, you can basically ride two hot shooters and win a game. With football, it takes a full team effort of alot more players. The difference in talent level between schools is much harder to overcome in football than in basketball.

Actually, i would respond in saying the possibilty of Michigan in the title game is about 0.98%, about the same chance as Maltby actually squaring up and fighting Perry Toughness is a word that can carry different meanings. But one definition of it is clearly fighting. The question "whos the toughest team in the league?"...has EVERYTHING to do with fighting. How the hell can you deny that? Another side of toughness is the battling through injury aspect. In this case, its cleary a fighting thread about Corey Perry. You bring up that Maltby is as tough....only one way to take that.

Do i wish he'd take his visor off? Sure. But the way i look at it is he's a good player with alot of potential who will fight. You guys are acting like his some 4th line role player....guys with his talent who fight are a rarity these days. Give him credit for the fact that he FIGHTS is what im saying. He is far from a coward. If you're looking for a ***** how about someone like Kopecky for example who plays on a 4th line and who's yet to fight at all. Fighting with a visor on >>>>>>> not fighting at all Well this is obviously a thread about fighting. I think you're the one who has things confused here!!

Perry would destroy Maltby, unless Maltby went for the "*****" takedown the second the gloves hit the ice. Thats what I take from that.

What eva said is right on. How can you even draw a comparison between Mike Richards and Koci? There isnt one. There is no criticism for what Richards did at all. The Flyers, if they have both Cote and Eager in the lineup, are the toughest team in the league. This notion you're claiming that theyre afraid to take their medicine is completely crazy....they have no problem whatsoever throwing down.

Agreed. I think its pretty comical seeing people here rip on Perry. Hating him is fine, nothing wrong with that, but this talk that he's a ***** is ridiculous. How often do you see guys with the talent of Perry actually dropping the gloves with guys like Carcillo and Drake? Whether or not he takes the visor off is a moot point, he's still out there fighting. He could easily skate off and let other members of the Ducks handle that business. So if he's a *****, what about all the guys who dont fight at all? What does that make them? Fans of our team with realistically 3 guys who are willing to fight calling Corey Perry a ***** is pretty hypocritical in my book.

I definitely didnt see this struggle coming...i thought they'd be able to avoid the hangover. The talent is obviously still there,...and i think Neidermayer will come back eventually, which will still give them a good shot at the playoffs, even if it were only an 8 seed it doesnt matter. My feeling is there trying to hold off Neidermayer returning for as long as possible for cap reasons (mutual between Scott and Burke), with the optimal return being the midpoint in the season. But if that was indeed the plan, it may have to be sped up!!!

Former Michigan RB, current Cincinnati Bengal (at least i think he's still there...)

Your attack on Mike Richards couldnt be further from the truth. He should be fully commended for fighting Avery and taking his lid off, not criticiized. Richards not only was at the end of a shift, but had a previous gash on his head that he was trying to protect by fighting defensively. Many players wouldnt have even dropped the gloves at that point, but Richards has too much heart to turn down a challenge from Sean Avery. By the way, Richards beat Avery last year and this was a rematch...so he's hardly afraid to throw with him.

I heard Chris Perry is starring as Wolverine in the next Xmen movie. lol, when youre out to insult a player, at least get his name right in the title!

I see it: Div winners: Green Bay 12-4 Dallas 11-5 Seattle 8-8 New Orleans 9-7 Wildcard: Detroit 10-6 (we lose the division the last week at Lambeau) Washington 9-7 Giants fade off in the 2nd half, starting with a loss to us...Coughlin fired at the end of the year of course! Theres that homer part in me that likes the Lions to win the division, but im going to stick with that '06 Tigers aura...they follow the wildcard course. Detroit over Seattle Washington over New Orleans Detroit over Dallas Washington over Green Bay Detroit over Washington Not that i really like the Skins that much, i wouldnt even be surprised if they missed the playoffs. But again, kinda going with that Tigers theme! Washington would be the Oakland....giving us a home game for the fans to go crazy.

The "lets go Lions!" chant after Lewis scored (which was overturned) gave me chills!

Super Bowl!

You cant argue there wouldnt be a silver lining in all of this though if they made the change.

Fire Dantonio! You know, Michigan State is starting to remind me of the Lions under Marinelli in his first year. In a bunch of games but just cant come through in the end and find a way to blow it. My gut says they'll have the same type of turnaround and be really good next season. How about Kansas? Wow.

Yeah but sometimes the big trade, while it comes with risk, is what you need to do to get over the top. Just saying that trading is not an area we can say Holland is proven great at. I never said he's hurt the team with his trades, although, that remains to be seen with Matthias. We'll know that in a few years. If he turns out to be really good, then we'll have let him go for a player that was knowingly having significant injury issues at the time of acquisition. That will be a black mark on Holland.

Here's the problem i have with this. im willing to give him a very small amount of credit for the Chelios and Hasek trades, but the fact remains these big moves had everything to do with being in the non-cap era. The Wings were able to throw around draft picks in every deal because they had such little value to them, as they did with Lang as well, since they were in a position to spend, spend, and spend on whoever became available. They were in a positiion that most other teams were not in. It also helps when the team giving up the marquee player is doing so because they feel like they cant afford him anymore. Put those 2 factors together, and you can see why i feel these big trades really come with an asterisk. What fair player for player trades can we can really credit Kenny with? The last great i can recall is Shanny for Primeau and Coffey...and that wasnt Holland. In the cap era, we've done Williams for Calder, which turned out to have no effect, and the Bertuzzi trade. With it being a level playing field now, we've yet to see anything in that department.