Gizmo

Honestly, when the was the last time we actually put one in!!!

Bad omen... It was the call on Flipper that triggered the 5-3 against the Pens that ignited their comeback!

Come'on guys... let's have a strong final 10!!!

Something to note... The networks often don't do the camera work. FSN doesn't operate the cameras for Wings games. They hire a local production company to show up with their hardware and operators. FSN provides the on-air talent, direction, and other non-technical staff. For simplicity sake, it's more than likely that VS uses the same production company that the regional Bruins broadcaster does. I sat right next to the cameraman that sits right behind the "visitors" net last season and we talked shop before the game started. The production company that does the Wings games is named something like "Jones Productions". If you look at the credentials they wear, the company name is mentioned.

Wings: sqrt(9) Slicks: 10 (base 2)

If a sniper rifle would work from my living room... there'd be carnage at JLA!!! Only slightly less annoying are the idiots sitting behind the benches that act like complete jackasses during televised interviews. I have a message for them: Your friends at home that know you will recognize you without you having to resort to waving and acting like a total retard. For the rest of us that don't know you from Adam.... WE DON"T CARE that you're behind the bench or on TV!!!

There's a couple of issues that are in-play here: trademark and copyright. Trademarks are used to publicly identify a business or other entity. As noted, a trademark violations occur when a trademark is misappropriated as a whole or enough of it (and can include "trade-dress") that a judge can rule that significant customer confusion is likely to take place between the mark's owner and another entity. In this regard, I think the sock company is safe from prosecution. I don't think it's likely that people will confuse the Silver Tech Sock Co. with the Red Wings. Having a similar trademark isn't a violation. The usage of the trademark is also a consideration. A trademark isn't a applicable to everything and must be attached to a certain product or service. The makers of Domino Sugar tried to sue Domino's Pizza for trademark violation when the pizza chain was spreading across the nation. It was dismissed because even though the root of the trademark name are identical ("Domino") and are both food products, the judge ruled that the sugar marker's trademark didn't extend to pizza and there was little chance that people would think that the sugar maker was now involved in the pizza business. Copyright is another issue. I'm also sure that the "winged wheel" design is also copyrighted. In addition to protecting artistic works as a whole, copyrights also protect so-called "derivative works". Such works are defined as using a portion (or all) of one copyrighted work in another. The Silver Tech Sock logo is pretty clearly a derivative work incorporating the copyrighted Red Wings logo. If the Wings or the NHL (whoever owns the rights to the design) want to force the issue, I think they'd win a copyright challenge.

Just an FYI for anyone who likes to look at or collect game-worn hockey jerseys (NHL, Minors, and College). The Detroit Expo will be happening on Nov 15th at the Best Western Gateway International Hotel right across from DTW in Romulus from 9-4. Cost at the door is $20. I'm not affiliated with the event but have attended in the past. A number of dealers from across the US will be there, including the Meigray Group (which handles the GW jersey programs for several NHL teams) which will have a number of HOF caliber jersey there on display (not behind glass, either)... I took the above photos from the Expo two years ago. To give you an idea of how cool some of the stuff is you can find there is, when I was there last time I spotted an game worn Indianapolis Racers jersey on top of a pile of jerseys on one the dealer's tables. I'm from Indiana originally and went to a number of Racers games when I was a kid, so I picked it and looked at the back. It read: "Gretzky" and was one of his from his brief stint with the WHA team.

<---- Money quote!!! I'll take Stanley any day.

Hmmm... I have Charter and according to that link it should have been on Channel 88 here last night. I flipped around, but I don't know if I got that high up the list. Charter shows Channel 88 as being "Charter Channel", which I assume means that it's their call what goes on that channel at any given time. The "local" channel that used to show FSN+ games last year was WXSP... which I mistakenly thought was located in Detroit and carried locally by Charter. In fact it's in Grand Rapids, is part of the Fox-owned "myNetworkTV" network, and does periodically show Fox Sports programming from Detroit, MSU, and UofM.

Last year, weren't FSN+ games on Channel 16 in Detroit???

Agreed. I had my knee scoped and they clipped out 10-20% of my meniscus on Sep 9th. I was back on skates in less than a month... and I'm an out of shape 44 year-old!!!

Man, don't those first two lines just take your breath away! Wow! And how about the opposing goalies... They think they'll get some relief seeing Homer skate to the bench, and then they'll see Franzen stepping on the ice!!!

The Wings bench is in front of Sec 122, but JLA security won't let you stand near the player tunnels. They shoot warm-ups on "their" end of the ice (the end with Secs. 128/101). I have no idea how they'll work the schedule tonight, but normally warm-ups start around 35-40 minutes before the scheduled start. You don't need a lower-bowl ticket to go down to the glass for warm-ups. Also, if you have a kid, the JLA workers will normally hand out some practice pucks to kids through the photo hole on the goal line near Sec 125 after the warm-ups. Al usually stuffs a couple though the hole too as he drives the Zamboni by on the first pass.

Here's Conklin's: It's basically a rehash of his Pens mask, substituting an Octopus for a Pengiun on his forehead and a winged wheel on the cheeks.

Bud is an institution, just like Tom Carnegie was at the Indy 500, and should be allowed to be the PA announcer as long as he wants. Hearing Bud's voice for the first time each trip for me is like when Carnegie would flip the switch on the mic first thing and say "Good morning race fans!" at Indy... you knew you were back in a special place. Yeah, at the end of their careers, they may get a little harder to understand and may goof up some names and facts, but you gotta love 'em!

Very cool! Last season was my first with the NHL Network on my cable, and I was a little underwhelmed by the coverage of games. I assumed they didn't want to cannibalize sales of Center Ice, but it looks like I'll be happier this season.

I think Murphy is doing a lot of "freelancing" on TV these days.

I was wondering the same thing... It didn't look good and that shot reminded me of the late season one that caused the bone chip in Cheli. Also, I forget how things work... Will there be another round of roster cuts before the end of the pre-season? We're going to the Buffalo game on Sunday and was wondering if the team will look more like the regular season squad since it's their last pre-season game.

Our family is new to travel hockey and our Squirt played his first hockey tournament this weekend. We arrived for our Friday game and we heard that one of the teams from Traverse City that Dallas Drake was coaching would be playing there too. My son's team decided to go looking for him in the building but couldn't locate him. However, one of our coaches bumped into him outside the locker room and asked him if he could say "Hi" to our kids. He was more than happy to pop in for a few moments. It made the kids' days! Yesterday I watched Dallas coach his team before my son's game and a friend and I were standing near some of the family from his team and we were complimenting some of the players. A couple of the mom's started talking to us and filling us in on their team. Afterward, we found out one of the moms was Dallas' wife. We had a very nice chat with her and told her to thank Dallas for talking to our players and making some neat hockey memories for them. She said he really enjoys doing that. Today Drake's team played their last game right before my son's game on the same surface. I wore my 2008 SC "locker room" hat and as Dallas walked by me as asked if I could bother him to sign my hat. He said "Sure, but hang on a second." He went in to the locker room to debrief his team, and then came back out and obliged. He sure seems like a real down-to-Earth kinda guy.

Be forewarned that the "obstructed view" seating on the ends can be very obstructed. Basically, you'll likely have to stand in your seat to see the whole ice surface. The elevation changes of last three or four rows on the ends "level off" as you approach the ceiling. So if you're in rows 26 or 27, you'll have to stand to see over the heads of the people in front of you. If you have a kid with you, it'll be a bigger problem. When I sat there with my then 11 year old he had to go stand in the aisle to be able to see. You may have better luck with SRO tickets that offer a much better view for about the same price. The good news that the staff at JLA will let you move down to unoccupied seats. If you use the shuttle from Cheli's in Dearborn, I'd recommend staying at the Dearborn Best Western. Decent place and not expensive.

From the description of it, a 1/2 shield won't have likely helped. The puck deflected up from his stick.

Sounds like Lids will be OK. Ansar Khan reports that the puck "rolled up" his stick and smacked him over the eye. I'm sure it didn't tickle, but from the sound of it the puck probably lost a lot of its energy before it struck him. The x-ray at the hospital was purely "precautionary".

Well... at least is wasn't Lang!

I sense that Lang will continue to be a bane of our existence...