Well…just finished watching the press conference where Nick Lidstrom announced his retirement and it is a sad day for those of us who love the Wings but even more than that, it is a sad day when the classiest person in hockey, or any sport really, leaves the game. Nick has been the one constant since I have avidly followed the Wings and this will diminish the fervor somewhat I’m afraid….one thing that is gone for me is the confidence that when an opposing player breaks away and comes down the ice, that Nick will handle it….there were many times, watching with my friends, that I said out loud when that happened, “we’ll be okay, Nick’s got it..” and now I can’t say it anymore and that is going to be hard….
So, I’ll leave it at this….thanks Nick….it is cool when someone adds more to the world than they take…we’ll all miss you…
Well…I know I’ve been a little off this week with all that has been going on in my life which put the normal bitching about politics that I do in perspective…..but, after I get the car tomorrow and my life finally gets back to normal, I promise I’ll try to get back to my normal semi-lucid posts that I hope adds to the discourse. But, what I wanted to comment on right now is a neat little story that happened at a track meet in Walled Lake where a senior from one school, Walled Lake Lakeland, sacrificed winning the 3,200 meters to help a sophomore from Walled Lake Northern win the race and set his personal best time. And, this act was not planned, while in the race, this nice young man Garrett Zuk heard that Devin Kimberlain, the sophomore, was trying to run a personal best in the race, so he found him, basically said, “come with me, let’s go” and paced him to make sure that he did it….even slowing at the end to make sure that Devin won the race. Now, before you say he should haven’t thrown the race just for the youngster’s personal gain, let’s just say that the meet was already won by Lakeland so the only meaning for the race was the personal best time. It gives me hope when I hear these types of actions by youngsters…..good job young men!
Well…it has been a weird series for the Wings….it appears that they have outplayed the Preds in every game, and the stats back that up…but, when you look at the score, we’re down 3-1 in the series and tonight could put us out. But, the thing that will have me watching this one is that, if we lose, it could be Nick Lidstrom’s last game as a Wing and that is something that I really don’t want to happen. Nick has been the one constant in the Red Wings team since my youngest son got me started watching them 18 years ago and it just won’t be the same without him…but, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself and we’ll win and keep it going….I have changed it up by shaving off the playoff beard and there will be no gear worn tonight…have to try something….
Well…I wanted to cool off for a while before I wrote this one given the events in the Wings game the other night…and I wanted to wait to see what Shanny was going to do before I weighed in…but, now’s the time to get in my two cents…in case you didn’t see it, after the end of the game Wed night, Shea Weber…the thug defenseman for the Preds, slammed Hank Zetterberg’s head into the glass so hard that he broke his helmet…the kind of nonsense that I thought the league was trying to take out of the game to protect the players…unless it is a Red Wing getting hit, I guess. The worse thing about it was that Weber didn’t get anything but a paltry fine…no suspension…oh, they did give him a 2 minute penalty….that can never be enforced…and they said “bad boy, don’t do that again”….that punishment will keep him from doing that again….yeah, I laughed at that one, too. Then, in practice yesterday, we see Weber and one of his thug teammates joking and laughing while re-enacting the hit. One of the themes that has been repeated in this series is that the Preds wanted to build themselves to be just like the Wings…and they may beat us in the series, but these no class punks will never have the class of the Wings players and organization….that is something that is earned by being classy and respecting the other players and the game of hockey…
One last thing…keep your head up Weber…payback will come…maybe not tonight, but hockey players have long memories…where is Darren McCarty when we need him?
Well…it is the start of playoff season in the NHL and my team goes off tonight against Nashville in what makes me feel really uneasy for the first time in the past 20 years….and yet, there is a component of excitement, too, that I quite enjoy….nevermind that almost all of the sports commentators pick the Preds, anything can happen in the playoffs. Oh, crap, I’m now spouting cliches instead of just talking about this wonderful time of the year…a time when I put everything else on hold, get my workouts and bike ride in early, and switch into the gear in the middle of the afternoon….the past couple of playoffs have been different with the group scattered and tending to the new phases of their lives but I am slowly getting used to it…getting used to following the game with a few of us by text as the thing unfolds but still sharing the good and bad…and that is a good thing, just different…but times and lives change and we need to be able to roll with it…I’ve gotten better at it lately…crap, this one was supposed to be about the Wings…not my life…so let’s get back to it….I am a little encouraged that we will have everyone back but Helm for tonight’s game but I think some of the guys aren’t quite up to speed from their injuries….I will predict this, and probably look ridiculous tomorrow, Frantzen will get a hat trick tonight and we’ll win 4-3…..I will try to keep up with commentary after every game so look for it tomorrow….Let’s Go Red Wings!!!
One last thing….the Tigers go this aft with Verlander on the mound and the last undefeated record in the majors…should be a good one against the Rays….
Well…it is a big sports weekend so I thought I’d just noodle around a little and comment on a few things that have caught my eye and that are rattling around in my head. First…when have they ever moved the college bowl games from January 1st? It is just too weird to have all of the games on the 2nd and have pro games on the 1st….but it is cool to have the Lions playing the Packers Sunday…and a friend of mine is going to be in the stands at Lambeau Field in the cold and I hope she has fun…it looks like the Packers are going to rest a lot of their starters so we may have a chance to get to an 11-5 season which would be really cool. The Wings have been playing well at times but I really want to see what they can do if they play a whole game instead of just parts of them….but, their record over the last 15 is pretty good so I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much…and they play Chicago tonight which I am really looking forward to and to the game tomorrow which is a rematch with the Blues from Tuesday night…one that we won but it was a trial at times. Okay, that’s enough for this one…I may come back and add to it if something strikes me…if it does, I hope it doesn’t hurt…
Well…I just can’t get the outrage machine working today so I think I’ll talk a little sports instead…first, I was just about in shock yesterday when the Lions came back to win it in the last few minutes…but, as I said earlier, they are going to give me a heart attack if they don’t stop this nonsense. I mean, if they can score two touchdowns in the last 5 minutes, where the heck were they for the first 55 minutes? I guess the only thing we can do is just go along for the ride and hope it continues. Then, we have the Wings who have been playing so hard lately that even when they lost last week, I was still pretty happy with what was going on…so darn entertaining that I hope they keep it up…especially now that they are third in the Western Conference and making a run at the top. But, this
west coast swing is going to be tough on the watching with the games starting at 9:30 at the earliest…especially after a couple of cocktails…but, it’s a bad problem to have….more later…
Well…it’s 9:04 and I have everything done that I was going to do today so I’m back here to do the sports one that I thought about earlier…there are some things I wanted to comment on before I forget…and that is happening more lately so I’d better get going…first up, the Lions…I was right to not get carried away about them this year even with the outstanding start they had…as always, no matter who is coach or who the players are, the Lions self destruct and go back to their old ways…I don’t think they will even make the playoffs this year and that will be a shame…one other thing…someone has to take Suh aside and tell him how an adult acts even playing the violent game of football….I think he is showing a lack of respect for himself, the rest of the team, and for the league that has made him a very rich young man….I do understand that is still a young man but he should have been taught right from wrong no matter what the context…and stomping on an opposing player is wrong…no shades of gray there.
Now, let’s get to the Red Wings…as you know, a month or so back I was quite disappointed with the play of the Wings and thought they looked slow and uninterested….that was when they had lost 6 in row and were almost at the bottom of the western conference…well…what a difference a month makes…after last night’s game, a 4-1 win over Nashville where we saw what the Wings can be, they are now in third in the west…only a couple of points out of first and riding a 5 game win streak into Tuesday…so, at least one of my teams is making me smile….oh, that’s not true…Michigan finally beat Ohio State after 7 years of losses…a nail biter of a game that had my heart racing at times and was so up and down that I think I used up a weeks worth of emotion in 3 and half hours….and I love Hoke’s comment at the end of the game…that the win wasn’t about him or how he felt..it was about the kids that played the game….classy…that’s about it for now….there are more sports to talk about but I don’t feel like it right now….
Well…this one was going to be a political one but my heart just isn’t in it right now….it has finally hit me hard that I have to start the job search process all over again and that is one of the most disheartening feelings that can come from being overqualified and unemployed….I know I said I was only going to wallow for a day but, with the snow starting here, it is harder than I expected to move on and get going…I know I will later today but as every day goes by it is more difficult…okay, no more whining…I do have to comment on the Penn State stuff as I said this morning….one of the things I can’t understand is why anyone thinks there are gray areas here…a coach on Jo Pa’s staff was seen violating a young boy and no one did anything about it…that’s the bottom line and it breaks my heart that this happened and the only thing people could think about was protecting the football program….there was only one action that was acceptable…and that was to walk the witness to the police and turn in the criminal that did this…nothing else…anyone who knew about this 9 years ago should have been fired or should even go to jail….no gray, no excuses. Geez….
Well…it’s a pretty bad sports weekend when all of the teams you follow but one lose. The Lions game just ended with a loss to The Falcons….looked like the same old Lions to me and the mistakes are starting to make me believe that they are not the real thing; just pretenders that might not even make it into the playoffs…and that is too bad, too, since they were so exciting at the start of the season..oh, well….then we have the Wings getting pummeled last night by the Caps but the good news is that it is only the 6th game of 82 and there is plenty of time to get things fixed…and they get to have a bad day every once in a while so I’m not going to get too upset about it. The really bad surprise was the beating that Man U took at home against Man City…it was their worst loss at home since I’ve been alive and, as you know, that is a long, long time. I am really kind of glad that the sports are done for the weekend…I don’t know how much more disappointment I can take…but, the race is till on and the last 25 or so laps should be fun to watch…so I’m going to go back to it….probably not more later…
I am kind of glad that Michigan didn’t play this weekend…couldn’t have taken another loss…