Quoner

The author was in the episode and he explained where the quote came from. I thought it was a bit uneven. Some parts were great, but the justification and absolution of the players was ridiculous. I would have enjoyed more on what folks got and maybe a little less of making ESPN employee Craig James look blameless for the whole thing. Still, overall, it was a pretty good watch, despite having more exposition than Atlas Shrugged and that one scene in Spaceballs combined.

Remember all those posts you made about how there was no way we'd ever pay for coaches like this? Me neither.

The official side of car rides home from SBC Basketball tournaments and Church's parking lots.

You guys know about this, right? http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=56026&st=0&p=516205&hl=+josh%20+lewin&fromsearch=1&#entry516205

I'll drop the line by line rebuttal and first admit that I am really enjoying the discussion. It just doesn't happen that much besides a few corners of the interweb because so few fans care these days. As for Rudy's points, I'll try to take them in order by paragraphs. I think Modano just hit a hard patch of time -- the NHL went clutchy grabby, he adjusted only when a coach rode his ass and then it was too late for him to be a superstar when the rules were fixed again. I will always blame him for not living up the conditioning end of his role at the end -- no matter how many memories he gave me. You live up to your contract -- mopey or not. I also know Detroit had a 3-0 series lead, but a fully functioning Modano could have swung any of those games, especially the 2-1 loss in game 2. Remember how the SJ series - in retrospect - came down to the guy jumping out of the way of Mo's slapshot goal? Maybe there's a moment or two in there that could have swung things for us. It sucks we know he didn't have what he needed to grind through 3 full rounds. I think our GMs are a mixed bag and I love Turco with a passion. I still often work out in my #35 shirt and went to the same church as the man. There are not many nicer guys in hockey. I was convinced he would go to Chicago or Philly and make us look stupid, but Chicago is seeing the same late breakdowns and lack of big saves -- with or without the bad defense. As for Auld, I don't think the market was ever there and Philly was the only logical contender that made could take Turco's salary if I recall correctly. They stood pat and got a finals run out of the deal. Bastards. I think the Texas Stars minor league system is a good thing for our goalies and I think that will change our pipeline. Drafting Jack Campbell as the future franchise makes the other kids expendable and I think the defense is partially better because they know what Lehtonen will do with the puck. The Red Wings have always taken an old guy or two for depth because they know they can cover for them. His time for them is the playoffs (he was not having a good year even with their talent) I think the Jere offer was little more than a nice gesture because he seemed done. Also, unlike the current version of Modano, he's still capable of teaching the kids how to play sound, two-way hockey. Not a bad leader to keep around as the transitions continue. Modano was just keeping Benn off the ice where he belonged. I'm also no Crawford fan, but think he's been humbled enough to give this a better effort than before. I consider him little more than a stop gap to keep the rebuilding process on track as it continues -- whether we're in 2nd or 12th in a few weeks.

I agree with all of this, but I'm just telling you what he said. He stressed he doesn't want to deal with Monarch's B.S. again and he doesn't see an advantage for building a station by only covering one section of the sports year year -- even if it's 4 of ever 5 nights instead of 2 of every 4. Baseball would have given him the full 12 months, so now he needs to figure out summer and early fall programming again.

No one said he went Randy Moss on the team -- but I like the extra exaggeration to make it more football-like for everyone who doesn't care. Since 2003-2004, Modano had point totals in the 40s for 4 of 6 years. If you watched him play, he seemed to pick and choose his nights -- you never knew which level of effort you were going to get. He blamed everyone but himself -- the lack of wingers, the GM and never seemed to realize that he should look at why he lost the C. The playoff contending teams got nothing from him -- 9 points in 3 first round exits with nothing close to shutdown D being played. Remember the moment against Colorado where he just stepped out of the wya as his man went to the net and iced the clinching game? I sure do. Will I burn my jersey over this? No, but if you look at it, it's obvious he let himself slip and gladly took the money for much longer than he had to. He probably thought that Crawford camp was so hard because sometimes if you take some time off from training, it feels even harder to do it again. Why not? No one would bet on it, but it's easier to upset a favorite in hockey than any other sport. He did nothing that entire series and if a 2-1 game had just had one more push from him, it could have been a 7 game series with all the pressure on Detroit. That team had a lot of talent on defense and a hot goalie -- one more threat at forward could have put it over the top. Yes, the injury situation sucked in 2009. That Avery move was horrible, too. I understand this is why you hate Joe...oh wait, that was the old regime. What crap? Trading for a good goalie? Finishing the rebuilding job on our young talent? Compare Turco and Lehtonen's stats -- and remember that Chicago is the freaking defending champ with more defensive depth. We agree! Outside of shoring up the goal-tending spot, changing the style of the team and making the most of their talent, those guys have done a terrible job. Oh, and the Adam Burrish signing really sucked, too. You can get as mad as you want at Joe for whatever reason, but how could he really do anything else under constraints that would make Jon Daniel's feel bad about his last four years?

Why would BC go back after the way their divorce went down?

Unpopular opinion time -- but Modano stole money for the last 4 years and has even begun admitting as much on his little Red Wings world tour before he got hurt. http://www.defendingbigd.com/2010/11/26/1837371/modano-on-last-few-seasons-i-kind-of-gave-up-on-it After I read this a few weeks ago, it killed a lot of my stored up goodwill for him. He was great in his prime and I'll miss seeing him breaking in the zone at full speed and whipping the most ridiculous backhander I have ever seen, but I would have preferred to have left things with his big last week last year. You can say we were out of it the last two years, but who knows what a healthy Modano could have done in the 2008 WCF?

Hicks frustration and delightfully average teams for two years killed the fan base. Even the Pens and Caps haven't helped things.

He sad he is interested, but not as the majority guy since he doesn't have what he thinks is enough of a hockey background/passion. He said he's been part of a few groups kicking the tires, but the same Monarch guy who ran the Rangers sale is running this one, so it won't be easy. He said he really wants the arena, but doesn't see the Stars as part of building a regional TV network because the seasons overlap with the NBA.

The forwards are growing up -- and everyone is bunched within 4 points from 2-8. The defensemen are trying to pick each other up, but we really need an offensive guy with a heavy shot and one more physical guy to slot everyone where they should be. If only we could spend some of that $10M just sitting under the cap. Also, Cubes said last week that Monarch and Hicks are in no hurry to do anything with the sale and have terms no one will bid on.

With a win over freaking "BCS" UCONN.

I've unmasked your secret identity. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY_oKve-bH0

Nothing hooks students like a network of non-students telling them what to do and how to cheer. I know we all want to walk in and change these traditions ourselves, but the students need to be the drivers, not us. They're doing more and more every year -- so encourage them, don't bully them or try to shout them down.

Only if we call during her free period.

Yes, because if we insult you well enough, your team loses its bowl bid and we get to add 4 wins to our ledger for the season. You suck.

It's no fun when you're totally cool about it. And to be honest, as much as everyone is piling on, I think the 4A or 5A kid -- especially local -- always creates a bigger stir. It's human nature.

If I wanted some rep I'd go fly a plane Or wonder why we can't find A birth certificate with a full name Nope, this is all about being at work I just changed my own pentameter Because I'm a jerk We can rhyme all day We can rhyme all night But at the end of the day Knox will still be white.

UTSA just got the DeSoto kid. Passed us by?

I guess Haikus Are no longer how you play. It's all about writting poetry an English teacher's way There's a new format in town and it's super gay.

I get a short text - Come see the commotion Little did I know I'd find a poetry ocean I'm trying to think Of how to express my notion But I'll just say f*** it And make a dismissive wanking motion

How'd volleyball do?

No. Wait. It has to be your bull.

Phone stats can do some weird things when you follow them live for all sports. When I was at Texas State last weekend, the ESPN game tracker was way off on Dunbar's rushing total and was convinced he was around 325 at one point.