All the news these days seems to be pretty crappy. Here’s something to cheer you up. The anniversary of perhaps the greatest moment in sports history! A big deal around these parts as goalie Jim Craig is from Davison, MI.
Category: Sports
H/T to Hot Air. Maybe this turns out to be fake, who knows. But it sure is well done if it is. Maybe it took him 10,000 takes to make all the shots, but regardless, it’s cool to watch.
Gotta give major props to the big Swede, Johan Franzen. He only lit the lamp FIVE times last night in the Red Wings win over Ottawa. Nice way to kick off the second half of the season. First ever career regular season hat trick. First Wing to score five since Fedorov in ’96. You can go here to see his complete stats history.
He just keeps getting better and better and he’s still only 31 years old. Last year he scored four in a game and had a fifth taken away by the official scorer so he’s not a one trick pony. He’s nicknamed “the mule” and for good reason. Steve Yzerman tagged him with that moniker in 2005 when he saw firsthand just how big and strong he was. So don’t feel bad if you missed it last night. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of his highlight reel.
It wasn’t planned, but it turned out pretty cool!
UPDATE!!! LIONS CLOSE OUT THE SEASON WITH FOUR STRAIGHT WINS!!! LAST TIME THAT HAPPENED WAS 1999 WHEN GAS WAS $1.17 A GALLON!!!
It was October 28, 2007. The GDP was rising at a 4.7% rate. That’s actual growth. Personal income had risen over $47 billion in the previous month. Wages and salaries had risen $38 billion in September of 2007. The unemployment rate was 4.7%! Yes, I said 4.7%! The deficit for the entire fiscal year of 2007? How about $162.8 billion dollars. For the whole year! It was $150.4 billion just for November of 2010 alone! The average price of a gallon of gas in October of 2007? How about $2.77 per gallon. The median sale price of a home in October of 2007? About $234,000 dollars. In October of 2010? About $195,000.
Why am I regurgitating all of these economic statistics? Simply to illustrate the differences between today and 1,149 days ago when the Detroit Lions won their last road football game!!! Hot damn, break out the champagne! Any Tampa fans still out in public?
No big deal you say? Are you kidding me? Obama hadn’t even won the primary yet. The recession didn’t begin until December of 2007. The national debt was still under $10 trillion dollars. Ah yes, the good old days! I’m just glad I’ll be able to tell my grandkids I was alive to see it.
BTW – Brush Street is the address of the Detroit Lions home – Ford Field.
No, this is not April Fools Day. It really happened. Go here and read it yourself.
Here in Detroit we are blessed with some of the greatest sports heritage anywhere in the world. The last couple of decades, the Red Wings have been the unquestioned best franchise in hockey. The name most synonymous with that was, of course, Steve Yzerman. However, we have another absolute world-class player that is finally starting to get his due more and more. Nicklas Lidstrom is now the team’s captain and leader and he is just phenomenal. Despite an amazing career, he just got his first career hat trick last night when the Wings thumped the St. Louis Blues. ESPN writer Pierre LeBrun just did a very in-depth piece on him, which is currently on the ESPN website. It’s nice to see Lidstrom get the props he deserves and do you know who one of his biggest fans and supporters is? None other than the best hockey defenseman in the history of the sport, Bobby Orr. Here’s the story from ESPN.
DETROIT — The passes are tape to tape, right in the middle of the stick blade, timed just right for the player taking them in stride. One after the other — zip, zip, zip — Nicklas Lidstrom seemingly can’t miss.
It’s a Thursday morning practice at Joe Louis Arena, one just like any other of the 3,000 or so practices he’s skated in the past 20 years. And just like those other times, Lidstrom is dead-on every single time he makes a play.
“We call him the Perfect Human,” said Detroit Red Wings teammate Niklas Kronwall. “And there’s a reason for it. Whatever he does, he seems to do perfectly, so I think that’s a pretty good nickname.”
Gee, I wonder why the Democrats never go after the filthy rich athletes and make a spectacle of them like they do a CEO? I mean, they love to throw out the argument about performance. If a company got a bailout, they shouldn’t hand out bonuses, right? At some point, we’ve all made enough money is what Obama tells us. Apparently not if you’re Carlos Pena. The man was a failure better than 80% of the time he stepped to the plate! And he gets rewarded with $10 million bucks. Sure I’m jealous. Where’s that fairness Mr. President?
Cubs get Pena for $10M, 1 yr.
Hopes to bounce back from injury-plagued year.
| –> |
By Ronald Blum
of The Associated Press
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Scott Boras called Carlos Pena’s $10 million, one-year deal with the Chicago Cubs “a pillow contract.”
“There’s a lot of comforts,” the agent said.
Congratulations need to go out to the Detroit Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland. Last nights thumping of the St. Louis Blues hit a couple of milestones. It was his 1,000th game as the Wings GM and also his 600th victory. Wow! That’s a career record any GM would be proud to hang his hat on if he quit right now. But he’s only 55 and already owns 4 Stanley Cups. He certainly has a chance to really get into some rarefied air if he decides to stick around long enough because he can do virtually no wrong with the moves he makes. Here is a recent summary of his accomplishments via the Detroit News.
Just a quick note on the futility of the Minnesota sports teams, which takes a little of the sting out of the status of the Detroit teams currently. The Twins got smoked by the Yankees again. I mean again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again. Yes, the ninth straight postseason loss to the Yankees. And the 12th straight overall dating back to 2004. Next year they can break the Red Sox streak for futility of 13. Wow! Talk about choking. But wait. Are they even the worst chokers in Minnesota lore? How about those Vikings, which became the first NFL franchise to play in 4 Super Bowls. Only problem is they lost every one of them! I may have to research this someday, but I’ll bet the Detroit sports teams aren’t nearly as futile as leaving their fans standing at the altar once they reach the big game. Luckily for my defense, the Lions only have one playoff win since the 1950′s so they don’t even bother to get to the big game. But I’m certain the Red Wings alone would account for a better track record than anything Minnesota could hope to achieve. All right, I feel much better now.
I don’t know if anyone keeps score on which sports town has had the worst track record when it comes to tragedy, but I have to believe Detroit would rank high. In no particular order, here is a rundown of some of them.
Vladimir Konstantinov
Photo courtesy of the SI vault
He was drafted in 1989 by the Red Wings and played his entire NHL career there until the tragic limousine accident in 1997 ended his career.
