Slacker Friday Cover Song of the Week: Bittersweet Coldplay Gig Edition

Great Verve cover at Live 8 a few summers back, to mark Coldplay's playing Pine Knob DTE Tuesday evening. . . . opposite Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Bittersweet, indeed.

Enjoy.

er

Penalty Killing as a Metaphor in Life

I proudly live in Detroit, where the economy is imploding, bigwigs gather annually in Mackinac to fiddle navel gaze meet to discuss solutions while the region burns, and hockey fans know enough to give a standing ovation to an ass-kicking penalty kill.

Darren Helms was the #1 star in last night's game, but he is a metaphor for what Detroit does best: persevere.

Behold:

Dear Chicago: A great city shouldn't have to steal another city's historical, trademarked nickname

Reading up on the Blackhawks' recent whining / rationalizing, I noticed the Chicago Tribune has been using "Hawkey Town" as a play off [pun not intentional] the Red Wing's "Hockeytown." I can't find the logo header used amongst the editorial anymore -- perhaps they re-thought its propriety in light of the weekend's results -- but it is still available for irony-fueled wallpaper usage.

My belated (as usual) thoughts on the start of the NHL Playoffs

• So many divisional series (San Jose-Anaheim, Boston-Montreal, Detroit-Columbus, Philly-Pittsburgh) which, I bet, will generate more heat that the cross-continent mash-ups (St. Louis-Vancouver, Chicago-Calgary). May we now re-align and go back to playing your way out of your division, please?
  
• Nice to see Chicago and St. Louis back in the playoffs, but I do miss the Leafs.
• BTW, speaking of the Blues, I would like finally to publicly apologize to my sorority formal date (c. 1984) for being a jerk when I watched the Wings go 3- or 4OT v. the Blues across the river at the Joe, instead of being a proper, attentive date at her event which she paid for. In the current vernacular, I was a tool, and I'm sorry.
  
• Why are the Ontario teams the black hole of the Canadian teams' playoff contingent?
• Of course, if you're the Sens, you have some nice shoulders to cry on, but don't wear those awful new third jerseys [above], or they'll run away screaming.
  
• When the NHL were only able to go to picked Versus, were they clear that Vs. would only be taking feeds from TSN and plugging in their own commercials? If they're going so cheap, why should the rest of America be denied the full Canuckian hockey experience, with Dave Hodge at the intermissions, and Canadian Tire, Future Shop and the Brick spots? Upside: welcome back to Detroit airwaves, Chris Cuthbert!
• Pure Bettman: Celine Dion might own an NHL franchise before the founder of Blackberry, who's had a five year head start.
  
• Welcome to the playoffs, Blue Jackets. Good to see that you got the memo that you had to lose the highlighter-yellow insect(?!) Civil War veteran mascot before you would be let into the playoffs.
• The only thing good about Columbus: being the closest outpost for Oprah's fave ice cream.
• Playoff beards are great. I tried to grow grew one during law school finals with the other guys. So, I do like the Wing's annual playoff theme, "The Beard is Back." I just hope no one is twisted or immature enough to mention that "beard," not unlike "teabagging," does have alternate pop culture meaning. Somewhere, this man is hoping to score tickets to a Wings-Rangers final.
  

Non Sequitur of the Day: Turtle Edition

Turtle:

Turtle:


Turtle:

Turtle:




Turtleneck:


Voice of the Turtle: click here



Play ball.

This Just In: Gary Bettman Continues to Suck

If you aren't lucky enough to catch Hockey Night In Canada every Saturday night, then you clearly didn't catch their coverage of last night's NHL All-Star Game in Montreal, marking le 100e anniversaire de Les Habitants . Even without any Red Wings playing (and getting suspended for it), the game itself is such a joke that I forgot to watch it, instead catching the SAG awards in the background while working. It's just that I know what a horrible hockey game it will be, and it was: an 11-11 tie ending with the league's bastardized overtime and shootout.

Thanks to the miracle of archived video on The Internets, however, we're still able to see HNIC's Ron MacLean's annual attempt to get a straight answer out of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, which I can't figure out how to embed here, but which you can check out here. I swear, Ron must want to take a shower after talking to Bettman, especially when he gets so smarmy about a billionaire wanting to blow a quarter-billion dollars invest in an NHL franchise so he can move it to the underserved market he happens to live in.

Remember, this is the commissioner who hasn't committed to another Winter Classic, but has investigated putting it in Vegas or the Rose Bowl. Yes, the visuals of breath mist and falling snowflakes, re-connecting the game to its roots, will work so well out west.

Oy.

Patrick Waaaah Got His Number Retired Tonight

Patrick Roy got his #33 retired in Montreal tonight. Some of my favorite memories:

* Roy tells his GM on the spot he wants a trade when he's finally pulled after giving up nine goals in 31 minutes to the Red Wings:



* Roy going all Statue of Liberty against the Wings, losing a pivotal game in the 2002 Western finals:



* And my favorite, the '97 melee with the Avs and the Wings, payback for Malts:



Great goalie, and just as accomplished as a prima donna.

This week, it's Game On

Are you ready for some hockey?

A memory, pre-Bettman:



Cheers to Hockey Dino for the reminder.

A Modest Proposal: Re-purpose Tiger Stadium

So, it appears that Tiger Stadium is finally, maybe, circling the drain, with the bid proposals out for demolition. Not having heard much lately from the Ernie Harwell group, I ask: Why can't Tiger Stadium be the new home of the Red Wings? Gut the interior, build whatever you want on the inside, create a bunch of parking decks around the outside (all the better to capture revenue with), and you might have yourself a west anchor for development between there and Comerica Park. You could even move the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in to create some year-round revenue. There has to be a bunch of redevelopment tax incentives laying around that would make it work. A crazy idea, you say? Perhaps, but what a statement it would make. For some reassurance, check out how they built an oustanding spaceship of a football stadium inside the teeny footprint that is Chicago's Solder Field here and here and here. Discuss... or is it too late?