Michael Scott

Watch the Throne

"The best way to make people respect the pass is to take a sweaty dump all over the present." - Abraham Lincoln

Hey guys, been gone for awhile. What did I miss? Why are these two fighting so much? What's the back story?

I don't think there's enough evidence to think anything weird was going on.

Well...it's more the by-product of your biblical scholars (the loveable tax collector, physician and friends who didn't write for a living) not giving the characters enough different names. I don't usually source the Wikipedia, but they had sourcing in here too that worked for me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Magdalene

Yup, that's the comedy here - EagleD's issues. You've cracked the Da Vinci Code on this one for sure.

God (if you're real), thank you. I needed a laugh today and this man's reading comprehension hit the spot. NOTE: I hadn't read the pages of endless drivel setting this up when I responded, but the quote and the follow up in the post were still gold. The more things change...

Damn that Allan Ward - he knew our program from the inside/out.

Sorry - my writing was a bit convuluted. The problem with saying Hull needs a year to redeem himself is that he never did anything before hand. He showed up and the team got healthy, then was part of the group that made the Richards trade. It was a great "all-in" move, but for the long-term, they lost a top-goalie prospect who had a better year than Turco on a bad team, never addressed defensive shortcomings and used a roster left to him by Armstrong as his prospects came to maturity this year and last. If Hull had been dumped with no emotional plan in mind or for a retread, I'd share your outrage, but they got a hockey mind and kept both Jackson and Hull in the fold to play to their strengths. Would you have been mad if Hull had been let go and Jackson promoted like everyone assumed would happen? As much as you seem to blame Armstrong, he recognized that the NHL was changing to speed in 2002/2003 and did his best to work around it. The Turgeon signing was exactly what happened with Hull - they didn't get the guy they wanted and felt they had to sign a big name right away. If Armstrong is worth firing for this, why isn't Hull? Now back to Armstrong. He brought in guys like Hagman, Barnes and Ribiero for pennies on the dollar. He made trades for guys like Willie Mitchell, Robidas and Mattias Nordstrom on the fly and understood that he needed to build from the blue line up, too. The team went 210–109–35–23 under him. No, they didn't win in the playoffs, but this has been one of the most consistent teams this decade. Hull didn't make Marty Turco figure it out last Spring and Jackson did most of the work on the Richards trade. If you were outraged over Jackson, I wouldn't even comment, but I see nothing on Hull's resume except his player accomplishments to make him really worth mourning. Oh, and CBL, the prospect you are talking about is the same goalie I'm talking about: Jonas Gustavsson. As for next year, two more prospects to watch are Vishneskiv and Benn. They still need to add a winger and address a D group that only has Hutchinson, Daley, Robidas, Grossman and Niksanen under contract. Zubov, Sydor and Fistric are all free agents they have to decide on as well. Do you want the Ambassador of fun making those decisions that will determine the next 3-4 years or a an up and coming GM prospect that the entire hockey world almost universally praises who will take the time to do the job? I hope that made sense - I wrote half earlier and half now, but feel free to rip it up or call me out if needed on crappy parts.

I promised myself I wouldn't get involved but... Last year's team was a flawed construct. It BADLY needed a defensemen - or two- and the team was unable to address that. In the summer, the front office targeted a list of D-Men and the Ambassador of Fun decided that his old Wings roommate was more important than the wishes of the players and front office. He is extremely lucky he was not banished immediately last December along with the other sloppy seconds. Then, with the team in flux most of the year, there were a few scrap heap moves (Begin, Razor's brother-in-law, Boucher for Sydor), but nothing of note happened. San Jose saw their short-comings and acquired Dan Boyle. Chicago got Brian Campbell. They went 9-1 against the Stars this year. This team has too much young talent not to address their slow D, and if you are counting on Zubov to come back and play 80 games, you are smoking rocks. They need to put together a package for Bowmeister (sp) or someone comparable or make use of cap space and trades to find at least 2 guys. They also need to figure out how to mix Vishneiski (sp again) into the group this year for his shot alone. He has learned all he in can in the minors. They also failed to address the backup situation last year - and while the stud Swiss prospect they are bidding against Toronto for would be nice - finding someone reliable (Clime or otherwise) to take 15-20 starts is a necessity. If you blast Armstrong, you blast the acquisition of every young player and trade that made this roster. Armstrong brought in Robidas, Mike Smith, Jokinen, Neal, Eriksson, etc. and made the Ribeiro heist happen. Sure, he made a bad trade early (that was also a product in love with the player who had just beat his team and panicking), but he kept this team around the top of the West until this year despite cap trouble and terrible FA signings before him. I feel much better having a guy with legitimate experience in a front office outside of a fun ambassadorship running this thing. I might have gone with an assistant from a current organization, but to demand keeping Hull is just crazy talk.

Just kidding. What a hero.

What do they make down at UH?

Rudy = Billy Beane Oldguystudent = Mike Sciosca Kram1 = Sparky Anderson UNTFlyer = Theo Epstein

Joel Zumaya or Fernando Rodney struck him out on 3 straight off speed pieces in a key situation last week against Detroit when he was waiting for fastballs. They just made some poor pitches last night and hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

You don't remember that because he batted .285 last season and really never slumped. People tend to study your weaknesses more when you are in FIRST PLACE, BITCHES!