Oh, the Lions...

I am in the process of packing up the rest of my crap (how have I managed to accumulate so much stuff?) to go back to school tonight, but someone emailed me this quote and I wanted to share it with you:

"DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford took his first snap as a pro and perfectly executed a play-action pass. The problem: Keary Colbert dropped the ball. Welcome to the Detroit Lions, kid." (ESPN)

I laughed.

Also, rather than trying to pick out my favorite books to take to school with me, I am taking only books that I own but haven't read. That is more books than I would like to admit.

Is this real life?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but...

Ken Holland, what the hell are you thinking?

We just signed Todd Bertuzzi to a one-year, $1.5 million contract.

UGH.

I can see the upsides to this. He's a gritty forward that will probably be healthier than Holmstrom and company. It's only for one year, and with the amount of contracts we have ending next year we could replace Bert, Homer, and Maltby with Abdelkader and two big free agents (I'm assuming that Lidstrom will take a Stevie-esque contract that will drop his cap hit considerably). It creates a LOT of competition in training camp- we now have 14 NHL-ready forwards signed, even if it is a foregone conclusion that Abdelkader will be in GR this season.

But seriously... I didn't like him when he played for us before and I don't like it now. There are some players that I never want to see in the Winged Wheel and Bertuzzi is one of them.

I'm hoping the fact that he will have to compete for his roster spot every single night will keep his attitude and tendency to take bad penalties in check.

My latest take on the potential lines:

Cleary-Datsyuk-Zetterberg
Leino-Filppula-Franzen
Williams-Helm-Eaves/Bertuzzi
Holmstrom-Draper-Maltby

With Holmstrom on the top power play unit, and potentially Cleary on the second unit in Leino's place.

I was GOING to do a big post about Abdelkader today and how he is the personification of guys that I love having in Detroit, but now I'm just annoyed. I guess I'll do it tomorrow...

In other news, I was at a Beer League Playoff Game last night (serious business, guys!) which "my team" won 6-3 with my friend Kaleb scoring five goals (and having the first assist on the sixth goal). They were playing a total Goon Squad, and the Goons didn't disappoint- after the final goal there was an awesome cheap shot that led to a fight (with blood!) and THEN led to the cops being called!!! The next game is on Thursday so I'll try to get the scoop on what happened after we left.

Apparently I was very, very ignorant

This past weekend, I went to Toronto with five of the most amazing women I have ever met. It was my first time to TO, and included my first visit to the Hockey Hall of Fame. I learned a lot of things on this trip. So much, in fact, that I am dedicating a blog post to...

THINGS I LEARNED IN TORONTO

1. Pat Kane was just arrested! -Em (friend from home)
2. It's possible to try to be a puck bunny and fail. -Mer and Kylie
3. If you are a fan of Sidney Crosby, you are from Nova Scotia. -guy on the street.
4. Ali and I shouldn't be friends anymore. -another guy on the street.
5. Wearing an Yzerman jersey gives you more street cred than wearing a Crosby jersey. -random guys at the HHOF
6. If you do a good job in a shinny game against the Rangers, they will take you back to NYC with them. In a helicopter. How BA is that? -Mystery Alaska
7. Wayne Gretzky owns a restaurant! -Ali and Wayne
8. Subway stations can come in the form of phone booths that beam you to wherever you are going. -Ali
9. If one person wearing a Detroit jersey walks to the HHOF with five people wearing Pittsburgh jerseys, people will stare. -random people
10. They will also take pictures. -same random people
11. Mike Green told Kylie to get a mocha. -Mike and Kylie
12. Mike and Kylie's children are going to have fro-hawks (mohawks of curly hair). -Kylie
13. You're not supposed to drink the tempura sauce. -Mer (edited to correct the sauce- for some reason, I thought it was tandoori)
14. Taylor Lautner is from a hockey town, not Hockeytown. Clarity is necessary so Kylie doesn't have a heart attack. -me and Kylie
15. It is, in fact, possible to fit six girls (and all of their shit) into a hotel room meant for four. Without the hotel figuring it out. -us
16. Winners come from Newfoundland. -the Baseball Junior National Champions

If I missed something, feel free to tell me in the comments section and I'll add it to the post. =]

In other awesome news, today is Valtteri Filppula Days! (AKA the NHL regular season starts in 51 days) I am anxiously awaiting the post over at Peachy, even though I have probably already seen all the pictures and videos that will be used. In fact, there is a really good chance that I sent all of them to Kylie last night. Whatever. I'm still pumped that one of my boys is being featured.

Changes

Something that I will always associate with Michigan after I leave is the concept of "up north."

Most families I know either own property in northern Michigan or rent the same cabin or camp site every summer. When I was growing up, we rented the same cabin every year with some family friends, and also stayed at the same marinas in our boat. After my dad married my stepmom, we moved to the category of families with property, as her grandmother owns a cabin that all of the kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids use for vacations.

Six years of my young life were spent living with a river (and I mean a River, not a stream or something) going through my backyard (literally). I grew up around boats and have been swimming since before I could walk. Water- real water, not pools- has always been a source of comfort for me. I lost count of the number of times I walked to the river during my freshman year of college.

Last weekend I took my first trip "up north" of the summer. A few storms blew through, and though the temperature was generally comfortable it was too cold for swimming. Being me, I still spent hours sitting on the end of the dock with my feet in the water.

I had brought my books up to the cabin with me, but somehow neither of them seemed appropriate for the bright sun and clear water- The Historian is a fiction thriller about vampires, and King Leopold's Ghost details the all-too-real horrors of the travesties in the Congo. I ended up spending most of the weekend thinking.

The newspaper we had brought from home had an article about possible free agent acquisitions the Red Wings could make to fill our holes at forward. The article got me thinking about the changes the team has gone through over the years.

Konstantinov's accident. Scotty Bowman's retirement. The lock-out and the salary cap. Babcock joining the team. Yzerman's retirement. July 1, 2009.

Yes, next year's team will be considerably different than last year's. That's hockey. That's life.

But the core remains. We have our Captains and our Assistants. We have our owners. We have our coach. We have the greatest General Manager in sports. We have the undying faith and love of the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan pushing this team.

And I have absolutely no doubts that the 2009-2010 Detroit Red Wings will be Stanley Cup contenders once again.