Heh.

Heh.

Comment moderation means that you can't post comments unless I approve them, idiot. You wasted twenty minutes writing out two idiotic, hate-filled posts that I didn't approve.

Who's the idiot? "Your" the idiot.

Goodbye, Idiot

I'm sure many of you have been wondering why it's taken me so long to weigh in on the Quenneville departure. I've been his most outspoken critic for a long time, as I realized he was a mistake shortly after his signing. Well, I was away on business, and I didn't get the gumption to post on it until now.

This was obviously a great move, and the fact that the Avs have gotten so much criticism for it does nothing but show how little those people know about the Avs, Quenneville and coaching in general. The funny thing is that I have actually seen several Avs fans who were upset that he was let go, and that's just another reason why the rest of the league thinks our fans are stupid.

That all said, while this was definitely the right thing to do for the franchise in both the short as well as long term, I am still very nervous about the whole thing because we haven't inked a new coach, and some of the names being thrown around are rather sickening.

Pat Burns is obviously the best option. If he'd be willing to coach the Avs, the Avs need to give him whatever he wants. He's got fire, he's got the ability to adapt to his personnel, he's got the ability to implement a rock-solid team defensive system while simultaneously getting the most out of the Avs' incredible firepower. Not only that, but he's got an undeniable pedigree, with three Jack Adams awards with three different teams as well as a Cup with a fourth.

If Burns won't sign with us, then the Avs need to take a long look at Johnny Flatbread, recently of the Bolts. Tortorella was given a bum rap in Tampa, and whether he ends up in Colorado or not, I'm happy for him that he gets to leave that situation. That franchise simply doesn't know what it's doing. Tortorella has fire, and he's a good all-around coach with the ability to implement the firewagon offense the Avs are looking for.

Both of those are good options, but the Avs are apparently looking at guys like "Tin Dome" Tony Granato, Cleveland Steamers head coach Joe Sacco and Patrick Roy. *sigh*

Tin Dome was a complete abortion the first time, and the fact that he was in charge of the anemic Avs PP in 07-08 should be argument enough that he needs to be fired completely (the Avs are keeping Granato and Cloutier under contract for 08-09 as of right now), not (re)promoted. If you had the greatest collection of talent in recent NHL history (the 03-04 Avs) and weren't even able to make it out of the first round, then got canned, then CAME BACK WITH A DEMOTION, you're a loser. You don't belong behind the bench. You're a loser. I want a guy with the pride not to accept a demotion. Fire me, fine. Offer me a demotion? For Tin Dome to have done anything other than punch Lacroix in the mouth would make him a complete pansy. Who's going to listen to someone who doesn't even have the nuts to go find other work after he was fired? I sure wouldn't.

Steamers coach Joe (not Sakic) Sacco... You've got to be fucking kidding me. The Steamers were a stunningly accurate AHL portrayal of their NHL counterpart. Loads of offensive talent, solid defense, solid goaltending, and absolutely NOTHING on-ice. Sacco should be fired for the travesty that was the 07-08 Cleveland Steamers season, not promoted.

And Patrick Roy. Okay, let's clear the air here. Patrick Roy is the greatest goalie ever to play the game. He made me nervous as hell, and I wanted him to retire for no other reason than to spare my nerves, as he had a tendency to come out completely flat at key times. Sometimes, he'd be the balls in a Game 7. Sometimes, he was an embarrassment, and you never knew what you were going to get.

He's also a complete headcase, and I like that. He's arrogant, loud, abrasive, and he commands respect and effort from his players just like he did his teammates. He coaches the up-tempo offensive style that the Avs are looking for. So why not Roy?

First, the QMJHL is not the NHL. True, there are lots of coaches out there in the juniors and minors who have the ability to coach teams to Cups if they were only given the opportunity. And it's sickening that re-treads get those jobs instead. But there's a big step between the Q and the NHL, and you have to prove yourself immediately to hold the room. Being Roy will help him, but only for so long.

Also, he's a star player who has never really shown the ability to relate to players who aren't as talented as he was. True superstars are rarely able to transition to coaching because of this. Worse, he has never been interested in teaching the young goalies he's been paired with. That could be different now, but he definitely benefited more from Craig Billington than Billington got from him. From everything I have heard, he never taught Theodore, Denis or Aebischer a damn thing because he wasn't interested in talking to any of them. That could be different as a head coach, but you never know.

Most importantly though, hiring Roy would show that the Avs are more interested in selling tickets on nostalgia than in winning. You want the guy who gives your team the best chance of winning, not the guy who is going to sell tickets and give the fans a trip down memory lane.

I honestly think that Patrick Roy is going to be a very good NHL coach one day, and I would love to see him given an assistant coaching job with the Avs this year. But he's not ready for the head job yet.

So, FG, you made a really great move in getting rid of Idiot. Now close the deal and get us Pat Burns, and I promise I will lay off you for a year.

A reminder

Just a reminder, since a couple people apparently missed the last one - you troll, you roll.

Disagreement is fine (which is exactly why Eric's comments remain). Personal attacks are not. If you're going to personally attack me or another user, you might as well just not even bother commenting, because I will delete your post the second I see it. And if you continue doing it, I will keep you from being able to comment in a rather humorous way.

So have a bit of class. Argue all you want. But keep it above the belt.

Joe Sakic - A Great Captain?

Most people who have known me for any length of time know my position on this, but with all the Sakic fellatio going on in anticipation that he might finally shove off, I feel compelled to write this up for posterity.

Joe Sakic is commonly seen as one of the best captains in NHL history. Why? Because he is commonly seen as one of the best captains in NHL history. Nobody can point to any actual leadership traits that he possesses; their arguments simply revolve around Sakic's achievements, with the argument that everyone else thinks he's great and his teammates think he's great, so I am obviously wrong.

There's an old saying that is so true that I have repeated it enough times for it to be considered my personal motto - "The plural of 'opinion' is NOT 'fact.'" To put it another way, I don't give a rat's ass what everyone else believes. Nobody has ever accomplished anything meaningful in life by going with what everyone else says. Think about it.

Sakic doesn't have any fire. Never has. He's always been a good performer, one of the best players in hockey history, but he's never really been able to inspire others to the extent that it elevates their level of play. And I've never heard of anyone who was afraid to look Sakic in the eye after they put out a poor effort for fear of what Sakic would say. As a matter of fact, everything I have seen, heard and read states that Sakic is a quiet person in all aspects of his life. That's not leadership.

When confronted with the facts on this particular issue, Sakic-lovers always revert to the "well, he's a lead-by-example type of leader." In other words, he doesn't exhibit any sort of leadership traits, but he plays well and is well respected, so he's a good leader. Sorry, but that's a bullshit argument. There are tons of well-respected players who play well and aren't seen as leaders. Milan Hejduk, for example. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg are two more.

"But he's been the captain for ten years." And? He was named captain of a team that had no other logical options. It's extremely rare for an NHL player to be stripped of the captaincy, so it would have basically required a trade for Sakic to have lost the C. That doesn't mean he's a leader, it means that the Avs didn't want to offend him.

"He led Team Canadia to their first gold medal in blah blah blah." He wasn't the captain of that team. He played well as a cog. The next Olympics, he was named captain of Team Canadia, and despite being the heavy favorite for the Gold, Team Canadia finished seventh. Coincidence? I think not.

Joe Sakic was a great player. If anything, he was a lead-by-example type, and that only works when you have a team of self-motivated players (which, other than in 95-96, 98-99 and 00-01, they have never had). More realistically, he was a lethargic, lame-duck captain to whom the other (better) team leaders always deferred to out of respect to Joe and to the detriment of the team.

Yes, I hope the predictions are true and Joe finally hangs 'em up after this season. I will miss Sakic for the player he used to be. But I am downright giddy at the idea of the Avs possibly having a captain who will hold players accountable for poor efforts. Because we all know damn well that with this team, we're going to see a whole hell of a lot of poor efforts.

Wow. Series Post-mortem.

Worst effort I have ever seen from a hockey team. Ever.

I am writing this as the game is going on, and it's currently 8-2. I knew this team had given up a couple games ago, but I didn't think they would just drop their shorts and take a dump on the ice like this.

Bright spots -
After that first weak goal, Theodore looked really good. Idiot obviously disagreed, but that's why he's called Idiot.
Liles is playing like a guy who wants a big contract next year. He's been very good. I'd like to see him back with the Avs next year, but he'll probably leave.
Jones and Hensick have been playing pretty well, and Hejduk has been at least TRYING to score.

Ugliness -
Sad that Sakic could end his career on the injured list. What? He's not injured? Wow, hadn't noticed.
Arnason...wow, scored a goal and cost us two more. Maybe we'll call that a Tyler Arnason Hat Trick from now on.
Budaj - It's absolutely AMAZING how awful he has been tonight. Just disgusting. He has to go.
Forsberg - Why'd we even sign him in the first place?
The defense was ridiculously bad.
Turnovers.
Idiot - If FG doesn't fire him (or, rather, choose not to re-sign him) after this debacle, I don't think I will be able to support this team anymore. He HAS to go.

At the end of the day, it's shitty that the series had to be like this. I'm not upset or anything, I was actually rooting for the Wings to score a shorty when Franzen put that one in.

It's just a shame that the most classless, uneducated, lowbrow fanbase in the league gets this sweep. Red Wing fans don't deserve their team. But hey, that's life, and this is all they have.

That said, GO STARS!

Game Four

Game Four is tonight. Whoopee.

Luckily, Forsberg has ended all doubt and has taken himself out of tonight's game with an injury to his who-the-fuck-cares. Snasty is out. Smyth is out. Sakic might as well be out - we haven't seen him this series anyway.

If Idiot were smart, he'd put out a first line of Stewart-Hensick-Jones. But there's a reason why his name is Idiot. I expect to see Forsberg replaced with Wyatt Smith. Or maybe he'll dress Budaj and put him at wing.

The Sakic-Hejduk-Whomever line has not earned the right to be the #1 line this series. We need to start thinking for the future and hope that Sakic gets the hint and hangs em up after this season. We need to start getting Jones, Hensick and Stewart ready for NHL duty, and we need to do it tonight. Baptism by fire. They've shown energy and drive, something we haven't seen from Sakic in many many years (if ever). They deserve their shot.

Can we win tonight? Of course.
Can we win the series? Yes.
Will we? Nope.

Hopefully, we'll see Sakic, Forsberg and Idiot's last games with the Avs tonight. I'd rather get the series and season over with than to drag this out any further, to be quite honest. I'd love nothing more than to have them win this series, but I'd also like to win the lottery and play goal for the Avs next year, but none of those things are going to happen.

Go Stars!

Detroit Media - A True Gem

I was out at lunch yesterday, listening to 97.1 in my car (you should never eat Taco Bell anywhere but in your car while listening to sports radio), when I heard these two Detroit idiots spouting off something that actually made me laugh out loud. If I remember correctly, it was Terry Foster of the Detroit News and Pat Caputo of the...what is it? Oakland Press? Anyway, this Caputo moron was talking about Chris Osgood.

Mind you, I am not making any of this up.

Apparently, Chris Osgood, if he wins the Cup this year, will be a "lock Hall of Famer". He's also "one of the ten best goalies of all time," the "second best goalie in Red Wings history" and "he's going to have his number retired".

Wow. Just....wow.

Thankfully, Foster was there to breathe a modicum ("a little bit" for those readers from Detroit) of sanity to the discussion by pointing out that Osgood is a backup goalie was was run out of town once already.

So let me get this straight...Osgood, a backup goalie who once literally cried on camera because the media was "mean to him" is a lock HOFer and one of the ten best goalies of all time? The guy who was not only run out of town by the team, the fans and the media, but was also run out of St Louis and New York? The guy who is notorious for letting in 60ft turds in the 3rd period of series-clinching games (and not just once or twice)? That Chris Osgood?

I mean, I realize the Detroit media are absolutely disgusting in their homerism, but this would make them blush. Don Fucking Cherry doesn't even blindly fellate Bobby Orr as much as this Caputo asswipe just gummed down on Osgood. What a loser.

Argument and a New Policy for RTA

I love a good argument, as most of you know. A lot of people take an attack on their argument as an attack on their person, but I have never been that way. Forums are a venue for debate, and debate is what makes the innarnets so interesting. Without debate, it's, well, the coloradoavalanche.com pom-pon fest. I'd rather watch grass grow.

There's also a difference between a few minor jabs thrown into a logically sound argument and ad hominem attacks. A lot of people never actually took the time to learn what an ad hominem is, they just assume that if you toss in a personal attack, that's an ad hominem and thus invalidates the logic of the argument. Not true. Ad hominem is a personal attack IN PLACE OF an argument, NOT a personal attack IN ADDITION to an argument.

Regardless, it appears that we have our first committed troll here. Hockeyguy, as many of you know, is a complete imbecile who has spent the last several years stalking me on usenet, various forums, and now my blog. He's a pathetic soul, and while he's more than welcome to bash me elsewhere, he's been removed from commenting here. I'm fine with argument. I'm perfectly fine with Wings Idiots coming here and attempting to disprove my arguments. But when you're only here to attack me (or others) personally, that doesn't fly with me.

So, with that said, I hereby institute a new policy...

You troll, you roll.

I don't troll your blog, and you're not going to troll mine.

I can feel it...coming in the air tonight...

Game 3 tonight.

Controversy in Avs Nation. Coach Q has decided to start his starter tonight instead of his backup, and Avs Nation is livid. Apparently, because Theodore had a couple inconsistent seasons due to a lack of confidence, that means that a bad two games due to a severe flu are proof positive that his confidence is shot and he's experiencing a meltdown. The Chicken Little mindset of Avs Nation has never ceased to entertain me. The thing is, they always cling to the wrong reasons for screaming that the sky is falling.

Look, Theodore was sick. You could make a very strong case that Idiot shouldn't have started him, but that's on Idiot, not JoeTed. That being the case and assuming he has recovered, there is no logical reason to believe or assume anything other than that he will play as he did from January 1st through the end of the Minnesota series.

For tonight's game, Forsberg is a "maybe," Smyth is out, and Hannan may or may not play. Hannan is a non-issue. Smyth is going to hurt, but we've got the depth to make up for that. The real story here is whether or not Forsberg has the nuts to gut it out and put it on the line for his team against his team's biggest rival. If Forsberg doesn't play tonight, there is no reason why the Avs should even consider re-upping with him this offseason.

Forsberg is a great player when he's healthy. The best of his generation, and still one of the best at this stage in his career. But he's never healthy, and that kills chemistry when the team relies on him so much. This team isn't motivated by Sakic at all, they NEED Forsberg in the lineup or they go into the game assuming they have already lost.

Regardless, should be an interesting game tonight. After the first period of Game 1, I expected the Avs to come out looking like a different team, and they did. Damn near won that game. I fully expect the Avs to look like a different team tonight.

If they don't, they are toast and the Wings can wait and see whether it's going to be Dallas or San Jose who sends them golfing.

I changed my mind.

You know what, I changed my mind. Just because I am from Detroit doesn't mean I need to act like it. There's too much anger and negativity going around, and throwing shots at idiot Wings fans doesn't accomplish anything.

I've always said that class is overrated, and I stand by that. But that doesn't mean I need to stoop to Bill's level, much less the level of his harem of idiots.