Who is the pressure on more right now in the Stanley Cup Finals? Is it the Red Wings, the Penguins, or the crew at NBC? If you watched game two of the finals on NBC you would see it is clearly on NBC?

The Red Wings know they only need to win two more games. All the Wings need to do is win the home games in the series to be crowned Stanley Cup Champions once again. They have proven time and time again that they have the depth, poise, and determination to win it all once again. They are also doing it without their Hart Trophy finalist Pavel Datsyuk.

The Penguins have tried almost everything they can to get their game going but neither team has really dominated any of the games thus far. In fact the Penguins have actually out-shot the Red Wings in each of the first two Finals games. Something that has never happened in the regular season or playoffs as long as I can remember. Perhaps this is the biggest indicator that the Penguins still don't have the right fire-power to defeat the might Red Wings.

The Penguins frustrations are being swollen to new levels due to the fact that Detroit is beating them with players they have never even heard of! Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm have never even scored a regular season goal yet here they are front-and-center scoring goals and making plays in the finals. The Penguins haven't even felt the wrath of the Wings top players yet.

So now the pressure resides clearly on NBC......right? How are they going to anoint Sidney Crosby the man if he can't beat the man? How can NBC get seven games out of this rematch? NBC can't do either of these. Pittsburgh has to do this themselves despite Eddie Olcheck and Pierre McGuire's love affair with whomever the Red Wings are playing. Eddie is a Chicago guy and Pierre is a tool-bag. Put the together and you get the whining about the Marian Hossa non-call of a slashing penalty that precluded the Wings scoring.

The two guys ranted about this so long that listening to the radio with a shorter delay was actually better. These two went on about Hossa's penalty in which Pascal Dupuis' stick was broken, and well, unless there's something in the rulebook about a player's stick breaking because he smacked it against another dude's skate, there's no penalty to be called So shut up about it already!  Here is the proof.  They have instant replay in the booth don't they?

All this does is make victory that much sweeter! I didn't even mention the non-suspension of Penguin Evgeni Malkin who went fake-tough-guy on Henrik Zetterberg only to get tagged back. The league did not suspend him for the instigator penalty he received in the last five minutes of game two because he is a non-threat. What this means is that the NHL thinks he is a man with a vagina and I would agree!

I think now more than ever the NHL needs to do whatever it takes to get back on ESPN and ABC.

Right now Jeremy Roenick is right where he is used to being in the Stanley Cup playoffs. He is at home watching htem on TV. Apparently that isn't enough for the cagey vet. Either he has gone off the deep end of the mental scale or he is just trying to keep his picture in the paper.

First off let me show you what he said on "The Monsters in the Morning" show on Comcast Sportsnet in Chicago.

"Detroit coach Mike Babcock doesn't appear to like American players, especially Chelios."

"The coach just doesn't like him for some ungodly known reason, I think he's got a grudge against American players, but he does not like Cheli at all," said Roenick, who played this past season with San Jose.

"There is an underlying, I don't know if it's a hatred, because hatred is a strong word. But there is some underlying issue there that I don't understand. You know Babcock is the coach. You have to respect him for his decisions on who he plays, and that is all well and good," Roenick said.

"Sometimes it's just the verbal stuff that goes back and forth, from what I understand," he added. "Cheli will never complain. He is the ultimate professional. He will do whatever the team needs."

Chelios and Babcock both replied when the Red Wings arrived in Chicago for game three of the Western Conference Finals.

Chelios- "How does JR know anything-is he playing?" Chelios told the Detroit Free Press. "The last time I talked to JR was a few weeks ago, and it was about his charity pool party in Vegas. I don't know what JR is talking about."

Babacock- "When the Red Wings arrived in Chicago on Thursday evening on the eve of Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, Babcock told reporters at a downtown hotel to consider the source.

Roenick is washed up mentally and physically. For the San Jose Sharks this season he scored just 4 goals with 9 assists for only 13 points in 42 games. In his rookie year he only got into 20 games and 18 points. Except now he gets paid a lot more to do less.

Here is the truth about Babcock, Chelios, and American players. First of all the players on the team are brought in and signed by the general manager Ken Holland. These guys work together and get paid a lot of money to win. They don't care what country players are from. It is very apparent.

Roenick said that Babcock doesn't like to play Americans? What about Brett Lebda, Justin Abdelkader, Ty Conklin, Chris Chelios, and Brian Rafalski. The Red Wings have five American players. That is higher than the league average! The reason Chelios doesn't play that much is because he is 47 years old! He is older than Babcock by two years. He doesn't play even close to the level he did five years ago.....when he was 42!

Jeremy do us all a favor and just retire. Just because Chelios still plays doesn't mean you have to. Chelios has a great fitness rourine to stay in shape. You just work your jaws. Don't make us go Old Yeller on ya!

  It happens all the time. People in the spotlight doing outrageous things. Athletes, coaches, and celebrities getting busted doing some of the craziest things. Some say that any publicity is good publicity. Well that is not the case at all. If you have read part one, part two, and part three of this four part series (only 4 so far) you already know.

  If you didn't read them click the links above. Some of the ways not to get busted came from Lions defensive coach Joe Cullen who thought it would be a swell idea (pun intended) to drive through the Wendy's drive-thru naked. Minnesota Timberwolves center Eddie Griffin's police report said he was "manipulating his genetalia" while driving! What he was actually doing was driving drunk, masturbating, watching porn on his SUV's DVD player, and then slammed into a parked car! A Wisconsin man was put on probation for having sexual intercoarse with a dead deer. I'm not sure if PETA piled on and went after him. I think having his name and picture in the paper for this crime was punishment enough.

  Well now comes this. Buffalo Bills fullback Corey McIntyre faces some of the most bizarre allegations we've ever seen in relation to an NFL player. He is accused of "manipulating his genetalia" outside the window of a 59 year old woman's house.

  Fortunately for McIntyre this story has a (no pun intended) "happy ending". Turns out it was just a case of mistaken identity which has been proven through a polygraph test.

  Here is the guts of the story from buffalonews.com-

 

 

  "We had to wait for the results of a polygraph test which Corey submitted to and passed before we could say anything further regarding these outrageous and harmful allegations," McIntyre said via an e-mail sent to us and other reporters.

"When Corey was arrested he was simply riding his bike on the same route he did every day as part of his normal workout routine. Once the accuser's description didn't add up and the police told him he was clear, an officer even called the Bills to let them know they had the wrong guy."That's why it's unbelievable that two full months later they decided to put out a warrant for him. This horrible case of misidentification has caused Corey and his family a great deal of pain and embarrassment. Like I said before, Corey McIntyre is one of the highest character people I've known and the last guy who would do what he's been accused of. We'll continue to take an aggressive approach to clearing his name so he can get back to work and put this injustice behind him."

I don't know what it is but every one of these stories link back to the real man's best friend/worst enemy. Look at all the men in this country that have messed up their lives over their penile indiscretions. We have had celebrities, athletes, musicians, politicians, and even a U.S. President. I am sure this won't be the last time either.

 

  Here we are again.  Another off-season in the NFL.  Another year for Brett Favre to unretire.  Another year off more Brett Favre talk than anything else.  Another year of bad NFL off-season coverage of (insert your NFL team name here) not getting any coverage.  This cheats the NFL fan out of what they really want.  They want to talk about, read about, and hear about all the NFL news they can get.  But what they will get is Brett Favre this and Brett Favre that!

  Remember the year Brett Favre originally retired?  It was supposed to be after the 2006 season when the Packers went 8-8.  Everyone said he was done, he was washed up.  The Packers had Aaron Rodgers ready and waiting to take over as the teams new starting quarterback.  Then Favre came back in 2007 and led the Pack to a 13-3 record.  Then he retired. 

When Brett came back the last year and turned into Brett the Jet it was almost to much drama for anyones mama.  He was even on the cover of Madden's football game......in a Packers uniform!  Brett Favre even had his own tag on the sports ticker.  ESPN and ESPN News had it listed like- MLB, NHL, Favre, NFL, NCAA, News.  They gave him his own category on the sports ticker!  He had the Jets as the #1 seed in the AFC at one point last year but the team collapsed to a 9-7 record and missed the playoffs.  Then he retired again.

I actually hit a point last off season that I had had enough Favre talk for the day.  I had to turn off all sports shows and take a break.  so I decided to watch a movie.  Turns out Something about Mary was on HBO.  It was a good break.  Its a funny movie.  Until I was horrified by the ending.  I had totally forgotten than Brett Favre was in the ending of that movie!

  Brett had retired as was reported.  Or did he?  Hell no he didn't.  He will never retire!  He will never go away.  He says he didn't want to retire in Green Bay but they forced him into retirement.  He now says he didn't tell the Jets he is retiring and his going to talk to the Vikings this week.  GREAT!  At least we don't have to listen to John Madden go NAMBLA on Brett Favre.

  I think when Brett does retire he will end up hitting it big with a similar invention like the George Foreman Grill.  Something to keep him on TV until he is in diapers.  He will probably do TV for games on Sundays as well.  

  I used to really like his game and his personality.  But too much as worn me down.  Too much Brett Favre is cutting into my thirst for NFL knowledge I desire on a daily basis.  He is about to play for his 4th team.......... if he does play for the Minnesota Vikings in 2009.  I don't know tune into any sports show for more details.  He was also known friends with Matt Millen.  That is reason enough for me alone to turn on Brett!

The next, only, and last press conference I want to see Brett Favre do is an apology press conference.  Apologize to his fans.  Apologize to his coaches.  Apologize to his school teachers.  Apologize to the NFL.  Apologize to all the sports shows, TV and radio.  Apologize to the entire WORLD!  Brett Favre needs to apologize for making everyone pronounce his name as "Favre" when it should be pronounced as "Favor" or Fav-ruh"!  It is grammatically incorrect to say it with the "R" sound before the V.  Stand up Brett and apologize to humanity for being such a pain in the ass!  Tell the world you were just kidding about how to pronounce your name.

Yesterday (4/20) the Detroit Lions introduced their brand new logo at a Dunham's sporting goods store outside of Detroit.  They kept it top secret for months after it leaked out they were going to change it up.  Once it got out they were changing it up the different possibilities started coming out.  Team President Tom Lewand and GM Martin Mayhew made sure that this was top secret and no one was to reveal the new look.

Two weeks ago a toy truck emerged on the internet with a different Lions logo.  How could that be?  They haven't even released it yet.  The Lions were asked about it and they basically blew it off and made sure no one got a sneak peak?

  But in typical Lions fashion pun intended the ceremony was a microcosm of what they have done to this city and their fans.  Get everyones hopes up for absolutely nothing.  They unveiled some white accents and that's it.  They also made the "L" in Lion bigger.

  They call them the Lions because that's what they do to their fans about being a proffesional football team and why the players play like they are just "Lion" around all week.

  Anyway.............

In typical Lions fan fashion the place was a circus with a huge turnout.  Like cattle to the hurd we go through turnstiles only to feel like we are dying when we get through a game.

Back to the logo.  Keep it.  It is terrible.  Same Old Lions get fans excited for nothing.  They just keep letting them down.  The entire event like many many many many football games it is just another disapointment in a very long line of disapointments that will only get longer and longer.  It helps when they fired Millen but kept everyone else.  They are going to stick around to try to fix everything they messed up with Millen the last eight years.

Speaking about letting the fans down.  Lions fans in attendance got a few chants going.  At one point they chanted to draft Aaron Curry and another time to not draft Matt Stafford.  Typical Lions fans.  They want a player that will play now and be a Pro Bowl player in the fututre.  He better be if he is going to get $12-$14 Million of your cap for the next five seasons.

What the Lions need is a QB because they haven't had a really good one since Bobby Layne was traded in 1957.  Sure they have had some 1 year QBs play well.  But having top ten busts at QB in the recent past of Rodney Peete, Andre Ware, Chuck Long, and Joey Harrington has Lions fans gun shy about taking another QB.  Right now is the best time to take that chance.  Can they get any worse?  They were just 0-16!

They Lions need to take Matt Stafford to have a player to take over when Daunte Culpepper is ready to go.  He is not the answer long term is he?  He hasn't been a more than a short term answer in his entire career.  Besides the Lions won't be ready to make a run at even the playoffs for a few years.  They have to figure out how they are going to deal with just getting Brett Favre out of the division to Jay Cutler going to the Bears as well.

Lions fans want Curry?  Why?  He is an outside linebacker which they have two (Julian Peterson and Ernie Sims) already and they are both good.  Are they Lions going to draft him into another position at that price tag for the number one pick int the draft and hope he can play in the middle?  I don't think so.  If the Lions don't draft Matt Stafford they will draft Tackle Jason Smith.  At least they need a lineman.  They could move Cherilus or Backus inside to really beef up the offensive line.