“And time waits for no one, and it won’t wait for me.” – The Rolling Stones
It really was the moment every Red Wings fan had been dreading for years, but after an absolutely brilliant 20 season career filled with accolades (really, there’s a bunch: 7 Norris Trophies, 1 Conn Smythe Trophy, an Olympic Gold Medal, a World Championship Gold Medal, 12 time NHL All-Star, and 4 Stanley Cup Trophies to go along with never seeing his team fall short of a playoff berth) defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom announced his retirement from the NHL this morning. Lidstrom is easily one of the best defensemen to ever play this amazing sport (he’s without a doubt the best defenseman I’ve ever seen play the game), but he’s also one of the classiest and nicest players this league and the city of Detroit has ever seen. He’s been referred to as “TPH – The Perfect Human” or “Norris”, but anyone-whether they be media, fan, or opposing player-has never had a bad thing to say about him. It’s probably not an understatement to say that there’s a huge hole to fill on the Red Wings’ blue line with #5 retired, but his class will be missed too.
When I think about it, the city of Detroit has been pretty blessed with its share of humble superstars. Just in my timeframe of watching, Alan Trammell of the Tigers, Barry Sanders of the Lions, and Steve Yzerman of the Red Wings have all represented their teams and city just like Nick Lidstrom has. Odds are I’ve missed a few, but those are the ones that immediately popped into my head. I can only hope that the current and future athletes will represent their team and city as well as those four have.
I seriously thought I had more to write, but what else is there to really say? Countless words have been written about Nick Lidstrom from mainstream media and bloggers alike, and if you’re looking for something with a bit more substance, you’ll want to start at The Malik Report-George Malik is an excellent writer and the first one you’d want to go to for information about the Red Wings. I guess I’ll just end with this: thank you for one hell of an amazing Hall of Fame career. Your talents on the ice, as well as your class and patience off of it will truly be missed.
It’s been a long time since I’d written about sports here (for that matter, it’s been a long time since I’d written about anything here), but I feel compelled to write about it now, a little more than 12 hours has passed since the Michigan Wolverines hockey team had their season ended way sooner than many fans had hoped…and no less agonizing than the year before when the Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs scored in OT to win the Frozen Four Championship (not sure what I’m talking about? If you watched any of the NCAA hockey coverage on ESPNU or ESPN3.com yesterday, then you saw the highlight pretty much EVERY COMMERCIAL BREAK. It doesn’t sting any less with repeated viewings, ESPN, thanks).
The start of this game gave plenty of hope, simply because Michigan started off quickly and took control early. Compared to the CCHA Championship weekend games against Bowling Green and Western Michigan where they found themselves trying to dig out of two-and-three goal holes, the start against Cornell couldn’t have gone much better. Luke Glendening scored just 1:11 into the game, and then just :13 seconds later Kevin Lynch appeared to make it a 2-0 game and the Wolverines looked like they might just steamroll all over Big Red. An official review would overturn Lynch’s goal however, and then a combination of the Wolverines deflating/Big Red getting their legs under them would make this contest much closer than it looked like we’d all get to see. I really am torn on the goal being overturned: my Michigan bias thought that goal should’ve counted since the goaltender interference came just as much from a slight bump by Luke Moffatt as it did from a Cornell defender, but as someone that’s also dabbled in playing goal I’d be pissed off if I didn’t have a shot at making the save.
Special teams had a huge part in Michigan’s downfall: Cornell was able to score on the power play to tie the game up later in the first period, and then early in the second period Big Red took the lead on a shorthanded goal (the first SHG the Wolverines had given up this season couldn’t have come at a much worse time). If it seemed like the Wolverines spent a decent portion of that game on the power play, they did-but they couldn’t score with the man-advantage once. Not to take away anything from Cornell’s special teams or the play of goaltender Andy Iles (they were stellar), but a team with Michigan’s firepower throughout the lineup can’t have that many chances and not bury them. Down 2-1 heading into the third, and for a large portion of that period it seemed the Wolverines just couldn’t get anything going until Kevin Lynch scored the game-tying goal with about four minutes left. An odd-man rush and some very mediocre back-checking led to Cornell’s OT goal: Shawn Hunwick made the initial save but couldn’t control the rebound, giving Big Red forward Rodger Craig the easy tap-in. Bubble burst, season ended too soon.
Speaking of Shawn Hunwick, the fifth-year senior that by most accounts was never even supposed to see ice time at Michigan and yet proved everyone wrong: man, he’ll be missed. There’s no way Michigan keeps the NCAA record streak of tournament appearances alive in 2010 without a stellar performance from Hunwick to win the CCHA Tournament. There’s no way Michigan gets to the Frozen Four final without Hunwick carrying the team and shutting down the cage night after night. Easily one of my all-time favorite players to ever wear the Maize & Blue, up there with RB Mike Hart and guards Zack Novak and Stu Douglass. Not much was expected from any of those guys, but every single one of them delivered above & beyond and helped the Wolverines in their own way. So Shawn: thank you.
For the record, Michigan Daily’s Zach Helfand wrote one hell of an article about Hunwick and you should definitely check it out: The midnight gesture of Shawn Hunwick.
Holy crap, it’s been almost a full year since I posted last??? Ooops, my apologies to all two of my readers for keeping you waiting for so long.
What the hell has been going on with you lately, and where have you been???
So glad you asked, and the answer is: not much. Things are going very well, though: still have my health, great family, great friends, an awesome girlfriend, and a bunch of other things to help kill the time. My sports teams are doing well, Brady Hoke has brought Michigan football back from the disaster of the [name redacted] era, and this winter wasn’t really much of a winter at all (although these warm temps the last few days are going to seem far away once the Tigers Opening Day hits and it’s 30 degrees out and snowing…c’mon, you know it’s Michigan).
Just decided now is as good a time as any to post, and tv shows streamed online seemed a good place to start. Seems like just about anyone has access to Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Videos, Hulu, or any other instant streaming service I haven’t thought of yet. I was thinking about shows that simply aren’t on any of those services though, and seem like they never will be there (and my response to that is: WHY???). Sure I could just buy the dvd’s for all of these shows, but for some reason once I buy a dvd set I don’t even bother watching it, and that happens with a lot of the movies I buy too. Seriously, I bought Boondock Saints on DVD almost ten years ago from Tower Records in Chicago (a store that’s no longer there, I might add) and I still haven’t watched it. No idea why.
So anyway, here’s the list of shows that I think would be in high demand for viewing on instant stream sites…
Aaron Sorkin's masterpiece: The West Wing
1. The West Wing: OH NO!!!! LIBERAL SCUM SHOWING HIS LIBERAL AGENDA!!! RUN AWAY!!!! *conservative leaves website, never to return*
Ok now that I’m down to one reader, the West Wing was a popular show that ran on NBC (maybe their last truly popular show?) from 1999-2006. It was brilliantly written by Aaron Sorkin (and others, click the link above) and had an exceptional ensemble cast led by Martin Sheen as President Josiah “Jed” Bartlet. It wasn’t afraid to tackle social issues and current events. Just how close it was to the real West Wing is up to debate but I thoroughly enjoyed the show.
Homicide
2. Homicide: Life on the Street: Created by Paul Attanasio and based off of David Simon’s book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets (the author’s name might be familiar to fans of the HBO show “The Wire”-one of the best shows ever made), this focused on a Homicide unit in Baltimore, Maryland. This also featured an ensemble cast but Andre Braugher’s performance as tough veteran detective Frank Pembleton was usually the most noticed. Perhaps the reason this show isn’t streaming now is simply because the show was usually low rated throughout its entire 7 season run. If this show ever hits Netflix though, I highly recommend checking it out.
A Bruce Campbell show that hardly anyone watched *sigh*
3. The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: A short-lived series that ran on Fox for 27 episodes back in 1993-1994, it featured Michigan’s own Bruce Campbell as the title character hired to hunt down the outlaw John Bly gang. Since I’d just seen Army of Darkness earlier in the year, I was really curious about this show and it didn’t disappoint. A Western with sci-fi and steampunk elements? What’s not to like?
I’m sure I’m missing quite a few more off of this list *cough*Batman: The Animated Series*cough*, but those are the ones that stuck out to me. Have more to add? Feel free to mention them in the comments section…and maybe, just maybe, I’ll write more than once every 11 months.
I was told recently I should write more, and I have had a few ideas/projects I’d like to get moving on…well, here goes. Of course, I’m going to write about absolutely none of those ideas/projects for this one-this post is just because I got sidetracked by a movie that was on this morning (I’ll get to that movie in a moment). I’m pretty sure we all have those films that once you flip through the channels and see that it’s on you drop whatever it was you were doing and watch. I’ve got a few of those films that I’ll list further on down, and if you stumble upon reading this maybe you can tell me some of yours too. Of course if I really am the only one this happens to, enjoy this brief little look into my psyche and try not to shake your head in disapproval.
Batman Begins/The Dark Knight/Inception/The Prestige – I could’ve just changed this to pretty much to say “just about any film Christopher Nolan has ever directed”, and it wouldn’t be far off. His reimagining of the Batman franchise helped save it after Joel Schumacher turned it into a laughingstock (a fate that Batman does not deserve). I could talk for hours about the amazing performances in both Batman films from Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman, as well as Liam Neeson’s turn as Henri Ducard/Ra’s Al Ghul in Begins, Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face in TDK, and of course the late Heath Ledger for providing one of the most memorable (and IMO, best) Joker performances ever in the same film. Prestige is a movie I’d just watched recently and I found it amazing, I’m sure I’ll lose an hour or two to it again if I see it on tv. Inception is easily a top 5 film for me, and if I ever have some free time I’m usually watching it. Once it hits the premium cable channels in a bit, I’m sure I’ll be sidetracked then too.
If you are a Christopher Nolan fan chances are you noticed one film that isn’t up there, and that’s Memento. It’s actually not included for one simple reason: I haven’t seen it yet. Yes, I’m aware I need to correct that error soon.
Typical reaction to finding out I haven't seen Memento yet
Big Trouble in Little China – This is actually the movie that was on this morning (I never said these were going to all be cinematic masterpieces). Sure it’s cheesy, but it’s hilarious. Kurt Russell as trucker Jack Burton stuck in Little China helping out a friend, but more importantly to him trying to get his truck back. It’s a film that isn’t supposed to be taken seriously, and it knows it too.
Super Troopers – “Littering and…littering and…” “Say Car Ramrod! Say Car Ramrod!” “I swear to God I’ll pistol whip the next guy that says ‘shenanigans’!” “I don’t want a large Farva! I want a goddamn liter of Cola!” “If you were my son, Mac, I would’ve smothered you by now.” Yeah, that’s pretty much all I need to say about this movie.
(500) Days of Summer – I guess you could classify it as a romantic comedy, but it really isn’t your typical romantic comedy (those ones I tend to avoid unless I really have to watch them). It doesn’t follow the typical timeline of the relationship, and I think it’s well written. It helps that Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as Tom) and Zooey Deschanel (as Summer) have good chemistry, too. There’s also moments in that film where I thought to myself “oh yeah, I’ve done that”. I’d suggest checking it out if you haven’t.
The Shawshank Redemption – Incredible story, great performances out of Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, what more could you want? If you haven’t seen this already, get to it.
I’ll just list some of my other ‘timesuck’ (for lack of a better word) movies since I’m running out of things to say (and to prevent you the reader from possibly nodding off haha):
I probably should’ve noticed this a long time ago, but I didn’t realize it until I was putting together yet another playlist for my iPod. It’s the kind of playlist I find typical with most iPod/Zune/whichever mp3 player of choice you’re using (this isn’t a debate about the merits of each one, so Apple/Microsoft bashers go run along and write about your superior machine somewhere else): 50+ tunes that catch your eye and within a matter of moments you’re good to go. It’s convenient, no doubt…but there used to be a ‘skill’ to putting a mixtape (and later on, mix CD) together, and I’ve simply lost it.
Putting together a mixtape was a labor of love for me. With 45 minutes on each side (sorry, 60 minute tapes just seemed a waste), I had to plan how to lay out the songs I wanted. I’d try to keep the space between each song less than a second to pack on as much as possible (hey, when I started doing this I was spending good allowance money on blank tapes, had to get the most for my $), and also just tried to make sure there was a decent flow to it. I never wanted too many fast or slow songs in a row, and I’d always try to limit the mix to no more than two songs by the same artist. A couple of hours later, the mix is complete. I’d usually fire it up right then and there, but if I thought it was really good I’d wait until I was with friends before debuting the mixtape-if it made it through the whole play without getting a “can we fast forward through this song, it sucks”…SUCCESS. I’d also go through phases where I’d make mixes but deliberately left the tracks unlabeled, so I could just listen to them sometime down the road. More often than not, they would be like a little window into what my state of mind was at the time: if it was a bit on the mellow side chances are I had just broken up with someone, and if it was more on the sunny side I must’ve had some good fortune come my way. It was always fun listening to what I was enjoying (or not) at the time.
Making a mixtape for someone special? Even more planning, because now the tape takes on the added dimension of trying to deliver a message (yes, I was one of those that relied more on my music selection to say what I wanted to say instead of actually saying it…sometimes it worked). That’s the power of music, though-it can cover a wide range of emotions in different people, and I figured if I could get to know someone well enough I could put a tape together that I just knew she’d love. Sure it was a time consuming process, and on more than one occasion I probably should’ve been studying instead of looking for just the right track but ultimately the mixtape was just as much for me as it was for the one I was making it for.
Go forward a few years, and all of a sudden it’s possible to burn discs. That definitely took a lot of time off the process, but a majority of the time I had less space (around 70-80 minutes worth of blank CD) to work with. Printing up nice little CD cases was a nice bonus, and even better if you had one of those CD label makers (which I did) to really spruce it up for someone…of course, if you take a nice look at those stickers now they look all warped and make the disc difficult to be listened to unless you want to watch your CD player destruct Mission Impossible-style (I’ve always wanted to try that). Anyway, a short time later various mp3 players would hit the market-now all you’re limited to is whatever storage space you have. Set it to random if you choose, and your mp3 player will do the rest.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love my iPod-anyone that has set foot in my car in the past knows that there were usually a stack of tapes (later, CD cases) scattered all over the interior of the car like a Tower Records had met an untimely demise there. It’s nice not having to explain that mess to people anymore, and it’s also nice not having to fumble around for another tape or CD to play while doing 80 70 down the freeway. But I also fell so far into the trap of throwing a bunch of songs in a playlist and just letting the iPod do the rest of the work, that it might be hard to dig out. Can’t hurt to try though.
Yes, I’m sure you’ve seen this a bunch of times already the last week-a column or photo collection of the images we’ve seen in sports the past year. I thought to try something unique: take a few sports photos from this past year and comment on them, as serious or as sarcastic as I want. That seems like a lot of fun, and it’s something different.
Seriously? That’s been done before too.
Oh, I suppose it has. Well I’m doing it anyway, and I even got Doug from The Detroit Transplant to chip in (over a week ago, too-yeah, I’m a bit of a procrastinator it seems). So sit back, grab a drink, throw on some music and continue reading if you haven’t already moved on to something else to kill time. Warning: some of these images might not be suitable for work viewing (Rex Ryan giving a one finger salute, Sidney Crosby and Matt Millen also appear), so you’ve been warned.
Doug: What a heart-warming moment. If there’s a model athlete in terms of perseverance and morality, Drew Brees is easily it. You know he’s got to be the best father ever.
Norm: You just had to know Brees was going to win every athlete trophy ever invented once this photo went out. I think he even finished second in the Hart Trophy voting behind Vancouver’s Henrik Sedin. Easily one of the best moments of the year, and seeing New Orleans win it had to give every Detroit Lions fan just a little bit of hope.
Doug: Whoa, hey! Rex Ryan isn’t a smart person? I would have never guessed. That’s why ya don’t flip people off, Rex! You can’t bury the internet.
Norm: This is one of the faces of the NFL, everyone. Now let’s go eat a g–damn snack.
Doug: This man made the daytime portion of the Olympics. He’s a genius.
Doug: See my US Soccer response below.
Norm: I think I lost my voice at the very moment Parise tied the gold medal game up. I just knew Luongo would relent eventually, and he didn’t disappoint. I thought for sure the US was going to hand Canada their second crushing loss on home ice in 2010 (the US World Junior Squad knocked off Team Canada in the championship game of the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships in January). But then…
Doug: What an awkward face. Although, I probably made the same face though when I saw the goal. Being a Canada fan my whole life, it was great to see the team be so dominant in the tournament, and to see them facing the US, which, was a feat in and of itself.
Norm: It just had to be the ‘Whiny Face of the NHL’ to score the goal to kill the US. A substandard showing in the entire tournament gets wiped off the slate with the OT dagger. The only good thing to come out of this photo were the numerous photochops that surfaced after. They are still out there, and hilarious.
Doug: This (Luongo bitching) has become a fixture in Vancouver. Maybe he should shut his mouth and make some saves, instead?
Norm: “Mr. Referee, it’s playoff time now. I’m ready for my annual choke job.”
Doug: After watching his Sports Science videos, I wanted him on the Lions. And look what a beast he’s been for us. The kid is gonna be the future and the face of our defense.
Norm: I’m so shocked when a draft pick works out for the Lions-I have Matt Millen to thank for that…and also the history of the franchise under William Clay Ford. Speaking of Millen…
Norm: I think all tv sets should come equipped with a Mute Matt Millen button. Mute Pierre McGuire too while we’re at it. The image of Matt Millen that Doug sent actually left him speechless, which is why his response isn’t here.
Doug: He’s (Jim Joyce) probably never been too great at Duck Hunt is my guess.
Norm: Ugh, the most famous blown call of 2010. Could’ve been one of the worst sports moments of the year, but what happened in the aftermath (and if you don’t know what happened, what rock have you been living under) made it an example of sportsmanship. Yes, it still exists.
Doug: what a great run for a team that had no business in the tournament really. Also, what a great way to build up the most disloyal bandwagon in the history of this country!
Norm: One of the most exciting moments in the World Cup, and just a great sports moment overall-everyone knew they needed a goal, and Landon Donovan delivered. I’m also curious about your comment, but we’ll save that for another day.
Doug: *barf*.
Norm: The only good thing about this is that it’ll probably be another 49 years before the bandwagon fanbase in Chicago sees another one. Ha.
Doug: The most self-centered, conceited move I’ve ever seen in sports. Bring all the kids from Cleveland in to break their hearts? Smart guy. This is how it’s done.
Norm: All that stuff I wrote about sportsmanship a minute or two ago? Yeah, don’t apply that here. Also, just click the link Doug provided if you haven’t seen Steve Carrell’s parody of The Decision.
Doug: He completed the process. No one will ever convince me otherwise. Thus, we are 5-9 (now 6-9, this should’ve come out a week ago–Norm) this year.
Norm: I still can’t believe that this wasn’t a catch. I think the season unfolds differently for both squads had this been ruled correctly.
Doug: Keeping the skirts on QB’s since 1990.
Norm: “My decision making seems to have gone downhill since the NFL forced me to cover up my biceps here. My apologies.”
Doug: Made my year. The drama, but not the publicity. It split this team in two, which means the Lions are no longer bottom of the barrel. Think about it– if they lose out and we win out, we finish with a better record. WOW.
Norm: I don’t know who is happier seeing this photo of Favre-FAIL, Jenn Sterger or everyone in Green Bay.
Doug: A fixture of the year in AZ, perhaps they should get a statue of this face at UA. He (Mike Stoops) whines and complains about every play.
Norm: I wanted to come up with something funny to say, but if you’ve read up to this point your hopes of seeing something funny from me probably dried up a bit ago.
Doug: Worst PR stunt EVER. How about put a winning football team on the field?
Norm: I’m certain I heard howls of laughter coming from East Lansing and later on in Columbus (after someone had to explain to each person there why it would be funny). Please go away.
I’m now making one last addition. You can read what Doug has to say about it here. All I’ll say is this: Congrats, Ozzie. You earned it-here’s to a few more wins and another Stanley Cup celebration in June.
It occurred to me that ever since I did this blogger profile over at Hockey Blogette a couple of weeks ago (and if you haven’t checked out that hockey blog run by my friend Jenn, you should), I haven’t written much lately.
But Norm, that’s what you usually do-hammer out a couple of posts and then ignore it for a bit.
True, but I figure if I’m going to do a profile, then I should probably write a bit more than I usually do. So why not just start the clock and start writing? Here we go…
Of course, the first thing I write about is checking a couple of the grammar issues I wasn’t sure about: who/whom (still not sure if that works in the title page), and double checking then/than usage (I was correct, but just wanted to make sure).
A few months ago I wrote about not overanalyzing things, and looking back at that post I’m starting this one the same way. Have I improved at all in that regard? Hell no, but all I can do is keep plugging away at it. I at least catch myself doing the overanalyzing bit which wasn’t the case at all before, but just letting things flow/come what(ever) may/let the chips land wherever is still something I need to learn to do a bit more effectively. I know I’m not the only one but I tend to replay even trivial chance encounters over and over in my head, wondering just what exactly I could’ve done/said differently…not just the ‘game changing’ events that occur a little less often. I need to stop that.
Also looking back at that post I referenced in the previous paragraph, I truly did enjoy Twitter then. I still love getting to know the people I’ve met through it, and the ones I have met have turned out to be good friends, good people and I wouldn’t trade any of those experiences. There are still even more people I look forward to meeting. But as usual, time can change everything. I closed down one Twitter account and have given thought to leaving it altogether. I love the stream of information, I love the quirky, hilarious nature of my friends, I even love the occasional disagreement. But sometimes I feel like I…got lost along the way. Maybe it’s a break that’s needed…I guess that all depends on who you ask (still not sure if that’s correct).
So what am I?
A good friend that’ll stay loyal and defend you even when I think you’re nuts? Sure, without a doubt and my closest friends know that.
Okay, what else?
Someone that can be talked to? Someone that trusts even when I say time and again that I won’t be so quick to trust (like the great philosopher Greg House MD says, “Everybody lies”)? A confidant? A lover? An asshole? A selfish, sarcastic prick? An easy mark? A hard target? A role model, a bad example, a dreamer, a realist, normal, happy-go-lucky, a grouch?
Someone that, other than a couple of year-end projects with Doug from The Detroit Transplant (hey, I plug other blogs when I can, and he writes a helluva lot more than I do-entertaining too) is tempted to, if not close his Twitter account down just take a long break and disappear for awhile? I do have the number of or am Facebook friends with everyone that matters…right?
Someone that knows this went a bit longer than 20 minutes to write but continued on anyway? (Okay, that’s true).
All that above, or none of it at all? I guess that just depends on who you ask.
Doug: Whoa, hey! Rex Ryan isn’t a smart person? I would have never guessed. That’s why ya don’t flip people off, Rex! You can’t bury the internet.
Doug: This man made the daytime portion of the Olympics. He’s a genius. 
Doug: See my US Soccer response below.
Doug: What an awkward face. Although, I probably made the same face though when I saw the goal. Being a Canada fan my whole life, it was great to see the team be so dominant in the tournament, and to see them facing the US, which, was a feat in and of itself.
Doug: After watching his Sports Science videos, I wanted him on the Lions. And look what a beast he’s been for us. The kid is gonna be the future and the face of our defense.
Doug: what a great run for a team that had no business in the tournament really. Also, what a great way to build up the most disloyal bandwagon in the history of this country!
