first, your logic is so flawed. He already is making less than half what he could make elsewhere, and has done so for the past several years. Even at $6.5 million, Lidstrom is a steal. To pay him any less than that, unless he specifically requests it for the good of the team (his mantra all along) would be an insult to one of the greatest defensemen ever, probably second only to Bobby Orr.
Even at 42, Lidstrom is one of the best defensemen in the league. Just ask the other defensemen. He is still an elite defenseman because of how he plays the game and positions himself. He also is smarter than 95 percent of every other NHL player.

Your comments about Holmstrom are typical for ‘media’ types (not sure you classify as that). A player’s value is not solely measured by numbers. Lidstrom is a classic example. It’s the intangible, subtle things that the vast majority of people (mostly media idiots) don’t see and don’t know about that make a player valuable to his team.

As for your free agents who ‘matter’, I will leave it up to the experts (read: coaches and scouts, certainly not speculative/guessing media types) to determine what Detroit needs and who fits into the Wings’ system. If it is Suter and Parise, so be it.

Your 10 minutes of 4 on 4 overtime idea misses the mark. If 1 point is awarded to both teams when they make it to the shootout and 0 points if for an overtime loss, then it's obviously going to lead to more shootouts because each team is going to play conservative in overtime to make sure they gain 1 point. That is the whole point of giving the teams 1 point for making it to overtime, so they can take more offensive risks because they have nothing to lose after already securing the 1 point. Secondly, have you ever seen a 3 on 3 in overtime? There is a tremendous amount of scoring chances and it actually involves the whole team working together, not a bonifide skills competition to decide the outcome. Ken Holland is a smart guy in case some people haven't notice, you guys should listen up!

Just wanted to say, thanks for your response and expect to hear from some of the "Whining Irish!"

Dude, I just read your article about Notre Dame needing to join a conference or running the danger of becoming irrelevant. I was going to respond on the article but it has been so long, I wanted to make sure that you got my take. You hit the nail right on top of the head and the ND Dame fans don't have a clue. I am an Arkansas fan and always pulled for Coach Holtz but their fans made that impossible while he was there and after reading their responses to your article, I see nothing has changed. I love the guy who makes a point of telling someone that wears a Tigers cap in a profile pic, that OSU's National Championship was won on a BS call. I hope he doesn't read this and start leaving me dirty messages about Texas, that would break my heart!

The reason they have the NBC contract is that Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC sports, is an alum. You are right in saying that they aren't going to get anywhere close to the compensation they have now, which is already below the rates earned by schools in BCS conferences. Why do they think being a member of a conference will hurt their recruiting. If you were a recruit or family of one which of the following sounds more exciting?

1) If you come to my school, you are going to play against Alabama, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Texas A&M in Jerry's World every year. Then in rotation you will play against teams like Florida, Geogia, and Tennessee. If you are good enough, you play in one of the biggest games of the year in the Georgia Dome and if you win that, you are going to play in the BCS Championship. If you come in 2nd, you'll have to settle for the Sugar Bowl. things are going to be cramped for a year because we just broke ground on a new $28,000,000 football facility (locker rooms, players lounge, nutrition center, coaches offices and player's tutor center).

2) If you come to Southbend you can be part of our tradition. A tradition including a movie that starred a future president as a young player, Ronald Reagan, you know the guy they held al those "would have been 100y/o if he was still alive" parties for last summer. There are two words that really define ND football, think "rockum sockum". I hate to brag but you do know Regis Philbin is a fan! Another tradition we have, we are the only regular school that plays not 1 but 2 service acadamies each year, that is what makes our strength of schedule so high. You want to see competition, I have some game film of Roger Staubach that we can watch later. Do you have a projector?

Seriously, the only way ND is ever going to join a conference is if the USCG and Merchant Marine acadamies started football programs and joined Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Citadel to form a league where if ND finishes with a winning record or if their fans vote that they played really, really, hard, they get an automatic spot in the BCS Championship game. These are people who said you were crazy for suggesting they join a conference where they weren't the best team. They honestly think that because they were good when "talkies" came out, they should be afforded special status. It's like Sears calling Wal-Mart, "Meanies!"

Don't these people ever question that if their FB team is so good, why did he return to S. Carolina and not South Bend when he returned to coaching?

Thanks and You rock,
Jeff

Hey, would you be able to send your e mail to klangan@omnipossible.com? I want to get the B/R community leaders on a mailing list for a press release on behalf of Sports Media 101.

Thanks