BTJ now on Twitter
With extra time on my hands, it’s my annual BTJ review. What has worked in the past year? What could be improved? What blog adjustments can be made? While mulling over those questions, I decided to finally join Twitter and start tweeting. You can find me under the username of BehindtheJersey so please feel free to find me and say hi. If you have a Twitter account, please let me know and I’d love to follow you! I’m obviously new to Twitter so it may take awhile for me to catch on, but I’m going to try. I will be tweeting about a variety of topics from the Red Wings to other sports news to what’s going on with me.
If you have any suggestions for ways that BTJ can improve over the next two weeks before I head back to school (outside of posting more because I already know that), please let me know. I always appreciate constructive criticism.
8/14 Quick Links
This is my least favorite time of the NHL offseason. A majority of the Wings moves have been made and the remaining ones tend to come closer to training camp, which is still just under a month away. The football season is gearing up so more media coverage tends to go in that direction. Not to mention the 2008 Beijing Olympics drawing the media’s attention right now. It has now been over two months since a game.
I spent the past 10 weeks as a PR intern for an agency in downtown Chicago, which was fantastic, but I didn’t spend the summer working at the Joe so I haven’t been at the arena for work since June 9th. After a long and wonderful season working there, it feels like I’ve been gone for forever. And now I’m finally back home and was eagerly looking forward to returning to the Joe for another great season, but I had a minor knee dislocation last week, sprained my LCL, and may have torn my lateral meniscus so I’m on “bedrest” for the next two weeks and sadly must delay my return to the rink until I heal up. I’m getting antsy and just can’t wait for hockey to return.
Despite this time of the season, there still is some relevant Wings coverage out there so I’m going to touch on these items (including some items I missed over the past couple of weeks).
Aaron Downey close to signing with Wings
According to a report in the Detroit Free Press (hat tip to Kukla’s Korner), Aaron Downey is close to re-signing with the Detroit Red Wings. It is a two-way contract (as GM Ken Holland said it would be earlier this summer) for this upcoming season. He would make $100,000 with the Griffins and $575,000 with the Wings.
The NHL Players Association web site no longer lists Downey as unsigned. The web site lists Downey as a Wing with compensation of $575,000 for the 2008-08 season.
I spoke to Red Wings assistant general manager Jim Nill shortly before noon and he said “we’re very close” to signing Downey to a one-year, two-way contract.
I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ll say this again. Yzerman is my favorite all-time player. Kronwall is my favorite current player. Downey is my favorite player to talk to (and the easiest to talk to). He is a great guy - down to earth and fun to talk to. His attitude was a great fit for the locker room and I’m happy to see him returning for another season even if he is in GR for a lot of the time.
Wings forward lines?
Dave @ Gorilla Crouch has his take on possible lines that Mike Babcock will use this upcoming season. You can read his blog post to view his reasoning, but these are the two top lines he envisions on the ice this year.
Filppula-Datsyuk-Hossa
Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary
I find it hard not to get giddy thinking of the impact Marian Hossa will have on the roster. And how sweet do our top two lines look?
NHL Division Rankings
Adam Proteau at The Hockey News ranks the six NHL divisions and the Central Division comes in at number four.
4. Central. I know, I know, the presence of the Red Wings alone makes the Central a division to reckon with. The burgeoning Blackhawks and never-say-die Predators also help in that regard – and the fact that more than half of Detroit’s regular season losses came at the hands of teams in their division is a fact that’s nothing to sneeze at, either.
The Blue Jackets and Blues are playoff dark horses, but even then, both of those franchises have a handful of young talent to build around. In sum, there could be many more Cups bound for the Central Division and not just to Michigan. Just not for a couple more years.
Spector’s season prediction: Wings win back-to-back title
Spector predicts that the Wings will take home the silver trophy for a second straight season. It will certainly be a challenging season and injuries play a huge role in the success of a team so I wouldn’t say the Wings have got it in the bag, but I do like their chances for a repeat should the key players stay healthy come playoff time. Outside of injuries, the biggest challenge the Wings will face is the loss of Todd McLellan, __, and Scotty Bowman. Bowman’s absence will hurt the most, especially since he left for a division rival.
The defending champion Detroit Red Wings will likely be the consensus pick to become the first club since the 1998 Red Wings to repeat, although that was a considerably different version from the club that won it all this year.
Most experts will point to the Wings keeping their Cup-winning roster practically intact while adding more offensive punch in winger Marian Hossa as the reason they’ll win it in 2009. Some might even be tempted to suggest the Wings could become the first team in over a quarter century to win three consecutive Cups.
Recent winners Anaheim, Carolina and Tampa Bay lost too many key players to free agency, leaving their respective front offices scrambling for affordable replacements that ultimately proved ineffective in bolstering a return to the Final.
Wings sign McCrimmon and McKittrick to staff
The Wings filled out their coaching staff with the signings of Brad McCrimmon and Keith McKittrick. For more details, you can check out my blog post at Winging It In Motown. In keeping with tradition, both of these guys have the “Mc” prefix in their last name. It has done well for the team in the past so I don’t mind continuing this trend.
Enjoying the 2008 Beijing Olympics
After an incredibly busy and stressful week preparing for the intern presentation (in front of a client, our bosses, and a fourth of the office) on Friday and then moving from Chicago back home on Sunday, I am finally back in Michigan with a lot more free time on my hands. Fortunately, this nicely coincides with the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I love ice hockey in the Winter Olympics, but I certainly enjoy the Summer Olympics so much more because I get to watch sports that are typically harder to find on TV (beach volleyball, swimming, track & field, and gymnastics). So far, I have thoroughly enjoyed my Olympic viewing.
On Friday evening, I caught the very end of the delayed showing of the Opening Ceremony as I saw the lighting of the Olympic flame. It was just impressive. While earlier parts of the ceremony certainly had a more militaristic feel, the sheer number of participants kicking or dancing in perfect harmony just blew my mind. Then, Li Ning was lifted into the air by thin cables and then ran along the rim of the Bird’s Nest.
Then, as the cables slowly guided him around the inner rim of the roof, as if he were running, a digital scroll unfurled behind him with images of some of the thousands of other torch bearers who had carried the flame during its journey around the world this spring. The mesmerizing sight culminated with Mr. Li igniting a giant torch affixed to the roof.
As the flame was lit, fireworks went off surrounding the stadium and I was just blown away by the aesthetics of the ceremony finale. The 2008 Olympics started off in spectacular fashion, but the games have certainly lived up to their expectations.
Before I accepted my internship in Chicago, I was unofficially going to be the media relations intern for the US Swimming team this summer. I decided to go a different path, but I’ve been closely watching the swimming events and last night’s 4×100m men’s relay was truly spectacular.
Earlier yesterday, French swimmer Alain Bernard told the sports newspaper L’Equipe, “We’re going to smash them. That’s what we came for.” Michael Phelps, who spent the past four years in Ann Arbor (Go Blue!), likes to use those type of quotes as a motivational fuel. In the Olympics, you obviously want to see your country win. When you hear the French make a comment like that, you want your team to win even more.
After three of the four legs of the relay had gone, 32 year-old Jason Lezak dove into the water behind Bernard, who was swimming the last leg for the French team. Swimming off of Bernard’s drag, Lezak was able to catch up with the Frenchman and then in an impressive finish, he actually out touched Bernard. It was certainly the most amazing Olympic moment thus far. Lezak, the oldest member of the US men’s swim team, swam an incredible 46.06 second split - the fastest split time ever for the 4×100m relay. The U.S. team broke the world record by almost four seconds. In fact, the top five teams in the relay beat the previous world record which truly emphasizes how fast these teams were swimming.
Michael Phelps race for eight gold medals is certainly helping NBC rake in the big ratings according to the NY Times.
NBC’s prime-time broadcast of the Summer Olympics on Sunday night from Beijing attracted an average of 31.7 million viewers, 5.9 million more than the viewership for the same night four years ago in Athens. Over three nights, NBC is averaging 30.4 million viewers, 6.4 million more than in Athens for the comparable period of time.
NBC’s viewership peaked at 38.4 million from 9:30 to 10 p.m. eastern on a night that featured the U.S. men’s 4×100 freestyle relay team’s come-from-behind victory, which gave Michael Phelps his second gold medal, and women’s gymnastics.
The image of Phelps’ pure joy after Lezak’s blistering split is going to stay with me for a long time. To me, that’s what I love about the Olympics.
Source: LA Times
Have Questions for Alex Delvecchio?
Do you have a question that you’d love to ask Wings great Alex Delvecchio?
Ace, the blogger behind The Ace of Sports, will be interviewing Mr. Delvecchio next Monday and is looking for additional questions from interested readers.
If you have a question, be sure to stop by his blog and send him an email.