Hudler is gone

Jiri Hudler has informed the Red Wings that he will be playing in Russia next season than with the wings. I am kinda speechless right now. I don't know how to feel or what to say. I'm a bit surprised by the move, but I understand that the wings were never going to be able to offer him the kind of money that the Russia leagues offer. I know someone who went over there to play in the league. He got injured before he even stepped out on the ice and was still guaranteed $100,000. He took that money, came back to the states and retired!

I guess the good news is that Abdelkader now has the opportunity to "bring it" next year and get a chance with the team from the get go! He's going to keep learning and improving so I like that.

Ken Holland says the wings have a little over $1.5 million to pick up a free agent winger. He says he's not rushing into any decisions though.

Jiri, I'll miss you! I'd rather you stayed here and played! I know you're not the biggest guy on the ice, but you've got so much heart and such an ability to push guys around and make great shots on net! You're an asset to our team! All the best!--Melissa

More Trades, Winners/Losers

So the core that once was my beloved Detroit Pistons is no longer. I know we lost Ben Wallace, not gonna lie, it was a great idea not to resign him for that much money, a few years ago, and then we traded away our Mr. Big Shot this year to get AI--I understand the money behind it, but for AI? A) He's past his prime, B) He's not a team player, C) Wasn't he the guy who strangled a coach or was that Latrell Sprewell--nevermind, if a guy played for the Philedelphia 76ers at any point in his career he's not someone I want on my team! But now Rasheed is gone. I understand why he's gone, he's old! But this just makes me feel old now that my team is practically gone! All we have left are Tayshaun Prince and Rip Hamilton. Not that I'm complaining, because they are my two favorites. I have both of their jerseys! But come on! I hope Dumars can turn this around. I may actually have to start watching basketball again!

The Wimbledon final: I can hear Justin Timberlake singing in the background "That's why I love sports!" I'm cleaning my room and yelling at my Mom "It's 7-7 in the 5th set! It's 10-1- in the 5th set. It's 12-12 in the 5th set!" The amount of passion and ability both these players have and showed yesterday was unbelievable. You would have never known without looking at the score that they had been playing for several hours! They both looked to be in incredible shape, Andy especially! I don't know what he is doing differently, but the kid has lost a bit of weight and his stamina and mental game have improved drastically. I've never seen him play better! Good for him! Federer, congrats on beating Sampras. You've earned it. I totally cracked up when Andy said, "Sorry, Pete! I was trying to hold him off," in his post match interview! I believe I heard that this match was the longest 5th set in grand slam history! The intensity never left the court! I fully believe that if it wasn't for a few minor errors, they could have continued this set well into the night!

Tiger Wigs Again--Applause! The greatest there is & ever was has found his groove again. Watch out Turnberry, you're about to be Tigerized!

Steve McNair was murdered: Besides this being absolutely horrible, I think Holly Robinson Peete had a great point when she asked, "Will this put and end to the affairs professional athletes have?" His wife didn't know he was cheating on her. Now she's not only lost her husband, but she's been embarrassed by his actions. Way to be a man, Steve. If you're gonna cheat on your spouse, have the decency to get divorced or separate or something! Be a real man (or woman--Mel the sports nut is not biased!) instead of chicken butt! It's not fair to her to lose the one she loves in such a horrible fashion, but to top it off knowing that he was killed while cheating on her is the icing on the cake! Professional athletes need to quit being the selfish sons of a guns that they are (I will admit that not all of them are! I know some very nice professional athletes in various sports (hockey, football, golf)) and be ethical, moral, and outstanding citizens and roles models!--I think I just fell off my soapbox because that's never going to happen! The great work of many is overshadowed by the poor work of a few! God Bless him, his family and friends and especially his wife!



And we return to Hockey!! Havlat is now a member of the Wild. Mikael Samuelsson has joined the Canucks organization (tear). The wings are currently looking for a forward whom they can sign. Generally they wait until late in the summer and pick up a great free agent. This has happened several times in years past and I have full faith in Ken Holland.

Attention Blackhawk and Red Wings Fans

It's official--Marian Hossa has signed a 12 year deal with the Chicago Blackhawks. That's right...the Hossa curse has left Detroit and now resides in...Chicago!!

I guess this means Martin Havlat will not be returning to the Blackhawks next year.

More later on the developing story and what this means for both the hawks and wings organizations! I've got a 3:30 tee time I must see to right now!

Update:We got rained out. After 9 holes, my team is down by 2 in a best ball team matchplay with handicap tournament. I don't get any strokes though. I also didn't play very well so I'm kinda happy we stopped because of the weather, but at the same time I was building momentum!

Back to the trades...Here's a breakdown so far:
Hossa to the Hawks
Cammalleri to the Habs
Komisarek to the Leafs
Gill to the Habs
Pronger to the Flyers
Knuble (met him! great guy, really nice, kind of a dork) to the Capitals
Conklin to the Blues
Walker to the Lightning

What exactly do I think about the Hossa trade--Honestly, I didn't see how he would end up staying in Detroit. The Wings weren't willing to give him a huge contract (he knew this going into talks) but for very good reason. The guy did not perform in the playoffs. Sure he was the leading scorer on the team during the regular season, but when the Wings needed him the most, he wasn't around. Our young guys stepped it up and really overshadowed Hossa. I'm not sorry to see him leave. I'm happy the wings didn't up their offer!

What I think of the Hawks: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND? Whoa...glad to get that off my chest! I'd been holding that one in. You do realize that you have to resign Jonathan Toews (YOUR CAPTAIN), Patrick Kane (YOUR SUPERSTAR), and Duncan Keith (THE BACKBONE OF YOUR DEFENSE) next year. From what I've read, Tallon has left about $15 million in the budget to sign these 3 PREMIER players next year. If Hossa is getting paid more than $5 mill a year, I think each one of these guys deserves to get paid at least that much as well! All three are playmakers! The Hawks would NOT have gotten as far in the playoffs as they did without the help of Duncan Keith. Him and Brent Seabrook owned the ice this past spring! They have my vote for favorite defensive duo--that's right, they have my vote over my beloved wings defenders! That's how impressed I am with the two of these guys! I know Tallon is a smart guy, but I can't see how locking up a player like Hossa, who HASN'T proved himself when it gets down to the end, for 12 years and jeopordize the core for your team makes any sense what-so-ever! But then again, I'm a business and math teacher...what do I know about hockey or running a team?? I will leave that to the men in charge, but will someone please explain it to me! I'm smart, I swear! I graduated with departmental honors! But my business background and my knowledge or sports is not coming up with a solid answer as to why this deal was made!

Side note--I MISS HOCKEY!!!! AND I MISS FOOTBALL BUT IT'S NEARLY FOOTBALL SEASON! :)

Komisarek and Cammalleri--I loved the dynamic duo of the Mikes when they played for Michigan. Now Mike K is gonna be a Leaf--good for him. It was obvious he wanted OUT of the Habs organization. Mike C. has left the Flames and is moving to the Habs. I would have loved to have seen these guys reunited, not gonna lie! But I guess that's just not in the cards right now!

What I am mad about??--Conklin has left Detroit which means the Wings are going to give Jimmy Howard a chance to backup Chris Osgood. I'm banging my head against the wall. There is no way this can work out for the best! Why? HE JUST DOESN'T HAVE THAT "IT" THING!! We need a 2nd string goalie or a guy to continue to push Osgood...this kid isn't going to do that! He's going to learn from Osgood, but I honestly can't see him winning us a Stanley Cup! I can't even see him getting us to the playoffs! Kenny Holland...what do you see that I don't see! Please enlighten me!

Hopefully I'll get another update in tonight or tomorrow depending on what else happens with free agency. Have a great night!

Recapping the Weekend in Sports

In case you were away from the wide world of sports this weekend, Lucas Glover won the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. And he was dry all of Monday! I don't think I've ever seen so much rain or seen greens that were as badly damaged as the ones at Bethpage Black. I'm shocked the ball rolled as true as it did becuase when the tv guys zoomed in, they were rolling and bumping all over the place!

Who did I end up rooting for? Well Adam Scott did well! I was excited to see that! I didn't hear about any blowup holes so that can go in the win column. I was really rooting for David Duval though. I've always been a fan. I called him Popeye when I was younger because I always though his forearms were as big as Popeyes! He's definitly aged over the past 10 years, but golf can do that to you! Getting married and having kids helps as well! I was excited to see him up on the leaderboard and performing to the level he is capable of! He's worked so hard to get back there!

I totally got goosebumps yesterday when Phil eagled to become a coleader! Then he bogeyed 2 of the last 4 holes. I would say typical Phil, but I didn't see him play any of the holes so I really can't judge how he played! I hope the next few weeks go well for him and his family!

Here's a video of a few PGA players showing off their New York Accents!!


Hockey News: Inductees to the Hall of Fame will be announced this week. Top of the list would be my all time favorite player EVER--my Captian, Steve Yzerman!! ::cheers::cheers::

As far as the NHL Awards go, I was totally bored throughout the broadcast. I laughed the most when AO, Geno, and Datsyuk were somehow involved with the festivities. I had tears in my eyes as I watch Vladdy and Igor presenting an award. It was truly nice of the NHL to include them!

I miss hockey!

Now it's time for football season or at least getting ready for football season! I'm trying to figure out what kind of a team Michigan is going to have this fall. I'm also hoping for an Eastern victory when they play at Michigan! I'm sure it will be demoralizing for U-M, but it would do more good for the EMU program who now has Michigan's former Defensive Coordinator as their coach! Remember Ron English? From what I've heard through some former players, he's already turned the defense around! They are faster and stronger! Watch out U-M! They've kicked us around for years...it's time for us to give them the boot! At least once!!

I bleed maize and blue. How is it possible that I am speaking like this? I guess my University got to me a little more than I ever thought it would have! Boy if Coach could see me now! She hated that I was a Michigan fan and playing golf at a different school! Last year I rooted for EMU when they played Michigan! I got booed by the people who have sat around me for the past 24 years of my life! Actually, that's a lie. My Dad has had the tickets for 30 years and none of the origanal ticket holders that surround us are the same! We're the only ones left!

Plans for this week: play golf and go to Karen's wedding! The Cubs are in town playing the Tigers! They never play one another so maybe I'll take in an inning on tv...yeah, right! Me watch baseball? Are you kidding? I probably will though, only becuase it's a monumental occasion!

A video for the day: Max Talbot with a baby.....what??? It's not his, but it's cute to see his interactions wtih the baby!! :)

Even Sid says in the video, "This is gonna be on facebook!" Well Sid, I never saw this on facebook, but I did see on my blogspot because here it is! lovelovelove!

The U.S. Open

Hockey is over. Football will be starting here in a few weeks or so...but right now I'm all about the golf! Finally, a sport I can talk about where I have true experience! The U.S. Open started this morning at Bethpage Black in New York. They are currently under a rain delay. I feel a bit bad for them considering it's the rain we had been getting for the past few days--showers aren't much fun when you're playing in a major! There's already enough other mental and physical challenges of a major...being wet and frustrated doesn't make it any easier. It just seperates the men from the boys and the guys who get it done on the course this week will be rewarded with lots of cash, a place in history, and even one of them will be called a U.S. Open Champion.

So, who are my picks?

This is a really good question. I'll be honest. I haven't paid that much attention to golf since the Masters in April. This is highly unusual, but my favorite golfers haven't been playing that much or playing so poorly that they haven't been making the cut. Adam Scott...are you listening? I know you're going through a swing change (I loved your swing before!) and you've got your hand in 10 or 15 pots outside of golf (which is good and bad at the same time), but this is the time of your life to make an impact on the game. What happened? Do we need a fun round of golf with you, me, and Clunesy? You name the time and place and I will be there! But Chris better be there too because he's freaking awesome! So needless to say, I do not have Adam on my list of picks for this week. He's been struggling with keeping the ball in the fairway. Add on the fact that he's got to play U.S. Open rough that is soaking wet from all the rain and I can only see disaster. Sorry, Adam. I love you, but I'm honest! Maybe take Chris back out on tour with you!! Or maybe you're doing all of this, and I just don't know about it! Just don't forget how much you love the game! It will turn around soon...it has to!! You've that "it" thing they talk about!!

Yes, that does say "To Melissa, Best Wishes, Adam Scott!"


Here's me and Clunesy watching Adam practice.

Who is on my radar for this week: Geoff Ogilvy, Jim Furyk, Henrik Stenson, Tiger (duh!), and not Phil Mickelson. I know New York loves him and he always seems to play well there, but I'm just not feeling it this weekend. He says he's hitting the ball well, but if you don't shoot well, it doesn't much matter how great you're hitting the ball! At the end of the day it doesn't matter how you get the ball in the hole, it only matters if you take the least amount of strokes to get it there! I think winning would be great for him and his family in their time of great need. My prayers are with him, Amy, and his family. But I'm still not feeling a victory come Sunday. Sorry, Phil.

Ogilvy won the match play tournament earlier in the year. He's a great ball striker, but he's kind of disappeared since the win. I feel like he's ready for a breakout. Jim just always seems to be in the game somewhere. He may not win, but he'll be a top 10 finisher. Stenson, he's European. He can play in this weather and not be bothered. I also think he has one of the best games in the game today! Tiger is Tiger. You never count him out.

With the way the course is set up and the weather playing a part, this tournament as my coworker describes it is really a "crap shoot". It's anyone's game. Watching Tiger hit the splash shots he did this morning leads me to believe that it is impossible to hit the ball with any sort of accuracy. There's no spin on the ball to control it. These guys are going to be lucky just to get the ball on the green and have it stay there! Good luck to them!

It's times like this when I don't miss playing golf in the pouring rain because we have a 3 hour practice, or 9 am practices in January when we're outside hitting golf balls into snowbanks, or playing tournaments when it's snowing!! It's so much more fun just to play when you want to and not be forced to play in nasty conditions! But I'll tell you what, those were some of the best days and years of my life! I wouldn't have done it any differently except to have played golf more for myself instead of trying to prove to my coach I could do it.

Hockey Season is Over

So, my loyal readers (haha), hockey season is now officially over. What am I to do? It took me about 5 seconds to realize that if hockey is over, my evenings are free, which means that I can play a whole lot more golf than I was playing because I was watching hockey instead!

So Friday before the game, Ashley and I went and played a quick 9 holes. I shot 39...it was a so so round. Could have easily been a 37, but I have to go and make things difficult!





These photos are from the 4th hole. Ashley and I both birdied it. It's a long par 5 over water. Ashley was on in 2--big hitter, Ashley (hahaha, Caddyshack!)--and I was 5 ft after 3 shots! That's how we roll...!

So what else do I have planned this summer? Well, come Wednesday, I will be done with graduate school for the summer! I'm very excited about that. I have another wedding to attend next week. I'll be going up north a few times and I have my family reunion to go to.

As far as sports go, I should probably take in a Tigers game even though I'm not much of a baseball fan. I'm starting to get excited for the college football season! The U.S. Open is next week so that should be fun to watch. And my friend Scott is coming into town this weekend and we're having a golf match...winner take all! I think we're having a golf cart race too! We'll see! I'm excited to see him!

Besides that and the occasional dinner with friends, my life has really come to a standstill. That's highly depressing. I do love summer in Michigan though. I love living on a golf course! Good luck to my future husband, you've got a lot of work ahead of you hunny!! xoxo

Congrats Penguins

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I am not a biased sports nut! I was rooting for the red wings tonight. I wanted to see the pens win a cup, but not tonight. In the next 5 years though. They played an excellent game tonight. MAF was absolutely phenomenal in goal. Major props to him! No clue how he stopped most of those pucks!

I have no freaking clue who those guys in red were tonight. I haven't seen them since the wings lost 6 straight or something. They were chasing pucks and had no idea what puck posession means. They need a lesson from Gordon Bombay or something because trapping a puck (if that's what it's called in hockey because I've never played before) is like trapping an egg! The wings couldn't do that tonight. The puck was jumping over sticks and flying in funny directions and Boom...they got outplayed!

Everyone was wondering why I was so worried all day--THIS IS WHY I WAS WORRIED!!! Was I the only wings fan who knew how good the penguins are?? Dude...people need to seriously start listening to me. This could be the 3 miller lites talking, but just because I'm a chick and a short chick at that doesn't mean I don't know anything about sports!

I am a firm believer that the pens would NOT have gotten this far this year without making the move to promote Dan Bylsma as coach. I don't think Theirren had the right strategy with these players. I also think that Ray Shero did well when he picked up Kunitz and Guerin. Sidney needed another guy to lean on and gain experience with and Billy was that guy!

If people are going to go on and on about Hossa I'm seriously going to be more upset than I am right now. THE TEAM HOSSA LEFT LAST YEAR IS NOT THE TEAM THAT WON TONIGHT!! SO GET OVER THAT ARGUEMENT! THEY WERE BETTER OFF WITHOUT HIM ANYWAY!

I need to go to bed though. Big day tomorrow. And I need to sleep off this drink intake. One beer and I'm tipsy. Two beers and I'm buzzed...but 3 beers means trouble! That's what you get for being a 24 year old lightweight...at 5'2'' and 110 lbs! I got nothing to keep the beer in check!

Again congrats to the penguins! They deserved it! Detroit didn't even bother to show up!