Tabe

They decided to emulates the Lions scheme.

It is truly bizarro world when guys with a 102 ERA+ last year, that have never thrown 200 innings, will be 30 the first month of the first year, of the contract, that give up a lot of hits...get $24m a year.

LOL. Ron, you won a division title at 7-8-1. That's like being proud of being NFC East champ this year.

Agreed. He never quite got "there" as a passer - 6 times under 60% completions - but he was a unique force and was really great the year Carolina went 15-1. But he was also a little inconsistent and came into the league a little tainted because of the Auburn scandal, which seems to have colored perception of him forever. Shying away from the fumble in the Super Bowl did him no favors. But...he still WAS that unique force and went shamefully unprotected by the league, leaving him vulnerable to injury. TL;DR - I dunno what his legacy will be, LOL.

Because his teams were super-inconsistent. 15-1 one year but under .500 all the rest of his years combined. Never had back-to-back non-losing seasons. Seemed to be the king of the "finish just strong enough to not get fired" team. At least that's my guesses.

If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Being skeptical of a trash bag like Chelios, who has a personal grudge against the person in question, is hardly out of line.

Let's just say I'm doubtful he's being 100% honest. I thought he was trash before he was in Detroit and hated that the Wings acquired him. He's never struck me as a particularly honest person. He once threatened Gary Bettman's life publicly. And he's well-known for having a grudge against Babcock because Babs stopped playing him when he could no longer get it done. So, yeah, color me skeptical. Do I think Babcock was hard on Franzen? Sure. The Mule was lazy and would disappear for weeks at a time. So I think that caused a nervous breakdown? No. Do I think Lidstrom would ignore such an incident if it actually happened? No.

Chris Chelios - not a guy I'd consider particularly reliable - is now saying that Mike Babcock berated Johan Franzen into a legit nervous breakdown during a playoff series.

Maris was constantly injured after 1961. Even in 1962, he played hurt all the time.

Supposedly, he was in Vegas with friends. They went into a casino and he bet on some games thinking it was OK since he was on IR. Note: No, I don't believe that is the full story.

Yeah, hence the quote marks. What a joke that Carolina let him keep his job.

Incidentally, Rod Brind'amour confirmed that the incident where Bill Peters kicked a player in the back (while on the bench) did actually occur. Supposedly it was "addressed" immediately.

Andruw Jones is a no-brainer. He was off the charts defensively and could hit a little bit. Helton, on the other hand, is a no. Outside of Coors, he hit .287 and averaged 20 homers every 162. No, just no.

That's a play where I would LOVE to sit down with the officiating crew and get them to explain the lack of a call. All four of them should be suspended for not calling a penalty there. Good grief.

If you haven't watched it, find the Mickey Redmond Roast on behalf of the Jamie Daniels Foundation. The Toronto radio announcer is one of the roasters and spends his time ragging on Babcock. The best line is that people can stay for autographs from Babcock because he'll stay as long as it takes to make sure Henrik Zetterberg leaves first (they had a big feud).