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The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup. the red wings did not tank. They just suck and have for over half a decade. There’s a difference between sucking at hockey and tanking.I dont disagree that they have sucked for a while. And the beginning of their downfall was poor drafting, other teams improving their International scouting and a GM who gave out bad contracts out of loyalty. But when Yzerman took over it was an intentional suck....tank. They have had all kinds of cap space and could have easily had a half way decent team. Probably a similar situation that the Cubs were in when Epstein took over.

The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup. Which is exactly where the Blackhawks were when the new GM took over. I would agree. Though I think the Hawks pulled the trigger on Bowman before the Wings made Holland uncomfortable enough to go somewhere else

I can’t think of another big market team that has done what the Blackhawks did this year, in terms of blatant over the top tanking. I think teams have unintentionally became really bad. Then you have the Bears pulling the almost unheard of move of a new guy bringing in absolutely nothing in his first year, and sabotaging a first round QB with zero help. The Cubs pulled off their 2nd tank in less than a decade and blamed it on the pandemic their owners political party claimed wasn’t real. It’s all rather disgusting. When NY teams perform this poorly, heads roll. But Chicago applauds it. And all the teams are doing it together. The 76'ers did it very famously. The Red Wings are a large market hockey team that has embraced tanking since Yzerman has taken over. He had a head start because the previous GM tried to keep the Wings a playoff team several years after they clearly had no way of winning the Cup.

Would you trade Michigan’s end game collapses for Illinois’ seeming need to be punched in the face (almost literally) before they wake up and realize that there’s a game going on? They turned the ball over in their first 4 possessions and allowed Purdue to score in their first 5 to go down 11 points three minutes into the game, had to play catch up the rest of the way and end up losing by 5. I’m looking around the Internet to find Illinois’ first half vs second half point differentials. It’s got to be substantial. Well Illinois is going to the NCAA tournament and because of the last 2 painful OT losses Michigan almost certainly isnt, so yes. But I have noticed that a ton from Illinois. Gotta be frustrating. Michigan's issue was not the last 2 games....it was what they did before February.

A small bright spot in a channel filled with nothing but bad Dempster impersonations and Ricketts loving company men. what is going to prevent Dex from being a Ricketts loving company man?

The last time I was this gutted about a sporting event was the 2003 NLCS. This is really bad. Ouch. Sadly I think if Michigan would have just played straight up defense in the 2nd half they would have won. Taking big risks killed them.

It’s hilarious that this is a real possibility for a not quite yet 37 year old. Madden was about 40 when he retired, if I remember correctly.

Not college, but wasn't Sean Payton OC at Illinois?

Are the Mets going to pay out more in Luxury Tax than the Cubs pay in actual payroll?

I think this is it, unless only Georgia losses. Then Michigan would go to 1 and OSU would jump TCU

What do you have against boat rowers?

I fully expect TCU or USC or both to lose. But I would love it if Alabama, OSU and Clemson were not going to the playoff.

In-state normally comes first. Purdue-Indiana, that's the rivalry. One thing I always found amusing when I was at OSU was how much they horsefeathering hate Michigan. I mean hate. Well, they hate everyone who isn't OSU, but the hate for Michigan is on another level. In Ann Arbor, they recognize OSU as their biggest challenge, but the stronger dislike is for MSU. However, similar to ND in Ann Arbor they generally consider themselves above everyone all the time about everything. Some not jokingly, compare UM to Harvard and MIT. They sell t-shirts that say; Harvard, Michigan of the East. I've never seen a worse college atmosphere than Columbus in terms of perspective on what college sports are. I live in Alabama and there are definitely some nutters at Auburn and in Tuscolusa, but it is nothing compared to Columbus. Interesting take RE: Michigan. I definitely agree that Michigan fans are very pompous. More talking about the perspective of rivalry. I agree that OSU fans have this unhealthy hatred of everything Michigan but I haven’t met very many Michigan people that say they dislike MSU more. They do dislike MSU especially in basketball but they loathe OSU. I grew up in Michigan and am a MSU fan because of Michigans superiority complex. But I always had the feeling that MSU took the rivalry with Michigan way more serious than Michigan fans did. No doubt they were more interested in hating OSU

Reminds me of when the B1G first went to divisions and Iowa/Purdue was the protected rivalry game and everyone on both sides was confused. Closest team in your division...somewhat similar competitive levels. Where I live it is almost as close to Purdue as it is to Champaign and there is a fair amount of Purdue fans around. I think Purdue's style of "play" in the game this year against Illinois is going to create some resentment if it continues in the future

I was pretty meh about the top 9. LSU being 10 speaks volumes