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Abel to Yzerman

Michigan Sports Blog of the Week: Out of Bounds

by IwoCPO on 07/21/07 at 11:25 AM ET
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Last year we decided to pass the uneventful days that made up much of the Summer of Ken with a few new features.  One was highlighting a Michigan sports blog every week that wasn’t necessarily hockey-specific.  One of the early sites we focused on was Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb?  Greg Eno, one of Michigan’s true sports historians and that blog’s creator, has another one we’ll look at today. 

Out of Bounds touches on all Detroit sports and quite a few other issues on a national scale.  If you look at his front page today you’ll see posts on Hank Aaron, a great story about Charlie Gehringer and garbage Matt Millen, little Joey Harrington and how he might benefit from scumbag Michael Vick’s disgusting but not surprising antics and this one about Ted Nolan’s recent classy move on behalf of Al Arbour.

There’s a large plastic board near the Islanders’ dressing room that lists team and individual accomplishments.

“Every day it would kill me when I’d see Coach Arbour made it to 1,499 games,” Nolan said in a statement.

So what did Nolan, today’s Islanders coach, do for Arbour, yesterday’s Islanders coach and among the greatest coaches in NHL history?

He pitched an idea to the club, and with league approval, it’s going to come to fruition.

On November 3, a home game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Arbour—after signing a one-day contract—will coach the Islanders for the 1,500th time.

“This is an incredible gesture by Ted and the Islanders,” the Hall of Famer Arbour said in the same statement released by the team that included Nolan’s remarks. “I am flattered that Ted thought of me and I wouldn’t miss this night for the world.”

Eno’s a history guy, a writer who believes each sport has a heritage of its own; and he does a great job of introducing fans to the traditions and history each of our pro teams has to offer.  But he also has an admirable sarcastic side.  Most times he combines the two and the results are typically brilliant.

It’s all up to conjecture—Red Wings GM Ken Holland’s self-designated “mulligan”, his do-over he’d like to have, if only such things were possible.

He made reference to the mulligan when I interviewed him over a year ago. The question was simple, posed to the former goaltender Holland.

If you could “have one back,” like a goalie would after a bad goal, what would it be, in your general manager career?

He paused briefly before answering—sort of.

“Well, there are a lot of things,” Holland began. “But there’s one mulligan I’d like to do over.”

OK—was it a trade or a free agent signing?

“I’ll just leave it at that.”

Care to guess? I have my own ideas on that.  Click here to read Eno’s. 

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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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