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What The Faux? “Objective” Search Engine Gives It Up For Our Uncle Mike
by IwoCPO on 12/01/09 at 07:02 PM ET
Comments (54)
I was conflicted. But in the end, my completely heterosexual man-love for Uncle Mike Babcock won out. The guy’s become deservedly bigger than life around here. So it could have been Dwayne Keith Klessel naming him coach of the decade and I’d still be pushing you to the verbiage.
Taking over the Red Wings in 2005-06, Babcock has watched his Detroit teams amass four straight 50-win, 100-point seasons and take home a Cup in 2008 and fall a game short in 2009. While Babcock has been surrounded with a stable organization and loaded with on-ice talent, his players have bought into what he’s preached —and that is the No. 1 accomplishment if a coach wants to find success.
Babcock, naturally, was number 1. No argument from the objective 19. But number 2? Ummmm….ok.
2. Joel Quenneville - St. Louis, Colorado, Chicago
If there was surprise when researching this list, it was being reminded of how successful Quenneville was at the beginning of this decade with the St. Louis Blues.
Four straight seasons of 98-plus points, a President’s Trophy, Jack Adams Trophy and five straight playoff berths highlighted the final half of Quenneville’s reign with the Blues. St. Louis would have had more than one Central Division title had they not found themselves looking up at the Detroit Red Wings after four straight second place finishes.
Just like Marty Turco proved last night? Once you’re a Wing bitch, you’re always a Wing bitch, and a Wing bitch Q will stay.
But hey…Mike Babcock’s been heralded by a search engine. Awesome. And congrats to Hitchcock, Ruff, Trotz, et al for making the ten. Just to be considered has to be a huge, huge motherfauxer of an honor, no?
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Comments
I have to agreed with a commenter from Yahoo that said Scotty should of been on the list. He coached 3 years of the last decade and won a cup.
Posted by calquake on 12/01/09 at 07:29 PM ET
Nice Photo of Babs in his Fedora.
I wonder who got that?
Kudos to Barry Trotz and Lindy Ruff….a couple of class acts.
Anyone else notice that after Lindy Ruff spent the Canada Olympic Camp working with Babcock, his Sabres are playing “Red Wings hockey” with great success?
Posted by w2j2 on 12/01/09 at 07:40 PM ET
Columbus/Chicago on VS in 15 minutes….
That is all I have to say about this Yahoo piece.
Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 12/01/09 at 07:47 PM ET
Bitch-Q was such a phenomenal coach of this decade that he’s been with 3 different teams and got fired from one of them?
Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 12/01/09 at 08:04 PM ET
Anyone watching the BJ Bird game on OLN?
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 12/01/09 at 08:26 PM ET
Anyone watching the BJ Bird game on OLN?
Leafs/Habs for me
Posted by Itrusteddrrahmani from Nyc by way of A2 on 12/01/09 at 08:31 PM ET
Versteeg shorty…Mason sucks this year.
I just cracked myself up.
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 12/01/09 at 08:32 PM ET
That is all I have to say about this Yahoo piece.
Posted by HockeyTownTodd
And humility smells like a virgin’s downthere.
Oh, Hitchcock pulls out the 1-2-2. Brilliant. I wonder if he’ll complain about the refs after the game too. Gotta stick with what you know after all.
Joel Q is so freaking fantastic, with all those deep deep playoff runs and those cups, I mean that cup, I mean Campbell’s smelly jockstrap.
Posted by Osrt on 12/01/09 at 09:28 PM ET
the search engine fauxing sucks et al.
i have to agree on Q being #2 though. at least in my book. anytime the wings square off with one of his teams in the playoffs, i get a couple weeks off from all anxiety.
Posted by Twig in Houston from Houston, TX on 12/01/09 at 09:56 PM ET
Watching TOR (3) / MTL (0) with audio on the puter while
watching the BJs (3) / Hawks (2) on OLN with CC.
Have you ever watched a hockey game using closed caption?
The names get butchered so bad it’s hilarious.
Some times they just attempt a phonetic spelling and even that doesn’t look right;
makes it hard to figure out who they’re talking about.
Posted by stonehands-78 from the beginning ... a WingsFan, on 12/01/09 at 10:01 PM ET
Have you ever watched a hockey game using closed caption?
once or twice, but only at bars. the text was way behind the play to the point where commercials were playing and the text was trying to catch up still.
Posted by Twig in Houston from Houston, TX on 12/01/09 at 10:05 PM ET
It took 11 (yes, eleven) skaters before CHI wins the SO over BJs.
Posted by stonehands-78 from the beginning ... a WingsFan, on 12/01/09 at 10:47 PM ET
http://www.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?hlg=20092010,2,388&fr=false
about 3:40 into the highlight reel, 4:46 in the second, a vicious slewfoot by Ott on Datsuyk. When will someone send Ott a message.
Posted by Rdwings28 on 12/01/09 at 10:58 PM ET
Motherfauxer.
Awesome.
Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 12/01/09 at 11:34 PM ET
You’ll be looking up at Quenneville’s Blackhawks in the standings all season long. Holland better make good moves at the deadline, else it’s buttrape city in the playoffs too. Blackhawks-Pens Stanley Cup Finals.
Posted by LGP8771 on 12/02/09 at 12:05 AM ET
Hat tip to Babs. Funny, you peruse a thread and idiocy is never far away. Point in fact:
Blackhawks-Pens Stanley Cup Finals.
Cling to that sparky…cling to it. Bwaaahahahaha….........
Posted by Rumbear from Top O da Hasek, sippin rum & catchin some rays on 12/02/09 at 01:34 AM ET
Blackhawks-Pens Stanley Cup Finals.
My wife will be pleased to learn this, because I’ll be available for spring yard work 2 weeks earlier than normal.
Posted by dougie on 12/02/09 at 05:12 AM ET
Blackhawks-Pens Stanley Cup Finals.
Posted by LGP8771 on 12/02/09 at 12:05 AM ET
If that did happen, guess who would win? Here’s a hint…it AIN"T the Pens. But it won’t, because the Pens aren’t making it to the Finals.
Posted by stayouttamalibu from Temporarily in Tempe, AZ on 12/02/09 at 05:38 AM ET
Ah, leave it to a Pens fan to bring anal rape into the conversation.
What The Faux? “Objective” Search Engine Gives It Up For Our Uncle Mike
Don’t fall for it Chief! He’s trying to woo you back with sweet words about this and other recent subjects. Don’t leave us for the Search Engine Media Whore…
Good call on Ruff though, and Trotz…I grudgingly admit that though he looks stupid and has no neck, that dome hides a pretty good hockey mind. But Joke Queen-Ville can continue to lose to us until the lamb breaks the seventh seal, because there’s no way he should be number two right behind Uncle Mike the pimp.
BTW, regards to the eVille/Wally debate:
Filps was a kid, he showed up in training camp to a team with a much more dominant lineup and despite the insistence that this inexperienced kid HAD to play one more year in GR, they just could not send himd down because he was so EFFECTIVE.
Not quite. He was supposed to spend another year in GR, but when we signed Greg Johnson for a second go-round to win faceoffs and center the fourth line, only to have him fail a physical and force retirement due to his heart, we didn’t have much choice but to hope that Wally wouldn’t look out of place playing on the lower two lines. He wasn’t exactly a force his first full NHL season because he was still somewhat young and underdeveloped, and is still rounding into form. That extra year dominating the AHL that he missed probably would have done him a world of good.
But that’s neither here nor there when it comes to Dr. eVille. He is older and really needs to find his form the second half of this season at the latest, otherwise there’s a (very small) chance he becomes trade bait with his skill set and low salary. I think part of the issue is he’s been forced by injury into the top six before he’s ready, thus drawing more difficult line and defensive matchups than he can take on at this point. Once we have a whole line and a half back from injury, he’ll be paired back with his natural partner for chemistry, and will probably draw lighter opposition and can ease into a top-six role. I think he will get better, but the injury-ravaged present is not the time to be expecting miracles from him.
Jimmah…
That ties him with Ray Emery and…....Marty Biron.
That’s it—waive him and sign Biron. After all, what’s a seven-year age difference?
Futbol…it’s as boring as Father Paul Stone. It’s only watchable if it’s two in the morning, you can’t sleep, and you have a mug of hot milk in your hands.
I’m back on Boogie Street.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Fortress Europe on 12/02/09 at 05:38 AM ET
Blackhawks-Pens Stanley Cup Finals.
Seriously, if that team manages to get playoff-tested through three successful rounds, Pittsburgh (or any team in the Eastern conference except the Devils, probably) is going to be toast anyway.
New Jersey is playing extremely well this year.
But it’s colassally stupid to be making predictions right now - and considering the post-coaching change (and post-smart-trade-moves) surge that Pittsburgh had last year after being out of the playoffs for most of the beginning of the season, I would think they would be able to connect enough neurons to figure out as much.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/02/09 at 05:40 AM ET
Futbol…it’s as boring as Father Paul Stone
Thank You , Sir, and I would like to sign up for your newsletter! For the life of me, I cannot understand why there would ever be the need for a sport that denies the use of our HANDS. I’d rather watch cat juggling.
I have a good friend that is a youth soccer coach. When he hits me up for a sponsorship contribution, I tell him that his sport is ruining the youth of America, and that we sponsor youth HOCKEY.
Posted by dougie on 12/02/09 at 06:15 AM ET
Sports likes and dislikes are such an individual thing - I find both hockey and baseball exciting, but football (NFL) and basketball bore the heck out of me. Same with tennis, golf, and soccer, for the most part. And yet I hear baseball ripped as “boreball” all the time, and people who will swear that the NFL is the most exciting sport on the planet. Whatever. As long as I’m not forced to watch anything myself, I don’t care what dull pastime someone else chooses to pursue. 
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/02/09 at 06:25 AM ET
As long as I’m not forced to watch anything myself, I don’t care what dull pastime someone else chooses to pursue. smile
That’s definitely a more evolved perspective than mine. Every now and then, I just need to hate on something. It makes me feel more alive, somehow.
Posted by dougie on 12/02/09 at 06:31 AM ET
That’s definitely a more evolved perspective than mine. Every now and then, I just need to hate on something. It makes me feel more alive, somehow.
Posted by dougie on 12/02/09 at 06:31 AM ET
That just seems more evolved and civilized because I didn’t say my philosophy is basically “leave me the frack alone, jackass.”
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/02/09 at 06:35 AM ET
That just seems more evolved and civilized because I didn’t say my philosophy is basically “leave me the frack alone, jackass.”
What a coincidence—that just happens to be my campaign slogan. I’m planning to run on the Sloth and Indolence ticket. Joe Don Baker is my running mate. Can I count on your vote?
Newsletter is in the mail to interested grassroots organizers. I expect to heartily beat the Pensblog Party, who are campaigning on a platform of violent psychosexual imagery and disturbed scatological placards depicting the bodily functions of hockey players.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Fortress Europe on 12/02/09 at 06:55 AM ET
Quenneville’s ...buttrape city in the playoffs
I really, really didn’t need to hear about what happens in that locker room.
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 12/02/09 at 07:19 AM ET
Trotz is one of those guys that just dares you to underestimate him, and I do. The fact that he doesn’t sound like Leonid Brezhnev and that he doesn’t come out wearing a fur overcoat with a hidden bottle of vodka and an ushanka shocks me every time he’s interviewed. It’s also symbolic of how I think of him as a coach. He has had garbage (sorry, tutu) to play with for much of the Preds’ short lifespan, and he’s consistently made a contender out of them.
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 12/02/09 at 07:23 AM ET
Read this article and tell me that you could picture any hockey player in the league being a part of this description of a post-game.
Wizards get creamed, divy up bulk order of Louis Vitton in locker room
My favorite two lines:
Arenas wasn’t concerned with his performance tonight, or the one from the night before where he scored only nine points, however.
“What do you expect me to do? Go out there and score 30?” Arenas said. “I’m not going to go out there and try to score 30 when we have a lot of offensive players here. Last game I was 4-for-7, tonight I was 3-for-11. I’ll take the shots I feel are sufficient for me. Other than that, the offensive load’s on everybody else.”
This, and the 1,213 to 1,212 scores are the reason I can’t watch pro basketball.
Posted by MarkK from Maryland on 12/02/09 at 08:12 AM ET
Not having much spare time sucks goat balls.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Fortress Europe on 12/01/09 at 08:35 AM ET
That is quite the preferred pastime in Persia.
Posted by RWBill from the Land of 12 in 12. on 12/02/09 at 08:21 AM ET
This, and the 1,213 to 1,212 scores are the reason I can’t watch pro basketball.
The only part of a pro basketball game worth watching is the last 2 minutes.
Posted by w2j2 on 12/02/09 at 08:23 AM ET
Difficult to argue about Babs, and I wouldn’t cuz I agree, one reason this pic is in my regular avatar rotation.
<<——————-
.
I have also said in this here blog that Trotz has been one of the best coaches in the NHL, basing that on the franchise and roster turmoil he has every year. They play hard and have been a playoff team numerous times, and play the Wings pretty even during the regular season in the W-L column. If you base a coach’s effectiveness on the ratio of success:talent then Trotz is right up there.
I also have liked Buffalo’s teams often and Lindy Ruff has to be given a lot of credit for working through generally small commitment to roster payroll but having a fast and often physically tough team most years.
Posted by RWBill from the Land of 12 in 12. on 12/02/09 at 08:28 AM ET
a vicious slewfoot by Ott on Datsuyk. When will someone send Ott a message.
Posted by Rdwings28 on 12/01/09 at 10:58 PM ET
It looks like Ott wacked Pav’s foot with his stick. Either way…Ott is just like Tootoo, except sometimes Tootoo is stupid enough to get caught on the ice when the opposing team sends out the enforcer and has to fight. Ott runs from that.
Posted by mrfluffy from Long Beach on 12/02/09 at 08:28 AM ET
Have you ever watched a hockey game using closed caption?
The names get butchered so bad it’s hilarious.
Posted by stonehands-78 from the beginning ... a WingsFan, on 12/01/09 at 10:01 PM ET
I’ll have to try that if I can figure out how to do it. Sounds like a good drinking game.
Posted by RWBill from the Land of 12 in 12. on 12/02/09 at 08:29 AM ET
Stick tap for the hometeam, from Sipple, Freep and McCosky, Detnews:
The Wings made their annual visit to the Detroit hospital Tuesday afternoon. Coach Mike Babcock, along with players Nicklas Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Dan Cleary, Chris Osgood, Jimmy Howard, Kirk Maltby, Brad May, Brad Stuart, Darren Helm and Derek Meech met with more than 200 children in two areas of the hospital.
The ear-to-ear smile was back shortly after Lidstrom sat down with Joey.
“It’s great to come here, see the kids and put a smile on their faces,” Lidstrom said. “You really meet some special people here like Joey. We’re very blessed, you know, and it’s great to be able to come here every year and give something back to these kids and their families.” . . .
Typically the entire team participates in the event. But because of the lingering threat of the H1N1 virus, the hospital had to restrict the visit. The Wings have been making the annual holiday visit for more than 10 years. Dr. Gray said the Wings organization has donated more than $440,000 to the hospital, as well as providing tickets for patients, families and hospital staff.
May made sure to spend time with each kid. He also made sure all his teammates signed their pennants and shirts and whatever else the kids had. He spent extra time with one of the older patients, 19-year-old Joey Yodsnukus, who is battling bone cancer.
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 12/02/09 at 08:49 AM ET
I would put Trotz above Quenneville. Trotz has overachieved more with less talent on his roster than Quenneville has. I don’t want to say that Quenneville has underachieved in any season this entire decade, but he’s been put in charge of a few teams that could have made it farther in the playoffs.
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 12/02/09 at 08:52 AM ET
Shoot, I’d name Lemaire #1 and Trotz #2.
Who has Lemaire had on his roster anyways that’s any good or really worth anything? That Wild roster has been absolutely bereft of talent since they came into the league, and yet he guided them to 3 playoff berths, a Western Conference Final, and two other times they juuussttt missed the playoffs. He also guided them to 40 or more Wins four times.
Trotz, all he has done is continue to run a team of nobodies and never-weres and turn them into perennial playoff contenders. They’ve made the postseason 4 times (in a row until lats season), won over 50 games once, 40 Wins 4 times, and cracked 100 points on the season twice including 110 points in 06-07 when they were 3 points out of a possible President’s Trophy.
Neither of these teams have really had any players worth a crap, never seem to have any offense or scoring, have often had question marks in goal, and never can spend to the cap…. and yet they are there every season, in the mix.
Posted by Primis on 12/02/09 at 08:55 AM ET
Shoot, I’d name Lemaire #1….
Lost you after that. You must have been going through a tunnel or something Primis.
Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 12/02/09 at 09:01 AM ET
I just checked my top 10 of top 10 lists, and Sean Leahy wasn’t in there.
Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 12/02/09 at 09:17 AM ET
That Wild roster has been absolutely bereft of talent since they came into the league
Demitra, Gaborik, Bouchard, Koivu, Rolston…need me to go on? When they were on the Wild roster (or in Bouchard and Koivu’s cases still are), they were players any of us would have been happy to have talent-wise. And that’s not even starting on guys like Willie Mitchell, Kim Jonsson, or Cal Clutterbuck, who are generally don’t put up eye-popping stats but are vastly underrated.
never seem to have any offense or scoring, have often had question marks in goal
Again. Ellis, Rinne, Vokoun, Mason, Arnott, Kariya, Dumont, Weber, Sullivan, Suter, Erat…Roloson, Harding, Fernandez, Backstrom if we’re talking Wild goalies.
You might want to check names next time you’re putting together your list.
The Wings made their annual visit to the Detroit hospital Tuesday afternoon.
I wonder why they didn’t bring the Unabomber? 
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Fortress Europe on 12/02/09 at 09:49 AM ET
The Search Engine’s top 3 searches in 2009 were Michael Jackson, Twilight, and WWE. So it appears puckdaddy’s target audience are fans of pedophiles, sparkly vampires, and oiled men rubbing together.
Posted by rock & rye from Cartersville, Ga on 12/02/09 at 10:07 AM ET
Rock & rye, maybe they are just fans of music, literature and… well, oiled men rubbing together.
Posted by Guilherme from Brazsil on 12/02/09 at 10:16 AM ET
Andrew -
I’m setting aside my biases against some of these guys and teams (since I don’t particularly care for any of them) and looking at this realistically.
Remind me again how productive Rolston and Demitra have been elsewhere? Koivu was considered a likely bust up until as recent as last year when he finally got it going. Bouchard is trade fodder and regularly beat up up in the MInny media, and considered a disappointment. Gaborik was always hurt. Clutterbuck is young and has only been there a year.
Fernandez? Really? I like Manny from his time in Kzoo way back when but… Manny was never a real #1 goalie. Roloson wasn’t either until EDM decided to make him one. AT one point Minny was platooning the two. Harding is young and unproven yet. Backstrom was their first real #1 who could carry a load, and he came in late…
Lemaire squeezed more out of that roster than he ever should have been able to. Yes he played a disgusting brand of hcokey to watch, but… he succeeded. Where is Minny now without Lemaire? Worst in the West, and 3rd-worst in the league currently.
As for the Preds, remind me again how well Vokoun’s played outside of Nashville (when he’s not getting decapitated by his own defensemen anyways)? Trust me, not well at all. I’ve had him on fantasy teams the past two seasons, and it ain’t pretty. Or how well Ellis has played in Nashville (so well some Finnish goalie nobody’s heard of took his place)? Sullivan is always hurt (and not scoring now that he’s back ). Kariya was there for a whopping 2 whole seasons. Rinne’s basically had a season and is still a bit suspect at the moment. They did have Forsberg for what, a couple of months, if that? And he did ok, but it was clear then that his career was in jeopardy at that point.
That you’re citing guys like Arnott, Erat, and Dumont as examples of abundant scoring makes my argument for me. Dumont was a completely anonymous cog back in Buffalo, but comes to Nashville and suddenly he’s a scoring star? Relatively speaking maybe… They’re all by and large complementary players, not true scoring load players. Arnott would be a 3rd center on many teams. Yes they have a good young defense (now), but their forwards have traditionally helped their defense out a lot. They did do an admirable job in drafting tons of young d-men, but young d-men build, they don’t generally win for you until they get experience.
But I just plain don’t know how Trotz manages to compete year after year. It’s a credit to him that he does, with that payroll.
I know you guys hate it because it’s not “faux"ning over your Uncle Mike. But we already saw Dave Lewis could win 50 games as Wings coach, and you guys think he was a blathering idiot with no plan, so what does that say?
I’m not sure Babcock could accomplish with MIN or NAS what Lemaire and Trotz have. I don’t know that either are true Cup-winning caliber coaches, but that’s not the point. They’ve done a great job in my eyes, and with way, way less.
Now if Babcock can ever wrangle this team in and turn them into Cup contenders again this year… we’ll talk in the spring and revisit. But let’s be honest—the Wings haven’t faced much adversity in the last few years (until this season anyways). This is your Uncle Mike’s put-up-or-shut-up year.
Posted by Primis on 12/02/09 at 10:21 AM ET
Shit, I always forget about Lemaire… maybe it’s because I’ve never stayed awake for an entire game that featured him coaching. Yeah, I’d definitely put him up there.
...at #2.
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 12/02/09 at 10:42 AM ET
Now if Babcock can ever wrangle this team in and turn them into Cup contenders again this year… we’ll talk in the spring and revisit.
Oh, I’m sure the Chief and many of the 19 will be more than willing to revisit this topic throughout this season. 
But Joke Queen-Ville can continue to lose to us until the lamb breaks the seventh seal, because there’s no way he should be number two right behind Uncle Mike the pimp.
aLOL. We have to convince you to come back to the LBs, Andrew ... it’s just not the same without you.
Posted by Bella on 12/02/09 at 10:54 AM ET
Anyone who thinks QStache is a great coach hasn’t watched enough of his games.
He’s like the hockey Tom Coughlin, his only chance at a title is for his talent to outplay his competence.
And get some breaks.
But he does have one helluva moustache. That’s worth something.
Posted by Forklift from Section 314 in the United Center on 12/02/09 at 10:55 AM ET
But he does have one helluva moustache. That’s worth something.
Can’t argue with that. But I think Paul MacLean could take him out. Specially if he gets to wear the fedora.
Posted by Nate A from Detroit-ish on 12/02/09 at 11:10 AM ET
Can’t argue with that. But I think Paul MacLean could take him out. Specially if he gets to wear the fedora.
Justice is swift, and the pimp hand strong.
Posted by Forklift from Section 314 in the United Center on 12/02/09 at 11:18 AM ET
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Posted by stonehands-78 from the beginning ... a WingsFan, on 12/01/09 at 07:28 PM ET