gehringer_2

and how much have even they slowed down. The Hudson's bldg has been on a slow walk and the Book bullding also took years longer than planned. And there is also a big difference in that Gilbert was rehabbing landmark structures - the parking lots around the ball parks were not filled with structures that had class A potential. I'm not trying to give the Ilitch group a pass on having oversold their plans, but almost every developer does that - its part of the poltical dance to get the funding to do the job you actually want to do - which in this case was build the two sports venues. The truth is that if they had promised nothing other than the arenas in the 1st place we still should have been glad of the effort but it more likely would have been shot down. I will definitely knock them for the block north of LCA though - the city needed to push them way harder on that. The parking lots I can live with until the market decides they are uneconomic.

LOL - yeah it seems like everyone everywhere always wants to trade down so maybe being the partner willing to trade up is the new market efficiency.

The parking lots are just the reflection of commercial sq footage demand. We rag on the Ilitches but if parking lots are more profitable than what they can build on them that's because of the broader economic conditions in that area of the city. This is one situation where the market really will solve the problem for you. When the property becomes valuable enough to be demanded for some other use, the parking lots will disappear. The city is still having trouble filling the commercial spaces South of Grand Circus Park. Until there is higher occupancy pressure there, commercial development going North is going to continue to be slow. If/when the work at home shift from the pandemic ebbs, that will help. If it becomes more permanent, it won't.

Right. In America, con Joe six pack out of more money than your product is worth and they pat you on the back for being a good business man. But bilk people in the investment class and they make sure the guv'met has your asz.

this is a fair point and it goes back to Casimir's complaint. It's a whole different ball game from gettin to the 10th having used 2 or 3 pitchers and everyone in your BP can give you three more (circa 1970), than entering the 10th having already used 6 and nobody left out there can pitch more than one. So sure, while cutting off extra innings is billed as part of the general 'pace of play' effort, it's much more directly the result of the way the modern game chews up pitching.

yeah - they 'should' have lost that game, and even the game the night before was not played nearly as lopsided as the score. Still - as Ozzie points out - the Wings defensive philosophy is to more or less give the other team the boards keep but keep the center clear, which they do better than they used to. Sometimes the shot numbers they allow are not high quality. What does seem clear is that Lalonde has been pretty good so far - in the sense that this team does seem to win more than the sum of its parts - which I think is just another way to put your 'fools gold' observation. But the other obvious 'big' change is that Yzerman has increased the size of the team a lot and as a result even when they lose you don't see the Wings physically dominated by many teams anymore and just that greater size and strength has a background level positive effect on their ability to increase the work load on the other team and stay in games themselves.

and without Walman and Raymond. I think Bertuzzi has now pretty well shifted to the plus side of the ledger - he was forechecking like his old self tonight. If no-one else gets hurt the rest of the way they've got a decent shot.

Seider getting a lot of post game love - and fully deserved, but Hronek with some strong play tonight also.

Seider shuts down McDavid on a break. No goals in OT. I hate shoot-outs.

Wings really on their heels in the 2nd so far. Veleno puts the puck over the glass for a penalty. I don't imagine either Vrana or Raymond coming back will be the occasion to bump Veleno out of his spot, but I wouldn't mind if it was.

Betuzzi with one of his classic stick in the lane pass break ups during one of his shifts. He's showing signs.... There was also a nice play by Ras where he erased an Oiler rushing down the boards. OTOH, Veleno, continues to get rubbed out himself with his constant failed attempts to pass to himself along the boards past a defender. Wise up Joe, everyone has seen the move at this point, add something to your repertoire.

Larkin on fire.

Maybe the Finns should make them worry by staging a feint to retake Karelia. Or maybe just go ahead and do it......🤔

I wonder if back discomfort was part of the reason his velo seems to be dropping even before the forearm failed. After TJ a guy may be throwing in a year, but 18mo isn't unusual to get reasonable command back. Maybe he'll be lucky.

In McCosky's column about Faedo the boy says right out he believes that his TJ was the result of the Tigers asking him to change his delivery from one that didn't hurt to one that did. He's gone back to his old one with the blessing of the new bio-mechanics regime. EDIt; Chasfh quotes an Atheltic story up thread that covers similar ground.

journalism at the Freep has been circling the drain for a while now.... really pretty much ever since Gannett took over.

Cade could still disappoint. He has to become a more consistent shooter than he has shown to justify having been 1/1

Hockey does recognize goalies as a unique position- for instance goalies don't serve their penalties and other special rules apply to them. But the distinction between forwards and defenseman is purely internal to a team, the rules don't recognize any difference between the 5 skaters. and even in football, all an O-lineman has to do check in with the official and he can participate in a play anyway anyone else can.

if you want to know the real reason the railroads have problems, it's because we don't make trucks pay for the cost of the damage they do to roads. If we did, truck freight costs would rise, and rail transport everywhere would be more competitive. More externalized costs and crooked social cost accounting. Find a problem in America and I'll wager you can easily find a route to a business where costs have been allowed to be externalized - even guns, maybe especially guns.

yeah. then again, things can always change -- if he plays well. Play well and some team might decide they don't care about past baggage. Heck if he plays well enough the Wings might decide they don't care about past baggage. 🤣 I think the limiting factor is the time though. Even if there is some change in the underlying reality (which is admittedly probably a long shot) there is a limit to what you can prove in any direction between now and March 3.

In the Freep St.James seems pretty adamant that they've only brought him back to try to move him, but she doesn't offer the reasons for why she believes that.

this may all be true but compounding old bad decisions with more new bad decisions is no way to make progress.

Ted Cruz should meet a Fire Marshall sometime. But even so, one door just means it's open more continuosly.

also right,

Has anyone ever watched a school bldg door during class change? You can't lock down buildings that hundreds of people have to go in and out of every hour. Even if the first person has to card to open the door, all the people flowing behind are just going to enter on one door opening. Anyone can just fade into the queue. Do people have brains at all? To do this would require a much more sophisticated system. For instance everyone carries a RF ID and the system would have to scan the number of bodies entering and match to the number of ID's detected. Conceivably possible - not trivial to do. And even then you would only know an unauthorized person entered - it wouldn't have prevented the entry.