I bet CuJo could have woHAHAHAHA sorry couldn’t finish the sentence.

Chuck Gaidica run and tells da weather.

It was pure beauty. One of my favourite movies referenced in ways that fit every single player more perfectly than anyone ever could have done it. Made me happy.

Well, fuck dude, doesn’t he watch the news? Chuck Gaidica tells us when the lightning’s a-comin’.

I’m ok letting it die with this and with no hard feelings because we’re almost in complete agreement here. There are fans out there who consistently fail to hold Osgood accountable no matter how badly he plays. I know I am not one of those fans. If anybody else thinks I am among that small group, then they’re wrong. I don’t have to pull all my old commentary out to prove that I’m not a blind Osgood supporter.

It’s just frustrating that we’re having this conversation because football writer Rob Otto took the time to look at a scoresheet and use what he saw as a basis for re-hashing the old argument. Osgood should play better. I think he’s still capable of doing that. His relatively low salary doesn’t make below-average play acceptable, but that’s a conversation to have after he plays a below-average game. My original point on Kuklas Korner about how the difference between what the Wings are spending on their goaltending and what the teams with truly elite goaltending are spending is enough to pay Valtteri Filppula and Dan Cleary, who I’d rather have, still stands. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to call out Osgood when he plays average, but costs us points in a game I think he could have won for us (Jimmy Howard’s Tuesday game against the Avalanche is the most recent example, but Osgood has MORE than his fair share of those over the last two seasons.)

Just like there’s an annoyingly vocal group who would give Chris Osgood a pass for pulling out a shotgun and blasting Nick Lidstrom in the back, there’s an equally large group on the other side who would blame him for not knowing that a lightning bolt was coming to take out Henrik Zetterberg and pushing him out of the way at the last second, saving the future captain.

I promised myself that after all of this nonsense, I was going to let this die. Because at some point, those of us who see things for how they are in reality become the crazy ones for arguing a point that’s been proven for us time and time again.

If there are people out there that want to fool themselves into thinking Chris Osgood is still an NHL goaltender, somehow positing that his salary allows him to be below average — great, more power to them. Some of us disagree, and we feel like we’ve gotten enough data to be entitled to that stance.

As for my “common denominator” remark — I stand by it. I have a hard time stomaching people defending this one player, using the same excuses over and over again, while never holding him accountable for his own play. And I do mean what I said up there — that it was the worst defensive effort in recent memory. No goaltender wins that game for the Red Wings, for sure. But if I’m willing to admit that the Wings don’t win the Chicago game if it weren’t for Osgood — how many of the games he’s lost are you willing to pin on him? The correct answer is more than 1.

And I don’t mean to throw this at JJ individually. JJ’s points about people piling on Osgood for this particular contest are spot on. He could have been a circus freak in this game, and it wouldn’t have made a four-goal gap any better. Were there goals that he probably wants back? There’d better be. That’s what makes athletes competitors — the need to be perfect. He’s never had that fire, and it’s obviously not fair to ask of him now. Jimmy Howard loses that game. Dominik Hasek loses that game. Manny Legace REALLY loses that game. Greg Stefan cries during that game.

But, it’s getting really old watching the same thing happen every time he’s in net — regardless of who’s to blame — and seeing the same people perpetuate the same excuses in the same places. That’s all I’m after here.

The point about Howard having the worst game in net for a Red Wings goalie was aimed at Petrella’s comment about the common denominator. It’s a convenient excuse, especially when forgetting that every once in a while, Osgood has a good game, one where the team could have lost if he didn’t play well (like in Chicago’s home opener).

I don’t have a disagreement that Osgood should step the fuck up and win some fucking games, but there’s no goddamn way I’m going to admonish the guy when the guys in front of him play like they did on Thursday. There’s not a single goalie in the league I think would have pulled that game off. So yeah, your platitudes about our backup needing to re-prove himself somehow are right.

If you want to say the defense played like shit in front of him because Osgood was back there, that’s fine; you and I will simply have to disagree on that point.

Wow. Never said that.

I do blame Osgood for every bad game. Just like when I blame Howard for his bad games.

And yeah, Howard also has the best game played by a Red Wings goalie this season. So what was your point with that?

For someone who claims to not actually be a die-hard Osgood supporter, you went out of your way to start some shit. I mean, the whole point of my comment was to pull out all of the excuses for ANY goalies’ loss, and say, “Dude get your shit together.” I want him to get his 400, and sometimes because of what happens in front of you, you just might have to step up and steal a couple of games. If Ozzie gets his head screwed on right I think he can do that.

Can’t we all just get along?