Nightwing

Why is this thread still alive, and what the hell are you guys even talking about?

Just to say something: The Nygma thing is far from confirmed, and I can only find it here. That isn't to say it isn't true, but let's not call it early. Perhaps a more interesting thing to note is that Jason Bard, Batman's new "Day-time Detective" will be in the movie if this rumor turns out to be true. But now I'm pretty skeptical considering the source.

I do, too. To me, it looks like it's supposed to be a part of the Batmobile. From that standpoint, I can understand why it's so bare; because it has to fit into that vehicle. I'm not huge And introducing Edward Nygma is an interesting idea, but I'm worried about it. I have to wonder where he appears, because I'm really not sure how you can fit him in here. I mean, Harvey Dent's appearance is great because the original D.A. was killed in BB, so Dent naturally comes in as a replacement. Meh, I'm probably overthinking it. I'm sure this movie is going to rock.

The Heat? Professional Basketball? Those don't go together. Seriously, the Heat are like the Pistons in terms of lackluster play, only worse. They don't perform at all during the Regular Season (Because, apparently, "it doesn't matter") and just expect to turn it on during the playoffs when they couldn't really turn it on all year. I'll give the Pistons one thing: at least they had it on for a series and a half. The Heat don't have anything.

Captain Marvel Black Adam Guy Gardner Kyle Rayner J'onn J'onnz Power Girl

Um, let me try my hat at this. Beyond economics, beyond race, beyond whatever, we need to look at Border Control for one simple fact: Security. Economics is a fun topic, yes (Personally, I think that better control of illegal immigration would improve the lifestyle of more immigrants who come here), but security is what we should really be looking at. If people a Mexican can do it, what stops anyone else who has a vendetta against the US from doing it? I wouldn't say a full-fledged wall, but more Border Guards. Armed, as well: The Border Guards are police officers. Let's not deceive ourselves: There are some unsavory guys running across the border along with the people that honestly want to benefit from being in the US. Drug Runners, criminals, etc. Taking away a Border Guard's weapon is only going to neuter him, and even possibly put him in danger. He's an officer of the law, he needs to have a weapon to enforce it. I'm okay with pulling in the National Guard to do border duty as well: If anything, it gives them experience in civilian relations and non-combat situations that soldiers need for today's conflicts. Do rotating duty, but I'm totally for doing that. Where real immigration reform needs to come, though, is in the Office Cubicle, not the Rio Grande. Paragon is right; there are a lot of expired Visas out there, people who have overstayed illegally. These are the people who can be dangerous in our country, because they get in legally and then just get forgotten about. We need to make immigration more efficient, to the point that you don't get forgotten once your Visa runs out. I'm not exactly sure how it needs to come about (Though a drastic increase in staffing would definitely help), but a great deal of focus needs to go there.

How about we wait and see? They've won the Cup, now let's see how many stick around for the next few years.

Eh, I can see the brothers lasting a while longer. Maybe three or four years (together); enough time for the Ducks to get at least some stop-gap players lined up to take their places. And I could really care less about Brad May...

Wow. Harsh.

Did anyone else "Mute" Bettman?

If that's your view, fair enough. I personally just like to see it when it comes to town, and I couldn't get to Detroit when the Hurricanes won it.

Oh calm down. At least you're within driving distance of it. I'm a Kings fan. Why the fuck should I be happy. Because you can see the fucking Cup, rather than me, who would have to get a cross-continental flight? Christ, it's gotten further and further from Lansing for me. I was hoping it'd go to Ottawa so I could see it for the first fucking time in 5 years. Lighten up a bit. If you really believe the Ducks are a Dynasty like your post refuting me says you do, you should get used to it and make the best of it. And Giguere is getting the Conn Smythe, no question.

Oh calm down. At least you're within driving distance of it.

Well, the best team show themselves here. Anaheim played solid hockey for most of the playoffs, and when they didn't J.S. Giguere keep them in it. Kudos to them for getting their first Cup after their disappointment 4 years ago. Edit: Ouch, that hurts.

First off, I don't think it matters whether or not your talent is homegrown, if they're as good as they are. Secondly, Andy McDonald and Chris Kunitz are products of the Ducks system, as is Ilya Bryzgalov. Third, Sami Pahlsson, J.S Giguere, and Francois Beauchemin got their big breaks with the Ducks. Clearly their management knows how to dig the bottom of the trash can and come up with the right players on a consistent basis. Also, you forget that they mortgaged younger talent in order to get Chris Pronger, so obviously they do not have a lot of homegrown players on their team. Who the fuck cares. Well, I'll give you the fact that Ducks Scouting is good enough to pick up a lot of 'throw away' players and make the most of them. Can't dispute that one bit. I was just saying that if they really want a dynasty, the fact that they don't have many homegrown prospects might hurt them down the line when the current roster begins to get too old. I suppose you can continue to pick up throwaway players (Since it's worked well enough so far), but I personally like having those prospects. To me, it's less risky, but that's just my opinion. Oh God. No offense, but Bryzgalov doesn't seem to me to be anything more than Evgeni Nabakov with a different name. I'm not saying that he can't win games, but he doesn't seem like he has 'it' like Giguere definitely has. Nabakov is always a good-great goalie, but comes up short in the end. I get the same feeling from Bryzgalov. Top 10 in the League? Sure, maybe. But I wouldn't sacrifice it for the Playoff Aura that Giguere has. I've seen his stats. Frankly, I'm not impressed. He has a good GA, but that translated to 10-8-6 season. I saw him play during the season, and during his playoff run. If you put him in for Giguere, I don't see him being the game-saver that J.S. was, and has needed to be more than once in these playoffs. He's a Nabakov: He'll have a good season, he'll perform okay-good in the playoffs, but he'll fall short. He's not the dominating goalie that Giguere is, and I think that'll be trouble if you are talking about a dynasty. And while you don't need to roll 4 lines (Because not every championship team does), I don't see them being deep enough to get a dynasty. You have Teemu Selanne providing a great deal of the 'Oomph' behind that offense, and if he goes (And I think he'll be the one to go), you are losing 94 points of offense, half of which are goals (He's nearly double the next closest contender). Maybe Getzlaf can step up, because he's shown himself to be a great player, but you can't tell me that they have fulfilled everything. They have one scoring line and one 'sort of scoring' line. Most of the fire power comes from the first defensive pairing (Who have the #3 and #5 spots on the points list, and Pronger probably would have been higher if he had played more games). If you want a Dynasty, you'd better getting a little more out of your top two lines, especially when the biggest offensive force on the team comes from a pair of defensemen who are 32 and 34 years old. Oh Christ, you completely misinterpret what I said. I was referencing the fact that since they had, as you put it, mortgaged most of their prospects on Chris Pronger, they'd have to find people to replace Teemu Selanne and others who might drop off the team. I wasn't talking about the current team, but the future. The reason I used the Red Wings as an example is because they've lost most of their bigger stars from their original two cups in the 90s, but have built their teams up with solid players they've picked up through scouting and such (And I pay attention to their team the most, admittedly). I don't think they're a dynasty team either, but they've managed to bridge and miss out on 'rebuilding periods' because of this. You have to get them from somewhere, since they don't just appear out of nowhere. Can you get them from trades? Yes, but do they really have anyone valuable to trade that isn't already integral to their system? Ooooooookay buddy. I never said they wouldn't be good. But they aren't a dynasty team. They aren't so beyond the rest of the Western Conference that they will just push their way through to the Cup every year. I mentioned franchises like Detroit, Colorado, and New Jersey, who came close in their better moments, but didn't make it. Perhaps you should have noticed I was talking about the future, not the current state of the Ducks. Not only that, I wasn't saying the Ducks weren't great, but that I have trouble calling them a future 'Dynasty'. Get it right next time.

Probably because we are too busy saying "Karma..."

Indeed. I mean, great forwards are all over the league. A solid goalie who has shown himself to be unstoppable in the playoffs? That's damn hard to find. I'd put money down on the Ducks finding a way, no matter how costly, to save Giguere. He has at least 10 good years, and if he doesn't get injured, you can add 5 more as well.

Uh, well... that's pretty out of left field, and in a bad way. I think it's pretty well established by now that the league can't take on any more expansion. How much diluting of the talent pool along with failing franchises will it take to realize that "Expansion=Bad" right now?

If you want good Batman stuff, I'd say that the Knightfall series is almost a necessity, for it's introduction of Bane, as well as seeing Batman spread far too thin. Utterly great arc, with a great ending in my opinion. The most recent Detective Comics run with Paul Dini has been nothing short of utterly brilliant. They are pretty much a bunch of one-offs, brilliantly strung together reintroducing villains after the One Year Later Mark. I personally enjoyed most of the "No Man's Land" storyline, even if it had some bad points. At least the first book is worth picking up and reading. I'd say the first Superman arc after OYL (Up, Up and Away, I believe it's called) is worth a read. If the Zod storyline in Action Comics ever finishes, that'll be another 'Must Buy'. Superman: Infinite Crisis is pretty good for just seeing how Supermen can turn out differently. Avoid Superman/Batman like the plague, though. Honestly, I never liked any of that stuff. If you want to try stuff other than the big two, I'd suggest Checkmate as a good political thriller type comic with good fights, along with some of the earlier Outsider books in the most recent volume. The new Blue Beetle is pretty cool, and if you have some extra cash, check out some TPB of Birds of Prey, Manhunter (A really brilliant series), and (I can't believe I'm saying this) Catwoman OYL.

A good-great team capable of winning a Cup? Definitely. A Dynasty? You need medication. First off, they don't have much in the way of home grown talent. I mean, Penner, Perry, and Getzlaf are the only ones I can think of. They really need to improve there, as they can't always get the deals on talent they've gotten. I mean, compared to Detroit (Who has homegrown people like Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Zetterberg, Franzen, Kopecky, Kronwall, Datsyuk, and Filppula), that's a pretty short list. They gotta get more out of their farm teams to really build something for the future, because while you can get lucky with Free Agency, it'll run out eventually. Second, they aren't nearly as deep as teams like San Jose and Detroit, who fortuitously slammed into each other just before the Conference Finals. Did they beat Detroit? Yeah, after they slammed up against San Jose in a tough series. Both those teams roll 4 lines, while Anaheim rolls maybe 2.5 lines consistently, and 1.5 'great-to-good' defensive pairings. Their depth is nothing compared to recent near-dynasty teams like Colorado, Detroit, and New Jersey, and I don't see it improving much in this off-season. If they lose Selanne, I wouldn't be too worried. I mean, he's getting up in age, and I would trust Brian Burke to get a younger scorer with potential in that lineup. In all honesty, most of their offensive prowess comes at the Blue Line, anyways. Losing Giguere would kill that team, in my opinion: Yeah, Bryzgalov is a good goalie, but Giguere has saved the Ducks way too many times in these playoffs alone for that to be anything resembling a safe trade. If they trade Giguere, they'll be a 6th seed, First-Round exit team. He might be inconsistent at times, but he's playoff gold, and you can't find that in just any goalie.

Is that a wrestling match or something?

ESPN is a Sports Network. I don't tune into it for news on Darfur. At any rate, this isn't like you're noble crusade to get people to attention to people in Darfur. We already know why you don't want this to be a big story: This is about you wanting Vick to get away because you won't see him for those 8 Sundays, you fucking child. I do see the argument of "There are bigger things to worry about here!" Apparently, though, the "bigger things" are the 8 days out of the year that you wouldn't see some millionaire trot out onto the field because he was part of a ring running an utterly inhuman sport. You can cry all you want about how your precious quarterback might not be on the field because of some stupid dogs, but you fail to realize that it's his fault for doing something so gut-wrenchingly moronic and horrific. "I'm an adult, I can buy my own insurance and everything." - iggymcfly The funny thing is, no matter how much you try, you still come off as that stupid high schooler, since it's not a matter of age as much as it's a matter of maturity. The idea that the torture and deaths of dozens of innocent animals is somehow an acceptable price for some overrated, undeveloped idiot of quarterback to play 8 games in a sport that, in the long run, doesn't matter anything is not something a regular adult thinks. That's something a sociopathic child thinks. So, no matter what car you drive, or if you can drink beer, you are still that stupid little high school kid sitting behind a keyboard.

On the Hunting: Potentially, it can suffer for a while. It's honestly more rare than you think, as once the animal is wounded, it's a lot easier to track and put out of its misery. But while that could potentially happen, the intent (And the most often result, if the bullet hits) is a quick, clean, nearly painless kill. You can talk about cattle all you want, and I agree that there is very much a degree of badness there, but it's not done to entertain. It's done to feed people. There is no entertainment value taken in it, there is no betting taken on it, it's there to feed people. It fulfills a necessity, unlike dogfighting. Fuck you. Seriously, I'm sorry al, you can ban me if you like, but fuck you iggy. You deserve to be pounded on by dozens of people, and it should be televised, because that would entertain me more than anything some spoiled, selfish, utterly moronic superstar could ever do. I don't know if you are purposefully trolling (Any mods reading this should consider banning him, as his argument is bordering on a level of stupidity I find hard to believe he really is doing this for anything more than get a reaction out of us) or just so stupid and stuck up that you don't understand that your little entertaining superstar is, quite possibly, a fucking criminal committing atrocious acts for fun and profit. Do you use this argument to get out of speeding tickets with your mom's minivan, or when your dad tries punishing you for stealing one of his beers? Yes, there are little things in the world, and there are big things. But just because there are big things, that doesn't mean we must overlook the little things. This little jackass appeal to the more liberal element on this board (Hell, I'm a bit left of center myself) is so fucking outrageous, it's insulting. Is Bush's War in Iraq getting people killed? Yes, it may be. But at least the people over there volunteered for the military. It was their choice, and they aren't being treated in any way nearly comparable. This idea that the Virginia Police somehow have a larger job of apparently taking care of Darfur (In case you haven't noticed, we have things like the UN, Red Cross, and more loosely, the Federal Government to take care of things like that, since I doubt Virginia Cops have the gas mileage to make it to the Sudan, jackass). This includes, believe it or not, enforcing things like state laws. Amazing, isn't it? Local police force taking care of local problems. Wow, novel concept. Your idea that "There are worse things in the world" is like saying "Yeah, Hitler killed 10 million people... but Stalin killed 20 million. So Hitler isn't really as bad as everyone makes him out to be." is so childish, and for the absolutely moronic, deluded idea that it shouldn't count because it might take away from your entertainment value. Fuck off, buddy. I hope someone murders you and gets off because "They are too valuable entertaining the masses", because you obviously don't understand that everything in the world isn't here to 'entertain you'.

God, you're just beyond dense. First off, it's beyond cruel. This isn't deer hunting, where the deer doesn't necessarily get shot, and frankly, if it does it's pretty much done in seconds. There's a decent chance that nothing will happen, and if something does, it'll seconds long. Like Edwin says, these can last hours in unsanitary conditions. Sometimes they just put in smaller dogs just to see them ripped limb from limb by others. They are tortured to become meaner (I can't understand how you can't equate this with torture), they are starved to become meaner, and weaker dogs are often thrown into these fights just to get torn apart for entertainment. And somehow, you don't think this is fucking torture? How can you even separate the two from each other? This is a big deal: it borders on psychopathy for people to be able to do this for animals and actually take in enjoyment. Seriously, are you a sociopath or something, because it's pretty easy to see why people consider killing and torturing dozens of innocent dogs for some moron to earn a little extra cash is (just maybe) a little bit horrifying and deserves some outrage. Your comparisons are weak, and either show 1) You're just being a major jackass, or 2) You're so far beyond idiot, you're hopeless. Let's go through them: Yes, I enjoy steaks. But there are two very crucial differences between killing cows for food and dog-fighting. The first is that killing the cow serves a need: I need food. The cow becomes food, and feeds a person. Is it horrifying? Yes. Is it painful? Oh yes. But it's not meant to be, it's just how it is. Dog-fighting doesn't fulfill a need, and all the torture done in it is completely done on the whims of the people who put it on. They starve the dogs, they torture the dogs, they throw the little ones in to watch them get ripped apart. That's a little different. Oh, and the second difference? I don't go to the slaughterhouse, and watch as the cow becomes a steak, and cheer the workers as they cause more and more pain to the damn creature. This is willful enjoyment of the torture of an animal. I like steaks, but I don't take enjoyment in the death and pain the animal went through to become my food. This is a person cheering on two dogs ripping each other apart. Oh, and once again, you're a fucking moron. How about you go jerk off to Mark Cuban weepy speech for Nowitzki's Season MVP Trophy. Or compose a touching 'Music Video' with Dirk using Creed's "My Sacrifice". Anything that will get you the hell away from this board so we don't have to see you type inane bullshit like "I can see how it is a little cruel" and "What's the difference between this and deer-hunting". Christ, I can't believe people on this board can be this stupid sometimes... Edit: Sorry, this is a bit of a touchy subject with me. I have a few rescues, and this sort of thing just touches a nerve with me.

I like this for two reasons: 1) Lebron and the Cavs are really showing themselves to be a top team, rather than just a team that plays well, but then loses it in the playoffs. 2) If Detroit loses again, they aren't going to be able to do this crap where they just don't show up to games. If you are going to play, play. If you don't want to, then why even make it into the playoffs? Detroit has been on top for a little too long and need to develop some hunger again. Otherwise, I don't see them making it to another Finals for a while.