It's easy to overlook individual quality play on the Red Wings because of the consistent sparkling efforts from Henrik Zetterberg (top five player), Pavel Datsyuk (top ten player), Nicklas Lidstrom (best defenseman) and all the young studs on this club, but I hope people are recognizing the way Chris Osgood is playing.  He has been as good as any on this team and as good as any goalie in the NHL. He has won seven straight games after leading Detroit to three consecutive wins on the western Canada trip.  Ozzie is tied for the league lead in victories and sets the pace for goals against average.  He remains an unassuming figure who goes about his business without any distraction.  He earns the highest praise a goalie can get when his teammates say they "want to play well in front of him."  Osgood has earned the respect and admiration from Mike Babcock and he's done that with hard work (he's in the best shape of his life) and by producing.  Since resigning with the Wings last year, Osgood is 18-3-6 in 28 games played with a 1.90gaa and a .921 save percentage.  He's doing something no one expected-make people debate on who should start in net for Detroit.  We seem to gloss over his numbers, instead choosing to dwell on the young 25 year old who cried on camera following a game seven playoff loss to San Jose in 1994.  He's grown up and matured and should be admired for his toughness.  He proved it before this season by winning two Stanley Cups and leading other clubs to the playoffs even though many felt Detroit won "despite" him.  Not true and he's one of the main reasons this team is winning now.  His numbers are worthy of Hall of Fame consideration.  343-wins, 16th most all time and fifth most among active goalies.  His goals against average is among the top 20 all time; he ranks 8th in all time playoff shutouts and #5 among active net minders in playoff wins.  In a town that supposedly chews up quarterbacks and goalies, Chris Osgood has defied the local hockey masses and persevered, proving he's better than most of us ever thought he was.  Admit it and applaud him next time you visit the Joe.

Thursday morning my friend Greg Brady hinted at an upcoming poll that will list the top 20 TV "stars" of all time.  He's asked me to compile my own rankings and see how close my list (without news or talk show hosts) comes to the one soon-to-be-published by Entertainment Tonight, so here it is in no particular order:
-Alan Alda                                 James Gandolfini
-Kelsey Grammer                      William Shatner
-Jerry Seinfeld                            Michael Landon
-Carroll O'Connor                      Lucille Ball
-Michael J. Fox                          Andy Griffith
-Bill Cosby                                 Ron Howard
-Bob Newhart                            Carol Burnett
-Jack Klugman                           Ted Danson
-Keifer Sutherland                      Mary Tyler Moore
-Dennis Franz                             Red Foxx

Let me start by writing I root for Michigan State.  I do.  I want Spartan football to succeed.  It's good for the state of Michigan and good for the Big Ten and I want the conference to be the best in every sport, but MSU has been a major disappointment and are no better than they have been the past few seasons.  Now they may be better in some areas under Mark Dantonio, but I see very little improvement overall.  This is a results-oriented business and Dantonio deserves time to correct the programs ills, but for State fans to say they "are proud" of their team and "feel progress is being made" are chasing fools gold.  MSU had the chance to prove they were "different" twice this year and failed both times! They won their first four games, but all were predictable.  UAB is terrible, then they beat Bowling Green at home, followed by an extremely flawed Pitt squad and then Notre Dame (we all know about the Irish).  There were some hopeful signs in week five against Wisconsin in a tight loss in Madison, but they followed that with a bad home loss to a less-talented Northwestern.  A tough luck loss in Ohio State was then followed by an egg at Iowa.  This doesn't happen to good teams.  Well-coached clubs improve week-to-week and the Spartans have followed up hard-working efforts with weak performances to lesser teams and there will be no consolation at the end of the year, just second-guessing. I won't be stunned if MSU loses to Michigan and at Purdue.  I think they'll win the finale over Penn State to make them small bowl eligible, making us all wonder what could have been if there actually was a difference in East Lansing.