Opps, excuse me, Ducks Rule the Honda Center. Anaheim Ducks Samuel Pahlsson and Rob Niedermayer celebrate Niedermayer's goal in front of Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek in the 1st period and never looked back, beating Detroit 4-3 to win the Western Conference Finals. Anaheim goes on to the Stanley Cup Finals to face Ottawa starting on Monday. Despite a very gritty showing by Detroit in the playoffs, the Red Wings face another off-season of second guessing and uncertainty as several players position with the Red Wings are no doubtable be in question. Will Hasek come back for another year? Will Bertuzzi be on the roster? What of Robert Lang? Eventually, Ken Holland and the Wings will sort all that out but for now, nice run guys.

I'm Midwest weird. Unusual by the middle states definition but as for California weird, I￢ﾀﾙm not even close. While looking for features before the start of game 4 in Anaheim, I ran across a street corner prophet promising everyone is welcome in the Lord's house as Red Wings fans made their way into the Honda Center. After Anaheim beat Detroit 5-3, to tie up the series at 2, we can only hope that "The Joe" will have an equally hellish result for Duck fans in game 5.

Sure, Duckies Chris Pronger brought his forearm up to take out Holmstrom in the back of the head, a cheap shot by anyone's definition. Sure, this is the same guy who, while with St. Louis, tried a late hit on Steve Yzerman but missed, taking himself out of the rest of the playoffs. Sure all this is true but I still blame Gary Bettman! Take all the fighting out of hockey, a very physical sport that needs to let its players police themselves, and you will get this kind of cheap stuff. I'm not old school, I'm just realistic. Let the players play and when they don't play right, let the players fight. Oh yeah, Happy Mothers Day (a little late)!

Ha, Ha, GOOD BYE! I like a good physical hockey game but when the west side gang, The Flames, hit the ice late in game 5 and gooned it up, that was just plain sad. Even NHL poster boy, Jarome Iginla, here getting upended by Wings Chris Chelios, no penalty, got into the act. The Wings have got the first round monkey off their back and head into the second round well bruised as well as well tested. Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff, the only player I believe not to get penalized, nice series!

My deepest thanks to the King family and especially Ms. Clara Rose Nemeth for allowing myself and the Detroit News access to the funeral of her brother, Staff Sgt. Joseph Michael King, who after his plane went down April 16, 1944 during World War 2, went missing for some 60 years before finally having his remains identified and eventually brought home to rest in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.

Now that was pretty cool! We knew Ernie Sims had a pretty cool fish, a Lion fish, but after chatting with the 1 year Lion veteran line backer, we soon discovered his interest with exotic animals only started with fish. Amongst numerous snakes, raptors, frogs and spiders, Sims seemed at ease with the exotic creatures that inhibit his house and that he referred to as family. Personally, I thought the snakes were pretty cool, especially the big Albino Python. As for the little tarantula, that thing could be the size of a dime and no glass aquarium is too thick. Arachnophobia, heck yeah!

Is Steve Austin, aka Stone Cold Steve Austin still wrestling or what? Austin was, by far, the most interesting character at Wrestlemania. Besides being a referee in a match where he beat on both of the contestants, slamming both folicly questionable managers as well, Stone Cold slammed a few 'cold ones' at the end of the match to the cheers of the fans; now that's entertainment. While I thought the "LumberJill" match seemed a little short, it appeared the 80,000 plus fans in attendance, a Ford Field record, seemed to enjoy the spectacle that is Wrestlemania.

Wrestling is not my thing but I did have the opportunity to watch the "drama" that is professional wrestling when I went to an independent wrestling show, XICW, Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling, at The Ritz bar in Warren and experienced the whole "big show" atmosphere that will soon be overshadowed by the upcoming WWE extravaganza at Ford Field on Sunday. It certainly wasn't boring. It was part boxing match, part carnival freak show, part day time drama but mostly, pretty funny. I don't know if I would throw down a lot money but it was a heck of a lot more exciting then some "real" sporting events. I will be at Wrestlemania 23 on Sunday, with a long lens on an elevated platform, shooting all the action, reaction, drama and oh yeah, wrestling that the WWE has to offer. I am particularly interested in the Ashley vs. Melina match, which I found out is going to be a "lumberjill match"! Ah....yeah, ain't sports grand!

In between shooting the 4 first round games of the NCAA Division 1 Women's Basketball Tournament at The Breslin Center, my mind began to wonder to more cerebral action: I wonder how late room service is available or more importantly, whose mascot could win in a gladiator style tournament to the death. Round 1, game 1: Delaware State (15) vs. Vanderbilt (2). Vanderbilt's Commodore, a freaky looking dude that makes me think of the Ted Knight character in Caddyshack vs. the Delaware State Hornet. I would have given it to Delaware State due to the Commodores allergic reaction to a sting but since they didn't bring their mascot, Vandy wins...not! The Commodore is just weird looking and I am the commissioner of the tourney so...both teams are out. Round 1, game 2: Okalahoma State (10) vs. Bowling Green (7). Okalahoma State's Pistol Pete, although 84 years old, runs rough shot over Bowling Green's Falcon Frieda. Maybe if Freddie the Falcon had showed up as well, cute Frieda might have had a chance. Round 1, game 3: Michigan State's Sparty (5) vs. Delaware University's Fighting Blue Hen YoUDee (12). Once again, the cute factor did not play well in a fight-to-the-death tournament. Besides some pretty frightening muscle tone, I am pretty sure Sparty has a sword stashed somewhere which means, hen on a stick. Sparty advances. Round 1, game 4: East Carolina's PeeDee the Pirate (13) vs. Rutgers Scarlet Knight (4). PeeDee the Pirate looks like a cross between Johnny Depp's Pirates of the Caribbean character and Prince. The Scarlet Knight, with plummage flying, comes out onto the court with those crazy Deniro eyes and PeeDee sets sail for open seas; Scarlet Knight Advances. Round 2, Finals Cage Match: Pistol Pete, Sparty and the Scarlet Knight. The Scarlet Knight of Rutgers attacks first, punching Sparty in the bread basket, no effect. Sparty de-plumes the now dazed Knight and tosses him off the court. Pistol Pete and Sparty face off. The respectful Sparty lets the elderly Pete draw first, who misses his target due to wickedly bad eyesight, and shots wide, taking out an already defeated Scarlet Knight on the sidelines. Showing restraint and good sportsmenship, Sparty helps Pistol Pete to a chair, gets him a glass of sarsaparilla and declares Okalahoma State and Michigan State Co-Champions!

Rat Rods are so cool! I had never heard the term before till I went downstairs at Autorama and saw the rust covered rebellion against the pricy customized cars upstairs. Custom cars that lack the glitz and shine of their counterparts, Rat Rods are an assembly of vintage, custom parts and some junk to create cars with character. Rolling, and they do actually work, reflections of their unique builders, Rat Rods are anti-establishment, anti-pc, but not anti-climatic. Take a ride on the wild side or at least a ride down the escalator and see what the fun is all about.