Tolkiens Welt » doubt, its this one.The media wants a young game, they wa

MOBILE, Ala. -- Lexi Thompson birdied four of her last five holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead Thursday with Eun-Hee Ji in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic. The 18-year-old Thompson, second last year behind Stacy Lewis, had eight birdies and a bogey on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trails Magnolia Grove complex. "I definitely had it in mind, but its a whole different year and a new day, so I was just trying to go out and make some birdies," Thompson said. "I knew my game was good, so just going to try to keep that going." She hit to inches on the par-4 ninth to set up her closing birdie. "That was a good shot to end on," Thompson said. "I just had a three-quarter pitching wedge and just committed to it. ... I was hitting it pretty close and I drained a few putts. I was just taking one shot at a time, not trying to get ahead of myself because its golf, anything can happen." She won the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic in Alabama for her lone LPGA Tour title. "Im glad to be back in Alabama," Thompson said. Ji, the 2009 U.S. Womens Open champion, had five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine in her bogey-free round. "I just focus on my game and I just keep positive with my game," Ji said. Jessica Korda was a stroke back at 66, and Nicole Castrale, Mina Harigae, Dewi Claire Schreefel, Thidapa Suwanapura, Hee Young Park, Jennifer Johnson and Chella Choi shot 67. Korda also had a bogey-free round. "I was hitting the ball pretty good," said Korda, the 2012 Womens Australian Open winner. "I made two birdies my first two holes and I was like, OK, this might be a good day." The second-ranked Lewis opened with a 70. "I didnt really have anything go right today," said Lewis, the winner this year in Singapore and Phoenix. "I had one ball hit the sprinkler and go in the trees and one hit the cart path and go in the trees." Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., and Jessica Shepley of Oakville, Ont., are at 1-under 71. The group at 72 includes Charlottetowns Lorie Kane, Torontos Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Stephanie Sherlock of Barrie, Ont., and Sara-Maude Juneau of Fossambault-sur-le-lac, Que. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is another shot back at 73. Alena Sharp of Hamilton finished with a 75. Michelle Wie shot a 74. Rob Gronkowski Womens Jersey . Manuel was offered a position the day he was fired. He accepted earlier this week and the team made the announcement Friday. Steve Grogan Youth Jersey . -- Gus Malzahn finally had his day in Fayetteville. http://www.patriotsjerseysauthentic.com/Tom-Brady-Super-Bowl-Jersey/ . According to a report from the Winnipeg Free Press, the Bombers will name Acting GM Kyle Walters to the post full time. Tedy Bruschi Womens Jersey . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. John Hannah Jersey . U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield in Manhattan agreed that lawyers on both sides could make their formal requests by Nov. 8. A hearing is scheduled for a day earlier. Jordan Siev, a lawyer for Rodriguez, wrote in a joint letter to the judge from lawyers on both sides that MLB lawyers planned to ask that the lawsuit be dismissed. DETROIT -- When?Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland sat down this past offseason to plan out his approach, he had one simple goal:He wanted to win.I know, weird.His team has made the playoffs for 25 consecutive seasons, a streak unheard of in hockey these days. In all of sports, really. Holland wants a 26th. He just wasnt willing to concede the Eastern Conference to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals or?Pittsburgh Penguins?-- or willing to make way for young teams making strides in the East like the?Toronto Maple Leafs and Buffalo Sabres.So when Pavel Datsyuk left after 14 seasons as a Wing, Holland replaced him with?Frans Nielsen. When he saw a weakness in his teams power play, Holland addressed it by adding Thomas Vanek. The GM thought his dressing room needed more personality and spark. Enter Steve Ott, who has both oozing from his pores. Constantly.A rebuild? No thanks. Thats not something Holland is interested in undertaking.There are no guarantees with rebuilds, Holland said after the Red Wings practiced on Wednesday. There are no guarantees youre going to come out the other side and youre going to be elite.Rarely do playoff teams initiate their own rebuild. Rebuilds are the result of a team petering out for some reason, a franchise that has reached the end of the line. Not a team with a rich history of success that is the result of decades instilling a culture of winning and playing the right way into every player who enters the organization.In Detroit, its a culture of winning that has been handed down from Steve Yzerman to Nicklas Lidstrom to Henrik Zetterberg and now to?Dylan Larkin, Petr Mrazek and Andreas Athanasiou.You can excuse Holland and the Red Wings if theyre not overly eager to rip out that fabric of success in exchange for the opportunity to draft somewhere closer to the top.But Ill admit that Ive wondered if a few down years might do the Red Wings some good. Ive suggested as much. Ive wondered what this organization could do if it added a couple of top-10 picks to its talented young core. I certainly understood why some fans were puzzled the past couple of years that Detroit brought in guys such as?Mike Green, Vanek and Ott instead of young players who might be able to do the same thing much more cheaply, gain experience, lose a few more games and help improve the draft odds.Holland has done the analysis -- and decided that the cost and risk of going down that path far outweighed a possible reward.Theres now a lottery. The first four picks are lottery picks. You can be the worst team in the league and get the fifth pick in the draft, Holland said. Each year, we go forward, it becomes more and more a parity league. Why is that? Players come out of the entry level and they go from entry-level contracts to $5-$6 million.This isnt the same system that that Penguins and Blackhawks had to navigate on the way to landing elite players -- and neither are the contract structures.Chicago, for example, won a Stanley Cup with?Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews?still playing on their entry-level deals. Then they got matching contracts for five years and $6.3 million. Then came the monster deals worth $10.5 million per season. To land those players, Chicago fans had to endure a decade in which the Blackhawks made the playoffs just once. Teams dont have to do that anymore.Besides the changes to the draft lottery, young players are getting bigger contracts earlier, which lends itseelf to more parity.dddddddddddd The?Edmonton Oilers, you can be sure, are planning on?Connor McDavids next contract looking much more like Kanes and Toews current ones than their second deals. And thats if youre lucky enough to land McDavid during your rebuild in the first place. Only one team every decade gets to do that.The Red Wings have considered all that as they march forward. Their solution is to keep doing what theyve always done: just keep winning. Draft well from the position in which youre placed and make the kids earn the playing time.Detroit signed Green last year, and he has seven points in eight games this season. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Greens teammates are learning how to play to his strengths more, to take advantage of his skating.Green said it took him half a season to get comfortable on a new team. Now, here he is.Weve changed up a few things, but mostly its a confidence thing, Green said. We are detailed in our assignments, and it has shown this season.Both Holland and Blashill phoned Vanek when he was a free agent and made their pitch to get him to Detroit. They wanted him playing in front of the net. They loved the idea of another right-handed shot. They realize hes not a guy who needs 18 minutes per game to put up points. Right now, hes averaging 13:11, the lowest of his career. He has eight points in seven games. Its been a great fit.Am I as fast as Larkin or McDavid? Not even close, Vanek said. I never was and never will be. But I can read the game, I have hockey IQ -- which, to me, is something that is leaving the game a little.The Red Wings have started 6-2-0, in large part because of veterans Vanek and Green. Its important to note that while their even-strength save percentage and shooting percentage are near the top of the league, that wont continue. Detroit controls only 45.6 percent of its even-strength shot attempts, a rate that has to improve for it to keep winning. So, despite the early success, there are red flags for the Red Wings.But on Tuesday, Larkin joined the party with a two-goal game against the?Carolina Hurricanes.?They were his first goals of the season. Athanasiou scored for the second consecutive game, showing what it can look like when all generations are contributing for the Red Wings.Detroit has opted not to go all-in on the youth movement, and if theres a franchise that has earned the benefit of the doubt, its this one.The media wants a young game, they want the speed, they want the addiction, Ott said, before being interrupted momentarily.Dont blame it all on us, Steve.No, I think its true, he continued. Who is the model that built completely young and won everything? It hasnt happened. Why has that not happened? You tell me.Because successful teams need a mix of youth and experience. Its early, but the Red Wings believe they have the right mix. Theyre winning with veterans and young guns, they have a kid in forward?Anthony Mantha, who is banging on the door with six goals in five AHL games. They dont think Tyler Bertuzzi is too far behind him. Eventually Evgeny Svechnikov will be there, too.Theres a plan in place to keep the success going. No, the Red Wings are not interested in tearing it down. Just winning, as theyve done for two and a half decades. Perhaps, in Detroit, theyve earned the right to keep trying. ' ' '