Good classical defense against 1.d4 for club play

I don't understand what the above means

It means that 1.d4 e6 2. c4 d5 is not Semi-Slav. Black won't "have to" play it. This is not exactly rocket science.

Nothing about 1...e6 as a reply to 1.d4 bears even a trace of forcing Black into a Semi-Slav if he doesn't want to.

Ooops... Silfir, you're absolutely right!

Well, the consensus ssems to indicate that any opening is a good opening if you know how to play it.  So, I'll get myself a copy of Fundamental Chess Openings (excellent suggestion!) and shop around for something that suits my style.

ENDGAME STUDY is definitely a high priority to me and I'll study, but I've only been back for a couple months and there's only so many hours in a day. Gotta' start somewhere and unless I can get through the opening and middle game I'll never see an end game.

Thanks to everyone who made a suggestion, they are all very helpful and appreciated.

Nimzo indian defense tops all of these

It is not a classical defense.

Tartakower QGD

What about the KID?

The plan here is pretty simple... move your knight from f6 push the f and g pawns down the board and attack untill the cows come home... You don't have to worry about being any good at the end game because if your attack fails the endgame is so bad for you that it wont matter if your krammik.

If you play the french then I suggest playing 1....e6 against d4 also. many opponents with then play e4 and you get a french. If they play anthing else just play Nf6 and go into a nimzo indian, very comfortable for french players in my experience

and to add this is what I play and I would say at least 1/3 of my games against d4 end up into a normal frnech almost immediatly. 

I also am a big believer in 1.d4 e6 with the idea of transposing to a normal Nimzo/QID/QGD, which are my 1.d4 defenses.

In my experience, I only occassionally get a French transposition (maybe 15%), so that is not my main motivation.  The key for me is that I play the Sicilain Taimanov and French, and thus play 1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5!?  I've found this opening sequence highly effective at club level, particularly in keeping the position dynamic enough to allow wins against lower rated players who special in some offbeat d-pawn line.

I could see the theoretical drawback of allowing a French at FM+ levels.  I do not believe there is any drawback at USCF class A / expert levels.

I also like to throw in the early c5 at times

And as a note there have been a couple french openings at the tata steel so far, at least one yesterday :)