The Legend of Goose Loonies

and... we've moved!

2009-09-16T10:04:00.001-04:00

You can now find us over at wordpress.

We're back!

2009-09-06T18:37:00.003-04:00

After taking about 4 months off from blogging about sports, we have some making up to do. Some points:

* The NHL is dead to us.
* The Tigers are not.
* The Red Sox are a whining bunch of babies who deserve nothing less than a 25 game losing streak.
* Michigan Football is back.
* The Lions, well, are.

Point 1- how does a team that goes 52 games and can't stand up on two skates, is mired in 11th place, all of the sudden go on an unprecedented 30 game run, followed by a stanly [sic] cup?

Point 2- Now 7 games up, thanks to a Brandon Inge slam in the ninth inning in St Pete.

Point 3- Miguel Cabrera gets hit. The BoSox know, or should know that either Pedroia or Youk is gonna get hit. Pedroia comes up with one on and no out. OK, so we'll wait for Youk. Youk gets hit. Takes off after a rookie pitcher who weighs 25 pounds less, throws his helmet(!), and then proceeds to get slammed by said pitcher. Eat it boston, this team isn't a quarter as likeable as the '04 bunch.

Point 4- With a QB, everything is good in the land of maize and blue.

Point 5- No comment.

How's Your Golf Game, Adam?

2009-04-15T10:51:00.003-04:00

A little over a year after demanding a trade to Colorado, in which he put his then current team (Columbus) in a very bad situation by letting Colorado know he was demanding his way out and taking any leverage Columbus had and sticking in the garbage, Adam Foote is now hitting the greater Denver municipal links. Meanwhile in Detroit, Columbus is preparing to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champion Red Wings in the playoffs.

We hope it was worth it to go from a bad, but up and coming team to a team that finished dead last in the Western Conference.

Adam Foote, you are a giant douche who gives hockey players a bad name. We hope your driver swings around and hits you in the leg and tears ever ligament in your knee and you can never play hockey again.

Red Wings Playoff Opponent, Round 1

2009-04-13T23:57:00.004-04:00

We hate Oohi. We hate Oohi with the white hot heat of a thousand suns. And with that, the Wings begin their defense of the Stanley Cup against a team from Oohi, making their first ever appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs. This does not bode well for them. The last team to make their first appearance against the Wings lost 4-2 in a series that wasn't as close as the score, and the team prior actually had their first two playoff appearances against the Wings, and went 0-8. Expect more of the same.

Columbus gave the Wings fits this season. They are set up perfectly to upset the champs, much like Anaheim did in 2003. The Wings have trouble with 1) teams with speed; and 2) hard working, hard checking teams. Columbus fits both of these. But that was the regular season. Much like the NFL pre-season, it means absolutely nothing except who plays Game 7 at home. When the Wings wanted to win, when the Wings wanted to dominate, they did. This is a veteran team, one that knows what's on the line. And while Columbus makes for a nice story, they will not win a game.

This is the perfect scenario for Detroit. They get the closest team to them for the first round of the playoffs, which means very little travel, and for the fans, no 10:30pm starts. At least, not until the Campbell Conference Finals against San Jose.

Detroit 4, Columbus Oohi 0

Jim Leyland, circus monkey

2009-04-07T21:31:00.008-04:00

Seriously. This dude is as predictable as Sidney Crosby crying.

8th inning, Tigers up 3-1, one on one out for the Blue Jays. Lefty coming up.

Jim Leyland: goto Seay.
Seay gets ground out, right hander coming up.
Jim Leyland: Take out Seay.

Idiot. This is your best reliever. Bar none. He has faced exactly one batter, and that bastion of power is Marco Scutaro coming up. Not to mention he is BETTER AGAINST RIGHT HANDED BATTERS! Even Mario and Rod mentioned that Bobby wanted to work on getting better against leftys. For the love of everything good, leave him in to face what would have been the last batter of the inning.

Jim Leyland: goto Lyon.
Lyon gives up single and home run. Tigers now down 4-3.

FIRE.LEYLAND.YESTERDAY.

The Tigers hat ban starts early this year.

UPDATE: Oh, and we sure are glad the Tigers got Edgar Renteria instead of having this guy on the pitching staff. Dave Dombrowski WIN.

2009 Tigers preview, part 2

2009-04-06T09:19:00.002-04:00

Projected starting lineup (Projected Avg/OBP/SLG from baseballprojection.com)

CF: Curtis Granderson (.276,.350,.474)
2B: Placido Polanco (.303,.350,406)
RF: Magglio Ordonez (.302,.368,.481)
1B: Miguel Cabrera (.314,.388,.553)
LF: Carlos Guillen (.288,.366,.447)
DH: Marcus Thames (.249,.314,.506)
C: Gerald Laird (.249,.308,.389)
3B: Brandon Inge (.233,.312,.392)
SS: Adam Everett (.238,.289,.331)

The hole in the bottom third of the lineup is going to be something the Tigers fight all season long. Dombrowski brought Gerald Laird and Adam Everett in for their defense, for obvious reasons, and should help out the pitching staff with their confidence, as well as shrinking the ERAs by actually catching and throwing the ball. But from an offensive standpoint, the Tigers will take a step back from their top five offense from last season. An offense which, by the way, should have been number 1 if not for an over-managing skipper constantly handcuffing them into one run innings. This lineup 1-5 should still be a force. And sitting at #6 is Marcus Thames who will get an everyday spot in the lineup for the first time, which should actually help those projected numbers get a little higher. This lineup works out well, if Thames can hit bombs and clear the bases so the bottom three of Laird, Inge, and Everett dont end up leaving the bases loaded every inning.

Defensively, the Tigers are strong up the middle. Laird is a solid catcher who will shut down the running game to a great extent. Polanco and Everett are gold-glove candidates every year, and should be able to make the difficult look routine all year long. Granderson in CF patrols the vast Comerica Park outfield as well as any outfielder we have ever seen. On the corners, Miguel Cabrera learned a lot last year about playing first base and has turned into a positive, and Brandon Inge is the best defensive 3B in the league. He has huge range and a rocket arm, and rounds out a Tiger infield that should rank in the top three in baseball. In the outfield, Ordonez has a rocket arm, but is losing a step in range, and Guillen is trying his third position in three years, and we have no idea what to expect from him out there.

The Tigers will be vastly improved defensively this year, and that will help out a pitching staff that will need them to turn batted balls into outs on a regular basis. They will take a step back offensively, but that's all right. We run Jim Leyland a lot crap for his in game decisions regarding bunting and playing small ball Ty Cobb era ball in a 3-run HR era. But no one can argue against his ability to put players in position to succeed. He has consistently done this wherever he has gone, and this lineup is no exception to that. Given that, this lineup gets a C for offense, and an A- for defense.

Prediction: With the questions on the mound, and the gaping hole at the bottom of the lineup, don't expect a return to the playoffs for this team. They will look great at times, but if the bats are quiet, they will struggle mightily, and will fial to make it back to .500 yet.

80-82, third in the AL Central.

Tigers Preview, Part 1

2009-03-28T19:38:00.007-04:00

With Opening Day slowly coming upon us, it is time to go through the Tigers lineup and try to predict where the Tigers end up this season. My thoughts on the pitching staff are followed by the baseballprojection.com predictions.

Rotation:
Justin Verlander: Should bounce back from a below-average season last year. He fights with his consistency, and it seems like innings affect him more than other pitchers. After he threw the no-hitter two years ago, at almost 130 pitches, he never recovered to have a strong season. He is dominant the first two times through the lineup, but fades after that. Leyland and new pitching coach Rick Knapp will hopefully see this and adjust. I can see him as a 16 game winner, with an ERA around 3.50. (12-8, 3.94)

Jeremy Bonderman: Bondo fought injuries all of last season, but don't expect a repeat of 2006 JB. He is a solid starter, and will win more than he loses, but he is not a 20 game winner. Bondo will return with a 12 win performance. (8-6, 3.99)

Armando Galarraga: Armando jumped on the scene last season as a rookie, surprising everyone when he was called up to fill in spots in the MASH unit that was the Tigers rotation. Any high hopes for this season are tempered by the sophomore jinx that always seem to come with these guys, although he pitched well in the World Baseball Classic. I see him around 10 wins, with an ERA hovering around 4.50. (8-7, 4.27)

Nate Robertson: We will be surprised if Nate lasts until the All-Star break in the rotation. He is built as a bull pen guy, dominant in spurts, and a BP pitcher in others. If he stays in the rotation, he will be around a 7 or 8 win guy and an ERA just under 5.00. (10-9, 4.53)

Edwin Jackson: The newest starter, picked up from the AL Champion ~~Red Sox~~ ~~Yankees~~ Devil Rays (they will always be the Devil Rays), is a young version of Zach Miner. An innings eater, with a little upside. He is not dominant, but he will go out every fifth day and give you solid innings and a chance to win. We can see him going 10-8 with an ERA around 4.25-4.50. (8-8, 4.78)

Dontrelle Willis: Who. F'ing. Knows. (7-8, 5.09)

Overall, this rotation is not going to scare anybody. Verlander will go out every fifth day when his arm doesn't hurt, and put the fear of zero in the opponents. But after that, nobody will have managers going out of their way in fear putting a lineup together. But, they won't have to. If the Tigers can get 6 or 7 strong innings, and hand it over to the bullpen, the offense is strong enough to get some wins.

Bullpen:
Zach Miner (5-3, 3.72)
Bobby Seay (3-2, 3.78)
Fernando Rodney (4-2, 3.67)
Joel Zumaya (3-2, 3.64)
Acquilino Lopez (4-3, 4.11)
Brandon Lyon (5-3, 3.84)

Zumaya is a question mark, but dominant when he's healthy. Fernando Rodney can be dominant when he's hitting the strike zone. Brandon Lyon was brought in to be a closer. Zach Miner is an innings eater. And then there's Bobby Seay. Bobby Seay has been the best, most reliable relief pitcher in the Tigers bullpen for two years, and is the most ill-used releiver in baseball. Leyland loves him some lefty-lefty matchups, at the expense of getting good pitchers in the game, and keeps Seay as his LOOGY (lefty one out guy). Leyland needs to drop the "closer" from the bullpen, and put in the pitcher who is hottest in at the most critical time, which might, believe it or not, be the 7th, not the 9th inning. This bullpen is fine, if used properly. But proper use will be about as often as Comerica Park seeing perfect games this season.

Overall, this is not a pitching staff that will win the Tigers a lot of 2-1 or 1-0 games. They will need a lot of help if the offense starts slowly like it did a year ago. Overall, the staff gets a C-, and would lead the Tigers to about 75 wins with an average offense. We'll come back with the offensive preview later.

Oy.

2009-03-28T18:49:00.009-04:00

Who is DB?

One team outshot the opponent 42-30. The other outshot their opponent 43-13. Both teams were heavy favorites. Both teams lost 2-0. 85 shots, 0 goals. 43 shots against, four goals against. The Red Wings played the worst team in the NHL, at home, and got beat by a goaltender who was in their system last season. Michigan began, and ended their NCAA tournament run against a team that had never won an NCAA tournament game.

Fail. At least the Wings get to keep playing.

Masters of the Obvious, $400

2009-03-27T10:19:00.005-04:00

DB found a new toy. . .

What is Michigan?

I'll take Masters of the Obvious for $600 Alex.

Twin Killing

2009-03-23T23:12:00.003-04:00

First, the basketball team goes down to Oklahoma, ruining any NC hopes Michigan had in the first weekend. We know, we know -- they were a 10 seed, had no chance, but hey, they were there, and everybody has a chance.

But then, Michigan hockey goes down to Notre Dame in the CCHA Championship game at Joe Louis Arena, 5-2 after taking a 2-0 lead in the first. Hopefully they got their loss out of the way early, because starting next weekend, it's tourney time. First up is perennial powerhouse Air Force. We would go on and on about how Michigan's opponent is this or that, but we refuse on account of their being a service academy.

Go Blue. That is all.

Hey -- it was nice just to make the tournamen... wait, what?

2009-03-19T23:12:00.005-04:00

Photo from Detroit News.
For the first time since 1998, the Michigan Wolverines are in the NCAA Tournament. And for the first time since beating Davidson that year, the Michigan Wolverines are winners of an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament game. Michigan started and ended the game slow, but that 30 minutes in the middle was good enough to hang with the best teams in the country. Not beat them, but hang with them for sure. Manny Harris is a beast, DeShawn Sims played well inside on both ends, and "Who the hell is" Stu Douglass provided some spark from three-point land, not to mention his head butt of Oglesby's forearm.

Next up is Big 12 favorite Oklahoma. All pressure is off Big Blue at this point, which should be scary for the Sooners. When this team plays loose, they play well.

In the meantime, Michigan hockey is coming off their utter humiliation of the Western Michigan Broncos last weekend, and play Alaska in the CCHA semi-finals tomorrow night, then the Northern-Notre Dame winner the following night. Back-to-back CCHA Championships. WOOT!

Congratulations Martin Brodeur

2009-03-14T22:28:00.005-04:00

Tonight, Martin Brodeur tied our favorite goaltender of all time Patrick Roy for career wins by beating, ironically, the Canadiens in Montreal for his 551st win. Congratulations.

We remember back when hockey was popular and on ESPN, and Chris Terreri was the next great goalie, but got hurt in 1992. New Jersey turned to a young man from Montreal named Martin Brodeur. All he did was go on to win the 1994 Calder trophy for top rookie, losing to the New York Rangers in the Wales Conference Finals in 7 games in what is still the best playoff series we have ever seen. The next season, Brodeur led the Devils into the Finals against a heavily favored Detroit Red Wings team that never really figured out what hit them (at least Kozlov still doesn't know what hit him). That was the first of three Stanley Cups for our second favorite goaltender of all time. All he's done since then is rack up win after win after win, and when NHL teams play New Jersey, they know goals will come at a premium.

Congrats Marty. One more for the record all your own.

Worst Case Scenario

2009-03-11T23:43:00.005-04:00

Our alma mater, the CCHA giant that is Western Michigan, is traveling 60 miles east to take on TLoGL favorite Michigan this weekend in round two of the CCHA playoffs. When Western takes on Michigan in football next fall, and we will be there (thanks DP), we will only be rooting for the Broncos to hang around and not embarrass themselves. Even if the Broncos go 13-0, they have exactly zero shot at winning anything, so we basically root for them to score some points, poke some holes in Michigan's game plan so DickRod can plug them ASAP, and lose 47-21. In the other sports however, we root for the brown and gold not just to win, but to rub Red's face in the defeat. It's similar to playing hockey in high school, when lining up opposite our good friend and now brother-in-law, when we had a nice pushing and shoving match and damn near came to blows. Here, too, we wish no good luck to the maize and blue, nor do we wish any victories for Red's club.

Boo Blue.

Go Broncos!

UPDATE: It was worser (yes, worser. worse doesn't do it justice) than we thought. Michigan dominated. Saturday night's game saw Big Blue outshoot the Broncos 21-0 and outscore them 3-0 in the first period. WMU's season is over.

GO BLUE! That felt good.

No Win Situation

2009-03-11T23:20:00.003-04:00

TLoGL is very fond of the NFL Draft. It is our favorite time of the NFL season. As not very huge fans of the NFL game itself, we find ourselves watching the combine with great enthusiasm and fervor, while preparing to see what our favorite team, the Detroit Lions, will do with their opportunities on what is known around here as "Super Bowl Saturday." This year, Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand have orchestrated a couple tremendous moves in absolutely fleecing Jerry Jones and the Dallas Cowboys. First is the trade of locker room cancer and over-rated wide-out Roy Williams. Then came the dump of over-the-hill-and-was-never-really-any-good-anyway QB Jon Kitna, who the Lions were going to release as a cap casualty anyway two days after the deal. Instead, they get a starting CB for a guy who by all accounts didn't want to be in Detroit anyway. Good show. Our confidence in the Lions front office is growing. That may not be saying much, but it's the little victories that keep us going right now.

But the Lions, by virtue of going 0-16 last season, have the first pick overall. Nothing good can come from this. The #1 pick demands big money, and the problem is not that the Lions don't have the cap room to accomodate, it's that there is nobody out there worthy of that money this year. There is no Tom Brady (what round did he go in again?) in this year's draft, so the Lions are in a no-win situation. No matter what they do, it will be wrong. The position most worth #1 money is the QB position. But the top two contenders are a guy with an arm but no decision making ability, and a guy with decision making ability and accuracy, but no arm. What about offensive line? Yeah, maybe, and this would be the smart thing to do, but Mayhew and Lewand will get torched in Detroit for not bringing in a guy to sell tickets right away.

What about trading down? Who wants it? Everybody else knows the value of this pick, and that it is nil, so nobody wants it. The only possibility we have heard is maybe giving it to Denver so they can take Stafford or Sanchez and get Cutler in return. This would be a tremendous move by the Lions, and a terrible move by Denver, which is why we don't see it happening. It is just too far-fetched.

What we will see on April 25 around 4:15pm, is who is running the show in Allen Park. If it is the Fords, we will see Matt Stafford. If it is Mayhew and Lewand, and they are smart about the pick and not afraid of being torched by the less than stellar fanbase, they will go another route.

The Twins are here!

2009-03-11T23:12:00.001-04:00

Holy crap- I have kids. Two of them. Right now. Wilson Reagan was born at 7:56am and Andrew Patrick was born at 7:58am on Wednesday, March 4.

Drew

Wil

Proud Papa

Wil

Drew

Lightning strikes. Twice.

2009-03-11T23:10:00.003-04:00

To borrow a phrase from well-known marxist Keith Olbermann, "from way downtown. Bang!"

And, uh, Bang! again.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Attack of the PC Police

2009-02-27T08:56:00.008-05:00

According to a story from Sporting News, there are some lawmakers in Connecticut that feel bad about Jim Calhoun being the highest paid state employee with a salary of $1.6 million, when the state has a budget deficit of over $1 billion.

Let's go through this in detail shall we?

Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, and Rep. Roberta Willis, D-Lakeville, said Thursday that Calhoun's outburst on Saturday does not reflect well on him or the state's flagship university.

The outburst in question?

[A] political activist and freelance reporter, questioned Calhoun at a news conference following Saturday's 64-50 win over South Florida. He asked why the coach of a public university collects a salary of $1.6 million while the state has a budget deficit of more than $1 billion this fiscal year and up to $8.7 billion over the next two fiscal years.

Calhoun first responded with a joke, then grew angry as Krayeske continued the line of questioning.

"My best advice to you is, shut up," Calhoun said.

A political activist, asking question at a college basketball press conference. Brilliant. Does he have the right to ask about the salary? Maybe. I'd accept arguments from both sides on that question. But to continue to pester Calhoun until the point where he finally had enough is not journalism, it's political activism, and doesn't belong in a college basketball press conference. Save it for the local communist rag.

Why is the line of questioning a bad one? Well, let's see. UConn pays Jim Calhoun $1.6M to coach the basketball team. Not a professor of economics, not a janitor, not a UConn regent, a basketball coach. As such, his number one priority is to take care of himself, and his family. UConn has every right to not pay Jim Calhoun $1.6M, but to pay him something less. But they know that by paying less for one of the top three coaches in the game today is to lose one of the top three coaches in the game today. Calhoun's program does not suck at the teat of the state, drawing state funds to keep it running and fly the team across the country, they generate their own revenue, for their own program as well as for the institution they represent. Sure UConn could pay a lesser coach lesser money, but they know that the $12M the program brings in right now would take a sharp nose dive. This is an investment by the university, and a damn good one. An investment that has a rate of return by my calculations to be around 650%. Try to find another investment like that right now.

This little argument posted by this little political activist, who didn't get his name posted here for the same reason the NFL doesn't put streakers on camera, was not about Calhoun and his salary. It was not about anything but his leveraging a rotten economic time in our history to show his utter jealousy for those that are better off than he is. It is all about class warfare, and an opportunity to push his PC communist views out to a wide range of people. Do professors and teachers deserve to paid better than sports players and coaches? Maybe. That's a debateable proposition. But we live in a free market society. The players and coaches get paid like that because someone thinks they are worth it, and it is an investment. Until teachers and professors can get 20,000 people to drop $30-$50 a ticket to come watch them teach, too bad. It will be a cold day in hell if this blogger could get TEN people to come watch a redesign of a plastic part in an automatic gear shifter for free, let alone pay money to do so. Not to mention it would be a cold day in hell when this blogger complains about not making as much as the punter for the New England Patriots, maybe the most overpaid job in the world.

Get over the petty jealousy and try to make life better for yourself. The avenues are wide open for you. Once you get there, you can try to help bring up some of the less fortunate, rather than pulling from the bottom trying to bring those more fortunate down to your level.

Tuck Furco

2009-01-29T21:23:00.000-05:00

Marty Turco is off the TLoGL Christmas Card list. It's one thing to play hard, to take advantage of available gray areas in the rules to throw an extra jab, take an extra step, or grab hold of a stick quickly to gain an advantage. But flopping in hockey should be punishable by a 10 game suspension the first time, 50 the next. I hate it, and it needs to be dealt with. Every time Holmstrom gets anywhere near a goalie, they flop around like trailer in a tornado. And the worst of them is Marty Turco. He should be suspended for this crap, as should everybody else.

Marty- we used to like you. Now you have joined the ranks of Cindy Crosby and Eli Manning as the least likeable players in sports. May you never win anything, ever.

One msu Goon Off Team, Other Gone for Season

2009-01-28T09:05:00.004-05:00

I'm sure everybody has seen the pathetic display that is msu hockey, specifically the incident at Yost Saturday night, but if you haven't, here is the video.

The Lansing State Journal is now reporting that Conboy has left the team, and that Tropp, should he choose to stay in school, will be re-evaluated in the spring. There is also an investigation by the University of Michigan police into possible criminal charges against the two players.

Said msu head coach Rick Comley,

"I don't think the kids are bad kids. I don't think it was premeditated," Comley said. "But they made bad decisions in a critical time in the game, and it reflected badly on the program.''

First of all, maybe it wasn't premeditated, but just the fact that the kids did this shows that they ARE bad kids. Hockey is an emotional sport, and things can slide out of hand rather quickly. But to tackle a guy, and then slash him in the neck? Coach Comley, this pretty much says that yes, they are bad kids.

Secondly, it was NOT a critical time in the game. Michigan was up two with less than a minute to go, in a game absolutely dominated by Big Blue. This was not a back and forth game, where msu may have some shot of getting two quick ones, they were lucky to be in the game at all.

The Blog that Yost Built has a good writeup on the incident, including the possible criminal charges. As bad as this was, criminal charges are a stretch in a sporting event. If there is anything that would warrant it, this would be the line. If a baseball player uses his bat or a hockey player uses his stick in this fashion, this is the minimum where poor sportsmanship crosses into criminal activity.

Kampfer is OK, and expected to return this weekend, thankfully.

Open Letter to Jim Leyland

2009-01-20T20:50:00.003-05:00

Last may, we made a decision to no longer wear our Tigers hat in public again until Jim Leyland was no longer the manager of the Detroit Tigers. It looks like that isn't going to happen any time soon, so the hat will head back into rotation on an interim basis. But in the meantime, we have a couple requests for the skipper:

- Keep moving guys around to find their comfort zone. You have a knack for solving personnel problems and getting the right guys in the right positions. Very much a positive aspect of your tenure here in Detroit. But. . .

- The Tigers at the plate have a top 10 if not a top 5 offense. Please do not hog-tie it by bunting while down a run in the 4th inning. Jim, you have no idea how many runs the other team will end up with, please do not prevent run scoring for the sake of a 4th inning tie.

- You have no closer. This is actually a good thing. Learn that a closer is not the only guy in the bull pen who can handle the "pressure" of the 9th inning. Sometimes, Jim, facing 3-4-5 in the 8th is more important, and worthy of your top reliever, than facing 6-7-8, just because it happens to be the 9th inning.

- Enough with the LOOGY (Lefty One Out GuY). Your best reliever last season was Bobby Seay, but you refused to use him for more than the one lefty you had him warm up for. Here's a tip: when you did actually leave him in, he was better against rightys than leftys. And a 0.010 benefit from the RHP vs RHH does not overcome the 0.100 drop in talent when you go to someone else.

- Pitch counts. Use them. Know them. Live them. I realize this one will be the hardest to understand, but sending a guy out there to throw 130 pitches every five days does take a toll. It is documented. I know- they used to do it back in the day. But those pitchers, even from the 70's were not facing the batters 1 through 9 they see today. Every pitch is a big one, and it is also proven that pressure pitches take a larger toll than non-pressure pitches.

The Tigers entered play last season prohibitive favorites to win the Central, and finished last. This is directly attributable to the management of the team on the field, costing them countless runs in games that were winnable. The Central is very winnable this season, but they cannot be giving up runs at the plate, and making poor pitching decisions in the late innings.

Jim Schwartz, Welcome to Detroit

2009-01-16T16:11:00.002-05:00

Jim Schwartz was introduced as the Detroit Lions head coach today. I like this for a couple reasons:

1. He was not a defensive line coach, a secondary coach, a wide receiver coach, or a quarterback coach. While he did not oversee an entire team, he did oversee an entire side of the ball as defensive coordinator. The only caveat to this is that he better be able to relinquish control of the defense to whomever he hires as his defensive coordinator.

2. He has a scouting background. He worked with Bill Belichick back in his Cleveland days on scouting college players, so he has a background on what he has looked at before, what has worked, what didn't, and what he can do about it.

3. He comes from a solid program, and his (defensive) teams have generally ranked well. Many say that this comes more from the players than his schemes. Even better. He is coming here to be a head coach, not a coordinator. He doesn't need to have a better defensive scheme than the other guy, he needs to be able to manage a game, and more importantly whom to bring into Detroit.

4. He is a stat guy. I am a stat guy. Nerds everywhere rejoice!

Spagnuolo is a better defensive coordinator, but only time will tell who will be the better head coach. But how can he go wrong? 1-15 is an improvement.

Yup- it's time again

2009-01-16T14:46:00.002-05:00

April 25, 2009

NFL OT

2009-01-11T21:21:00.001-05:00

Maybe it needs to be overhauled. Maybe it needs to be more like college.

But this is the worst reasoning I have ever heard for changing OT in the NFL. . .

Sporting News fail.

Tate Forcier speaks

2009-01-10T10:59:00.005-05:00

Wanna feel better about Michigan football? Head over to MGoBlog and read the interview with Tate Forcier. (Sorry DP.) The money quotes:

TOM: I know everyone is expecting a lot out of you in your first year, how do you deal with the expectations and pressure that comes along with this experience?

TATE: I’ve watched a lot of freshman play, and Coach Smith talked to me about this. I’m not going to try to do too much. I’m going to manage the team, rather than try to make the big play and taking a sack. The seniors and juniors make the plays, and I’ll just keep moving the chains. Take it one week at a time.

TOM: What were your thoughts and initial feelings when you heard that Shavodrick Beaver had changed his commitment to Tulsa?

TATE: Shavodrick, I told Coach Smith I knew it was going to come. I almost felt like he was just trying to wait me out, to see what I would do. I think sometimes kids make their choice for the wrong reasons, and then this ends up happening. Decommitting happens though, but this is Michigan, we should have no problem filling those spots, and we haven’t. As much as we would like to have those guys, we have found great replacements for them that are as good, if not better.

Referencing Michigan as "we," is tremendous in and of itself. But the maturity this guy is showing as an incoming freshman who will be fighting for a job (um, yeah, right) is awesome. Be sure to read the whole interview over there. It will get you pumped for the spring game.

PILE ON!

2009-01-06T10:27:00.003-05:00

The defending Eastern Conference champs sit at the halfway point of the 2008-09 season out of the playoffs. The Pittsburgh Penguins, this blogs least likeable team in sports, have dropped five in a row, six of their last seven, and seven of their last nine games. They were just blanked 4-0 by a goalie who was coming off the flu, and had no shutouts this season. The Pens had 1:59 of a 5 on 3 advantage, and managed only one shot.

Frustration is setting in in the Pens locker room, and it is starting to show now on the ice. After a great scoring chance was wasted by Hockey Jesus putting the shot right into the pads of Henrik Lundqvist, Crosby slammed into the boards and swung his stick into the glass. This can't happen. Fans get frustrated. We here at TLoGL get frustrated. Sports talk guys get frustrated. Hockey superstars get frustrated too, but they can't show it like this.

We saw this in the Finals last year. Pittsburgh rolled through the Eastern Conference playoffs. They went up 3-0 on every team in the East, and only when the Rangers and Philly won their respective Game 4's did Pittsburgh experience anything resembling adversity. Once the Red Wings took Games 1 and 2 in Detroit, all Michel Therrien could say is something to the effect of, "I hope my stars find a way." Therrien better regain control of his team, a very young team, and quickly. He cannot afford to have the NHL's brightest star (in their opinion, not this blogger's) getting frustrated and throwing punches instead of game winning goals. They cannot have one of their top defensemen losing it in front of his own net and wailing on a guy who hit him legally, while the opposition takes advantage of the gaping hole in the defense and scoring.

Unfortunately, they will come out of this, and they will be a stronger team for it. But this entire team has some growing up to do. And a head coach who actually has some coaching to do.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T09:54:00.003-05:00

Or, Happy Greatest Sports Day of the Year. College football all day long, something about a hockey game at Wrigley, and more college football.

Love it.

Happy 2009!

Repeat GLI Champs

2008-12-29T18:42:00.004-05:00

It just looks right. The Michigan Wolverines sign hanging from the GLI Tournament banner at the Joe. Michigan dominated this year after escaping last season with the trophy, beating up on Michigan State (again!) 5-1. MGoBlue.com has all the details.

Michigan is ranked #11 in the nation in hockey, #24 in basketball, and, oh, wait- never mind about the other sport.

It's official

2008-12-28T16:17:00.010-05:00

As if there was any doubt, the Lions went up to Lambeau and completed the first 0-16 season in NFL history.

But you know what the difference between ~~8-8 9-7~~ 11-5 and 0-16 is?

Better draft picks.

That's it.

And lots of them this year thanks to the trade of Roy Williams to Dallas. The most important off-season in Detroit Lions history, has begun.

I would like to give some credit where credit is due. The refs today in the 4 games I watched were very good. They got the calls right on the field for the most part, and if not, the replays were called correctly. The Lions lost today because they were by far not the better team. Which was the same for the other games I watched. I have a tendency to ream on these guys constantly, so I like to point out when they do things right, as well. Good job guys.

The Bet

2008-12-28T10:42:00.002-05:00

My brother was telling us about a friend who laid down $200 on a 10,000-1 bet that the Detroit Lions will go 0-16. When the Lions lose today at Lambeau, that $200 will turn into $2 million.

But, he was offered $1 million to settle it prior to the game. So the question is, would you take the $1 million, or let it ride to the game today? I would let it ride, because the Lions have exactly 0% chance to win. So it's less a bet, more an investment with a guaranteed return. They argued the opposite. They said that $1 million is enough to live off of for the rest of their lives, if invested properly.

Any thoughts?

Michigan ranked!

2008-12-27T22:08:00.002-05:00

For the first time in almost three years, Michigan basketball is ranked in the top 25 in the AP poll. They sit at 24, after starting the year beating two #4 teams, and hanging with a #3 team on their floor. Beilein has the Blue hitting 3-pointers, and playing a stout 1-3-1 defense, causing confusion for the opposition offense. They need to get better on the boards if they want to make a run in the tough Big Ten, and of they can, they could make a healthy run out of the first weekend in The Tournament.

Yup- I said The Tournament.

HISTORY!

2008-12-22T11:01:00.006-05:00

One year ago, the New England Patriots were gearing up for what was to be a Super Bowl preview at Giants Stadium. The Patriots were hoping for a nice chunk of history, and pulled out a come-from-behind victory to seal up the first ever 16-0 season in NFL history.

When the NFL went to the salary-cap, the league in my mind started going downhill. I didn't hate the teams I once hated, I didn't really love the teams I once loved with the same passion, because every team was basically the same team, with few exceptions. It made every game basically a coin flip, and whichever team got the bounces and/or the calls, would win. When the Vikings went 15-1 in 1998, I remember thinking that this was as high a win total as anybody can get in the salary cap era. That team was not just one of the many average teams, but was a great team loaded with talent, and if they couldn't get to 16-0, nobody ever would. I even ran some statistical analysis on the records of every team in the league in 2004, I think. I found that there was no difference between putting 32 teams of exactly equal value on the field and where the records would end up, and the actual final records of the 32 teams (it was actually a lot more in depth than this, I am over-simplifying for the sake of time). People seem to think that if that was true, they would all be 8-8. Well, not really. There is luck, and that would skew the records of some higher than others, with 13-3 being the best realistic record of any team.

Then there was the 2007 New England Patriots. They weren't just beating teams, they were beating them soundly. It wasn't luck that was pushing them toward history, but a collection of talent and coaching that would put them far and away the best team in the league. I started re-thinking my opinion of the league as just a collection of 32 average teams, and started believing that the league was actually a group of great, good, bad, and terrible teams again. I still hate the salary cap and I still think it's communist in nature. If teams can't afford to compete with the higher echelon in the league, maybe they don't deserve to have a team.

Now, any thoughts of a 32 average team league has been absolutely shattered. Just one year later, we have our beloved Lions, the first 0-15 team in NFL history. For 51 years, this team has been mired in mediocrity, and those were the good years. Since their last NFL Championship in 1957, they have had exactly 17 winning seasons, and one playoff victory. Only one. There was little doubt, that as professional football teams go, at least in my lifetime, this one has been the worst run. But this year, they join the 2003 Detroit Tigers as record setting losers.
Will they go 0-16? Of course. They haven't won a game in Wisconsin since my sophomore year of high school. That was a while back. They have no quarterback, no offensive line, no defensive line, no linebackers, no DB's, a terrible coach, and their best player is a damn kicker. They have zero chance to win next Sunday, even with a short week for the Packers.

Marinelli has shown the same talent for being a head coach as Marty Morninwheg. Good coordinators who know their positions, but when it comes to being a head coach, they have no grasp of how to run a football team. When was the last time the Lions went into a 2-minute warning with three timeouts? How many yards have been called back because of illegal procedure calls? I can think of one touchdown from yesterday.

This off-season has the chance to be the best in Detroit Lions history. With the trade to Dallas of extremely talented but perpetually confused Roy Williams, the Lions have a host of high draft picks. The gut reaction will be to go out and get a QB. They can't until they shore up the O-Line. Not even Tom Brady could lead this offense to anything as it stands. They need O-line help first. Then, they need need D-line help, for the exact same reason. They can't get pressure on any other QB without blitzing, and this is the worst running D-line I have ever seen. They get blown off the ball at the start, in the middle, and at the end of every single game. My advice, for whatever it's worth, is to parlay those high picks into more picks in the 2nd-4th rounds. Make your hay now on the role players, get a solid base, and then go get your superstars. The Lions already have the receiver who is quickly becoming one of the best in the league, leave him there. Then, take the damn roof off the building. Make this a place where when opposing teams see @Detroit, they think "oh shit, not there," instead of thinking of it as a week off. Whoever gets installed as team president, go out and mingle with the fans before games. Talk to them, associate with them. Get them excited to be a Detroit Lions fan, and stoke that enthusiasm. This is the best fan base in all of sports. If it wasn't, Ford Field would be empty each and every week.

When the Red Wings win Stanley Cups, they get a million people downtown. When the Lions finally break through, there will be 20 million people downtown.

One more thing- Who is this guy?

Photos from detnews.com.

Anything you can do, I can do better

2008-12-19T09:17:00.004-05:00

Not to be outdone by the "referees" in the NFL, the NHL referees decided to close their eyes and decide games themselves based on nothing they actually saw on the ice.

First, in Tampa, the Avs and Bolts went to a shootout. Tampa Bay shot first and missed their first two shots. Milan Hejduk was the second shooter for Colorado, and made a move to goalie Mike Smith's (WTF! This is hockey! This better be pronounced mi-shay smu-the-lay) right. Just before making the move, Smith reached out to poke check Hejduk, but he was still too far away. As Milan made his move, Smith followed, swinging his stick over as well, putting it in an awkward position. He reached up with his blocker to make the save, and dropped his stick in the process. Somehow, the refs gathered that he was throwing his stick, and awarded the goal to Hejduk. They awarded a game-winning goal to a guy who didn't score, and for a play that the referees could not have seen.

Then in overtime in Dallas, Manny Malhotra drove the net on Marty Turco, who made the save. The puck then caromed off Malhotra's skate and in. Again, somehow the refs saw a distinct kicking motion, and disallowed the goal. Disallowing a game-winning goal on a play they could not have seen. Dallas went on to win in a shootout. Even the reply refs blew this one.

At least the Wings game was never in doubt, much thanks to Evgeni Nabakov not being able to see the puck apparently. Wings win 6-0, and hopefully gain some confidence and momentum going forward on the defensive end. After the first 10 minutes completely in the Wings end, Franzen sent a normally inicuous shot toward the net that Nabakov reacted to much too late. That got the Wings going, and it was all Detroit from there on. The Sharks looked like they played an overtime game the night before. They just kinda looked sluggish. Good for the Wings to stick it to them while they were down.

I'll post the Youtube when it goes up, but Western Michigan alumni Joe Corvo got an OT winner that was unbelievable for Carolina as well against Florida. He held the puck on defense for about 6 and a half minutes, and had a wide open net to score in. Awesome.

Meanwhile in Pittsburgh, the Penguins keep showing why there is no less likeable team in sports. ~~Hockey Jesus~~ Sydney Crosby continues to whine and cry his way getting the benefit of damn near every call, actually takes a roughing penalty out of frustration, and Brooks Orpik. Brooks Orpik got run into by an Atlanta Thrasher from behind, after that Thrasher was knocked down by Orpik's defense partner, and he turns and starts throwing haymakers with his glove on. That's douche-tastic in and of itself, but in doing so, he left his assignment, and Atlants scored on the play. Nice work Brooks, keep up the good work. Just another douche on a completely douchey team, led by their constantly whining coach with his horrible French accent.

Sharks - Red Wings

2008-12-18T07:52:00.003-05:00

The Sharks have the best record in hockey. By far. They are doing everything right. New coach Todd McClellan has them playing smart hockey, not just the Ron Wilson "go out and try to outscore the opposotion" hockey. They are the best offense in the league, and the third best defense.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings are cruising along at a nice clip if you look at only their record. But they have struggled mightily this year at the aspect that has been their forte. They rank 23rd in defense, with a penalty kill under 20%. That is bad for any team, but for this one, it is horrible. Since Scotty Bowman arrived in 1993, the emphasis has always been on the defensive end. With the second ranked offense, right behind the Sharks, they have been able to win a lot of close games so far. But falling behind 2-0 in the first, and losing three goal leads in the third adds up quickly, and they will start losing a lot of these games at some point.

Tonight's game will be a nice test for them, to see if they can bounce back from a bad, bad 3-2 loss at home to Colorado. San Jose played an OT game last night in ~~Hell~~ Columbus, so the Wings should jump on them early. It's very early in the season, and there is plenty of time to fix what's ailing them. Hopefully it starts tonight.

67 years ago

2008-12-07T18:11:00.005-05:00

Thanks to DP for the reminder. . .

NCAA Football Playoff

2008-12-07T14:38:00.010-05:00

Those who know me, know that I have NEVER advocated a playoff system for NCAA Football. I hate the BCS, as it professes to be a panacea for what fans perceived to be a failed Bowl system. I would rather have the old bowl system than the BCS, and also a playoff system than the BCS. The BCS has failed, year in and year out, and the rule makers try to change the rules to overcome a problem from that year, only to have another problem creep up the following year. Personally, I believe the entire season is a playoff, and the old bowl system created the best thing in sports: the argument. I love talking to Nebraska fans about how the speed of the Michigan linebackers would have dismantled Scott Frost and the option, not to mention "the kick" against Missouri that kept their season alive and the Tom Osbourne sympathy votes to create a split championship.

This year is different. As every year is different. I think there are five teams with a legitimate claim to face off against Florida for the National Championship.

Oklahoma: Will get the shot, won the toughest conference this season.
Texas: Some would say were robbed of the opportunity to play for the Big 12 Championship.
Alabama: Already had their shot at Florida, but having your only loss against the best team in the country is a good argument.
Penn State: Were one bad week from being undefeated in an improved Big Ten season. Florida had one bad week too, remember?
USC: Another dominant team with one bad week in their results.

With all this in mind, there is a way to keep the best of both worlds. I am not the first to come up with this idea, but this is how I'd like to see it:

Take the 11 conference champs.
Then take 5 at-large teams.

Done.

Now, the rankings are from my ranking system (see below), but there will always be the arguments for who should have and should not have made it in. Just like the Basketball tourney. But the first round is played at the higher-ranked team's home field, then you move out to the bowl venues. Second round the week before New Years, national semis New Years Day, and the National Championship on January 8.

This solves my problem with dumping the Bowl system altogether, solves the problem of including everyone who "deserves" a shot, and even gives the smaller conferences a chance at the title, which is what everybody wants right?

*Ratings through games of December 12*
	Team	W-L	Rating	Conf
1	Florida	12-1	97.4	SEC
2	Texas	11-1	96.5	B12
3	Oklahoma	12-1	96.4	B12
4	Southern Cal	11-1	96.1	P10
5	Alabama	12-1	95.1	SEC
6	Penn State	11-1	94.9	B10
7	Ohio State	10-2	93.6	B10
8	Boise St	12-0	92.6	WAC
9	Utah	12-0	91.6	MW
10	TCU	10-2	91.1	MW
11	Texas Tech	11-1	89.8	B12
12	Iowa	8-4	86.5	B10
13	Ball St	12-1	84.4	MAC
14	Missouri	9-4	83.7	B12
15	Oklahoma St	9-3	83.4	B12
16	Cincinnati	11-2	82.8	BigE
17	Pittsburgh	9-3	82.6	BigE
18	Mississippi	8-4	81.7	SEC
19	Oregon	9-3	81.5	P10
20	California	8-4	80.8	P10
21	Georgia	9-3	80.0	SEC
22	Florida St	8-4	79.4	ACC
23	Michigan St	9-3	78.8	B10
24	Brigham Young	10-2	77.3	MW
25	Oregon St	8-4	77.0	P10

It's Great, To Be, A Michigan Wolverine

2008-12-07T08:58:00.015-05:00

First a quick update: I predicted a 30-24 win for Florida. Final score, 31-20 Florida. Very close, but I ended up on the wrong side of the line. Fail. I thought Florida was the best team in the nation, and Alabama found that out.

Meanwhile, up in ~~Hell~~ East Lansing, Travis Turnbull put the finishing touches on a weekend home-and- home sweep of Sparty, netting a hat-trick in a 5-3 comeback win at Munn. Caporusso put the finishing touches on by scoring the game winner with 1:36 to go in the game. This is one night after a 6-1 drubbing in front of the Yost faithful. Michigan is ranked #14 right now, not where they want to be by any stretch, but MSU is unranked, far from the Sparty hockey teams of the last few years. Miami is the class of the CCHA, but Red has the boys working their way up to greet them. They are off until the GLI fires up Dec. 27. Speaking of working their way up the ranks...

Pure awsomeness. Michigan beats the #4 team in the country for the second time this season. First it was then #4 UCLA, now Dook. Too bad this one doesn't count for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge, it would have tied it up. Beilein has these guys playing well, both offensively and defensively. DeShawn Sims scored 28, and Michigan outrebounded Duke 35-34, something that was missing and probably cost them the Maryland game the other night. I'm not going to go into the details of this game beyond that, I just want to mention one thing. College basketball fans "storm the floor" waaaaaaay too much. The fans will run onto the court for anything any more. But I think for a team that hasn't been to a Tourney in 10 years, has been the fourth or fifth best team in the STATE for many of those years, to beat the #4 team in the country, to beat DOOK, at home, well, I think this one was OK.

As the local Kalamazoo sports guy Andy Pepper said, "After the football season these guys endured, I'm surprised they didn't take the hoops home with them."

Fail

2008-12-06T10:11:00.003-05:00

Because a) Western couldn't beat Ball State in the season finale, b) Buffalo(!) could in the MAC Championship game, and c) Western couldn't beat a dead horse in Mount Pleasant, Western will be home for the holidays, despite winning 9 games. Because Buffalo beat previously undefeated Ball State at Ford Field, they will be taking the spot previously taken by the Broncos most probably against UConn in Toronto in the International Bowl.

Good work Ball State. Nice job Broncos.

UPDATE: Uh, Western is going to the Texas Bowl against Rice. Not sure how I missed that. It must be finals time.

Tigers Hot Stove

2008-12-06T09:20:00.003-05:00

The latest rumors have Dumb-rowski chasing Kerry Wood from Cubs fame to backstop the bull pen. Just what they need -- another guy to fill up the M*A*S*H unit back there.

Pittsburgh is looking at Matt Joyce and Jeff Larish in return for Jack Wilson. Wilson is no better then Renteria at the plate, but can wield a mean glove in the 6 hole. The Tigers don't need offense, they need defense and pitching, so I don't hate this move. They are also reportedly looking at Adam Everett from the 'Stros. A little better at the plate, but loses a little as a shortstop. Renteria has a reputation as a solid defensive shortstop, but the Tigers didn't see it last year. He was an error machine. Everett wouldn't be bad, depending on how much scrilla DD is going to throw at him.

More to come from Las Vegas.

The Weekly Game of the Century

2008-12-06T08:31:00.005-05:00

Just thought I'd take time out from studying to preview this week's Game of the Century. Despite the SEC sort of dropping back to the field as far as conference strength goes, they are still the top conference in the nation, and the top two team in th conference square off today.

The polls have them 1 and 2, so they make the Game of the Century for this week. The line is 9 1/2 for Florida. 9 1/2 is a lot of points, for a matchup on a neutral field between two teams that match up against each other very well. Alabama's front seven will try try and confuse and get to Te-God much like Michigan did almost a year ago. Florida has a lot of speed on the outside, but will Te-Jesus have the time to get the ball out to them? On the other side of the ball, will Florida be able to stop Coffee enough as Alabama shoves him down their throat play after play after play, only then going outside to Jones for a big play?

The keys to watch for:

Alabama needs Te-bitch to look like this during the game.

Watch Florida to run the bubble screen and a lot of quick slants to offset the blitz packages Saban throws at them. Urban wants them running, not thinking.

Prediction:
I hate predictions. They aren't worth the pixels they are written on. That said, Alabama slows down the offense pretty well today, but the Gator defense picks them up with a JP Wilson mistake. Florida 30, Alabama 24.

Piss poor

2008-11-26T08:54:00.004-05:00

National TV + WMU Football = choke job.

Each and every time. The Broncos went down to Muncie and got their butts handed to them, as if it was ever in doubt. Starting with the 1999 MAC Championship Game, where Western had a 24-7 lead over Marshall, and lost 34-30. The next year, more of the same, losing to Marshall 19-14. They have been on the national stage a couple times since then, including a walloping by Central in Mt. Pleasant two years ago.

Oh well, at least Michigan is good, right? Right?

Lions Stay On Pace for 0-16

2008-11-23T16:44:00.004-05:00

Drew Stanton awaits his next chance to get in the game

17-0 lead in first quarter, 21-17 deficit by the end of the first half. The absolutely pathetic referees in this game didn't cost the Lions, but they sure as hell didn't help. Maybe it would have been different with a roughing the passer call as Garcia got off another shitty pass while getting hit. Maybe it would have been different if the Tampa DB's weren't allowed to manhandle CJohnson as often as and wherever they wanted. Maybe it would have been different if Tampa was actually forced to get a play off before the play clock went out.

But then again, maybe not.

Who cares any more. This league is a fucking joke. Congratulations Roger Goodell, you took the golden egg, broke it, and it is almost ready for breakfast.

F the NFL

2008-11-23T16:37:00.003-05:00

How are these guys paid as referees? A win in the NFL is meaningless any more as no game, and I mean that, no game that I have seen this year has been anything closely resembling a "fair" game. I am not calling this a conspiracy (although one could make a pretty damning collection of NYJets games that show that Fa-rve gets the benefit if every dispute) but just that these idiots are too old, slow, and senile to call a game correctly. Give me a bunch of guys out there from practice squads who know how the game is played, send them through ref school, and get them out there.

Case in point: Drew Stanton (WTF!) drops back, is under pressure, gets a pass off at the same time he is being hit. The idiot calls both intentional grounding and roughing the passer. What? He hadn't thrown the ball yet, and he was trying to get the ball downfield to someone, BUT HE WAS GETTING HIT.

I hate this league.

Michigan Stuns Top Ten Team

2008-11-21T08:50:00.009-05:00

Oh, if only to have written this Saturday afternoon, not Friday morning. As it is, the Michigan basketball team rallied from 8 down at half to advance to the finals of the 2K Sports Classic by beating #4 UCLA.

I watched as long as I could, but fell asleep in the second half after Michigan made their run to take the lead. As I drifted away, I thought that was better, to go to sleep then and then read about the UCLA run in the morning. I woke up to see a message board post that they were still up 3 with two to go, and then checked the final score this morning. They looked stout on defense, with Beilein running a 1-3-1 defense against the Bruins, forcing 17 turnovers. Michigan countered by taking care of the ball, with only 9 turnovers. When was the last time a Michigan team played a full game with only 9 turnovers? They get #8 Dook and Coach K's nose tonight at Madison Square Garden for the final.

Meanwhile in northwest Canada, the Red Wings looked dominant for the first 15 minutes of the first period, and then cruised to a 4-3 win over Edmonton. The Wings were outshot 15-12 in the first, but were up 3-0. Osgood looked good when he needed to throughout, and the Wings just keep rolling along. They did this without Holmstrom, who was a late scratch with back spasms. Enter Tomas Kopecky. He filled in admirably, sticking his rear end in front of the net on power plays, scoring one and having a significant hand in another.

CORRECTION: Michigan was only down 6 at half, 29-23, not 29-21. I was tired.

Tigers reportedly Interested in Hoffman

2008-11-20T11:42:00.003-05:00

Ugh. The dismantling of the Tigers continues. According to the Freep, Dombrowski is reportedly interested in signing all-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman. In his defense, he is only interested in signing him for one year, because DD believes the farm will produce a closer for the 2010 season.

Putting aside my absolute disdain for the "closer" position for a second, the last thing the Tigers need is a guy in the bullpen who is almost as old as Chris Chelios, who has never won a single thing in his career, who has blown more big-time saves over the last 7 years, in the bull pen. Please, DD, disregard Hoffman, and dump some overpriced offense you have handy, and get some young arms. Get some young, starter arms, and move some of the failed starters into the pen.

DD is quickly eating into his free pass for taking the worst team in baseball to the World Series.

It's Ohio State week. What?

2008-11-18T15:49:00.004-05:00

Never in my lifetime has an Ohio State week snuck up so silently. The boys over at Michigan Against the World have some solid thoughts on the program two years ago versus now.

But from an outsiders viewpoint, and I mean outsider in that I never went to Michigan, I never played for Michigan, and never met Bo or any other coach for that matter, Michigan- Ohio State week is just as meaningful. I remember the tears when I found out two years ago, on the eve of the biggest game in the history of the greatest rivalry in sports. I remember thinking that there was no way that Michigan was going to lose, not that year, not that way. I remember growing up when I started hunting, and my brother would make fun of me when I told him it was the Ohio State game today, and I wouldn't be going out. This was it. It was Ohio State. At that time it was an annual beatdown, but the other way from where it is now, and especially this Saturday. I wouldnt have missed it for anything. Watching Tim Biakabatuka roll up 300 yards, watching Desmond Howard do the Heisman in the endzone.

This year is different. This year, must be different for the OSU fans as well. There is very little build up to this game, there is very little banter going back and forth, there is very little in the way of the old worn out jokes you always hear this time of year, that are so old and so bad, yet you laugh like it was the first time you'd ever heard it.

How do you get an OSU grad off the porch?
Pay for the pizza.

What does an OSU grad call a UM grad?
Boss.

This year is the first year since I became of drinking age that I have no plans for the game. I will have it on in the background, as I finalize my secured transactions homework or work on my business organizations outline. Finals are coming up, you know. But it won't have the same feeling that it should.

There is only one question left. Will McSweatervest go for 2 to make it an even 50?

Bo

2008-11-17T15:52:00.002-05:00

It was two years ago today. Michigan was gearing up for the biggest game in Michigan-Ohio State history, and the man simply known as "Bo" left us for better heights.

Those who stay will be Champions. This still holds true for the current and all succeeding groups.

Lions Stay On Pace for 0-16

2008-11-16T20:36:00.005-05:00

This team is terrible. Only six to go. With the first overall pick that won't be tainted by some expansion team swooping in and taking it like last time (FU, Houston), and with Roy Williams doing his best Herschel Walker impression, the Lions are set to make a decade long run starting in 2010. Which just happens to be when we graduate from law school. That year is gonna be our year!

Then Pittsburgh becomes the first team ever to win 11-10. DP can have his 16-0 season, the Steelers won a game with a wierd score! WOO HOO!

BRONCOS!

2008-11-08T16:40:00.004-05:00

Western rolled into Detroit and beat Illinois at Ford Field 23-17 today. This is the second straight year they beat a Big Ten team. They beat Iowa at Kinnick last year, and beat another BCS school the year before by beating Virginia at Virginia.

Too bad they can't win in Mt. Pleasant.

Ever.

Opening for The Answer

2008-11-07T20:33:00.005-05:00

Allen Iverson makes his Piston debut tonight. Through the first half, he is 3/3 from the floor, and 6/6 from the stripe for 13 points. He is dishing like he's dishing and taking like he's been with this team for years. Not a bad start, eh?

No way

2008-11-07T20:31:00.003-05:00

You gotta be kidding me.

Allrighty then...

2008-11-06T17:19:00.003-05:00

With the election over, let's get to some good news, eh?

The Red Wings finished their west coast swing at 3-1-1 after beating Vancouver Sunday night 3-2. They get five full days off before hosting the Brodeur-less New Jersey Saturday night. Mickey will be giggling when they play Billy Joel at the Joe around 9ish.

The Pistons get "The Answer" they were looking for in a trade with Denver. Chauncey and Dice go to Denver, AI comes to Detroit. I think it's a good move, although I have watched zero basketball so far this season. I'll dive into this more after finals when I get to see how he plays with the Stones.

!!!BREAKING NEWS!!!

2008-10-26T15:31:00.001-04:00

The Lions are not good.

That is all.

Wings Beat Hawks in Shootout

2008-10-25T23:30:00.003-04:00

I just checked the score, because I detest the shootout enough that I never watch it. The final was 6-5, and despite the high score, both goalies played well. There was just a ton of scoring chances, something Mike Babcock won't like a whole lot. Pavel Datsyuk scored a goal that will end up on youtube by tomorrow, and I'll update it here when it does. These guys are just awesome to watch.

Penn State beats OSU at the 'Shoe

2008-10-25T23:05:00.005-04:00

And the disappointment in Brent Musberger's failing voice is palpable. Every sentence he said during this game had the phrase, "the young Terrel Pryor." "The young Terrel Pryor" was 6 of 10 on third down, not OSU. "The young Terrel Pryor" was starting a drive at the 31 yard line, not OSU.

Kirk Herbstriet wasn't exactly ecstatic either. JoePa gets his first win at the 'Shoe since 1978. He and Penn State are killing all kinds of streaks this year. Maybe they can end the ~~Ohio State~~ Big Ten streak of losing in the NC game. They'll get there at 12-0 with a Texas and/or Alabama loss.

Paul Bunyan Goes to East Lansing

2008-10-25T21:00:00.008-04:00

Two wins, six losses. We knew this season was gonna be tough, but this is not good. Now, Big Blue is one loss away from ending the nation's longest bowl and non-losing season streaks. It's OK, because we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but now that it's upon us, it stings a bit.

The offense was explosive at points, but dreadful for the most part. Threet ran the ball well at times, and not in others. Threet threw the ball well at times, and not in others. The O-line was awful, and even if Threet could throw, he never had the time to do anything anyway. The reason DickRod is yelling at Threet in this picture is a bad read by Threet on a blitz, he looked right, and only right, and should have been picked off.

Now, Sparty earned this one. There was no "extra second," or a bad pass interference no-call, or blatant holding on the game winning play. The refs were awful, but they were awful on both sides, and definitely didn't cost Michigan the game.

The worst part about this? We're gonna be hearing about it from Sparty fan for the better part of a decade. "Remember when Taylor guaranteed victory? Huh huh.. how'd that work out?"

Try winning more than one game in the second half of the season once, Sparty, then start talking.

Can I make one more point? Those of you who know me, know that I hate almost all national announcers. There are very few that can pull off a neutral call of the game, and most are certified idiots. Chris Spielman was the color man for this one, and I LOVE listening to him. I always learn something new about the game when he calls it. And Sean McDonough knows enough to stay the hell out of his way, and just call the play-by-play. On the other side of the coin, Gary "I've always known SEC football is the best" Danielson was calling the Georgia-LSU game. As LSU was lining up for an onside kick at the end of the game, Gary actually tried to make a point about having to change the rules because now, teams are having their kickers try to bounce the ball up in the air, and they send players in to take out the receiving team, and they might get hurt. Yeah Gary- this is on-thinkable[sic]. This has only been going on for, I don't know, a century? Teams have ALWAYS kicked the ball for that big hop. And the prefix "un-" rhymes with bun, not Don.

Got Hockey?

2008-10-25T12:26:00.003-04:00

For the second time since the league expanded to 30 teams, all 30 of them are in action today.

Detroit is at Chicago tonight, and they are unveiling the jerseys they will wear on New Years Day at Wrigley field.

College Football, 15 NHL games, and a World Series game all in one day? I would say awesome, but the World Series holds absolutely no interest for me. And this is coming from a guy who can watch a spring training game on TV from start to finish.

HOSSA!

2008-10-24T23:56:00.007-04:00

Finally, Hossa is off the schneid. After scoring #300 in OT the other night against the Rangers, Hossa nets two more tonight, including a highlight reel goal in the first.

Oh, and Zetterberg scored twice too.

5-3 Wings beat Thrashers.

Meanwhile, the vast right-wing conspiracy continues in St. Louis. According to NHL.com, Blues goalie Manny Legacy had to leave after the first period due to an injury after tripping over the carpet laid out for Sarah Palin to drop the ceremonial first puck.

What if sports were the economy?

2008-10-24T15:10:00.006-04:00

With apologies to EJ, I promise this will be my only semi-political post...

Courtesy Chicago Tribune, October 28, 2009.
After 101 years of waiting, the Cubs finally have their World Series trophy!

After finishing in a tie with all other 29 teams for first place at 0-0-162, the Cubs can finally celebrate a World's Championship!

"I just can't tell you how good it feels to finally have a championship and to bring here to the North Side of Chicago," said manager Lou Pinella. "We really didn't play all that well, or even that hard, but we didn't need to because the President told us he would give us all a chance to win!"

What Lou was referring to is the Fairness in Athletics Doctrine, or FAD. Earlier this year, President Obama pushed through legislation that forbade any official scorer from declaring any winners or losers in any athletic event. All 30 teams finished with the same record, and in the future, the trophy will be passed from team to team. Chicago gets it in 2009. Detroit and Cincinnati are vying for the trophy next year, with the congressional hearings scheduled to start early February. But the good money is on Cincinnati, because the Lions are scheduled to lift the Lombardi trophy around that time.

"It is finally time, uh, that all fans of every team, uh, not just those of the teams most talented, or hardest working, should get to have their day to raise the trophy," said President Obama. "We pushed this through because the failed policies of the Bush administration are hurting the middle class because when they go to the bar sporting their colors, they get ridiculed and leave the bar, and this hurts the economy."

It was scenes like these that prompted the president to approach senate majority leader Harry Reid to begin talks about eliminating the bad feelings that come from a person's team suffering defeat. "We saw the joy in people's eyes when the Patriots were beaten two years ago in the Super Bowl, and we wanted that all the time," said Reid. "It's not enough to strive to be excellent. Those of us in Washington need to make it reality for everyone!"

Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh calls this a travesty, citing his Pittsburgh Steelers (9-0 currently, 0-0-9 officially) chances at winning this year. "The disparity between the haves and the have nots has been widening ever since Bush stole the election in 2000," said Reid, "and Washington was broken. We needed to step in and make sure everybody gets a fair shake. The Lions have won exactly one playoff game in 52 years, and those fans deserve to see their team win it."

As an offshoot of the doctrine, Michigan resident and Detroit Red Wing fan Dan Blakeslee's lawsuit against the Red Wings has gone all the way to the Supreme Court. "It isn't fair that GM Ken Holland should keep me off of the Red Wings. Just because I'm slow, can't shoot, and have no endurance to even skate up and down the ice one time shouldn't mean that I get left off the team." Blakeslee won his lawsuit, but the judgment was stayed while the Red Wings appeal. Originally, the judgment forced all NHL players to wear weights around their legs and arms, thus making an even playing field, or ice in this case, for everyone who wants to play. The Sixth Circuit upheld the ruling, citing FAD specifically. When asked how Blakeslee is preparing for the games to come, he said, "why prepare? If I get slower, they have to, too. So I am playing video games in the meantime." The NHL is preparing a "hockey skills czar," to oversee the lowest skilled player to play, and bring down the rest of the league to their level. MLB, the NFL, and the NBA are preparing for the onslaught as well, creating positions for similar duties.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are scheduled to skate with the Stanley Cup next June, despite not being an American team and thus, exempt from FAD. The Utah Jazz are slated to take the NBA's top prize, as well.

MSU-UM weekend

2008-10-24T14:53:00.001-04:00

The boys over at Michigan Against the World are having fun with the game this weekend...

Check it out.

More Blakeslee Boys on the way

2008-10-22T17:21:00.001-04:00

So it turns out the twins, both of them, are boys.

WOO HOO!!!

Fail.

2008-10-20T09:30:00.003-04:00

David Ortiz: F
Jason Veritek: F
JD Drew: Check swing D
Jason Bay: C
Dustin Pedroia: A

Pedroia was the only one it looked like wanted to play more baseball. Ortiz was terrible, Veritek looked like Pudge, and JD Drew check-swung his way to critical strikouts. This team looked good for three innings in game 5, a couple in game 6, and exactly zero in Game 7.

Enjoy the time off gents. You've earned it. This may be the first World Series I don't watch since I can remember. Philly? Who cares? Tampa Bay? Move to a baseball stadium and maybe I'll watch.

Extra Fail to MLB for starting the Series THREE DAYS after the end of the ALCS. Can you imagine if this thing ended in five?

Game 7

2008-10-19T14:45:00.003-04:00

I've said it before, I'll say it again. There is absolutely nothing in sports like a Game 7. The NFL playoffs like to push the idea that every game is Game 7. Bullshit. It's Game 1 of one. You don't have the back stories. You don't have the team that has been on the ropes, all of the sudden on equal footing.

Picture from MLB.com.

The only thing that would make this one better would be a halfway decent venue. The Trop, in a word, blows. It is sterile, the "grass" looks dead (hint to Tampa: grass is green, not lime), and it is INSIDE. Just for this reason, the Rays deserve to lose. I don't want to watch more baseball next week in this horseshit park.

Go Sawx!

It's been a while.

2008-10-18T10:12:00.003-04:00

7 weeks of being laid-off, massive quantities of homework, and I'm back. Still unemployed, but back.

Maybe.

Since UM beat Wisky, let's see what else has happened.

- The NHL has begun. The Maple Leafs got to see a banner raised for the first time since we landed on the Moon. Unfortunately for them, it was in Detroit. But then they beat the Wings, yada yada yada.

- The Lions are 0-5. Who knew? But they traded Roy Williams to Dallas for a 1, a 3, and a 6th round pick. Roy Williams = Herschel Walker.

- UM hasn't won since that comeback. Including at home against Toledo. Ugh.

- The BoSox scored 8 runs in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to come back and beat Tampa Bay in a must-win Game 5 in the ALCS. Boston goes on to win this series, and Carlos Pena relives that 9th inning DP over and over and over and over...

Fire Dick Rod for president!

2008-09-28T16:21:00.004-04:00

What a comeback. 21 yards of offense in the first half, 27 points in the second. The defense kept Big Blue in the game through 30, and held them close enough for the offense to find its way for over 270 yards of offense in the second half. Let's not get ahead of ourselves- Michigan will still struggle to make it to a bowl game this year, and they will look bad at times. Lots of times. But they can look to this game when they're down 14 against Michigan State or Northwestern, and actually believe that they can come back.

We got a glimpse of what this offense can do. Just imagine when Dick Rod has some athletes.

Last Night

2008-09-26T08:46:00.004-04:00

Huge games last night: Minnesota beat the Chi Sux to take over first in the Central Division.

And, in case you havent heard, there was an upset in the Pac-10. Here are the headlines, courtesy of EDSBS:

Jacquizz, where’s your protection?

Trojans Can’t Pull It Out

Hungry Beavers Suffocate Trojans

Trojans Can’t Get It Up For Big Night With Beavers

Sanchez Dirtied By Beaver Attack

Trojans Can’t Come From Behind, Fall Short

22 Trojans, No Protection

USC to Sleep in Wet Spot

Faced With Angry Beavers, Trojans Flaccid

Trojans Penetrate into Soft Waiting Flesh of Beavers, Fall Asleep Inside

Beavers Poke Surreptitious Hole In Trojans, Snatch Victory

Ejaculate Football Sodomy Metaphor Cockslap Lagos Hookerface

Something’s Fishy In Corvallis

Mark Sanchez is a Vag

We’re sure you can take it from there, unlike USC’s receivers. Sleep tight!

Last Place

2008-09-24T23:03:00.003-04:00

Dead last. This team was the favorite to win the division at the beginning of the season, and they have been swept at home by the Royals (sound familiar?), outscored 21-6, and overtaken for fourth place.

This is the biggest mail-it-in job since April 14th of every year. Poor managment to start the year, and poor management the rest of the year. The prospects for next year are horrible. They are hemorrhaging salary, and need to dump as much as $25M. Because Dave Dombrowski took a top 5 offense, and sacrificed pitching to get more, we are left with the 1993 Tigers.

Way to go Dombrowski. Thus beginneth the next stage of Tiger crap-iocrity.

From the department of no shit.

2008-09-24T14:17:00.001-04:00

This just in: Jake Long is good.

It's Over! Part II

2008-09-24T11:32:00.005-04:00

Jay Glazer at Fox Sports is reporting that Millen is out as GM of the Detroit Lions.

Why is this not big news? Because it's about 115 games too late (31-84 record under Millen's tenure).

Now if we could only get the Ford's to sell the team...

It's over!

2008-09-23T22:48:00.007-04:00

While New York prepares to have a Yankee - less playoff season, the rest of baseball rejoices.

The only question left is, will ESPN cover the MLB playoffs without them?

They missed the playoffs because...

...the Sawx punched their ticket tonight. Now they need to catch the Rays, who finish the season- oh crap forget it. They get the Tigers to finish the season. Boston will be the wild card and head to Los Angeles/Anaheim.

Fall from Grace

2008-09-23T15:43:00.003-04:00

The rise in stock Matt Cassell has been grossly overstated. Or it has for one week anyway. The best team over the last two years falls to 22nd, with their rivals from Indianapolis even behind them at 25th. But this weeks rankings do NOT have the Lions in 32nd, so how much can we really put into them at this point?

How in the world have my two least favorite teams ever been #1 last week and this week? F the Giants, and F the Cowboys.

*Ratings through games of Monday, Sept 22*
	Team	Rating	Last Week
1	Dallas	93.0	5
2	Denver	92.8	2
3	Buffalo	92.1	7
4	Tennessee	87.5	8
5	Arizona	86.0	4
6	Philadelphia	85.6	12
7	NY_Giants	85.3	1
8	Washington	79.3	14
9	Tampa_Bay	75.4	13
10	Green_Bay	71.7	11
11	Baltimore	65.8	16
12	San_Francisco	64.8	17
13	Pittsburgh	64.8	10
14	Carolina	60.7	3
15	San_Diego	59.0	19
16	Atlanta	55.0	20
17	New_Orleans	54.4	15
18	Chicago	51.9	9
19	Minnesota	44.0	24
20	Jacksonville	43.2	23
21	Miami	41.0	28
22	New_England	37.3	6
23	Seattle	37.0	26
24	Oakland	36.7	21
25	Indianapolis	27.8	22
26	NY_Jets	25.0	18
27	Cincinnati	10.4	31
28	Houston	6.8	25
29	Detroit	5.8	27
30	Cleveland	4.2	29
31	Kansas_City	3.1	30
32	St_Louis	2.4	32

Ugh

2008-09-22T22:00:00.003-04:00

Football Outsiders is reporting that Bill Ford Jr would fire Millen if he had the authority.

YIPPEE!

That and $13.86 will get ou a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

They're saying Boo-urns...

2008-09-22T12:16:00.002-04:00

Congrats to the 2008 US Ryder Cup Champion team, led by 35 year old rookie Boo Weekley.

It was a great tournament, start to finish, with the outcome in doubt until Furyk halved 16 with Miguel Angel Cabrera to win 3 and 2, giving the US the 14 1/2 points they needed to win. But the star was Boo Weekley with his Happy Gilmore type antics walking down the fairway charging up the crowd both while partnered with J.B. "Don't call me John" Holmes, and in the singles match on Sunday.

Good job guys! Way to get it back!

Roll Tide

2008-09-22T09:14:00.007-04:00

This is the first week that the ratings are completely from this season only. A couple surprises- Alabama #1, Air Force at 8, Ball State at 10, and the old ball coach with South Carolina hanging around the top 25 despite a 2-2 record.

Big games this week:

26 Minnesota at 23 Ohio State: OSU has looked bad their last two games, can they turn it around at home against the upstart Gophers? Will TPryor get the start again? I think Boeckman has seen his last snap as a Buck. OSU 30, UM 13

32 Va Tech at 9 Nebraska: Va Tech has turned around a bad start against ECU, while Nebraska has seemingly turned around their Calahan hangover, beating up on mediocre talent, but beating them soundly. A Nebraska win will solidify that start, while a VT win could jumpstart them into the ACC schedule. VT 27, Nebraska 10

4 Wisconsin at 79 Michigan: It's Michigan. Go Blue. Watching the NHL Network, they are showing the '93 Adams division finals with Montreal-Buffalo. Guy Carbonneau in an interview had a Michigan hat on. That's enough for me to pick Big Blue. Michigan 348, Wisconsin -17.

12 Michigan State at 40 Indiana: This is the game where MSU usually lays their green and white egg. Will Dantonio have them ready? Yup. MSU 30, Indiana 3

1 Alabama at 7 Georgia: Georgia is the only team in history to start #1, go 3-0, and drop in the polls every week. Alabama rode their neutral site win over Clemson in week 1 through their next three games winning convincingly in each, although the Tulane game was closer than expected (20-6). Georgia is coming off a game where they laid the smack down in Tempe against a fired up ASU team. This is the "Game of the Century" for this week. Georgia can probably survive a loss here and still make the SEC championship game, but Alabama cannot. Georgia has the two undefeated East teams Florida and Vanderbilt at home, but Alabama has to go to LSU. Prediction: Georgia 24, Alabama 17.

*Ratings through games of Sunday, July 27*
	Team	W-L	Rating	Conf
1	Alabama	4-0	82.8	SEC
2	Utah	4-0	80.6	MW
3	Wake Forest	3-0	79.7	ACC
4	Wisconsin	3-0	78.9	B10
5	Vanderbilt	4-0	77.5	SEC
6	Florida	3-0	74.7	SEC
7	Georgia	4-0	74.7	SEC
8	Air Force	3-1	73.6	MW
9	Nebraska	3-0	73.1	B12
10	Ball St	4-0	70.9	MAC
11	Auburn	3-1	70.8	SEC
12	Michigan St	3-1	70.6	B10
13	Southern Cal	2-0	70.1	P10
14	California	2-1	67.7	P10
15	Georgia Tech	3-1	67.0	ACC
16	Missouri	4-0	66.2	B12
17	Boston College	2-1	66.1	ACC
18	Oregon	3-1	65.5	P10
19	Connecticut	4-0	64.5	BigE
20	Boise St	3-0	64.2	WAC
21	Kentucky	3-0	62.9	SEC
22	Texas	3-0	62.9	B12
23	Ohio State	3-1	62.8	B10
24	South Carolina	2-2	62.3	SEC
25	Iowa	3-1	62.1	B10

Baseball Ratings

2008-09-22T08:33:00.002-04:00

The Cubs take back 1st, and take the NL Central. And they party like they won it all. So does Tampa Bay, just for getting into the playoffs. I love baseball, but these celebrations after every time you win anything have got to stop. Take a note from hockey- when the conference is won, and you are on your way to the Cup Finals, you take a picture with the Campbell Bowl or the Prince of Wales Trophy, and get your ass back in the locker room to prepare.

*Ratings through games of Sunday, September 21*
	Team	Rating	Last Week
1	Chi_Cubs	96.4	2
2	Boston	93.8	1
3	Tampa_Bay	91.5	3
4	LA_Angels	89.6	5
5	Philadelphia	86.2	6
6	Toronto	80.9	4
7	Chi_White_Sox	80.6	12
8	NY_Mets	78.9	11
9	Milwaukee	73.3	7
10	Minnesota	73.2	13
11	NY_Yankees	72.7	8
12	St_Louis	62.4	10
13	LA_Dodgers	62.4	16
14	Cleveland	55.1	19
15	Houston	54.2	9
16	Florida	53.3	14
17	Arizona	50.5	24
18	Oakland	35.8	20
19	Detroit	34.0	23
20	Texas	32.2	18
21	Atlanta	29.1	22
22	Cincinnati	25.3	17
23	Baltimore	23.7	15
24	Colorado	19.4	26
25	Kansas_City	15.9	25
26	San_Francisco	14.8	27
27	Pittsburgh	9.3	21
28	San_Diego	7.2	30
29	Seattle	3.6	28
30	Washington	3.1	29

The only thing worse than this Tennessee-Florida football game...

2008-09-20T16:23:00.004-04:00

...is Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson. Hey! Gary! When a word has the prefix "un," it rhymes with bun or fun, not Ron. Better yet, just STFU.

UPDATE: Nope. I found something worse. Watching football on ESPN/ABC. Between the two of them, I saw no less than 5 promotions including Brett Far-ve or Yankee Stadium. One is getting torn down because it's old and ugly, and the other is Yankee Stadium. I hate them both. QUIT SHOVING THEM DOWN MY THROAT- I JUST WANNA WATCH SOME FOOTBALL.

The Ghost of Herb Brooks in Valhalla

2008-09-20T16:08:00.009-04:00

"If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this [tournament.] Not [this weekend.]"

The ~~tournament where the Americans choke every other year~~ Ryder Cup is this weekend, and the Americans are ~~already behind by six points~~ actually up by two point halfway through play on Saturday! They ~~will still blow it by 14~~ actually have a fighting chance to win this thing, but there are still four matches this afternoon, and the all-important ~~choke-jobs~~ single matches tomorrow. Right now American ~~architect of choke~~ captain Paul Azinger looks like a ~~idiot~~ genius for splitting up traditional pairings, and splitting up pairings in the middle of the weekend.

U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

UPDATE: BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- Boo Weekley drains a 25 footer from off the fringe to take a 2 up lead. The Americans lead 2, the Europeans lead one, and 1 is all square.

Update: McDowell nails one on 14 on the second tier where nobody has been able to hold. Furyk bends one around and stops it a foot inside McDowell. Then Perry says to hell with yous guys, I'm gonna land one within a foot of the cup. They need it down 2 with five to go. Minor update: They won the hole, down 1 with four to go.

Update: Stricker with a windy 25 footer to halve the 18th and halve the match. HUGE putt to save a point. Only two hole wins out of 18, one for each team. Unbelievable match.

Sunday Update: Furyk closes out Cabrera, and the Cup is back in the Good Ol USA!

Juuuuuuuuuuust a bit outside...

2008-09-18T12:02:00.000-04:00

A pitch every ten minutes

2008-09-18T11:52:00.002-04:00

The Tigers can't do anything right. I tune in last night to see Freddie Garcia make his first start as a Tiger, and get home from school in the top of the fifth. It is 2-1 Detroit, so I figure Garcia is doing OK, and want to see what kind of stuff he has. 35 minutes, 11 hits and 9 runs later, he takes the field with an 11-1 lead. He pitches a 1-2-3 bottom of the fifth, using about 8 pitches, and then the Tigers go off for another 4 runs in the sixth, only to send Nate Robertson out for the bottom half.

So, after over an hour of baseball, I got to see 8 pitches from Garcia.

College Football Rankings

2008-09-16T08:53:00.002-04:00

Still not settled down yet, as shown by 1-2 South Carolina at #24. Michigan is #69 with a 42.8 rating, while Western Michigan by virtue of a decent showing in Lincoln, followed by a couple wins, is ranked #39, with a 55.0 rating.

*Ratings through games of Saturday, 9/13*
	Team	W-L	Rating	Conf
1	Auburn	3-0	86.6	SEC
2	Wisconsin	3-0	80.9	B10
3	Vanderbilt	3-0	80.3	SEC
4	Air Force	3-0	79.4	MW
5	Alabama	3-0	77.9	SEC
6	Nebraska	3-0	77.1	B12
7	Southern Cal	2-0	74.0	P10
8	Utah	3-0	72.8	MW
9	East Carolina	3-0	72.0	CUSA
10	Wake Forest	2-0	71.8	ACC
11	Georgia	3-0	71.0	SEC
12	Florida	2-0	70.3	SEC
13	Kentucky	3-0	69.4	SEC
14	South Florida	3-0	69.0	BigE
15	Arizona	2-1	68.0	P10
16	Southern Miss	2-1	67.9	CUSA
17	Michigan St	2-1	67.7	B10
18	Kansas	2-1	67.2	B12
19	California	2-1	66.6	P10
20	TCU	3-0	66.4	MW
21	Arkansas St	2-1	66.2	SBC
22	Connecticut	3-0	65.8	BigE
23	Iowa	3-0	63.9	B10
24	South Carolina	1-2	63.3	SEC
25	Missouri	3-0	62.5	B12

Week 2 NFL Rankings

2008-09-16T08:34:00.003-04:00

Now that there are for the most part two games down, I can post these for the first time. How the F are the F'n Giants #1? F!

*Ratings through games of Monday, September 15*
	Team	Rating	Last Week
1	NY_Giants	92.1	n/a
2	Denver	91.7	n/a
3	Carolina	91.4	n/a
4	Arizona	89.6	n/a
5	Dallas	86.1	n/a
6	New_England	85.2	n/a
7	Buffalo	83.3	n/a
8	Tennessee	81.7	n/a
9	Chicago	80.2	n/a
10	Pittsburgh	76.1	n/a
11	Green_Bay	74.2	n/a
12	Philadelphia	71.4	n/a
13	Tampa_Bay	69.9	n/a
14	Washington	65.1	n/a
15	New_Orleans	62.2	n/a
16	Baltimore	52.9	n/a
17	San_Francisco	48.6	n/a
18	NY_Jets	47.8	n/a
19	San_Diego	45.3	n/a
20	Atlanta	44.1	n/a
21	Oakland	42.2	n/a
22	Indianapolis	40.4	n/a
23	Jacksonville	21.7	n/a
24	Minnesota	20.5	n/a
25	Houston	14.3	n/a
26	Seattle	12.1	n/a
27	Detroit	9.7	n/a
28	Miami	8.4	n/a
29	Cleveland	7.8	n/a
30	Kansas_City	7.1	n/a
31	Cincinnati	6.4	n/a
32	St_Louis	3.9	n/a

Latest MLB rankings

2008-09-16T07:54:00.003-04:00

Boston regains the top spot in the latest rankings. Actually, had I posted this last week, they would have regained the top spot last week. Meanwhile, Philly's making a charge, Milwaukee fired their manager, and both the White Sox and Twins are in free fall. Neither one wants the division I guess.

*Ratings through games of Sunday, September 14*
	Team	Rating	Last Week
1	Boston	96.0	1
2	Chi_Cubs	96.0	2
3	Tampa_Bay	95.2	3
4	Toronto	87.8	4
5	LA_Angels	81.9	6
6	Philadelphia	81.0	10
7	Milwaukee	79.3	5
8	NY_Yankees	76.7	8
9	Houston	75.7	9
10	St_Louis	72.8	7
11	NY_Mets	71.1	12
12	Chi_White_Sox	71.0	11
13	Minnesota	57.5	13
14	Florida	44.3	17
15	Baltimore	42.9	14
16	LA_Dodgers	41.5	15
17	Cincinnati	38.1	18
18	Texas	33.5	19
19	Cleveland	31.9	16
20	Oakland	30.6	21
21	Pittsburgh	30.1	22
22	Atlanta	28.7	24
23	Detroit	28.0	20
24	Arizona	24.3	23
25	Kansas_City	13.6	26
26	Colorado	12.6	25
27	San_Francisco	8.5	28
28	Seattle	7.4	27
29	Washington	6.4	29
30	San_Diego	3.2	30

Updated NFC North Standings

2008-09-14T16:11:00.003-04:00

GB 2-0
Chi 1-1
Min 0-2
e-Det 0-2

e- eliminated from playoffs

Projection

2008-09-14T15:14:00.001-04:00

It is official. My hatred for everything Far-ve has been projected onto Aaron Rodgers. What a cheap ass, good for nothing, Manning wanna-be, piece of shit that guy is.

Reason #643 to hate the NFL

2008-09-14T14:58:00.005-04:00

Before I get into this, this is not causing the Lions to be embarrassed. The Lions are doing that all by themselves.

But the refereeing in this game is absolutely awful. Roy Williams for offensive pass interference swatting the DB's hands off him as he makes a cut? Jon Kitna getting a forearm shiver across his nose after delivering the ball, and no call? Aaron Rodgers steps out TWICE before running for a first down, and they review, and STILL GET IT WRONG?!?!? Charles Rogers trying to make up for his broken toe, tackles Calvin Johnson a full second before the ball gets there, and no pass interference? Rodgers has had 5 minutes to throw the ball, because his line has bear hugs around the d-lineman on EVERY PLAY! These guys are supposed to get it right most of the time, but this game has been pathetic. The Lions might be in the game with decent calls, but they still wouldnt be winning. It just would be nice to watch a game where a 432 year old ref isnt more worried about his next Viagra shipment than calling a good game.

UPDATE: Lions DT jumps. Doesnt get within a yard of the Packers LT and gets back. LT jumps. Offsides, Lions. WTF! The defense can move, fuckers!

Duke thinks Duke football sucks

2008-09-11T09:45:00.004-04:00

Duke and Louisville agreed to play four football games- one in 2002, and one last year, this year and next year. Duke pulled out, and Louisville is suing for breach of contract. Louisville's argument is that they have contacted every Div 1-A team in the country and can't find any team to fill in the schedule dates.

This is Duke's argument:

While true, it doesn't make for a compelling argument, does it?

What are the idiots in the NFL thinking?

2008-09-07T22:24:00.002-04:00

I know this is the NFLPA, not the NFL, but how many different ways can you try to screw your fanbase over?

From the Sporting Blog,

As a nervous nation awaits its first full day of desperately searching the ticker for Marc Bulger's yardage and Sebastian Janikowski's field goal total, there's movement on the fight between sports league and fantasy sports providers. As Eric Fisher of the SportsBusiness Journal reports, CBS and the NFL Players Association are going to court in a battle over pressure to pay big licensing fees.

The Supreme Court of the United States rejected hearing MLB's appeal last spring in which baseball argued statistics were not fair use under intellectual property law. Basically, the highest court in the land has said sports leagues can't block fantasy sports. The NFLPA's Andy Feffer disagrees.

"We feel very strongly we retain intellectual property rights in this area even after what happened at the Supreme Court. I'm certain that anyone really looking at the category doesn't believe or think that [CDM] is the law of the land or that this is completely closed."

Really, no one thinks that, except MLB (now), CBS, just about every journalist who wrote about the decision, most legal experts which get quoted in stories on the legality of fantasy sports. Yes, the SCOTUS refusing to hear baseball's case that stats constitute fair use and thus are not subject to licensing fees clearly means that with regard to the NFL, stats are not fair use and fantasy sports providers are subject to licensing fees.

For the most popular sport in America, the NFL sure does like to insult its fans an awful lot.

Yup. Preseason pretty much means nothing.

2008-09-07T22:19:00.004-04:00

Pathetic display this afternoon. The Lions couldn't run, couldn't stop the run(!), and made my BC boy Matt Ryan look like Tom Brady with a good pair of ACL's.

Speaking of which, what is the NFL landscape going to look like minus TB? Does Far-ve take over the AFC-E? Does Matt Cassell step in and lead the Pats to the promised land? Is the AFC completely up for grabs? Or does Indy throw the autopilot on all the way to Tampa?

NFL Preview

2008-09-04T18:30:00.002-04:00

As my fantasy record mirrors that of Matt Millen's real-life record, you all know that I am no NFL expert. But DP has done a nice job of that over at Michigan Against the World.

Oh yeah- he kinda likes the Pats.

Daunte Culpepper Retires, Finds Bowl of Sour Grapes

2008-09-04T14:56:00.003-04:00

Dude. He emailed Adam Schefter. I hope he had a box of Kleenex nearby to catch those tears. Wait- of course he had a box of Kleenex near the computer- he's been off work!

From The Sporting News:

This is just kind of depressing. Daunte Culpepper, who four short years ago was throwing for 4,000+ yards and 39 touchdowns, has retired. That’s sad, and expected, but it’s not the depressing part. This is: He announced his retirement via an email to NFL Network’s Adam Schefter.

Adam,
Since I do not have a team where I can do a press conference, I chose to write what I would have said. You are the first to get this.
– Daunte

I’m picturing Daunte attempting to type those two sentences with highlights of his Minnesota glory days playing on the TV in the background and tears dripping onto the keyboard. But hey, at least he’s not bitter or anything, as these excerpts from the rest of his e-mail show:

When free agency began this year, I had a new sense of excitement about continuing to rebuild my career in the same way that I had rebuilt my knee after my catastrophic injury in 2005. Unfortunately, what I found out was that the league did not share any of the optimism about me as an Unrestricted Free Agent that I expected. … No matter what I did or said, there seemed to be a unified message from teams that I was not welcome to compete for one of the many jobs that were available at the quarterback position.

I would rather shut the door to such “opportunity” than continue to wait for one of my fellow quarterback’s to suffer a serious injury. Since I was not given a fair chance to come in and compete for a job, I would rather move on and win in other arenas of life.

So ends Daunte’s spectacularly hard fall from one of the game's elite -- if not best -- quarterbacks, to early retirement. And I mean, seriously early: He is only 31 years-old. But who knows; every QB in the league is always one play away from that “serious injury.” If a team’s one-through-third string QBs all go down ... and their emergency QB -- probably the punter or some fourth-string wide receiver -- gets hurt ... and Jeff George can’t be reached, then Duante’s phone will totally be blowin’ up.

Michigan Football, week 1

2008-09-04T14:36:00.004-04:00

I wanted to post my thoughts on the Utah game, but like I said, I have spent more time putting together resumes and reading about Business Organizations and Wills, Estates and Trusts.

First impressions of the spread: Kinda gimmicky at first. Two things popped out right away: you can, in fact, line up under center from time to time; and it was WAY too much right out of the gate for these two QB's. It is a very difficult offense to nail down, and with zero experience for either QB, they needed it watered down. Or at least a running game, which was non existent. When they did line up under center, and got the traditional running game going, Utah couldn't stop it. But they only ran one or two in the first half, and by then, Utah realized that neither quarterback can run this offense, and had eight or nine guys around the line of scrimmage, putting only one safety back for the rest of the game. The receivers were getting open. There was at least one guy open on almost every play, but the QB's had a lot of trouble picking them up in time.

The defense: Started horribly. Made adjustments. Stopped Utah dead. Pretty much it.

As losses go, this is one that we can live with. Dick Rod will make some adjustments, simplify the offense a bit, and we'll see where they are this week against Miami. They should win, but don't expect the traditional 68-0 beat down. Offensively I would be happy with 24, because this defense isn't giving up more than 6. I asked the question after the game- who was the last Michigan head coach to start his tenor with a loss? Actually it happens more than I thought, with three of the last five doing it. The last was a Gary Moeller loss at Notre Dame.

Other than pouring $4 bottles of water on your head to keep cool, it was still a very good day. This is a team that will get better as the season goes on and they get more experience under fire.

Week 1 College Football Rankings

2008-09-04T14:03:00.003-04:00

All right, so I figured out a way to post some college football rankings by using last years final rankings to a limited extent. By week 4, they will be completely out, but they make up 50% of the rankings through this week. These still don't mean a whole lot, but I can't wait until October to post something. Michigan sits at #60 with a score of 49.7.

*Ratings through games of Monday, September 1*
	Team	W-L	Rating	Conf
1	LSU	1-0	79.9	SEC
2	Florida	1-0	79.3	SEC
3	Southern Cal	1-0	78.4	P10
4	Oklahoma	1-0	77.2	B12
5	Auburn	1-0	77.0	SEC
6	Ohio State	1-0	76.4	B10
7	Oregon	1-0	76.3	P10
8	Georgia	1-0	75.5	SEC
9	West Virginia	1-0	74.6	BigE
10	Kentucky	1-0	74.0	SEC
11	South Florida	1-0	73.3	BigE
12	Kansas	1-0	73.0	B12
13	Arizona St	1-0	72.3	P10
14	Texas	1-0	72.2	B12
15	Boston College	1-0	71.8	ACC
16	Cincinnati	1-0	71.7	BigE
17	South Carolina	1-0	70.6	SEC
18	Penn State	1-0	70.3	B10
19	Alabama	1-0	69.0	SEC
20	Missouri	1-0	67.6	B12
21	Connecticut	1-0	67.6	BigE
22	Wake Forest	1-0	66.3	ACC
23	Brigham Young	1-0	66.1	MW
24	Oklahoma St	1-0	65.2	B12
25	Central Florida	1-0	64.8	CUSA

Kwame Cooked

2008-09-04T11:24:00.002-04:00

Lying under oath? Brilliant!

From the Freep:

Updated at 11:02 a.m.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who will lose his job because he lied while under oath at a police whistle-blower trial, has just pledged to tell the truth as he prepares to admit his guilt as part of a plea deal he just struck with the Wayne County Prosecutor.

The deal calls for Kilpatrick to plead guilty to two felony counts of obstruction of justice by committing perjury, agreeing to serve four months in jail, pay up to $1 million in restitution, and serve five years' probation. He also agreed not to run for office during that five-year span.

The mayor will turn over his state pension to the City of Detroit, which paid $8.4 million to settle two whistle-blower lawsuits three former cops filed against the city. The mayor was charged with eight felony counts ranging from conspiracy to perjury to misconduct in office to obstruction of justice after the Free Press revealed that the mayor lied on the witness stand during a police whistle-blower trial and gave misleading testimony about whether he intended to fire a deputy police chief investigating allegations of wrongdoing by members of his inner circle.

In a rushed monotone, Kilpatrick told the court: "I lied under oath in the case of Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope versus the city of Detroit ... I did so with the intent to mislead the court and jury, to impede and obstruct the disposition of justice."

Groner asked Kilpatrick: "Are you satisfied with your lawyers in this case?"
The mayor replied: "Uh, what do you mean?"

After Groner explained, Kilpatrick said he was satisfied with the performance of his legal team.

Groner: "The court's satisfied and will accept the plea to two counts of obstruction of justice."

Sentencing will be Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. in his courtroom. He did not explain why so much time will pass between the mayor's plea and sentencing.

Moments after Groner praised the lawyers for their work reaching a deal, Kilpatrick summoned his wife, kissed her, and went back into a side room.

Just before huddling with his attorney, a smiling Kilpatrick jousted with reporters sitting in the first row of the courtroom. He, apparently good-naturedly, told them their reports were wrong and they needed to check their sources. He did not elaborate.

He also shook hands with Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff and ex-lover. Beatty has left the courtroom with her attorneys, Mayer and Jeff Morganroth, and a man believed to be her pastor.

MLB rankings

2008-09-03T14:41:00.002-04:00

Because school started a week earlier than I thought, and I got laid off for the second time in three years, I have been extremely busy lately. But here are the latest MLB rankings. College football rankings will come out after about 4 weeks. They don't work so good at the beginning of the season.

*Ratings through games of Sunday, August 31*
	Team	Rating	Last Week
1	Chi_Cubs	96.7	1
2	Tampa_Bay	94.7	2
3	Boston	92.8	3
4	Milwaukee	88.2	6
5	LA_Angels	86.7	5
6	Chi_White_Sox	84.8	4
7	Philadelphia	79.2	9
8	Minnesota	77.4	7
9	Toronto	75.6	10
10	NY_Mets	73.1	12
11	St_Louis	72.6	8
12	NY_Yankees	69.5	11
13	Houston	55.9	15
14	Arizona	48.9	13
15	Cleveland	46.2	17
16	LA_Dodgers	45.8	14
17	Detroit	41.3	16
18	Florida	41.1	19
19	Baltimore	40.9	18
20	Texas	33.8	21
21	Oakland	30.0	20
22	Colorado	23.8	23
23	Atlanta	23.5	22
24	Cincinnati	20.5	25
25	Pittsburgh	15.0	24
26	Kansas_City	10.8	26
27	San_Francisco	9.7	27
28	Seattle	6.7	28
29	San_Diego	5.7	29
30	Washington	4.0	30

Quote of the week

2008-08-29T12:28:00.003-04:00

Michigan strength and conditioning coach, when asked about his energy for Inside Michigan Football:

"You know, I probably drove my parents crazy. I probably drove my grandparents crazy. My Grandma still tells me I'm the only grandchild she ever had to hit."

Awesome.

It's official

2008-08-29T10:37:00.001-04:00

According the boys over at TSB, Chad Johnson is now Chad Ocho Cinco. This is so awesomely awesome I can't believe it. I want so bad for him to get traded to a team with an "85" that will NOT give up his number I can taste it.

Jerry Bruckheimer's Dead Air

2008-08-29T08:06:00.002-04:00

Really, if you aren't reading Every Day Should be Saturday every day, you need help. Click the link for the whole "scene."

The best part:

Brock Cardinal punches the Bandito in the testicles five times in a row. The bandito reaches for his gun, only to be punched in the balls three more times. He falls.

Girl: Thanks, gringo.

BC: No, I’m sorry. I know you were about to take care of this yourself, right?

Brock Cardinal’s commando team shows up behind him. Sparks, his demolition man, is a trigger-happy Southerner wild for fast cars and fast booze; Dr. Elena Hendrix, a psychiatrist and FBI agent, is the heart of the team. She is also Brock’s ex-wife. Snoopy is the computer hacker and is quick with small arms. Bento is the contemplative Zen sniper and low-level helicopter ace.

Elena: Are you hurt?

Brock: Only by the constant cruelty of men. He’s got two ruptured testicles, though.

Sparks: Woooo—WEEEE!!! When are we gonna get down to it, Brock? Mah killin’ hand is gettin’ all ache-ified!

OMG!! 4-0!!!!eleven!!!!!11!!1111!!!!

2008-08-28T22:24:00.004-04:00

The defense forces a fumble. OMG! I'm drafting the Lions defense!!! They are the best!

OMG! Safety!!! Detroit is going 16-0!!! Our second defense is better than your second offense!!!!!eleven!!!!11!!!!!!

Gratuitous Gosdra..Gosdor...Godsek...uh, Chuck photo.

Thats just great O-Line work back there.

So, it's a 14-6 win, a successful pre-season, but it's just that. Pre-season. It doesn't count toward the playoffs, it doesn't count toward MM's stellar W-L record, it doesn't count at all. As a matter of fact, by 2013, the NFL will have no record whatsoever that this ever happened. With the Patriots going 0-4, I'm pretty sure we can agree still that 8 wins would be a successful season.

Craig Sager breaks Man Law #16

2008-08-28T12:18:00.002-04:00

But it's great entertainment anyway! From Mouthpiece Sports.com...

Shawn Merriman see the fine line, and jumps across

2008-08-28T08:21:00.002-04:00

From the Sporting Blog.

There is a fine line between toughness and stupidity.

Some things in this world you simply cannot explain. This is one of them: Shawne Merriman has decided to play this season. As you know, he has two torn ligaments in his knee. Four doctors have told him he needs to have reconstructive surgery, like, yesterday. And despite this, he’s going to risk his entire career and millions of dollars to play football this year.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire the man’s toughness (or whatever) to play through this substantial injury. But the exchange rate on toughness to American dollars is actually nothing. When his numbers inevitably suffer this season, because he’s playing on one leg, the Chargers -- or any other team considering signing Merriman -- are going to obviously use that against him when his rookie contract expires after the ’09 season, assuming they don’t cut him before then.

"I'll deal with it when it's time to get surgery,” Merriman said. Well, um, when exactly does he think that time is, if it’s not now? At the latest, I’d say it’s next offseason, at which point he’ll have to go play his contract year on a rehabilitated knee. Why not have the surgery now and take this season off? Then he can come back in top-condition for the ’09 season, put up huge numbers again, and then sign a free agent deal for more money than God?

Perhaps the worst part of all this is that the team is clearly using Merriman’s pride to their advantage. If they really cared about what’s best for Merriman’s future -- both physically and monetarily -- they’d force him to have the surgery now. But, they have nothing to lose by letting him play this season. If he sucks, they bench him. If he further injuries himself, he has the surgery mid-season. If he, by some miracle, performs well, then great -- he’ll help them win games. Although based on the fact that San Diego signed Merriman’s back-up to a five-year extension on Monday, I’d say they aren’t counting on the end game being a pretty one for Merriman.

Keep bringing the stupid, girls.

2008-08-26T08:20:00.001-04:00

From The Week in Quotes over at Football Outsiders,

“New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has won more or less than two Super Bowls?”

– Matt Gallant, host of NFL Cheerleader Playoffs on NFL Network, asking a question during a trivia game

“False.”

– Catherine, Tampa Bay Buccaneers cheerleader, getting the question wrong