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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?

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

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

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

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

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.

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

DB found a new toy. . .


What is Michigan?

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

Twin Killing

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?

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 25, 2009

NFL OT

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

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!

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!

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

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

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

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!

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.