Sweaty Men Endeavors

No More Talkin' Tigers on the Radio

2009-01-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

I don't know how many of you had streamed or downloaded our appearances over the past two weeks on WTKQ's The Morning Ticket with Pat & Todd, but I'm not going to be talking on the radio again any time soon.

Unfortunately, the powers-that-be at FM Talk 100.5 decided to go in the proverbial different direction, and as of last Friday, pulled the plug on the show. Any disappointment I felt over that is a trifle compared to what two radio hosts who suddenly don't have a show must have experienced. Fans of WDFN in Detroit learned this week just how brutal the radio industry can be. (And though I'm late on it, that's something I'd like to write about in the next couple of days.)

I'm obviously biased, but Pat Johnston and Todd Guerne are two talented, nice guys who deserve better, and will hopefully get it. And if you follow the conversation over at Bless You Boys, you know Todd's suddenly become an active part of the BYB community, and it's great to have a new voice and more participation - especially at this time of year.

So I should probably leave it there, and thank Pat and Todd for a wholly unexpected opportunity, as short-lived as it turned out to be. It's incredibly flattering that they thought enough of what we do here to want to talk about the Tigers on the radio each week. And it was a lot of fun.

Some Water For Detroit's Football Desert?

2009-01-19T13:00:00.000-05:00

I'm late to the party on reading Michael Lombardi's wonderfully insightful writing and reporting at National Football Post - probably because it took me a while to work my sports appetite back up after baseball season (mercifully) ended - but his stuff is a must-read for me these days.

And maybe I just need any little kernel of hope to make me feel good about the Detroit Lions now (thanks to the Arizona Cardinals) being one of five teams (three of which are newer, expansion franchises) never to make it to the Super Bowl, but I was encouraged to read this from Lombardi about the Lions' new head coach, Jim Schwartz:

I know the Lions hired a great young coach in Jim Schwartz, who is someone I believe will do a wonderful job. We hired him in Cleveland in 1992 to work with me in the personnel department. He is extremely smart (third in his class at Georgetown in economics) and hard working. He knows how to build a program, and he understands the Bill Belichick approach as well as anyone. Given enough time, he will restore the roar to the Lions.

So hopefully, The Schwartz is strong with this team. And for a guy who said the Lions were dead to him, I'm suddenly quite a bit more interested than I was at this time a year ago.

Talkin' Tigers on the Radio: Any Closer to a Closer?

2009-01-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

Where will the Detroit Tigers turn to find a closer? The Quest For Relief (or lack thereof) was the main topic of discussion in my chat with WTKQ's The Morning Ticket with Pat & Todd.

Are we really looking at Fernando Rodney being the man in the ninth inning this summer? Is that a possibility that should terrify Tigers fans? Or is there still a chance a free agent reliever could come to the rescue? If so, are Jason Isringhausen or Brandon Lyon up to the task?

We also talk a little bit about signing Justin Verlander long-term to avoid arbitration, and whether or not trading Magglio Ordonez is really a good idea.

Thanks once again to Pat Johnston and Todd Guerne for having me on, especially before a big football weekend (and in lieu of the Detroit Lions hiring Jim Schwartz as their new head coach).

You can listen to an embedded audio clip below (I think I've installed a better audio player this time) or download the file from the accompanying link.

WTKQ_011609

May the Schwartz Be With Us!

2009-01-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

This is just too easy, but in honor of the Detroit Lions hiring Jim Schwartz as their new coach (a moment of silence for the poor guy), I have to post the first thing that came to mind when I heard the news.

I think the Lions got the right guy. Someone with Schwartz's pedigree - working under Jeff Fisher in Tennessee, and previous background with Bill Belichick in Cleveland - and unconventional, stats-oriented approach to the game is intriguing. (I can't wait to see how the media and fans react when he says something like "Well, fumbles are a random occurrence; good teams fumble just as often as bad teams" after the Lions have five turnovers in a game.)

It's also encouraging that other teams were interested in hiring him. I'm just not sure about the executives that made the hire. Like Michael Rosenberg in this morning's Freep, I hope the Lions let Schwartz coach his way and bring in his players. (Just remind them who has the bigger Schwartz, Coach.)

Here's a profile of Schwartz that the New York Times wrote in November.

The Tao of Rickey

2009-01-13T12:00:00.000-05:00

In honor of Rickey Henderson's election into the Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday, I'd like to rerun some clips from a post I wrote back in 2005 when Rickey signed with the San Diego Surf Dawgs. As we get closer to the HoF induction ceremony in July, I look forward to hearing more stories about Henderson's celebrated eccentricities. But I don't know if they'll be any better than these.

For a 12-year span through the 1980's and into the early 90's, Rickey owned the American League stolen base crown. The one year he didn't get it was 1987, when he played in only 95 games because of a hamstring injury. So Harold Reynolds was the final season leader with 60 steals. And after the season, H.R. got a phone call from someone (as told on MLB.com's "Fantasy 411"):

"Hello?"

"Reynolds! This is Rickey."

"Oh, hey Rick."

"60 steals, huh?"

"Yeah, I can't believe it. It was amazing."

"60?! Rickey had 60 at the All-Star Break!"

**CLICK**

Immediately after breaking Lou Brock's stolen base record, the Oakland Athletics held an on-field ceremony commemorating the occasion. Rickey ended a relatively gracious speech by saying, "Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But today, I'm the greatest of all time. Thank you."

Henderson often referred to himself in the third person. He once called the general manager of a baseball team, looking for a job, and said, "Rickey wants to play another year and he thinks he wants to play for you."

While playing for the San Diego Padres late in his career, Henderson got onto the team bus and was looking for a seat. A teammate, Steve Finley, said, "Sit anywhere you want, you got tenure."

Rickey's response? "Ten years? What are you talking about? Rickey got 16, 17 years."

This one apparently isn't true, but it's so funny that it should be: While playing for the Seattle Mariners, Rickey approached John Olerud, who wears a batting helmet on the field because of a brain aneurysm he suffered, and said "I used to play with a dude in New York who did the same thing."

Olerud's response? "That was me." Olerud and Rickey had previously played together with the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays.

Talkin' Tigers on the Radio

2009-01-09T14:00:00.002-05:00

I was invited onto The Morning Ticket with Pat & Todd on Saginaw's FM Talk 100.5 this morning to talk about the Detroit Tigers. We're hoping to make this a weekly thing during the baseball season.

After a tortured search during last night's Florida-Oklahoma national championship game, I found a program for Windows that would allow me to record streaming audio. And I got it synced up with my thingermajigger just in time to record my appearance.

For those of who have followed the Detroit Tigers' offseason closely, you'll already be familiar with what Pat, Todd, and I discussed. And if not, I really sound like I know what I'm talking about.

(Except when I got two pitchers mixed up, which was a little bit embarrassing. Can I say, "Hey, it was early - and I was a bit nervous and hyper"? Well, I just did.)

Anyway, I think it went pretty well for our first time out. But I should let you judge for yourself. As Tony Kornheiser would say, I'll try to do better the next time. And hopefully, the Tigers give us a little more to talk about in the weeks to come. Thanks to Pat Johnston and Todd Guerne for having me on. That's a fun show they have going.

You can listen to an embedded audio clip below or download the file from the accompanying link. (At least, I hope so. This is the first time I've tried this.)

WTKQ_010909

For Those Who Had to Watch, We Salute You

2008-12-30T21:00:00.000-05:00

Before turning the page on 2008, I have to post one more thing about Motown's gridiron heroes, the Detroit Lions.

This isn't about the firing of coach Rod Marinelli. That was a no-brainer. The man was the worst ever at his job. No one else has ever gone winless in a 16-game season. How the hell do you bring that guy back? So no surprise there.

No, this post is to stand and give a slow clap to the poor guy who had to watch all of the crappy football southeastern Michigan's most prominent professional and college teams inflicted upon its fans this year and describe it those of us who followed the games on radio. Yes, he was paid for it, as a professional broadcaster. But he also surely paid a price, having to endure some soul-crushingly bad football.

We're talking about Jim Brandstatter, color analyst for both the Michigan football and Detroit Lions radio broadcasts. Out of the 28 games he called this season, Brandstatter provided commentary for only three victories. Michigan went 3-9. The pitiful Lions failed to win a single game. He witnessed the worst season Michigan football has had in 46 years. And as we've already covered, the Lions set NFL history for losing all 16 of their games.

Hey, at least we had the option of turning off the TV or radio. (And I did that more this year than I ever have.) Not Brandy. Hopefully, the strength and discipline instilled in him when he played for Bo Schembechler at Michigan helped him through this.

Salutes must also be given to my buddy Big Al, who live-blogged every single one of the Lions' incompetent performances, in addition to posting related news and commentary each day at The Wayne Fontes Experience. (I thought blogging about the Detroit Tigers was tough.) And to my fellow SB Nation blogger Sean Yuille, who authors blogs devoted to both University of Michigan sports and the Lions. Man, that's a tough year.

Can we please turn the calendar on 2008 in Detroit sports? (Except for the Red Wings. You guys are doing a hell of a job and shouldn't be overlooked. Even though I kind of just did that.) 2009 can't possibly be as bad. Can it?

Rooting For 0-16 Does Not Make Me Less of a Fan

2008-12-18T21:30:00.000-05:00

So I'm watching "SportsWorks" on Fox 2 Sunday night, as Dan Miller, Jamie Samuelsen, and Sean Baligian try to pick apart yet another loss (the 14th of the season) by the Detroit Lions. And there's really only so much to say when the losing continues week after week. Maybe the Lions are showing a little bit of fight at the end of the season, especially as it tries to avoid becoming the first team in NFL history to go winless over a 16-game season, but with only two games left on the schedule, they're running out of chances to avoid pro football infamy.

But while discussing that very possibility, Miller asks Samuelsen and Baligian if they're part of the "moron contingent" of Lions fans that is rooting for the team to go 0-16. And when I hear that, I sit up. Because I count myself among the segment of Detroit sports fans that want to see the Lions suck on a historical level. And maybe my perception is influenced by the echo chamber of my friends, but I don't believe I'm in the minority on this. I think many Lions fans believe that the only way the team has any chance of getting better is for the ownership to suffer the kind of humiliating indignity that they'll never want to experience again.

Apparently, that makes me a "moron." Or as MLive.com's Tom Kowalski put it, not a real Lions fan.

If you want these things to happen and you still want to call yourself a Lions fan, I have a huge problem with that. It might be a silly little pet peeve of mine, but I firmly believe that once you start rooting for your team to lose, you're no longer a fan.

My response to Miller and Kowalski on this consists of two words.

Fuck you.

(What, did you think they'd be "Merry Christmas"? I'm sorry, but no other words better capture how I feel about this.)

Let me get this straight: two members of the credentialed Detroit sports media - who are paid to attend games and watch them from what is essentially an office environment in the press box - are going to tell people whether or not they're fans? Miller, as the radio play-by-play man for the Lions, is literally a professional mouthpiece for the team. Kowalski is presumably impartial as a beat reporter, but when you spend that much time around a group of coaches, players, and executives, it's impossible to remain completely objective. And he doesn't.

Am I less of a Lions fan than I was three years ago? Absolutely! This team - and its entire organization - has given me nothing to root for. Their games are a frustrating, joyless ordeal. And I can't even watch another, better team that might play more enjoyable football. (Believe me; I've tried to find a new team. But what fun is it to root for Pittsburgh's team? Or New York's team?) The Lions have actually drained my love of the sport right out of me.

Would I be more of a fan to blindly surrender my loyalty to a team that has given its fans an utterly inferior - and progressively worse - product for eight years? Am I not a fan because I want the team that represents my community to get better and know, deep down, that it can only be rebuilt once it's completely destroyed?

Miller and Kowalski dispute that line of thinking, asserting that changes are going to be made, so there's ultimately no difference between a 1-15 and 0-16 season. No, there is every bit of difference. Other teams have gone 1-15 or 2-14 before. No team has gone winless. And if the Detroit Lions have to carry that weight around their collective necks, maybe they'll work that much harder to make us forget what a laughingstock they've been.

The fact that I'm hoping for that, that I care enough to have typed out 600 words about all this, makes me a fan. How dare someone in the media try to tell me otherwise.

It's Not Called the Stanley Bidet

2008-07-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

The Stanley Cup is the greatest trophy in sports. Even my father, who wasn't a hockey fan, was awed by this glorious chalice when he glimpsed it with his own eyes at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. So it's not really something you let your kid take a $#!+ in, Kris Draper. Yet that's exactly what happened last month while the Cup was in his possession.

Red Wings forward Kris Draper revealed during the weekend that his diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number on the Cup last month. A number two, to be exact.

"A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup," Draper said. "That was something. We had a pretty good laugh.

"I still drank out of it that night, so no worries."

C'mon! No! No, no, no! He let his baby take a dump in the Stanley Cup? Where's your respect, Kris Draper? Hopefully, he took some rubbing alcohol, bleach, or Purell (or maybe just soap and water) to it afterwards.

I have a picture somewhere of my dad kissing the Cup. What's funny is that he thought he was getting away with it, behind the security guard's back. I was later told that you could kiss it, but couldn't hug it or try to pick it up. I'm just glad he planted his lips on the Cup before Draper's kid sat in it without a diaper. What do you think about this, Hayden Panettiere?

Bruce Pearl: A Leader of Men

2008-02-24T12:30:00.000-05:00

University of Tennessee men's basketball head coach Bruce Pearl was already The Official Favorite Coach of Casselbloggy, Inc. for showing you can have a lot of fun while being also being successful. And you can't blame the man for being excited at halftime of last night's college basketball Thunderdome vs. Memphis, as his team was only down by one point despite his best player having a terrible shooting night. Fueled by adrenaline, Pearl did what just about every man in America would like to do: Hug Erin Andrews.

Well played, Coach. You continue to be a heroic figure in my world. Oh, by the way, the Volunteers went on to win the game, beating the #1 Tigers, 66-62.

(via The Big Lead)

Why Tom Izzo is Cooler Than John Beilein

2008-02-18T12:30:00.002-05:00

Nothing against John Beilein (nice win over Ohio State yesterday, Coach), but here's an example of why Michigan State will dominate the state's hoops scene as long as Tom Izzo is their head coach:

I'm glad a journalist finally asked Coach Izzo what he thought of Jay-Z's "H to the Izzo." I've been wondering about that for years. How come Jay Bilas never tackled that subject?

Can you see Beilein being that kind of a sport? (No way Tommy Amaker would've been.)

Rich Rodriguez, on the other hand, would probably be game for a sit-down with Ron Burgundy (though an interview with Lloyd Carr would've been a hell of a lot funnier).

(via Awful Announcing)

A Glimpse Into Michigan's Football Future

2008-01-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

The NFL playoffs should provide some good football this weekend, but if you're going through a bit of withdrawal now that the college football season is over, maybe a brief coaching tutorial can give you a fix. And if you're a Michigan football fan, some Rich Rodriguez coach-em-up should get you excited about the future.

(If you're a West Virginia football fan, like Wabi-Sabi, this might make you want to smash something. Sorry, Jim - I had to post something this week.)

Here's another one if you like enjoy some dry-erase board football.

Oh, Saturdays are going to be interesting in Ann Arbor this fall.

(via MGoBlog)

Enjoy That Ride Into the Sunset, Coach

2008-01-01T22:21:00.001-05:00

I'm hoping to write more about Lloyd Carr and his retirement later this week. But for now, that was one hell of an effort his Michigan Wolverines displayed earlier today in Orlando, winning a game that looked like an inevitable beating.

Michigan 41, Florida 35. I've never been more happy to be wrong about football. The offense was creative and the defense was aggressive, both of which Michigan football fans have been yearning for. It was obvious how much the team wanted to win for Coach Carr today. And I'm happy that a good man was able to go out on a high note.

If you watched that video, ask yourself how many successful big-time college football coaches are asking their players to "vow right now" that they'll finish their degrees. Perhaps I'm being unfair to most coaches, but that seems like the end of an era to me. And maybe that's all that needs to be said about Lloyd Carr's tenure at Michigan.

Congratulations, Coach. I wish my father had been sitting next to me when your players carried you off the field. What a touching moment. Thanks for giving us one last memory to relish before Michigan football heads into the future.

Fear and Loathing in Detroit: Sports Reporters vs. Sports Bloggers

2007-11-04T13:30:00.000-05:00

And here I thought I was having plenty of fun yesterday, watching college football while zonked out on muscle relaxers for my frighteningly aching back. While spending the day away from the computer, lying flat in the blissful state of a relatively flexible and painless lower back, it appears that a column written by the Detroit News' Chris McCosky had much the same effect on the Detroit sports blogosphere as tossing a molotov cocktail through the window of an unsuspecting home during family dinnertime.

This was brought to my attention by The Detroit Tigers Weblog's Billfer, so I'll begin by linking to his retort to McCosky's column. I don't know if I'm quite as outraged as Bill, but it's definitely amusing that a prominent member of the local sports media apparently feels so threatened by bloggers that he deems it necessary to explain why his work should be considered more credible, going so far as to remind his readers that he actually went to school to learn his trade.

Journalism employs trained professionals. We actually have to go to school for this stuff. We take our jobs seriously. There are rules and standards that we are beholden to. There are ethics involved. We actually talk to, in person, the people we write about. If we rip somebody in an article, you best be sure most of us will confront that person the next day and take whatever medicine we need to take.

Just so you know where I'm coming from on this, I went to school to study journalism too, and have some experience working as a credentialed member of the media. Some of that work included exchanging e-mails with Mr. McCosky for a Detroit Pistons season preview that I wrote for a magazine last year. (And even back then, he railed against the sports talk radio/message board culture that was apparently making him chase stories he felt he shouldn't have to.)

Maybe that's made me more reverential toward the media than I should be. I know beat writers, especially, put in long hours at the arena or ballpark pursuing the latest newsworthy information. They also have to cull that material - most of which isn't usually very revelatory or compelling - into something readable while working on a tight deadline, which can be pretty stressful work.

However, a lot of "reporting" is also watching a game and recounting what happened for the next morning's paper. They saw it, you saw it, and I saw it. Would our accounts of the same event that we all just witness really differ that greatly? Of course not. The only difference is that the media can go down to the locker room directly after the game and ask Jim Leyland why he didn't take Jason Grilli out after he loaded the bases or ask Grilli why he threw four straight balls when there wasn't an open base.

But really, how often is the answer to that question really informative? And how often is the person asking that question really going to challenge his or her subject when he knows he's getting a flat, meaningless response? If Leyland dismisses a question with "It was the right call, and I'd make it every time," how often is a simple "Why?" the follow-up query? How often does the mainstream media really take advantage of the access and opportunity that McCosky touts as the shiniest badge of honor for his profession?

I'm not saying it's easy. To ask a sharp, probing question face to face, and risk an angry response that could affect everyone else trying to do his or her job in that clubhouse, can be a difficult situation to deal with. I've had Dmitri Young, post-rehab, tell me to my face that he wasn't talking. And I didn't push the issue because it wouldn't have mattered. He didn't play in that particular game, and I was just looking for an easy interview to post on my magazine's website. Maybe I should've pushed it, but I didn't want the fledgling magazine I was working for to lose its credential because of my grandstanding.

I don't think a beat writer for one of the city's two major metropolitan newspapers is going to have the same problem. Would the Pistons really ban the Detroit News from the locker room or press row because one of the players got angry at its reporter? I seriously doubt it. Yet many writers act as if such a penalty could be incurred.

Go ahead and boast that you have to face a player or coach the day after bashing him in print. But that same boast is also frequently used as a shield to justify not asking tougher questions in the first place. ("Hey, I have to work with these people every day. I'm not pissing them off to make my job miserable.")

I've probably spent far too long on that particular point, so let's move on.

With blogging and Web sites, it seems the hard work, standards, accountability, courage all of that is bypassed. Who needs to study this stuff, or attend games, or conduct interviews when you can just sit in your basement and clack out whatever comes through your head, right? If I rip somebody, or if I get something wrong, who cares? Nobody will see me.

This is ridiculously reductive. To McCosky, it "seems" the hard work is bypassed because he apparently didn't look at much to back up his unsubstantiated assertion. Study what "stuff" exactly? If Billfer devotes a post to hitters' spray charts or Lee Panas writes about runs created by position, did no amount of work go into that? Did they just conjure that information out of thin air? No, they looked far deeper into the game than any member of the mainstream baseball media. And they did so because the information provided by those who are ostensibly the be-all, end-all authority on sports reporting doesn't tell enough of the story.

That brings up the ugly truth about the sports blogosphere that the mainstream media doesn't want to acknowledge. They created us.

Fans are increasingly not getting what they want and need from the conventional outlets of newspaper, TV, or radio. So we, as readers and fans, are either going to seek out the kind of information that's more in line with our thinking, that gives us another way of looking at the game, or just create that material ourselves. Along the way, we might even find something that we hadn't previously considered, and that feeling of discovery is a refreshing bit of flavor among all the gruel we're consistently served these days. And if many other fans weren't beginning to feel that way, McCosky wouldn't have felt it necessary to explain that his job is more important than our hobby.

Furthermore, if we "get something wrong," we're most certainly held accountable. Not only by our readers, but by other bloggers. It's why there's a comment section at the end of every post, so that readers can offer up an immediate response to something they agree or disagree with, a luxury conventional media hasn't offered them until relatively recently - likely in an attempt to keep pace with new media. Maybe that's another reason McCosky's so miffed at bloggers. Maybe his editors are suddenly asking him to keep up with an outlet that's providing a much quicker fix than the next morning's newspaper.

I want my writing to be taken seriously, so if I write that I believe Brad Wilkerson should be the Detroit Tigers' left fielder next season, I'm going to do everything I can to support that belief. Otherwise, why should anyone bother to read any of my material? Nothing's more humbling (and embarrassing) than being called out by a reader who can collapse your argument with a simple breath. No one understands how precious one's time is than those who invested their own into something almost purely out of love and interest. Those who don't take their work that seriously won't be getting much more of anyone's time. We don't receive the benefit of the doubt that many attribute to anything that's in print.

But while we're talking about what's in print, let's address another McCosky assertion:

Bloggers are having a field day speculating on how Joel Zumaya really injured his shoulder. Nobody believes a heavy box fell on him. So the Internet is rife with stories about how he fell off his dirt bike.

There is not a single Detroit Tigers blog that posted this rumor about Joel Zumaya injuring his shoulder while dirt-biking. And if I'm wrong about that, McCosky didn't bother to point me to where I'd find this theory. As far as I can tell, the closest anyone came to that was me addressing that conspiracy theories were being floated out there and linking to a couple of places where such rumors could be found. I also said that such conjecture was irrelevant. And do you know what opened the door to such a subject being approached in the first place? An article by McCosky's colleague at the Detroit News, Lynn Henning:

The details of Zumaya's mishap, and the long lapse between the incident and Thursday's disclosure, raised at least as many questions as were answered.

That was in print. In a newspaper. Speculation. By a professional journalist. And message boards and commenters ran off from there. No blogger created that. Yet apparently, we're all swimming in the same cesspool that McCosky used to soak the brush he's painting the Detroit sports blogosphere with. This is exactly the type of irresponsible conduct he's charging sports bloggers with carrying out. And it didn't even happen. How's that for accountability?

Finally, McCosky proves just how original his thinking really is with the same old, tired shot that all those who find themselves threatened by new media love to take:

But you do have to know most reporters at legitimate news sources work hard to deliver fair, accurate and pertinent information.

And what they do is vastly different than what the clever dude in his pajamas is doing on his computer, down in his basement.

This is right up there with saying that Detroit sports fans still light cars on fire when they're celebrating a championship, the old stand-by writers from other cities pull out whenever their teams are playing one of ours. It's a throwaway comment that's actually easy, thoughtless hackery. Should I now make a crack about freeloading sportswriters gorging on complimentary food in the media lounge? (And the food provided on McCosky's beat at the Palace of Auburn Hills is pretty good.)

I'm also offended because I'm typing this in my home office (which happens to be on an upper level of my house) while wearing a sweatshirt and jeans. That's pretty much the same thing your sportswriting colleagues wear, based on my personal experience. The pajamas went in the hamper before I took a shower this morning. Get your facts straight like they taught you in school, McCosky. Well... at least he called us "clever." Maybe that's what McCosky was trying to be here, and this was just some poorly executed attempt at satire.

It's baffling to me how writers like Chris McCosky get so defensive about this stuff. Ask most sports fans where they get their news, or how they caught up on last night's game. A majority of them will still probably say the newspaper. And if they do read sports blogs, they still know who was on the scene to report on events as they occurred. They hear who's called an "insider" on the radio each week. They see who ESPN puts on the air as "experts."

So why feel so threatened? Why act like old man Tom Smykowski in Office Space, having to explain his job to that consultant, Bob Slydell, so he doesn't get laid off? ("Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?") Is it because he sees his job changing, and doesn't like it? Is he having to chase rumors or write website material that you previously didn't have to? Are bloggers suddenly getting more credit than he thinks they should? (And if that's the case, let me know where that credit's being handed out, because I think a lot of us would love some of that.)

Maybe that's something he can address in print, after talking to some of the bloggers he criticized. You know, in person. Or even via e-mail. As an accountable professional journalist is supposed to, upholding the standards and ethics he or she was taught in school. Or is it just easier to attack and move on?

If This is the New World Order, I Want the Old World Back

2007-09-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

Is there any chance the entire Michigan football season can be moved over to Big Ten Network? Because I'm not sure I want to watch this anymore.

With Comcast not carrying BTN (Dear Comcast, I no longer want it), I tuned in and out of the game on the radio. Why wasn't I planted in a chair, as I would've been had the game been on TV? Well, I don't think my brain would've been able to handle the lack of visual stimulation. Why didn't I try to watch at a local sports bar? 1) I thought I'd have to shoehorn myself in, and 2) Um... I really didn't think it'd be a big deal if I missed this game. (I don't think I was the only one.)

Anyway, when I got back in the car after lunch and drove to my next stop on the errand run, I thought I heard Frank Beckmann say the score was "Appalachian State 28, Michigan 14." And if you were behind a green Honda Civic going north on Carpenter Rd. around 1:30 p.m., I apologize if I nearly caused you to get into an accident.

I stuck pretty close to the radio after that. And Michigan began chipping away at that lead, apparently remembering that football also requires you to play defense, while asserting some authority with the running game. Eventually, this rift in the space-time continuum would correct itself and order would be restored. Right?

When Mike Hart ran down, then across the field for a 54-yard touchdown (reminiscent of his famous high school run), I - and I'm sure most other Michigan football fans - figured the nightmare was over, and the Wolverines would pull out the win we all expected. Sure, we'd vent our outrage on sports talk radio, the blogosphere, and anyone within the sound of our voices for the next couple of days, while catching $#!+ from fans around the country, but we'd take it like men and shake it off. But then Michigan failed to convert a two-point conversion, which was a reminder that nothing was going right today. (Penalties, fumbles, interceptions, not enough men on the field, etc. And can we now agree that you should never go for two until you absolutely have to?)

Still, Michigan had the lead - albeit one as thin as rice paper - and I stretched out on the sofa, intending to take a nap. I had to save my strength for all the post-game agonizing on WTKA later on. Just as I began to fall into that sweet slumber, my cell phone jolted me awake. It was my buddy, Eric.

"Your dad is turning over in his grave right now, wouldn't he?"

Say what? I actually slept through the Mountaineers regaining the lead at 34-32 with a field goal. Just as I shook the cobwebs out and began to think clearly again, I heard Beckmann's call of Jason Gingell's field goal attempt being blocked, followed by his declaration that ~~Armageddon~~Appalachian State had just pulled off the biggest upset in the history of Michigan football.

I have to be honest. I really wasn't sure if I was awake or not when I heard that final score. I've had these sorts of nightmares while falling asleep during an early season snoozer against a non-conference opponent. I can only imagine what a slurring mess I sounded like on the phone.

(And while I'm being honest, I had to look up the name of Michigan's place-kicker before typing it out in the previous paragraph, because I had no idea who their kicker was until his field goal was blocked. Sorry - Being nose-deep in baseball blogging for the past five months has me behind on my football stuff.)

Right now, I'm kind of wishing I'd stayed asleep. Because every highlight and mention of this humiliation feels like a body blow. Of course, it should be mentioned over and over, because this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen. And if it happened to any other college football program in this country, I'd be delighting in the fall of a titan and figuratively hoisting Appalachian State on my shoulders. And I wasn't even pronouncing "Appalachian" correctly until my sister - who will soon move to nearby Asheville, NC - straightened me out this morning.

Obviously, applause is due to the Mountaineers. Throughout the winter, spring, and summer, this game was derisively mocked by Michigan fans as an embarrassment of scheduling. And a Big Ten team really shouldn't be playing a Division I-AA school. But as the defending two-time I-AA national champions, Appalachian St. shouldn't have been considered a pushover. Before the game was even played, they were probably a better opponent than, say, Eastern Michigan.

But this is what it is. For years, even when Michigan posted 8-4 seasons, there was consolation in the Wolverines never suffering a humbling fall from grace that other acclaimed programs such as Oklahoma, Notre Dame, USC, Penn State, and Miami (FL) had. But that vicious cycle appears to have finally turned on Michigan.

It's easy to say now, in lieu of a mortifying upset loss, and after I hadn't posted anything on this 2007 team leading up to this season opener, but I felt like Michigan was being overrated in pre-season polls. When talking college football with my sister's future father-in-law - a Tennessee Volunteers fan - a couple of weeks ago, I told him that I couldn't believe the Wolverines were being ranked #5. What were they seeing that I wasn't? Granted, I hadn't been paying close attention, but didn't this team lose a bunch of defense to graduation? And that was woefully apparent today.

This is the kind of loss that has to make Michigan re-evaluate the way its football program is run. I've always been a defender of Lloyd Carr, but the Rose Bowl debacle against USC planted a seed of doubt for the first time. That, of course, followed a hugely disappointing loss to Ohio State. And now this. Three straight losses isn't just a slump. There's no such thing in college football. Not for an elite program. This is a trend, a pattern of being horribly unprepared for games, with an increasingly obvious refusal to adjust offensive and defensive philosophies toward what the opponent requires.

Something has to change. And not just for this season. Just one game in, there's plenty of time to straighten things out for this particular team. But the long-term interests of the Michigan football program might require a fundamental overhaul.

Who is the Face of the Detroit Tigers?

2007-08-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

A little while ago, the folks at ESPN.com SportsNation asked me if I would be interested in participating in a series called "Face of the Franchise," in which four panelists selected their choice for the best current representative of a Major League Baseball team. The panel would consist of a writer from ESPN.com, a beat writer or columnist from that team's city, an analyst from "Baseball Tonight," and a team-specific blogger.

After briefly wondering if someone was pulling a joke on me (and doing the requisite Google search), I said "Hell yeah, I'd be interested" and started thinking hard about my choice. And when I say "thinking hard," I mean agonizing over it, like Rob in High Fidelity when the reporter asked him what his top five favorite songs were. This was going down for posterity. My name would be on this. My Tigers fan (and blogger) credibility would be at stake.

The only rule I had to follow was that my choice had to be currently associated with the team. I couldn't pick an old-timer like Ty Cobb or Al Kaline, or any of the players I grew up watching, like Alan Trammell or Kirk Gibson. A few choices came to mind right away, and I began to consider whether or not I could write an interesting paragraph on this person, and the likelihood that he could be chosen by the other panelists.

I also asked a handful of friends who they would pick as the face of the Detroit Tigers, but no clear choice stood out. Actually, that was kind of reassuring. I wasn't just being anal-retentive or indecisive.

Then I imposed a couple of my own rules. 1) My pick had to be a player. An manager, owner, or broadcaster could certainly be the face of a team. But in my mind, fans don't go to the ballpark or switch the game on because of a manager or owner. Players get us excited; they're the ones we watch. 2) Casual fans, or even people who don't follow sports had to be aware of who the player is. I probably didn't follow this rule very closely because it somewhat conflicted with the first rule. For instance, if I ask my mother about the Tigers, she'd probably mention their manager, Jim Leyland. And if I consulted a non-fan like Mis Hooz, she likely wouldn't name anyone. But if I talked to baseball fans in other cities, who might they name?

After considering all these factors, I'm not sure that my choice ended up being any different from who I was leaning toward in the first place. If you've been reading BYB regularly, you can probably guess who I picked as the face of the Tigers. But you can read the official pick here, along with those of Rob Neyer, Jon Paul Morosi, and Eric Young (whose pick will go up tomorrow).

So who would you guys vote for? Who do you think is the current face of the Detroit Tigers? It'll be much more fun to see who the fans choose, and if we'd reach any kind of consensus.

Do Not Push Scott Olsen's Buttons

2007-07-17T17:00:00.000-04:00

Whenever I see that a player was suspended for "insubordination," I'm intrigued. Usually, we find out the "insubordination" was something like arriving to the ballpark late or cutting in line for the post-game food spread. But once in a while, something good pops up.

It seems the Marlins' Scott Olsen isn't the easiest gent to get along with. During his three-year major league career, Olsen has gotten punched in the face by one teammate, poked in the head by another, and been grabbed by the front of his jersey by his manager.

So what was the latest incident that forced the Marlins to suspend Olsen for two games? Well, he got into a spat with Sergio Mitre in the dugout. But hey, that happens. Boys will be boys. Sometimes, guys are so competitive that they can't keep that energy restricted to the field. That's probably what this was all about, right?

Eyewitnesses, who asked not to be identified, said Mitre was trying to calm Olsen, who was upset over a broken button on his uniform top.

Um... wow. Was his belly button showing or something like that?

I guess if you're Olsen's dry cleaner, you should watch out.

You're Still the Man, Rickey!

2007-07-12T02:30:00.000-04:00

Just when I thought I'd be starved of non-Tigers material to post here until football season began, Rickey Henderson comes to the rescue. With the news that Rickey has been hired as the new hitting coach for the New York Mets, I thought I'd blow the dust off something I wrote more than two years ago after Rickey signed with the San Diego Surf Dawgs.

Most of this post will be relatively common knowledge to baseball fans, but this was for my personal blog, and people didn't seem too interested when I wrote about sports over there. Look where that got me.

But I love hearing Rickey Henderson stories, even if they're not true, and wanted to post something about them. One story that wasn't included is something I heard from Harold Reynolds about a month ago on MLB.com's Fantasy 411 show. A lot of you have probably heard this one, but it was new to me.

For a 12-year span through the 1980's and into the early 90's, Rickey owned the American League stolen base crown. The one year he didn't get it was 1987, when he played in only 95 games because of a hamstring injury. So Harold Reynolds was the final season leader with 60 steals. And after the season, he got a phone call from someone:

"Hello?"
"Reynolds! This is Rickey."
"Oh, hey Rick."
"60 steals, huh?"
"Yeah, I can't believe it. It was amazing."
"60?! Rickey had 60 at the All-Star Break!"
**CLICK**

Awesome. Okay, let's take the Wayback Machine to 2005 for more of Rickey being Rickey.

# # # # #
Yesterday, 46-year-old Rickey Henderson signed with a minor-league baseball team, the San Diego Surf Dawgs, in yet another attempt to prolong his athletic career. And what a career it's been. I'd argue Henderson is one of the best baseball players I've ever seen. He could seemingly do everything on the field. He's Major League Baseball's all-time leader in career stolen bases and runs scored, holds the record for most stolen bases in a season, and had the most career walks until Barry Bonds passed him in 2001.

He's the greatest. Just ask him.
But Henderson is probably best known for his eccentric personality and an ego that a ballpark could barely contain. There have been some great stories attached to Henderson over the years, many of which were retold in response to yesterday's news.

Immediately after breaking Lou Brock's stolen base record, the Oakland Athletics held an on-field ceremony commemorating the occasion. Rickey ended a relatively gracious speech by saying, "Lou Brock was the symbol of great base stealing. But today, I'm the greatest of all time. Thank you."

Henderson often referred to himself in the third person. He once called the general manager of a baseball team, looking for a job, and said, "Rickey wants to play another year and he thinks he wants to play for you."

While playing for the San Diego Padres late in his career, Henderson got onto the team bus and was looking for a seat. A teammate, Steve Finley, said, "Sit anywhere you want, you got tenure."

Rickey's response? "Ten years? What are you talking about? Rickey got 16, 17 years."

This one apparently isn't true, but it's so funny that it should be: While playing for the Seattle Mariners, Rickey approached John Olerud, who wears a batting helmet on the field because of a brain aneurysm he suffered, and said "I used to play with a dude in New York who did the same thing."

Olerud's response? "That was me." Olerud and Rickey had previously played together with the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays.

Gorging Ourselves on Wieners is America's Birthright!

2007-07-05T22:00:00.000-04:00

At the risk of sounding unpatriotic, I didn't think it was too big a deal that a Japanese dude held the world record (53 3/4) for eating hot dogs. I guess I was just awed by Takeru Kobayashi's magnificent gift for scarfing down sausages. If somebody wanted to do that to himself... hey, we all have our different callings in this life, right?

But it didn't quite seem right that an American couldn't eat more hot dogs than anyone else. I mean, if there's one thing we should be good at, it's shoveling down tubes of unhealthy meat parts. How many of us did that yesterday? I'm not raising my hand, only because I sadly had no cookouts to attend, and even more sadly, I am currently without grill.

Thanks to Joey Chestnut, who the hilariously/disgustingly hyperbolic ESPN announcers called a "hero," the days of finishing second in hot dog annihilation are over. The 23-year-old Californian inhaled 66 hot dogs in 12 minutes (that's one every 11 seconds) to dethrone Kobayashi and reclaim the title of "Guy Who Can Eat a Lot of [insert item here]" and the Mustard Yellow Belt for the nation celebrating its independence yesterday. What were you doing when you were 23, bucko?

66 hot dogs, man. Eating 66 of anything seems kind of revolting, though I'm sure I've unwittingly done it a few times in my life. This morning, I ate 26 almonds, which I read is the ideal amount to eat in a day, and I don't really feel like eating any more almonds today.

In fairness to Kobayashi, however, the dude might have been playing hurt. There was some doubt as to whether he'd participate in this year's Nathan's Famous hot dog eating contest because of a sore (arthritic?) jaw (Occupational hazard, I imagine) and recent wisdom tooth extraction. After help from a chiropractor(?) and acupuncturist, however, Kobayashi manned up to try and defend his title against his newest challenger.

Was the jaw the difference in the three additional hot dogs Chestnut was able to consume? Maybe, although Kobayashi apparently had some difficulty keeping that last one in, but the rules say as long as it doesn't hit the floor, it's all good.

"Kobayashi appeared to spew hot dog out of his mouth at the end, but caught it in the air and clamped his hands to his mouth, which kept the hot dogs in play, so to speak..."

You're not eating as you read this, are you? I think I'm about to experience some "reversal of fortune" myself. I think I'll be eating fruit for dinner. Maybe blueberries and raspberries, in honor of our new American hero.

UPDATE: Deadspin was live on the scene (as I hope to be one day), and posted a "plausibly live" blog, complete with photos.

And The Fanhouse has footage of Kobayashi's "reversal of fortune," which reportedly won't be seen in ESPN's re-broadcast of the contest tomorrow night.

Okay, So Detroit Didn't Get Acie Law...

2007-06-29T12:00:00.000-04:00

Thinkin' and linkin' about the NBA Draft...

▪▪ I can't act like I know much about Rodney Stuckey (so I'll refer you to Need4Sheed and Full Court Press), but I love the idea of Detroit having a bigger, stronger, athletic scorer on the perimeter who can not only shoot, but take the ball to the basket (something you absolutely have to do in today's NBA). And if he can develop into an occasional back-up for Chauncey Billups at point guard, I like this pick even more.

▪▪ At the time, I preferred Glen "Big Baby" Davis to Aaron Afflalo for the Pistons' second first-round pick. But maybe the Pistons are concerned that Davis could be the next Mel Turpin or John "Hot Plate" Williams (curiously, another LSU product). Plus, Joe Dumars already played with Oliver Miller and knows how that can go. Besides, Detroit already has another "Big Baby" to deal with.

▪▪ Based on Afflalo's record of playing defense, however, he could be a pretty good pick for the Pistons and should fit right in. Having another outside shooter doesn't hurt, either. (MLive.com's A. Sherrod Blakely doesn't dig the selection, though. And many people seem to be knocking Afflalo's athleticism.)

▪▪ Of course, now the Pistons have a bunch of guards. Like, a lot of 'em. Eight, if you count Alex Acker, who's currently in Greece. That could thin out pretty fast if Lindsey Hunter retires, Will Blalock is let go, and Acker stays overseas. But a trade has to be in the works, right? A. Sherrod thinks Flip Murray is gone. I wonder if Rip Hamilton should be nervous, too.

▪▪ As it turns out, the Pistons had no shot at drafting Acie Law with Atlanta picking him at #11. The Pistons fan in me was disappointed, but as a basketball fan, I thought that was a damn good pick by the Hawks. How many good point guards was Billy Knight going to pass up? He's got all this frontcourt talent (potentially), yet had no one to get them the ball and provide some on-court leadership.

But did the Hawks really pass on a chance to get Amare Stoudamire? C'mon...

▪▪ And what the hell are the Celtics doing? Ray Allen? I wonder if people forget just how good he's been, since he was practically in the witness protection program with the Sonics. He's still a very good player, of course, and an amazing shooter, but does he really help the Celtics? If Danny Ainge was going to trade the #5 pick (Jeff Green), how does he not get a big man in return? What about a point guard?

I grew up hating the Celtics, but I'm beginning to think their fanbase is the only other community that might possibly understand what it's like to be a Detroit Lions fan. Except Lions fans don't have to deal with the added hell of being screwed over in the draft lottery.

I Want Acie Law!

2007-06-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

That is all.

Actually, I have a little more to say on this. I know it's not that easy. From all accounts, the Texas A&M point guard won't be on the board by the time the Detroit Pistons' selection comes up at #15. ESPN.com's Chad Ford has Law going to Atlanta at #11 now.

Up until this week, however, it appeared that the Pistons might have a chance. Virtually every mock draft you looked at speculated that Law would be available around the 15th pick, yet likely wouldn't make it past the L.A. Clippers' selection at #14. (Detroit Bad Boys says that's virtually a certainty, and it's the reason Law cancelled his workout for the Pistons.)

I'd love to see Joe Dumars do everything in his power to move up the draft order and ensure the Pistons are set at point guard for the next 8-12 seasons between Chauncey Billups and Law. The idea of Billups playing out the rest of his prime in Detroit, while Law is groomed to be his successor is a vision that's given me pleasant dreams since January.

Law would give the Pistons a consistent ballhandler and perimeter scorer off the bench, something they've needed since... well, the Bad Boys years. A legitimate point guard would also allow the Pistons to play more "small ball," with Billups possibly moving over to shooting guard, Rip Hamilton to the wing, and Tayshaun Prince playing more of a Shawn Marion type of power forward.

Alas, it's very likely not going to happen. If Detroit is planning to give Billups a maximum value free agent contract, which assures he'll be the Pistons' starter for at least another five seasons, and/or they're still high on Alex Acker's potential at point guard, then it's probably in the team's best interests to seek help for a position of more immediate need. And given the depth that this draft reportedly provides, it looks like that's exactly what Joe Dumars and crew have in mind.

Every one of the names currently associated with the Pistons' pick - whether it's Rodney Stuckey, Nick Young, Al Thornton, or Thaddeus Young - are of the shooting guard/small forward variety. I'll have to plead ignorance on these guys, as I haven't seen any of them play (which is admittedly a reason I probably favor Law), but they certainly seem to fit that LeBron James/Dwyane Wade profile of a big, athletic perimeter scorer who can shoot, dribble drive, and defend. And that sort of athleticism is something the Pistons need to infuse their team with.

At the risk of ending with some hyperbole, does anyone else feel like this is Joe D's most important draft since he had the #2 pick in 2003? The Pistons need this guy to be a player.

Detroit is Representin' For the All-Star Game

2007-06-27T19:00:00.000-04:00

As I type this, there are roughly 30 hours before balloting closes for the 2007 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. And though it looks like the Detroit Tigers will be represented well in the starting lineup (and Jim Leyland - who happens to be managing the American League squad - will likely add a few more of his guys to the reserve roster), one last push certainly wouldn't hurt.

Surging support for Magglio Ordonez has rocketed him to second place among AL outfielders, and if the current vote totals hold steady, he'll join teammates Ivan Rodriguez and Placido Polanco in the starting lineup. Ichiro has a lot of fans, however, and could still move him back ahead of Maggs. He could even fall back to fourth, if Manny fans are Manny fans and vote for their guy.

What's most impressive to me, however, is the support that all of the Detroit Tigers have generated in the All-Star voting. Carlos Guillen is in second place for shortstop, and Gary Sheffield is 6th among outfielders. And both of them would be worthy selections.

But at other positions, voting totals for the Tigers have gotten a little bit embarrassing. Sean Casey is in third place for first base? He has one home run, and just hit that last week. Craig Monroe is 15th among outfielders. C-Mo is starting to look as if he's lucky to be holding a major league job. (And as Big Al points out, he's blown any trade value the Tigers could've hoped for. Keep swingin' and missin', C-Money! You're on notice, dude.)

So maybe I don't need to shill for my hometown baseball team, because Tigers fans are clearly already sending in bushels of votes for their guys. Nonetheless, that's what this post was supposed to be about, so it'll be nice if the final voting totals reflect the baseball resurgence that's taken place in Detroit over the past year-and-a-half. Vote with your heart. Vote for a Detroit Tiger.

Giving a Michigan Man Some Appreciation

2007-06-25T09:00:00.001-04:00

After getting excited over Michigan baseball's post-season run and finally bringing that joy to this blog, I scurried away and hid once the Wolverines lost to Oregon State in the NCAA Super Regionals. (For those of you who have been checking back here regularly, I seem to have gone into hibernation for the summer. That Tigers baseball, she's a demanding mistress.)

But those same Beavers went on to repeat as national champions, after beating North Carolina for the second straight year last night, which I thought was worth noting as a consolation. It doesn't always take the sting away, but losing to the team that eventually won the championship often seems to redeem the loss. (I don't imagine many Red Wings fans were celebrating that Anaheim Ducks Stanley Cup, however.)

Michigan baseball had already moved on, but perhaps somewhat unwillingly, after news broke last week that Coach Rich Maloney was not only being pursued by Tennessee, but had already gone down to Knoxville for an interview. I got the news from Mr. Big Ten Hardball, who called to see if I'd heard anything more. Shortly thereafter, I made a call to my future brother-in-law Vols fan, checking if he'd heard anything, and warning him to back off Maloney. (He never did return that call, which probably means I'll soon be getting a lecture from my sister about leaving threatening messages on her fiancee's voice mail.)

Of course, the baseball team won't ever be as high on the radar around here as the football, basketball, and hockey programs, but the recent post-season run made it pretty clear that something good has been going on at Fisher Stadium over the past couple of years. That success would likely be short-lived, however, if the man in charge suddenly decided to seek the surer thing of a school in warmer climates, in a part of the country where college baseball is a larger part of the sports culture. And did I mention he'd be paid a lot more?

It got pretty scary there for a couple of days, because I think the general consensus was, "Who could blame Maloney for leaving?" BTH expected him to take the Tennessee job. So did the Michigan Daily. And if that had happened, all of the excitement and progress that had been generated over the baseball program would've felt pretty empty. I don't know the situation well enough to say it would've been devastating. But I don't think that's an overreaction, either.

Beating Vanderbilt and advancing in the tournament got people (and media) to take notice (locally and nationally). Virtually the same roster was eligible to return next season. Fisher Stadium is undergoing a huge renovation to make the facility competitive with the rest of the Big Ten and suitable to host tournament regionals. Michigan is poised to become a player in college baseball, which is really saying something for a northern school. Maloney leaving for Tennessee probably would've cut that off right at the knees.

That's the sort of thing we expect to see happen to mid-major basketball programs who expect to eventually lose their coach to a bigger program in a more prominent conference. And maybe that provided the proverbial wake-up call (or dose of humility) to the Michigan athletic department and fanbase at-large. This isn't football or basketball (or hockey). Achieving annual prominence in this part of the country isn't a given for baseball. You have to work at it. And no one's worked harder at it than Maloney.

Fortunately, Michigan recognized that and did what was necessary to retain Maloney, signing him to a five-year contract extension. That should effectively stamp down any future rumors of defection (which seem to have been swirling around ever since the Big Ten Tournament, depending on who you talk to). No more year-to-year agreements. No more underappreciation. No more whispers of seduction from southern schools (although I suppose there's nothing to stop those schools from continuing to inquire).

It's not often you get to follow a program on the rise around here, to see something built from the ground up. It's worth some appreciation. This is a commitment. This is establishing something. And hopefully, it's the start (or continuation) of some really good baseball in Ann Arbor.

Warning To the Seagulls

2007-06-12T13:00:00.000-04:00

If any of those seagulls are still flying around Comerica Park, munching on moths in the outfield grass, consider this a warning:

We know the animals are planning a revolt to take back the planet. (We noticed more of your seagull brethren terrorizing the Mariners-Indians game in Cleveland yesterday.) But we are not afraid of you. We have baseballs and can throw them very hard. Back off. Let us play baseball.

Go to the Polls for Placido!

2007-06-12T06:30:00.000-04:00

This weekend, Quo Vadimus' Scott Warheit (also familiar to Tigers fans as The Cutoff Man for MLive.com) decided to focus his outrage over the Yankees' Robinson Cano leading Placido Polanco in All-Star balloting for the American League's starting spot at second base into an organized campaign.

Despite being one of Major League Baseball's biggest disappointments so far this season, the New York Yankees continue to do well in fan voting for the 2007 Major League Baseball Star Game, with three players (Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano) leading the voting at their positions. Detroit Tigers fans and fans of baseball need to do something about that, because while Jeter and A-Rod may deserve a trip to San Francisco to start for the American League, certainly, Robinson Cano does not. And Placido Polanco of the Detroit Tigers certainly does. Polanco, as of last count was some 8,000 votes behind Cano (381,051 to Cano's 389,265 votes) which is why we need to start the "Go to the Polls for Placido!" All Star Voting Campaign [...]

I don't need much convincing to get behind that. Polanco starting at second base for the AL All-Star team might not be the definitive home run call that it may have been early in the season. I think you could make cases for Brian Roberts, Aaron Hill, or Ian Kinsler. But Polanco has been Steady Eddie (or should that be Eddie Constante) throughout the entire season, even back in April when seemingly no one on the Tigers was hitting.

The same was true last season. You can argue that the Tigers showed little statistical evidence of suffering greatly when Polanco was lost to a shoulder injury. But I think there are some things in baseball that just transcend statistics, and Polanco's steadying influence on the Detroit Tigers is one of them.

It's a surprise when Polanco has a hitless night. That's only occurred 15 times this season. Out of 57 games played. That's 26%, people. And I think it's a fair bet to say that even when he didn't register a base hit, Polanco did what he could to move runners and set up scoring opportunities. Or if someone is in a position to score, Polanco might just drive that runner in himself. He's batting .424 with runners in scoring position. If he's facing two outs in that situation, Polanco's still hitting .310. Whatever needs to be done to win a particular game, Placido Polanco is more (much more) often than not doing what's necessary.

This is speaking your piece for a guy that deserves the recognition. This is standing up for your team that warrants representation in the sport's showcase exhibition. (And it's also keeping a New York Yankee down, a fringe benefit that really shouldn't be overlooked.) Rise up and let your voices be heard, Tigers fans. Spread the word through Digg! Vote so much it can't be ignored. Polanco in 2007!

[image courtesy of Quo Vadimus and the 2007 "Go to the Polls for Placido!" campaign]

The PING! of the Bat Brings Me Back

2007-06-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

It only took one night for the sports angel to help me get over the bitterness of the Detroit Pistons' loss to Team LeBron.

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines baseball team, who defeated Vanderbilt, 4-3, last night to advance to the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament. Their next opponent will be the winner of tonight's Oregon State-Virginia game.

Rich Maloney's squad took the lead when freshman Alan Oaks (who had all of 48 at-bats for the season) crushed a pitch from soon-to-be #1 draft pick David Price over the left-field fence for a pinch-hit home run. The Commodores were the #1 overall seed in the tournament, and the home crowd in Nashville was shocked to see their team go down. Man, that was one hell of a game.

(Price, by the way, pitched of 1 1/3 innings of relief after throwing 130 pitches on Friday night. I bet the Devil Rays are thrilled about that.)

Here's a recap from Big Ten Hardball, who has most definitely fueled my growing interest in college baseball over the past year or so. And here I thought I was already watching all the sports I could take.

This Run Is Officially Over

2007-06-04T15:00:00.003-04:00

I don't know how other Pistons fans felt, but while watching the final game of the Pistons-Cavaliers series, this thought slowly trickled into my forehead. It had grown into a full-blown roar by the time Rasheed Wallace decided he'd had enough and got himself kicked out of a game in which his team still had a chance (on the scoreboard, at least):

I'm not sure I've ever come to dislike a team I root for more than these Detroit Pistons.

It's not because they ceded the Eastern Conference to Team LeBron, thus giving the NBA (or perhaps more specifically, ABC) a true superstar to promote in its signature series. Teams lose, torches are passed. Before the season, we were already wondering if the Pistons' time had passed, if that sweet championship window had already closed. And Cleveland was one of the teams that looked like it could push Detroit off the top of the hill.

So I'm not surprised the Cavs won on Saturday night. Hell, I think most everyone expected the series was over after Game 5. But I never thought I'd see this Detroit Pistons team flat-out quit on the court. And from my armchair, that's exactly what it looked like in that fourth quarter. It's like they just decided the outcome was inevitable. Maybe it was. Nothing the Pistons were doing was working. Put two or three guys on LeBron, and he dished off to the open guy. And Daniel Gibson wasn't missing. The home crowd was surging with excitement, the kind of excitement you feel when you know you're about to experience something you've never experienced before. It's a great feeling, maybe the best you'll ever have as a sports fan.

The Pistons must have sensed that too, because they seemed like they just wanted to get the whole exercise over with and go home. I thought they'd at least go down swinging. The fact that they didn't might be one of the most disappointing things I've ever seen as a Detroit sports fan.

Even worse was Wallace bailing out on the season - and his teammates - with almost eight minutes left in the game. The Pistons were only down by 12 points. But rather than stay in the game and help his team - and maybe for once play in the post and dominate Gooden, Varejao, and Ilgauskas like everyone knows he can, instead of jacking up three-pointers - he decided to stomp and pout back to the locker room.

I'm sorry - his act is totally played out. It's old and tired, like someone repeating a joke long after it stopped being funny. Stop complaining about the referees. Stop acting like you're entitled to every call. Stop acting like everyone is out to get you. Stop making your teammates waste energy trying to hold you back from doing something stupid.

But he won't stop. And I think even his teammates and coaches are sick of it. Terry Porter looked as if he wanted to punch 'Sheed. Lindsey Hunter just stared at him blankly. What was that outburst going to accomplish, other than making Wallace look like a giant baby who wasn't getting his way so he wasn't going to play anymore. They're tired of having to deal with this $#!+.

Rasheed Wallace probably is the most important player to the Detroit Pistons. And thus, they've taken on his persona. These guys don't just play basketball anymore. Remember this team back in 2004? "Going to work" and all that? This was a team Detroit fell absolutely in love with because it was the type of basketball team we wanted to see: No egos, no superstars, no divas. Any flash was provided by unselfish, hard-working basketball. Everyone played a role and worked toward a collective goal.

Somewhere along the line, this team forgot about all that. Their championship emboldened them to an almost comical level of arrogance. They complained about nearly every call, as if the referees should just let them do whatever the hell they want on offense and defense.

How could you call that foul on me? How did you miss that call on them?

Instead of asserting themselves and showing they were a better team, it's like the Pistons expected the game to just unfold for them, as if they were entitled to victory every time. And if they weren't my team, representing my community, I'd find it very difficult to root for these guys.

But maybe I shouldn't paint with such a broad brush. There's one guy on the Pistons who truly seemed to feel this loss, because he hadn't experienced the success his teammates had. If only Antonio McDyess had been able to pass that desire onto those who lost it. When someone needed to set a rugged defensive tone, who stepped up to try and establish it? McDyess, and it cost him (and maybe the team) virtually all of Game 5. But someone needed to show the Cavs that they couldn't drive so easily to the basket. It's just too bad that those who won a championship couldn't set an example for him, instead of the other way around.

So what now? The rest of this week in the Detroit sports blogosphere will surely be filled with eulogies and fix-it solutions. I'll probably chime in with some ideas, too, though I think it's pretty clear based on the previous 850 words who I think needs to go. Actually, the Pistons are in kind of a tough spot right now, because though its core might be aging, it's not yet old. This isn't like the 1990-1991 team that had clearly gone past its prime. Chauncey Billups, Rip Hamilton, and Tayshaun Prince have quite a few good years left in them. Joe Dumars might still be able to build around those three.

Changing the coach is probably an easy call to make, but can Dumars find another voice that can get through to these guys? Is Terry Porter that guy? He could be a head coach for another NBA team, which makes him an immediately on-hand candicate, but maybe the players are already too familiar with him. Or, after sitting in the assistant's chair, was he able to see what Flip Saunders did wrong, and have an idea of what changes should be made?

Would that even be enough? Or does Joe D have to do something bolder to shake out the complacency and change the culture? If so, is there enough flexibility in the rest of the roster to follow through on such ambitions? He might not, which means he'd have to touch one of the core trio. And if another team decides to throw a maximum dollar contract at Billups (the value of which might be questionable after his performance in the Eastern Conference Finals), Dumars is going to have quite a dilemma. If Billups opts to move on while cashing in perhaps the biggest paycheck he'll ever receive, Joe D might have no other choice than to set him free. Or he might have to consider sacrificing one of the other two for the greater good of keeping Billups and his leadership in Detroit.

Maybe that's the consolation prize for Pistons fans. At least the off-season shouldn't be boring.

Some Guys Actually Live Up To the Hype: Touché, LeBron

2007-06-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

I really want to complain, but it's not going to accomplish anything.

I'd love to devote 500+ words to how someone in a Pistons uniform should've fouled LeBron James at the end of last night's second overtime, and made him earn a victory. Maybe I'm showing my age here, but I grew up in the "no easy layups" era of basketball. It's what I saw on TV, it's what I experienced on the playground.

That's not to say LeBron's game-winner wasn't an easy shot. He was surrounded by Detroit Pistons. Yet LeBron sliced right through four of them, neither of whom forced him to change his shot. Jason Maxiell should've come down harder LeBron's arms, making it virtually impossible for him to bring the ball above his waist. And instead of just standing on the edge of the lane, Rip Hamilton should've stepped toward the basket and at least tried to obstruct LeBron's path to the basket.

But maybe it wouldn't have even mattered. As much of a cliche as it might be, sometimes a player just refuses to lose and can't be stopped. The truth is, LeBron had already earned a win before his winning shot with two seconds left in the game. You've already heard or read the stats. You'll be hearing them all day today on TV and radio. LeBron scored 48 total points. The Cavaliers' final 25 points, and 29 of their last 30 were his. Unlike Marv Albert, I have difficulty declaring something I just watched an "all-time" performance. Once the shock wears off, I'm sure I'll be able to compare what I saw to all the other basketball I've observed in my lifetime.

For right now, however, I still can't believe LeBron was able to win a playoff game - likely the most crucial in the series - on a frickin' layup. Long after the game ended, after LeBron had his post-game chat with Craig Sager, I kept rewinding those final seconds and watching them over and over in some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder loop, like a turntable needle that just can't skip over a scratch in a vinyl record. How... in... the hell did the Pistons just let him... spring to the basket like that?

I'd also love to complain about Antonio McDyess getting inexplicably ejected from the game just before the end of the first quarter. Was it a hard foul? Absolutely. That was a clothesline smack straight out of professional wrestling. Anderson Varejao didn't have to fake a fall because McDyess knocked him right to the floor.

But getting thrown out of the game for that? Don't we see that kind of foul all the time? Sure, McDyess deserved a technical foul. You have to suffer some kind of penalty for decking a player off his feet.

However, the referees wildly overreacted in trying to make sure that sort of rough tone wasn't established upon the rest of the game. This was obviously a trigger-happy response to the hard fouls by Chris Webber and Drew Gooden in Game 4. But you can't send a player to the showers on a play like that.

I'm not saying the ejection decided the outcome. It happened far too early in the game, and the Pistons only ended up losing by two points. Besides, McDyess' absence forced Chris Webber to return from the side of whatever milk carton his picture was on, and contribute 20 sorely needed points. But would McDyess have at least tried to prevent LeBron from getting to the basket at the end of the second overtime? Unfortunately, we'll never know.

We also might never know what McDyess would've contributed to Game 6, as the very real possibility exists that he'll be suspended because of that flagrant foul, which is taking this heightened sensitivity toward rough basketball to an entirely too high level of overreaction. Clearly, those are the ground rules the NBA wants to set. I think it absolutely #$@%ing stinks. And I'm not just saying that as a Pistons fan, though this has clearly affected my team. I still nursing a slow burn over what happened in the Phoenix-San Antonio series, and if the Pistons weren't involved at this point, I'd have given up on the NBA playoffs already. That thought was pounding inside my head as I watched McDyess walk the walk of disbelief back to the Pistons' locker room.

But all that is essentially irrelevant against the larger scope of this series. I said I didn't want to complain, but I realize I've spent 700+ words doing just that. I'd actually forgotten that the Pistons also fell behind 3-2 in last year's series with the Cavaliers. But I think I echo the thoughts of every Detroit sports fan when I say this feels different.

This isn't just the Pistons not taking an opponent seriously anymore, seemingly waiting to turn on a switch. This feels like a shift in the Eastern Conference power structure. Here in Detroit, we've seen it before with our own team, and know exactly what it looks like. Perhaps the only difference is that LeBron is changing the balance approximately one year before most of us expected him to. Last night, he showed everyone exactly why he gets all the attention some of us may have felt he didn't yet deserve.

No, this series isn't over yet. But it sure seems that way. I feel much the same way as I did after the St. Louis Cardinals won Game 4 of last year's World Series against the Tigers. The series wasn't officially decided after that, but it may as well have been. The Tigers were wobbling at that point, just trying to stay upright while the Cards were measuring them up for the finishing blow. Today, the Pistons have that same look to them.

▪▪ Detroit Bad Boys easily wins the contest for best post-Game 5 headline, thereby highlighting a sensation I just can't shake this morning as I try to digest my breakfast.

▪▪ True Hoop breaks down the memorable moments from the game.

▪▪ Big Al didn't think he'd ever see one man beat five. (Word, my friend.)

▪▪ Bill Livingston believes LeBron may have trumped Jordan.

▪▪ Scott Warheit points out that this Pistons team has historically responded well to being down 3-2 in a series.

Happy Hour 05/31: A-Rod Somehow Keeps Being Hateable

2007-05-31T17:00:00.000-04:00

[This was originally posted at Bless You Boys, but I thought it might fit well here, too.]

Since it seems like I've been talking about Alex Rodriguez's "Ha!" play at third base in last night's Yankees-Blue Jays game for most of the day (especially with my buddy Rob), I thought it might be worth bringing the discussion over to the blog.

If you're not familiar with the play, here's a brief recap. In the top of the ninth, Jorge Posada hit a pop-up to third base. A-Rod was running from second to third, and just before he got to the bag, he apparently yelled out something. Howie Clark, the Jays' third baseman, thought his shortstop, John McDonald, was calling for the ball and backed off. But McDonald wasn't, so the ball dropped to the turf and everyone was safe.

Was the distraction/deception the difference in the game? Well, the Yankees already had the lead, so you could argue it didn't. However, that would've been the third out in the inning, and the Jays would've been down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth instead of five.

But the larger question is whether or not A-Rod messing with Clark was a cheap play - or "bush league," as many of us like to say. Obviously, the Jays thought so, calling it "classless. McDonald was ready to throw down (and probably would've wanted to fight with closed fists, a preference we know doesn't suit A-Rod). His manager, John Gibbons, implied that it wasn't a tactic worthy of the Yankee's great history.

Rodriguez mustered a rather weak defense, claiming that he yelled "Ha!" not "Mine!" His third-base coach, Larry Bowa, corroborated the story, but what would you expect? Perhaps more telling is that A-Rod admitted it was a "desperate" play, an attempt to score a much-needed win. And if you look at his reaction when the Jays are protesting, it seems like he knew he was wrong. If he thought McDonald and Gibbons were just splitting hairs, he likely would've just stood on third base with his hands on his hips, shaking his head, or rolling his eyes. But instead, he tries to plead his case. "What? What did I do?"

I guess I'm just curious what other people think. When I first heard about the play this morning, my first reaction was surprise that this sort of thing doesn't happen all the time. In basketball, a defender might clap his hands, trying to fool an offensive player into passing the ball in that direction. Of course, a player wouldn't yell "Ha!" as someone was attempting a free throw. And in that situation, you're not talking about a baseball potentially smacking someone on the head.

Captain Obvious alert: I never played Major League Baseball. But John McDonald does. And if he says it was a "bush league" play, and so do his teammates and manager, then I'd tend to believe them. You might speculate that A-Rod's fellow New York Yankees feel the same way, since none of them came to his defense in any of the game stories I read.

Since Rob played baseball at a higher level than I ever did, I wanted to get his opinion on this. He said it was a play you wouldn't even see in softball. Now that I can confirm. I usually play third base, and no one's ever tried that on me. But I'm already bad enough at catching pop-ups, so maybe the other team figures they don't have to bother.

Baseball's "unwritten rules" are such murky waters. What's "fair" and what isn't? What's actually considered a rule? As Rob said to me, why is it (somewhat) acceptable for a runner on second base to steal signs and relay them to the batter, yet the batter can't sneak a peek at the catcher making those same signs?

If you want to stick to the letter of the law, however, A-Rod did break a rule. Again, this comes from Rob, via the MLB rulebook:

INTERFERENCE

(a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference, all other runners shall return to the last base that was in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference.

I'd love to know what you guys think about this. I used to think A-Rod kind of got a bad rap, but especially since he went to New York, it's become pretty clear just how blatantly he attempts to contrive his image. Disingenuous incidents such as this one just make that all the more apparent.

Beat Detroit? The Pistons Did It Themselves

2007-05-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

I never thought I'd take ESPN.com's Chris Sheridan seriously again, after his embarrassing attempt to create a sensationalized story with Rasheed Wallace and Flip Saunders back in January. But the guy had it right when he wrote this sentence before Game 4 of the Pistons-Cavaliers series:

Mr. Big Shot is blowing his money.

And last night, Chauncey Billups blew the game for Detroit. That's an overly simplified way of explaining what happened in Game 4. But if LeBron James had to take crap after Games 1 and 2 for not making the plays expected of a superstar, then Billups deserves to be criticized for not being the Pistons' best player when they needed him the most.

He made three awful decisions late in the fourth quarter when the game was on the line. With just over one minute left, Billups left his feet with nowhere to go and dished off a panicked pass right to Drew Gooden. The play-by-play boxscore of the game described the play perfectly: "Chauncey Billups bad pass." He compounded the problem by immediately fouling Gooden, which put the Pistons in the penalty, giving the Cavs free throws on every foul thereafter.

But the three-pointer Billups attempted with 45 seconds left might have been an even worse play. I understand what he was thinking: Take a quick shot, so if it's missed, the Pistons can still get the ball at the end of the game. But he didn't have to take that shot. A leaning, twisting prayer of a shot, while desperately trying to draw a foul when no Cleveland defender was really near him. (Sasha Pavlovic didn't run into Billups; Billups tried to lean into Pavlovic.) Of course, it didn't go in. The Pistons still had a chance to tie the game after that, but it was essentially over after Billups threw up that shot.

Does Billups deserve the benefit of the doubt, given his past heroics for Detroit? Sure. But with that comes the weight of expectations, as well. Why come down so hard on him? Because he's expected to do better. Yet Billups has been outplayed by a rookie, one I hadn't even heard of before this series. (I'll admit, however, that I don't follow the NBA as closely as I used to. 15 years ago, I knew every player on every roster.)

Who is Daniel Gibson? Last night, he's the guy that kicked Chauncey Billups' ass. Okay, Billups outscored him by two points. But he needed almost three times as many shots to do it. One guy's expected to be the best player for his team. The other is a rookie who's just supposed to contribute to the cause.

But maybe it's unfair to come down so hard on Billups because there's plenty of blame that can be spread around. Okay, fine - Rasheed Wallace is an emotional player who often feeds off the perception that the referees are against him. But that technical foul he drew for throwing his headband was totally #@$%ing stupid. What did that accomplish? If you say he was trying to fire up himself and his teammates, then you're just highlighting how desperate he was at that point.

'Sheed just has to be smarter than that. And he's been through far too much not to know that by now. Remind me: Which team is the veteran, playoff-tested one?

And when Chris Webber signed with the Pistons, he may have given the Pistons a new offensive dimension with his passing skills, and helped out with rebounding and defense near the basket. But he is giving Detroit nothing right now. Two points in 20 minutes? Yes, part of that was because Antonio McDyess was playing so well. But he and Jason Maxiell are providing energy, effort, and low-post presence that Webber isn't able to match. He looks tired and slow, and on the verge of being done.

I still think the Pistons will win this series. But I agree that it's going to take seven games now. Detroit is still a better team than Cleveland. But they'd better start playing like it.

You Know, That Voice Sounded Familiar...

2007-05-29T11:00:00.001-04:00

Did you catch "Outside the Lines" on Sunday, with a "confidential source" saying that Michael Vick has been a regular on the dog-fighting scene? (Here's more from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Falcoholic.)

(That footage of the dog fights, by the way, was some brutal $#!+. I think I can still hear those squeals of pain when I close my eyes.)

I don't know how the hell we're supposed to figure out who that guy is with his face shadowed and his voice distorted. But I have my theory as to who that was talking to Kelly Naqi.

Joey Harrington.

C'mon, doesn't that make sense? Dude wants to be a starting quarterback again, and needs to clear the way before he can get quality time with his newest alleged QB guru, Bobby Petrino.

"Harrington Awaits Chance"? Yeah, I bet he does. (You have to read the lead on that article. It's hilarious. Maybe all of us Lions fans should see a sports psychologist.) Oh, if Joey only had that kind of dirt on Jeff Garcia when they were playing musical quarterbacks for Steve Mariucci in Detroit...

(via Deadspin)

Comfortably Uncomfortable: Just the Way the Pistons Need It

2007-05-22T15:30:00.000-04:00

Uncomfortably close? Maybe. But it's probably what we should've expected, given the recent history between the Pistons and the Cleveland LeBrons. I was actually thrilled Game 1 was so tight - though I obviously wouldn't be too joyful about it had Donyell Marshall made that last three-pointer, or if LeBron had seized the step he had and tied the score.

But I certainly don't think it's a bad thing that the Cavaliers got into the Pistons' face, and gave them one or two smacks in the mouth to get their attention. It just might force this Detroit team out of its more frustrating tendencies. Had Detroit won this first game easily, and worked up a decent amount of disrespect for the LeBrons, we know what likely would've happened next. We've seen it too many times over the past two or three seasons.

They'd lose focus. 'Sheed would start taking more three-pointers instead of fighting in the paint for baskets and rebounds. (To me, there was no more encouraging number from last night's box score than Wallace's 12 boards. I could've almost guessed the final score based on that.) They'd figure they could turn it on when winning time came around.

However, if these guys know that they're in for a fight, if Cleveland shows that they're not going to make it easy, then there shouldn't be a lapse. That's not to say the Pistons won't lose a game or two (or three). Even if it looks like Detroit has the match-up advantage at virtually every position and should win this series relatively easily, some teams simply have a rough time with certain opponents. And I think the Cavaliers are one of those irritants.

But what's everyone talking about today? LeBron should've taken that last shot. That's what superstars who get entire shoe ad campaigns built around them do. He shouldn't have passed the ball, even if the guy was horrifyingly wide open. Or he did the right thing because that's the play that's supposed to be made every time. (Matt at Detroit Bad Boys analyzes this whole thing so well that I wasn't even sure if I should bring it up here.)

Kornheiser and Wilbon will surely discuss whether or not LeBron is one of those superstars who can take over a game on "PTI" this afternoon, and I hope Wilbon raises an excellent point he's made before. Players who leave for the NBA right out of high school might not be as well schooled in the rhythms and demands of a game than a college player who's been through big conference and tournament match-ups. If a star player has never learned how and when to take over a game, what happens when just such an opportunity is thrust upon him?

Do I think LeBron should've taken the shot? Like Matt at DBB, my opinions changed after I saw the replay. As the play was happening, it looked like LeBron made the right decision because Marshall was so wide open. On a second and third viewing, however, you see that he actually had a step on his defender(s), which means he could've taken the ball to the rim and either have drawn a foul or laid in the tying basket. But we don't know what the plan was. Maybe the play called for exactly the pass that LeBron made. Maybe the sentiment on the Cavs' bench was to go for the win, rather than slog through an overtime period.

As a Pistons fan, I think all of this is awesome. Let LeBron, his teammates, and coaches answer those questions over the next two days. Let that thought influence LeBron the next time he's in such a situation, and it just might cause the kind of hesitation that can cause a player to seize up in key moments. Maybe he decides to force the issue and run into a double-team, rather than kick it out to the wing - because he's sick of hearing about this stuff. This stuff is in LeBron's head now - and the Pistons didn't even have anything to do with it.

But wait a minute - what if this fires LeBron up to become the unstoppable force many of us fear? Is this a case of "Be careful what you wish for"? Ah, let's worry about that on Thursday...

The Pistons Need to Stop This Bull[excrement] Tonight

2007-05-17T14:30:00.000-04:00

As natural as the impulse might be, I usually try to avoid comparisons between this current Pistons team and the championship teams of the "Bad Boys" era. Different players, different era, different style of play in the league, etc. But as I've watched these Detroit Pistons fall into a familiar (arrogant) trap of getting bored and losing focus until the situation requires them to sharpen their resolve, I can't help but think of the team that originally showed us how to put away an opponent and efficiently (ruthlessly) progress toward the NBA Finals.

There's no way in hell Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer would've allowed the Chicago Bulls to come back and make this series competitive. If their team knew an opponent was beaten, they wasted no time in finishing the job. They had no time for folly or irrelevance. They never let up.

Even if you say the Bulls would've kept Games 1 and 2 close had they made more shots, I'd find it hard to believe that you didn't think that was an absolutely defeated and dejected team. Especially after suffering a completely demoralizing loss in Game 3. And this Pistons team should've made sure things stayed that way. Don't assume the enemy is finished. Check for a body. Don't even allow for the possibility of a comeback. Unfortunately, that flatline now has some beats to it, and there's no reason for the Bulls to think they can't push this thing to a seventh game. And once that happens... well, you know all the cliches.

Of course, the Pistons could stop this charade and conserve needed energy by ending this series tonight (at least two games after it should've been). And it helps that their likely Eastern Conference Finals opponent, the Cleveland LeBrons, is also currently having trouble sealing their own deal. (If you're truly optimistic - and you had every right to be so before last Sunday - you could say that their potential NBA Finals opponent is locked in a fight to the finish, as well.) I realize the Bulls deserve credit for not checking out for their off-season plans after facing a seemingly insurmountable 0-3 deficit. But there is no excuse for the Pistons not to have matched their passion and intensity.

As much as I admire this current Detroit team, one of its most infuriating traits is its arrogance. The Bulls are playing like a team fighting for its playoff life, fueled by the "sometimes, you just gotta say, 'What the #@$%'" abandon that comes with nothing more to lose. Meanwhile, the Pistons look like they're checking their watch or fingernails, as if they're a boyfriend waiting for his girlfriend to finish trying on another outfit, but really looking forward to going to the bar or a movie afterwards. Deep down, they know that better things are likely to come, but it might be more enjoyable (and productive) for everyone involved if they just concentrate on the matter at hand and give their full attention.

Quit messing around. Finish this off. Do what you should've done almost a week ago. At the very least, you'll give yourself a weekend of rest and relaxation. Isn't that what we all want?

Sticking To the Rules? Since When?

2007-05-17T11:00:00.000-04:00

I've been nose-deep in baseball lately, but came up for air to watch Game 5 in the Suns-Spurs Western Conference semi-final. Unless I went into sports talk radio and TV silence, I couldn't have avoided all the chatter about Robert Horry body-checking Steve Nash into the scorer's table, which brought two of Nash's Suns teammates up from the bench and onto the floor. I wasn't watching at the moment in question, so I had to depend on recaps and opinion.

But when I heard the names "Amare Stoudemire" and "Boris Diaw," the news was deflating. I can only imagine how a die-hard Phoenix Suns or NBA fan felt, either in the moment or afterwards. Because you knew what this meant: Leave the bench during an altercation, and you're getting suspended. It was meant to take the "bench-clearing" part out of brawls, which were a problem in what became a thuggish NBA, and in 1997, the enforcement of that rule cost the New York Knicks a playoff series against the Miami Heat.

Patrick Ewing, Allan Houston, John Starks, and Larry Johnson all left the Knicks' bench after P.J. Brown tossed Charlie Ward to the floor. And the NBA came down hard. The only reason all four weren't suspended for the next game was because the Knicks had to field an actual team to play. So Ewing and Houston sat out Game 6, while Starks and Johnson couldn't play Game 7.

If that was the precedent, Stoudemire - even if he's Phoenix's best player and didn't actually engage anyone when he jumped up from the bench - had no chance of playing the next game. The rule and the penalty were clear, and have been so for 10 years. Does David Stern strike you as a guy who has a tolerance for the term "wiggle room" when it comes to handing out punishment?

So the Suns were essentially screwed going into last night's Game 6. They wouldn't just miss two players; they'd miss two of their best players. Meanwhile, the Spurs were short a role player who might take a big shot at the end of the game. The Suns ended up making it a much closer contest than you might have expected, which is a testament to their depth and their offensive system (which didn't have Stoudemire throughout much of last season). It's an overly simplistic way of looking at the final score, but when a team loses by three points and didn't have its leading scorer, I think you can safely say Stoudemire's suspension cost the Phoenix Suns the game - and possibly the series.

And I'm a day late on this, but the question of whether or not fair punishment was actually handed out in this instance is still causing a hell of a lot of noise. Yes, the NBA stuck to the rule, and maybe that's exactly what they should do. I heard Stern argue loudly and sarcastically with Dan Patrick on the radio, and saw him give weary, monosyllabic answers on "Pardon the Interruption" hours later. He bristled at the suggestion that Horry decided a seven-game series with a hip-check. And he stuck to his conviction that superstars don't get any favorable treatment when it comes to enforcing the rules.

Oh, really? Isn't this the same league that lets its superstars take four steps after picking up their dribble? How many of them are allowed to use their hand to push and check an opponent off balance to gain leverage on defense? How often can they hook a defender with an elbow (or an entire arm) as they pivot around a defender near the basket? How many of those star players get to cradle the basketball in their palm while stutter-stepping or switching hands while dribbling? How often is an offensive player allowed to just clear a defender out of the way with his arm?

Well, you might say, that's not the same thing. But isn't it really? You might be talking about preventing fights, about keeping the game clean, about making sure no one gets hurt. That other stuff, meanwhile, happens within the rhythm of the game. You can't call everything. It slows the game down.

But don't tell me superstar players don't get exceptions in the NBA. It happens all the time. And maybe this is one time, for the benefit of the game in general, that such an interpretation should've been made.

Remembering the Bad Ol' Days

2007-05-08T10:30:00.001-04:00

With the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls once again crossing playoff swords, it's only natural to look back at what made this such a fierce rivalry in the first place. Of course, since the 2007 edition of Pistons-Bulls has been something of a dud thus far, memories of better, more competitive times might be all we're left with.

Late last week, Matt Watson of Detroit Bad Boys asked various Detroit and Chicago bloggers for their most lasting memory of the Pistons-Bulls rivalry, which has now resumed after almost two decades. (Sweet Jeebus, was it that long ago?) I was flattered to be asked, and more than willing to oblige.

Thefirst thing that came to mind was Isiah Thomas and Bill Laimbeer leading the Pistons off the floor with four seconds left in Game 4 of the 1991 Eastern Conference Finals. At the time, I loved that Detroit ended its championship run on its own terms. Laimbeer hugging a tearful Jack McCloskey in the tunnel is an image I'll never forget. And in the process, the Pistons gave a big middle finger to an opponent that hadn't respected their accomplishments.

Now, however, I look back on that and think the Pistons came off as sore losers. History hasn't looked back very kindly on that last display of defiance, especially since it was beginning of the Chicago Bulls' championship dynasty. So I chose instead to focus on a more pleasant memory, something that brings a smile to my face every time I see it.

If you get a chance, stop by DBB and check out what I and several other bloggers remember about those good ol' Bad Boys days. Chicago memories will soon follow (I'm betting this series won't be among them). And thanks to Matt for asking me to participate.

The Detroit Pistons Are Excellent Matadors

2007-05-08T09:00:00.000-04:00

You know, I'd love to write something about this Pistons-Bulls series, but after the first two games, there's just not much interesting to say. I'm sure I could come up with various descriptions of what an ass-kicking the Bulls have been subjected to. You can't say this series is over when a game hasn't been played in Chicago yet, but I certainly can't remember when the Pistons have looked more dominating in the first two games of a series. We've seen them come out strong in Game 1 before, only to watch the other team pick themselves up for the remaining five or six games.

(Here are your recaps from Detroit Bad Boys and Need4Sheed.)

But this time, Detroit is kicking the opponent down, and keeping them on the floor. It's been like watching a kickoff return in football, when a linebacker zeroes in on a smaller wide receiver and keeps blocking, shoving, and pummeling him to the turf until the play is over. Perhaps even more demoralizing for the Bulls is that there's not even a respite when Flip Saunders empties the bench. Jason Maxiell, Lindsey Hunter, and Carlos Delfino have been almost equally as relentless as the starters. Getting back into the game just hasn't been an option for Chicago.

As fun as it's been to see the Pistons play as well as they ever have - with the ball moving around the floor, players working to get open, and everything coming together for an open look at the basket - I derived some sadistic enjoyment from the forlorn faces on the Chicago bench as the game moved toward its merciful end. Kirk Heinrich looked completely overwhelmed, as if he had no idea what he'd just run into. Luol Deng bit down on his lower lip, like he was just waiting for the pain to end. Ben Gordon hid underneath a towel, seemingly cowering in embarrassment.

But one guy had a knowing smile on his face. I'm not sure if Ben Wallace was thinking that his new teammates now realize just how difficult this playoff thing is, and maybe they'd listen to him and Scott Skiles more intently, or if he was reminiscing over just how good his old teammates can really be when they're focused on winning.

Tercio de varas. The Pistons have won the first stage of this bullfight.

Happy Hour 05/07: New York's Cutest Couple

2007-05-07T15:00:00.000-04:00

One of the frequent complaints I've read about Spider-Man 3 is that there's too much goopy romance between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. People just want to see some comic book action. But to me, that relationship gives the story its heart. And that sentiment can also be applied to sports.

In Detroit, the bond between Steve Mariucci and Jeff Garcia was one that transcended geography and football logic. Garcia couldn't throw and Mooch couldn't coach. But that didn't stop them from getting back together and renewing their partnership. That's how it is when you've met your soul mate.

You know who else understands that? Roger Clemens and his best friend forever, Andy Pettitte. Distance was merely an obstacle for these two. From New York to Houston and back to the Bronx again, they have maintained their life partnership. The miles between the two cities were just orange cones to be run over by a truck of genuine affection.

And nothing gives a romance more of a storybook quality than a grand gesture. You want a tale you can eventually share with your grandchildren. Think of John Cusack's Lloyd Dobler holding that boombox over his head outside Diane Court's house in Say Anything. Or Sam carrying Frodo up the mountain in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. Wasn't Clemens announcing his return to the Yankees from George Steinbrenner's luxury suite equally as memorable?

Did you see the smile on Pettitte's face from the Yankees' dugout? He may as well have held his hands to his chest, swooning while cartoon hearts danced around his head. Together with the Yankees, together with the Astros, and together yet again in pinstripes. How so very touching.

I can only imagine that plenty of other men in the Yankee Stadium stands were inspired to ask for their significant other's hand in marriage or at least give a warm, firm hug to their ballgame buddy. That kind of sharing doesn't have to be restricted to the Bronx, either. Call up your best friend tonight and tell him how you feel. If you want to do it while you're watching a sporting event together, that's fine. We understand.

Of course, acknowledging true love can also leave some broken hearts. And they're watching romantic comedies with pints of ice cream today in Boston and Houston. I'm not sure if Curt Schilling is more jealous over Clemens signing with the Yankees or creating more of an attention-grabbing media spectacle for himself.

"It would've been nice to have him, but we didn't need him. We don't need him," Schilling told The Associated Press in Minneapolis yesterday. "I feel we're a legitimate World Series contender without him.

This is what we men do. We mask our pain with bravado. It's okay, Curt. Yes, Clemens spurned your team and virtually monopolized ESPN's coverage last night and this morning. But hey, he doesn't have a blog like you do. Use the outlet you've given yourself. You can get through this, even if it takes you 2.800 words to do so. Some of us might not read them all because we only have so many hours in the day to devote to your narcissism, but if that's what you need, we're here for you.

And it's not just fellow players and potential teammates that are dealing the hurt of rejection. Members of the media who fell for Clemens' charms are also nursing wounded souls today. Check out the Houston Chronicle's Richard Justice slicing open a vein and pouring his blood all over his blog for his beloved Rocket:

I kissed the guy's feet every time he walked into a room. I wrote time and again that it was an honor to have him pitching for the hometown team.

In other words, I did my part. I even put up with his obnoxious agent, Randy Hendricks. If this deal includes a one-way ticket out of town for that guy, it may end up being worth it.

I believed all that stuff, too. Roger Clemens is an amazing competitor. He no longer has great stuff, but he stills wins because he has guts and poise and smarts and astonishing control.

Wow. Somebody make sure that man isn't spending tonight alone. Take him out to dinner. Buy him something nice to make him feel good about himself. Just sit and listen. He doesn't need to hear you talk. He needs you to let him say what he's feeling. Give the poor guy the "Five Good Minutes" slot on "PTI" tonight, so Kornheiser and Wilbon can help him sort out his feelings. We all need friends at times like these.

Regardless, we should all be happy that two people on this earth, in this life, have found such bliss together. It's like they say: When you know, you just know. And even if we haven't found such a partnership for ourselves, at least this gives us hope to keep trying. We can be like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Just don't give up. Never give up.

Happy Hour 05/04: The Worst Idea I've Heard All Week

2007-05-04T16:00:00.000-04:00

Leading up to last weekend's NFL Draft, I often thought about how grossly overstuffed the coverage has become. The hype kicked into overdrive at least a month before the actual event, with ESPN devoting several weekday prime time hours, in addition to what was on NFL Live and SportsCenter, to rumor and speculation surrounding which names would be called out in New York. Who was rising up, falling down, calling about a trade, smoking pot, healing from injuries, etc.?

Of course, I can't get too indignant about it all. It's not like I wasn't watching enough of that stuff for terms like "ball recognition," "high motor," and "smooth hips" to almost become a regular part of my vocabulary.

But eventually, the line has to be drawn somewhere. And if the latest rumors are true, it's time to get out that chalk or tape and start making some of those lines. According to a story in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (via AOL Fanhouse), the ratings for last Saturday's coverage were so good that the NFL is looking into possibly moving the first round to the Friday night of its draft weekend.

My first thought was this: The NFL realizes this year's first round took six #@$%ing hours to complete, right? How many of you are keen on watching five guys sitting at a desk, assorted football highlights, and draft selection crawls going across, up, and down the screen until 2 a.m. after you just finished the work week?

To me, the NFL Draft already has an undercurrent of depression, in that you're staying inside to watch this stuff on what's often the first Saturday of the year with gorgeous Spring weather. I don't know about you, but I don't usually ask other people what they did that weekend because I don't want to respond to "Man, I did a lot of yard work; the house looks great," "We went to the beach," "I went bicycling," "We picnicked and played frisbee at the park," or "We went to a ballgame and sat in the bleachers," with "I wasted the entire day, until the sun went down, with the shades drawn and a 12-pack of beer beside me, waiting to see which pro team drafted Drew Stanton."

Actually, that's a reason they should have the draft on Friday night, isn't it?

But doesn't the whole thing just work better when you can work the rest of your day around the draft? Maybe your significant other shows you how much she loves you by planning to do something else while you sit home and watch TV. Maybe you get that yard work or those errands done before or after your favorite team picks. Can any of those scenarios easily occur on a Friday night? Shouldn't you be out trying to forget the work week while having dinner or seeing a movie? Or blowing off steam watching some live music or a ballgame? If you stay home, shouldn't you be spending time with your family? Or having sex with someone - even if it's yourself?

And I could be wrong, but this isn't something that you sit in a sports bar to watch, is it? There's no flow, no rhythm, no rise and fall to watching the NFL Draft. There aren't any great moments like a home run, a 60-yard touchdown pass, a shot from the blue line, or a buzzer-beating three pointer. What makes you high-five your friends or the people sitting near you? Sure, there's some drama to it, but it's really slow-developing stuff, like watching Brady Quinn and his family flee to Roger Goodell's private suite after 10 teams have passed on him. I'm sure sports bars would be fine with you adding to your bar tab as you sit and wait for hours, though.

This would be messing too much with the world order, NFL. Don't get too greedy. You already get enough of our time, attention, and energy. You're talking about upsetting the balance of life. And that's something we should be able to #@$% up on our own, without your help.

I Wonder If Danny Glover Is a Hockey Fan?

2007-05-03T13:00:00.000-04:00

Despite my previous resolve to be one at the start of the NHL playoffs, I haven't been a very good Red Wings fan thus far. Most of my interest and emotion has come from looking at the scores the next day and saying something like "The Wings lost?" or "Oh $#!+, the series is tied?" and "I should really watch the next game."

I haven't watched many of the games. I don't think I'd even watched an entire game. That is, until last night. The Tigers weren't on. The Pistons - while the NBA kneels before the mistress television - don't begin the renewal of their blood rivalry with the Chicago Bulls (hmm, I may write about that tomorrow) until Saturday. And for the most part, Wednesday's a crap TV night (though I find that woman on Bones quite attractive). So, despite the fact that I knew I'd probably be paying for it, I stayed up to watch Game 4 of Red Wings-Sharks.

And once the game went into overtime, Danny Glover/Roger Murtaugh were echoing loudly in my brain. Maybe that was the sleep deprivation talking. Or the weird combination of an adult beverage with a late Chinese food dinner, followed by a few cups of tea. Whatever the reason, I was up at 1 a.m. to see if the Wings could tie up this series.

I'm gettin' too old for this shit.

24-year-old Ian called. He's asking when 34-year-old Ian became such a lame-o geezer. If I had the energy right now, I'd try to punch 24-year-old Ian in the face. Also, I'd tell him to date more women and graduate college sooner.

I can't quite describe the emotion I felt when San Jose's Craig Rivet was whistled for a penalty at 14:52 of overtime. I wouldn't call it happy because I was too tired to get that amped up. I'm sure I'll be much happier when/if my first child is born. Maybe it's comparable to the feeling I have when I haven't eaten a cheese steak hoagie for a long time, and I take that first bite. I know it's bad for me, but damn, I like it. And it just felt like the Wings were going to win the game on that power play. Again, maybe that was the sleep deprivation talking.

But when Mathieu Schneider rocketed a slap shot under the crossbar to win the game, I raised my arms in triumph. Not necessarily because the Wings won, but because I knew sweet slumber would soon follow. Very shortly after I saw the replay which showed that the angle on Schneider's shot changed when it deflected off of Scott Hannan, I think I turned off the TV while my head hit the pillow all in one motion. Zzzzzz.

A natural question would be, "Well, why didn't you just go to sleep?" (A better one might be, "Why didn't you plan better and take a nap early in the evening?") C'mon, I couldn't just turn the game off after sticking with it that long. Anyone who's endured a marathon overtime NHL playoff game (and, really, this wasn't one of those) has surely thought the same thing.

But to answer the title of this post, even if Danny Glover was a hockey fan, isn't he already on the west coast? So he wouldn't have to deal with these 10 p.m. EST start times. That has to keep him young. At least younger than I'm feeling right now.

Help Us, Calvin - You're Our (and Millen's) Only Hope

2007-04-30T20:00:00.000-04:00

I don't think anyone jumped off the Ambassador Bridge in response to the Lions' 2007 draft. At least I haven't heard any such reports. But I wouldn't be surprised if anyone got onto I-96, pulled the car over, and leaned on the railing a bit to peer down to the Detroit River. I'm not saying I did on Sunday morning, but if I had, this is what would've been going through my mind:

For approximately six hours, from 12:30 p.m. EST to 6:30 p.m., the Lions draft looked A-OK to me. Matt Millen did exactly the right thing; he knew he had the one player (and draft slot) other teams wanted, and took advantage of that to try and get the best trade offer he could. Maybe he asked for too much in return, and teams like Tampa Bay and Atlanta called his bluff.

But when the Lions end up with the guy everyone says is the best player in the draft, the one with the most athletic gifts and fewest question marks, it's difficult to say that they lost out. (Even when I still wonder if maybe they should've taken the best offensive tackle on the board.) It looked like it was going to be a good day.

It's what Millen did the rest of the day, however, that I have a problem with. As the first round reached its end, and it was apparent that several linebackers would likely reach the Lions when their second-round pick at #34 came up. Paul Posluzsny, probably the top-rated linebacker after Patrick Willis would be there. So would Michigan's David Harris and Hampton's Justin Durant. And if they really were serious about getting a defensive end, as most of the rumors about Gaines Adams seemed to imply, LaMarr Woodley would be there, too. Millen would continue rebuilding the defense, especially the faster, younger front seven that he and Sgt. Marinelli envisioned. Things were looking good.

But then, as Mr. Big Ten Hardball and I were on the phone, wondering how Alan Branch slid out of the first round like he was covered in butter, the graphic on ESPN's screen changed from the Lions' logo to the Buffalo Bills'. What was that? What the hell happened? And just as we were trying to figure out what the Lions could've possibly gotten in return to justify such a move, the Bills selected Posluszny. Apparently, the Lions thought they were set at outside linebacker across from Ernie Sims, with Paris Lenon, Alex Lewis, or Boss Bailey.

That third-round pick better have been worth it, because two offensive tackles and a cornerback were taken off the board in the subsequent eight picks. But the middle linebackers were still there. So was Woodley. And then the ESPN cameras showed Drew Stanton on the phone, next to Drew Rosenhaus, and you just knew what was going to happen. Seconds later, he's putting on a Honolulu Blue hat and crying the tears of a kid who was just told he's not only going to play in the NFL, but for his hometown team.

I'll admit that I was okay with this pick at first. I knew the Lions were interested in Stanton, I thought it would be kind of cool to see them pick up a local guy, and I hoped that they'd consider him if he was available in the second or third round. Mr. BTH, however, was nearly apoplectic on the phone when he saw that Millen passed up Harris. And after the sweetness and charm of the hometown story passed, I began to agree with him.

Stanton might be a good NFL quarterback. And the Lions likely will have a need for one after Jon Kitna's contract runs out (or maybe even before that). But on ESPN, they were calling him a project. Steve Young, in particular, was questioning his throwing mechanics. Ron Jaworski thought Mike Martz was just the coach to mentor him over the next two years. The underlying subtext to all of that noise, however, is that the guy isn't going to play right now. And with a second-round pick, the Lions needed someone who will be a starter next season. Stanton isn't that guy.

I liked the principle of taking a quarterback to groom during Kitna's remaining two years in Detroit. But the second round wasn't the place to take him. Well, you might say, then the Lions would risk losing a guy they liked. So be it. What happened to building that defense? Millen showed once again that he seems to think all of his high draft picks are luxury picks. That was fine when Calvin Johnson was on the board. The best player didn't fill the immediate need. But when the best players available can help you out immediately, you have to take them.

I wasn't as upset as Brian about passing up Harris, because I don't know if he's the right kind of middle linebacker for the Tampa Two defense. Believe me, I love Harris and have enjoyed the hell out of his last three years at Michigan. The guy was the Wolverines' run defense. But if you need your middle linebacker to drop straight back into coverage on most pass plays, I'm not sure Harris is your man. Durant, however, looked like he had the speed (if not the ideal height) for that kind of role. If they were interested in London Fletcher as a free agent, I don't understand why they wouldn't want Durant for that same role. Again, the Lions must think their current roster has that covered.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that the Lions think they can sign Shelton Quarles, who was recently released by Tampa Bay, as a free agent for that middle linebacker spot. Or the Sarge and staff still think that another year of coaching will somehow get through to one of their present linebackers and they'll be able to fill that role. If that's the case, I really hope they get Quarles.

Draft Notes from the Ambassador Bridge

2007-04-30T19:30:00.000-04:00

● As far as the rest of the Lions' draft goes, I don't want to make the mistake of thinking that Matt Millen picked bad players just because I've never heard of any of them, let alone seen them play. (Just because I went to Hawaii last fall doesn't mean I saw Ikaika Alama-Francis play. And hell yes, I copied-and-pasted that name.) At least five of those six selections were defensive players (and three of them were defensive backs, which I heartily endorse). But at that point in the draft, are you getting starter-quality talent? Very likely not.

An afternoon and evening of exchanging phone calls about the draft with Mr. BTH ended with him making a point repeatedly (and this time, I'm not misquoting him for creative reasons): To those who said Millen had to trade down so he could get extra picks and fill more spots, how are you feeling with what he did when he had those opportunities? Did he really show he knows what he's doing? I suppose we'll have to wait and see. For now, however, it doesn't look so good.

● Now we know just how bad a draft pick Mike Williams was in 2005. Millen was able to get half of a fourth-round pick for him. Not even a whole pick. I'm not entirely knocking the deal because I'm glad the Lions got rid of Williams. And though I would've liked to see Josh McCown get a chance, this confirms that signing him was really a dumb move in the first place if you were giving Jon Kitna a longer contract. It only made sense if you were bringing him in to compete with Joey Harrington for the starting job, not the back-up position.

Never mind trying to figure out why the Lions drafted Drew Stanton if they think Dan Orlovsky can step in for Kitna, if necessary. Or do they just think he can hold down the back-up spot for two years while Stanton (hopefully) learns Martz's system and eventually becomes the starter? But if they don't think Orlovsky can take over that job, why trade McCown? Even if he didn't like it, he only had one more season to deal with being the back-up. Was he capable of becoming a disruption in the locker room? Does this move give the Lions a salary cap break? Am I about to smash my head against a wall?

● For that matter, if the Raiders were willing to give up Randy Moss for a fourth-round pick, would it just have been better to get him in return for Williams and McCown? I'm not saying I would've wanted Moss, and I know it's not that simple - not just because of his salary figure, but also the small question of "Where the hell would he play?" I just found it interesting that the Lions received a draft pick that was only four slots higher than the selection Oakland got back for Moss.

● Even though I began to feel bad for Brady Quinn once the commissioner took him out of the green room to avoid the embarrassment of another dozen teams passing him over, the only thing that would've been more sadistically enjoyable (and I feel that way largely because I don't enjoy having a player shoved in my face and being told I should think he's great) was if Drew Rosenhaus was his agent and had to sit next to him the whole time.

● Actually, I take that back. The funniest thing about Saturday was Cam Cameron stepping to the podium in front of Dolphins fans to announce (or explain?) their selection of Ted Ginn, Jr. I actually like Cameron, but the look on his face, quickly sliding from proud and triumphant to perplexed and irritated, as he was showered with boos and chants of "Bra-dy!" while trying to explain that Ginn was a great kick returner, was great video. And so was his lame attempt to turn the mood in his favor by saying they needed to turn those thumbs downs to thumbs up. I'm sure he got a different finger after that.

Oh, if only Lions fans had the opportunity to do the same to Millen...

● And at least one blogger is excited about the Lions getting to select "Mr. Irrelevant" at pick #255. Congratulations, Ramzee Robinson. I hope you can play defensive back in the NFL, because the Lions need someone to do it. (Does the Tampa Two require cornerbacks? I'm just checking, because Detroit's off-season plans seem to imply it doesn't.) It's kind of amazing that Millen hasn't had that pick before, since so many of his other draft picks have literally become irrelevant.

The Ambassador Bridge Watch: Two Days Until the NFL Draft

2007-04-26T13:00:00.000-04:00

You've heard the jokes. You've probably made them several times yourself. NFL Draft Saturday is annually the Detroit Lions' Super Bowl. It's the one day in which hope, rather than disgust, is the prevailing emotion. It's the one time of the year where Lions fans feel like we actually won something. It's also the one day we'll tolerate someone (Mel Kiper) frequently mispronouncing Detroit as "DEE-troit." (Yes, Mason does it at Pistons games, but that's a style choice.)

This year, however, is different. At least it seems that way to me. Yes, as in years past, that sensation in our stomachs is anticipation. But rather than being laced with excitement, that feeling is spiked with dread.

What the hell is Matt Millen going to do with that #2 overall pick?

I attended three of four Michigan baseball games last weekend with Mr. Big Ten Hardball, and the Lions' draft probably took up 75% of our conversation. (Okay, maybe 50%.) A typical exchange went something like this:

Me: Man, the ball is taking some bad hops on the infield, don't you thi--

BTB: The Lions are going to take Gaines Adams with that pick! I know it!

Me: No way. They're not gonna do that, are they? They have to take Calvi--

BTB: They're gonna do it! They have a chance at three superstars, but they're gonna take a role player. It'll be a disaster.

Me: I'll keep my cell phone nearby on Saturday if you need me.

BTB: I might have to call. I don't know what I'm gonna do.

Later, Sam-Sam with the Wonder Cam joined in with the "Just don't pick Brady Quinn" sentiment.

Clearly, I hadn't been paying as much attention to this stuff as I had in past years, because I didn't know that this was the scuttlebutt around the Lions. I knew Millen and Co. were interested in Adams - because Sgt. Marinelli is all about his beloved defensive lineman - but the general consensus seemed to be that he wasn't worthy of the second overall pick. From what I understand, Adams can rush the passer - which the Lions certainly need - but isn't very good against the run. Can you risk such a high draft pick on a guy who has those types of questions surrounding him?

At #2, a defensive end better project as an all-pro/future Hall of Famer like Bruce Smith or Julius Peppers (or even, as the Houston Texans obviously hope, Mario Williams), someone who can either run around an offensive tackle and push him aside. But if Adams is essentially a heavier pass-rushing outside linebacker, well, aren't the Lions already overpaying a guy who was supposed to fill that role? Just look how productive he's been.

Not only that, but if the Lions are planning on drafting a defensive end, then why in the name of Barry Sanders did they designate Cory Redding (oh, he's a defensive tackle - wink, wink) as their franchise player and sign Dewayne White as a free agent? Okay, maybe the Lions didn't realize how good of a prospect Adams would be. But shouldn't they have, before deciding to invest most of their off-season spending money into the defensive line?

The biggest problem for the Lions is that none of the superstar talent in this draft ideally fits one of their glaring needs (although you could very easily argue that Detroit could use either of the projected top players), and since Millen has been utterly inept in building an NFL team up until now, he's left with too far too many holes to plug. He can't build around a prospective talent because he already tried that, and failed miserably. That's why I previously advocated Joe Thomas as the Lions' first-round pick. But in yet another example of Millen's piss-poor management, an offensive tackle likely doesn't make financial sense for the roster as presently constructed.

So if the Lions can't fill a need, they have to go with the best player available. And there's very little argument that Calvin Johnson is that guy. Almost (and when I say "almost," it's like 99%) every so-called expert and observer thinks he's the surest prospect in this draft, the most physically talented athlete with the greatest skills and the fewest questions about his overall game. This pick has to be a sure thing, and an near-unquestionable impact player. One player fulfills both of those criteria, and if he's there, you take him.

Just as many - if not more - people are standing by with their "Ha ha ha! Matt Millen took another wide receiver! What a surprise!" jokes. So there's been some speculation that Millen would pass on Johnson because he's afraid of the crap he'd take. If that's really true, then he should absolutely be fired after the draft. But I'd find that hard to believe. If he was that fearful of public opinion, he'd have resigned by now. Maybe this is kind of a silly position for a sports blogger to take, but who gives a $#!+ what people think? Build a winning team! Fans have their ideas about what the Lions should do, but ultimately that's what they really care about.

Besides, it's not like Detroit doesn't need another wide receiver to line up across from Roy Williams because all the other ones Millen brought in have totally crapped out. Mike Martz tried a new player in that spot almost every week last season. (And don't you dare say to me, "But they already signed Shaun McDonald.")

Having said all that, there's only one other option for the Lions, and it's so obviously the right thing to do that it almost isn't worth mentioning because it's simply understood. What do you do if you don't want to use a high draft pick? Trade it to another team who does. Move on down, pocket some extra picks, and get Adams or Patrick Willis, the two guys they apparently really want. (Or how about a frickin' defensive back? From the football I've watched in my lifetime, it seems to me that you need at least two cornerbacks on the field. Do the Lions even have that right now?)

Even if Millen has such a proposal on the table, we shouldn't be surprised that he hasn't taken it yet. He'd be crazy to. Wait until the last possible minute and see what other options exist, even if Atlanta has already made what's probably the best possible offer. (And sweet sassy molassy, that's a perfect fit.) Find out how bad other teams want to move into that #2 slot.

Of course, the Raiders could absolutely $#@% everything up for the Lions and take Johnson with their #1 overall pick, as Dan Shanoff did in Awful Announcing's Sports Bloggers Mock Draft, leaving Big Al with virtually no other choice than to take JaMarcus Russell. And that's probably what the Lions should do if that's how the real draft shakes out, although some other good QBs (Drew Stanton, John Beck) should be available in later rounds. Taking a quarterback with a top five pick is essentially a crapshoot, but in a couple of years (or sooner), the Lions will have a crying need for one. And you might as well get him now, with Jon Kitna being a proven mentor for quarterbacks.

Man, Detroit would be screwed if the Raiders didn't take Russell. My stomach hurts.

What the hell is Millen going to do with that #2 overall pick? Start staffing regular patrols around the Ambassador Bridge at approximately 12:30 p.m. EST on Saturday.

Happy Hour 04/24: Grant Hill Can't Have It Both Ways

2007-04-24T17:30:00.000-04:00

At Detroit Bad Boys, Matt Watson has a response to Grant Hill's recent lamentations over playing on what turned out to be a broken ankle at the end of his days with the Pistons. Even if Hill is trying to lay blame elsewhere or revise history, I'm kind of glad he's bringing this subject up, because it's something I've always wondered about.

If Hill had to do it all over again, would he decide not to play on that ankle (even if it meant Detroit fans probably would've questioned his toughness)? Of course, it's not like the injury cost him financially, as Mike Bianchi points out in the Orlando Sentinel column that started this discussion.

It's natural to revisit this situation, I suppose, especially with Hill now facing his former team in a playoff series. But Hill's implied accusations come off as a little phony - and I think that's an issue many Detroit fans had with Hill, much as New York fans currently have with Alex Rodriguez - when it seems rather clear that playing with the injury and opting for surgery were his decision, and a situation over which he held all the control.

Such remarks seem almost silly when you consider - as Matt also pointed out at the AOL Fanhouse last month - that Arnie Kander, the Pistons' strength and conditioning coach, has worked wonders in rehabilitating Antonio McDyess and Chris Webber, whose injuries never seemed to heal with other teams. (The New York Times also cited Kander's value in keeping the team healthy last year.)

Regardless of whether or not you thought he was being entirely sincere at the time, I think Hill left Detroit in as classy a manner as he could. He didn't have to talk to local columnists or appear on sports talk radio shows to answer questions from hosts and fans, but he did - and not many athletes do that on their way out of town.

Maybe it was another example of Hill trying to get everyone to like him (though I think that's being a tad cynical), but at least he made an effort to keep things cool with the fans here. That's the Grant Hill I like to remember. And I really hope he doesn't say anything to change that perception as his career winds down toward its end.

You Know You're Going to Lose a Series When...

2007-04-24T15:30:00.000-04:00

[I know I haven't posted much here lately. Maybe (maybe?) I was a tad delusional in thinking I could keep both my baby and the new gig updated on a consistent basis. Plus, there's just been so much to write about in Detroit sports over the past few days that I really didn't know where to begin. As Big Al said, we're really fortunate to enjoy so much in this area. But I still intend to post stuff here 2-3 times a week. I appreciate you continuing to stop by and check for fresh material.]

It wasn't the most important shot in last night's Pistons-Magic playoff game. It didn't decide the outcome, and didn't result in a lead change. But if Orlando had any thoughts about getting back into the game, Rasheed Wallace banking in a shot clock beating, three-point heave with three minutes left had to crush those hopes. Detroit's lead went back up to 10, and the game was essentially over.

As you might imagine, Need4Sheed has video of the shot. It's a beaut. I'm not sure what's better: Keyon Dooling's "Son of a biscuit!" reaction on the bench or 'Sheed's "That's right - I know I'm bad" stone-faced expression as he backpedaled toward the Pistons' end of the court.

Despite the eight-point margin at the time, the Pistons seemed well on their way to winning the game anyway, so 'Sheed's shot was really more of an emphatic smackdown than a game-changing moment. You get the feeling that the only thing keeping these games close is Detroit getting bored (or, frankly, a little bit arrogant).

At virtually every position, The Pistons have a match-up advantage over Orlando. The exception should be at center, where Dwight Howard looks more physically gifted and athletic than either 'Sheed or Chris Webber. Yet Detroit's experience and physical presence (and an upset stomach, apparently) pushed Howard off his game, showing him he has still has a lot to learn. (And this will show how little I've watched the NBA this season, other than Pistons games, but when did Howard stick his 21-year-old head on Karl Malone's body? Dude is pumped.)

It's probably most clear at point guard, where Chauncey Billups can do absolutely anything he wants against Jameer Nelson. Nelson is a tough player who might be quicker than Billups, and can occasionally dart past him to the basket. But in every other area, he (literally) comes up short. Chauncey can see the floor over Nelson, and make any pass he needs to. He's strong to push through any arm, hand, or body check that might be attempted on defense. He can post him up down low, he can shoot over him on the perimeter, and can toss him around like a rag doll when moving without the ball.

At the other end of the floor, it's much the same case. Nelson can't pass around or over Billups. He can't push him out of the way. And Billups also has more than enough experience to know where Nelson might go with the ball. It's one of the more glaring mismatches you might see in a playoff series.

But what else can Brian Hill do? He tried putting Grant Hill on Billups, but that can't last the whole game. Not unless they're okay with Tayshaun Prince scoring 30 points a game. (And Hedo Turkoglu apparently is. That guy sure can shoot, though.) Carlos Arroyo? Yes, Coach Hill, please keep trying that.

The Tigers Fan Community Mourns a Loss

2007-04-17T15:00:00.000-04:00

The news coming out of Blacksburg, VA yesterday was just horrifying and numbing. Over at SB Nation, many bloggers were debating whether or not to post something about the tragedy, if for no other reason than to acknowledge that there are much bigger, far more serious things going on in this world than sports. I decided not to say anything, because... what can you really say?

The shootings were just such a terrible tragedy and I guess I figured if people wanted (or needed) to use sports as an escape last night, that was at least something to offer. I can't say I'm entirely comfortable with that decision a day later, however. But several other bloggers felt differently, and I'm glad they followed their hearts on the matter.

I watched much of the television news coverage this morning and was paralyzed at seeing photos of several victims, each of whom looked far too young and hopeful to have their lives taken away, and hear testimonials from those who witnessed the carnage and were trying to cope with losing friends and family members. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to be a parent, relative, or friend of anyone who was senselessly killed.

A college campus should be a safe place, where someone feels free to grow, to find him or herself, to become part of a community, to learn. For so many of us, some of the best years of our lives were spent in such environments. It should never feel like a place where you'd fear for your safety. And it most certainly should not be defined by such a heartbreaking outbreak of violence.

Within the Detroit Tigers fan community, this tragedy has unfortunately hit very close to home, as one of its own was a victim of yesterday's shootings. Brian Bluhm, a frequent commentor on The Detroit Tigers Weblog and the Motown Sports forum was one of those who had their life taken far too early, with so much promise ahead. Those who lost a good friend and fellow fan have posted tributes today to Brian.

● The Detroit Tigers Weblog

● Mack Avenue Tigers

● Tiger Tales

● Two posts at Minor League Ball

● Motown Sports

If I have missed any others, I sincerely apologize. My deepest sympathies to those who knew Brian, and condolences to his family, as well as everyone who has been affected by this tragedy. No one should have to go through something like this.

Here's To You, Mr. Robinson

2007-04-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

Major League Baseball can get a lot of things wrong (last week's decision to play the Angels and Indians in Milwaukee might be the latest example), and professional athletes often get knocked for lacking a sense of history and tradition. Today, however, both parties are getting it right by commemorating the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

In honor of the first black man to play in the major leagues, more than 150 players will wear Robinson's #42 on the field today. Six Detroit Tigers - Gary Sheffield, Craig Monroe, Pudge Rodriguez, Marcus Thames, Lloyd McClendon, and Curtis Granderson - will pay tribute, while six entire ballclubs - the Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, Philadelphia Phillies, and of course, the Los Angeles Dodgers - will outfit their players, coaches, and ballboys with Robinson's number.

I wrote a longer piece about the occasion (as well as a paper I wrote in high school) over at Bless You Boys, and am hoping you'll head over there to check it out. I also included a bunch of links to other places that have posted a wealth of material on Robinson, his experiences, and his legacy. Today should be a pretty special day, one we don't get to see too often anymore in professional sports.

He Would've Been a Great Sports Blogger

2007-04-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

I wrote my thoughts on Kurt Vonnegut's death yesterday on my personal blog, but there's a footnote that is just too funny not to share. And it's sports-related, which is why I'm repeating it here. If you haven't seen this already, Awful Announcing (via The Wade Blogs) posted a hilarious anecdote about Vonnegut's early writing career.

In its early days of publication, Sports Illustrated tried to boost the quality of the magazine's writing by brooming out mediocre sportswriters in favor of literary-grade storytellers who may or may not have cared or known anything about sports, but could write one hell of a feature. One of those writers was Vonnegut, who was hired to compose a piece about a race horse that had jumped over the fence and into the stands.

How did that go? Here's the account from a 1998 review in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Michael MacCambridge's The Franchise: A History of Sports Illustrated Magazine (which appears to be out of print):

Kurt Vonnegut worked briefly at SI until being told to write a story about a race horse that had jumped the rail and terrorized the infield at a local track. Vonnegut stared at his desk for what seemed like hours before finally departing the building without a word. Inside his deserted typewriter was this: ''The horse jumped over the fucking fence.''

C'mon, how great is that?! Vonnegut's editor certainly couldn't have complained that he buried the lead. Maybe I'll try that on the sports blog. Here's how a post on tonight's Pistons-Raptors game could go tomorrow might go: One basketball team scored more fucking points than the other one.

▪▪ "Who is more to be pitied, a writer bound and gagged by policemen or one living in perfect freedom who has nothing more to say?" -- Kurt Vonnegut

Big Al's On the Clock!

2007-04-13T13:00:00.001-04:00

As I'm flush with eager anticipation for Big Al's pick for the Detroit Lions in Awful Announcing's 2007 Sports Blogger NFL Mock Draft, I stumbled upon this video at Blogging the Boys that I wish I'd have sent to him before making his selection last night.

The clip is a bit on the long side, and I don't quite know that I agree with the comparison that its author is making, but it's most certainly food for thought as the Lions are presented with the opportunity to select a potential all-world talent.

I don't know who Big Al drafted in his proxy Matt Millen role - we won't know until Monday - and I actually don't envy the dilemma he must have faced (though I certainly envy being put in such a position). But I do wonder if the following sounds and images were floating across his thought patterns as he contemplated his decision.

It's a belated wish now, Big Al, but good luck - we're all counting on you.

Happy Hour 04/11: Keeping My Lions Glass Half Empty

2007-04-11T18:00:00.000-04:00

Well, dagnabbit - Big Al already beat me to this, but while driving around town today and listening to the announcement of the NFL schedules (and later marveling at how much air time ESPN was devoting to this as I watched during lunch), it seemed like perfectly good material for a post, so I'm still going through with it. Not only do I hate swallowing a decent (if unoriginal) idea, but hey, I already typed most of this out.

Last year, I pegged the Detroit Lions for a 6-10 record and third-place finish in the NFC North division. What little optimism fueled that prediction was based on a belief that the Lions would at least be better than the Green Bay Packers. Oops. Apparently, I seriously underestimated the restorative powers of Sensodyne for Brett Favre.

Of course, I realize that the roster the Lions will take into September hasn't yet been fully formed. There's that whole draft thing, and then whatever free agents they could pick up following early summer and training camp cuts.

Also, it surely stands to reason that Motown's mighty gridiron heroes would have to show some improvement after a one-year apprenticeship in the Mike Martz Happy-Happy-Fun-Time offensive and Tampa Two defensive schemes. Not to give the rest of this post away, but you'll soon discover that I'm right in line with that line of thinking.

So let's get to it, and run down the Detroit Lions' 2007 schedule:

Sept. 9 @ Raiders: Right away, the naysayers will have a chance to utter those tired refrains, "Same ol' Lions" and "I told you they sucked." On paper, the Raiders are a worse football team. Yet going to the West Coast will throw off their body clocks and circadian rhythms. Making it more infuriating is that the Lions could be beaten by their former back-up quarterback, if Josh McCown is traded to Oakland, as is rumored. LOSS

Sept. 16 - Vikings: Though the Lions have become even worse than history and conventional wisdom might inform you, I'll still cling to the theory that they tend to split the season series with the Vikings. And we pretty much know they won't win in the Metrodome. I tend to think Minnesota could be terrible, but have no hard facts to back that up right now. So the Lions will be 1-1, and for one week, Lions fans will actually allow that bud of optimism to flower. WIN

Sept. 23 @ Eagles: Dude, you can't be serious. Beat the Eagles at Philadelphia? Broham, please. LOSS

Sept. 30 - Bears: You know, I think this is kind of a tough call. Because the Lions tend to play the Bears closely at home, and really should've beaten them at least a couple of times recently at Ford Field. Yet Chicago always turns out to be better than I think, and Detroit typically finds a way to lose this one. LOSS

Oct. 7 @ Redskins: This is another one that could go either way because the Redskins seem to have no rhyme or reason to their team building, despite paying their coaching staff more than some NFL franchise pay their players. But this is a road game. And I think Gregg Williams' blitz-heavy schemes will make life miserable for Jon Kitna. LOSS

Oct. 14 Bye Week: Yeah, yeah, yeah - hey, at least the Lions didn't lose this week. Har. You should do an open mike night. But you'll probably also have to do that yard work you've been putting off. The leaves have been piling up. Or if you live in a condo or apartment, you could catch the new Farrelly brothers movie.

Oct. 21 - Buccaneers: Sure, Jeff Garcia could come in and stick it to the fans that (justifiably) thought he was absolute dog vomit and only on the roster because of Steve Mariucci's mancrush. But he could also get pounded like a rag doll and crushed into the Ford Field turf like ground-up tires. And though Jon Gruden is surely familiar enough with Rod Marinelli's defense to know how to beat it, I think Marinelli's familiarity with Gruden's schemes will trump that. WIN

Oct. 28 @ Bears: The only difference between this game and the Lions' last few visits to Soldier Field is that it's not scheduled two weeks into the season. LOSS

Nov. 4 - Broncos: To me, this is the toughest call on the schedule. The Broncos should've made the playoffs last year, and arguably have made the most notable improvements this off-season. And if you look at Denver's schedule, this could be a trap game, coming the week before a division match-up with the Chiefs. Once upon a time, you could count on the Lions to beat a better team at least once a season. Those days are long gone. LOSS

Nov. 11 @ Cardinals: But you can still count on the Lions to lose to an inferior team that they should absolutely beat, home or away. Sadly, that hasn't changed. LOSS

Nov. 18 - Giants: If Tom Coughlin hasn't already been fired by now, his job security will be obliterated after this game. The Lions' defense might actually make Eli Manning cry. This could be Detroit's most impressive win of the season. WIN

Nov. 22 - Packers: For yet another year, the greatest myth in all of Detroit sports - the idea that the Lions are somehow unbeatable on Thanksgiving Day - will continue to be debunked. Favre might actually gnaw on a turkey leg as he torches the Lions' secondary (which will avoid anonymity only because their names will be constantly mentioned as they're beaten for touchdowns throughout the season) for another 80-yard bomb. LOSS

Dec. 9 @ Vikings: Even if they don't split with Minnesota, the Lions sure as hell won't win this one. But I still think the Vikings could stink. LOSS

Dec. 16 - Cowboys: You might say that them Cowboys are itching for some Texas-style vengeance after the Lions embarrassed them in Dallas last year. Are you kidding me? The Lions own the Cowboys, dude. WIN

Dec. 23 - Chiefs: If Dick Vermeil was still Kansas City's coach, I'd almost say this was a guaranteed win for Detroit. Martz wouldn't sleep all week, trying to figure out ways to beat his former boss. But Herm Edwards is the coach now, and I think his head would explode if the Chiefs lost this game. Fortunately, I think brain matter cleans off the field turf just fine. Call the Lions butter, 'cuz they'll be on a roll! WIN

Dec. 30 @ Packers: This is the deal the Lions had to make to bring the Packers in on Thanksgiving. In return, they'll have to play a late December game at Lambeau Field in bone-chilling cold. Favre will be buying all the booze for his New Year's Eve party as he scorches the Lions' secondary for another 80-yard bomb. Oh, sweet merciful end. LOSS

So after counting all the blue words and red words, I have the Lions going 5-11. Technically, that is an improvement over last season, so all of you who think that they have to improve if for no other reason than they can't be worse should be absolutely correct. And though we've heard rumblings that Matt Millen could be done if the Lions don't finish .500 (and therein lies the true kernel of hope for Lions fans), you have to think he'll somehow be able to sell this whole improvement/making progress/it's so close to coming together thing to William Clay Ford yet again.

I'm sorry. For you. For me. For all of us. You might want to start reviewing prospects for the other NFL team you inevitably decide to root for early this year.

Is This the Week I Get Back Into Hockey?

2007-04-10T14:00:00.000-04:00

So the NHL playoffs begin this week. The Red Wings begin their post-season Thursday against the Calgary Flames (and old friend Darren McCarty). The Wings' marketing department has rolled out their new slogan for the Stanley Cup run: Join the Red Wave.

Usually, I'm less than impressed by these dippy rallying cries, but there's something appropriate about this one. In past years, there was no "joining" in Detroit. You'd been following the Wings all season long. There was no playoff bandwagon to jump onto. Everyone was already excited and eagerly anticipating the affirmation that the playoffs would surely bring.

But now, it does kind of feel like fans need to be recruited. More specifically, they need to be reminded. The Wings once ruled Detroit. You know, "Hockeytown" and all that. Sure, maybe some of that was because the Pistons and Tigers were down, but there was also a genuine love and passion for the team. And for the sport.

I know I need to myself that at one point, I loved hockey. I couldn't get enough of either the NHL or college games. Come playoff time, nothing mattered more than the Wings game. I cancelled dates. (And as you might imagine, they were rarely, if ever, rescheduled.) I tried to grow a playoff beard as the weather neared summer temperatures because that's just what you did at that time of year.

I alienated family members by sticking to my superstitions. Every time I watched the first period of a Wings playoff game, they seemed to lose. So I'd listen to the first period on the radio, sometimes in another room, sometimes in the car. One Sunday afternoon in May of 1998, the family had gathered for a birthday dinner, and someone wanted to turn on the game. I told everyone my superstition, and of course, everyone laughed. But I was serious. I was not going to watch that game on TV. There was too much at stake.

So while the rest of my family ate dinner, I sat in my car to listen to the beginning of the Wings game. And I ate my meal during the first intermission. The Wings won their second straight Stanley Cup that year. I'm comfortable with my decision.

But I can't imagine doing such a thing now. At least not for a hockey game. (I could think of several reasons to bail on my extended family during a meal, however.)

I wrote a Red Wings preview for a magazine assignment, and listening to various analysts give me quotes about Henrik Zetterberg, Nicklas Lidstrom, and Dominik Hasek stirred up some of those old feelings. I thought that writing that article might reignite my interest for hockey. But I didn't watch any regular season games this year, other than when Steve Yzerman's jersey was retired. And I barely checked to see how the Wings were doing. If a blog I normally read decides to write about hockey that day, I often either just skim the post or skip it altogether. And as I'm off to another site, I find myself thinking, "Why is he writing about hockey? No one cares anymore."

What got me thinking about all this is an article in today's Detroit News. Apparently, I'm not the only one who's either trying to re-familiarize myself with the sport or just turning away from it altogether. Who's got tickets? The Red Wings do. Lots of 'em. Need an entire row? Operators are standing by. 2,500 season ticket holders passed on playoff tickets.

Times are most definitely tough around here economically, and those seats ain't getting any cheaper, but that's almost unheard of. Maybe people decided to throw their ticket money at the Tigers this year.

Anyway, I think I'll tune in on Thursday night. Although I do love The Office (Oh, does someone do a podcast about that show? Ahem.) and 30 Rock...

▪▪ While I'm on the subject of hockey, belated congratulations to the Michigan State hockey team for winning the national championship on Saturday night. I got home in time to catch the third period, and was rewarded with one hell of an ending. If I recall correctly, MSU was "the hockey school" in the state when I started to become familiar with college hockey. And Munn Ice Arena is always a nice place to catch a game (though not as loud as Yost - c'mon, you know I'm right). So a tip of the cap to Sparty for bringing a trophy back to Michigan.

Happy Hour 04/06: You Know, I Never Liked That Guy

2007-04-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

I won't make a habit of recycling content from Bless You Boys over here, but I think this case deserves an exception. Not only is it an outrage, but frankly, I still feel bad about not showing more blogger solidarity the last time Colin Cowherd showed disrespect for the blogosphere, and wish I'd have chimed in at the time. Hopefully, this makes up for it in some regard.

I originally found out about this indirectly when I wanted to link to The Big Lead for a story on Curtis Granderson. Then I read Deadspin's account of it, and later Big Al's.

If you're not familiar with the story, this is basically what happened: For whatever reason, Cowherd thought it would be funny to flex some nationally syndicated radio muscle and use his audience to take down some unsuspecting (yet apparently successful enough to attract such attention) blog. So he asked his listeners to flood TBL with hits, thus crashing the server and taking the site down (where it still remains as I write this).

This is the same guy, mind you, who previously thought blogs were so insignificant that he could just swipe their material without proper credit or attribution.

Why would Cowherd do such a thing? I have no idea, but a conspiracy theory is gnawing at me. The Big Lead has aired out a lot of ESPN's dirty laundry in its year-plus of existence, so maybe someone at the network decided to strike back. So who on the ESPN Radio roster would abide such a request? Mike & Mike and Dan Patrick still have some professional and journalistic integrity to them, and likely wouldn't accommodate such a fool's errand.

Hey! Let's go with our resident corporate stooge, the one who will do anything we ask him to do. Get Cowherd! He already hates blogs for exposing him as an unoriginal fraud and complete tool. Tell him this will get his show on in a couple of large markets that won't put it on the air. And if he hesitates, threaten to take away that three-minute segment of his that we bury at the end of the Sunday morning SportsCenter.

Again, I don't know why Cowherd would do this, other than to try and defend the corporate interests and big markets he frequently sucks up to (unlike his predecessor, Tony Kornheiser) from something they all don't really comprehend, and therefore feel threatened by.

And I don't know what possible recourse could cause his radio show as much damage as he caused The Big Lead. Probably the most productive counter-measure is to follow The M Zone's lead and express your disapproval to those who can actually do something about it. Either leave a comment for ESPN's ombudsman or e-mail presidents of ESPN and ABC Radio.

♦ george.bodenheimer (at) espn (dot) com

♦ john.hare (at) abc (dot) com

It's bad enough Cowherd (or should I say "Schrutebag") gets away with 15 hours of lame radio a week. He shouldn't be able to get away with being a bully and an @$$hole, too.

Happy Hour 04/05: Non Sequitur Shots!

2007-04-05T16:30:00.000-04:00

♦ I'm not a Washington Wizards fan, but I was looking forward to seeing what Gilbert Arenas could do in this year's playoffs. Watching him and LeBron-Bron go at it last year was some of the most fun I had watching basketball last year. And now that Agent Zero is out for the rest of the season, the Eastern Conference playoffs just won't be as exciting. I should be more scared of Miami and Chicago as a Pistons fan, but Arenas is the guy I didn't want to face in the earlier rounds.

♦ Here's more on the current misery afflicting Wizards fans from Bullets Forever and DC Sports Bog.

♦ Another thing that might scare me as a Pistons fan is if Rip Hamilton decides to lose his damn mind again, as he did last night against Chicago's Tyrus Thomas. What the hell was that? Maybe Rip just wanted an early shower since the Pistons were getting their butts kicked at home (106-88) by the Bulls.

♦ Here's more from Detroit Bad Boys, including the news that the NBA won't suspend Hamilton for his behavior.

♦ By the way, for all the talk about how many technical fouls Rasheed Wallace draws and how he'll draw suspensions because of them, how surprising is it to read that Hamilton is one tech away from sitting out for a game? I had no idea it was like that.

♦ Following John Beilein's official introduction as Michigan men's basketball coach yesterday, I found this Yahoo! Sports column by Adrian Wojnarowski on a message board that should get Wolverines fans really excited.

The article is from January, long before "Michigan" and "John Beilein" would be in the same sentence, and wonders how Beilein's offensive schemes would work in the NBA, not at another school. In Wojnarowski's eyes, that should've been the next jump for Beilein. Somebody show this column to Manny Harris.

♦ And wouldn't it be some ~~cold shit~~ painful irony if Manny Harris ended up going to Tennessee, which was a rumor making the rounds last night? And after all of the down-on-my-knees pleading I did (in private, anyway) for my homeboy Bruce Pearl to come to Ann Arbor. Apparently, that's what Coach meant when he said he could recruit the state of Michigan.

♦ By the way, I know Beilein's doing this now largely because he just got the job, but it's been nice to hear him make the rounds on local radio over the past couple of days. I hope that's something he keeps doing as he settles into the job, and I was glad to see financial provisions attached to doing radio and TV shows, because after Tommy Amaker's media blackout, Michigan's basketball coach has to be out there so much that you almost get sick of him. And so far, it looks like Beilein is up to that task.

♦ From here on out, I think virtually everything I write about baseball will be at Bless You Boys (and it's been going well over there so far), but I thought I'd link to my 2007 Detroit Tigers, AL Central, and MLB season previews.

There's a distinct aroma of homer to my predictions, but it's not like the Tigers aren't actually good enough to follow through on such expectations. For a quick recap, here's how I see the AL Central:

Detroit
Cleveland
Minnesota
Chicago
Kansas City

Joining the Tigers as AL division winners will be the Yankees and Angels, with the Red Sox as the Wild Card. In the NL, the Braves, Brewers and Dodgers will win their division, and the Mets will take the Wild Card. The Tigers will make it back to the World Series and beat the Dodgers.

Your Most Valuable Players will be Cleveland's Grady Sizemore and the Mets' Jose Reyes. Cy Young Awards will go to Minnesota's Johan Santana and the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano. And the Rookies of the Year will be Boston's Daisuke Matsuzaka (even though he probably shouldn't be eligible for the award) and Arizona's Chris Young.

♦ Finally, is ESPN really devoting two hours of programming tonight to the NFL schedule? C'mon, man - show a frickin' baseball game. The season just started.

The Last Word on Tommy? Part 1

2007-04-03T17:30:00.000-04:00

I've probably embarrased myself by declaring so much love for Tony Kornheiser's show on Washington Post Radio before, but he had two interviews last week that I think could be of interest to Michigan basketball fans. So during this lull, before John Beilein is officially introduced as the Wolverines' next coach (and in the meantime, Maize n Brew has given him a checklist to go over), I figured this could be a good way to pass the time.

Last Thursday, Kornheiser talked to his old buddy John Feinstein about the Final Four, and more specifically, Kentucky's interest in Billy Donovan. Toward the end of the interview, however, Mr. Tony snuck in a question about Tommy Amaker, whom he still holds a curiosity for because he's a "local kid" from northern Virginia, and - as Michigan fans might hurt to remember - he was considered something of a future coaching star when he arrived in Ann Arbor.

I've transcribed the conversation about Amaker for you to read (which I hope I'm allowed to do), but if you'd prefer to listen to it yourself, the show is available via podcast. (You can also download the show directly here.) If you're pressed for time, the Amaker stuff is from the 51:27 to 53:33 mark.

Tony Kornheiser: What's the deal with Tommy Amaker?

John Feinstein: I wish I knew the answer to that. To me, Tommy has everything that should make him a successful college coach. He's a bright guy, he came out of a great program, he learned from a great coach, he's someone people like when they meet him. He's gotta be great in the homes. You know, any mother has gotta look at Tommy Amaker and say, "I want my kid to be with him for four years." He recruited some very highly rated high school players when he was at Michigan, and they never, ever lived up to their alleged potential.

TK: Mm-hmm.

JF: And this year, they were seniors. He had four seniors on the team this year. You know what's interesting about a situation like this? They're playing Ohio State the last Saturday of the regular season, they're up six with three and a half to go... and they don't score again, they lose the game. If they win that game, they're in the tournament, and Tommy is still the coach.

TK: Right.

JF: It's that slender a margin sometimes. You know, that's the business. And Tommy understands that. Every coach in the business understands that, that there can be one play - literally - that decides a coach's future one way or the other. And in this case, they didn't get it done in a couple of games in the last two or three years. They're about three wins away from being in the NCAA the last three years, and he's probably got a contract extension, but they didn't win --

TK: Will he get another Division I, high profile job, for his next job, or will he have to do sort of what Matt Doherty did, and go way down?

JF: I don't know about how far down he'll have to go. But he'll have to take a step down. He's not getting a Big East job. He's not getting an ACC job, you know? And again, knowing Tommy, he might, at this point in his life, be saying, "maybe that's more the route I wanna go. Maybe it'd be more fun for me to coach at that next level now. I made a lot of money." His wife's a psychiatrist. It's not, like, you know, they're gonna be hungry. Maybe he might enjoy that next level down more. I don't know. I'm purely speculating on that.

On Friday, Kornheiser also asked Jay Bilas about Amaker, and... you can probably imagine how that went. But I've transcribed that in a second post, which you can read below.

The Last Word on Tommy? Part 2

2007-04-03T17:00:00.000-04:00

On his Friday Washington Post Radio show, Tony Kornheiser had ESPN analyst Jay Bilas on as a guest, presumably to talk about the Final Four. However, Kornheiser brought up Tommy Amaker (as he did with John Feinstein the day before) at the beginning of the interview, and it ended up dominating almost the entire segment.

As you might have guessed, Bilas had quite a bit to say on the subject as he stuck up for his good friend and former teammate. If you've been following this story for a while, some of this stuff will probably be familiar to you, as Bilas said many of the same things immediately after Amaker was fired by Michigan. He also made the comparison to Gary Williams, which Rob Parker also tried in Amaker's defense.

Again, I've transcribed the dialogue, which is a bit longer than the conversation with John Feinstein. But if you'd prefer to listen to it yourself, the show is available via podcast. (You can also download the show directly here.) If you're pressed for time, the Amaker stuff is from the 33:00 to 43:00 mark.

Tony Kornheiser: This is interesting - and if you don't want to talk about this, you can actually say on the air, "I don't want to talk about this" - but your teammate for years at Duke, the point guard at Duke, was Tommy Amaker. I think I'm correct on that, right?

Jay Bilas: Yes. Oh yeah. We played for three years together. We coached for three years together.

TK: I'm quite certain he's a dear friend of yours.

JB: Yes.

TK: And he did not succeed - at Seton Hall, the jury was out, but at least he made the tournament - and he did not make it at all in Michigan. He's personable, and he's smart, and he's accomplished - and he would seem to be a perfect candidate to be a big-time basketball coach. And I wonder why it's not working?

JB: Well, I think it did work at Seton Hall. You know, he took over a program that was in bad shape, and he turned it into a winner, and he recruited a bunch of great players, including Eddie Griffin, who wound up being a top pick in the NBA draft. And they did get to the Sweet 16, and then he left for Michigan.

And when he took over at Michigan, I'm not sure... Listen, I'm not in the business of making excuses for friends or otherwise, but --

TK: Right, right.

JB: -- but what I think happened is, when he took over Michigan, that place was in a hole like I can't imagine. He was there for six years; five of the six years, they were on probation. They were forbidden from going to the NCAA Tournament one of the years that they were qualified to go, and I think would've gone his second year there.

And Tony, when you look - just for example - if you looked at Gary Williams, and when he took over at Maryland, and the hole that place was in --

TK: Terrible.

JB: -- it was very similar to what Michigan was going through. Michigan fired Steve Fisher, they hired a guy named Brian Ellerbe that actually coached at Loyola-Maryland, and lost there, and wound up the head coach because they fired Fisher at Michigan. So it was similar to what Maryland had gone through - without the horrible tragedy, the Bias death - but hiring Bob Wade, and then [Williams] taking it over.

Amaker's record at Michigan, in his first six years, was better than Gary Williams' first six years at Maryland. But Michigan didn't have the patience to see this thing through. And I'll tell you one thing that most people don't know. He had a point guard there named Daniel Horton; graduated not this year, but last year. I think it was three years ago.

Horton had gotten in an altercation with his girlfriend, and the school decided to suspend Horton - through the basketball program - for the entire season. Now, Amaker didn't agree with that. I certainly agree with it when I heard about it. But Amaker remained silent about it; he did what the school wanted. But the truth was, Horton was being suspended for what Steve Fisher did, not for what he did. And I thought it was wrong, because you should treat each kid the same, and handle each of these things the same.

The football program didn't have to worry about that, because the basketball program had been through a horrible scene where they cheated, and they had to pull all their banners down --

TK: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

JB: -- they had to vacate five years of games. Five or six years of games. Including two Final Four appearances. And that's what they were punishing the Horton kid for. And that's one of the reasons they didn't make the tournament that year. So it's those kinds of things that we can look at it from afar and say, "Six years, no tournament - he's gotta go."

But while Michigan's sitting there, talking about "everybody wants this job"... If so many people really wanted that job, and it was so great - and it is better now than it was when Amaker took it over - why didn't Tubby Smith go there? He went to Minnesota!

TK: Yeah...

JB: The truth is, it's not that great of a job. It's a good job, it's a Big Ten job. But they're going to wind up with... you know, they're gonna get a good coach. They're gonna wind up hiring either a mid-major coach like Chris Lowery or someone like him. Or Kevin Stallings from Vanderbilt, or something like that. And that's what Michigan is dealing with right now, because their facilities are awful.

Amaker and his staff had to drive from their office to practice. They couldn't, like, walk downstairs or walk in the same building. They had to get in their cars and drive to practice - which is ludicrous.

TK: What happens to a guy like Tommy Amaker now? Is it sort of like with Matt Doherty, where you have to take a couple of steps down? Do you get out of coaching altogether? How does it work?

JB: Well, he's so versatile, he could do a number of different things. But he's going to stay in coaching. And he'll, I'm sure, be interviewed for things. But Tommy, he keeps things very close to the vest and very quiet. He's a very dignified person, and handles things, in my judgment, the right way.

TK: Yeah, he's a local for us. I mean, he's from northern Virginia, so it's why I bring it up.

JB: Listen, I don't want to sit and wax poetic about Tommy all day...

TK: You can.

JB: But there's no player I played with that I admire more than Tommy. None. He was the best teammate I've ever had, and remains one of my best friends. Not because of any other reason than he's an unbelievably good guy, a good person. I'd hire him today, if I had a job - whatever it was. I think he's a big-time basketball coach. And I think he will be, again, in the eyes of sort of the casual observers. But what does a guy do in his position? He probably won't get the big-time job now, like a Big Ten job or something like that. He probably will have to take what some people would think is a step down.

But he's a really good coach, and a really good guy. This is something that happens in basketball, which is why it's important that you always take into account the circumstances of any job you take. There are some jobs that you're better off not taking, even though they may be great later on, because the circumstances aren't going to be in your favor during that time period. And if you don't turn it right away - and Tommy did turn it; he went to postseason and he won 20-plus games three times while he was there - he just didn't get over that NCAA Tournament hump.

You know, Tony - one other thing: Look at Stan Heath. He went to two tournaments in a row and Frank Broyles fired him.

TK: Yeah, at Arkansas.

JB: So there's no rhyme or reason to it.

Again, consider the source. Bilas obviously can't be objective about this, though he raises a good point about how much Michigan continued to punish itself for the sins of the Steve Fisher era.

After Bilas got off the phone with Kornheiser, however, Mr. Tony pointed out the folly of the Gary Williams comparison to his co-host. Even if Amaker and Williams initially found themselves in similar situations, Williams had Maryland at the top of the ACC in six years. Amaker, as we're painfully familiar with, couldn't even get Michigan into the NCAA Tournament within that same period. And now, all parties are moving on.

All That's Left is the Official Presser

2007-04-02T22:30:00.000-04:00

It looks like it's as official as official gets: Your next Michigan men's basketball coach will be John Beilein.

From the Ann Arbor News:

West Virginia's John Beilein has agreed to be Michigan's men's basketball coach, four independent sources told The News Monday night.

Reached via phone, Michigan athletic director Bill Martin declined to confirm or deny the story.

Earlier Monday, a source confirmed Michigan had offered Beilein a contract, but said there was no timetable for a decision.

MGoBlog, Michigan Sports Center, and Maize n Brew have each confirmed the report through various sources.

Once the initial explosion of speculation occurred after Amaker's firing cleared out, this apparently became a rather narrow coaching search pretty quickly. But Michigan may not have had much choice once several other jobs opened up around the country. I'm guessing we'll never quite know the truth on that, though perhaps the introductory press conference will be enlightening. Hey, you never know.

By the way, it's not yet clear if Beilein will be introduced tomorrow. The first thing on the coach's agenda for Tuesday is to meet with his West Virginia squad and give them the news first-hand.

Here's some biographical info on Beilein, courtesy of the Ann Arbor News' Nathan Fenno.

From the Take It or Leave It Bureau, the Detroit News' Terry Foster says he hears that Beilein isn't interested in recruiting Detroit or Flint. Yet he doesn't pass along where he's heard such things, either. (Foster also said he heard Beilein may have soured on the Michigan job, which is obviously untrue one day later.)

▪▪ Meanwhile, it's also now being reported that Iowa has hired Butler's Todd Lickliter for their head coaching vacancy. And he will be introduced on Tuesday. (Here's the official announcement from the University of Iowa.) Does that affect how you feel about Michigan's choice, by any chance? Just curious.

Here's more on that from Steve Alford's Hair Gel.

The Best Sports Day of the Year!

2007-04-02T13:00:00.000-04:00

With it being Opening Day in baseball, the new gig is taking up most of my attention today. If you're interested, please check out my 2007 Detroit Tigers and AL Central previews over at Bless You Boys.

Otherwise, I can see that plenty of people are stopping by to see if I have anything to offer on John Beilein and the Michigan men's basketball job. Unfortunately, I just have to go with what's been reported. Michigan's offered the job, and Beilein is listening.

More on that tomorrow, hopefully (and not just because the Tigers will have an off day.) Please forgive me for the rerun, but since today is the best sports day of the year, I hope you'll indulge me repeating much of what I wrote around the same time last April (with a few appropriate edits).

Today might be my favorite day on the calendar. Christmas brings some nice presents, and so does my birthday. Halloween allows you to dress up. Memorial Day often means the first cookout of the spring.

But the first Monday in April, with Major League Baseball's Opening Day games being played in the afternoon and evening, followed by college basketball's National Championship game at night, is a sports holiday. We should all have the day off - especially if your team is playing at home today, as the Tigers are in Detroit.

Some of you might think the opening Sunday of the NFL season is more exciting. And I wouldn't argue much with that. I'm much more likely to spend the entire day in front of the TV (especially because it's a Sunday) on that day than I will be today.

I'm not saying it's my favorite time of year. That would be September, with college and pro football getting started, and the late-season pennant races in baseball. Every weekend (and most weeknights) seems to have something at stake in the fall.

But there's something about today - with the end of one season and the beginning of another - that feels more special to me. And this will be the first time in a long time that I'll really be able to enjoy it. In the last few years, I either couldn't (or didn't) get the day off from work, or I had a paper due and ended up pulling an all-nighter because I spent all day watching TV. Of course, I could never fully enjoy watching baseball and basketball with the dark cloud of a term paper and a night of no sleep looming over my head.

Not this year. The calendar is cleared. I have a big sandwich ready. The day began with picking up the Detroit Free Press baseball preview this morning, and they're on my coffee table, along with Sports Illustrated's preview, ready for my perusal. It's time to rock. Bring on the Blue Jays and Tigers!

John Beilein? Can't We Enjoy Some More Gossip First?

2007-03-30T13:00:00.000-04:00

So if you were watching the NIT championship last night (and save your jokes about how we're used to watching it in Ann Arbor - I've already beat that quip to death), did it kind of sound to you as if Michigan has already found its new men's basketball coach?

Maybe it was just the announcers savoring a juicy story. Or maybe I was just trying to read into virtually every comment or gesture made during and after the game. I know there was talk around halftime that Michigan "will reach out" to John Beilein during the Final Four this weekend. But when Bill Raftery made a crack about Beilein drawing up a great play "for the Maize n' Blue!", to which Fran Fraschilla clarified, "the Maize n' Blue of West Virginia," I was beginning to think those guys knew something that the rest of us hadn't been told yet.

Obviously, Beilein had no comment after the game. How could you expect him to? He just won a tournament with his team. To talk about another job would be disrespectful to the kids who just worked their asses off for him. Pushing the issue any further might have resulted in a Roy Williams-Bonnie Bernstein moment. Of course, Williams had just lost a national championship game, so that's probably not a good comparison. But it would've been kind of amusing for Beilein to tell Fraschilla, "I don't give a $#!+ about Michigan right now."

There's been a highly entertaining debate going on between MGoBlog and Maize n Brew the past couple of days over whether or not Beilein should be Michigan's #1 guy to replace Tommy Amaker. Choosing a side in the argument probably depends on how realistic you think Michigan should be in their expectations and desires for a new head coach. Is Beilein the best guy available, the best fit for the type of program Bill Martin wants? Or should Michigan try to shoot for the moon, given the currently precarious state of basketball in the hearts and minds of Wolverines fans?

I suppose I lean more toward the shoot for the moon philosophy, though I can certainly understand why Michigan might prefer to be more efficient with their time and money. I can also see why you might want to avoid the potential embarrassment of being turned down by a top candidate only to then shuffle onto the next guy who now knows he was at least the second choice, as North Carolina did in the pre-Roy Williams days when they ended up settling on Matt Doherty after seemingly everyone else had declined the position.

From everything I've read about the guy over the past two weeks, Beilein would be a fine coach for Michigan - and not just because he appears to be the anti-Amaker. I don't think there's much question that we'd see a better product on the floor (though perhaps more in terms of philosophy and scheme than pure talent) next season with him running the show.

However, it's beginning to sound like Beilein isn't just Michigan's top choice - he might be their only choice. And that's where I start to make a face. Reports say otherwise, so maybe I'm reading into something that's not really happening. Or maybe Michigan's practicing some "I don't need no stinkin' permission" espionage, and that's why things have been so quiet up until this point.

But we've seen this enough times in the metro Detroit area to know when there's not really much of a search going on. When the Pistons fired Larry Brown, Flip Saunders was their guy. Not much of a search there. When the Tigers canned Alan Trammell, Jim Leyland was already driving to Detroit from Pittsburgh. Not much of a search (unless you count the token minority interviews). And Ken Holland already had Mike Babcock in mind for the Red Wings' job when he dismissed Dave Lewis. No search process.

You realize what this means? Matt Millen is the only one in this area who appears to have performed due diligence for a head coaching search over the past three years. And that only happened because Millen #@$%ed up his previous two searches when he jumped far too quickly on Marty Mornhinweg and Steve Mariucci.

Of course, I'm looking at this much more as a fan than an administrator. I want the sizzle that comes with reading that Michigan is talking to head coaching stars like my homeboy Bruce Pearl, regardless of whether or not that's a realistic expectation. Give me a few rising stars that other schools might also be after. (Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery is apparently on Michigan's list, so there's that. And despite signing a contract extension, Washington State's Tony Bennett might be, as well.) Even if this is serious, big boy stuff, it's just more fun with some juicy gossip, isn't it? This is why we're all here, man.

Happy Hour 03/27: Waiting For Bill

2007-03-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

I understand that perception doesn't always equal reality, but right now, doesn't it seem like everyone except the Michigan athletic department is interested in hiring a men's basketball coach?

I'm distinguishing between the men's and women's positions because Michigan has reportedly contacted Vanderbilt and Bowling Green for permission to interview their coaches for the women's basketball job. Meanwhile, it appears that none of the schools that currently employ any of the rumored candidates for the men's coaching gig have received requests for interviews.

Am I being a bit hasty in asking just what the hell is going on here? There has been almost zero noise surrounding the men's basketball coaching search over the past week. The only chatter that is coming out is from coaches acknowledging that the position is open (or just casually mentioning Michigan as a state in which they've recruited before). And considering most every candidate that's been rumored is now available to be interviewed (or has received a contract extension from their respective employers), that's a bit surprising.

It's borderline shocking when you see that Iowa isn't showing Michigan the common courtesy of waiting until the Wolverines have decided to make their move before requesting permission to interview prospective coaches. I mean, the Hawkeyes have already contacted Tennessee so they can talk to Bruce Pearl. How rude! What the hell happened to all the kindness and politeness I encountered from people during my two years in Iowa City? See what a having a head coach opening can do to your manners?

So seriously - what's happening? Is Michigan gathering its reserves to make a really big move, one that might test the resolve of anyone claiming loyalty to their current position? Is the administration waiting until the coach of a certain NIT semi-finalist (who's been heartily endorsed by local columnists) is available to formally chat? Or are they still trying to figure out just what the hell they're going to do?

Okay, the waiting is the hardest part. I know that. But why is there any waiting at all?

My DVR Absolutely Frickin' Hates Me

2007-03-27T10:00:00.000-04:00

Wow! A 60-foot prayer banked in to force overtime! What an amazing shot by 'Sheed!

Yeah, I didn't see it. I didn't #@$%ing see it.

My digital video recorder, which up until this point had shown me what true love is with the wonderful technology that it offers, really, really let me down when I may have needed it most. And I'll have to take the rest of the day to re-evaluate what I thought was an unconditionally solid relationship. But let me briefly relive the fresh hell that I've endured over the past eight hours.

I knew I was going to get home late last night, so I set my DVR to record the Pistons-Nuggets game. For most regular season games, I might not have bothered. But I was curious to see how the Nuggets would approach a rematch after being embarrassed in Denver two weeks ago by our local hardcourt heroes. I also figured we'd be assured of a tight game, due to the flu bug that's found its way into the Pistons' locker room. Plus, I just wanted to see Iverson and 'Melo.

So that was the plan. I'd get home late and then watch the game on tape delay. I was a little wound up after walking in the door, so I banged out a post for the new gig before settling in to breeze through the game before falling asleep. I knew nothing about the game beforehand. If it was a blowout, I would've fast-forwarded through most of it, deleted the recording, and tried to rejoin Angelina Jolie in dreamland. (Brad Pitt ain't got $#!+ on me there.)

As you might imagine, I stuck with the game because after the first quarter, it was close the whole time - but especially up until the very end. And right after Iverson hit his second free throw to make it a 98-95 game, everything on the screen stopped moving. Then that box that says "Delete Recording" and "Don't Delete Recording" popped up.

If you live in my neighborhood, I apologize. I know 2 a.m. is late, much too late for the kind of "Oh my God, you just ran over my foot with your lawn mower!!!" scream that emanated from my house. Are?! You?! #@$%ing?! Serious?! There were only 12 seconds left!!

Quickly, I flipped to ESPN. SportsCenter was talking about the Kansas City Chiefs and their upcoming draft. The crawl at the bottom of the screen showed the Memphis-Phoenix and Portland-Chicago scores before cycling to the NFL news and MLB scores. And then it went to a commercial break. Noooooooo! I flipped over to Fox Sports Detroit. They were on a commercial, too. And the re-broadcast of the Pistons game wasn't until 3 a.m. I turned back to ESPN, only to see Women's NCAA Tournament highlights. The crawl told me that John Calipari signed an extension with Memphis. NBA scores were at least fourth in line.

Any energy I had was gone. I turned off the TV, dropped the remote, and went to sleep. Wait! Let me turn on the radio! Okay, Fox Sports Radio is doing its half-hour scoreboard update. I hear the Spurs-Warriors score, and then they move on to other news. C'mon, man. That was it. 12 seconds left. I'd find out what happened in the morning.

I made sure to turn on SportsCenter as soon as I woke up, right at the top of the hour. And then I saw it. Are. You. Kidding me? 'Sheed tied the frickin' game and the Pistons won in over time. I get to my computer and check out the newspapers (even the Denver ones). The game stories say it really happened. I click over to Detroit Bad Boys and Need4Sheed. Not only do they confirm the result, but they also have video for me to watch over and over this morning. Tayshaun knocked the ball away from 'Melo. 'Sheed picked up the loose ball, heaved up a prayer from way beyond half-court, and tied the frickin' game.

Un-freakin-believable. 12 seconds left. You better make it up to me when I get home tonight, DVR.

Has It Really Been 10 Years?

2007-03-26T23:30:00.000-04:00

Wow, I was asleep at the wheel today. (In a figurative sense, that is. Not a literal, Tony La Russa sense.) Until getting my daily dose of The Wayne Fontes Experience, I didn't realize today was the 10-year anniversary of The Fight. (Clearly, I didn't read any newspapers - or their blogs - today.) How in the hell could I forget? I should never, ever be that busy.

I don't know if that's what it's typically referred to among Detroit fans. You might have to be more specific than that. (The Brawl refers to something else entirely.) But if you include the names of the two combatants, Darren McCarty and Claude Lemieux, you should promptly get a smile of recognition. It was one of the most infamously memorable nights in Detroit sports history.

It's sort of a cop-out, which I apologize for, but I wrote about this almost two years ago on my personal blog, Fried Rice Thoughts. So I think I'll just cut-and-paste what I wrote back then, because it's pretty much what I would say now. (Besides, if the Free Press can rerun articles on this, why can't I?) The post was my Top 10 most memorable sports moments, and the McCarty-Lemieux heavyweight bout was #3 on the list.

3. Darren McCarty pummels Claude Lemieux - March 26, 1997: I don't generally care for fighting in hockey. But occasionally, it serves a sadistically delicious purpose. To me, that was never truer than when Detroit's McCarty sought out Colorado's Lemieux, who seriously injured Kris Draper by shoving his face into the boards during their 1996 playoff series. The next time these teams played, before the puck even dropped to start the game, McCarty attacked Lemieux, and began beating him like a chef pounding a veal cutlet. Lemieux turtled into a protective shell for self-preservation, and was essentially never heard from again. If raw meat had been in front of me while watching this, I would've eaten it, wiped the blood from my chin, rewound the tape and watched the whole thing all over again.

I also wrote a little bit more about it when Brendan Shanahan left the Red Wings for the New York Rangers.

I'm not sure I've ever felt more bloodthirsty while watching a sporting event, yet also feeling strangely touched over a guy defending his teammate's honor. It was another three months before the Wings officially became NHL champions, but I'm sure many fans would agree that they won the Stanley Cup that night.

Man, I miss Darren McCarty...

If He Can Make 'SNL' Funny, He Must Be Pretty Damn Good

2007-03-26T00:30:00.000-04:00

I completely forgot Peyton Manning was hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend. Of course, that show's been off my radar for quite some time. (And when it had one chance to win me back, when Rainn Wilson hosted a few weeks ago, SNL blew it.) Anyway, I heard it was pretty good, and thanks to YouTube, I've been able to catch up on some of it.

I know some people are sick of all the commercials Manning does, but he is pretty damn funny in them. Was that due to some clever scripts? Maybe. So I was curious if he could bring some laughs to SNL. Check out this clip and see what you think. This is pretty much how I imagined Manning talking to the rest of his Colts teammates on the field before I kind of started rooting for the guy. (via Deadspin)

Oh, and it's a bit longer, but this "NCAA Tournament Pool Party" skit is pretty good, too. And not just because Manning bears an uncanny resemblance to ESPN.com's Pat Forde with the wig and suit.

Curses! The Buckeyes Foiled Me Again!

2007-03-23T12:30:00.001-04:00

You know, if I wasn't already genetically and geographically disposed to dislike Ohio State, I might begin to hate those guys. They're really starting to bug me. Virtually every team I've rooted for over the past six months has been defeated/eliminated/etc. by the Buckeyes.

In football, they knocked Michigan out of the national championship race in November. In basketball, they ruined any chance Michigan had for an NCAA Tournament bid - twice in one week! And now, the Ohio State University has taken my bracket, crumpled it up, and thrown it into the garbage, by eliminating my homeboy Bruce Pearl and his Tennessee Volunteers in last night's regional semi-final.

Now that I think about it, did the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, or did Ohio State? That happened back in October, so my memory's a bit hazy. I do remember the color red being involved, however, so I wouldn't be surprised...

Why do they enjoy hurting me? What did I ever do to ~~piss those guys off~~ -- oops, never mind, I know the answer to that.

I'm still not sure how the Buckeyes came back to win that game. (Yes, even though Rocky Top Talk has outlined a thorough explanation.) Weren't the Vols up by 20 at one point? I have a text message from Dr. Lil' Sis' fiancee that essentially confirms that scenario. And... and that Oden dude barely played in the game because he kept fouling people (though his fourth foul was a weak call). Yet there he was at the very end, blocking the Vols' last shot.

I suppose it's easy to say that Tennessee lost because all those three-pointers they made in the first half turned into bricks during the second half. (Those guards obviously have the green light from Coach Pearl to jack up all those threes. Otherwise, I don't know how the hell he could stand it. Maybe that's the way they always play, but I kept screaming "No! No! No!" at the TV every time JuJuan Smith or Chris Lofton hoisted it from near-NBA three-point range, only to say "Oh! Okay - well, keep doing that!" every time the shot went in.)

Anyway, so that happened. Thanks, Ohio State, for screwing me again. Dammit.

So let's bring this back home. Now that Tennessee's season is done, will their head coach be getting a call from the Michigan athletic department? Chalk this up to frivolous rumor (and a lot of those things have been swirling around over the past week), and that category could certainly apply here, but I've heard rumblings from the Volunteer State that Bill Martin plans to go after Bruce Pearl and go after him hard. Maybe even harder, now that Minnesota nabbed Tubby Smith (and if you haven't read Maize n Brew's account of that, get over there and go into your weekend with a smile). Of course, that could just be anxiety from Tennessee. Take it or leave it.

By the way, now that the shock has worn off, did Tubby Smith really leave Kentucky for Minnesota? I mean, that really happened? I just wanted to be sure. I don't have anything against Minnesota. I love Minneapolis; I almost moved there a few years ago. I'm just wondering when exactly the world I knew so well changed so drastically.

Happy Hour 03/22: What the Hell is Going On Here?

2007-03-22T16:30:00.000-04:00

♦ In the span of about two hours, the game of coaching musical chairs got crazy in the Big Ten. First, it looked like Xavier's Sean Miller was going to be the next University of Minnesota head coach. Shortly thereafter (very shortly), the Gophers raised the stakes significantly, hiring Tubby Smith away from Kentucky to run the show at Williams Arena next season. (ESPN.com confirmed the story soon after that.)

As Maize n Brew Dave just said to me via IM, "What the hell just happened?" Even the Minnesota press was knocked off their chairs on this one.

The dominoes aren't just falling in order now; they may have been scattered off the table. One of the elite jobs in college basketball just opened up in Lexington, and can expect to attract some of the biggest names available (or not available until approximately two hours ago). And whichever school loses their coach to Kentucky might create an opening that jumps ahead of Michigan in the greeting line.

♦ I'm sure you've all read this already, but just in case you haven't had a chance to see what it looks like when a coach sells his soul, here's a link to the NY Times article on the O.J. Mayo/Tim Floyd courtship at USC.

The main reason I'm linking to it today is The Big Lead raised an interesting point earlier today: What are the chances Mayo plays a minute for the Trojans once the NCAA looks into his relationship with Ronald Guillory?

I'll repeat what I said in the comments section over there: If Jamal Crawford was suspended while at Michigan because of his living arrangements with what the NCAA termed a “sponsor,” then what the hell will they have to say about an “event promoter” making overtures to a college coach?

♦ A swap of first-round picks (#8 to #10) and two second-round picks for Matt Schaub? Last night, my initial thought was that the Texans gave up too much for a back-up - and still rather unproven - quarterback. Then Richard Justice said he loved the trade on his Houston Chronicle blog. And if you weren't sure such a deal expressed the Texans' intentions to make Schaub their starting QB, they followed up with a six-year, $48 million contract that effectively sends David Carr looking for free agent handouts.

But enough about those other teams. Let's bring it back home to Detroit. Atlanta now has the #8 pick in the first round, and the 7th and 12th selections in the second round. Is that what Matt Millen might be looking for in exchange for the #2 pick? Here's how ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli sees it:

Most teams use a chart, principally developed by former Dallas and Miami coach Jimmy Johnson, that assigns a points value to every choice in the draft. The corresponding points for the eighth pick in the first round is 1,400. The two second-round choices owned by the Falcons are worth 510 points (the seventh choice in the round) and 460 points (the 12th).
The total points value for the Falcons' three choices in the first two rounds is 2,370 points. On the points chart, the second overall choice in the entire draft, owned by Detroit -- which is rumored to be interested in trading back -- is worth 2,600 points. Atlanta would fall a little shy of that, but not by much, with its 2,370 points for the three choices in the first and second rounds.

If the Falcons have their eyes on Calvin Johnson, and the Lions want to move down, there might just be enough to dance with here.

Big Ten Basketball Jobs Are the New Thing This Spring

2007-03-21T22:00:00.000-04:00

So if Michigan and Minnesota were eyeballing each other, looking at several of the same candidates to run their men's basketball programs, what happens now that Steve Alford is looking to bolt Iowa for the head coaching gig at New Mexico?

According to ESPN.com's Andy Katz, this is close to a done deal, and unless negotiations hit a snag, Alford will be announced as the Lobos' new coach on Friday.

Now we're looking at three head coach openings in the Big Ten? (Well, maybe it's two, if the Gophers job belongs to Flip Saunders.) The competition for coaching talent is suddenly getting pretty fierce.

On the bright side for the Iowa athletic department, at least they no longer have to worry about not being able to buy the FireSteveAlford.com domain now.

Meanwhile, here's a conversation topic you can discuss amongst yourselves: Is Iowa a better job than Michigan?

I'm sure I can guess what Wolverines fans would say, but I'd argue that they're remarkably similar, especially in terms of fan support. Iowa might have better facilities, but Michigan has a deeper pool of talent to recruit. But up until last season, I'd say Alford was under just as much pressure (if not more, due to the Pierre Pierce scandal) and scrutiny as Tommy Amaker.

UPDATE (3/22 - 2:30 a.m.): The Daily Iowan, the University of Iowa student newspaper, is reporting that Alford will inform his players of the move this morning at a team meeting.

Happy Hour 03/19: So Who's the New Guy?

2007-03-19T18:30:00.000-04:00

Right now, the Michigan blogosphere and media runneth over with lists, candidates, and opinions regarding who should be the next men's coach at Crisler Arena. I really have nothing to add, especially since I'd just come up with the same names, and honestly, I don't know a whole lot about 60% of these guys.

My initial reflex was to jump up and down while fluttering my hands at the mention of former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery. At first glance, he would seem to be exactly what Bill Martin should be looking for. He's coached at a school with extremely tough academic standards, put together a consistent Pac-10 powerhouse, while notching some won-loss records any coach would be proud of. Plus he's got a little of that NBA experience, which is nice, too.

However, I also think he might be a bit too old to undertake a project like this, and seems to be more of a West Coast guy. I'm betting Michigan wants someone younger (although you could argue they've already gone that particular route) with strong Midwestern ties and connections.

As our buddy Doug Hill said over the weekend, Michigan really needs a coach who can sell this program, and I definitely agree with that. Amaker certainly had his failings as a game coach, but I think his primary flaw was his seeming refusal to promote Michigan basketball.

How can a coach in this era of college basketball not even have a radio or TV show? And last year (I believe), there were rumblings that Fox Sports Net wanted to follow Amaker and his team during the end of the season, as it fought to make the NCAA Tournament. What an opportunity to show yourself to fans, alumni, and potential recruits, right? Except Amaker refused. You know who didn't, and took FSN up on its offer right away? Tom Izzo.

So my current impulse is to bring in a guy who will work like hell to encourage interest in his program, and I think mid-major coaches are used to that sort of demand. They're not presuming people will watch simply because of notoriety and reputation. They're not banking solely on the name of their school to attract attention. They're out there working like hell to embrace the community at large because they can't afford not to. And Michigan needs that kind of mentality right now.

But here's what people who actually know about this stuff are saying right now:

♦ Maize n Brew has done an incredibly thorough job of outlining the candidates (after reading his list, I knew there was no sense in me even trying) and assessing their chances of being your new Michigan men's basketball coach. Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery is the most likely, in his opinion, followed by Washington State's Tony Bennett and UNLV's Lon Kruger.

♦ Michigan Sports Center details the most important qualities that the next coach will need (teaching fundamentals, recruiting Detroit), and posts its own meticulous list, with a couple of additional candidates to consider.

♦ MGoBlog has zoomed the microscope in even further, breaking down the talent pool into two categories: Name Guys and Mid-Majors. (Oh, and just in case you weren't sure, Brian really, really doesn't care for Terry Foster.)

♦ Former coaches and TV analysts disagree! The Ann Arbor News' Nathan Fenno covers the differences in opinion over just how good a job Michigan is right now. (Fenno also wrote this insightful profile of Tommy Amaker almost a year ago).

♦ The Detroit News' Eric Lacy says Amaker's biggest problem may have been that he thought coaching basketball was the only thing he had to do at Michigan.

♦ Oregon's Ernie Kent says if Michigan talks, he'll listen. I'm sure his bosses are thrilled that he made these comments while his team is preparing for its next NCAA Tournament game against Kruger's Runnin' Rebels. (That just didn't sound right, did it?) (via the Detroit News)

♦ According to Ann Arbor News columnist Jim Carty, Michigan could've done much more to support Tommy Amaker, and will have to prove it's serious about winning to attract a better successor. (Maybe they can take a walk by Fisher Stadium to check out the renovations when the subject of a practice facility and investing in the basketball program comes up.)

How's Your Bracket Looking?

2007-03-19T10:30:00.000-04:00

Most people are doing fine on their brackets right now, I'm sure, unless you picked a lot of upsets. No double-digit seeds in the Sweet 16 for the first time in 10 years? But Texas (Trojan revenge for the 2006 Rose Bowl?) and Wisconsin both going home had to screw up some people up.

I'm still doing pretty well in my pool. I got 13 of the remaining 16 correct, which has me in second place. Though two of my Elite Eight are already gone, thanks to the Longhorns and Badgers.

But my main man Bruce Pearl has me looking good, after a 77-74 victory over Virginia, in what was the best game I watched yesterday. I took some ribbing over that pick (Crazy? How about crazy delicious?), but being right makes it all worth it.

Tennessee's run might come to an end against Ohio State, but the Vols certainly have a chance against a Buckeyes team that just squeaked by them earlier in the season and also came damn close to losing on Saturday.

I might have to ask Dr. Lil' Sis' fiancee to get me a Vols t-shirt. I'd probably keep it in the closet during football season, though. Unless I needed something to work out in.

Ding Dong, Tommy's Gone

2007-03-17T14:30:00.000-04:00

WDFN is reporting that University of Michigan men's basketball coach Tommy Amaker has been fired. Eric Lacy of the Detroit News has reported the same (via Michigan Sports Center), as are Mark Snyder and Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press.

A press conference to announce the firing is scheduled for 3 p.m. this afternoon.

My initial reaction, despite joining the pitchfork-and-torch mob that wanted to see this happen, is a bit of shock. More after the presser, hopefully.

UPDATE (3:30 p.m.): The Wolverine is reporting (once again via Michigan Sports Center) that the presser has been pushed back to 4:30 p.m. However, the Detroit News' Terry Foster says there won't be a press conference today, and Michigan will issue a statement. Saturday's kind of a weird day for such a thing anyway, so maybe they're holding off on addressing the media until Monday.

UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): The Diag has more details, including Bill Martin's comments to the Associated Press.

"Letting Tommy go was the toughest decision I've had to make in seven years as athletic director.

"He took over a program that needed help, and he helped it in a lot of ways. But at Michigan, we have a tradition of winning Big Ten and national championships and we haven't been close to doing either in a lot of ways."

Amaker (who will receive a $900,000 buyout for the dismissal) also spoke briefly with the Detroit News. (via The Diag)

"It was tough. But with the way things went this year, we knew anything could happen.

"We tried to get this program to the next level. It didn't happen."

And on his Detroit News blog, Terry Foster said Martin gave Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman an ultimatum: Either let me fire him, or I quit.

Happy Hour 03/16: Eatin' My Corn from a Jar

2007-03-16T18:30:00.000-04:00

A big, sweaty thanks to the "Corn from a Jar" podcast, which mentioned the very blog you're reading (with requisite chuckles over the title) and my Final Four pick of Tennessee on this week's show.

I became a fan of the "Corn from a Jar" blog during football season, so I could find some Tennessee stuff to talk about when I met Dr. Lil' Sis' boyfriend over the holidays. Shortly after the New Year, however, he answered the call from SportsBlog Nation and moved his operation over to Rocky Top Talk. And now that I'm doing the Bless You Boys thing, we're like SB Nation brohams! How about that?

Thomas Friedman was right. The world is flat.

Anyway, a fellow Tony Kornheiser fan can't be that bad of a fella, right? (Even though that show stinks.) So if you're interested, they poke a little fun at me and SME, and of course, my pick of Tennessee (which I think looks pretty damn good after that stomping of Long Beach St. earlier today). Keep me lookin' good, Bruce Pearl!

You can download the podcast here. If you're pressed for time, scroll ahead to the 28:30 mark of the show. And while you're at it, stop by and say hi to the guys at Rocky Top Talk. Thanks again to "Corn from a Jar."

Give them nothing! But take from them everything!

2007-03-16T13:00:00.000-04:00

Elsewhere in the universe, where basketball that really counts (and is shown on television) is taking place, I misread that Michigan State-Marquette match-up badly. Really badly. I thought Marquette's Dominic James would make a significant difference in the game. I guess I wasn't entirely wrong on that. MSU only allowed James to score 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting, which certainly made a difference.

And of those six shots James made, four of them were three-pointers, and that was most definitely the story of the game. Marquette was missing their second-leading scorer, but would it really have mattered? That was one of the most suffocating half-court defenses I've ever seen. The Spartans only allowed five two-point baskets. For the entire game.

If you've seen 300, there were several scenes in which King Leonidas' soldiers formed an impenetrable wall (or phalanx) with their shields and spears during battle. That's pretty much what happened last night in Winston-Salem. It was The Hot Gates all over again.

There was barely a sliver of a lane for the Marquette players to drive through. I actually began to feel sorry for them as guards and forwards tried to dribble to the basket only to have to turn back to the three-point line in frustration. In Tom Izzo's world, friends don't let friends drive to the basket. If that's what he did to his buddy Tom Crean, imagine what Izzo must do to his enemies. Take a seat next to Lupe for the rest of the weekend, Coach.

▪▪ Meanwhile, I know the rest of yesterday's NCAA Tournament games weren't that exciting. But I still botched a couple of my upset picks. Neither Davidson or Gonzaga beat their higher-seeded opponents. Sure, I got VCU right, but didn't (almost) everybody pick that one? It was still fun to watch.

▪▪ It has to be a sure sign I'm getting old when every time the cameras showed VCU coach Anthony Grant, I kept thinking, "Wow, he looks young." However, he is actually older. While that might make me feel better, tomorrow I will get bombed with green beer in a semi-pathetic attempt to hold onto what remains of my youth. Maybe I'll watch Grant's Rams play Pitt while I'm doing that.

Do the Right Thing, Bill Martin

2007-03-16T12:00:00.001-04:00

So is our long ~~national~~ regional nightmare now over? The Michigan basketball team had their season mercifully laid to rest last night in Tallahassee, 87-66. At least that's what I'm reading. Michigan Sports Center confirms this result, and there were highlights on ESPN this morning to corroborate this information. That's good enough for me.

I've already said my piece on Tommy Amaker - several times. My arms are tired from swinging, and my throat is sore from screaming. What needs to happen for the Michigan basketball program is now beyond obvious.

This thing has fallen apart on most every level. Amaker can (inexplicably) make his case, and maybe it will convince the right people in the athletic department. If so, they can all watch fan and alumni support erode even further. Just don't publicly shrug your shoulders, hold out your hands, and plead ignorance. No one's buying this $#!+ anymore.

EDIT (4 p.m.): Yes, I originally typed "Ed Martin" in the headline, instead of "Bill." Oops. Thanks to those who pointed out my mistake.

Not Interested, Tommy

2007-03-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

But really, so what?

I hate that I feel that way about Michigan basketball. I actually strongly considered going to last night's NIT game vs. Utah State. The tickets were cheap, and I could've had almost any seat in the house. But ultimately, it just came down to the feeling that I can't support this stuff.

The majority of fans obviously shared the same sentiment. 3,114 fans attended the game. That's the lowest Crisler Arena crowd for a men's basketball game in 23 years. 1,000 fewer fans showed up for this game than last year's NIT first-round match-up with Texas-El Paso.

On TV, the crowd looked like what you typically see for a women's basketball or gymnastics contest in Ann Arbor. Credit the Maize Rage section for making it as loud as they could, but judging from the large sections of empty seats and bleachers, that was essentially a scrimmage.

We could argue about how many Michigan fans care about basketball, in general, (and I don't think it's very many) but if apathy hadn't already set in, a significant dose of it has rushed in over the past few weeks. Go ahead and question the reasonability or expectations of the Michigan fanbase, but don't question their intelligence. This was not a case of Michigan almost being good enough to get a bid to the NCAA tournament, but things didn't go their way, so they should just try to make the best of an NIT bid and show people they may have deserved better. Not this year. Not when schools like Syracuse, Drexel, Kansas State, West Virginia, Clemson, Washington, and Air Force didn't get in, either.

This is exactly what the Michigan basketball program deserved. I'm not talking about the players; it would've been nice for that senior class to participate in at least one NCAA tournament. I feel bad that they had to play in front of 3,000 people last night. At least they went out and won this game. (It's too bad no one will be able to see their second-round contest with Florida State. If a game is shown on ESPNU, and virtually no one can see it, will it really have happened?)

But this is about something much bigger right now. Basketball is undergoing a slow death at Michigan, and if the athletic department won't (or can't) take steps to prevent that and bring in someone who can at least achieve the bare minimum for a Big Ten program, who has at least a shred of interest in promoting his team and embracing the community at-large, then they can't possibly expect people to support the team. This charade has been carried as far as it can go. There is no better time to make a change.

Happy Hour 03/12: Read This Now, and Believe Me Later

2007-03-12T19:00:00.000-04:00

Okay, my friends. It's tournament time. March Madness. The Big Dance. Cinderellas, Sweet Sixteens, Elite Eights, Final Fours, and Shining Moments. Quite possibly the most wonderful time of the year.

Yep. I don't know anything about it.

When I got home last night, I tried to watch the selection specials that I DVR'ed, but after about 10 minutes, I realized I hardly knew a damn thing about any of these schools. And right then, a small part of me cried because it occurred to me that I may have been a more knowledgeable sports fan in my teens and twenties. I would've been all over this thing 10-12 years ago.

Even back in high school, I knew so much more about college basketball than I do now. I actually took the time to watch other conferences play. This past weekend, I actually reminisced about how I used to set aside time on a Saturday or Sunday to watch an important Big East or ACC match-up. Nowadays, with the exception of a handful of SEC games this year (which probably involved either Florida or Tennessee), it's been quite a while since I watched a regular season game that didn't involve a Big Ten team.

Despite what I just confessed in the previous two paragraphs, however, I'm going to make some NCAA tournament predictions anyway. And you might just want to read this post through to the end. Wanna know why? Do you wanna know? Because last year, I won the Super Blogger Tournament Challenge Extravaganza.

Yeah, that's right. When it was all over, I ~~barely beat~~ crushed Complete Sports ~~by one point~~ to take the trophy that ~~doesn't really exist~~ I still drink ice-cold beer out of one year later. And after I wipe off my chin, I look at my reflection in the silver and laugh at how ~~totally #@$%ing lucky I was~~ awesome that victory was.

Essentially, I was the sports blog equivalent of the secretary winning the office pool.

So here's what I'm going to do: I'm not going through the entire bracket. Tony Kornheiser did that with a handful of experts on his radio show this morning, and after one or two repetitions of the bracket, I opted for my iPod. If I couldn't stand listening to it, I don't know how in the hell I can write it all out. Especially when you can find several dozen people in the blogosphere who know what the #@$% they're talking about. What I will write out are my first-round upsets and my Final Four picks. 'Cuz that's what the big boys like Dan Shanoff do (except a full nine hours earlier).

First-round upset winners:
Davidson, Georgia Tech, VCU, Gonzaga, and Creighton.

You might notice Michigan State isn't on that list. I couldn't pick the Spartans, as much as I wanted to. (Besides, is picking a #9 seed over a #8 really picking an upset?) Unless Tom Izzo pumps up his kids by taking them to a showing of 300 the day before the game, and/or kicks his old buddy Tom Crean into the deepest, darkest well in Winston-Salem after screaming "THIS IS SPARTA!" MSU ain't beatin' Marquette. Sorry, Sparty. (That movie totally kicked ass, by the way.)

Final Four:
Florida, UCLA, Georgetown, and Tennessee.

Yeah, that's right- Tennessee. Either my sister's fiancee (Yes, Dr. Lil' Sis' boyfriend proposed to her last week. We're all happy about it - thanks for asking) has completely corrupted my objective opinion, I've been mystified by bare-chested coaches who paint themselves orange, or I might just have one of those hunches.

Did I mention that I won my bracket contest last year? You might want to take this post very seriously, my friends. I'm kind of a big deal with this stuff.

EDIT (03/13): I didn't pick an overall winner, did I? I really should do that. But it's a boring pick, which is probably why I forgot to post it originally. I have Georgetown and Florida in the finals, with the Gators repeating as national champions.

Thinkin' on a Saturday Morning

2007-03-10T11:00:00.000-05:00

♦ On Thursday, I wrote that Rasheed Wallace looked gimpy to me and maybe the Detroit Pistons should consider sitting him out longer to recover. Well, 'Sheed looked pretty damn good last night with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 50% three-point shooting. So how exactly do we explain the differences between his performances on Wednesday and Friday?

1) He needed a game to shake off the rust, loosen up that ankle, and get back into game shape.

2) Drew Gooden and Sideshow Anderson Varejao make a rough match-up for 'Sheed.

3) 'Sheed loves that thin mountain air in Denver. Less oxygen don't lie.

'Sheed couldn't help picking up that 16th technical foul, though (which seems to be the bigger story than the victory over the Nuggets). Oh, well. Give that ankle some more rest.

♦ Does the Detroit Lions' signing of T.J. Duckett tell us more about Kevin Jones' recovery from his Lisfranc fracture than the team is revealing to the public? I like the pick-up, especially since K.J. doesn't quite seem suited to power running. But the Lions' backfield suddenly looks awfully crowded. Maybe there's some truth to those Tatum Bell-to-the-Giants rumors, after all.

Happy Hour 03/09: You'll Never Hear From Dominic Rhodes Again

2007-03-09T19:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't really have a strong opinion on the matter, but I thought Dominic Rhodes should've been named Super Bowl XLI MVP instead of Peyton Manning. His 113 rushing yards helped the Colts wear down that Bears defense, as they ball-controlled their way to victory.

Apparently, the Oakland Raiders felt the same way, because they've gone out and done what they always seem to do: Sign the Super Bowl MVP to a big free agent deal and watch him wilt under the pressure of his own overratedness.

How did Larry Brown and Desmond Howard do with the Raiders? How did cashing in Super Bowl stardom with Al Davis work out for them? Brown played 12 games in two seasons, snagging only one interception. Howard also only lasted two years, catching only six passes and returning just two punts for touchdowns.

A couple of weeks ago, Rhodes looked like a candidate for Dumbest Pro Athlete of 2007 when he was arrested for drunk driving before he could parlay his sudden stardom into a fat cash contract. But to Al Davis, that apparently showed the kind of menacing pirate streak that he still thinks the Raiders are made of. So naturally, they had to give him some cash. $7.5 million of it, to be exact. I suppose the Raiders learned one important lesson from their past, however. Rhodes only got a two-year deal.

Remember that game you had in the Super Bowl, Dominic? That was awesome...

To Fight or Not to Fight?

2007-03-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

I never got around to writing it, but shortly after the brawl between Ottawa and Buffalo a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to say that the NHL should go back to embracing its roots, rather than try to chase mass-market appeal.

The NHL took its shot at cultural relevance by turning its back on Canada and moving into the southern and Sun Belt portions of the United States, but that market just doesn't exist, and you can't even say hockey is the "fourth major sport" in this country and keep a straight face. It became roadkill to NASCAR long ago. (I really wanted to use an auto racing term there, but would've exposed myself as a total poseur.)

To me, the NHL is like Las Vegas. Remember when Vegas tried to re-invent itself as a family-friendly alternative to Disneyland? That tanked like ESPN Hollywood. So Vegas decided to once again embrace the decadence and depravity that made it such a destination in the first place. I thought the NHL needed to do the same thing. A lot of observers and fans might make faces when they see highlights of fights breaking out on SportsCenter, but hey, that Ottawa-Buffalo melee moved hockey up the queue for a couple of nights. Embrace the niche appeal of the sport. Bring back its cult appeal. And at one time, that worked pretty well.

One of the first arguments you'll hear in favor of allowing fighting in the NHL is that it would eliminate some of the stick work. Rather than resorting to channeling their pent-up rage through the weapon they're carrying in their hands, players can challenge their antagonists to drop the gloves, trade some punches, and settle the matter like men.

I don't know if I completely agree with that contention. Is the cause and effect of fighting vs. slashing really that starkly obvious? But hey, I've never played hockey either.

Would being allowed to fight have prevented Chris Simon from whipping his stick into Ryan Hollweg's face in one of the more frightening plays you'll ever see? Who knows? Simon's a proven neanderthal and his total lack of self-control might have led him toward such an action anyway. But this is the type of incident that truly stains professional hockey's reputation and prevents it from acceptance within the culture at-large.

Simon's been suspended indefinitely by the NHL, which somehow seems appropriate. Not in terms of the punishment; Simon should be kept away from an ice rink for a long time. But the word "indefinite" applies to the NHL and its identity as a sport.

I don't know if the corollary I'm trying to draw here makes any sense. It's probably unfair to project Chris Simon's psychotic tendencies onto the league as a whole. So maybe it's a stretch. But it does seem to reflect a larger problem that hockey's been struggling with over the past decade-and-a-half.

Who's Your New Tigers Blogger?

2007-03-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

I've been procrastinating with this a bit, but now seems like an excellent time to share what's going on. I've been asked by the fine people at SportsBlog Nation to take over their Detroit Tigers site, Bless You Boys, and after giving the matter a whole lot of thought, I've decided I'll take the gig.

Not only am I curious to see what it will be like to write for a larger sports blog network, but I'm really excited about contributing more to what has now become a formidable Tigers blog community. I'm hoping my first post - the mission statement, if you will - will be up within the next day or so. (I can only hope my mission statement leads to a better result than Jerry Maguire's.)

To be honest, I was initially intimidated by the idea of running a Tigers blog when several other people already do it so damn well. Could I possibly have anything different or interesting to say about what's now Detroit's most beloved team? I guess that remains to be seen. But besides the sense of community and camaraderie that's been created, one thing that's been so great about the Tigers blogosphere is how each writer has been able to find his or her own niche to fill. I hope I manage to find mine over the next few months.

So what does this mean for Sweaty Men Endeavors? Well, I might be naive or delusional, but I intend to keep it going. I've put a lot of work into this over the past year-and-a-half, and I'm proud of (most of) it, so I'm not letting my baby go. There's too much stuff coming up - the NCAA tournament, NBA playoffs, NFL Draft, etc. - that'll be fun to write about. My attention span needs a place where I can write anything I want, and I don't want to give that up.

I'm not sure what will happen here during the summer, as I think it's safe to assume virtually all of my Tigers-related material will be posted at Bless You Boys. (I'd also like to thank Mike McClary for inviting me to post at The Daily Fungo over the last month or so. I hope I can still contribute to the discussion over there, as well.) But there's always something going on worthy of celebration or ridicule. Plus, I love baseball, so maybe I'll try to write about what's going on elsewhere in the sport. Once football season starts up again, however, I'll want to crush the Lions (and agonize over the Wolverines) and we've established a fine tradition of that here.

If you already check in at Bless You Boys, I hope you'll bear with me as I try to find my footing there for the next couple of weeks. And if not, I'd certainly love for you to follow me over and chime in during the upcoming baseball season. I really appreciate all of the readers who stop here every day to read, and think we'll have plenty of fun to spread all over this Detroit sports blogosphere. Thank you, and let's keep this thing going.

Not my favorite episode of "The LeBrons"

2007-03-08T10:00:00.000-05:00

Before last night's Pistons-Cavaliers game, I thought that Detroit really needed to stomp the LeBrons. Blow the Cavs off the floor and give them something to think about as they looked ahead toward a possible (likely?) playoff match-up with DEE-troit BAS-ket-ball. Let 'em know who the best team in the Eastern Conference is, that they don't want any of this, and that last year's seven-game series was a fluke.

Instead, Cleveland looked like they were more interested in sending a message and jumped out to an early lead. And in the process, we got a reminder of just how scary LeBron James could be for the Pistons in the playoffs. 41 points. A near triple-double.

It's difficult to imagine he could put up those kinds of numbers in every game of a playoff series, especially when playing for Team USA didn't really give him any time off last summer. But remember how much energy you had when you were 22 years old? He just might be able to do this.

Detroit just didn't have an answer for LeBron last night. Had Lindsey Hunter not gobbled up the wrong pill from his kitchen counter, maybe the Pistons would've had an extra body to throw at him on the perimeter. (And with a 10-game suspension and approximately $250,000 in lost salary, those better be the best damn diet pills ever, Ivy Hunter.) Given the height difference between James and Hunter, such a match-up probably would've been exploited. But the Pistons could've used the help. Would LeBron have been able to drive to the basket for a game-tying dunk at the end of regulation had anyone else besides Tayshaun Prince and his five fouls been able to stick with him?

And for a minute or so, LeBron appeared to have made the kind of game-winning shot that might have been replayed in Nike and Gatorade ads for years to come. I would've loved to see and hear the reaction at a sports bar or in the Palace as that ball went through the net. In my armchair, I just sat quietly with eyebrows raised. Did that just happen?

On TV, it sounded as if the crowd was initially stunned (and rightly so) before trying to badger the officials into taking a look at the replay. You can say that the ball was clearly on LeBron's fingertips when the clock hit zero and the red lights went on. As a Pistons fan, I certainly would've made that argument. But I'm glad I didn't have to make that call, because it was damn close.

When the shot was waved off, I thought the Cavs were going to be deflated in overtime. I can't even imagine what it would feel like to run to the locker room, high from the euphoria of an amazing, crowd-silencing win, only to be told, "Sorry guys - shot didn't count. Get back on the floor." But LeBron and Co. took that energy into overtime, while the Pistons acted like they knew they were lucky to be playing an extra period. Letting one get away like that, against a division rival and likely playoff opponent, had to hurt.

▪▪ Rasheed Wallace might be the Pistons' most valuable player, but if he's gimpy, I'm not sure how much he really helps. The Free Press' Chris Silva said 'Sheed "showed no signs of discomfort," and he obviously had a much better view than I did. But to me, it looked like 'Sheed couldn't move on defense, and had nothing to put into his jump shot. (And I imagine he had even less interest than usual in mixing it up down low with that ankle.) Detroit's surely a better team with 'Sheed on the floor, even if he's not fully healthy. But maybe sitting him out until that ankle can heal up might be the better long-term plan.

▪▪ The Cavs don't have a match-up for Chris Webber, and he could drive them mad in a playoff series. Even with his lessened mobility, he can frustrate Zydrunas Ilgauskas by moving him all around the floor. Either Webber pulls him up toward the high post, opening the lane for drives to the basket, or faces Ilgauskas straight up and takes him to the hole. Maybe Mike Brown was experimenting when he put Donyell Marshall on Webber late in the game when Ilgauskas was either in foul trouble or needed a breather, but if that's what Cleveland has to resort to in such a situation, they could have big problems.

A Case of "The Block"?

2007-03-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

You know, the writing thing just wasn't coming to me today. Sure, the Pistons' 111-93 loss to Golden State last night raised my eyebrows. But, um... I sort of didn't watch it ("Yatta!"), so I couldn't work up much indignation. The sure-to-be brutal month of March isn't off to a good start for Detroit basketball, though.

You've had one of those days, right? Sometimes you just can't manage to do what it is you like to do. If you're a blogger, you're surely familiar with sitting at the computer, wanting to post something but nothing's getting the fingertips pumping. Even if you want to take another swing at Tommy Amaker for saying his job status isn't an issue when it's the only issue surrounding Michigan basketball right now.

On such occasions, it's probably best to just step away and let those writing cells recharge. But then I thought about my good buddy, The Daily Fungo's Mike McClary, and how he's starting up a new blog dedicated to the ballclub with the flashy new threads, your Arizona Diamondbacks.

Wait until Mike finds out the fun stuff that comes with running multiple blogs, like darker bags under your eyes, sore finger joints, chronic coffee mouth, frequent flat-butt, lingering lower back pain, and a DVR that reminds you every single night with its bloated hard drive that you're not watching TV anymore. But that might just be me.

Oh, and I'm hoping Mike devotes plenty of letters to the tangled bale of hair belonging to Mr. Eric Byrnes (who's loved in the Casselberry household for carrying one of my fantasy baseball teams to a league title last season).

By the end of the workday, I'd decided there would be no posts today. I could just copy some information from someone else and pass it off as my own stuff, like Ron Borges did, but that would just look old and musty. How many newspapers even do those "Sunday notes" columns anymore?

No, I was going to sit back with Baseball Prospectus 2007, attempt to expand my understanding of the game, and think about spending summer evenings at the CoPa (even though I never use that term).

But what if the ballpark's name changes, now that Comerica is moving its corporate headquarters from Detroit to Dallas? Will the Detroit Tigers' home have a new name/corporate sponsor? I'm guessing not, since they'll still have 7,000 employees in Michigan and approximately 23 years to go on their naming rights agreement.

I don't think anyone's a fan of corporate names on stadiums, but in Detroit, at least there was a local flavor to the ballpark's sponsor, which made it somewhat digestible. And now the name seems to reflect yet another body blow to the Michigan economy. If I wasn't fighting "The Block," I might actually write about that. But that wouldn't fill a whole post, would it? Neither would the other stuff.

Who Wears the Pants in the Amaker Household?

2007-03-04T13:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, I missed the Michigan-Ohio State basketball game yesterday, opting to see Zodiac instead. Some might argue that my sports fan card should be suspended for that. I'd point to the Big Ten men's basketball standings in my defense, which would've supported a case for a blowout that I had no obligation to watch.

(Sitting through almost three hours of Zodiac wasn't necessarily more fun. It's not that I didn't like the movie, yet I'm not saying I liked it either, so there's your less-than-enthusiastic endorsement. Drink some coffee beforehand, or get a Pepsi from concessions; there's a lot of sitting and talking. But I digress...)

So I didn't get to see Michigan get their hopes crushed by the Buckeyes yet again. (To even make such a comparison between football and basketball is silly, of course.) But it looked like a close one, at least according to the score I saw on my cell phone after the movie. The mantra from the home locker room at Crisler Arena, however, was "Coming close doesn't mean anything."

Tommy Amaker argued that his team deserved more, but I don't think he knows what he's really saying. As the Ann Arbor News' Jim Carty points out, if those seniors deserved anything, it was to have a better team built around them, and a coach who could teach them how to develop into better players. And Amaker never managed to do that in their four years at Michigan.

Yet probably the worst kept secret in Ann Arbor is that there will be no coaching change in the men's basketball department. Maybe Amaker did enough to save his job this week by beating Michigan State and fighting the #1 team in the country to a four-point margin. Some have said that the decision has already been made to keep Amaker, regardless of how his team finished the season. How is that possible? Well, such a decision might not have anything to do with basketball. Check out this nugget from Drew Sharp's column in today's Detroit Free Press:

"... fueling the coach's job security most is that he's the second-most-popular Amaker on campus. His wife, Dr. Stephanie Pinder-Amaker, is an associate dean of students who co-chaired a large university fund-raising initiative. She's a rising star in the academic community, something that's not lost on university president Mary Sue Coleman, who remains an advocate of diversity despite recent legal challenges.

Do you think she'll risk losing a highly qualified African-American female educator because her basketball-coaching husband hasn't fulfilled expectations?"

Of course, you could write that off as speculation (and many would dismiss it because of the byline "By Drew Sharp"). However, it might also explain a few things. Bill Martin is getting a lot of negative feedback for the state of the men's basketball program, and maybe he's to the point where he might want to make a change, too. But what if it's not ultimately his call? If you're a Michigan fan (I'm not going to say "Michigan basketball fan" because that applies to a smaller readership), how infuriating is that?

And if you're Tommy Amaker, how big should your budget be for Valentine's Day, birthdays, and Sweetest Day? Maybe throw in something for Mother's Day too, just for the hell of it.

Number Crunching the Detroit Lions' Offensive Line

2007-03-04T12:30:00.000-05:00

While reading my Sunday sports section, I noticed the monster cash offensive guards are getting in NFL free agency, and that got me to thinking about numbers, which I don't really like to do because it exposes my poor math skills. So please indulge me while I think out loud a bit here.

In Cleveland, Eric Steinbach signed a seven-year, $49.5 million contract, while Kris Dielman could rake in up to $39 million over the next six years with the Chargers. So the top shelf of the market for guards right now is about $7 million. (Actually, Steve Hutchinson set that bar last year in signing with the Vikings.) The franchise tag (average of the top five salaries) for offensive linemen is $9.55 million this year. (The Ravens' Jonathan Ogden draws the biggest salary at $10.6 million.)

Last year, the #2 pick in the NFL Draft - Reggie Bush - signed a six-year deal that could be worth as much as $62 million. Two slots later, the first offensive lineman - D'Brickashaw Ferguson - was drafted, and he got a five-year, $27.5 million contract. So you can see where the battle lines will be drawn if the Lions take Joe Thomas at #2 in this year's draft. One of the arguments against selecting Thomas is that they'll have to pay Thomas a left tackle salary when they're already paying Jeff Backus that kind of money. But if the Lions aren't able to trade out of that spot and move lower in the draft, would they actually be saving money down the line with Thomas, considering the free-agent market for offensive lineman?

These numbers might also clarify why George Foster was part of the Dre' Bly deal and how Damien Woody could still have a job in Detroit next season, despite his putrid performance over the last three seasons.

So what I've been trying to do here is make a financial case for the Lions to draft Joe Thomas, but I'm not sure I actually clarified anything, other than drinking a lot of coffee on a Sunday morning makes me want to type a lot in the afternoon.