Catching Up

Clearly I abandoned posting on this blog when life got crazy. A trip to Chicago, a jaunt to Victoria, a Super Bowl bash, and another week later, here I am again! Obviously, a lot happened and I'm going to wax nostalgic on a few points from the weeks gone by.

First, the Super Bowl. What a fantastic game it turned out to be! With Fitzgerald completely non-existent for the first three quarters, he suddenly exploded into the un-defensible wideout for the fourth giving Arizona a chance. Then it was Big Ben's turn to pull off some final two minute magic driving for what turned out to be the winning TD. I still think that the fumble with four seconds left should have been reviewed and overturned leading to one last desperate heave to the end zone, but overall it was great entertainment and it made for a great party!

The NHL All-Star game happened a few weeks ago too. That turned into a ridiculous 12-11 shootout win for the East, which is so many goals that it can't have even been entertaining. I'm glad that I spent most of that game on an airplane and missed all but the last few minutes. In other NHL news, Detroit went through their traditional February skid losing five games in a row, and seem to be turning it around. In solid wins against Edmonton and Pittsburgh this past weekend, the Wings finally showed a little more gumption on defence (if you ignore the third period against the Oilers after they had a 6-0 lead). I'm still a little worried that Osgood continues to struggle so much, but I'm really pleased to see that Conklin has been such a capable backup this year. Hopefully with a little more time to pull himself together, Ozzie will come through when the chips are down late in the season and into the playoffs.

I suppose the most recent news is the revelation that A-Rod was juicing up for a few years when he played for the Texas Rangers. While it comes as a bit of a surprise since he was being held as the hope to clean up the career home run record, eventually passing Bonds' mark, I don't think anyone can be too surprised that another star in Major League Baseball was playing dirty at the turn of the century. Clearly the entire era was a disaster for league and there's still a lot of cleaning up they need to do before all the skeletons are out of their closet. That said, I think I'm of mixed opinion on evaluating the players of the "steroid era" as they fit into baseball history. On one hand, obviously, these guys were cheating and all of their accomplishments should be taken with a grain of salt. However, games change over time, which makes comparison from one generation to the next increasingly difficult anyway. If you look at baseball, the distance of the fences have evolved over time and are now totally inconsistent around the league. Equipment has evolved to some degree as well, with lighter, easier-swinging bats and livelier balls being used. Pitching technique has pitcher use as also evolved, with batters now facing more pitchers each game as specialists and revolving bullpens becoming the norm. If you then also account for pitchers being on steroids and throwing harder, it seems hard to me to compare any statistics from this generation to the past.

The only thing I need to clarify is why I don't feel as strongly against A-Rod as I do against Bonds. I think that the reality of it is that while A-Rod cheated for a few years, he has at least come out and said, "Yeah, I screwed up." Bonds still insists that he did so cluelessly and I just can't buy that. I guess I've managed to discover my moral line ... cheating - okay; lying - not okay. Who knew?!

Weekend Wrap Up

Another week, another pathetic first quarter for the Lions. The Leos have now been outscored 54-0 in the combined first quarters of their six losses. With the worst record among their next six opponents being the 3-3 Jaguars, I like the odds of this team running their record to 0-12 on Thanksgiving!

In better news, I beat the coin this week. My eight correct predictions going into the Monday nighter, while still not great, dramatically outshone random chance this week. Let's hope the Pats can make it 9 for me tonight.

I suppose some sports fans might also be interested in the fact that baseball is finally going to wrap things up shortly. While the TV executives were praying for the LA-Boston final, the action on the field managed to give them Tampa Bay - Philly. There should be about six people tuning in to watch this series ... that is if any of them can stay up until 1 am on the east coast to watch the games finish. Let's just say that even with the benefit of being three time zones over, I'm more excited about the chance to go watch the short track speed skating World Cup race that's coming to town next weekend as a test run for the Olympics.

Random Musings of a Lions Fan

At least there's one Lions team that can go out and win football games. The BC Lions are on a roll these days. After a pathetic start, they've rattled off four straight wins to climb into second place in the Western Conference with just five games to play, two of which are against a below-500 Argos team and two more against Edmonton who they've split the season series with so far.

In a nice change in the NFL this past week, the Detroit Lions also managed not to lose. Of course, the only way they managed that was to not play. From here on out, I don't see anyone on their schedule who shouldn't be favoured to beat them. Rest assured though, one of these weeks they'll come out and play a remarkably strong game and make everyone wonder why they haven't been able to win all year. The Bucs perfect season from 1976 (who can forget their 0-14 record?) will not be in jeopardy ... do you think they'll celebrate like the '72 Dolphins?

With the Leos on the sidelines this weekend, it turned out to be a tough slate of games to pick. Raise your hands all those who had the Chiefs winning a game. Chirping crickets ... it's all I hear. Skins over the Cowboys? Anyone? What about Bears over the Eagles? No one, eh? Oh well ... I'd like to thing that this coming week will make things easier, but as I look at the week 5 score board I grow timid ...

Skins at Philly - is Washington as good as they looked against Dallas?
Falcons at Green Bay - how bad is that shoulder of Aaron Rodgers'?
Titans at Ravens - both giving up nothing on D ... will either be able to score?

It just keeps going on. I think there's about 7 games that I'm tossing a coin on and I'm sure that won't work out well for me.

In brighter news, the NHL preseason has kicked into full swing and we're less than a week away from the regular season starting up. I'm looking forward to seeing the Wings try to defend their territory this year and to seeing how they hold up as a favourite when the favourites seem to collapse like a flan in the cupboard every year. The MLB playoffs are also set to begin, though we need an extra game this evening to decide who will win the AL Central since the Tigers stunk it up in their bid to eliminate the White Sox yesterday. It figures, of course, that the Tigers would finish dead last in the season when everyone picked them to win the World Series. I'm nto bitter about that at all. Of course, it could be worse ... I could be a Mets fan!

An Early Forecast

With the NFL starting up on Thursday night this week, I'm forced into making my bold predictions a little earlier than normal this week. With the return of fall and all of the sports goodness that comes with it, I will do my best to return to normal weekend forecasts and wrapups with additional posts in between as interesting issues arise.

At this point in the NFL season it's rather challenging to make any of these picks. The preseason is obviously meaningless since no starters see more than about four series of plays and teams are already hiding their injury reports, so I'm not sure how much faith I have in any of my picks this week. We'll see though ... I could surprise us all with a strong performance!

One interesting note that I found enjoyed in doing some research was the analysis one of SI's writers on the Lions ... "the problem I find with the Lions is they're fully capable of losing to any team on their schedule." ... sadly I see it the same way.

And now on to the picks:

Giants over Redskins - they're a bit banged up on the D-line, but it's hard not to pick the defending champs on opening night at home in any year.

Lions over Falcons - Atlanta could be the worst team in football. I think the Lions' D will actually be able to stop a rookie QB in his first start on a crappy Falcons team.

Seahawks over Bills - Seattle is actually going to be decent this year and will win the division again in the last year for coach Holmgren.

Jaguars over Titans - I have zero faith in Vince Young getting any better and Jacksonville is going to contend this year.

Dolphins over Jets - who will be more motivated? Favre in his Big Apple debut, or Pennington trying to prove that the Jets picked the wrong QB?

Patriots over Chiefs - NE has still only lost one of their last 19 (real) games. I'm picking them until I find out that they're going to amputate Brady's injured foot.

Saints over Bucs - there may be too much turmoil for NO to hang in there this year, what with the hurricanes and all, but I think they'll at least get off on the right foot.

Eagles over Rams - St. Louis is going to stink this year. Like, Lions kind of stink. No running game, no receivers. It's going to be ugly.

Steelers over Texans - Houston is the team that ruined David Carr by having no line for him to learn behind. Not much has changed.

Bengals over Ravens - Baltimore is the other team (besides Atlanta) starting a rookie QB in game one. Never a good sign for a team's fortunes.

Cowboys over Browns - Dallas' receiving corps is beat up, but Cleveland's defensive backs are lousy ... this should be a fair fight.

Chargers over Panthers - SD is going to be real good again. They'll be fun to watch this year.

Cardinals over 49ers - can I pick both teams to lose? Warner is going to be tough to predict this year because he's going to win some and he's going to give some away. I pick him in this one because the opposing QB is J.T. O'Sullivan ... heard of him? Neither has anyone else.

Colts over Bears - hard to believe the Bears were in the Super Bowl recently. They're going to be last in the division this year ... yeah, that's right ... in a division that includes Detroit. That's pretty bad.

Vikings over Packers - Minnesota is going to try to run all over everyone this year. And I don't like Rodgers to pick up where Brett left off.

Broncos over Raiders - Denver isn't going to be great, but you don't have to be to beat the Raiders.

I'm going to miss most of the action Sunday since I'm off to see the Yankees-Mariners game in the afternoon. We bought tickets when we thought the Yankees would be in the midst of another playoff run ... shows how much I know!

The Two Month Hiatus

I have no excuses really. I just didn't have much that I felt strongly enough to write about. Then I got busy. Then not posting here became a habit. Thus, the two month holiday. But here I am, back again having missed one Tiger taking the rest of the year off and a group of Tigers who also seem to have taken the season off. I missed pontificating about the Olympics, which were fun in the bits and pieces that I saw, but not enormously interesting to me beyond three or four specific events that I have an interest in (like the Oly Tris which were amazing!! Way to go Simon!!!). The Winter Games are more my thing.

But where are we now? Day one of the college football season! It seemed so far off for so long, but it's finally arrived. The dawn of fall. The time when every school still believes they have a shot ... you know ... before they actually get beat by Appalachian State and drive their fans into the depths of despair, leading to the hiring of a new coach and the departure of all the players who can actually play and a season that is likely to be the first without a bowl berth in forever. But enough about Michigan.

Beyond college football, we're just a week from the dawn of the NFL season and then shortly thereafter, the MLB playoffs and NHL season will begin. It's good times in sports and I'm excited to see it all start. I promise, I'll post again in less than 60 days this time!

Deep Thoughts

After a second 2-10 stretch this season, are the Tigers on track to be one of the biggest disappointments ever in baseball? Clearly all of that money they spent on bringing in offensive power has seen them shut out in nearly 15% of their games and their pitching has given up more runs than every team but one. The may not approach the records they set for futility a few years ago, but they sure aren't going to have that run to the World Series this year like everyone expected.

And speaking of playoff runs, the Wings couldn't manage to finish off the Stars last night. The calls by the refs were the biggest black mark on this game though. For Detroit's first goal to be disallowed because Holmstrom breathed somewhere in the vicinity of Turco and then see the Stars first goal count with Loui Eriksson actually in the crease is extraordinarily frustrating as a Wings fan, but Babcock was right in his assessment that the refs are human and they frequently screw up. Detroit didn't lose the game specifically because of the two wrong calls. Though +2 would have been a lot more desirable than -2 versus the refs. Still, the series will shift back to Detroit on Saturday and the Wings should finish it off with a more solid effort and the advantage of home ice. Let's see too if Pittsburgh can finish the job tonight and walk into the finals or if they're going to take an extra game too.

Finally, the ponies will run again on Saturday at Pimlico. I'm hoping that Big Brown can demolish the field again and keep those Triple Crown hopes alive, perhaps helping to move the general public move beyond the lasting image of poor Eight Bells down on the track at Churchill Downs.

11 Run 6th

Clinging to a precarious 7-6 lead going to the bottom of the sixth inning last night against Texas, Tigers fans were treated to the home team getting three walks, two hit batters, a pair of two run doubles, a three run homer, a couple of sacrifices to score, a one run double and run scoring single. When the Rangers finally managed to get out of the inning, they had dug themselves an 18-6 hole and Detroit added another in the seventh for good measure. That sure would have been fun to watch for the home faithful!

With the win Detroit climbs out of the cellar in the AL Central, just 3 games back of the White Sox. Even with their dreadful start this year, this team is poised to make a run. Now if they could just solidify the pitching a bit ... giving up 6 in the first four innings was not the way to get rolling last night!