Coming out of Retirement

Speaking of Detroit, Joey-D called me in the late afternoon. He was looking to see if I'd be interested in suiting up because many of the players had been "sick." He asked if I needed any basketball shoes but I said my pair from college were in good enough shape still. What he didn't tell me was that I might have to play all 48 minutes. Needless to say, I have a few blisters on my feet and my legs, specifically the hamstrings, are killing me.

6 Years

This post marks six years since the first post on this blog. I still have no idea why it exists.

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Is the NBA in trouble? I barely follow the league at all, the general feeling that no one on the court really cares about playing the game has pushed it down to NASCAR-levels of disinterest for me. But even I didn't make it through the day without seeing that both Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News and Rick Reilly of ESPN.com decrying the state of the game after the Carmelo-for-the-whole-Knicks trade. (I love Reilly's quote here: "We gave up a surefire Hall of Famer, who is only 26, for four New York Knicks starters. This is like acquiring the four best mountain climbers in Nebraska.") Is this a turning point for the NBA? Can fans take it seriously as a competitive league after this and Miami? Wojnowski notes that seven franchises have won championships since 1989 in the NBA. The NFL has had 13 different winners in that span, MLB has had 15, and the NHL has had 13. So if you feel like your team doesn't have a shot, you're probably right. Can the NBA maintain interest and ticket sales in this environment? Their collective bargaining agreement is set to expire, but can changes be made without sacrificing the next season?

Comic Cover of the Week: Detective Comics #874

Here We Go Again

Despite my current total lack of enthusiasm for college basketball, I've renewed the Cass City Monkie Tournament Pick 'em Group at Yahoo. You can sign up here.

Thor

Tecmo Great

According to reports, Tecmo Bowl legend Dave Duerson has been found dead at age 50. He was THE man on the Bears' defense if you were playing Tecmo Bowl and you needed to cover a lot of carpet in a short amount of time...and were looking for a Pick-6. Then again, ANYONE on the game could get an INT. And, if you remember that Bears' defense, they were all studs. Dent, Singletary, Duerson, The Fridge, Ditka, etc.

Impression That I Get (Knock on Wood)

Drunk Again

I was going to write something about Miguel Cabrera's latest alcohol problems and lament that he didn't take breath test and so rob us of the opportunity to compare his batting average to his blood alcohol level, but I think Rome has already covered it pretty well. An excerpt:

Maybe Miguel Cabrera hasn’t cleaned up, dried out and isn’t flying straight after all. Not if he’s getting picked up for DUI, and throwing the ‘do you know who I am card while taking a swig from a bottle of scotch right in front of a deputy on the side of the road, he hasn’t. And not just any scotch but James Buchanan. That’s supermarket scotch. If you’re going down like that, may as well take a big swing and throw back the Macallan 25. And how about that mug shot: my man, that’s not for your baseball card. You’re getting your picture taken by the cops. Not Topps.

Comic Cover of the Week: Thunderbolts #153

RE: Cowboys & Aliens

The Super Bowl featured many upcoming movies for '11, including this one.

Here was a fun fact about this movie:

Laker grad to have movie ad aired during Super Bowl (via Huron Daily Tribune).

Apparently a Sir Russel Hudson is a brother-in-law to this dude.

By the way, Lakers still sucks.

"I'd buy that for a dollar!"

Mayor Dave Bing tweeted yesterday that there are no plans to erect a statue to one of Detroit's most famous fictional residents:


Too bad, that would be much cooler than a statue of the Fonz.

Comic Cover of the Week: Wolverine #5.1

Forgotten

Ump commented:

Is it possible their struggles have anything to do with Mr. Izzo being courted all summer by the Cavs and the possibility of coaching in the NBA? He strung the Cavs and MSU along. Maybe he lost some focus and that trickled down to the players losing some focus, maybe thinking about playing in the NBA rather than having a good upcoming season.

I don't actually think Izzo lost focus. But, the players probably got caught up in everything, not completely knowing Izzo's intentions.

There's no way he was going to the Cavs, but the players could have had a little uncertainty.

It sure seems like a possibility, even though they should have had plenty of time to get focused again before the season started. But when you're dealing with expectations of competing for a national title maybe it doesn't take much to throw things out of whack.

One thing I've seen commented on is a lack of leadership from the seniors. MSU is a team that, for whatever reason, doesn't tend to have many super-talented (one and done) underclassmen, so the leadership provided by the seniors is very important. In the fifteen or so years I've paid attention to MSU basketball this is almost always the case. Mateen Cleaves is the obvious example, but there's one or two guys every year. Summers and Lucas, Lucas especially, aren't getting the job done. But it's bad enough that, according to FSN Detroit, former player Tim Bograkos has posted an open letter to the team on his blog. A notable excerpt:

At this point I find myself straddling a very difficult fence. On one side, I am extremely proud alum of Michigan State and our basketball program. On the other side I’m very disappointed in some of the things that seem to be happening this year. It appears that, in some sense, this team has forgotten what kind of program they signed up to play for. I prided myself as a player who protected the core values that our program stands for every time I stepped on the court. At this point, I’m far less concerned with wins and losses and all I can hope is that we finish the season with the same intensity as Scotty Skiles, with the swagger of Steve Smith, and the true grit of Antonio Smith and Mateen Cleaves.

Bograkos was a walk-on who eventually earned a scholarship because of his hard work and intensity. This team could take a lesson from him.

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From a Chrysler commercial aired during the Super Bowl, referring to Detroit: "What does this city that's been to hell and back know about luxury?" Back?

Also, when did Eminem become a marketable spokesperson?

Captain America

"Whoever holds this hammer..."

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Why do brands like Bud Light and Doritos feel the need to advertise on every, or every other, Super Bowl commercial break? It can't possibly be worth the money because you're not actually going to increase brand awareness.

"Is there a defense that can stop me?"

In honor of Marshall Faulk being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame:

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Do you think Fox will have Omar Epps involved in any of their pregame broadcast? That would be awesome. And, yes, not the first time I've posted on this topic.

Comic Cover of the Week: Captain America: Hail Hydra #2