In case you forgot

This is what New York used to look like.

The Day We've All Been Waiting For

For those that missed it, tonight was the WNBA lottery draw. If any of you oddsmakers were in Vegas for the weekend to get in on the action to see who would get the highly coveted #1 pick in the 2006 WNBA draft, the Minnesota Lynx won the fifth annual WNBA Draft Lottery. Click here for a complete recap of the Lottery. Make sure you are a subscriber to "Insider" so you can get all the inside scoops of your favorite WNBA teams...Dang, I didn't realize my tongue was so pointy and might punch a hole through my cheek.

Room for one more?

Looking at your list of blogs on the left side of page, how could you leave out Dave Bossick's blog? I mean, where else would I go for my complete MHSAA football playoffs bracket to fill out?

By the way Dave, stop in and see me sometime.

Sincerely,

A dentist

"This day keeps gettin' better 'n better."

The Lions won on the field today, but lost a chunk of their roster. Kevin Johnson sustained an Achilles injury that will end his season. They also lost Shaun "Big Baby" Rogers to an MCL injury and Dre Bly to a dislocated wrist. Both of them will surely miss significant time. Ouch.

.500

The Lions, with Jeff Garcia at QB, beat Cleveland 13-10 this afternoon. Is this the start of a turnaround? Well, Garcia had a solid game, didn't turn the ball over, rushed for a TD, and managed to find rookie WR Mike Williams. However, despite 3 Cleveland turnovers, the Lions only managed 1 TD. Not the most encouraging signs for the Lions. Not to mention the questions about what to do next at QB; at 35 Garcia isn't a long-term solution. Fun times ahead.

Re: Sparty Jones

Looks like it's dog food time. Somebody get my gun.

Sparty Jones

On College Gameday they just compared the competition for the Big Ten title to a horse race. An apt analogy after looking at the standings. Just one thought: if Sparty Jones doesn't pick up the pace today, he's dog food.

Quote of the Week

A little background, if you haven't heard, Athletic Director Nathan Haag is cleaning house in the coaching department at Owen-Gage. We have an opening in Baseball, Softball, Varsity Volleyball, JV Volleyball, and JV Boys Basketball. Well, there was an interested individual who called me on the celly yesterday seeking more info on the positions:

Caller (Male): Hi, I'm calling about the volleyball positions.

AD: Yup, we have two positions open.

Caller: Yes, I was wondering what you are looking for, as experience.

AD: Preferrably someone who has coached something before, especially volleyball.

Caller: Well, I don't have any experience in coaching anything, but I have driven the bus for the volleyball team and watched all their games.

AD: Well, I've been to a lot of Michigan football games, but I don't think I could replace Lloyd Carr.

Tune in to my next post about an Instant Classic Tecmo Super Bowl game between the Phoenix Cardinals (yes, Ricky Proehl is on that team) v the 49ers for the NFC Championship.

What to do about Joey?

Is there any hope left for Joey Harrington? It seems the coaching staff has given up him, though not officially yet. Garcia is getting closer to coming back, and it's hard to believe Mariucci won't bench Joey when Jeff's ready to go. How bad is Harrington right now? Look at the NFL qualified leader passer stats here. Look at QB rating. Don't see Joey's name? Scroll down. Keep going. That's it. Almost there. At the bottom? Bingo. League-worst at 55.6. Lower than Kyle Orton or J.P. Losman. If you go by all players, it's not much better. So, is there a chance of a Brees-esque turnaround? Or is Joey Harrington the next Charlie Batch? Maybe it's a good thing he's a concert-level pianist, because he may need the work.

Hull Retires

Brett Hull announced his retirement yesterday, ending a 19-year career in which he scored 741 goals, third best all-time. Only Wayne Gretzky (894) and Gordie Howe (801) scored more than Hull. He lead the league in scoring 3 times and won two Stanley Cups, one with Dallas in '99 and, of course, with the Wings in '02. Hull said: "I am very proud of what I have accomplished in my career, but at 41, I felt that it was time to move on." I wonder if being coached by Gretzky made 41 feel older than it did before?

Ruminations on Saturday

Some thoughts on the college football action from yesterday:

1. Earlier in the season, a commentator said during one of MSU's games that State had a different attitude this season because Drew Stanton's attitude had effected the entire team. After the Michigan and Ohio State games we can be sure that was nonsense. They're still the same old mentally weak Spartans. OSU did not deserve to win that game, yet MSU still goes home with a loss. The coaches and the players can do better. Don't even get me started on that field goal.

2. Stanton is the Big Ten's best quarterback.

3. How awful was Penn State's defense on the last play of the game? You think you'd want to cover the WRs on an obvious pass play.

4. I don't know how it can be true, but Penn State is for real.

5. Going back to our discussion about polls, they're just about worthless. Penn State was ranked #8, yet was still and underdog to unranked Michigan. That was an accurate assessment doesn't matter, if you really believe a team is #8 they shouldn't be underdogs to an unranked team. If they are, don't put them at #8. It's not really that complicated.

6. How gutsy is Matt Leinart? Wow.

7. Notre Dame is for real. See #4 above.

Classic Uniforms

Adding to what was posted earlier, I'm going to list some of my favorite classic college football uniforms. I'm leaving out Big Ten teams, since with the exception of Northwestern they all wear classic unis. I'll admit Michigan deserves some special recognition for being recognizable, even if they didn't invent the helmet pattern.

No particular order:

1. USC: Like the colors, the name, and the pattern.
2. Texas: Always liked that color, Longhorns is a great monkier.
3. Notre Dame: It doesn't get much more classic than ND, unless you're...
4. Navy: ND's uniforms were originally Navy castoffs. How strange is that?

Unfavorite classics:
1. Nebraska: Hate that N.
2. LSU: Ugly letters, ugly cat.

Rise of the Robots?

In a 132-mile race across the Mojave Desert sponsored by DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), four robots managed to cross the finish line. This is especially impressive since last year when the race was run, none of the robots made it more than a few miles before being thwarted by the desert landscape. The winner gets a $2 million prize which will be used for further research. The goal: autonomous military ground vehicles. So, how far are we away from war-fighting robots? And are we prepared for their inevitable revolt?

Best Uniforms

Who has the best uniforms in college football? This question came to mind last night when, during the Syracuse vs. Connecticut game, Rece Davis said the Connecticut uniforms were awful. I happen to like them a lot, possibly because they use the same font as one of my favorite movies. Anyway, here's a look:


So what are the top 10, 20, or whatever uniforms in college football? Old or new school, classic or modern. I'll probably post more later, but I think Connecticut has one of my favorite modern uniforms.

Quotes

I can't think of anything interesting to write, and I'm bored, so I'm going to post quotes from random sources as I see fit. To start with, quotes from the TV show Firefly:

Serenity, Part 1 & 2
1. Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

2. Wash: "Everything looks good from here... (beat...playing with plastic dinosaurs over his console) Yes. Yes, this is a fertile land, and we will thrive."
(as Stegosaurus) "We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... 'This Land'."
(as T-Rex) "I think we should call it...your grave!"
(Stegosaurus) "Ah, curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!"
(T-Rex) "Ha ha HA! Mine is an evil laugh...now die!"

3. Mal: "I'm in a tricky position, I guess you know. Got me a boatload of terribly strange folk making my life a little more interesting than I generally like, chief among them an Alliance mole. Likes to shoot at girls when he's nervous. Now I got to know how close the Alliance is, exactly how much you told them before Wash scrambled your call. So... I've given Jayne here the job of finding out."
Jayne: "He was non-specific as to how."
Mal: "Now you only gotta scare him."
Jayne: "Pain is scary..."
Mal: "Just do it right."

4. Simon: "I'm trying to put this as delicately as I can... How do I know you won't kill me in my sleep?"
Mal: "You don't know me, son. So let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me, and you'll be armed."
Simon: "Are you always this sentimental?"
Mal: "Had a good day."

The Train Job
1. Mal: "Well, they tell ya: never hit a man with a closed fist. But, it is on occasion hilarious."

2. Inara: (pissed) "What did I say to you about barging into my shuttle?"
Mal: "That it was manly and impulsive?"
Inara: "Yes, precisely. Only the exact phrase I used was 'don't'."

3. Mal: "Well, you're holding my mechanic in thrall. And Kaylee, what the hell's goin' on in the engine room? Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"

4. Jayne: "Time for some thrillin' heroics."

Bushwhacked
1. Zoe: "Proximity alert. Must be coming up on something."
Wash: (alarmed) "Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!?" (deadpan) "Oh right, that would be me. Back to work."

2. Jayne: "Tell you what I think. I think that fellow we ran into did everyone on board, killed them all, then decided to take a swim through space, see how fast his blood would boil out of his ears."
Wash: "You're a very 'up' person."

3. Simon: "Oh yes, he's a real beast. It's a wonder you're still alive."
Jayne: "Looked bigger when I couldn't see him."

Notre Dame, Yankees, Lakers, Cowboys, Duke, etc...they're all the same

Adam, I hear ya on that unrelated note. Not only that, but I think Sportscenters Sunday night edition (yesterday) was at least the 3rd time I've seen Sportscenter dedicate a segment of the show about how Coach Weiss made the play call in the endzone for the dying kid with cancer. It's a great story. I get that. I don't need to see it every weekend. I get it. He's dying. He has cancer. You could have thrown an INT or been sacked. I get it. You've already showed us the story, the play, the interview with the coach...last weekend! Great. Awesome. I don't need to keep hearing it. This has nothing to do with the kid. It's tragic what the boy is going through and I know that play call dedicated to him probably kept him mentally alive for a little longer. But Memo to ESPN: Stop giving blowjobs on Sportscenter to the Cowboys, Lakers, Duke, Yankees, and Notre Dame.

Trivia

Here's a "Did You Know?" for you: when was the last time brothers threw for over 250 yds and 4 TDs each on the same day? Has it ever happened before today? Peyton Manning went 20/27 for 264 and 4 TDs, Eli managed 19/35 for 296 and 4 TDs. That's unreal. Good genes.

Hail to the Victors

Okay, I have to give UM recognition for winning in OT again, 34-31. Did anyone else get the feeling no one wanted to win this game? UM gives the game away, then State gives it right back. Ugh. Michigan was much improved from the last few weeks, but I think Henne still has major question marks. He had an atrocius second half. And that was still against an MSU secondary that, frankly, sucks. Hart also ran well; UM loses the game if State doesn't give up those two long runs.

That said, MSU should have had this game. They had more opportunities to win, and they blew it. Dishing out blame:

1. Coaching staff: Poor play-calls in the 2nd half, especially near the goal line. MSU started playing conservative, and they weren't even up at that point. You're a passing team first. PASS. Play to win. Far too often this coaching staff pulls back, and the team always suffers for it. Also, the team came out tight which lead to 2 UM scores. Think maybe that made a difference? Hard to play in a 2 TD hole. Finally, if you put your kicker in a difficult position and he misses, don't blame him. And if you do and pull him, don't put him back in for OT. You've already fried his brainpan, of course he's going to miss.

2. Secondary: These guys just aren't very good. Opponents have seen how to beat MSU and they're going to be picked on constantly. Time to step it up.

3. Kicker: I put blame on the coaching staff, but you step on the field, you make the kick. No excuses (Granted, Goss isn't making any).

Coach Smith said: "It hurts real bad, and it should hurt. I hope the players feel it and I hope they don't forget the feeling." They better not forget, it just might teach them something.

On an unrelated note, is it just me or is EVERY Notre Dame game on national TV?

Free Pass

On college Gameday, Chris Fowler just said he wasn't sure the Spartans would let Kirk Herbstreit jump on the MSU bandwagon. Kirk responded by saying he had the Spartans ranked #6. Now, I'm sure Kirk has a multitude of sins in the past, not the least being a Buckeye QB, but I'll stick my hand out and pull him up on the bandwagon. He's got a free pass in my book.

Let the Wookiee Win

You know who threw out the first pitch Tuesday night at Fenway Park? Chewbacca. Yes, a wookiee. Chewie is known for his wicked fastball, and his propensity for pulling people's arms out of their sockets when he loses. See the pic in context here.

I Aim to Misbehave

Serenity comes out tomorrow. You should see it. If you haven't seen Firefly, you can catch up by ordering the DVDs of the series here.

Pretty In Pink

You may or may not know that, in a decades long tradition, the Iowa Hawkeyes visiting locker room is pink. This color scheme was introduced by Coach Hayden Fry, who was a psychology major and said pink "had a calming and passive effect on people." Of course, some people are now complaining about this. Specifically, an adjunct law lecturer, Erin Buzuvis. I'm sure she's not a radical feminist. She called the locker room "sexist" and "homophobic" (good old liberal standbys those). She thinks it's a "sex equality" issue. I'm not sure what women feel inequal because of the locker room. Maybe they want theirs painted pink too?

Let's get one thing straight: more than any other sport, college football is about tradition. That's why people fight tooth and nail over almost any change, no matter how cosmetic. This locker room color thing was started by the most legendary coach in Hawkeye history. I've never heard opposing teams complain. This woman is a no-name lecturer looking to make a name for herself in the feminist community by taking on the football team. Let's hope Iowa doesn't give in crazy P.C.

Scoreboard!

The Spartans have been accused of running up the score against Illinois. Yes, they threw 2 TD passes at the end of the game. But they also rushed the ball quite a bit. What can you do when you're getting 10 yards a pop? Also, guys like Hoyer can definitely benefit from the work. The offense doesn't do slow down very well, and when they do they tend to lose, though that wasn't going to be a problem against Illinois. I usually am pretty merciful in situations like that, but not this time. You don't want them to score? Then stop them. End of story.

To Drew

Drew Sharp, who I have called a "butt monkey" in the past, wrote an article today about the UM vs. MSU game. I think it needs some response.

1. "And it's Michigan State that would probably take more insecure delight out of making the Wolverines 2-3 than it would in extending its own record to 5-0."

Hey, we're the Spartans, not the Boston Red Sox. Yes, we cheer at games when we see Michigan lose. But we root for them at appropriate times, like when the Big Ten has to prove its mettle against other conferences. To be defined by your rival is to let them control you. That's not the Spartans. Beating Michigan can be a bright spot in season that are otherwise bad, but it's never enough.

2. "...gimmicky spread option attack"

He thinks this offense is gimmicky? Has he ever seen Texas Tech? The Spartans run the spread. Option? Not so much. Watch some football, you might learn something.

3. "They have the state's best playmaker in quarterback Drew Stanton, but an offense that too often makes him a target for punishment. MSU's one-man show could head straight down the drain should it lose that one man."

The Spartans have been sacked 10 times in 4 games, 2.5 sacks per game. Some of those were Hoyer, presumably. Stanton hasn't been getting hammered. And if Drew had actually seen any games, he'd notice that Drew hasn't been taking the "banzai" running approach that he had last year. He's much more of a pocket passer who can move well. Is he the key to the offense? Yes. Has he been getting punished? Nope. Also, the Spartans have been getting production from everywhere. Like true freshman Javon Ringer, or two-sport star Matt Trannon. The Spartans can survive without Stanton, though they wouldn't be putting up 600 yds of offense.

4. "Lose Stanton, and Michigan State is just smoke and mirrors."

See above. Note to Drew: Watch games, then write. It'll stop you from making a fool of yourself.

Backyard Brawl

The game is early this year. Take the names off the teams, do the analysis, and I think most experts would pick MSU, maybe even by multiple touchdowns. But this is a rivalry game and the rankings don't matter, which Michigan has found out in most of its losses to MSU. Does MSU have any excuse not to win? No. This is their chance to forge a new identity for themselves, and give Drew Stanton a real shot at the Heisman to boot. But UM is going to be very dangerous. The loss of this game will have a huge affect on the team that comes up short. Michigan isn't going to give up their season without a fight. The Spartans certainly have weaknesses that the Wolverines could exploit. It'll be interesting. Scout.com's take here.

Of Polls

College football polls don't mean what it seems like they should mean. Do they give you the teams in order of how good they are? Well, sort of. A little. Maybe. It's all a popularity contest. This is pretty obvious because you can tell what will happen to a team in the polls based on the number in front of the name of the opponent they beat. If it actually meant something, it wouldn't be so consistent. Is Michigan the 27th best team in the land? They're probably better than that. But when you've got 2 losses after week 4 and your wins are EMU and Southen Illinois, you know what the polls will do.

Notre Dame

I'd agree that the media has went a little overboard celebrating Notre Dame; I think they love the Irish a lot more than the regular football watching public. I'd chalk it up to the easy stories that all the history around the golden dome provides. My question is: "Where were all these athletes last year?" Is Charlie Weis really the difference? I had a lot of respect for Willingham and didn't think he was the problem, but it does make you think. As far as MSU's celebration at ND's 50: I'm neutral. It's cool to watch, and it's not like they have a student section there to celebrate with. But it is somewhat disrespectful. It's probably okay at ND and maybe UM, but nowhere else.

52 s

You know how in the Patriots run of greatness you sometimes watch and say: "Man, they're good, but they're also really lucky." A great example: the Patriots received 52 extra seconds on a clock error yesterday, which might have made the difference in them beating the Steelers. Maybe the Patriots could still have pulled of the game-winning drive against the Steelers' soft coverage, but you can bet Pittsburgh would much rather have had that time off the clock.

Yee-hah!

It's a Monday, so I'm sure everyone could use some cheering up. So, I give you Whiplash, the Cowboy Monkey!


Whiplash performs at rodeos and is the spokesmonkey for Taco John's, a restaurant chain in MN, among other places.

What were they thinking?

Can anyone explain to me what the media saw in Michigan to give them a pre-season ranking of #3? I'll tell you what I saw: The defense can't handle running quarterbacks and lost the last two games of the season. Ending the year on two losses is exactly what it takes to become #3 to start the next season. What in the world kind of criteria does the media use to make their picks? Their best player on the team was drafted #4 overall. The defense gave up an average of +23 points per game. Ok, now let's recap for the pre-season rankings. Give a #3 ranking to a team who lost their best player and have a worse defense. Makes tons of sense. All I know is I hope the game on Saturday is blocked out locally because it isn't going to be pretty. Thankfully I'll be in Detroit taking a test so I won't be able to see one single snap taken. I can say this though. It's about freakin' time that for once, MSU will be favored to win, should win, has no excuse not to win, and no one will be shocked if U of M loses. In fact, it really should be taken as a "Big deal you beat Michigan" attitude. "Wow! Congratulations! By the way, Michigan sucks." We all know rankings mean jack squat. If a team can be #14 and lose to an undefeated team on the road by 3 points, it probably doesn't constitute getting kicked out of the polls. Just put them at #22 before the game starts because we know that is where they'll end up after they lose, since they have lost their first road game for the past 5 or 6 years. If they suck and now have 2 losses, they don't need to be polluting the top 25. Stick with me here and ponder this: If they do suck and you've kicked them out of the polls because they are not good, then how can you reward the previously unranked team that beat them a 9 spot jump in the polls? If Wisconsin wasn't good enough before to be in the top 25, how does beating a crapy, overrated team get you to #17 after previously being just an "Other Receiving Votes" type of team? Or, if Wisconsin is for real and is now considered to be "good" since the media chose to rank them #17, then how can a loss to a "good" team on the road by 3 points make sense to be dropped out of the polls? Isn't that basically admitting you don't know what you're talking about in college football? Was it really an upset that the badgers won? At home? Undefeated? By 3 points? Again, Michigan clearly sucks and doesn't need to be in the top 25, but let's try to get some consistency in telling us who you think is or isn't a good football team.

Props to MSU beating Notre Dame. I'm not real sure why so much love has to go to Notre Dame for their "amazing" start. Let's see, you have a new coach who was the former offensive coordinator from arguably the best dynasty of all time. Notre Dame is good? Gasp! It had to be the black coach right? The best part of the MSU-ND game had to be the slamming of the State flag in the middle of the Domers field. Was that a lack of class? I guess, but considering MSU flat out owns ND, they deserved it. If ND can't defend their home turf against MSU after 5 years, then you might as well start painting "State" in the endzones because it's obviously more their field than yours. Quit whinning about how classless it was and just beat them on your own dang field. Heck, if I was a 5th year senior and I went my whole college career beating ND, you bet your ace I'm going to celebrate at the 50-yard line. Honestly, the flagpole in the ground was the best play of the game.

Because You Demanded It

We now have ESPN's Bottomline on, well, the top of the blog. Okay, nobody demanded it, but I thought it would be cool. So, thanks to the killer html skills of The Kid, there it is. Enjoy.

Others Receiving Votes

It's not unusual for the MSU vs. UM game to be #11 against Others Receiving Votes. But it is unusual for State to be the one with the number. Michigan fell out of the Top 25 today for the first time since 1998. UM was in the rankings for 114 straight weeks and was the holder of the longest current streak, which now goes to Miami at 93 weeks. You can see the polls here.

Directional Michigan Showdown

In a game that was sure to have great meaning to some of you here, EMU beat CMU 22-20 in OT on Saturday. Ontario Sneed of the Chips ran for 122 yds, but it wasn't enough. I guess this means Haag has bragging rights over T. That would be, of course, if either of them actually followed their own team, instead of being UM fans.

Go right through for MSU

Watch the points keep growing. They certainly did on Saturday as the Spartans put up 61 against the Fighting Illini. In the process MSU set the school record for offense, 705 yds, and set a team record for TD passes (7), which also tied the Big Ten mark. Drew Stanton set the Spartan record for TD passes by throwing 5 before he sat out much of the second half. The 705 yards of offense tops the previous best of 698 vs. Purdue in 1971, State also approached this mark earlier in the season with a 685 yd effort against Kent State. MSU is averaging 594.3 yards of offense a game. Next up: Michigan, who lost the battle of the ill-tempered rodents to the Badgers Saturday night.

I have returned.

To the internet that is; I'm still in Minnesota. The cable guy, who looked like Rupert G of Late Show Fame, finally got it installed last night. For those of you who haven't been to MN, which is everyone but Andy I assume, it's a lot like Michigan, except all the roads are named Something 10 or Blank Lake Road. We had tornadoes and a nasty thunderstorm here on Wednesday, but I guess that still leaves me second to Grant and his hurricane in the bad weather department. Also, apparently the Vikings and Daunte Culpepper are now terrible since I moved here, but my departure didn't help the Lions. It's done wonders for the Spartans though. More later.

Brainsss...

Web time waster with zombies, the Urban Dead. Your brains may be eaten. You have been warned.

Mindless, shuffling monsters....so its Ann Arbor?

New kid on the block

Everyone welcome our new member, Grant. He needs no introduction, mainly because you know him already. He's also the farthest from CC, taking the title from Adam. Any way say "Hi Grant" or "you suck" or someting.

It's Andy's Birthday!

That is all.

Broken Lamps

In an event that heralds a multitude of broken lamps and bleeding siblings, Nintendo released details of the controller for their next system, code named Revolution. First, let me say before I read this I had lost almost all faith in the BIG N's ability to stay in the market. I was right, because it is totally different and could alter the way games are played compeltely. Full 3-D motion sensing. Including tilt, rotation, etc. If you can move it, it will be detected. Go to ign for more details and descriptions of its possible uses.

There are still kinks to be worked out, but I'm pumped. Some games may even use two simultaneosly. I'm sure all the baseball fans here can see the potential for baseball games, while I look for amazing sword play. Regardless, if they pull this off, it'll be cool, though roommates and end table lamps may suffer from intense gaming sessions.

For those who don't follow this stuff, Nintendo was been mum about pretty much everything, so system specs are unavailible, though it won't likely be as powerful as the Xbox360 or PS3, but that bothers me less, especially since the Rev will cost less and let you download old NES games (Tecmo forever!).

Getting your Irish up

MSU truly had a miserable performance Saturday, the only bright spot being the performance of the offense, which will go completely ignored by the media as they blather on about ND's coach. State's defence stopped the run early, but became porous late, and was utterly incapable of anything like pass defence, consistently playing 5+ yards off the reciever. The coaching staff continued their habit of trying to play a slow down game as soon as they got up by 14, which doesn't work when you run the spread. Three and out kills less time than passing. Fields, the punter, had the worst game of his career, shanking all but one punt when he usual booms them for ~60 yards. ND's QB will be talked about alot, and he had a good game, but his job was alot easier. ND's defence played well, Stanton's completions were very impressive, repeatedly threading the needle. The Spartans also had to deal with the fact that thier only player who wasn't holding the ball tight was returning kicks, everyone else knew from the Michigan tape that the Irish would try to strip it. State deserved to lose and got lucky with some turnovers, but some of the mistakes are easy to fix, if the coaches are willing.

Unbelievable Feat

Last night, the Owen-Gage JV girls basketball team scored 10 times the amount of points in the first quarter than they did on Tuesday night. They also amassed 2 1/2 times more points than they did in Tuesday's game. Imagine a normal boys basketball score of 50 points. 2 1/2 times more points would be 125 points in a game! Ahhh, but wait just one minute. I did say GIRLS basketball right? So how did they do it? By scoring ZERO points in the first quarter Tuesday night, which means they must have scored 10 points in the first quarter last night. (Wait, you can't multiply 10 times zero. Oh well.) Finishing Tuesday's game with a grand total of 12 points, they finished with a ballooned 30 points Thursday night. Ahhh, girls basketball. Gotta love it.

Oh, and I forgot to mention. Our Varsity played the final 5 minutes of the game with 4 or less players on the court. Which means later in the waining minutes they only had 3 players on the court, one being asthmatic. So, make her run down the court and back and you're basically playing with 2 girls against 5 with one dying because she can't breathe. Oh, and what did Kingston do during those 5 minutes? Yup, kept running the fast break. "Nice layup Molly!"

Signed,

A sore butt from watching 4 straight (boring) hours of girls basketball two times in one week on a wooden bench with no back support, and...rrrrrrrrrr.

We're #1

Folks, this is an historic moment. Do you know why? No, not because I'm moving, but that's special too. The Lions are in first place in the NFC North. It's early, you say? Well, that's true. But when was the last time the Lions were in first? Does anyone know? I don't know.

There's also a new TMQ up. I was imitating TMQ when I started writing on fantasy message boards. I don't find the column as entertaining as I used to, but it's still a good read. His breakdown of the NFL weekend is second to none.

Newsflash

Ohhhhhh, so that is the team website. It really does exist!!!

Oops

I've added EMU to the links list. I don't know how I forgot an athletic program that has the pride and history of Eastern's. My mistake.

No Dap for EMU

You have to be kidding me. I look over at the links for teams and no EMU love. The Chips? Is Bader paying you to keep that on the webpage?

Come on A.D. Bill Martin, send another (frightening) email to the students

I can only say it tongue in cheek as to how "proud" I am of the Michigan student section and how "successful" they were at trying to prove...well, that they were pissed and the officals were going to the replay (because they are allowed to) to get the call right. I completely forgot to mention that part in the previous post. The officals got the calls right. It was quite obvious to see. Hats off to the stripes for being 2-0 on replays. I also forgot to mention tongue in cheek how "good" of a job they did making the T.V. announcers shout louder so we all couldn't hear the infamous "bulls**t...bulls**t...bulls**t chant from the students. However, I've never joined in to such tomfoolery (dang, I should have used the term monkey business instead). I simply saw a loose marshmallow under my seat, bent over, picked it up, and threw it into the wind and it miraculously hit the zebra. The box score would read: 1 throw, 1 hit (1-1), 1.000.

Late for Class

I would like to thank Haag for freely admitting that Michigan fans are a bunch of shaved orangutans who can only be expected to fling their own crap when upset. The vaunted wolverine superiority, attaining new heights, striving for excellence. At this rate we will soon be able to teach them sign language and finger painting. I can only assume that Haag believes that officials should not try to make the right call so they don't upset the delicate sensibilities of smashed frat-boys.

"Class" certainly was in session

For anyone who didn't see trash coming on the field before they uttered the word "replay" has either been naive about drunk college students or has never watched Michigan on T.V. at home. The fact the play was in the middle of the student section was enough to know what was going to happen...both times. Classless, yup. Expected, absolutely! Remember, this is coming from a guy who once hit a sideline judge (standing on the goal line) in the back with a marshmallow against MSU on Oct. 14, 2000. Memo to Big Ten officials: Do not call for a reply when in the corner of the student section at the Big "Quiet" House. I mean come on, you can't get into the student section without a bag of marshmallows errr a student I.D.

Class

Yesterday, two examples of not having class really stood out. First, a large number of Michigan fans at the Big House. Your team chokes every time it gets in the red zone and fails to score. What's your response? Throw garbage onto the field. Waaah! That'll show those refs for going to replay and making the right call.

The second is Reagan Mauia of Hawaii. With nine minutes left in the game, he drills his helmet into Drew Stanton's thigh for a late hit, obviously trying to injure him. He then gets up and celebrates with his teammates, tapping heads with them, after the flag has been thrown. He also runs around the field and antagonizes the crowd, flapping his arms. June Jones doesn't take him out of the game. On the next play he gets flagged for a personal foul for ripping of Spartan guard Kyle Cook's helmet. He finally gets sat down. That's the kind of team Hawaii is. MSU should cancel their 2007 date with them, and no one else should play Hawaii if it can be avoided.

Good Prediction

You know, it's nearly impossible to predict the exact score of a football game. The New York Times tried it for a couple of years, and I'm pretty sure they didn't a score exactly right once. So how'd I do in my first try?


Predicted Score: 31-20 Patriots
Actual Score: 30-20 Patriots
Predicted Stats: Moss 1 TD, Dillon 2 TDs
Actual Stats: Moss 5 rec, 130 yds, 1 TD; Dillon 23 car, 63 yds, 2 TDs

One blocked PAT away from having every prediction right! Now you see why it's so hard. Maybe I'll make more predictions later.

Chinese Bamboo Tree

In the Lions '05 Preview, writer Nicholas J. Cotsonika relates the follwing story told my Coach Steve Mariucci at the Lions' kickoff luncheon:

It went something like this: A man planted a seed for a Chinese bamboo tree, and he watered and fertilized it every day. After a year, he had nothing. Undaunted, he kept watering and fertilizing. After two years, he still had nothing. Three years passed. Four years passed. Still nothing.

But the fifth year, he was rewarded with a Chinese bamboo tree, 90 feet tall.

"That's a story about us," Mariucci said. "We are like a Chinese bamboo tree. The Chinese bamboo tree is going to grow 90 feet, and it's going to grow this year."

It's a great sentiment. But is it realistic? The NFC North shouldn't be a tough division this year: the Vikings will likely be very good, but the Packers are a team on its way down, and the Bears are starting a rookie QB and are weak on offense. It shouldn't be that difficult to secure 2nd place in the division. After that, who knows? Anyone with a little knowledge of football can see that the Lions have all the pieces they need to make a playoff run if they come together, or be a failure if they don't. So, take your pick: optimism or pessimism.

The Detroit News also has their preview up. It's a similar mix of "Gosh, the team seems like they should be good, and it's about time, but..." They also have a cool depth chart picture, reproduced here:


Only Sunday will provide the answers.

Thursday Night Prediction

Tonight the Patriots and Raiders kick-off the 2005 NFL season. The game starts at 9pm, don't be fooled by ABC telling you 8 for all that celebration crap. I mean, go ahead and watch Kanye West if you really want, but I'm ready for some football. For analysis of the game you can check out John Clayton's take or you can see what John Madden has to say (Boom, maybe?). My analysis: the Raiders have a great offense on paper, and likely will struggle on defense. The Pats can really score when they want, but their defense has some question marks starting the season. However, Belichick has had lots of time to scheme against the Raiders. Moss gets a TD, but Dillon gets two.

FINAL SCORE: Patriots 31, Raiders 20

For some reason I keep trying to type "Patritos". Maybe I should call the Pats that all season?

In other NFL news (sort of), ESPN has a poll on its front page about who will win Super Bowl XL. The choices: Panthers, Colts, Eagles, Patritos, and Other. At the time I'm writing this, Other is leading with 35.8% of 21,370 votes. I find that surprising, as those choices encompass almost every pick I've seen for Super Bowl champ.

Fight the Flood

I've seen lots of ways to donate money for hurricane relief efforts, but this might be the most notable: Bungie has made a t-shirt, the design of which you can see below, and all profits will be donated. It's cool to see the gaming community jump in to help, but a little strange to see the Master Chief involved.

ESPN Power Rankings

ESPN has released their Week 1 NFL Power Rankings. These are always fun, especially to check out at about week 10 or so and compare. You can also see their offseason rankings here. The Week 1 rankings look like this:

1. Patriots


2. Colts


3. Eagles


4. Vikings


5. Steelers


6. Falcons


7. Chargers


8. Ravens


9. Jets


10. Panthers


11. Broncos


12. Rams


13. Chiefs


14. Bills


15. Seahawks


16. Jaguars


17. Packers


18. Bengals


19. Cowboys


20. Saints


21. Cardinals


22. Texans


23. Raiders


24. Lions


25. Giants


26. Redskins


27. Titans


28. Buccaneers


29. Bears


30. Dolphins


31. Browns


32. 49ers

More Predictions

More NFL 2005 predictions, this time from Don Banks of SI. I'll skip to the good part:

• MVP: Daunte Culpepper, Minnesota, quarterback.
• Offensive player of the year: LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego, running back.
• Defense player of the year: Julius Peppers, Carolina, defensive end.
• Offensive rookie of the year: Matt Jones, Jacksonville, receiver.
• Defensive rookie of the year: Demarcus Ware, Dallas, defensive end.
• Coach of the year: John Fox, Carolina.
• Comeback player of the year: Steve Smith, Carolina, receiver.

Crystal Ball Time

ESPN has unveiled its expert picks for the 2005 NFL season. This is notable mostly for being able to point at them in January and say: "Boy, those guys are idiots." The Super Bowl favorites seem to be the Patriots, Colts, and Eagles. No love for the Lions in the NFC North; the Vikings are the unanimous pick to win the division. Just for kicks, I'll throw out my own fearless predictions, guaranteed or your money back:

AFC East: Patriots
AFC North: Ravens (The Steelers won't be good this year.)
AFC South: Colts
AFC West: Chiefs
AFC Wild Cards: Chargers, Jaguars

NFC East: Eagles
NFC North: Vikings (Sorry.)
NFC South: Panthers
NFC West: Seahawks (Better not burn me again.)
NFC Wild Cards: Rams, Lions (Heck, gotta have some optimism.)

AFC Champ: Colts
NFC Champ: Panthers

Super Bowl Champ: Colts (That's right, 2nd straight year.)

Coach: T. Dungy
MVP: P. Manning (If the Colts win, he has to be.)
Def. POY: J. Peppers (Curse you for taking him Haag!)
Off. POY: P. Manning (See above.)
Def. rookie: D. Ware
Off. rookie: C. Williams
Comeback POY: S. Smith

There you have it. Sure to be fun to look back and laugh at. UPDATE: Added Comeback Player of the Year, changed NFC Champion pick (backpedaling already!).

Links!

There are now links in the sidebar. It took some poking around in Blogger help, but they had all the info I needed. I've divided the links up into categories; hopefully they will be useful. If you have any suggestions for new categories or links, let me know.

Shooting The Moon

I am experimenting with a strategy that is, to my knowledge, unprecedented in fantasy football. Instead of spreading my bye weeks out so I would only have one or two players out in a week, I lined up the byes of the majority of my starters. By sacrificing one week, I have my best players in every other week. The off week happens to be in week 8, so Adam gets an easy win as I get clobbered. Obviously the success/failure of this season is still dependent largely on individual player performance, which is nigh impossible to predict. Should be an interesting season regardless. If it works though, I will declare myself ruler of all fantasy football. You are warned.

And yes, Bader does still and always will suck.

Lions News

See that guy in the picture? That's Kevin Johnson, Lions WR. That's also Kevin Johnson, Lions 3rd-string QB. Apparently, the Lions have decided to forego signing a QB while Garcia is out. As much as some fans malign Harrington, if he goes out, the Lions are finished. But there is some good news, Jeff Garcia's broken leg won't require surgery. That doesn't mean it will necessarily heal much faster, though.

Also, Bob Wojnowski at the Detroit News writes today about the possibility of Mariucci being in hot water if the Lions aren't successful this season. While I think a poor year from the Lions would have a lot to do with Mooch if it happens, would they really fire him? Who would they hire? The latest college flavor of the month coach? Maybe call up Marty Mornhinweg, see if he wants his old job back? Ooh, I'll bet you could convince Bobby Williams to leave Saban at Miami and come coach the Lions (shudder)!

Why Rebuild?

Andy and I have been talking about whether it is a good idea to rebuild New Orleans after all the damage that was done last week. Today, an article in the Washington Post by Klaus Jacob ask the same thing: "But should we rebuild New Orleans, 10 feet below sea level, just so it can be wiped out again?" Jacobs explores this question and some possible answers. Interesting reading.

Fantasy Draft Analysis

Well, the CCM 2005 Fantasy Football Draft has been completed. After a night to sleep on it, how do you feel about your team? My overall impression: everyone has got a pretty good team. I don't know that there is a clear cut favorite yet, the teams are balanced well. Having at least 7 out of 8 owners present made a big difference, and those that missed some picks had the autopick choose well for them. Some more thoughts:

Best Pick: Kevin got it started by denying Fritz a back-to-back Manning playoff run. If he's as good as he was last year, this might be the best pick. But, really, no pick stands out to me as being especially great. My favorite pick of my own? Lamont Jordan in round 10. If he performs well, he's a steal that late, if not, I've got good depth at the RB position.

Worst Pick: Excluding all the defensive players that are inactive or nobodies, I'd have to say Schott's pick of Hanson in round 5. The next kicker didn't come off the board until round 8. Definitely should have waited.

Surprises: The number of QBs that came off the board in rounds 3 & 4. That people didn't draft many kick and punt returning WRs, besides me. That Andy was somehow looking over my shoulder at my defensive player cheat sheet. Barrigar picking Vick in round 6 after selecting Bulger in round 4. That there are no clearly bad or really good teams.

Well, what do you guys think?

Greatest Of All-Time

Jerry Rice retired yesterday, ending a 20 year career that leaves him a sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer and possibly the greatest receiver to ever play in the NFL. He was also one of the few Tecmo Super Bowl players still active in the NFL. Rice decided to retire after Broncos coach Mike Shanahan informed him that he would not be the team's 3rd WR, relegating him to the bench or even special teams duty. Rice didn't want to play a 21st season on the bench. The 42-year-old Rice was a 1st round draft pick in 1985 from Mississippi Valley State. To quote the AP, Rice "leaves the field with 38 NFL records, including the most career receptions (1,549), yards receiving (22,895) and touchdowns receiving (197)." Sportscenter's "Did You Know" said yesterday that only 24 WRs have stats that match or are greater than the gap between Rice and second place. Rice has 3 Super Bowl rings and played in 13 Pro Bowls. You can read analysis from NFL.com, Gene Wojciechowski, and John Clayton at their respective links. Good luck to Rice in his future endeavours.

101-0

That's how much Cass City has outscored its opponents in the opening two games, according to the Huron Daily Tribune (if memory serves, the scores aren't online and the Tribune doesn't put much on its website). That's a pretty impressive start.

In other CC news, did you Cass City has a website? It even has what is apparently the town logo:



There's also an entry for Cass City in Wikipedia. Who knew?

Winning Big

Michigan State won big in their home opener, topping the Kent State Golden Flashes 49-14. The Spartans racked up 685 yards of total offense, the 2nd most in school history behind a 698-yard against Purdue in 1971. Drew 'Banzai' Stanton went 22 of 29 for 297 yards and 1 INT, he also rushed for 60 yards on 10 carries. He sat out the 4th quarter to protect himself from injury. Jehuu Caulcrick had 140 yards on 14 carries with 3 TDs. The Spartans rushed for 354 yards overall. Terry Love had 4 catches for 100 yards. It was MSU's first game in the newly renovated Spartan Stadium.

Not So Peerless

The Falcons have cut WR Peerless Price. He was acquired through a trade with the Bills in 2003. You can read the news story about this trade here. Sean Salisbury said of the trade at the time:

This is a huge move for Atlanta. The Falcons needed a big-time wide receiver who can break open a game, and they got him in Peerless Price. Atlanta will be a dangerous team in 2003. This deal is a win for Atlanta because Price is a proven commodity. He's emerging as one of the NFL's great stars(emphasis mine).

That was a bit optimistic. Salisbury also said: "Price could catch a 100 balls this season." Well, he did manage to catch 109 balls, it just took 2 seasons. Price received a $37 million dollar contract, which means he ended up being paid $9,026 per yard and $2.1 million per touchdown. Pricey.

Price was traded for the #23 pick in the 2003 NFL Draft. The Bills selected Willis McGahee with this pick. If the Falcons had held on to this pick, they could have drafted WRs like Anquan Boldin, Bethel Johnson, Tyrone Calico, or Kevin Curtis. Only one is a well-known WR, but none are as big a disappointment as Price.

I think a quote from Bob Barker in Happy Gilmore best sums up the situation: "The price is wrong..."

Speaking of disappointments, Chad Hutchinson has been cut by the Bears. You may remember Hutchinson from the post below. In five days he went from starter to unemployed. That's what you call responding to pressure. He's being replaced by rookie Kyle Orton, who also has a history of wilting under pressure. Good luck, Kyle.

In and Out

Two players had wildly differing fortunes in the NFL today. Kyle Orton has been named the starting QB of the Chicago Bears. This is, of course, after Rex Grossman sustained an injury that will have him out for most of the season and Chad Hutchinson managed a 0.0 passer rating in Friday night's game (I could manage a 0.0 passer rating). He's now fourth on the Bears QB depth chart.

Maurice Clarett has been cut from the Denver Broncos. He didn't play in 3 preseason games and missed much of practice due to injury. It was noted that he had a bad attitude (Gasp!). Also, he had decided to load his contract with incentives and forego a signing bonus. Oops. Probably could have used that $410,000 right about now. It looks like the Broncos don't even want him on their practive sqad.

Scoring Options

I've put together a sample game from a week to illustrate the effects of different scoring options. Here it is:


The stat lines are:
Bulger- 225 yds, 1 TD, 7 rush yds
Holmes- 75 rush yds, 4 rec for 47 yds, 1 TD
Martin- 134 rush yds, 2 TD
Boldin- 4 rec for 48 yds
Smith- 6 rec for 60 yds
Jacson- 10 rec for 135 yds, 1 TD
Gates- 7 rec for 49 yds, 1 TD
Akers- 33yd FG, 2 XP
Peppers- 3 solo, 2 ast, 1 sack, 1 PD
Thomas- 9 solo, 9 ast
Brooking- 8 solo, 1 INT for 27 yds, 1 PD
Rossum- 109 return yds, 4 solo
Barber- 9 solo, 7 ast, 1 FF
Winfield- 3 solo

Green- 224 yds, 3 TD
James- 69 rush yds, 1 TD, 1 rec for 23 yds
Johnson- 130 rush yds, 1 TD, 1 lost fumble
Mason- 4 rec for 65 yds
Coles- 7 rec for 53 yds
Bennett- 13 rec for 160, 2 TD
Gonzalez- 7 rec for 76 yds
Kaeding- 33, 42yd FG, 1 XP
Freeney- 2 solo, 1 ast, 2 sack
Brooks- 10 solo, 4 ast, 1 PD
Morgan- 7 solo, 2 ast
Reed- 3 solo, 1 ast
McGee- 94 return yds, 2 solo, 1 ast, 1 FR
Darius- 6 solo, 5 ast, 1 PD

Let me know what you think.

Heraldry

Perhaps you've heard of heraldry and coats of arms. Basically, they were personal logos used by people in the Middle Ages and on as identification. They are grouped by family, though apparently individuals have unique variants. Andy found some and I thought I would share. Keep in mind that for any family name there are probably a number of different versions. Here are a few:





Hopefully that was enlightening.

Coincidence?

These two headlines appeared on my Yahoo homepage under AP Science news: U. of Wis. Records Show High Monkey Deaths and Scientists Track Alien Seaweed in Hawaii. Could this be the beginning of a plague of alien-controlled zombie monkeys? The actual news stories are not near as interesting as they would appear to be, but it still makes one wonder. Could there be something else going on here?

Weapon of Choice

There's no day that can't be made a little better with a little Christopher Walken dancing. Enjoy.

Pics From Camp

Here are some pictures from the Spartans preseason football camp. First is QB Drew "Banzai" Stanton checking the defense:


And this is OL coach Jeff Stoutland watching his guys. I worked with Coach Stoutland at a youth football camp. He's a big guy and you definitely wouldn't want to get on his bad side.


You can see the rest of the pictures here if you're interested.

Big Ten (11) Love

ESPN gives some major love to the Big Ten today. Pat Forde talks about the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry and how the league has become much more than big 2, little eight. Iowa and Coach Ferentz especially get some praise. Also, both Ivan Maisel and Pat Forde have the Big Ten ranked as the top conference in the land. Pretty good after coming off a "down" season last year, eh? The Sportsnation voters have also picked out the Big Ten as being the best conference.

Fantasy Football 2005

August is here and it's only 20 days until the first scheduled draft. I'd like to get some thoughts on where we should play this year. The options:

1. Yahoo
League ID# 7276
Password: monkie
Pros: Familiarity. We've played at Yahoo before and know how it works. Dependable.
Cons: Least options available of any of the choices. Stats aren't live. Only basic message board. Awful draft time (Aug 23).

2. ESPN
Go here to join.
Pros: Greatest number of options. Has divisions and the most flexible scoring and rosters. Lets you use your own logo. Should save league for use next year (I think). Best message board. Pretty sure stats are live. Good draft time (Sept 6).
Cons: I've heard the live draft function is a little sketchy. Pre-rank system is awful. Don't expect analysis on-site, they want you to play for everything. Might be a little buggy, they seem to be straining to deal with the extra traffic since they weren't free last year.

3. FoxSports
League ID# 4921
Password: monkie
Pros: Live stats. Almost as customizable as ESPN. Weekly awards and a trophy room (I think that's right). Very similar to Yahoo, but beefed up a little. Lots of analysis available on-site. Good draft time (Sept 5). Good message board. A couple other interesting features. If you have a hotmail account, it should be easy to sign-up.
Cons: Unfamiliar. Not as many options as ESPN.

Also, don't forget about College Fantasy Football coming from CBS-Sportsline. Sign up, check these out, let me know what you want to do. I think we could either A) play all 3 leagues seriously, B) pick one and go with it, C) set one draft and transfer those rosters to all leagues and see which one we like best, or D) umm, other. I was leaning towards ESPN, but I'm a little wary of problems I've read other people have been having. FoxSports is seeming more appealing than it was. Anyway, do what you have to do and let me know.

Yzerman Returns

AP: "Steve Yzerman signed a one-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings, meaning the captain will return for a 22nd season in Hockeytown." Good news, with all the changes that will take place before the season starts, it would have been almost too much to have the Wings without Yzerman.

More Nostalgia

I'm thinking video game nostalgia isn't enough, so I'm adding toy nostalgia. And not just any toys, but He-man! Check this out:


Snout Spout is a figure that's familiar to me anyway, Andy and I used to fill him up with water and squirt things using his action figure. The story behind this thing is kind of involved because it's not really an action figure. You see, Mattel owns the rights to He-man, but won't make toys any more, or sell those rights to someone else. But those rights only cover action figures. The thing above is actually an action figure scale statue. It's a little confusing. If you want to see more, go here or here.

Top 100

IGN has posted its list of the Top 100 video games. What, you thought this was another fantasy draft post? One of our most loved and hated favorites comes in at #24:


Too low in my opinion. The #1 video game of all time? You won't be surprised:

Lions Sign Williams

The Detroit Lions have signed first round draft pick Mike Williams. Now you can begin to salivate at the prospect of seeing him, Charles Rogers, and Roy Williams all on the field at the same time.

Another One Bites The Dust

So, T.O. showed up to Eagles training camp today. He and Rosenhaus have talked a big game, but when it comes down to it there's really nothing to be gained by staying away. The Eagles won't budge, it'll make them look bad in the league and with the fans. Plus, they've played it this way for years and if they change, there'll be hell to pay. T.O. can't realistically be traded. So, reason finally prevailed.

In other news, Sean Taylor is a moron. "I don't think anyone should have regrets, especially me," he said to reporters. You sure you don't regret that little incident with a gun that could land you in prison for 3 years, Sean? Probably not. During the draft this year, someone observed that Miami players had started to become 'too cool for school' and were nothing but trouble, despite immense physical talent. I'd say that's fairly accurate.

Koren Robinson has checked himself into rehab and hopes to be available for the regular season. You may remember the last time he was in the news; he showed up for his one-day jail sentence for DUI drunk. Not even Ted Kennedy does that. Said Robinson: "I've realized I've got a problem." Gosh, ya think?

Finally, Len Pasquarelli, at Panthers camp, praises Julius Peppers here. He's a freak, and apparently a pretty decent guy. Good to hear.

Serenity is coming.

The Other Barber

Len Pasquarelli writes about the underrated Bucs CB Ronde Barber here. Obviously, he gets less attention than his brother Tiki, who's a RB for the Giants. Ronde's been to two Pro Bowls, which I wasn't aware of. Actually, at last year's Pro Bowl, he and Tiki both played, becoming the first pair of twins to do so. Makes for an interesting nature vs. nurture debate. Two sets of the same DNA, two successful NFL careers, two very different positions. Tiki weighs 200 lbs. to his Ronde's 184, but that has to do with conditioning rather than genes. If there was a third Barber brother, could he play WR? Or QB?

#1 Penguin

As expected, the Pittsburgh Penguins made Sidney Crosby the first pick in the NHL Draft. Crosby, who turns 18 next week, only has a little pressure, as he is being compared to Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux and is expected to by the saviour of hockey. Think Lebron James, minus all the Nike money. Good luck, kid.

Bayless on T.O.

Now I've generally not been writing about people I don't like or are being overhyped by the media: T.O., Larry Brown, etc. This is especially true in referencing things written about them by writers I don't like. Skip Bayless generally falls under this category. But he has some intelligent things to say about Owens. He thinks the Eagles only way out is to trade Owens. I don't agree at the moment, but he makes a reasonable case. Some notable points:

The fact remains that the NFL Players Association advised Owens not to sign his current seven-year, $49 million contract (including a $10 million signing bonus). But Owens gratefully signed it because: 1) his former agent had blown the free-agent deadline; 2) he had been traded to Baltimore; and 3) he had thrown such a fit until he had been allowed to sign with Philly and play with his dear friend and soul mate, Donovan McNabb.

Once, when I covered Owens' 49ers, a team executive dismissed him with, "He's as dumb as a chair." I disagreed then and do now. Terrell Eldorado Owens has brilliant PR instincts -- governed by deep, dark insecurity. That's right: All his egomaniacal celebrating sometimes masks a shrinking confidence...My theory: Owens always builds in excuses to take the pressure and potential blame off him.

Good stuff.

Extending Darko

The Pistons have exercised their team option on Darko Milicic so that he will be under contract for 2 more seasons. Said Dumars:

We are pleased to have Darko Milicic signed through the 2006-07 season and we look forward to seeing his continued growth as a player. Darko was able to play a lot of minutes during summer league this July and we are happy that he is on Serbia-Montenegro's roster during the European Championships this September.

Hopefully, this will be the next step in Darko silencing his critics. Or, turning into the greatest NBA failure ever.

A Letter from Darren McCarty

A letter McCarty wrote to fans that appeared in the Freep:

Don't be sad it's over -- be happy it happened.

In the past few days, since the official word came of the buyout and as the status of my contract teetered, the reality that I'm not going to be a Red Wing anymore has set in, and I've taken some time to reflect.

I don't know if it's maturity ('cause if you know me, that's never been an issue) or the painstaking reality of the past 12 months without hockey. Either way, I'm saddened to leave an organization in a place where I've grown up, raised a family, been part of a first-class and first-rate team, won three Stanley Cups and achieved great personal success.

But looking back, what I really feel is gratitude -- thankful for the opportunity to realize a childhood dream to play for my childhood team. Grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Ilitch and their entire family for letting this boy become a man and always treating my family as one of their own. Grateful to the entire Red Wing organization from Ken Holland and his staff, to John Hahn and Anne Marie Krappmann in the PR department for their ever tireless effort. Grateful to Piet Van Zant and Paul Boyer for patching me up and getting me back out on the ice. Grateful for the support and memories from everyone at the Joe whom I will miss seeing daily, and thankful to the media for not only their endless support of myself but in the way they've always supported the McCarty Cancer Foundation and my band Grinder.

What will I miss most about playing hockey in Detroit? That's simple. The fans. From the day-to-day coffee stop or gas station conversation to the people who say hello on the street or ask for an autograph at the checkout, there are no greater fans than those in Detroit.

These are the great things about my time as a Red Wing that I will always remember no matter where I go. Thank you to all of you. But please don't shed a tear 'cause it's over -- crack a smile 'cause it happened, and no one can ever take that away. I'll always be a Red Wing at heart, and Detroit will always be my home.

Much love to you all,

Darren McCarty, Red Wings No. 25

NFL Roundup

Somebody forgot to tell rookie Manuel Wright of the Miami Dolphins that there's no crying in baseball... or football. He started crying after he was chewed out by coach Nick Saban. Now, I'm not a Saban fan, for reasons everyone probably knows, but there's a real coach. I'm sure the other guys will go easy Wright. You're a sensitive boy aren't you Manuel?

Shareholders of the Green Bay Packers have told general manager Ted Thompson to not give in to Javon Walker's contract demands. Looks like the Packers will stand strong. It's not looking so good for Rosenhaus's holdout strategy so far. UPDATE: Walker has reported to training camp.

Finally, ESPN has announced the new team for MNF in 2006: Al Michaels, Joe Theismann, Suzy Kolber, and Michelle Tafoya. If you didn't know, Madden is leaving MNF after this season. Of course, Al has been there forever, and I like Theismann, and I've always liked Suzy, even all the way back to the X-games in Rhode Island. Have to say though, I'd have much preferred to see the entire Sunday night crew of Joe Theismann, Mike Patrick, Paul Maguire, and Suzy moved to MNF and give Al a job somewhere else. That group is the best football broadcasting team working today. It'll be a shame to have them broken up.

Coaching Changes

Things are crazy in Detroit. Do you know who the longest tenured head coach of a major sports franchise in Detroit is? Alan Trammell. Of course, that's not much of an accomplishment as the only other coach who isn't new this month is Mooch. Anyway, you can read about the Red Wings hiring Babcock here (mentioned already) and the Pistons ditching Larry Brown and hiring, in a surprising move, and by surprising I mean possibly the worst kept secret ever, Flip Saunders.

Brawl in Detroit

Read about it here.

Awesome Case Mod

If you know much of anything about computer cases, you'll love this:


That's just sick. Mod isn't really the right word, this is a custom case that's being constructed. Go here to read all about the work being done.

Finally, A Trade

An agreement in principle to trade Travis Henry has been reached between the Bills and the Titans. This isn't a surprise as a trade has been expected for quite a while now. What does this do for Henry's fantasy value, and current Titan's starter Chris Brown? Henry has more value not sitting behind Willis McGahee, but it's hard to say how much more. Brown's value difficult to determine because of injury concerns: he's fragile. Henry will surely get some starts. Wait until after training camp for a better answer.

Thawed Out

So, 301 days later, the NHL has returned. This is good news. I can't say I really missed hockey all that much, but I did miss having the Red Wings on TV from time to time, especially around playoff time. Hockey was needed to balance the awful NBA. The big question is: Can the NHL redeem itself? The lockout has done major damage. For example, ESPN found that programming that replaced hockey, like more college basketball, actually got better ratings. Are they going to be quick to switch back over? Lots of fans will have left, can rule changes and possible ticket price cuts bring them back? Detroit will do fine, but what about Columbus or Phoenix?

The Red Wings will look very different too. First, they have a new coach, Mike Babcock, formerly of the Ducks. Second, the new salary cap is sure to affect the roster, which would have had a $60 million payroll if the season hadn't been cancelled. There are contract rollbacks, but we're sure to see a younger Wings team missing some old favorites. Discussion about that here.

Some final thoughts. The new league should be more competitive with a salary cap. However 20 of 30 teams making the playoffs is ridiculous. That's 66% of the teams in the league. That works fine in a fantasy league, but in real sports it's going to lead to a devalued regular season and some very unworthy teams making the playoffs. Finally, I'm all in favor of a competitive league, it's done wonders for the NHL, but lets not forget what started this whole thing: The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup. This produced a hockey apocalypse. Hopefully, things can now be set right.

41

That's how many HRs Bobby Abreu hit last night in the Home Run Derby at Comerica Park, including a whopping 24 in the first round. His 41 is the highest total ever, surpassing Miguel Tejada's 27 last year. That's a 52% increase. In Detroit. His longest shot went 517 feet. From ESPN's new story: "ESPN estimated that Abreu's 41 homers traveled 17,565 feet." That's 3.3 miles. Roughly the distance from my home in CC to Haag's. Jayson Stark has great article about it up here. A quote:

Nobody predicted this.

Not a 24-homer first round from a mere one human being (ultimate winner Bobby Abreu of the Phillies).

Not a 17-homer first round, many minutes later, from a guy who didn't even make it to the finals (David Ortiz).

Not 107 total home runs, in a ballpark with the same approximate dimensions as South Dakota.

Not 41 total home runs in three rounds by the guy who won it. "Forty-one" laughed Carlos Lee's designated Derby pitcher, Brewers coach Rich Donnelly. "I was pretty sure that five was gonna win it."

And I missed it. Well, I suppose ESPN will rerun it a little. Who's lucky enough to have Abreu on their fantasy team? Oh yeah, that's me.

So there was a plan.

Well, probably not. But Agim Shabaj has decided to enter the NFL supplemental draft and try a revive his football career that was jeopardized by poor grades. What are his chances of being selected? Len Pasquarelli writes in his Tip Sheet: "Shabaj didn't return many kicks at Michigan State, but his sub-4.4 speed could merit some attention in that area." Not a ringing endorsement, but who knows?

Mock Draft

Here are the results of a 10-team mock draft, based on ESPN's Top 150 rankings and filling all the offensive starting positions first. A real draft would look different, but this gives you some idea of what a team in a position might look like.

Team 1
1. LaDainian Tomlinson
20. Tiki Barber
21. Donovan McNabb
40. Nate Burleson
41. Donald Driver
60. Lee Evans
61. Dallas Clark

Team 2
2. Shaun Alexander
19. Terrell Owens
22. Ahman Green
39. Michael Clayton
42. Kerry Collins
59. Larry Fitzgerald
62. Randy McMichael

Team 3
3. Peyton Manning
18. Clinton Portis
23. Julius Jones
38. Jason Witten
43. Muhsin Muhammad
58. Roy Williams
63. Isaac Bruce

Team 4
4. Priest Holmes
17. Curtis Martin
24. Antonio Gates
37. Darrell Jackson
44. Marc Bulger
57. Steve Smith
64. Anquan Boldin

Team 5
5. Randy Moss
16. Chad Johnson
25. LaMont Jordan
36. Steven Jackson
45. Alge Crumpler
56. Plaxico Burress
65. Jake Delhomme

Team 6
6. Edgerrin James
15. Rudi Johnson
26. Tony Gonzalez
35. Trent Green
46. Derrick Mason
55. Drew Bennett
66. Laveranues Coles

Team 7
7. Willis McGahee
14. Torry Holt
27. Kevin Jones
34. Javon Walker
47. Brett Favre
54. Jimmy Smith
67. Heath Miller

Team 8
8. Deuce McAllister
13. Marvin Harrison
28. Tatum Bell
33. Hines Ward
48. Chris Chambers
53. Todd Heap
68. Michael Vick

Team 9
9. Corey Dillon
12. Daunte Culpepper
29. Joe Horn
32. Brian Westbrook
49. Jerry Porter
52. Ashley Lelie
69. Bubba Franks

Team 10
10. Jamal Lewis
11. Domanick Davis
30. Andre Johnson
31. Reggie Wayne
50. Jeremy Shockey
51. Tom Brady
70. Rod Smith

Preseason 119

Even though some are now discouraging preseason polls because they believe they give teams with big expectations an edge, they are going to exist because we love them. And if you want overkill, check out the FoxSports.com Preseason 119. You'll never get to the end, but it's still fun. Before you ask, Michigan is #7 and MSU is #40. USC is #1.

Andy is...

Clayton on Joey

John Clayton of ESPN has an interesting article up about QB's on the hot seat, specifically Joey Harrington. An excerpt:

"Harrington finds his career at a crossroads. He has started 44 games, winning only 14. After three seasons, his completion percentage is substandard (56 percent) and his 6.23 yards per attempt is more than a yard-and-a-half below what is expected of a quarterback."

Read it here.

Who are you?

Apparently, I'm the Beast, at least that's what the "Which Marvel Superhero Are You?" quiz at this site said.

Bye bye, Shabaj

Spartan receiver Agim Shabaj has been declared academically ineligible and will miss the 2005 season. That's too bad, the Spartans could have used him. What was his major that was just too hard to keep the grades up in? Kinesiology. Perhaps Applied Human Anatomy and Psychological Basis of Physical Activity might be a little difficult, but I know he also had easy courses like Coaching Football, because I was in his class. That class was a gimme 100%. I didn't miss a question on all three of the tests, because I had underlined in my notebook what the right answers were. Which they had told us in class. Sigh. I guess he'll have to stay home and simulate his senior season on NCAA '06. Good luck with that.

College Fantasy

Once, it was only a dream. Yes, maybe one of those crazy dreams you have when you take cold medicine right before bed, but a dream none the less. Now it's here. Free college fantasy football, and from a reputable site at that. Go here to sign up to be notified when registration begins.

Heisman Contenders

Ready for a little college football talk? Any list of potential Heisman contenders is sure to generate some buzz, but FOXSports went all out and picked the Top 1000. Oops, I mean 100, it only feels like 1000. Number 1? I think you can guess:

1. QB Matt Leinart, USC — Unlike Jason White in 2004, Leinart will defend his Heisman crown with a full head of steam and the unanimous respect of the voters. The loss of offensive coordinator Norm Chow will be offset by a receiving corps that's light years better than it was nine months ago.

'Kamikaze' Stanton makes the top 50 at #48. Seems to me he could be in the top 30, even with injury concerns. Henne from Michigan is #11.