Wednesday, February 28, 2007

You can call me....Prophet

Yesterday on this here blogosphere, I wrote the following regarding Todd Bertuzzi's signing:

"Now I know all about the hit on Scott Moore. Yes it was a cheap shot. Yes it's cheap to hit a guy from behind. BUT, Todd has done his time. He missed the last quarter of 2004. He did his time. I'm sure he gets up every morning and wishes that never happened. So people have got to cut him some slack on that. I'm sure there are going to be some media types who will be all up in arms and get on their high horse and write about "How COULD the wings bring in someone so despicable????" Of course, it will be the first thing these columnists will have wrote about hockey in 3 years, but that's besides the point"

Well Little Mitchie did not let me down! Free Press writer/author/high horse enthusiast Mitch Albom Penned this little diddy today. "Shadow looms over Wings' acquisition of Bertuzzi". All I got to say is, Yup. I am sure Mitchy hasn't watched a wing game since 2002 and if asked couldn't name the wings number 3 goaltender, but Mitch just HAD to pen this column. He prolly was very excited at the prospect on hopping up on that 6 foot horse and tell us how we all should feel. He wrote about how he talked to him on the phone in Florida. Wow, hard hitting journalism there. Hey Mitch, can you name anybody on the Wings 3rd line? Are you going to be giving us a big column on the wings playoff chances and tell us about how their good their power play unit is? Or are you just going to give us drivel and try to preach to us.

I am getting really tired of all these preachy sports writers telling us what we should think and how we should feel. Just tell the story. If you have an opinion, state it, but don't force it down our throats. As I've said a couple times already, get off your high horse. If you watch the Sports Reporters on Sunday afternoons, it is filled with this. Mitchy, Lupica, John Saunders, Bob Ryan, they are all on there acting like they are right there on the field during the game getting the hard hitting interviews,when most of these veteran "columnists' have been mailing it in for years. And we all know how well Mitch is at mailing it in

One "High Horse' writer though who I am really starting to enjoy though is Jason Whitlock. On AOLSports.Com, he's been writing really good articles since he arrived from ESPN.COM.

On a side note, don't get me started with ESPN and ESPN.COM. But that's another post for another time. A LONG post for another time.

Whitlock was on Stoney and Wojo today and was tremendous. He really has a good connection with them and fits in well here in the Detroit area. If 1270WXYT ever pulls their head out their A$$ and pulls the unlistanable Doug Karsh/Scott Anderson midday show, Whitlock would be GREAT in that spot. Or put him at 3 against his good friends.

Mini Detroit Sports Radio rant. Driving in my car all day I pretty much listen all day to Sports Radio from 9-7. What else is there to do? Listen to Beyonce sing "To The Left To The Left To The Left" for the 100th time on 95.5? Nah. Now from 9-12, I listen exclusivly to Sean Baligian on DFN. I listen a little bit to Mike and Mike on XYT if there is a big national story I want to here a bout, but mostly it's Seany B. His show is, to me, the most entertaining of every sports radio show on in the market. What little I listen to of Jaime and Brady is also pretty much as unlistanable as "The Big Show". but Seany B usually has a good mix of sports and pop culture. He's got a good report with the update guys and doesn't swarm his show with insider bits like Jaime and Brady and Stoney and Wojo do. At 12:00 I will usually listen to the beginning of Jim Rome until 2. I like Rome a lot. When he's talking sports and getting his crazy Emails, I usually stop what I'm doing to make sure to listen. But when his "Clones" are involved, I turn the channel to anything but that. Them running "Smack" against each other is boring. Tobin in Chapel Hill? Jeff in Vancouver? As Rome says 'more of me, less of you' please keep it like that! At 2 I'll usually listen to the opening of the Sports Inferno. This show really has grown on me a lot over the past year. When it was on at 10:00, I never really gave it any mind and usually listened to Sean and just switched it on 1270 every now and then. Now at 2 I find myself turning on the inferno and leaving it till at least 3 and if it's a good topic, later. Now there are parts when I'll turn it. When Drew Sharp shows up, I will turn the station as quick as I turned it on. Speaking of high horses, Drew is one of the biggest offenders here in Detroit. Blah Blah Blah! And if Valenti is going on and on about Michigan State I will usually turn it off. But the report between Valenti and T-Fost is great. I like Foster a lot. He was one of my favorite columnists in Detroit for the longest time and I've always liked his radio work. Valenti, like the show, has grown on me a lot over the past year. When he came on, he was supposed to be this hot shot new kid taking on WDFN and going full out balls to the wall on them. He's calmed down a bit(except when it comes to MSU football, but when your rooting for the Detroit Lions of the NCAA, what do you expect?) and has really grown into a great host. Usually though at 3:00 I'll turn on the old reliable Stoney and Wojo. To quote the midday show on DFN, they are what they are. The best Detroit sports radio show of all time. Nothing even close. They've been doing it for 8 years now and are easily the most recognizable and most well regarded show in Detroit. Like Jaime and Brady, they get a little too inside with some of their bits and they go a little bit drop crazy sometimes, especially when Dery is doing the updates. But all and all it's still the best show in Detroit sports radio history, so they got that going for them.

Well, that's it for tonite. I just keep rambling and rambling here. Feel free to Email me if you find this by mistake if you feel like talking sports. I'm always up for some fun sports talk. In the coming week or 2 I'm going to try to pen together a 6/7 part baseball preview complete with world series predictions and award winners. Then in the beginning of April I want to go back to the past 7/8 drafts of Millens and dissect each one to see where the wheels fell off the track and also give a draft preview of the 07 draft. Or as I like to call it 'The Oh God PLEASE don't let Brady Quinn become a Detroit Lion' draft:)

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

I will glady pay you Tuesday...for a hamburger today

Today of course was the NHL trading deadline. As Sean Baligian was saying on his fine morning program this morning, the NHL deadline is the best trading deadline of all 4 major sports. In the NFL nothing rarely gets done. In baseball and basketball it's usually just a lot of hot air with little action. This past July there was a ton of talk about how the Orioles were going to trade Tejada and the Nationals had 5 or 6 good offers for Soriano. Neither of them were moved. Hell, the best move for any team was the tigers acquiring Sean Casey. Last week was the NBA trade deadline and the biggest name moved was Juan Dixon. Not exactly earth shattering.

But the NHL is different. There are always big names moving. Big names who can either make or break a teams cup chances. And it seems like every year the Red Wings are heavily involved, trying to find a piece to lead us to the promise land.

In 1997 the Wings aquired Hall of Fame defenseman Larry Murphy and the results were spectacular. Murph became a great addition helping out young defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Vladamir Konstantinov and helped lead us to our first Stanley Cup since 1955.

In 1999 the Wings made their biggest splash ever at the trade deadline acquiring 4 top name players. Wendel Clark, Chris Chelios, Ulf Samuleson and Todd Gill were brought in with hopes of 3peating as Stanley Cup Champions. This one didn't work out so well. Clark and Samuleson were way past their prime and Gill just wasn 't the right fit and the wings ended up losing in the 2nd round to Colorado.

In 2001 the Wings re-acquired Igor Larionov from Florida. The presence of "The Professor" was missing in the locker room in the years between Stanley Cups and Igor was welcome back with open arms. It still didn't help much as the wings were bounced in the first round to the lowly Kings in 6 games.

In 2002 the Wings were pretty low key just acquiring Jiri Sleger from the Thrashers. This team was loaded as it was and didn't need ANY help as they cruised to their 3rd Stanley cup in 6 years and their most dominant playoff performance to date

In hopes of repeating in 2003, at the deadline the wings made 2 big moves. They picked up Mathieu Schneider from the Kings and Jason Woolley from the Sabres. And while Schneider ended up being a great pickup and is playing great hockey today for the wings, it wasn't enough then as they were embarrassed by the Mighty Ducks in a crushing 4 game sweep in the first round.

In 2004, the Wings picked up Mr. Personality himself Robert Lang from the Kings. While a great goal scorer, Lang wasn't, and still isn't, known for his fiery personality. He contributed to the Wings in the regular season a little bit in the playoffs, but they were still bounced by Calgary in the 2nd round thanks to great goal tending by Mikah Kiprisoff.

Last year they were pretty quiet on their way to yet another dominating regular season and YET another terrible postseason. So maybe this year wing hopefuls are wishing for maybe a little more like 1997 and 2002 and not exactly like 1999 an d 2003.

The wings have made 2 deals of significance both improving them if everything works out in the end. First off they traded Jason Williams for forward Kyle Calder. Basically they were trading the same guy for each other. But the wings feel Calder's upside is a little bit more high then J-Will's. Calder's stats weren't really pretty in Philly, but who's stats are when your playing for that TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE team? I think a fresh start for the kid might be just what the doctor ordered for him to jump start back into 2004 form.

The other, bigger, deal was the wings aquiring Todd Bertuzzi. Now let me preface to say, before the Steve Moore incident, I was a big Todd Bertuzzi fan and have always wanted him on the team. This trade, IF Bertuzzi is healthy, could be just what the doctor ordered for the Red Wings. Someone tough up front other who can scare the opposing side into keeping away a little bit from Pavel and Hank. But there is that big IF up there. IF he stays healthy. Right now the wings are projecting him to be ready to play with a couple weeks left in the regular season which should work out well to get him back into playing shape in time for the playoffs.

Now I know all about the hit on Scott Moore. Yes it was a cheap shot. Yes it's cheap to hit a guy from behind. BUT, Todd has done his time. He missed the last quarter of 2004. He did his time. I'm sure he gets up every morning and wishes that never happened. So people have got to cut him some slack on that. I'm sure there are going to be some media types who will be all up in arms and get on their high horse and write about "How COULD the wings bring in someone so despicable????" Of course, it will be the first thing these columnists will have wrote about hockey in 3 years, but that's besides the point. Point being, he's done his time and if he comes in during the playoffs and becomes the impact player the Wings hope he becomes, then I'm all for the trade. They gave up next to nothing to get him so it was worth it right there. Watching what Atlanta gave up for Thachuk and San Jose gave up for Geurin, the Wings got off fairly light.

On a side note, this whole thing about Tkachuk and Geurin RETURNING to the Blue next year is a load of crap. The NHL will HAVE to step in on this whole rent-a-player thing. What could stop say, a team that is out of the playoffs making a deal with another team and saying 'ok, you can have him for 3 months, but we are going to bring him back in the beginning of next year' The NHL has got to put a stop to that now. Of course, somebody's got to pull Gary Bettman's head out his a$$ first.

So all in all it was another interesting trade deadline. Did the wings get better? Yes definitely, but so did the wings top 3 threats in the west. So it'll be an interesting couple weeks leading up to the playoffs. Once in nthe playoffs, while these 2 trades will be a factor, the deciding factor lies on 3 people. Mr Hasek and our blue chipper lines mates Hank and Pavel. If Hasek can play like he did in 2002, and Hank and Pavel can channel some toughness not yet seen from them in the playoffs, there's no reason not to believe the wings can go further in the playoffs then they have since the golden days of 5 years ago.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Ouch!

I don't know how many of you watched the NASCAR race on Sunday, but if you missed it, you missed an unbelievable crash. With ab out 10 laps to go, Greg Biffle seemed to just give a little tap to David Reutimann's car. The tap caused the #00 Toyota to crash into the wall with an impact I have never seen in a NASCAR race. His car literally folded up like a piece of paper and went up in flames. The in car camera showed the crash knocked the wind out of Reutimann and he wasn't moving or responding to his crew chief. If he didn't have the support to keep his neck from jerking around, there is no telling what would have happen.

I was watching that and woke my girlfriend up to show her how hard that car hit the wall. She of course proceeded to look at me and turn over and tell me to wake her up when the Oscars were on. Mental Note: Still got to give girlfriend time until introducing her the world of NASCAR

Well, ESPN.COM reported today that Reutiman's Crash was the hardest ever recorded for a NASCAR race.

What a great start of the year for Reutiman. 2 races, 2 crashes. The Toyota's are just not having a good beginning. Between the hell that Michael Waltrip is going through, to David's crashes, I don't think this is the start that Toyota wanted to have when they decided to enter NASCAR

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Yup, as the URL says, Another Detroit Sports Blog

Hi. How Are You? Great? Good, Let's get going.

Well, I spend most of my time on the internet reading things about sports so I figured hey, why not add my 2 cents into the picture that is the World Wide Web.

What are my sports likes and dislikes? Well, to bullet point

-I love hockey. The Detroit Red Wings are the class of the NHL and am proud to be a fan of them. There is nothing better then to turn on CBC on Saturday night and watch the Maple Leafs and the Canadiens do battle. I was really into hockey until the strike hit a couple years ago. I spent all of last year trying to get back into the swing of things and this year I am enjoying it more then I have since the early part of the decade. I have mad mad man love for Hank and Lidstrom but still think the wings have no shot to win the cup this year until they make a big move

-I like basketball. I like the pistons, I like their players and wish nothing but the best for them. But basketball is number 5 to me in terms of what I enjoy. I just never have gotten to much into basketball. I try, really I do. But it's just hard for me to get into it when if I can watch the last 2 minutes of the game and see everything I need to know. I do like the college game a little bit. Maybe cuz my team has sucked for many years and their coach is so far over his head it isn't funny I just can't get into as much as I would like

-I am proud to admit I am a humongous NASCAR fan. It's my inner hillbilly coming through. I spend every Sunday afternoon between February and November watching 43 guys drive around in a circle. It's fascinating. Mostly cuz I like to make fun of the drivers and the way they talk and have to mention their sponsor at every moment. 'Yeah Daryl, we had a great race today. The number 40 Coors Light dodge team just had a great day today'. It's hilarious. My favs are the Rousch guys Kenseth, McMurry and Biffle. I despise, DESPISE Junior and the Busch brothers. I still cannot believe how big a nascar dork I have become

-Football is prolly the sport I am most passionate about. During the fall, my weekends are just DONE where I do absolutely nothing from noon on Saturdays till 11 pm on Sundays. In between there is a lot of yelling, screaming and all in all great joy that is had. I am a huge UofM fan. I actually wish nothing but the best for Sparty except when they are playing the Maize and Blue. I do like coach Carr and think he still is the right man for the job. I also like Tennessee and Texas and cannot stand Notre Dame and of course TheOSU. On the pro side of things, well, just . I have a sickness. I have the same sickness that everybody in this god forsaken state has. The team just repeatedly punches you in the stomach OVER and OVER again but for some reason you get up and you hug them and say 'oh, it's OK, I still love you' and you turn it on every Sunday. Actually though, this year was the first year in a long time I didn't watch as much Lions as I have in years past. Before I watched every single minute of the season, this year I missed a quarter here, a half there, and I actually enjoyed a couple of my Sundays instead of them ruining them for me. I still watch every Sunday and Monday night game, play 3 to 4 different fantasy teams and am passionate about everything football.

-Baseball though is my one true love. As much as I love football and care about it, it will never top my love for baseball. I've been watching baseball for 23 years and my earliest sporting memory was staying up and watching Dave Bergman hit a home run of Roy Lee Jackson in the bottom of the 10th inning against the Jays in 1984. I have a photographic memory about baseball that is insane. I can name every world series winner ever and prolly can name every Detroit tiger to play for them since 1984. Chris Pitarro anyone? Darnell Coles? Chad Kreuter? Needless to say last year was my favorite year ever as a baseball fan. I was only 8 in 1984, 10 in 1987 and since then, well, not so much. But last year was the most special season I ever can recall. When the ball went off of Magglio's bat and went into the left field stands to send the tigers to the World Series, it was the happiest sports has ever made me. I yelled. I jumped. I couldn't belive it. The Detroit Tigers. The same team that was the most miserable baseball team EVER 3 years before was going to the World Series. Of course, 5 errors later, we were sitting watching David Eckstien and Albert Pujols jump for joy. But it was great none the less. This year should be just as exciting. The tigers are...gasp! FAVORITES! Wow! What a change! Pitchers and Catchers have reported so it's all good:)

Well, that's it for now. I'm sure I'll have a lot to talk about as the days and weeks go on. Pistons won today and looked good doing it. Wings lost last night and REALLY need a tough winger and it's a shame that Tkachuk went to Atlanta cuz we really could have used him. My boy Kenseth won the race today and looked strong doing it. Nobody drives a better all around race then number 17. The first spring games start on Friday, so YAY. And the draft is only 2 months away so I'll be debating also who the lions should pick and screw up their carrear. So it's a great time to be a Detroit sports fan !

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