With a few of the big sports I watch out of season (NFL, MLB), I have to keep myself busy in preparation for their upcoming seasons. Now, Basketball and Hockey are all the rage. Luckily, I live in Michigan, where both sports are fairly big.
So, here’s what’s going on with my teams this evening.
B-Ball
At 7:30 PM ET, the Detroit Pistons take on the Milwaukee Bucks. They are playing at The Palace tonight. Should be an interesting game since the Bucks have won their last two and the Pistons have lost their last three.
Other games you might want to check out:
Charlotte Bobcats vs. Orlando Magic – 7:00 PM ET
San Antonio Spurs vs. New York Knicks – 7:30 PM ET
Utah Jazz vs. Memphis Grizzlies – 9:00 PM ET
LA Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns – 9:00 PM ET
LA Lakers vs. Atlanta Hawks – 10:30 PM ET
I came across a meme on a blog run by a guy named Steven Taylor. The Meme directions are pretty simple.
First, you list the Top Ten Sports Moments you recall seeing in person or on the television. Second, list where you saw them.
Sadly, I was born in 1980, so I missed many great sports moments before then. However, I’m considering asking my 90 year old Grandfather to share his top ten for me, so I can share them with you. He was into sports and could have gone pro boxing or in track and field. His brother also played minor league baseball, and missed out on a chance at the pros (he had an audition with our Detroit Tigers) due to injury. He saw Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig play live, and I’m sure my memories can’t hold a candle to his.
Anyway, here we go!
1. June 12, 2007 – Justin Verlander throws a No Hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers to Pudge Rodriguez (who consequently has caught for more than one No Hitters in his illustrious career). I wish I could have been there, but I saw this one on television. What a momentous win for Justin Verlander and for the Detroit Tigers! I remember watching all his shining moments live on FSN Detroit with Rod and Mario at the Helm.
2. Desmond Howard’s Heisman Pose in 1991 – After returning a 93 yard punt during the OSU-Michigan rivalry game, the announcer happened to say “Hello Heisman” just as Desmond posed a la Heisman. It was the longest punt return in Michigan history. It was also one of the great victories as he led UM over OSU 31-3. This was the first year I “came out” in a OSU household as a UM Wolverine fan. I watched this game with my die-hard OSU fan/father who refused to talk to me throughout the entire game.
There’s been a flurry of activity in Detroit (or should I say Lakeland, FL – home of the Tigers Spring/Winter Training camp?) in preparation for the 2009 baseball season. As most ball fans know, especially those of us in or near Detroit, the 2008 “super-season” we were supposed to have never happened. In fact, 2008 was the most disappointing season for this Michigan team, in recent years. With the loss of Pudge Rodriguez adding flames to the fire, the team is looking to overhaul or face getting a new coach, in place of Jim Leyland’s lackluster performance.
Like any good sports fan, I’m subscribed to receive updates every time Detroit makes even the slightest move. Earlier today, the latest news was that the Tigers were working on signing Adam Everett for a one year deal. There wasn’t much information on the deal, other than to say that Everett is a veteran short stop and that he’d spent most of the 2008 season out for injuries. It also said that the Minnesota Twins player had his worst season due to injury.
Don’t get me wrong, Everett may be a good short stop, but does a team, already riddled with injuries in all of its top positions, think getting another injury-prone player is a good idea?
Apparently Everett or Detroit is having second thoughts. I just received a retraction from the Tigers.com updater. Apparently, no deal has technically been discussed with Everett though he did warm up for one of the coaches down in Lakeland. So, the question then becomes, is he or isn’t he?
Happy Belated Halloween Everyone! I haven’t been online the past few days due to family activities. Boy were those black cupcakes good and we had fun making our “fangy” jack-o-latern. I’ll make sure to take pictures and post them!
That being said, I got up early to get my picks in, last minute. Here’s how I did in previous weeks:
Stress, work and other things have gotten me behind again on picks. I’m promising that once I finish this big redesign project for our main Literary Illusions sites, I’ll be updating these picks and this site on a much more regular basis.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Tampa Bay vs. Dallas
Winner: Tampa Bay
Washington vs. Detroit
Winner: Detroit
*This is my shock pick of the week. I think that Detroit might actually win their first game
Coach Rich Rodriguez has stepped into a bigger mess than he may have realized. The numbers prove he has the skill to take a losing team and turn it into a winning team within one year. He stepped into the role of head coach at Michigan during a year of transition. He lost the primary choice for QB he had to OSU. He ended up with a bunch of guys recruited by Lloyd Carr who were unprepared for a spread offense. Most of these guys are inexperienced freshmen, who have a lot of talent, but not much experience.
So, can we blame Rodriguez for Michigan falling apart mid-game or be glad there are definite signs of improvement?
Seriously, if you went into the Penn State game expecting Michigan to win, it was unrealistic. Michigan held its own while it could, but we saw why Penn has one of the top offenses in NCAA football. It’s hard to beat a team so in sync due to years of working together with a bunch of inexperienced freshman on the field, who still don’t even know how to work together yet. We saw promise in Steven Threet, but disaster when injury took him out of the game. The defense seemed to stop playing football come the fourth quarter. Not even Graham Cracker (Brandon Graham) could take down the offense.
There is a glimmer of hope through all the muddled darkness and roller coaster of potential wins for Michigan fans. Rodriguez never has a losing season twice. He just doesn’t. Not in his entire career as a coach. Every first year coaching his numbers have been bleh. The next year, he’s brought his players out to a winning season. Why can’t the same be true for Michigan?
I really bombed last week. It was practically my worst week ever. Every once in a while this happens, but I am beefing up my picks for later today. Feel free to leave your own picks in the comment area. There were some big surprises last week (who knew Arizona could beat Dallas? Sure seems like Dallas has some kind of bad luck charm!), but this upcoming week isn’t nearly as unpredictable. At least, I like to think so.
Here are my picks for this week. Honestly, there should be no big surprises as to who wins what game here. The biggest games that might go either way are San Diego vs. Buffalo (Buffalo has a habit of surprising in the most unlikely of wins), Carolina vs. New Orleans (with the way Drew Brees has been playing NOLA should be shoo in to win though), Baltimore vs. Miami (I believe Miami has that win in them), and Indianapolis vs. Green Bay (try to pick which one sucks the least – same with Cleveland vs. Washington).
Shock winners would be Detroit, Minnesota, and New England.
The win I’d laugh the most about would be: St. Louis. It seems like Romo just ain’t always on his game, but St. Louis stinks, so a win by them would make Dallas a laughing stock.
I know I missed Week Five, but I’m really sorry about that. That darn flu virus was going around the house, so it was a hectic week. Still, I don’t believe in excuses, so here we go. Let’s get right into my picks for Week Six of the NFL football action.
As a Michigan fan, I’m depressed. It had seemed like Michigan had answered some of its questions. It had found a Quarterback that might be able to work on his game. Steven Threet had much work to do, but at least he was consistently being played and showed a lot of improvement during the second half of Michigan’s game vs. Wisconsin. Sam McGuffie seemed like the primary back, with Shaw and Minor coming in on occasional plays. Things seemed to be coming together.
Then Illinois happened. I don’t like Juice Williams. I think he and the Illini play dirty, but he did have a good game, walking all over the Wolverines last week. By the time Toledo drove up U.S. 23 to Ann Arbor, it was pretty much realized that the Wolverines’ confidence was shot. I don’t blame Rich Rodriguez. He is working with a team not designed for the spread offense he’s known to win with so well. Many of the new recruits were signed on by Carr before he retired. We can only look to Rodriguez to sign on better, more suited guys for next year and hope the inexperienced take on leadership based roles after experiencing time on the field this year.
This game was truly horrible. Steven Threet played so poorly in this game that Nick Sheridan had to be put in. Sheridan didn’t play much better. Even K.C. Lopata, who has been one of the most consistent players in the game, ended up boggling a last minute field goal that would have tied the game. These didn’t look like college athletes. They didn’t even look good enough to play high school football. It was not a fun game to watch.
There is sadness at Michigan because they deserve so much better. This is the first MAC game they’ve lost, ever. This is a sign they won’t be having a winning season. This is a sign they probably won’t be going to a bowl game. It’s been YEARS since Michigan had a losing season (I’m thinking the 1940s) and since they didn’t go to a bowl game. Rodriguez is doing what he’s supposed to. He can only do so much before it falls on the shoulders of these players. They boggle plays. They don’t have confidence. They freeze up on the field. They make stupid mistakes and while they haven’t really fumbled in their last game, they turned over the ball multiple times with at least three interceptions thrown right into the opposing teams’ hands.
I do have to say that I give kudos to the team from my hometown, the Toledo Rockets and to my cousin, Tom Amstutz (yes, Tom is my cousin (on my grandfather’s side), but there is no family loyalty when it comes to U of M) who coached a hard fought game. The Toledo Rockets outplayed the Wolverines. They really showed the Wolverines who was boss and they deserved the win because they fought hard enough for it. That being said, I don’t think this was necessarily the hardest team to beat.
Movie Info: Writers: Duncan Brantley, Rick Reilly Director: George Clooney Cast: George Clooney, Renée Zellweger, John Krasinski, Jonathan Pryce, Stephen Root, Wayne Duvall, Keith Loneker, Malcolm Goodwin, Matt Bushell, Tommy Hinkley, Tim Griffin, Robert Baker, Nick Paonessa, Nicholas Bourdages Rating: PG-13 Studio: Universal Studios
Release Info: Theatrical Release: April 4, 2008 DVD Release Date: September 23, 2008 Online Availability:Amazon for $18.99 Blu-Ray for $26.95
I was interested in seeing Leatherheads from the moment I saw the first promos for this movie. I like most of the movies that George Clooney is in and some of the movies that feature Renée Zellweger. I also like the vast majority of movies about sports, especially ones that verge on historical. The latter reason is the main reason I wanted to watch this movie.
While Leatherheads isn’t the greatest movie I’ve ever seen or even the greatest sports movie period, it is entertaining. I’m not a huge comedy fan. I’m more into sports dramas. Still, there is a certain charm about this film that made me compelled to watch it. I’m assuming that a major part of this is the excellent acting, because the actual script isn’t as strong as the acting warrants.
Don’t get me wrong. I liked this movie. The plot was quite strong in the beginning. It fizzled slightly in the middle, nearly stopped near the end, but picked up again to finish the movie off nicely. Despite the plot bumps, there was never a point where I wanted to turn the movie off. That being said, this isn’t a movie for every sport fan.
There is a certain kind of audience that is going to like Leatherheads. Luckily, I fit into this audience. Those who like George or Renée will want to check this out. Those who enjoy period style movies might just want to check this out. Those interested in sports comedies, especially comedies about an earlier time period in America’s history will definitely want to watch this. Otherwise, I’m not sure you’ll like this movie. This is a major reason why I consider Leatherheads a rent before buying kind of movie.
There’s been a flurry of activity in Detroit (or should I say Lakeland, FL – home of the Tigers Spring/Winter Training camp?) in preparation for the 2009 baseball season. As most ball fans know, especially those of us in or near Detroit, the 2008 “super-season” we were supposed to have never happened. In fact, 2008 was the most disappointing season for this Michigan team, in recent years. With the loss of Pudge Rodriguez adding flames to the fire, the team is looking to overhaul or face getting a new coach, in place of Jim Leyland’s lackluster performance.
Movie Info: