Mikey D

~The second wave of our winter storm is coming tonight/tomorrow. We ended up with about 28 inches over the weekend, and we are supposed to get 12-20 more tonight- and I'm not looking forward to it. While it's nice that I don't have to go to work (3 snow days and counting), it has been absolutely miserable trying to dig ourselves out of this mess. Our neighborhood is already a snowy mess and it's taken us 3 days to un-bury ourselves (yesterday was the first day we were able to leave our neighborhood), so I can't imagine another foot or so of snow will be a pleasant thing to deal with.

~So our satellite has been knocked out. Can't say I'm surprised; I could have guessed that blizzards and satellite dishes aren't a good mix. Now I love DirecTV and think their television package is the best I've ever had, but I am a little annoyed with them right now. With the snow on the roof (where our dish is located), DirecTV will not send out a technician to clean off/fix the dish until the snow is gone. Do you know long it will take 40 inches of snow to melt?!? So I looked in the phonebook to find a handyman who'd be willing to clear some of the snow off the roof. I never knew handymen would be so expensive...it's a $150 just to get someone to come out to the house! Fuck that. So I'm essentially without TV as I'm stuck inside, and who knows for how long.

~Now when I say I'm without TV, I should preface that. I am without my cable television channels. The premium stuff. Yesterday when we escaped our house, Grace and I went and bought a digital antenna to plug into our TV (yep, 21st century rabbit ears...that apparently get HD signals. Who knew?). They were only $20...but they work. I get all my "core" channels. So last night I was able to watch "How I Met Your Mother" and "24" and all that good stuff. It will have to suffice for the time being, but I'm going to have to watch MSU/Purdue online tonight. I fucking hate watching games on my computer...bleah.

~Speaking of State...I can handle the losses. Really I can. Wisconsin is tough at home, and that Illinois game was a complete trap. ESPN College Gameday, primetime, no Lucas...that's tough to pull out. But I can't stand the stupid mental errors anymore. I'm hoping things will change, but right now our basketball IQ is well below average. When we turn the ball over, we do it by making some of the most idiotic decisions I can ever remember a basketball team making. Is that fixable? Is throwing the ball all over the court until eventually we throw it three rows into the stands a problem that can be worked on, or is that just who we are? And of all the things I think I miss most about Suton and Walton, it's their smarts. They got it. They got what MSU basketball was about, and they were high IQ guys on the court.

~And the defensive intensity! I don't want to see a team ever get 70 points on us. EVER! If we lose, it's going to be 60-59, Big Ten style. When Thornton and Kiebler can walk off the bench and provide more defensive intensity than all of our starters combined, that's sad. We are giving the opposition too many open and uncontested jump shots. If you don't want to fall behind by ten points early because your opponent is hitting three after three, then PUT A FUCKING HAND IN HIS FACE! Get up on him!!! Stop reacting to shit, and start forcing the tempo. Control the game by forcing bad shots and crashing the boards.

~Speaking of Thornton, he hits a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half...and then rides the bench for the entire second half. Nice reward for a job well done...err...

~Possibly the weirdest Tom Izzo quote ever (about Draymond Green): "He's a warrior," Izzo said. "He's the perfect Spartan. He's a blue-collar workhorse, and I'm going to ride him like a jackass." I think Izzo is going crazy.

~If we don't beat Purdue tonight at home, bye-bye Big Ten title. It's that simple. I hope we win tonight and can turn things around.

~Superbowl. Now I had to watch online through crappy live streams and listen to the end on the radio, but of all the Superbowls in recent memory I can't say I was that pumped about this one. I liked both teams, so I didn't really care who won, and for me that made the game less interesting. The last two years we've had Cardinals-Steelers and Patriots-Giants...some real intriguing storylines and David-Goliath games. This year it was about which good-guy QB would get a ring...eh, sorry, doesn't get me too pumped. Of course it set a new ratings record, so apparently I'm in the minority when it comes to feeling this way.

~I keep hearing these Johnny Damon rumors to Detroit...please no. Why would we spend $10 million+ a year for a stopgap CF? Weren't we trying to cut the payroll down and give the younger guys a shot? Plus I don't trust Damon to have the same year he did last year and he is an awful defensive outfielder now. Just doesn't make sense to me.

~Kudos to the Tigers for signing Verlander. It was the smart move. To me, position players are replacable and easier to come by, but quality pitching isn't. With Verlander, Porcello, and Scherzer we have the potential to have one sick trio of starters for years to come. It still stings losing Granderson, but Detroit made the right choice. They could only afford to keep one of the two (probably), and they went with the pitcher. Good job, Dave.

~David Schoenfield on ESPN.com had an interesting proposal on division realignment in baseball. More than any other sport, baseball is stuck in its ways and seems to almost resist change. And that's one of the things I love about it, but this is a very interiguing plan to me. I think I would be on board with it...

~At school last week a kid called me "an over-sized 6th grader". One day I'll be a man, one day...

~Mikey D