-Yesterday we got out to the ballpark for our first baseball game of the year. Yeah, it took awhile for us to get one in. We went with a couple friends to the Orioles-Reds interleague game, and it was fun. The Reds ended up winning 10-5, but the teams set a ML season high for HRs in a game with a combined nine shots. Home runs are fun to watch, especially when you’re pretty much indifferent about both teams. But let me tell you…Joey Votto is the real deal. Not only did he hit two jacks (absolutely smashed both of them), but all of his at bats were quality. He must have fouled off 5 or 6 pitches in a row before he cracked his second HR of the night. I can now see (and appreciate) why he won NL MVP last year.
-I was watching a bit of the Nationals-Mariners game the other night, and the Nationals ended up scoring a run and the camera did a shot of the crowd cheering. Normally I don’t pay much attention to the crowd shots, but something caught my eye this time. I had to rewind the TV to see, and yup, there was an old guy with a “Lets Go Nads” t-shirt. I cracked up.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who saw this, as a couple other blogs noticed it as well. And there is a website that sells these t-shirts, with a creepy kid modeling the shirt. Ummm, okay.
-This Austin Hatch story is so sad. It’s incomprehensible to me why the dad would even want to fly again after his first wife, daughter, and other son died. I get the whole mentality of moving on, mistakes happen, don’t let your life be ruined by one event, keep doing what you enjoy (flying), blah blah blah. But really? You lost three family members. Your wife….daughter…and son. And you go back in a plane??? I just…whatever. What’s crazy to me is I’ve been reading and watching a lot of footage on the kid- a 2013 UofM basketball commit- because he just accepted an offer from Michigan a week ago. You know I’m a recruiting junkie, so even though I don’t really the know the kid, I feel like I know about him, so it’s making the story a little more painful to hear and read.
-Does anybody understand why Bill Simmons has a separate website now from ESPN (other than now he can cuss on it), and why it’s called “Grantland”? Maybe he said it somewhere and I just missed it, but I’m a little confused about the change/move.
-It’s about this time of the year I go to the local bookstore and grab a fantasy football magazine and start doing some early research, but I’m just not in the mood. This lockout has kind of killed any excitement for fantasy football because there’s no mini-camp/training camp buzz, free agents haven’t been signed, trades haven’t been made, etc. For Christ’s sake, there has hardly been any Brett Favre comeback talk! Hopefully when the lockout ends I’ll get back into football and fantasy football, but right now, eh.
-Oh, one NFL rumor I’ve heard numerous times is that the Lions are going to make a serious push to sign free agent stud corner Nnamdi Asomugha. I know he’s just one guy, and one guy can’t fix the entire secondary and linebacking corps, but it’s a start. I can definitely see us as a playoff team next year, and then one more solid year of free agency and drafting (OL, LB, and CB) and assuming everyone stays healthy (cough cough Mathew Stafford)…dare I say championship run? Lions and Super Bowl…in the same sentence??? Who’s with me!?
-I know this is old news, but Peyton Hillis on the Madden cover? Weakest Madden cover ever??? Hopefully next year they take the choice away from the fans, as we have clearly proven we cannot handle the responsibility.
-I’m glad the NHL is planning on realigning the divisions. It’ll be interesting how it all shakes out, but it’s going to be great for teams like Detroit and Columbus, who for years have had to suffer through 10:00pm start times and long west coast trips. I read somewhere how Columbus- a young franchise- will be able to build a stronger fan base because fans will be able to watch the team on a more regular basis. I never really thought about that, being a Detroit fan. The Red Wings ultimately would be fine if they stayed in the west because they’re such a strong franchise. But for a team like Columbus trying to stay afloat, a move to the East is absolutely necessary and logical.
-Love the Brandon Knight pick for the Pistons. He doesn’t fit a need, but in a draft where talent was thin, Dumars grabbed one of the 4-5 best players available, and I think that’s the way to go. It also gives him a little flexability in trading one of the guards (Stuckey, Hamilton, Bynum) as well. The Pistons are definitely in rebuilding mode, and it’s a transition phase. Get rid of the old, stockpile the talent. With Monroe, Jerebko, Daye, and Knight, the young guys are coming. Now it’s time to say bye to Hamilton, Prince, Villanueva, and Gordon. Do what you can to get rid of em’ Joey D! I’m hoping for another year of misery for the Pistons so we can land another top-flight talent in the draft, as next year’s draft should be LOADED.
-Speaking of next year’s draft. If the NBA season ends up getting cancelled for the year, but they have a labor agreement in, let’s say May, and they decide to hold a 2012 draft…how will it work? Would all the teams get placed in the ping-pong ball lottery? Would they keep the same order as last year? Hmmm just curious.
-ESPN has been devoting more time to the soccer Gold Cup than I thought it would. Is soccer’s popularity really rising that much? I’ll be honest- it’s nice when the US wins, but I really don’t care about the end result one way or the other. Maybe I’m being naïve, but I still think that’s the way it is for most US soccer fans. Other than the World Cup, I have no interest in soccer. I’ll see if I can get into the Women’s World Cup, since I have a little more free time in the summer.
-Delvon Roe out 6 weeks with a sprained ankle (at least it’s not his effed-up knees this time) and Russell Byrd had another foot surgery. Please please please let the injuries stop. Last year was bad enough. I want health from here on out!
-I hate Purdue basketball, but it was kind of cool to see Johnson and Moore get drafted by the Celtics. They had obvious chemistry at Purdue, so why not carry it over to the NBA? I think it’d be cool to see them continue their success at the next level…except when they play the Pistons. Their draft story is going to be on the BTN this Thursday at 8pm. I'll probably watch.
-Couple Tigers thoughts. He probably won’t get voted in by the fans, but Alex Avila deserves to be the starting catcher for the AL. The guy is hitting .303, 10 HRs, and 45 RBIs. You don’t get that kind of production from the catcher position, unless you’re Joe Mauer (just not this year’s Joe Mauer). Right now Avila is second in voting, a cool half million behind the leader, Yankee catcher Russell Martin. Martin’s stats? .231, 9 HRS, 30 RBIs. Fuck that and fuck Yankee fans.
-Verlander was AMAZING last night. Is this the year Verlander puts it all together? 8 out of his last 10 starts he’s gone 8+ innings. That’s Roy Halladay-ish. I can’t remember the last time he’s had a bad outing. If he continues to pitch this way for the rest of the year, and somebody steps up as a legit #2 guy in the rotation, the Tigers could make some noise in the postseason, if they get there. Just saying.
Well I think I got all the sports covered. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer…yep, that about does it. Haha you deserve a gold star if you made it all the way through this long post.
~Mikey D
-I was watching a bit of the Nationals-Mariners game the other night, and the Nationals ended up scoring a run and the camera did a shot of the crowd cheering. Normally I don’t pay much attention to the crowd shots, but something caught my eye this time. I had to rewind the TV to see, and yup, there was an old guy with a “Lets Go Nads” t-shirt. I cracked up.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one who saw this, as a couple other blogs noticed it as well. And there is a website that sells these t-shirts, with a creepy kid modeling the shirt. Ummm, okay.
-This Austin Hatch story is so sad. It’s incomprehensible to me why the dad would even want to fly again after his first wife, daughter, and other son died. I get the whole mentality of moving on, mistakes happen, don’t let your life be ruined by one event, keep doing what you enjoy (flying), blah blah blah. But really? You lost three family members. Your wife….daughter…and son. And you go back in a plane??? I just…whatever. What’s crazy to me is I’ve been reading and watching a lot of footage on the kid- a 2013 UofM basketball commit- because he just accepted an offer from Michigan a week ago. You know I’m a recruiting junkie, so even though I don’t really the know the kid, I feel like I know about him, so it’s making the story a little more painful to hear and read.
-Does anybody understand why Bill Simmons has a separate website now from ESPN (other than now he can cuss on it), and why it’s called “Grantland”? Maybe he said it somewhere and I just missed it, but I’m a little confused about the change/move.
-It’s about this time of the year I go to the local bookstore and grab a fantasy football magazine and start doing some early research, but I’m just not in the mood. This lockout has kind of killed any excitement for fantasy football because there’s no mini-camp/training camp buzz, free agents haven’t been signed, trades haven’t been made, etc. For Christ’s sake, there has hardly been any Brett Favre comeback talk! Hopefully when the lockout ends I’ll get back into football and fantasy football, but right now, eh.
-Oh, one NFL rumor I’ve heard numerous times is that the Lions are going to make a serious push to sign free agent stud corner Nnamdi Asomugha. I know he’s just one guy, and one guy can’t fix the entire secondary and linebacking corps, but it’s a start. I can definitely see us as a playoff team next year, and then one more solid year of free agency and drafting (OL, LB, and CB) and assuming everyone stays healthy (cough cough Mathew Stafford)…dare I say championship run? Lions and Super Bowl…in the same sentence??? Who’s with me!?
-I know this is old news, but Peyton Hillis on the Madden cover? Weakest Madden cover ever??? Hopefully next year they take the choice away from the fans, as we have clearly proven we cannot handle the responsibility.
-I’m glad the NHL is planning on realigning the divisions. It’ll be interesting how it all shakes out, but it’s going to be great for teams like Detroit and Columbus, who for years have had to suffer through 10:00pm start times and long west coast trips. I read somewhere how Columbus- a young franchise- will be able to build a stronger fan base because fans will be able to watch the team on a more regular basis. I never really thought about that, being a Detroit fan. The Red Wings ultimately would be fine if they stayed in the west because they’re such a strong franchise. But for a team like Columbus trying to stay afloat, a move to the East is absolutely necessary and logical.
-Love the Brandon Knight pick for the Pistons. He doesn’t fit a need, but in a draft where talent was thin, Dumars grabbed one of the 4-5 best players available, and I think that’s the way to go. It also gives him a little flexability in trading one of the guards (Stuckey, Hamilton, Bynum) as well. The Pistons are definitely in rebuilding mode, and it’s a transition phase. Get rid of the old, stockpile the talent. With Monroe, Jerebko, Daye, and Knight, the young guys are coming. Now it’s time to say bye to Hamilton, Prince, Villanueva, and Gordon. Do what you can to get rid of em’ Joey D! I’m hoping for another year of misery for the Pistons so we can land another top-flight talent in the draft, as next year’s draft should be LOADED.
-Speaking of next year’s draft. If the NBA season ends up getting cancelled for the year, but they have a labor agreement in, let’s say May, and they decide to hold a 2012 draft…how will it work? Would all the teams get placed in the ping-pong ball lottery? Would they keep the same order as last year? Hmmm just curious.
-ESPN has been devoting more time to the soccer Gold Cup than I thought it would. Is soccer’s popularity really rising that much? I’ll be honest- it’s nice when the US wins, but I really don’t care about the end result one way or the other. Maybe I’m being naïve, but I still think that’s the way it is for most US soccer fans. Other than the World Cup, I have no interest in soccer. I’ll see if I can get into the Women’s World Cup, since I have a little more free time in the summer.
-Delvon Roe out 6 weeks with a sprained ankle (at least it’s not his effed-up knees this time) and Russell Byrd had another foot surgery. Please please please let the injuries stop. Last year was bad enough. I want health from here on out!
-I hate Purdue basketball, but it was kind of cool to see Johnson and Moore get drafted by the Celtics. They had obvious chemistry at Purdue, so why not carry it over to the NBA? I think it’d be cool to see them continue their success at the next level…except when they play the Pistons. Their draft story is going to be on the BTN this Thursday at 8pm. I'll probably watch.
-Couple Tigers thoughts. He probably won’t get voted in by the fans, but Alex Avila deserves to be the starting catcher for the AL. The guy is hitting .303, 10 HRs, and 45 RBIs. You don’t get that kind of production from the catcher position, unless you’re Joe Mauer (just not this year’s Joe Mauer). Right now Avila is second in voting, a cool half million behind the leader, Yankee catcher Russell Martin. Martin’s stats? .231, 9 HRS, 30 RBIs. Fuck that and fuck Yankee fans.
-Verlander was AMAZING last night. Is this the year Verlander puts it all together? 8 out of his last 10 starts he’s gone 8+ innings. That’s Roy Halladay-ish. I can’t remember the last time he’s had a bad outing. If he continues to pitch this way for the rest of the year, and somebody steps up as a legit #2 guy in the rotation, the Tigers could make some noise in the postseason, if they get there. Just saying.
Well I think I got all the sports covered. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer…yep, that about does it. Haha you deserve a gold star if you made it all the way through this long post.
~Mikey D
