The return of hockey?

I have watched at least 1 period in 5 games so far: Wings/Jackets Game 1, Rangers/Caps Game 2, Flyers/Penguins Game 3, Canucks/Blues Game 3, and Rangers/Caps Game 3. I have really enjoyed what I have seen - so much so that I am wondering if hockey is beginning to make it's comeback. The first step will require turning some of the casual hockey fans into avid fans and resparking the interest in former NHL fans. The three things that are most important to gaining attention include developing stars that fans can identify with, creating great rivalries, and improving the game action.

In terms of stars, you're probably thinking I'm referring to obvious - Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin. While they receive the most attention and probably bring more fans to away games than other teams, I think the production of local stars is more important. In Columbus, we have Rick Nash. Atlanta has Ilya Kovalchuk. While a few top stars are great for marketing purposes, fans need a local star to get behind. I feel like the coverage of the NHL is starting to bring out more of these guys.

These playoffs already have a number of games between neighbor rivals. Flyers/Penguins. Sharks/Ducks. And in my completely biased opinion, I think the Blue Jackets will become the Redwings' new rival. We play each other a lot each season, the CBJs are on their way up, and we have the whole Michigan/Ohio thing going. The Wings are the Jackets' biggest rival - we'll see if the opposite becomes true in the next few seasons.

Finally, the action I have seen so far has been fairly exciting mostly due to the post-lockout rule changes (especially the elimination of the two-line pass rule). I'm not sure if the scoring average has increased, but that doesn't matter. The "oh my god I can't believe that didn't go in" shots are just as exciting. The first period of Wings/Jackets Game 1 was very intense, probably the best period of any of the games I have seen, and the score at the end was 0-0.

By the way, don't count out the Blue Jackets! They are an inexperienced team with a young goalie. Confidence is everything to them. In my opinion, Columbus seems to be very excited to see playoff hockey for the first time. If they are able to build confidence from the fans and have a chance to score first, they could turn the series around. Keep in mind a few things: according to home ice advantange, the Blue Jackets haven't lost a game they shouldn't have won yet, the Flyers turned their series around by beating the Penguins 6-3 at home in Game 3, Steve Mason had the most shutouts this season (10), and Rick Nash can create plays better than perhaps anyone on the Redwings. HOWEVER, don't forget I am still a Redwings fan!

Most intense series: Flyers vs. Penguins - they are fighting almost the entire time. There have been some big hits and the players are getting chippy. They have one of the most heated rivalries in the game right now, as evidenced by last year's Eastern Finals.

Best Power Play: Vancouver Canucks - During the season, they were only 17th in the league in PP%. They were able to set up perfectly on each powerplay I saw and turned it into a shooting gallery. They had 1-2 guys own the space in front of the goalie and the other 3-4 cycled the puck freely until they were able to take the right shot. They ended up scoring all 3 goals in Game 3 on the powerplay

Best Passing: Detroit Redwings - I used to hate that the Redwings would always have to play finesse hockey and score pretty goals. We would get beat by tougher teams that would throw the puck at the net and jam it in. Our players now can maneuver the puck up the rink quicker than any other I've seen thanks to the two line pass rule changes. I also like seeing them create space by skating with a defender and stopping on a dime like a basketball player. Our success will hinge on whether Osgood can stay impressive and keep it together.

Most Questionable Decision: Washington Capitals - pulling Jose Theodore after Game 1. It seemed like a very risky move to pull him after 1 game in favor of a rookie. While Simeon Varlamov stopped all but 1 shot, it seems to me like it sends a message of desperation to the players. Seeing his performance in Game 2 and so far in Game 3, it looks like it may have paid off.

Best Goalie: Henrik Lundqvist - During the season, he was 4th in Wins and 11th in GAA. He looks very confident and the Rangers' success depends on their goalie more than almost any other team. The numbers would argue Luongo, but I didn't have a chance to see him make any impressive saves. His numbers for Game 3 are bad, but they aren't giving him a chance. He faced almost 30 shots through 2 periods and Sean Avery has "Sheed Syndrome" and can't stop getting penalties.

This is how I would like to see the rest of the playoffs go. Keep in mind, these are not predictions - just what I would like to see happen.

Eastern Conference
1.Boston Bruins def. 8.Montreal Canadiens
7.NY Rangers def. 2.Washington Capitals
3.NJ Devils def. 6.Carolina Hurricanes
4.Pittsburgh Penguins def. 5.Philadelphia Flyers

7.NY Rangers def. 1.Boston Bruins
This would be a great series - not just because of the Boston/New York matchup. I would love to see Sean Avery vs. Milan Lucic - both are aggressive and have occasionally thrown a cheap shot or two. I think there would a ton of great hits and fights.
4.Pittsburgh Penguins def. 3.NJ Devils
Crosby vs. Brodeur could be somewhat interesting. I don't really like the Devils nor do I like to root against them.

7.NY Rangers def. 4.Pittsburgh Penguins
I said sometime after the lockout that a NY/Detroit Stanley Cup Finals would bring a lot of attention to the game. I wouldn't mind watching a rematch from last year, but I would prefer to see someone else.

Western Conference
1.SJ Sharks def. 8.Anaheim Ducks
2.Detroit Redwings def. 7.Columbus Blue Jackets
3.Vancouver Canucks def. 6.St Louis Blues
4.Chicago Blackhawks def. 5.Calgary Flames

4.Chicago Blackhawks def. 1.SJ Sharks
I would only be rooting for Chicago because I don't want to see us having to play across the country for a second series in a row. We've had to do that in past years, and it has caught up with us. Plus, the Eastern Conference teams have an unfair advantage since they are all much closer geographically.
2.Detroit Redwings def. 3. Vancouver Canucks
Luongo is dangerous, but it appears they will lock up their first round very shortly. Could they be rusty? I hope we would lock this one up in 5 so we only have to make 1 trip to Vancouver.

2.Detroit Redwings def. 4.Chicago Blackhawks
A fitting rematch of the Winter Classic. I don't really think the Blackhawks stand a chance of seeing the Conference Finals except on TV.

Stanley Cup Finals: Wings over Rangers, just like I asked for a season or two ago. We have a villian to hate (Avery) and a matchup of two of the larger franchise bases in the sport.

Thoughts

I wanted to get my thoughts out for my own theraputic benefit and to let you know where I am coming from. I really am not writing it for sympathy or to be dramatic. I do appreciate the support you both have given me and I look forward to writing my next meaningless sports column.

To be honest, my mom's death hasn't sunk in. I am probably still in denial somewhat. I think little things will bring about the realization; Mother's Day, looking through old e-mails, family events, writing this post... When I got home, we all were very social to kind of help each other get through it. It is kind of weird, but I don't think I cried any point between when I got home and her funeral on Monday. During and after the funeral, I found myself occasionally staring at her photos for a few minutes at a time. I don't know what good that is going to do - it's not like all of a sudden it is going to start talking like in Harry Potter. I guess that I'm just trying to burn her image into my mind so I never forget the exact way she looks or the way she spoke. Luckily, I'm not to the point where I am trying to call her phone just to hear her voicemail message - that would just be unhealthy. I'm not really the kind of person who believes in the supernatural, but I keep looking for some kind of sign or communication from her. The morning she died, our bedroom door randomly opened. Normally, if it is not shut tight, the cats can nudge it open, but I didn't see them near the door. I thought later this could be some kind of "sign", but I found out later she passed away over an hour after that. I feel like I can better understand why people go to psychics or on that douchy John Edward show - they just want one last communication somehow. I guess it is because I don't feel like I got to say goodbye to her. I know in many cases, like a car accident or a heart attack, you don't have any notice. But everything happened so quickly. She was supposed to come visit us for the Super Bowl, but stayed home because she wasn't feeling well. The next week she was hospitalized and a week later she was diagnosed. I now hate the month of February, by the way. In Feb 06, my grandmother passed away and in Feb 08 her husband did. Anyway, about 3 weeks after her diagnosis was the last time she was really conscious. In retrospect, I feel a little bad that I wasn't there for EVERY weekend, but what can you do. I also feel a little bad that I lost hope for her improvement the weekend before she died. I know you should always try to be optimistic, but I also knew it was only a matter of time. Last Thursday may count as her official death, but she hadn't really been alive for a month. The last time I spoke with her, she was really showing signs of improvement, so trying to have that "last talk" seemed unnecessary and in poor taste since we were trying to be supportive. The next morning, she had very debilitating seizures and she wasn't really conscious. The weekend before she died, during a brief moment of coherence, she was able to smile at me and returned my "I love you".

My mom was kind of the glue for my family, so I know this is really going to change our relationship. My priest's sermon was excellent. I think it was the first time I have been able to completely focus on a sermon the whole way through in years. He did discuss God's will, but one of the specific things he said was "God's will is not to take the live of a 57 year old woman. God's will is not to give someone adrenal cancer." I really liked that part because some people pervert the concept by believing that EVERYTHING that happens is God's will. Why would he give us free will then? The free will that would allow us to believe in him or not?? I think that God has some kind of plan, but I don't know explicit I believe that plan is. Anyway, I have that mortal feeling that comes with these kind of tragedies, so I feel the motivation for change and improvement. I feel like I should be more charitable with my time, meet new people, and experience new things. Unfortunately, I don't think I really am going to do anything about it because when I come home from work, sometimes all I want to do is eat fast food and watch crappy tv. I don't know whether that is a pessimistic, defeatist, or realistic view. We knew in December that this year was going to be so monumental for my family. My sister is pregnant, I'm getting married, and my other sister has found her first full time job - her absolute dream job. It breaks my heart that she won't be there for any of it, but it will also help give us something to celebrate. I know this is going to be hard on my dad, but I am encouraged by his attitude. My physical distance from home had also created an emotional distance of sorts during the whole ordeal. I feel like I have been living a double life. Working, watching March Madness, going out with friends, and house hunting during the week versus dealing with everything at home on (most) weekends. Tomorrow, I will have to begin meshing that back together.

Why Izzo Won't Leave?

"I feel like I have so much more to build," Izzo said on Sunday. "I love the Dukes, Carolinas, Kentuckys, Kansas. I'm not going to see that in my lifetime because they've done it for so many years, but I love aspiring to be those. Some of these guys have been doing things for 50 years. We're not there yet."

Sports Illustrated - Spartans, UNC playing to determine team of the decade

Why we will lose to UConn

Note: This was obviously written last week. Since I had to return home this weekend, I didn't have a chance to post it. I felt it would be interesting to analyze my analysis, in italics, knowing how we won.

I feel like I am always the pessimist. I guess it is a security blanket so I can be excited when we win, but I can be right when we lose. Before today (last Tuesday), all I knew about UConn was that I thought Thabeet was overrated (he looked clueless about where to go defensively on many plays vs U-M), that Pitt OWNS them, and that you shouldn't ask Calhoun about his salary. I was surprised to discover that Thabeet may get the most press, but their other starters are what make them successful. Here's what scares me:

1. Unlike Louisville, they have been challenged. They have had to face good teams in the tournament with very different styles - and they've won each of them by greater than 7 points. I didn't realize the Big 10 style of play, when forced upon them, would stop Louisville. Although, they had previously lost to friggin Minnesota... at home! UConn, however, is 3-0 vs. the Big 10 with wins over U-M, Wisconsin, and Purdue.

While they had been challenged, our home town crowd propelled our team when they needed us most. I should have kept in mind that we proved we are different than U-M, Wisco, and Purdue by winning the Big 10 regular season by 4 friggin games!

2. Who can stop Adrien and Robinson?
I was very surprised to learn that Thabeet doesn't completely run this team. I think I am more concerned about their other forwards. Goran will have his hands full guarding Thabeet, so I am worried that will leave their other forwards open. Morgan hasn't been a factor lately, so I am worried we don't have anyone who can guard them.

Morgan stepped up and played to his full potential. Adrien and Robinson combined for 28 pts and 20 rebounds (almost half of their team total). However, I overlooked their lack of depth. Our bench played them fairly close with 33 pts and 14 rebounds.

3. We can't win the halfcourt game.
We beat Louisville with a strong inside presence and a halfcourt game. We outrebounded them and made them play at our pace, which ultimately frustrated them into submission. UConn's bigs are better, so I am worried they will have their way with us.

They really tested us in the beginning and kept working the ball inside with success. We ended up fouling them a ton and it made me worry. Ultimately our depth at forward, their foul shooting problems, and Izzo's strategy helped us win. Draymond (dancing bear???) Green had a great game. The aspect of our game that I enjoyed the most is that we won in a completely different fashion than against Louisville.

4. Assuming we do stop their forwards, can we stop their guards?
Their guards aren't quite as good as Louisville's, and they aren't as tall as USC's, but they can still be a threat if we focus on just their forwards.

Yes we can! Price did rack up 15 points, but it took 5/20 shooting to do it. Austrie and Walker only combined for 11 points. Their guards are decent, but they couldn't match up against our defense.

Looking Ahead...
I liked the Louisville game better, but we once again executed a sound strategy and played with passion against UConn. We had different guys take over the game (Green, Morgan, Lucious). I see North Carolina as having a strong half court game and a strong transition game, so it will be interesting to see what kind of gameplan Izzo creates. I think they need to come out early and take advantage of North Carolina's lapses in work ethic. I LOVE that everyone is still picking against us (just like they picked UConn, Louisville, and in many cases, Kansas). I think it is ignorant for analysts to be placing our success at Izzo's hands and overlooking the talent we have. North Carolina may be the best team in the tournament, but we have beaten two #1 seeds, three conference tournament champions, three regular season conference champions, and two teams that were ranked #1 for a total of 1/3 of the season. GO GREEN!

AARGH

I just got done reading 3 Final Four preview articles and EACH ONE had a "Tom Izzo to Kentucky" reference. I am sick of hearing about how we will lose him every year! How come we're not hearing about how Kentucky should go after Jay Wright or Jim Calhoun??? We are a premier program and Adolph Rupp hasn't been around for years unless you count Jon Voight! Kentucky doesn't deserve Izzo and that's that.

What Else

I think that was the most exciting, perfect game of basketball I have ever seen from MSU. They played stellar defense, avoided the press with good ballhandling skills and deep passes, drained 3 point shots they had no business making, and uncharacteristically kept the game locked up in the last 10 minutes. I am a little ashamed to say it because it is just a game, but I almost cried I was so happy. And I was watching it on tape delay! Before, I was convinced Louisville's easy game against Arizona would leave them well rested, but it actually weakened them. I don't think they came ready to play their ass off the whole game and our tough defense visibly frustrated them. Suton was great in the post, from deep, on defense, and I think he even sang the national anthem. Let's look a little deeper into what went wrong, though.

2 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 6 Fouls
6 Pts, 10 Reb, 3 Ast, 3 Fouls

The first numbers are the combined stats for STARTERS Delvon Roe and Raymar Morgan. The second are Draymond Green's, who played the same amount of time as Roe and Morgan combined, 24 minutes. What in the heck are we going to do with Raymar? I know he's gotta be out of playing shape after dealing with being sick for a few weeks. Also, where was Idong Ibok? He only played 1 minute, which had to have been in junk time. Were Green and Suton so good we didn't need to use him? Luckily, we have great depth, which Louisville was also supposed to boast. However, they only had points from 6 players, 2 of which scored in double digits. (We had 9 and 3 in comparison). McGee and Samuels both played more than half of the game without recording a single point.

So now onto the Final Four. This season, the two things that would leave me happily satisfied with the season were a regular season championship (something we have been without for too long) and a Final Four berth to keep Izzo's streak alive. And now we have both. Did someone tell UNC, UConn, and Nova that the fairytale ending belonged to us? Thirty years after our first national championship, the most watched college basketball game ever, we get to play in our home state, which has been reeling from the worst unemployment rate in the country. Oh, and if we make it to the finals, we have a very good chance of playing a revenge game against the team that beat us by more than 30 points in that very building earlier this year. If the lack of Cinderellas in the first few rounds made finding a story difficult for sportswriters, we will make their jobs a piece of cake.

Do I think we will beat UConn? Possibly, even though they have NEVER LOST A FINAL FOUR OR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME EVER. Thabeet will have to step out on Suton, leaving us open to drive into the paint. On the other end, I think Suton will be able to contain Thabeet. He hasn't been committing a lot of fouls, so that isn't an issue. We will have to have a fantastic shooting performance like we did tonight. If we shoot like we did against Kansas, we'll lose. We were able to win before because we were good, and as they say, if you want to win beginning in the Elite 8, you need to be good and lucky.

Bracket Remorse

I just got done making my final edits to my bracket and I must say - I hate it. Now let's see where I've gone wrong:

-Trouble picking a 6/11 upset. The teams are a lot closer in talent and abilities than you'd think. But I really like Arizona St, WVU, and I think that VCU over UCLA is too obvious of a pick. I resigned myself to selecting 11 Utah St to beat 6 Marquette due to their injuries and the fact that I'd pick Mizzou to beat both of them - so who cares if I get it wrong. In fact, I am overrated the 6 seeds so much, I had all 3 of my surviving 6 seeds advancing to the sweet 16 until I thought better and gave Syracuse the nod over Arizona St.

-Easiest bracket to select: South. I like UNC and Oklahoma, I don't like Illinois or Gonzaga. I am probably making a mistake by putting Arizona St into the Sweet 16

-Most difficult bracket to select: East. I like Pitt all the way, but I don't really like anyone else. I made the mistake at first with selecting too much chalk.

-Best upset pick: Arizona over Utah. I think this will work opposite from the "team snubbed by the BCS loses their bowl game" principle. People don't think they should be in the tournament, so they win.

-Upset pick I was too chicken to make: Ohio State over Louisville. It was too risky for not enough pay off (I have Wake Forest going to the Final Four regardless). Plus, I think my judgement may be clouded.

-Conference I am overrating: Big East. Pitt! UConn! WVU! Syracuse! Louisville! You're all invited to my sweet 16!

Conference I am underrating: All of the mid-majors and minors. Western Kentucky is the only team from a non-major conference in my sweet 16. Ooops.

-Pick I am happiest with: Pitt wins the National Championship. I really like this team. They're fun to watch and they are very talented. I think they have the least amount of blemishes compared to the other top contenders.

-Best first round matchup: OSU vs. Siena. It seems like everyone is expecting Siena to win, but I think OSU proved a lot at the end of the season and in the Big 10 tournament.

-Most boring first round matchup: Missouri vs. Cornell. ZZZzzzzZZZzzz

-One final note: Did you catch the women's bracket? MSU is a #9 seed and, somehow, gets to play their first two round games. If they win game 1, they most likely face #1 seed Duke. They're going to let us play Duke, Joanne P's Duke team, at home?!

Ways to Improve the Lions

Since players are now "forgetting to show up to the combine in shape" in order to avoid having to play for the Lions, I have come up with some improvements on how to turn things around.

1. Officially change team name to "Devil Lions". Then, days before the season, remove "Devil" from name.

2. Sign Allen Iverson and bench him. Instant improvement.

3. Hold ceremony to mark the end of the Bobby Layne curse. Did he say they wouldn't win for 50 years, or IN 50 years? Either way, he was right.

4. Print a fake memo titled "QB Trade Possibilities" on Bronco letterhead and let it "accidentally" find its way to Jay Cutler. Then stock up on insulin.

5. Send expensive "wedding gift" to Giselle Bundschen-Brady.

6. Lobby NFL to expand the back of the endzone by 5 yards so "trick" QB rollout play will work.

Team Poisons

There is a poll up on ESPN right now - "Which of these players would you want as a teammate: Alex Rodriguez, Terrell Owens, or Manny Ramirez?" To me, this is a VERY easy decision. I was surprised, however, because my pick was not the top national selection.

By now, I'm sure you've selected your option. I would pick Manny, even though he caused Boston some headaches. Alex Rodriguez, however, was the top choice with 50% of the vote (Manny had 42% and TO received an unsurprising 8%). I am guessing because Manny and TO are thought to be more poisonous than A-Rod to team chemistry. While he may be immature at times, Manny is a winner. I am not sure that Boston would have won 2 championships without him and I'm not sure the Dodgers would've made the playoffs without him. He is by far one of the best sluggers in the league right now and hasn't faced steroid allegations. A-Rod's offenses may seem to affect his teammates less, but he doesn't contribute anywhere near as much as Manny. Plus, there are the reports that his Yankee teammates initially hated him and created the nickname "A-Fraud". Manny, on the other hand, has really good relationships many of his teammates (although I concede, not all). While Boston may have had to deal with "Manny being Manny", they also must thank him for 2 championships.

Hope

The last year Michigan State had 5 losses in the regular season was 2004-05. That was also the last time we went to the Final Four. In fact, every year, for the past 10 years, when we have had 5 or fewer losses in the regular season, we've made it to the Final Four.

Wedding Update

Stacey was very smart when we began the wedding planning process. I want to be very involved and help make the decisions, but there are some things I just can't get excited about. She gave me an out - whenever she asked my opinion on something, "I don't care" was an acceptable response. I think so far, I have had to use that less than 5 times. It has been a busy two months - keep in mind the normal wedding planning length is 12 months. We're doing it in 9.

Bridal Shows
I got a lot of compliments from vendors on the fact that I showed up. It's great when my mere presence earns me brownie points! It was fun to taste all of the different cakes. We're going to be at a crossroads because I personally prefer ones with fruit in the middle (especially raspberries) and Stacey doesn't. There is so much b.s. out there you can buy for your reception. I think we've done a pretty good job of deciding what we want and what crap we don't need. The most scandalous vendor was a semi-nude photoshoot that a bride can complete for a "wedding night present" for her husband. I would just be uncomfortable if I got that knowing someone was taking dirty photos of her. Anyway...

Registering
Getting to play with a scanning gun and picking out stuff for other people to buy us? I'm there. I felt a little discriminated when we went to Macy's because the woman was looking at Stacey 75% of the time and the registration sheet asked for the bride's info - the grooms was optional. Again, Stacey knows me too well - she gave me a list and let me cross off the stuff I didn't care about shopping for and picked them out herself. Picking out the bedroom and bathroom stuff was pretty difficult to decorate a house we don't have. But thee most frustrating thing about trying to decorate was that everything is chocolate brown and pastel blue.

Dress Shopping
Obviously I wasn't there while she bought the dress, but it did spend a week in my closet... in the middle of my clothes. I estimate the number of times she has tried it on so far at 6. While I wasn't there for the dress purchasing, I did venture to David's Bridal to look at bridesmaid dresses. That, by far, has the scariest part to date. It was a Sunday afternoon, which according to her bridal magazines is the busiest time of the week. Imagine approximately 30-50 bridezillas, each with a stressed out mom and/or friend, and maybe 1 other guy there. Stacey showed me the options and I approved. It also gave me the chance to make the suggestion I am most proud of - the flower girl's dress. We didn't want to have her in a white dress (someone wants to be the ONLY one in white) and the dress doesn't come in our color (serene). I recommended that we put her in a light blue dress with the serene sash and she approved. Luckily, we made it out of there before I had an anxiety attack.

Where we go from here
The good thing is we're not even close to being burnt out yet. We are very close to signing a reception place. Once that is done, we will finally be "on schedule" with the wedding planning. The next big step is booking the honeymoon. Stacey is spending the weekend getting quotes from photographers, flower places, videographers, etc. Then we have to look over the guest lists and make cuts. I think we should take what will be an uncomfortable situation and make it fun - turn it into a fantasy draft or make it into a March Madness bracket.

Originality

I wake up this morning to peruse the sports websites. cnnsi.com and espn.com had the same exact photo of Thabeet falling over a crouched DeJuan Blair. Sports Illustrated's headline was "The Bigger They Are" and ESPN's, no joke, was "Harder They Fall". Ridiculous.

By the way, I am still not believing the hype that Pitt will make the Final Four. I just can't after how much of their kool-aid I was drinking last year.

Alex Rodriguez is a scum, but Michael Phelps is not

That pretty much says it. Post done.

I guess I should elaborate. Let me start by saying I don't blame A-Rod for testing positive for steroids - a very large percentage of baseball players were, so why make him the lead witch in the hunt (that goes for Barry Bonds as well). However, nobody else said they didn't take steroids because they felt unmatched by any of the other players. When the report came out, he didn't admit to it, but instead told reporters they would have to speak to the union. After conferring with his legal team, PR team, and Madonna, he decided to have a "come to Jesus" moment where he feels so bad about what he did and what kids think of him. He wants to spread the word about how bad steroids are and regain our respect! He's such an ingenuine schmuck. After the affair with Madonna, "A-Fruad" story in Joe Torre's book, and now the steroid report, it is not a good year to be him. By the way, finding out yet another former Ranger was on steroids pretty much answers the question of whether or not Pudge was.

So where do we go from here? I like the idea of releasing all 104 people who tested positive in 2003 so the focus isn't solely on A-Rod, but they can't do that. Two wrongs don't make a right. Now that he's made his half-assed, scripted apology, it's time to move on. There were a lot of players in that era on steroids. We can't punish them now because there weren't rules back then. If you are a baseball reporter and you don't want to send Bonds or A-Rod to the hall of fame, then don't send anyone from this era. I hate that Jose Canseco, once again, looks like the most honest, truthful person in all of this. We need to move on from the steroids talk, though.

The other scandal right now is Michael Phelps marijuana use. I want to give credit to Mike right now who said last summer we needed to give him a free pass for whatever stupid thing he gets in trouble for this year. I can understand Kellogg's decision to pull their endorsement. If the story received too much press, that was the only option they had. However, the whole story wreaks of racism and sports bias.

Recently, Super Bowl MVP Santonio Holmes was invited to do the "I'm going to Disney World" commercial and was the guest of honor at their parade. Holmes was also cited for possession of marijuana 3 months ago. He has also been arrested several times for disorderly conduct and domestic violence. If Kellogg's felt they had to pull their endorsement due to their youth appeal, Disney CERTAINLY should have withheld theirs. It isn't unprecedented either - remember Disney used Trent Dilfer as the face of the Raven's Super Bowl win instead of Ray Lewis due to his legal disputes.

I believe Phelps and Holmes were treated differently by the companies and the media because we "expect" that black athletes and football players use marijuana because that is the "culture" that they come from. However, a white swimmer should "be a better role model". The whole story has strong undertones of prejudicial beliefs. To not hold Holmes to the same standards that we hold Phelps is saying that we don't expect as much out of him due to the color of his skin or the sport he plays. Someone like James Harrison, Ben Roethlisberger, or Hines Ward should have been used for their commercial, not Holmes.

espn.com Boycott

I am officially beginning my boycott of ESPN.com. I am sick of their slow website that makes me watch an ad every time I want to see a new page. It will be hard, but there won't really be anything to miss except Bill Simmons. Instead, I will try to rely on cnnsi.com. I challenge you both to do the same.

So let me get this straight: we just hired a defensive coordinator who was 31st in YPG Allowed (ahead of only Detroit) and 29th in PPG Allowed. Then, we hired a guy whose team was 24th in Yards Per Game and 28th in Points Per Game last year as our offensive coordinator. This is going to be awesome.

Book Report

"Moneyball" Michael Lewis
Far and away the best sports book I've ever read. It cronicals a season with Billy Beane paired with chapters on the development of statistical analysis in baseball. The structure was similar to the way Moby Dick alternated between chapters of the novel and the history of whaling. It was interesting to read it years after it was written with the knowledge of each player's success or failure. For example, they discuss that year's draft class with players such as Nick Swisher and Jeremy Bonderman. I felt like he was very sympathetic to Beane, but still painted a fairly honest picture of him. The best part of the book were the behind the scenes trade negotiations.

"The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" Michael Lewis
I really enjoy Michael Lewis as a writer, so I figured this one would be good as well. Blind Side is the story of Michael Oher's introduction to football. Oher is a left tackle at Ole Miss and projected top 15 pick in this year's draft. The book not only serves to tell his story, but also explain how left tackles are paid as well as QBs and on occasion, even better (a fact I didn't know beforehand). It follows the same structure as Moneyball, but less dramatically. While Moneyball followed two intertwined story archs, Blind Side doesn't follow a strict timeline of how left tackles grew in importance. Oher was a very quiet, poor, black kid from Memphis who ended up being adopted by a rich white family. He never really attended school until his junior year and had never played football until that point either. The family that took Oher in seems very noble and honest, but I still question their intentions. At one point, Oher asks himself whether they would have taken him in had he not been athletically gifted and I feel like that question is still unresolved. I definitely recommend reading it before the draft to learn the interesting story behind one of the top picks.

"God Save the Fan: How Preening Sportscasters, Athletes Who Speak in the Third Person, and the Occasional Convicted Quarterback Have Taken the Fun Out of Sports (And How We Can Get It Back)" Will Leitch
Yep, that's really the title. If you've ever been to the website deadspin.com, this guy is the creator. It isn't surprising that the writer is a blogger since the chapters are fairly short and random. I feel like he took some of his favorite posts and tried to combine them to make this book. While many of them were funny, he lacks focus - at some points, it is just a collection of rants. He divides the book into Players, Owners, Media, and Fans. He is the most vengeful about ESPN, which is understandable because as a website owner, they are his primary competition. I agree that ESPN is kind of the Walmart of the sports industry and there are a lot of things that are wrong with them. But he comes off as a know it all and a sports elitist. Overall, it's funny, but definitely not worth buying. He does get the title for best cover. It's a foam hand with the middle finger sticking up.

"The Education of a Coach" David Halberstam
This is the Bill Belichik book. It's horrible. Absolutely horrible. More boring than you'd think. I don't feel like I know Belichik any more than I did before. I only read about half of it because I couldn't force myself to read the rest.

Fun With NBA Salaries

I am working on a different post, but I wanted to post a little NBA Salary quiz. I love that they post this information on the Team Roster pages on ESPN's website. Completely unnecessary. Anyway, DON'T Cheat!

The highest paid player on the OKC Thunder has the smallest salary compared to the top earner from every other team. How much do they make?
Bonus Point: Who is it?
Half point: name two members of the Thunder other than Kevin Durant (It's ok - I couldn't)

Who is the highest paid player in the NBA?

Who is the highest paid player on the Cavs?

Of these 4 Pistons, who has the highest salary - Rodney Stuckey, Jason Maxiell, Antonio McDyess, Walter Herrmann?

Danny Granger is averaging 26.5 PPG for the Indiana Pacers. Mike Dunleavy comes off the bench to replace Granger. How many Danny Grangers does it take to equal the salary of 1 Mike Dunleavy (rounded to the nearest whole number)?

Last year’s #1 overall pick, Derrick Rose, makes roughly the same amount of money as which of these present or former Piston veterans? Mehmet Okur, Grant Hill, Darko Milicic, Kwame Brown, Tayshaun Prince
Bonus point: To the nearest 100,000, how much does Derrick Rose make?

Bowl Mania **UPDATE**

**********UPDATE***************
With my confidence picks, I am abysmal 3-5 heading into the BS National Championship Game. My other picks are a very weak 13-12, so I need Florida to win just to break even. So here are the new rules:

-Always go against the team that was "left out of the BCS" (Texas Tech and Boise St in this case). I think the BCS commissioner pays off the refs to make it look like they got the teams right.
-Don't pick the ACC over the SEC (Georgia Tech, BC)



Predictions in order of my confidence level (most confident first)
Georgia over MSU
I know our team the best and I hate to say it, but we haven't played competitively against a good team all year. We barely beat two ok teams (Wisconsin and Iowa). Georgia has underperformed against lofty preseason expectations and the game is a short drive for their fans. Plus, their QB likely will use this game as the final shining moment for his draft resume. Remember BC last year?
Texas Tech over Ole Miss
I really hope they take it out on Ole Miss.
USC over Penn St
Adding to the "Big 10 is a weak conference argument"...
Texas over OSU
And putting an exclamation point on it. We have some of the toughest match ups for the top of our conference. I think it is funny to hear Buckeyes rationalizing that their team hasn't been a big game embarrassment for the past few years.
Boise St over TCU
Why are they still letting Boise St play a weak ass schedule and still go undefeated every year?
Hawaii over Notre Dame
I think they're trying to express the termination process for Charlie Weis.
Alabama over Utah
I hate Nick Saban. Enough said.
Florida over Oklahoma
As much as the BCS sucks, I think they really did get it right - these are the two best teams in the country, even if Texas beat Oklahoma. It's going to be an exciting game.
Cincinnati over Virginia Tech
Really? We're still allowing the ACC and Big East BCS games?

And the rest nobody cares about...
Ball St over Tulsa
Connecticut over Buffalo
ECU over Kentucky
Clemson over Nebraska
Iowa over South Carolina
Georgia Tech over LSU
Minnesota over Kansas
BC over Vanderbilt
Oregon St over Pittsburgh
Houston over Air Force
Oklahoma St over Oregon
Rice over Western Michigan
Nevada over Maryland
Missouri over Northwestern
Rutgers over NC State
Louisiana Tech over Northern Illinois
Cal over Miami
Florida St over Wisconsin
West Virginia over North Carolina
Central Michigan over Florida Atlantic
Troy over Southern Miss
BYU over Arizona
South Florida over Memphis
Fresno St over Colorado St
Wake Forest over Navy

College Football Review - aka Annual BCS Complaint

Everyone is upset with the BCS, again. Instead of posting a rant (thanks Mike!), I wanted to break it down and provide my suggestions for fixing ALL of college football's problems, not just the BCS. First, let's look at why it is ridiculous that Oklahoma is going to the Big 12 Championship.

1. The obvious - Texas beat Oklahoma
2. Texas was ranked ahead of Oklahoma last week - They both won this week, so why is Oklahoma now better than Texas?
3. Oklahoma has choked in BCS Bowls - If the Big 10 is going to be penalized by OSU's back-to-back choke jobs (Penn State only has 1 loss but is not included in any national championship discussion), why isn't Oklahoma? They've lost 4 straight BCS games, including 2 National Championships, by an average score of 42-26.
4. The BCS is not intended to decide conference championship teams - The BCS standings was the final tiebreaker between Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech to represent the Big 12 South in the Big 12 Championship game. However, according to the official BCS website, the 3 purposes of the BCS standings are: 1. Selecting the teams that will participate in the national championship game, 2. Determining any other automatic qualifiers (to the BCS games), 3. Establishing the pool of eligible teams for at-large selection.

What will make things REALLY interesting would be if Oklahoma somehow loses to Missouri. Of course they would send Texas, but how can they justify sending yet another team to the National Championship game that didn't win their own conference??

The BCS is philosophically flawed - last week, MSU was ranked 19th. They didn't play a game and 4 teams ranked higher than us lost. Where are we this week? Two spots lower (19 to 21). How did we get worse? While I recognize the change in ranking is meaningless to us, it is more proof that the rankings don't make sense.

The Big 10 has a competitive disadvantage because we don't have a conference championship game (and therefore end the season earlier). On the flip side, it's not fair that in some stronger conferences, like the SEC and Big 12, have 12 teams fighting for one, possibly two, spots while the very weak Big East has 8 teams fighting for one guaranteed spot. This year, Cincinnati and Boston College/Virginia Tech will have BCS games while Texas Tech won't. Neither will Boise St and Ball St because they play in the wrong conference. So here's what we need to do to solve all of the issues.

1. Missouri is added to the Big 10, which can now have a conference championship game.
Missouri would fit in as a mid-upper tier football team and a mid-lower tier basketball team. I would arrange the two divisions as such:
Big 10 North
Michigan
Michigan State
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Illinois
Northwestern

Big 10 South
Ohio State
Penn State
Purdue
Indiana
Missouri
Iowa

2. Boise St is added to the Big 12 to replace Missouri.
They have demonstrated year after year that they can compete. Instead of listening them whine about not having a chance at a national championship, lets put them in a real conference and see how they perform. Their crazy offenive plays bring a lot of excitement to the Big 12 - remember the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma?

3. Utah and Hawaii are added to the Pac 10 to make it a 12 team conference so a championship game is created.
4. Notre Dame is forced to join the Big East, like it is in basketball.
5. Temple is moved to the Big East, leaving the MAC East with the proper number of 6 teams.
6. Two other random teams are added to the Big East so they have 12 teams and a conference championship game as well.
7. FBS (Division I-A) teams are no longer allowed to play FCS (Division I-AA) teams.
8. Each team plays the other 5 teams in their division, 3 other teams in their conference, 3 non-conference games, and 1 bye week. If we followed this system this year, conference championships could have taken place the weekend of Nov 22nd.
9. BCS rankings are no longer released until the end of the regular season.
10. An 8 team playoff system, consisting of the top 8 ranked teams at the end of the season, is created. Since each conference would have a Championship game, the conference champions would receive a natural boost in the rankings since they won a game after the regular season ended. They would not be guaranteed a playoff spot, however. Under this plan, Big East Champion Cincinnati would not be in the playoffs and they don't deserve to be. If this was in place this year, the first round would have been Thanksgiving weekend. The second round could either be this weekend or on January 1st. The championship game would remain where it is.

Now here's why they would never agree to this. And I promise the real answer has NOTHING to do with their players' academic schedules.

a. While no fan would miss a game versus the directional schools, the universities would miss out on a lot of revenue.
b. Under any kind of playoff system, they will lose sponsorship revenue. How could FedEx/Citi/AllState/Tostitos sponsor individual playoff games with the same effectiveness as the BCS games? Lost sponsorship revenue equals lost revenue for the universities in those games.
c. Right now they have over a month to sell upwards of 70,000 expensive tickets to fans and alumni for one bowl game. A playoff system makes it more difficult to mobilize fans, unless the playoff games take place at one of the universities. If that's the case, good luck coordinating a game in Columbus or Ann Arbor in December/January. Plus, the cities that host the BCS games would lobby hard to keep the games and the tourism boost that comes with it.
d. There's still the issue of getting the television network that owns the rights to the BCS games to switch to a playoff system. For them, the system isn't broke because the ratings are great. So why would they want to risk changing that?
e. Finally, people who are anti-playoff will always argue that no matter how many teams you include, there will be controversy over who was left out of the playoff.

As you can tell, I believe it's all about the money. The people in charge of the system are making a great deal off of the BCS games, so until someone can convince them that they can make more money from a playoff system, it's not going to change. I just don't want to be around when we're the team that gets shorted.

(Side note: keep in mind, Division 1-A, or FBS, is the only NCAA sport without a playoff system and is the only one, therefore, where an "NCAA Championship" is not awarded. It's the "BCS National Championship" with the ugly, crystal, insert-some-company-name-trophy.)

What?!

Let me be the first to say it: that 24 "movie" was crap. It was boring and it didn't tell us anything. I thought it was supposed to tell us what happened to Jack between last season (which by my recollection was in 1996) and the next. So what did it tell us? Jack hid in a fake African country playing missionary worker. I guarantee you that 90% of what you saw tonight will be ignored and forgotten after the first 20 mins of the next season.

The thing that bothers me is that they are committing the same errors as before by introducing characters, trying to get you to care about them, and then killing them off.

I'm about ready to give up.

FF Analysis Part 1

DISCLAIMER: This post is a compilation of my research based on Mike's Fantasy Football post. Reading some of this information may upset you, especially if you're Mike. This post is not intended to boast about my team's performance this season, so don't call me a dick. This is part one of my two part analysis. The next part will attempt to analyze each person's skill.

Since I had the least amount of "Fantasy Points Against", I assumed that means that I had the easiest "strength of schedule". I wanted to see how every other team would have handled my schedule. Not surprising, Mike's record would have improved the most. I am proud to say, while 4 people would have improved their record, nobody would have had as many wins as I have.

(Side note: Even though I am comparing each person's weekly fantasy score against the score of my opponent for that week, I kept each person's result against me the same. So, for example, I played Canadian Beasters in week 1. He scored 70.98 points and I won. Therefore, week one counts as a loss for him. Wicked Weasels beat me in week 3, so that counts as a win for him. Sorry if that's too confusing.)

Week 1 was the only week where the results would have been the exact same. There were two weeks (2 and 6) that I won, but would have lost had I played anyone else. In week 3, I lost and would have lost to anyone since I was lowest in points that week. I lead the league in scoring in week 7. Below are the rankings in order of how many more wins each person would have gained.

+5 Cumming from Behind 6-4
+2 Wicked Weasels 6-4
+1 Kevinexorable 7-3
+1 WooHoo Still Last 4-6
e I Miss Aaron Rowand 6-4
e Zoo Tycoons 5-5
-1 Canadian Beasters 6-4

Looking at these results, I thought if Dave had fewer wins by playing my schedule, perhaps his schedule was easier than mine. Perhaps I could even be 9-1 with his schedule! So I ran the numbers again with his schedule.

+6 Cumming from Behind 7-3
+2 Zoo Tycoons 7-3
+1 Wicked Weasels 5-5
e I Miss Aaron Rowand 6-4
e WooHoo Still Lost 3-7
-1 Kevinexorable 5-5
-2 Boston Massacre 6-4

Ok, so I was wrong - I had the easiest schedule since it benefitted 4 people compared to 3 and lead to a net gain of 8 wins versus a net gain of 6 with Dave's schedule. Obviously the most interesting thing about this difference is that Mike would have EVEN MORE wins with Dave's schedule and would be in 3rd place right now in our league. I think it is also interesting that Kevin would benefit by my schedule, but would be worse off with Dave's. Finally, while there are 2 teams in each scenario that would not result in a net gain or loss of wins, only Amber's team would have won and lost the exact same games under Dave's schedule.

Return to the Randomness

I just saw an ad on the Big 10 Network that said "Where the Big Moments live". The clip they showed was a 50 yard game winning touchdown run that a Purdue player made with only a minute left in the game. The opponent was Central Michigan. Really Big 10 Network?

http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/rank?versionId=2&listId=92
How does Billy Donovan make this list and Izzo doesn't??? If we convinced the Flintstones to return for another year (plus snuck Mateen in somehow), they would have won the National Championship in 01 as well.

Speaking of Izzo, I may be committing blasphemy, but I think I might like Mark Dantonio more than him right now. That's not a knock on Izzo, but praise for Dantonio. He seems fully committed to the program (unlike Saban) and is very respectable (unlike John L) and brings great discipline to the team (unlike Bobby Williams). Wait, Izzo is all of those things and won us a championship. So it may be going overboard to like him more than Izzo, but I really respect his leadership and dedication. He has a Belichik solemnity to him minus the arrogance.
during the U-M game, my sister (who is a U-M convert due to her husband) texted me to gloat after U-M went up 21-14, my response text was "Pride comes before the fall". I'm sure she didn't know what that meant, but I love when he said that during last year's postgame press conference. I fully admit I thought it was a very questionable move to bring a guy that went slightly over .500 at Cincinnati to MSU, but he has proved me wrong. Seeing the contrast between him and the very slimey Rich Rodriguez makes me appreciate his devotion to tradition and respect. Ok, enough of my mancrush.

I think AOL has had the biggest demise of any person, thing, business, or country in the past 10 years. It's almost completely useless and yet it's still popular - it's the Paris Hilton of the internet. I don't know too many people who still Instant Message and there are many ISPs that are cheaper. I'm annoyed with it because I have tried many times to delete my aol e-mail account, but they make it impossible.

Me: "Whenever I would say something was "so weird" my old roommates would respond "how weird is it?" like you were setting up a joke. Then if you don't tell a joke, they always respond "I don't get it".
My Co-worker: "Wow... that's annoying. How long did you live with them again?"
Me: "Two years"
I miss many things about living with you guys, but that is not one of them.

Girl wearing a jersey at a game - cute
Girl wearing a jersey at the bar - acceptable
Girl wearing a football jersey around the mall - kinda trashy
Girl wearing a Bengals jersey around the mall - super trashy

Facebook is going to be very awkward once our generation starts to die. It's going to be like virtual memorials. How would someone else delete your account?

The Thanksgiving Day game has the potential to feature the undefeated Titans against the completely defeated Lions, although it will not come down to that. The Lions will defeat the Tampa Bay Bucs on the 23rd. It is more likely that the Titans will be undefeated, although I'm not confident they get past the Jags on the 16th. What concerns me more is that we may be 2-3 years away from losing the Thanksgiving game. The "why does Detroit own Thanksgiving" argument keeps creeping up earlier and earlier. It used to start that week, but now it is coming up on sports radio at the beginning of November. If we continue to lose, we will lose Thanksgiving. We're to the point now that home games are blacked out because we can't sell enough tickets. And the NFL isn't that devoted to tradition. After all, the Cleveland Browns are in Baltimore because the Colts are in Indianapolis. Notice that NOBODY questions why America's team is owed the other game. It's because when Dallas is bad, it is only for a season or two. By the way, I predict the Lions finish 2-14 with wins over the Bucs and Vikings.

OH - WELL

This is what I heard all day.


This is how I felt after the game.


Then I remembered this BS.


And I remembered why I love that Mark Dantonio is our coach.


We won't need this to beat U-M next week.

Big Business

I love books on business and business philosophy. After I read the autobiography of one of the top businessmen in the past few decades, Jack Welch (GE), I was excited to read a negative take on business. I picked up "Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Swallow Citizens Whole" by Benjamin Barber.

Before I give my thoughts, you can understand the book much more by watching his appearance on the Colbert Report.


His writing is very dense and he comes across as elitist and arrogant, but he does make a few good points. His arguments trail off on many tangents; I think he wanted to show off how many philosophers he could reference. It was hard for me to keep focused, so I rushed through skimming the rest of the book. Which is ironic since the first passage I came to argued that we want things to be "easy" with instant gratification rather than taking the time to appreciate things.

For example, when bashing fast food, he argues:

"But dining is about sociability, eating as ritual and food as symbol, with the dining table as a kind of secular altar to the family home and hearth. Today, the TV or the computer screen have taken over the ritual function of the household altar, and eating is solitary and passive."

Again, the irony is that I ate McDonalds for lunch and I am discussing this on a computer instead of over a phone call or in person. I agree with his romantic outlook on socializing; we should only use fast food in moderation not only for the health benefits, but because it makes us lazy and takes away from the important socializing that occurs at a family dinner table. But I blame the family that is not taking the time to communicate, cook regular dinners, or exercise - not the corporation.

The next part I stopped on was extremely relevant for the current economic crisis. He argues that the "infantilist ethos" conditions Americans to spend more and more and the banking system takes advantage of that.

"Even the savings banks from whom we might expect to receive encouraging messages about the public benefits of saving have grown schizophrenic, peddling credit and debit cards rather than savings accounts, joining in the chorus of infantilizing voices instructing people to spend - spend beyond what they have... And so...producers pursue their rational individual interests as sellers, consumers pursue their interests as buyers, and presto, consumer capitalism flourishes right up till the moment the national economy fails, and with it, capitalism itself."

He offers many statistics about how credit card companies and loan officers take advantage of people with poor credit by offering them high interest loans and credit cards despite their risk. People, like Sarah Palin during the VP debate, have placed blame on what they call "predatory lending". But I think people need to exercise more personal responsibility. I am very careful about my money and I don't spend more than I can afford. The blame should go to the individuals (and to some extent the banks for making bad investments) but not the marketers for trying to create desire for their products.

In the interview he bashes bottled water, a "manufactured need" for Americans, when people in 3rd world countries period. I agree that some people confuse needs with wants and don't appreciate what they have and companies play a part in that because their goal is to create need for their products. But what about the philanthropic programs that some bottled water companies fund, with part of their profits, to help provide those 3rd world countries with water? Evian, for example, has the "Evian Water Protection Institute" to "foster knowledge on the sustainable management of water resources and help the world's populations preserve their wetlands." (www.evian.com)

One chapter is devoted to brand identities.

"Branded lifestyles are not merely superficial veneers on deeper identities but have to some degree become subsitute identities - forms of acquired character that have the potential to go all the way down to the core. They displace traditional ethnic and cultural traits and overwhelm the voluntary aspects of identity we choose for ourselves."

Some people definitely let brand identity replace their own identity - they are called superficial teenagers and yuppies. He quotes someone who despises these consumers who "sip double-tall, nonfat lattes, chat on cell phones, and listen to NPR while driving their immaculate SUVs to Pottery Barn to shop for $48 titanium spatulas." I know people like this; they are superficial and materialistic. But those people would be that way regardless because that is their personality. More power to the marketers of those companies for doing their job and making those people buy overpriced spatulas!

For normal people, though, brand identities do play a small role. Starbucks is one of my favorite comfort foods - I get a mocha (fake coffee for people who don't like real coffee) whenever I'm having a really bad day at work or when I take a sick day, like today. There's something specific about the whole experience, not just the mocha itself, that is enjoyable. There's relaxing classical or jazz music playing, the cushioned chairs are deep and comfortable, the cup has a sophisticated appearance that makes it seem more like a special treat. That's all branding and it definitely affects the product - and I like it. That doesn't supercede my own identity, though. I am a caring, liberal, catholic, intelligent, forgetful, hard working person. Not a "Starbucks drinker".

My overall thought on the book is this: I agree with him that markets have created manufactured needs, developed poor spending habits in people, and implanted certain brand identities in our society. I place the blame, however, on the people with the poor spending habits or superficial attitudes because they allowed themselves to be "consumed". Now, not all businesses are honest and virtuous. But don't blame the marketers because they are just doing their job: differentiating their product, creating a brand, and establishing a need for their company in the market place.

Allow me to reintroduce myself

"I can't wait until September is over" - Me, on the middle of August

"Wake me up when September ends." - that Green Day song

I was the happier going into work today than any other morning for the past month. Work is starting to settle down a little, so I have the energy to finish every post I've started for the past 3 weeks. And here they are - as random as I can be!

My TV Show Power Rankings
1. The Office - I am glad that they are willing to have Jim and Pam get engaged instead of stretching it out... for now
2. I Love Money - Best guilty pleasure since the Hills started, my money is on Hoopz
3. Lost - It's not even on until February and it's STILL good enough to make this list
4. Heroes - it's starting off ok, but there are too many characters
5. How I Met Your Mother - An episode about searching for a burger? Come on and DO SOMETHING
6. Jon & Kate Plus 8 - Stacey's favorite, it's growing on me
7. Biggest Loser - There was a couple named Stacey and Adam! And they got kicked off the first week
8. The Hills - I haven't watched too much, but the argument with Spencer and Heidi's mom was great - the show is completely scripted, though
9. Amazing Race - eh, same old same old
379. Dancing with the Stars - There is NOTHING that would make me watch that show



Interesting Numbers
2004: 47, 72
2005: 69, 71
2006: 83, 95
2007: 95, 88
2008: 138, 74

Take a second and think about what those numbers mean. You may have guessed it already, but the first number is the salary, in millions, of the Detroit Tigers. The second is the number of wins that season. Do you think the Tigers are gonna cut some payroll next year?? Finding this from the Detroit Free press made me think. Game plan for the Tigers' off-season

I agree, let's talk about how the Tigers can turn things around. Obviously, the biggest need begins with a P and rhymes with bitching. Here are my suggestions:

- Top priority: Closer Second priority: Starting pitcher
- Don't pick up the club option on Edgar Renteria (they accomplished this yesterday -I swear I wrote that sentence two weeks ago)
- Don't resign Kyle Farnsworth (we get it, you don't want to play in Detroit. Did you have to go from a 3.65 ERA to a 4.48 to prove it?)
- Resign Fernando Rodney, but keep him as a late relief pitcher, not a closer.
- Resign Marcus Thames, Bobby Seay, Joel Zumaya, Zach Miner, Ryan Rayburn, Brent Clevlen, Armando Galarraga, Matt Joyce, and Clete Thomas (we don't need to completely overhaul the team)
- Sign Orlando Cabrera to Short (I know it won't happen, but I like his defense)
- Just sign anyone at Catcher - we don't need a good hitter

The opening day roster should look something like this:
C: Anyone
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Polanco
SS: Orlando Cabrera
3B: Inge
LF: Matt Joyce
CF: Granderson
RF: Ordonez
DH: Sheffield
SP: Verlander, Free agent, Bonderman (in May), Galarraga, Robertson



Getting Political
Let me preface the following with this: I will be voting for Barack Obama... because I can't vote for Hillary Clinton. And because the thought of Sarah Palin being that close to the presidency scares me. But in my opinion, I've heard much better quotes in favor of the Republicans lately. Here are a few quotes that are very telling about the current situation.

George Stephanopolous: "You were asked 'Is he (Barack Obama) ready?', you said 'I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is. The presidency is not something that lends itself to on the job training.'"
Joe Biden: "I think I stand by this statement"

"I would be honored to run with or against John McCain. I think the country would be better off." - Joe Biden

"I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House and Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002." - Hillary Clinton

"Now, our opponents tell us not to worry about their tax increases. They tell you they're not going to tax your family. No, they're just going to tax 'businesses.' So, unless you buy something from a business, like groceries or clothes or gasoline - or unless you get a paycheck from a business, a big business or a small business, don't worry, it's not going to affect you!" - Fred Thompson


Back to Baseball
How did we do with our predictions?

AL East
Pre-season: Red Sox
Mid-season: Red Sox
Mike: Yankees
AL Central
Pre-season: Indians
Mid-season: Tigers (my quote: "yes, I gave up on them a month ago and now I'm drinking the kool-aid again")
Mike: Indians
AL West
Pre-season: LA Angels
Mid-season: LA Angels
Mike: Mariners
AL Wild Card
Pre-season: Tigers
Mid-season: Rays
Mike: Red Sox
NL East
Pre-season: NY Mets
Mid-season: Phillies
Mike: Mets
NL Central
Pre-season: Brewers
Mid-season: Brewers
Mike: Cardinals
NL West
Pre-season: Diamondbacks
Mid-season: Diamondbacks
Mike: Padres
NL Wild Card
Pre-season: Cubs
Mid-season: Cubs
Mike: Dodgers

If you give 1 point for getting it correct, and a half point for mixing up a division winner and wild card, the final tally is:

ME: 2.5
MIKE: 2
KEVIN: 0


I will leave you with our ominous comments...

Mike: Before the Royals even swept the Tigers these last three games, did anyone else have a gut feeling that this year won't be that special? There's something deep down that is keeping me from being that excited about this Tiger's team.
Kevin: I don't know why, but I was more excited about last year's team than I am about this year's team.
Mike: Yes! I have that same exact feeling...Something is amiss...

Restore the Roar

Yesterday's monumental loss to the Falcons (down 21-0 against a QB who barely beat MSU 9 months ago???) inspired me to write about the travails of being a Lions fan. Call me a fairweather fan, but I have already begun to think about the top available players in the 2009 NFL Draft (Michael Crabtree, here we come!). Then I read this from Mitch Albom today in the Free Press and realized I'm not alone...

Somebody knock me out. Wake me up when this is over, if this -- meaning the 2008 Lions season -- is going to be as bad as it was in Atlanta on Sunday afternoon.
Before a half-empty stadium, in a city that has no expectations, against a rookie quarterback, against a rookie coach, against a team whose former star passer sits in a jail cell, the Lions had their butts handed to them.
By the Falcons? Somebody slap me. Atlanta is arguably the worst team in the NFL, but that argument has a new contender today. The Lions have no claim to being any better than worst. Not until they prove it.
"Don't be trying to write us off," defensive captain Cory Redding warned, after the 34-21 loss. "We're good. We just didn't show up today."

We didn't show up today. We're really talented and could win 10+ games. We're going to surprise everyone. I'm sick of the excuses and unfulfilled promises. A few weeks ago, Lions fans were named the 2nd to worst in the league (thanks Cardinals!). The article is here if you missed it: NFL Fan Rankings How can you blame us? The "Fire Millen" campaign died 2 years ago - and he's still there!! They have been trying to restore the roar since 1957, which gives them the 2nd longest championship drought in the NFL (thanks again Cardinals!)

Despite being one of the historically worst teams in the league, we have not had the top overall pick since 1980 - and that has hurt us. Since then, 16 different teams had the first pick (including 4 by the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts). 7 of those teams went on to win a Super Bowl (the Browns did it as the Ravens in 2001). Another 6 of those teams have played in (and lost) the Super Bowl sometime in those 28 years. The 3 remaining teams, by the way, are the Saints, Jets, and Texans. The Saints got as far as the 2006/07 NFC Championship game. The Jets now have Brett Favre, and Brett Favre is Brett Favre. And the Jets have possibly taken over as the best team in the AFC East overnight (anyone disagree??) The Texans are really new, but have shown glimpses of improvement.

We haven't had any number 1 picks since 1980, but we have had 6 Top 5 picks in that period. In fact, below are all of our top 5 picks since 1967. Just to dig the knife in further, I included some other 1st round picks we left on the board.
2007 - 2nd - Calvin Johnson Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis
2003 - 2nd - Charles Rogers If we had finished 1 spot worse, we'd have Carson Palmer, not his backup
2002 - 3rd - Joey Harrington Dwight Freeney, Donte' Stallworth
1997 - 5th - Bryant Westbrook Tony Gonzalez, Warrick Dunn
1989 - 3rd - Barry "Our Savior" Sanders
1988 - 3rd - Bennie Blades Michael Irvin
1980 - 1st - Billy Sims

Ouch. Too many misses (everyone but Sanders and Sims). Jury is still out on Calvin, of course, but he can't help our O-Line stop anyone nor can he keep Kitna for throwing into coverage. It seems like we get top picks in the weaker drafts (1988, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2007).

The best selection was Sanders (obviously) - nobody blamed him when he left. In fact, most fans felt bad for him for being on a team that would never give him a championship shot. We all were ok with him leaving for greener pastures and would have proudly rooted him on if he did make it to the Super Bowl.

We may be Hockeytown. We may play DEEETROIT BAAASKETBAAALLLL. But the only team that looks like it can restore the roar anytime soon are the Detroit Tigers.

Help Me Argue Against Stacey

Stacey and I FINALLY splurged and bought a 52" TV, surround sound speakers, and a tv stand on Sunday. I resisted my temptation to be cheap. We went to a local place that negotiates deals and it was well worth it - we got a ridiculous deal on all of it. Watching football is SO different. I found myself watching a repeat of the PSU vs. Coastal Carolina just to watch a football game. By the way, Lou Holtz is SCARY in HD.

I bring this up not to gloat, but because we had an interesting conversation while we were buying said TV. Stacey just got her full time job at the zoo (yay Stacey!) and that's partially why we're getting the TV now. It's also our Christmas present to each other (Merry Labor Day!). I mentioned to her how this is each of our first big purchase, but then realized my car would have actually been that first big purchase. Stacey argued that since I am leasing my car, it couldn't count as a "big purchase". I need your help with defeating her in this argument.

I feel it is a purchase because I decided to get a new car, did research on different models, and signed an agreement for 2 years on a car. I feel like for those 2 years, I own that car. I am responsible for anything that happens to it and nobody else is allowed to drive it. Stacey argued that under that logic my rent should be considered my first big purchase. I said that if I wanted to live on my own, it is a necessity to pay rent and that I share the building with other people. She doesn't think any of that should count as my first big purchase. I need your help - now argue!

Complete College Football Predictions

My football attention span may have been focused solely on our Fantasy Football draft last week, but today is the rebirth of my favorite sport – college football. There may have been games on Thursday, but college football doesn’t start until I see College Gameday. College students with stupid signs and Lee Corso putting on a mascot head – gotta love it. I love the analysis they bring from across the country, even though it is often small-sighted. Case in point: “It’s 87 degrees today in Pittsburgh – that’s an advantage for Pitt”. Really? They’re playing Bowling Green, which is only about 2-3 hours west. Their climates can’t be that different.

Nevertheless, I bring to you my complete predictions for college football – the best sport in the land. Last year was extremely exciting with App St over U-M and#1 and #2 changing hands week after week. Adding to my excitement today: I have no less than 6 channels to watch games on today (including the Big 10 Network) and one of the first things Stacey said this morning was “honey, do you want to go shopping for tvs tomorrow?” I love this woman. Enough talk – here’s my thoughts.

MSU Results
at Cal L
E Mich W
Fl Atl W
ND W
at Ind W
Iowa W
at NW L
OSU L
at Mich W
Wisc L
Purd W
at PSU L

MSU’s schedule will be tough. I know this sounds ridiculous with EMU and Florida Atlantic on the schedule, but the key is the stretch from NW to PSU. In that stretch, their 3 easiest games are on the road. They also play 4 of the 5 teams that they lost to during the regular season last year in a row (NW, OSU, U-M, Wisco). The highlight of the year will be defeating U-M for the first time since 2001. They don’t improve at all from last year, but they don’t take a step back and that’s important.

Big 10 Final Standings:
1. OSU
2. Wisconsin
3. Penn St
4. Illinois
5. Michigan
6. MSU
7. Purdue
8. Northwestern
9. Indiana
10. Iowa
11. Minnesota

Heisman
1. Tim Tebow, QB Florida – becomes first repeat Heisman since Archie Griffin
2. Sam Bradford, QB Oklahoma – very accurate – he may not have too much buzz now, but he will by the end of the season
3. BeanieWells, RB Ohio St – best back in the country
4. Michael Crabtree, WR Texas Tech – ridiculous talent – will be a top 5 pick in next year’s draft
5. Knowshon Moreno, RB Georgia – I don’t know too much about him, but Georgia is getting all of the hype right now
(Side note: Literally, as I typed this, Beanie Wells went down with a foot injury on my tv in the background. I don’t care – I’m sticking with this list!)

BCS Conference Champions
ACC: Virginia Tech
Big 10: Ohio State
Big East: Pittsburgh
Pac 10: USC
Big 12: Oklahoma
SEC: Florida
I ranked each of the conferences from top to bottom in terms of how competitive each will be. I know Mike hates to hear it and will completely disagree, but the SEC has the most elite teams. Only 3 of the 12 teams had non-winning records last year (compared to 3 in the Big 10 and Big East; and 5 in the Big 12, ACC, and Pac-10). They had the highest percentage of winning teams last season of any BCS conference. Argue that! Sorry, I got a little excited.

Here it goes - my NCAA Championship Game prediction. Don't kill me.

National Championship Game: Ohio State over Oklahoma
I swear, I am NOT turning into a Buckeye fan and I am not being a homer by saying this. They return the most talent from last year while playing in a weaker conference. They have a solid defense and a new weapon on offense in Terrelle Pryor. This year was the year that they have been admittedly targeting for years and they will finally win the National Championship.

Breaking Down the Draft

With the draft now complete, I wanted to give my favorite picks in each round. I swear I was modest.

Round 16 - 4th and Goal - Fred Taylor - Usually underrated, a solid last round pick
Round 15 - Zoo Tycoons - Bernard Berrian - supposed to be a key in the "hot pick" offense
Round 14 - I Miss Aaron Rowand - Seattle - always have a favorable schedule
Round 13 - Cumming From Behind - Chester Taylor - if anything happens to Petersen...
Round 12 - Kevinexorable - Michael Turner - someone has to score on Atlanta's team, right?
Round 11 - Me - Laurence Maroney - if nothing else, good trade bait
Round 10 - Wicked Weasels - Santana Moss - fairly consistent from one season to another
Round 9 - I Miss Aaron Rowand - Darren McFadden - reports from training camp have been great, remember what AP did last year?
Round 8 - Zoo Tycoons - Jake Delhomme - last year was an off-year, with more weapons and the way the NFC South changes so much he could be due for a big year
Round 7 - Kevinexorable - Santonio Holmes - should continue to improve and take over as Pitt's #1 go-to guy
Round 6 - Canadian Beasters - Willie Parker - I don't think injuries will be an issue
Round 5 - Me - Matt Hasselbeck - overlooked nationally, not as flashy but consistent
Round 4 - Cumming From Behind - Brandon Marshall - despite being out for 2 weeks, he will be top 2 among the other 7 WRs drafted this round
Round 3 - Cumming From Behind - Ben Roethlisberger - not too many questions about him this year
Round 2 - Kevinexorable - Reggie Wayne - least amount of doubt compared to all other WRs drafted that round (Moss, TO, Edwards)
Round 1 - push - the round went pretty much as expected except for 1 slot

Here's how it all shakes out...
4th and Goal - 1
Wicked Weasels - 1
Canadian Beasters - 1
I Miss Aaron Rowand - 2
Zoo Tycoons - 2
Me - 2
Kevinexorable - 3
Cumming from Behind - 3

After looking at everyone's team, I have to give Kevin credit. We have turned mocking his past teams into a pasttime and I am sure it can't be fun to watch his roster turn into the injury report. I really like his wide receivers and his running backs are solid (if Gore works out for you, I'll be pissed). I have to rip you for drafting Vince Young though. He had almost TWICE as many INTs as TDs!!!

I like a lot of Mike's picks, but I think you chose a 2004 fantasy team in some cases (Warner, Holt, Driver, Williams, Shockey). You have to let me know how you got that championship belt to show up on your team helmet.

What Else

There's only 10 days until THE day - I think we're sufficiently dorky enough to know what I'm referring to. I sat down a few days ago with some buffalo wings, the Sportscenter mock draft and had 2 mock drafts of my own. It was great. I learned one things: I'm overrating Larry Johnson. I know this because I was the one to draft him in both leagues.

All of this built up to my single best draft ever. Let's take a minute and review my ridiculous team and how it came about.
QB: Tom Brady, Jeff Garcia
WR: Terrell Owens, Plaxico Burress, Jerricho Cotchery, Donald Driver, Ted Ginn Jr
RB: Jamal Lewis, Laurence Maroney, Selvin Young, Julius Jones
TE: Tony Gonzalez, Donald Lee
K: David Akers
DEF: Baltimore

...and I picked 8th.

1. By ignoring RBs, I was able to stay ahead of everyone else.
This year's RB crop is LT, 5 guys, and everyone else. If I'm picking 8th, do I really want top pick of "everyone else"? By passing on RB early, I was able to draft the first QB and 2nd WR. The next 3 RBs taken after I took TO were Larry Johnson (I resisted the urge), Brandon Jacobs, and Ryan Grant. The next 3 WRs taken after I finally took Jamal Lewis were Torry "shows up to the game" Holt, Chad Johnson, and Brandon Marshall (automatically out 3 games due to suspension).

2. Once everyone transitioned over to QB/WR, I was still able to get top tier RBs in round 3 and 5.
After I picked TO in round 2, there were only 4 RBs taken before I picked Jamal Lewis 15 picks later and only another 4 before I picked Maroney 20 picks later. Again, the talent of QBs and WRs was declining much quicker than RBs at that point.

3. I waited on TE, DEF, and K.
Gates and Witten went in round 4 while I was still trying to fill my WR and RB needs. After I took 2 RBs and WRs, I knew it was time to get a decent TE in Tony Gonzalez in round 6. Unfortunately, I couldn't take Dallas Clark because of bye week issues. The first defense was taken in round 6 (San Diego). I was the last person to draft a defense, but was able to get Baltimore in round 12. Same thing for kicker, when I drafted Akers in the last round. There just isn't enough difference between kickers.

4. I took a mix of everyone else
With my bench players, I took a mix of people who should have great years due to roster changes (Cotchery, Selvin Young, Ginn Jr.) and players with something to prove after the Favre saga (Driver, Garcia).

I can't wait until a week from Tuesday to do it all over again.

It's like Christmas Eve

In a few hours, football comes out of hibernation. I see great things this season: the Fantasy title belt returning home to me, the Lions winning 13 games, and a continuation of the Brett Favre drama.

And because it needs to be posted again...



NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
Philadelphia Eagles
NY Giants
Washington Redskins

I see the Giants having a stereotypical letdown season after winning the Super Bowl - only to 7-9, but out of the playoffs. I think the Cowboys are too talented to not win 12-13 games again this season.

NFC North
Minnesota Vikings
Green Bay Packers
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears

Keep in mind these standings are under the assumption Favre goes to Minnesota. If he doesn't, it will be a toss-up between Minnesota and Green Bay for the division.

NFC South
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carolina Panthers
Atlanta Falcons

I REALLY like the Saints this year - you'll see how much in just a bit. I think they have a huge bounce back year.

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
Seattle Seahawks
St Louis Rams
San Francisco 49ers

I think the surprise of the season will be the Cardinals. The Seahawks have been dominant in this division for a while, but they are starting to age - kind of like the Pistons. I have a lot of confidence that Matt Leinart will step up this year - he should with as many offensive weapons as they have.

AFC East
New England Patriots
NY Jets
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins

Patriots continue to dominate in a weak division. Next...

AFC North
Pittsburgh Steelers
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Baltimore Ravens

Everyone LOVES the Browns, but I last year was a special blip. I say they go 6-10 or 7-9 in what will once again be a competitive division with a tough schedule (they play the NFC East and the AFC South).

AFC South
Indianapolis Colts
Houston Texans
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans

I also see the Jaguars to regress after last year. I don't think they have the offensive talent to win week after week.

AFC West
San Diego Chargers
Denver Broncos
Oakland Raiders
Kansas City Chiefs

I think this division will have improved from last year - word out of training camp is that Darren McFadden is progressing very quickly.

AFC Wild Card: Denver Broncos, Cincinnati Bengals
NFC Wild Card: Philadelphia Eagles, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

AFC Champions: New England Patriots
NFC Champions: New Orleans Saints

Super Bowl Champions: New England Patriots

I've heard some people say that they will play all season with a chip on their shoulder because they lost the Super Bowl last year. I like that reasoning, but I like their talent even more. I think they are too stacked to not win it all this year.

Fantasy Players I Like
Well, let's not give away all of my thoughts. That would just be silly.

Game Over

I woke up this morning and began perusing the news. Then I found an article that told me that the 2008 election is over and Barack Obama just won.

The article was titled "New McCain ad calls Obama 'The One'". I was curious about this, so I checked it out on youtube.



Surely that has to be a joke. I mean, yes, Barack Obama has been too preachy and McCain supporters will completely agree with the ad, but that will be a huge turnoff to undecided voters. The poor production quality and odd looking "paid for..." at the end made me think it was fake. Plus, don't they have to say "I'm John McCain and I approve this message" at the end? I was 90% sure it was a joke until I visited johnmccain.com and saw it front and center on his website.

I feel like we're going to hear about the infamous 'The One' ad for months and that people will point to this as one of the final nails in John McCain's campaign. This is coming from someone who proudly displays a photo of himself near McCain at a 2000 rally and was upset I wasn't 12 months older so I could have voted for McCain in the primaries that year. I think that McCain is listening to too many strategists and selling himself out in search of the presidency this time around. Am I overreacting or did this ad just seal the election for Obama?

Titletown

I know it is ESPN's excuse to fill time during the summer, and thus cannot be taken too seriously, but I want to debate Title Town. I guess they decided to start this debate because nobody understands "Who's Now?" to this day. If you had something better to do at 6pm today, here's the results:

6. Gainesville, FL
5. Boston
4. Massilon, OH
3. Green Bay
2. Parkersburg, WV
1. Valdosta, GA

This was decided by fan voting. Since I have too much time on my hands, here's my criteria on how I would pick the true Titletown.

1. It has to be known for winning championships, not for being the hometown of sports stars or for hosting a lot of championships. This means Columbus doesn't get credit for Jack Nicklaus, Detroit doesn't get credit for hosting the Super Bowl, Final Four, etc. and Williamsport, PA is eliminated from contention.
2. It has to be the home of a major D1 school or a pro team. We all know how much I love crazy HS football fans. This eliminates Massilon, OH, Parkersburg, WV, and Valdosta, GA
3. The city has to have won a major championship in the past 5 years. It can't be Title town without TITLES - and I don't care what they did in the 1970s. For colleges, it needs to be football, basketball, baseball, or hockey because people don't pay to see world class cross-country. This eliminates Green Bay, Louisville, Ann Arbor, Columbus, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and New York. Los Angeles gets a pass since they won 2 titles in 2002.
4. The city cannot have one team that is infamous for being horrible. We all know which city this eliminates. The Blackhawks and Cubs take Chicago out of the running as does UNC football.

With those 4 rules, I have already taken out over half of the field, including 4 of the top 6. The rest of the cities need to be evaluated case-by-case.

Pittsburgh - While the Steelers have been consistently good and the Pirates and Penguins have won championships, they just don't have anywhere near enough. Pitt's complete lack of success brings them down as well.

Knoxville, TN - They have a Top 2 (or 1) women's basketball team, but not enough else.

Lawrence, KS - Solid basketball team, but the football team is just starting to come around. Overall, they have 0 championships and an all-time record barely above .500

Gainesville Their recent dominance in football and basketball makes them a tempting choice, but they had 0 titles before 1996.

Ironically, that leaves us with Boston vs. LA. The two teams have combined for over half of the NBA championships. Boston's recent championship dominance make a strong case - except the Patriots don't count since they don't play in Boston and belong to "New England". The fact that their most beloved team had one of the most storied championship droughts until 2004 ends the debate.

LA has been host to 9 Lakers championships, 1 Angels' and 5 Dodgers' World Series, 1 LA Raiders Superbowl victory, 7 USC football championships and Heisman winners, 11 UCLA basketball championships, 1 UCLA football championships, etc., etc. The only blemish would be the lack of a Stanley Cup, although owning the game's best player ever for 8 seasons makes up a little ground.

LA is Titletown... or at least they should've been.

I am a man...

I am a man of today's workforce. I live in a world of Expense Reports, Financial Reports, Customer Satisfaction Reports, and Performance Reports. I exist to pay health insurance companies; the federal, state, and city governments; 70 year olds on Social-Security; as well as the beer and cigar manufacturers that help me forget the bad days.

I have been on e-mail chains discussing which pencil sharpener works best. I have been questioned for purchasing the nicer toilet paper rather than the one that is $5 cheaper per box of 50. I have chosen sides in the DHL vs. UPS battle (Brown's got my back).

I have marked down people in an interview for dressing casually while wearing a casual Friday ensemble of baseball cap, tee-shirt and cargo shorts. I can match my ties to my emotional state while wishing I could wear them every day.

I have role played how to handle every conversation and learned how the sweetest sound an upset customer can make is "I want to speak to your manager". I know that *67 is the saving grace that keeps your cell phone number private from your customers.

I take it and run with it, get the ball rolling, attempt to make slam dunk sales, have faceoffs with the competition, and hope to be on the fast track to a promotion. I overuse FYI and ASAP.

I live for raises and bonuses, the experiences, the relief of job stability and security, the people I have the privilege of hiring and managing, and a good old fashioned "job well done".

I am a manager. Now go do what I tell you to.

King of the Ring

Yesterday, I spent way too much time looking at old wrestling footage on youtube. It got me thinking, who is the best wrestler of all time? My favorite wrestler growing up was the Ultimate Warrior, although he turned into a joke (much like my other childhood idol, Jose Canseco). Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold transformed wrestling while they were in their prime, but Hogan lacked wrestling skills and Stone Cold was the same thing over and over againt. The Rock left too prematurely. By far, the best wrestler stands 6'10", weighs 295, and hails from Death Valley.

The Undertaker is responsible for inaugurating the Casket Match, the Boiler Room Brawl, the Buried Alive Match, Hell in a Cell, the Inferno Match, and the Punjabi Prison Match (think Hell in a Cell with bamboo). He has survived some of the worst storylines (the American Badass biker, having his wife stalked, Ministry of Darkness). He has fought two giants (Giant Gonzales and the Great Khali), his brother, and even his fake self. He has won 1 Royal Rumble (in which he was the first winner to enter the Rumble last), 6 world titles, and all 16 Wrestlemania matches.

He also has the best entrance ever.


He can levitate.


And he locked my childhood idol in a casket.


He has dominated since the day he debuted.

Go Green

“I can't wait to see Michigan State in about three years, once Mark has a chance to recruit his kind of players." – Kirk Herbstreit in November 2006

It's not quite two years since he made that statement, but I wanted to compare Mark Dantonio's successes so far in recruiting to John L using the rankings from rivals.com. John L took the stance that we can't compete for recruits with Michigan and OSU, so we have to go further out and find "diamonds in the rough". Sometimes this worked well (SirDarean Adams, Jonal Saint Dic) and other times it didn't. He didn't develop good relationships with key High School coaches in Detroit, Flint, etc. Mark Dantonio has took the opposite strategy - get what you can from Michigan and Ohio and develop them. He has rebuilt a lot of relationships with area coaches and almost every recruit comes from the two states. Let's look at their accomplishments by year.

Year .5
John L started at MSU in late 2002 while Mark Dantonio started in late 2006. Each had a few months to try and salvage whatever they could out of their respective recruiting classes.
John L's 2003 class - Only 1 four-star player - The class did boast Kaleb Thornhill and Jehuu Caulcrick
Dantonio's 2007 class - 3 four-star players - These players are really John L's boys, including Mark Dell and Antonio Jeremiah

Year 1
This is where things start to pick up a little. The coaches had one full year to recruit these players, but we all know the true recruiting begins way before they become seniors.
John L's 2004 class - 6 four-star players - This was by far John L's best class and comes after he was awarded the Big 10 Coach of the Year award. Key players: SirDarean Adams, Kellen Davis, Domata Peko, Brian Hoyer
Dantonio's 2008 class - Only 1 four-star player - The class fills a lot of needs defensively - he only took 4 skilled position players.

Year 2
This is where things start to turn. John L's 2005 class only included 2 four-star players - the biggest names now are Jonal Saint Dic and Javon Ringer. Mark Dantonio's 2009 class won't be official until Signing Day in February, but he has already received commitments from 6 four-star players. Now, this doesn't even compare to U-M (7 four-star, 1 five-star) or OSU (16 four-star, 1 five-star), but we won't ever win recruiting battles with them. The great news is that we have the same number of 4-star player commitments as Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, Iowa and Minnesota - COMBINED! We also have twice as many as Penn State.

I know rankings only mean so much. After all, Izzo's recruiting classes are rarely top in the country, but he is so damn good at coaching the players to reach their potential. However, I believe these recrutiting classes show Dantonio is really taking the program in the right direction and I am excited to capitalize on U-M's blunders.