Friday, April 27, 2007

that time of the year

taking a break from life in belgium for a brief moment i am trying to cope with not being able to watch the pistons during the playoffs, the red wings during the playoffs, and ridiculous coverage how the lions will once again screw up a #2 pick in the nfl draft. luckily, i can watch the tigers anytime but the games don't usually start until 1 am my time and it's only april as well.
so since i have the medium i'd like to share a few thoughts on detroit sports:

pistons:
the firing of rick carslile from indiana made me think back to our first run to the conference finals in 2003 when prince and okur were rookies. i had been a huge prince fan in college mainly because of the name but i thought he would be an amazing pick for detroit in the draft but i didn't think he would last that far - he did and dumars made probably the best pick of his career (if he doesn't block that shot against miller in '04 we might not win the game, the series or the championship) anyways, prince was burried behind cliff robinson all year until dumars put some pressure on rick and finally prince burst onto the scene down 3-1 against the magic and checked mcgrady and was a force inside. he is probably the most underrated and underappreciated player in this league, mainly due to the pistons success i feel confident saying that and finally he got some recognition last night as the pistons went up 3-0 in this espn article... http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-070427

if and when we get by orlando, i think the winner of the bulls vs. heat series in the semi's is going to be tough. kinda odd that the pistons have to go through either one of the two toughest teams in the 2nd round when the cavs, raptors, and nets have not offered any real competition to the pistons all year nor do they appear to have the depth and matchup problems that shaq and wade or deng and the perimeter shooting bulls can do. one of these days i got to watch a game.

wings:
is it just me or has the strike and lack of promotion kind of stymied interest in the NHL right now. with shanny, mccarty, yzerman gone it's kind of a different look team, obviously and being away from detroit the past 3 years coupled with the hockey strike in between - i dont know these players like i used to be able to name the entire 96 wings team back in the day. the sharks clearly have superior offensive power and i'm no expert but this series might come to goaltending (duh) maybe one of these days i can catch a game, although i'm not losing sleep over it...it would be nice to see the wings make the conference finals in the first time in a looooong time.

tigers:
not worried about sheffield's average, rodney's e.r.a, zumaya's control, guillen's defense
am worried about monroe's average (he's a summer hitter and i hope they don't give up on him or play with his confidence before he gets to his peak usually around may), casey's inability to hit, pudge's body and lack of a suitable backup catcher (vance wilson on the dl), verlander and a possible sophomore slump and arm fatigue (although looks fine right now), lefty specialist in the bullpen, and most importantly todd jones inability to get punchouts in the 9th, and ability to be the weakest link on this solid team in one of the most important rolls because he has the ability to always let the other team back in. when will leyland wise up and make zumaya the closer?

lions:
jay prinstein's rules to draft:
1. never ever ever draft a wide receiver in the first round (what round was rice taken? exactly, they're a dime a dozen)
2. always trade down if you can and get more picks, especially when you suck like the lions
3. DBTH - don't believe the hype

with those guidelines in place and the draft less than 24 hours away i will take my crack at lions GM because as most people claim, anyone can do a better job than millen.

i think the lack of quality quarterbacks or should i say franchise quarterbacks are causing russell and quinn to be overhyped. russell had a good year and a great bowl game - he's like leftwhich but maybe lacking the heart and determination that leftwhich shows (by the way - i think he would be a great pick for the lions, leftwhich that is, if they can get him from the jags who seem to be burnt out of him, because he can take hits and our line always has and always will suck). quinn, meanwhile, has the rick mirer - notre dame itis going on in which i never saw him win or play a really great game in college and being from where he is from causes his stock to increase? meanwhile, not only was harrington a winner in college he had some outstanding games and victories unlike quinn. i think drafting a quarterback with the 2nd pick and taking the necessary time to develop one 2-3 years (since they didnt with harrington and they should've) will only set the organization back another 2-3 years because they still dont have the other pieces.

joe thomas: i'm still in the aaron gibson - jeff backus you must be weary of overhyped lineman in a weak lineman draft (the number 3 guy is from central michinga) you're telling me that there are no animals from tenneesse, florida state, miami, usc, etc. that can go in the first round - be weary of the OL this year then. plus you can get solid OL guys in the 2nd and 3rd rounds especially if you trade down

adrian peterson: i'm on the kevin jones bandwagon, yes he needs to stay healthy but why is he running in the 2nd to last game of the season in a blowout loss in the 4th quarter. you don't do that to your franchise running back - so not entirely his fault, and a freak injury. meanwhile, anyone who runs as fast as he does and as powerful as he does (ran over literally ran over Ray Lewis last year, never seen anything like it) is special and as long as they spell him with Bell and Duckett, i think they'll be alright there. so pass on peterson

calvin johnson: this is obviously the most intriguing scenario beacuse yes - he is a freak, yes - he is the best PLAYER in the draft, yes - he has great work ethic and character, and yes - the lions mangled 3 drafts already by taking WR with the first pick. so basically they're set up to fail here. it's a lose-lose, even if he turns out to be amazing, you lose out on an impact defense player and defense wins championships (just ask the colts who never had one until this year despite their potent offense) and multiple picks. yet, we do need a receiver. wait i have a solution - jay prinstein's rule number 1. they're a dime a dozen. reports have it that ginn beccause of worries about his foot may fall to the 2nd round. sooooo....

trade the pick. get Amobi Okoye, DT, Louisville. the kid is 19 years old and already graduated from college. smart - check. he is in the julius peppers mode and got a ton of sacks in college due to freakish athleticism - check. he is 19 so he is young and healthy and will only get better (upside?) haha i hate that word - but check. addressess a huge need aka pressure on the opposing quarterback - check. and then we can maybe squeeze a low end first round pick if we get a 2nd and 3rd and package those together and take a robert mechem the incredibly fast wide reciever out of tennesee. or even better we get another defensive guy in the low first round by that type of trade like lawrence timmons "LB from FSU or david harris the LB from michigan. if we can't strike a deal like that - you get your extra 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick and that's where you pick up a dwayne jarrett or steve smith from usc or if ginn falls and drew stanton from msu who has better skills, clutch performances, and potential than i think brady quinn does at quarterback and address OL in the 2nd and third with your real picks as well. okoye and extra picks in the early rounds are sure bets to me that's how i would go.
or pick johnson trade him to TB for thomas once they feel the pressure and get their 2nd and 3rd round pick. but let's be creative here geniuses in ford's office.

we'll see what happens.

yesterday was the most intense workout day i've ever had. bike, upper lifting, lower lifting, grueling practice in 80 degree heat where i was long tossing a ton after the lifting, the dan pfau theory of breaking down your muscles and throwing exhausted so you can replicate this in later innings of games, followed by OF catching and sprinting drills, followed by more running while shagging balls in BP and continuously switching up groups at the plate, and then sprinting 10 poles, for the first time in a while i was winded at practice, sucking air big time - it feels great to work that hard though, but i'm definitely in recovery mode all day and afternoon until i throw a light pen this evening.

last night was the typical thursday night group of all the people that don't have to work on friday... joena and i. we were going to go somewhere pretty happening but went by jameson's where she knows the owner real well, first, and ended up staying there for about 5 hours all while he poured us continuous champagne. so i can't argue with that. i didn't drive home (champagne) unfortunately because i was looking forward to it like last week at 5 am, but she does have this amazing radio system that you can just simply plug your ipod right into it, i have never seen any gadget like it and i was mezmorized by it, so that made up for the last of practice on the stick shift since i was able to DJ from my ipod. oh and apparently robbie williams is a big deal here, i can't tell you any song he's ever sung but they were playing it all night long at jameson's and everyone at the bar knew the words. interesting. i will investigate.

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