Random Silliness and General Nonsense

Quick shot of the Stanley Cup Finals TV schedule. Games 1 and 2 in Detroit will be broadcast on Versus with the rest of the games being on national NBC. Two more games of cagefighting and deer hunting commercials. The only problem is the Versus broadcast team of Mike Emerick and Ed Olzcyk will basically change sport jackets and do the commentary for NBC which means more intermission reports from Brian Freaking Engblom. Nice work Gary Bettman, nice work.

The Pistons open up their series with the Celtics tonight at 8:30 on the World Wide Leader which is just as tolerable as the Versus hockey broadcasts. Maybe I'm just being over critical of these broadcast teams but for some reason I just find them to be horrible for both sports on both networks. I can't really put my finger on it but when I watch the NBA on ESPN it sounds like an elderly fourth grade teacher scraping her nails on a chalkboard. It makes me want to go around punching babies somewhere.

I had an in depth conversation with Z about the Pistons and their chances against the Celtics. He thinks the Stones are going to win the series in no more than 6 games and no less than 4. He did bring up some good points saying that Ray Allen has been the invisible man thus far in the playoffs and that all the game sevens they've played has to wear on the legs a little bit. The Celtics are by no means a young team so he may have a point there. On the other hand, I am still skeptical of the Pistons ability to win the series. They have the veteran experience to win on the road but no team has beaten the Celtics in Boston yet this playoff season. I don't really expect the Celts to win at the Palace due to the fact that they haven't won a road game yet in the playoffs and all of those road games were in relatively tame locales when compared to the Auburn Hills Zoo they will play in in this series. All the Pistons have to do is win one time in Boston and the series is theirs to lose. Of course, IF they were to win this series, they would have to play San Antonio (yes that is a prediction on my part) in the finals and we all know how they usually fair against the Spurs in the finals. Could this be a parade laden early summer/late spring for the Wings and the Pistons? I'm going to say.......maybe.

The Tigers open up their series against the Mariners tonight at the Copa. Hopefully the day off yesterday will prove to shake something loose and the Tigers can get back to their winning ways. The good news is, as much as the Tigers suck right now, the M's are just as bad if not worse. This could be a pillow fight for the ages as these two teams battle for the bottom of the barrel in the AL.

In other and more important baseball news, the Grass Lake Warriors won their first outright Cascades Conference Title since 1993 after sweeping a double header against the Jayhawks of Vandercook Lake. In the first game Casey Hall pitched 5 innings of shut out baseball with 11 strikeouts before Steven O'Hotzke (go Irish pitchers!) came in in a mop up role allowing two unimportant runs as the Warriors would go on to win by a score of 7-2. Hall also lead the charge at the plate going 3 for 4 with a triple and two RBIs. Jordon Bliss scored a hat trick and struck out three times...that'll happen Jordon, keep your head up. Charlie Fisher took the hill in the second game and was nothing short of dominant pitching 5 innings and striking out 9 while only allowing 4 hits. The aforementioned Jordon Bliss erased his 3 strikeout performance in the first game by going 2 for 2 with a walk, a triple and 3 RBIs in the second game as the Warriors mercy ruled the Jayhawks 10-0. I cannot congratulate the Warriors and their first year coach Ben Hamilton enough on a terrific season thus far. Grass Lake will host the District tournament starting next Tuesday and featuring Manchester, Whitmore Lake, Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, Clinton and South Lyon East. Tournament pairings will be announced in the upcoming days.

Tomorrow I have a very, very special treat for you as we will have the first guest blog written by a writer to be named later. You will enjoy it as this writer is one of the most talented, insightful, and technically sound writer I have ever seen.