Aw Hell....and Other Points of Note

The Tigers released Gary Sheffield this morning. I'm kind of sad about this. I mean, the guy was 1 Home Run away from 500 and the Tigers cut him before he had the chance to get it. I always liked watching Sheff play ball with the Olde English D on his chest, but those days are now over. I hope for nothing but the best for Gary Sheffield.

Now, on a more positive note...THE TIGERS RELEASED GARY SHEFFIELD! Do you realize what this means?? This means Marcus Thames, one of my favorite Tigers in recent history, could be the new everyday DH!! This means BOMBS A FREAKING WAY!!!
That, of course, is my own wishful thinking. In reality, after trading prospect Rudy Darrow to the Braves (what is it with the Tigers constantly trading with Atlanta?) for extremely speedy outfielder Josh Anderson, what we will most likely see is Carlos Guillen taking more days as the DH with Anderson taking his place in Left. This is something that the fan in me disagrees with, but the baseball guy in me thinks could potentially work out. Anderson provides the Tigers with much needed speed on the basepaths AND a left handed bat in a lineup full of right handed hitters. All that is well and good, until I did a little more research on the guy and found out Baseball Prospectus had this to say about him: "Now 26, he's still nothing more than a fifth outfielder." Um, what?

So apparently Anderson kind of sucks? So does this actually mean Marcus Thames could be the every day DH and backup first baseman? Why did they go for Anderson again? Basically I'm saying I have no idea what could happen. Let's just hope my first guess was right about Thames as the DH and he'll hit like 97 home runs this year.

Speaking of the Tigers, what the hell are they gonna do about this starting rotation?? Going into the year, this is what we all had in mind...Verlander, Bonderman, Galarraga, Jackson, and Robertson, Willis, Miner, someone else. Not entirely too bad of a rotation. Now, with injuries and all that, it could look something like this...Verlander, Galarraga, Jackson, Some guy, and please God please let it be Rick Porcello. Bondo is still not ready and will start the season in the Minor Leagues rehabbing. Willis is on the DL with an anxiety disorder and Robertson, although he has pitched well this spring, sprained the thumb on his pitching hand apparently trying to barehand a throw from second. All I can tell you is this, Rick Porcello needs to be in the starting rotation. I would be perfectly happy with a Verlander, Galarraga, Jackson, Robertson, and Porcello rotation. Of course, I'm not Jim Leyland so my opinion does not matter.

The bullpen might just be the strongest part of this pitching staff. Eddie Bonine has pitched 14 spring innings and allowed one run and is 3 for 3 in save opportunities. Bobby Seay has a 1.42 ERA in 12.2 innings this spring. Clay Rapada is at 1.64 in 11 innings. Juan Rincon, who is my new favorite as the Tigers closer after Brandon Lyon gave up 4 bombs in a row last week, has pitched flawlessly this spring with no runs allowed in his 12.1 innings. Hell, even Fernando F-ing Rodney has earned the praise of Leyland. But the one wild card I want to throw into the mix is young fireballer Ryan Perry. The 22 year old rookie has a spring ERA of 0.84 in 10.2 innings allowing only one run and striking out 11. If you're Jim Leyland, how in the hell do you not give this kid a plane ticket to Detroit in a few days?

Enough Tiger talk. It's getting me a little too fired up for opening day (April 6th in Toronto, oh and by the way, if Porcello would in fact be the fifth starter, he would be the opening day starter at Comerica Park on April 10th which would be awesome). Let's talk about how my brackets went all "Boom Goes the Dynamite" on me.

In my Final Four, I had Louisville, Memphis, North Carolina, and Pitt. Well, Louisville got beat by State, Memphis by Mizzou, and Pitt by 'Nova. My only remainder is North Carolina. The good news is, they are on the opposite side of the bracket as Michigan State which allows me to root for the Sparties on Saturday.

And how cool is that? How cool is it that the Sparties are in the Final Four at Ford Field? With all the B.S. surrounding the state of Michigan right now, this could turn out to be a much needed distraction. And I can tell you this, I am a life long Michigan fan but I will guaran-damn-tee you I will be pulling for State with no hesitation at all. And for all you Michigan fans out there, if you are not rooting for State, you are assholes. Sometimes you just have to root for what's right and right now, being a State fan for a weekend is just the right thing to do. And if you have a problem with me saying this, then you are the asshole Michigan fans I am referring to right now.

Don't be a douchebag, root for the Sparties!

Sparty On!

Coug-tastic!

I know this is a few days old but the #9 seeded Michigan State Women's Basketball team beat Duke, a #1 seed on the Breslin Center floor. How did State get a home game as a #9 seed? Hell if I know, that's how the women's game is played apparently. Bonus points for the NCAA for allowing this to happen, knowing full well that Duke's coach left Sparty for more money and that the Breslin Center fans would of course boo her ass off. Suzy Merchant coached for a few years at Eastern Michigan and did a hell of a job which earned her the job at State when McCallie left. Playing a home game in the tourney against the number one seed aside, State made a hell of a hire.

In other news, the Lions have a new logo. It's pathetic. Other views available here. Leave it to the Lions to even screw this up. Granted, after going 0-16 they needed to do some re-branding but this is not exactly what I had in mind. I mean, it's the same logo with some white skid-marks on it. What the hell??? If you're gonna change the logo...CHANGE THE DAMN LOGO! Never ceases to amaze me as to how incapable this organization is to succeed.

Oh and the Pistons have lost 7 of 10. Yep, game over.

Oh and the Wings have won 4 of their last 5 and are tied with San Jose for the best record in the league. Boo-Yah!

And What Did We Learn...?

I woke up this morning feeling a little better about what happened last night. I still think Michigan got forcibly boned in the ass by the officials and I still think the CBS hum-job of the Griffin family was a bit much. But when I look back on it, if you tell me this time last year that Michigan would win a first round NCAA tournament game and then be an 8 on 5 powerplay away from going to the Sweet Sixteen, I probably would have laughed in your face. No matter what, this was a season of great success for Michigan basketball and I look forward to the years to come.

I have spent most of my waking hours in front of Mom and Pop's new flat screen and engulfed myself in HD coverage of the Big Dance since I got home around 4:30 on Thursday. With my brackets and a bottle of tobacco spit by my side, I watched every game CBS would allow me to watch. Needless to say, over this amount of time, I have learned a few things...

- Big East teams are entirely too good. UConn, L'ville, Pitt, 'Nova, Syracuse, are just peckerslapping teams on the way to the Sweet 16. West Virgina on the other hand decided to lose to Dayton but that's ok they were going to lose to Kansas anyway.

- When picking a bracket, you have to pick at least 4 upset games. Hamilton picked Cleveland State to beat Wake Forest. I picked WKU, Michigan, Maryland, and Utah State. 3 outta 4 ain't bad.

- The 8/9 matchups kill your brackets. I lost 3 of 4 only picking Siena correctly. Yeah, that's right. Screw you state of Ohio.

- The Axe Anti-Perspirant commercial was funny the first 8 times I saw it. Now it's just kinda gross and repetitive. Although the end of the commerical when the chick duck and covers away from the dude's armpit as they're walking on the beach still cracks me up.

- After watching all these games, there are plenty of good seats still available at every arena. Just a sign of the times I guess. I can't wait to see how many people don't go to the Final Four in Detroit. Then I can't wait to read the articles and the news stories about how people can't afford to go to games anymore.

- 15 of my Sweet 16 are still intact which leads me to believe that I am a great guesser!!

- Watching Michigan anything with my Dad is an experience unlike any other. Very creative guy.

- If you're so unathletic that you have to use a "Man Step" to get into the bed of your truck, you probably should just buy a Prius and call it good. All trucks are already equipped with "man steps" they're called tires.

- An Erin Andrews-less big time college broadcast, is a lesser big time college broadcast.

- Basketball officials have entirely too much impact on the outcome of a game. This is why that NBA ref gambled on games he was officiating, because he could steer the outcome that way with the occasional bullshit call. If a ref doesn't like a player or team, he can bone said player or team as much as he wants. It's un-fair but at the same time, that's what makes basketball what it is.

- Little brother Aaron picked the Sparties to win the title in the Tobacco Juice Pants Party pool...I can't wait to not have him win a free t-shirt.

- "Cocksucker," "Douchebag," and "Fuck," are the most common words in the English language for the first week of March Madness.

- I have grown to absolutely hate everything about Subway and their goddamned $5 footlongs.

- It's amazing how fast 30 cans of Busch Light can disappear when there's a good game on.

As of right now, Syracuse is beating up Arizona State which is good for me. The following teams will win today: Sparty, Cardinals, Jayhawks, Tigers, Panthers, Orange, Wildcats, and Musketeers.

Blake Griffin is Apparently Jesus

Michigan just lost to Oklahoma in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. My thoughts...

- CBS thinks Blake Griffin is Jesus and the greatest basketball player who has ever lived. It's like he was fuckin Tim Tebow out there. The broadcast team was blowing him, his brother, and his parents like a two bit hooker would blow a movie star. Unbelievable.

- The officiating in this game is what won the game for Oklahoma. Manny Harris sat out for most of the first half with two fouls. CJ Lee fouled out with about 6 minutes left. Sims was in foul trouble. Somebody on Michigan's bench apparently got T'd up after a traveling call on OU. If someone breathed on Jesus, it was called a foul. Absolutely pathetic. Let the kids play!

- Yes, I know Michigan had no business advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. They are not that good. HOWEVER, they played their asses off and I truly believe they were absolutely hosed by the officials and if John Beilien doesn't go absolutely apeshit in the post game interviews about the officiating...well, let's just say he has more restraint than I do.

- Anthony Wright (who??) had a great game and kept Michigan in it with Manny on the bench early. Kudos to him.

- I want to re-watch this game and count how many times Griffin's parents were on TV. I would set the over/under at about 20 which is just fucking stupid. CBS SUCKS!

- Coming into the game, I really liked Oklahoma and both Griffins. I liked the way Blake Griffin played especially. After the game however, I have decided that the Griffins are douchebags.

- After reading all the Michigan blogs all morning (before going to the driving range with Hamilton) and watching the interviews on Big Ten Network, I set myself up for being really pissed off when Michigan lost. I thought they had a chance and goddamnit, they did have a chance, which brings me to my next point...

- MICHIGAN GOT FUCKING SCREWED!!!

That is all. Now I will commence to drinking beer with Dad and Ben all while being pissed off about what just happened. I'll write something tomorrow or whatever.

Saint Patrick's Day Order of Events

Tomorrow is the day I've been looking forward to for entirely too long. Some might attribute this to alcoholism but that's simply not true. This is the last St. Patrick's Day of my college years. For the rest of my life, I will most likely not be able to go out and drink all day in the middle of the week so why not have a little fun with it right? The order of the days events will be as follows...

6:00 AM - Wake up, shower, eat oatmeal and slam cup o' coffee
6:45 - Get in car, drive to Buffalo Wild Wings for 7:00 pint of green beer
7:30 - Leave B-Dubs, go to class to turn in paper and take a quiz.
10:30 - Class is over, mass text messages to all people in my phone that live in Washtenaw county to encourage them to join me for a brew or seven at Powell's Pub. Drive to Powell's from campus, leave car there for duration.
1:45 - Unless the people I'm with tell me I can't leave, walk back to campus for 2 o'clock class.
3:00 - Walk back to Powell's. Irish Car Bombs and Guinness
5:15 - Back to campus for semi important class session which features me in front of a television camera from the late 60s for my broadcast class (ask teacher out for drinks after class)
7:00 - Walk to Pub 13. Resume attack on liver with Irish Car Bomb to get back in the groove
1:45 - Start thinking about exit strategy.
3:00 - Randomly find way home, drink water, pass out.
Sometime Wednesday - Find way to go get my car, drink pedia-lyte un-tag embarrassing facebook photos

Basically, this is the greatest plan ever and should result in drunken tomfoolery for the entire day. It's supposed to be a beautiful day so come on out and have a drink with me. You know you want to.