Something Nobody Should be Talking About but are

When Josh Smith attempted a showboaty dunk in a playoff game that was in hand, it turned in to a media frenzy. Some people say there was nothing wrong, others say that he was trying to show the Heat up and that it was going to be major motivation for the next game. The fact of the matter is, if you don't like it, do something about it Miami. If you hadn't let the game get out of hand and ya know, had a lead, this wouldn't have happened to you. The most laughable part about this whole ordeal is many members of the media going crazy about how selfish it was of Josh Smith because it provided bulletin board material for D-Wade and the heat. If the Heat need bulletin board material to get psyched up for a game in the playoffs where they face elimination, then its a little bit late for them to be caring about their playoff lives. I always get a kick whenever someone brings up something being bulletin board material. Your a professional athlete fighting for the most coveted prize in your sport while getting paid millions. If the prize isn't enough motivation for you, the cash sure as hell should be, not someone trying a pretty cool looking dunk. Instead of whining about Smith's attempted dunk, we should be giving him some credit for having the balls to try something a lil different on a national stage.

Chris Osgood Deserves Some Respect

Wings goalies and Lions quarterbacks have always faced a tough run in the city of Detroit. There is one that has earned our respect and is not being given his due, and that man is Chris Osgood. Chris Osgood has brought this city two cups and a ton of wins, but yet before these playoffs started there were still calls for Conklin to be our starter. I have no doubt these people will reemerge the moment the Wings lose a game in this postseason. What does this man need to do to get a bit of respect around here? He is going to the hall of fame when all is said and done, but yet even while bringing in cups for the Wings, fans are calling for his head and management is bringing in other goalies such as Dominik Hasek to make him look over his shoulder. Osgood is in the top ten in wins all time, top five in playoff shutouts, and will be well within the top ten in playoff wins after this season. These are no doubt hall of fame numbers in my book when combined with his two cups. A third would cement him as one of the ALL-TIME greats in the game.

A lot of people in Detroit want to talk about how he is a product of being on the Red Wings, and without the team around him he wouldn't be very good. Would they say that about Steve Yzerman? Zetterberg? Great players make great teams, they are not a product of them, and there is no doubt that Osgood is a great player. Also, while in St Louis and New York its not like he had poor seasons. All three of those years he led his team to the playoffs even if they were unable to get past the first round. Guess he was just a product of those teams too. Sure he had a bad regular season. The Wings still took the two seed in to the playoffs and he looked like a brick wall in the first three games of the Columbus series.

Pac 10 QBS

This post was brought up by a conversation today on the Valenti and Foster Show about Carson Palmer as a Quarterback. He was referred to as a "stud" quarterback and while I will not argue that he is indeed an above average quarterback in the league, I think stud should be reserved for people who win playoff games. While much of the burden falls on the rest of his team sucking, you gotta win when it matters to be a "stud". That being said, this got me thinking about Pac 10 quarterbacks in the playoffs and a whole. I couldn't think off the top of my head of the last won to win a game in the playoffs. After a bit of research it turns out that the last playoff win by a Pac 10 QB came from Jake Plummer in 2005. For as many top picks as the Pac 10 produces at that position, this is shocking. Just think about that when you hear people talking about how much better Sanchez is then Stafford. I feel bad for whoever drafts Sanchez because they are going to waste a lot of money and a lot of time on a bust.

Thames Injury may be a Blessing

Thames has done a lot of great things for the Tigers in his time in their uniform. Unfortunately, Thames appears to be a 1 trick pony with that trick being long home runs. While these are fun to watch and can be very helpful, it is no longer the way to win in the Major League Baseball league. This isn't to say Thames cannot help a team, I just do not think with the Tigers roster he will necessarily help the Tigers.

Josh Anderson is the reason. Anderson should be the Tigers everyday left fielder with Guillen hitting from the DH slot. With the injury to Thames this should happen on a much more frequent basis. Anderson is a much better defender then Guillen based strictly on speed alone. Combine that with Guillen moving to a new position and having legs that are going to pot and Anderson is clearly the right answer. Defense isn't all that Anderson brings to the table though. Anderson will hit for a higher average then Thames and once he is on the base paths, watch out, cuz he will be running. Speed does not go in to slumps in baseball because speed will turn infield outs in to infield singles. Speed will turn base hits in to doubles. Speed combined with a well placed bunt will yield a hit. These are all things Anderson can do, and has already done in limited playing time early in this season. The Tigers are a better team with Anderson than Thames.

Wild Thing no More

Much has been made about the struggles of Justin Verlander over last year and the beginning of this year. Clearly someone with his stuff should not be posting a 5.00+ ERA last year and so far a 9 ERA this year. Nobody quite knows what is wrong. Some say he is tired after throwing more innings then he ever has and they may be right. Some say he is hiding an injury and there's no way to be certain unless your a trainer in the Tigers club house on that. One other possibility that I have not heard thrown around is that maybe Verlander is trying to hard to be a pitcher and not a thrower. As an analogy, take the Major League movies. Wild Thing Vaughn's game was all about overpowering hitters with his nearly unhittable fastball. When he started to try to throw other pitches to preserve his arm and become a pitcher not a thrower in ML 2, he couldn't get it done. What we have seen from Verlander is a decrease in velocity from 98 to 99 which he rarely hits nowadays to working in the 94 to 96 range. Tigers announcers write this off as Leyland being in his ear telling him his fastball works better with movement at 94-96. I beg to differ. His fastball doesn't have a lot of movement no matter what speeds he is working at and his fastball is a lot more hittable at 94. On top of this, his breaking ball becomes much more hittable because there is no longer as much of a speed differential between the two pitches which is much of what makes breaking stuff so hard to hit. Verlander needs to, if hes healthy, start going back to what worked for him when he was rookie of the year and was the ace of this staff and start uncorking triple digit fastballs that leave batters in their dust.

End of an Era

With the pending sweep of the Pistons at the hands of the Cavaliers, we are witnessing the final nails being placed in the proverbial coffin. With that being said, I would like to take a look back and reflect on the run of this group of Pistons. Obviously, the title they won over the Lakers in the 5 game sweep series will be what they go down in history for, but after fond memories of that title, we will think about what could have been. Titles are the only thing that matters in sports. Nobody remembers who got beat in the finals, nor do they care. While the runs to the conference finals that the Pistons made were very impressive, and should not be belittled, in the end they don't amount to much. So when I think about the Pistons there are a few things I wonder...What if Rasheed had not left Horry wide open in the finals? What if we had somehow stopped LeBron from scoring infinity billion points in a row to avoid elimination? What if we were the team that got to play the Mavs instead of the Heat? And the most controversial of all, What if we had drafted Carmelo instead of Darko.

The reason this last one is controversial is because we won a title with Darko on the bench and there is no guarantee we win one with Carmelo there. This is valid in that I believe we would not have traded for Sheed if we had Carmelo on our roster. I do not think this would have cost us a title inn the long run. We have gotten a glimpse of how Carmelo and Chauncey work together this year in Denver albeit with Carmelo being much more matured. This does not take away from the fact that they managed to grab the number 2 seed in a Western Conference that puts the Eastern Conference of past memory to shame. There is no doubt in my mind that the Pistons with a superior supporting cast for Melo and Chauncey would have won MULTIPLE titles with RIP, Chauncey, Carmelo, Ben, and Tay. Instead of going to the Eastern Conference Finals every year they would have been going to the NBA finals. Even with the apparent lack of any semblance of effort that the Pistons showed after they won their first title, they wouldn't have needed it until the finals and no matter what a basketball player will turn it on in the finals and that would have been enough to net at least one more title.

With this scenario the Pistons would not be in nearly as bad a situation as they currently are either. With a few titles under his belt, Carmelo would be unlikely to leave in free agency, the Billups trade would not have been necessary, and we would not be waiting until the big free agents hit the market in the hopes of luring one to Detroit (hah). Joe D did a great job making basketball relevant in Detroit again, but this was an inexcusable move that cost our great city titles. Wouldn't it have been great to see both of these guys in Pistons uniforms together?

April 21

Tigers continue their successful road trip with another win.
White Sox beat up on Bergeson in his first start
Red Sox stay hot
Cleveland gets the better of the Royals
A's
Blue Jays
Mariners
Nationals get win 2!
Philly
Marlins
Cubbies
Dodgers-lock
Rockies
Padres