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It Would Be Better If The Lions Win
If the Lions suffer through such a terrible season, it might force owner William Clay Ford to finally get rid of Matt Millen. Or perhaps Millen will leave on his own accord. Also, the Lions would get a better draft pick during the first round. A lot of people feel this way. I do not. While I understand that side of the coin, I do feel the Lions would be better off closing the season strongly. First of all, I get the sense Millen is not going anywhere - regardless. The Lions have gotten little benefit out of drafting early. Joey Harrington was the third overall pick in the draft, and Charles Rogers second. Like I wrote in my column early this week - breeding only breeds more losing. This is an organization that needs to win. Period.
Random Thoughts
- My favorite baseball statistic of 2006 comes from Baseball Weekly. According to Baseball Info Solutions, a scouting service, Joel Zumaya threw 233 pitches this season of 100 mph or faster. The rest of Major League Baseball threw just 102. It's not like Zumaya threw that many innings, either. He pitched just 83 1-3. If that is not definitive proof he is one of the hardest throwing pitchers of all-time, than what is?
- Anybody, after watching them play each other Thursday night, get the idea that both Louisville and West Virginia would get their clocks cleaned if they played the big boys of college football? I sure did. Both defenses were awful. There were so few big hits it was like watching a flag football game.
- A fearless prediction: Following this season there will be little doubt Sidney Crosby is the best hockey player in the world.
posted by Pat Caputo at
12:48 AM
12 Comments:
I agree one hundred percent. That was a pretty decent game, but what was made clear that if one made it to the national title game it would be a boring game and a waste of time for both schools. Louvisle has impressed me though this season. I think they silently have been pretty darn good.
The lions I agree they should finish strong as they could.Even if that means another 2 win season. Obviously their first round picks haven't helped them any. So it don't make no difference. I think Martz will stay another year. I think Marinelli is the right guy. However, Millen is just a bone head and they need a football guy in there. A dombrowski/dumars/holland type guy for the lions. As long as they let millen keep calling the shots it will be another brutal season next year.
I know this is off topic, but how does Curtis Granderson not win a Gold Glove this year. Look at the stats. He was a better fielder that Hunter was. Why is not based on fielding %. I would love to see the Lions win out too. In Rod I Trust. The Big East is a joke.
Pat,
I know it's serious with me now; Tiger baseball is over and I STILL am not looking forward to watching the Lion's game. This year is a first for me. The Lions were my first sports love.
What can you say about the Lions, other than they once were a storied franchise? When you believe in them, they always let you down. At one time, I used to hope that the Lions would win a championship under their snake-bit owner, but obviously that's were the bad karma begins. He is no Mike Ilitch. Can you even imagine tears of joy if that miracle even happened, or comments proclaiming, "this championship is dedicated to the long suffering Detroit Lions fans?" No!
Normally, teams that finish with poor records get the high draft picks and start to show improvement through acquiring the superior talent in the pool. With Matt Millen running the show, they only get worse! So Mike Williams is still behind a new recruit 2 years out of football??!! Incredible! You know Book... have you ever thought of being the Lions' NEXT 5th receiver? Why not? Write something nice about Matt Millen! *LOL*
The Detroit Lions would be better off selling their picks, field a team of waiver rejects, market themselves as the NFL's version of the Washington Generals, send them back to the Silver Dome, and give the fans tickets for 5 bucks! Just send them farther away from here; on second thought, Mackinaw Island might be a better destination... nothing against Mackinaw Island.
I'm not so sure that anything changes if Millen were fired after this season. William Clay Ford could then hire Lou Anna Simon, and she couldn't do any worse, with John L. Smith as the Lions head coach. I'd just remove the Lion logo off the helmet, and replace it with a big "L"! It's gotten to the point that you feel like a loser even commenting about the Lions! Oh, well...
Atlanta 69, Detroit 6
THE END!
PISTONS
It will be interesting to see what happens tonight in Boston...
- whether the Pistons patch up their interior defense?
- can Rasheed rededicate his play, assume a leadership role on defense, and show that he's worthy of being named a captain, to allow him some words with the officials?
- will Jason Maxiel and Carlos Delphino be given more of a chance to show whether they can turn the Pistons bench into a factor?
Joe Dumars was blunt with Jalen Rose about him having a limited role should he choose Detroit over the Heat or the Lakers. Did this signal that the Pistons have written off any championship hope for this season, and are content to use this year to monitor the development of Delphino, Maxiel, and Amir Johnson, as building blocks for the future?
I think he should have told him that he would have a legitimate shot to show that he belongs in a primary 3 guard rotation on this team, and see what happens; whether he could start from Ronald Dupree's slot, and get up to speed with Flip's offense quickly. With his experience at point guard, the Pistons could be so much more versatile.
Rose is the bargain of the year, and a proven talent off the bench. It seems that Dumars is less than lukewarm about acquiring his services though. I'd hate seeing him go to Miami, and I think you can pencil them in to the Finals if he does. If you give him a 2 year contract, you likely have to have plans to deal Delphino, who still lives on his potential, and right after you had to deal Darko, because you had to keep Big Ben in the 40 minute range, and now they're both gone!
Had the Knicks waived him two months ago, this would have been a much easier decision, before commitments were made. Tough decision for Dumars, but it defines whether the outlook is now or the future.
The new-look Red Wings are starting to gel. Time to start paying more attention there.
Thinkingman,
I am not sure about Marinelli. I admit I do not like the way he seems to think talent doesn't count. It does count in the NFL. It is the most important thing, not coaching. I admit I like his no nonsense approach. I wonder if he can survive in what is the most sour environment I've seen in pro sports by far.
Caputo
Maddog52,
It is no coincidence those other three franchises all have excellent GMs and are successful.
Caputo
Mr.C.- Lions too much! Did they not have a Gm years back everyone wanted the Fords to have him sent out to pasture? Crosby - I will have to watch him play. Does he need goons to protect him? (like Gretsky) I always preface my feelings about the great one with "he was a great player." If i don't people look at you like your nuts. He was very good but without Samenco and the other guy i don't think he would have scored as many points as he did. Sometime I question my take on the great one. A few days ago i heard Don Cherry saying Gretsky was playing hockey with a credit card. (i am not sure what he ment by that) He also said when someone got a little rough with with G. these two would whisper something in their ear. Also - It does not hurt to play with great teams with very good players. (Check the teams and players Frank Maholovich played with.) Check the centers who were lucky enough to play between Mr. Lindsay and Mr. Howe. One could do a before and after on those players. Thxs for letting me vent a bit! Vnny
Anonymous,
Granderson is a good fielder, about average or slightly better, but not Gold Glove material. I'd still take Hunter over him - and a lot of others. Sizemore is better, for example.
Caputo
Garold,
I agree with you about Rose. He is a really good player. I can only see where he would help them - a lot.
Caputo
Vinny,
The thing about Crosby is he doesn't need anyone to protect him. The new NHL does it for him by the way the game is called. It is amazing how much room he has, even when he is carrying the puck.
Caputo
Caputo looks like there is another book out there in Gerald haha. He made some good points.
I tell you what bugs me about the Gold Glove. I really think it is a joke at times. I mean. Personally from a baseball perspective was Chavez that much better the Inge. Was it because Inge didn't make the All Star Game? HE posted just about the same offensive numbers. Actually Inge's was better. I know he made a bunch of errors but a lot of those errors were of him trying to make a play and a lot were justifly bad plays. All I know is from what i saw if you put the two highlight reels together you'd be done with Chavez way before Inges.
I hear names starting to circulate. ANy info on what the Tigers may be interested in our targeting?
I tell you what you can tell Henne misses MR. Manningham. UofM better tighten down that defense, because obviously ball state found a weakness and if OSU can sniff a weakness out with the talent they have Michigan could be in for a long afternoon themselves. They better not take Indiana lightly because they are a sneaky team this year.
Maddog52,
Inge did not play well defensively during the postseason. He made serveral mistakes, some subtle but costly, during the World Series, Chavez didn't play well for Oakland in the ALCS, but he is a better player defensively than Inge. Inge lacks consistency defensively. I think he has a chance to be very good, but right now is probably overrated defensively by the Tiger fans and some of their management.
Caputo
"Roses not bad for U-M"
Pat, you are correct when you said, "The BCS system is beyond convoluted." Unfortunately, so's your thinking about, "...something just inherently wrong with the Big Ten getting two teams in the BCS title game." When OSU & UM were both undefeated and ranked #1 & #2 respectively, did you disagree with the ranking? Did you think then that there was no way that they should play each other for the National Championship? You knew one of them was going to lose to the other, so you should have thought about it then. And I didn't hear you complain when Michigan stayed #2 in the BCS rankings after their loss. If you were consistent, you would have ranked Michigan no higher than 3rd, 4th or even 5th, 6th or 7th, all year long, until it was clearly proven that no other (non-Big 10) team deserved a shot at the championship game with #1 OSU. And when UM lost to OSU, you should have come out and say that UM should be ranked below most of the undefeated and 1 loss teams remaining. You should have, but did you? Or are you saying that if you had a vote in the BCS, you'd have initially voted based on who you thought were the best teams, but change your vote at the end, because of your "one team per conference" criteria?? Convoluted, to say the least!
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