My weekly review post of Sports and My Thoughts as they pertain to the "D" and Beyond for the week ending Sunday 12.13.15 . This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":
Lions: Sunday was another Sunday as the Lions once again played down to their competition and let the St. Louis Rams beat them. It was evident there wasn't a good game plan for the game and how you cannot throw more balls to Calvin Johnson is beyond me! HC Caldwell needs to pull out the old Mitchell to Moore tapes and see how the Lions were so successful in throwing up the ball and letting Moore catch it over the smaller defenders. The game also showed how bad the Lions are at drafting for they passed up on McDonald of the Rams and selected Ebron and everyone seen how good McDonald is in only 2 short years and well, Eborn is still a costly work in progress. The Coaching staff was once out coached and couldn't make the necessary changes on the fly in the game nor at halftime as the good teams and coaches do and it cost them the game once again!!
Red Wings: The Red Wings have been playing real good as of late and are currently in second place behind the Canadiens in the NHL Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. The one major flaw so far early in this season is the Red Wings failure to close out games and lose leads in the 3rd period which has come back to haunt them on at least 8 occasions so far. The Red Wings should be around 100 points this year and make their record 25th consecutive playoff.
Pistons: The Pistons are off to a 14-11 start and should have a few more wins if not for 2 games that they were beat at the buzzer. They are playing with allot of energy and determination but still need to look for a pure shooter to knock down big shots when needed. There is a chance they could sneak into the Playoffs this year as an 7th or 8th seed in the weak NBC Eastern Conference.
Tigers: The Tigers have had a very busy off season and made some surprising moves in filling some glaring weaknesses mainly on the pitching staff both starting pitchers as well as in the bullpen. The Tigers have signed closer Francisco Rodriguez, reliever Mark Lowe, starting pitchers Zimmerman and Pelfrey, and outfielder Maybin to strengthen the team. The team may go after another big name outfielder but time will tell. These moves will put the Tigers back into mix for playoff contention next year as long as Cabrera and Martinez can come back healthy and remain healthy for a whole season.
Spartans: The Spartans Football Team which is currently ranked #3 and is in the 4 team CFB Playoffs for the National Championship is getting ready for the showdown with #2 Alabama on New Years Eve . It is a game that no one is giving the Spartans a chance to win which sits fine with Coach Mark Dantonio and the team as they relish the role of underdogs once again! The Spartan Basketball team is currently ranked #1 in the NCAA with an 11-0 record and Coach Izzo has a very deep and talented team this year and another Final Four run looks very promising for the Spartans.
Wolverines: The
Wolverines still stinging from an embarrassing loss to Ohio State at the end of the season will go to the Citrus Bowl to play the Florida Gators. It is a New Years Bowl game but not the one the Wolverines wanted to play in. The Wolverine basketball team has been playing decent basketball with a 7-3 record so far. An NCAA berth would be a good year for this team.
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL: The NFL continues to have a Black Cloud over it, between all the blown calls by their officials during games, the continued disagreements with the NFLPA and the debacle brewing over which 2 teams will be in LA in 2 years. The Panthers are the only undefeated team in the NFL right now at 13-0. The Patriots which continue to win despite numerous injuries have developed over the years what I call the plugin player system. It is a system that no matter who goes down they plug in another player and that player doesn't miss a beat. The team may not have the same talent each time they plug in a player but it allows the team to remain competitive at all times. I am surprised other teams haven't used this same system and modeled it for their NFL teams. It is a proven way to win in the NFL year in and year out!
MLB Baseball: MLB decided to uphold the lifetime ban of the greatest hitter of all time, Pete Rose in a decision that is both idiotic and dumbfounding to Me. No one questions what He did but the lifetime ban is just wrong in so many ways. He has been punished long enough and it is an abuse of power by the MLB Commish to take this stance. I know many of you will disagree with Me on this, but I do not care if you do or not. I feel very strongly on this issue!! The off season started off with a bang as the biggest contracts ever in free agency being given out. The Owners seem to think they are playing with Monopoly money in signing these free agents but once again it will be the fans who will pay the price for this outlandish and foolish spending in increased ticket prices, parking prices, concession and team apparel. When will it ever stop?
NCAA: The
biggest news was last weekend happened in Columbus, where we now know where OSU draws the line when disciplining their football players. OSU DT Adolphus Washington was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of solicitation and was immediately suspended and kicked off the team. Now just a month ago, QB JT
Barnett was arrested for OVI. Barnett who is underage was caught driving
a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol was also charged as a misdemeanor. Coach Urban Meyer and
AD Gene Smith gave Barnett nothing more than a slap on the wrist and a 1
game suspension as they downplayed the seriousness of the incident. But OSU suspended and dismissed Washington for a misdemeanor charge. The
School by their actions showed everyone they do not care about the
integrity of the school or the student athletes but only care about its
sports programs and winning. I think this showed potential recruits and
their parents just what OSU is all about and sends the wrong message
that do wrong and if your an athlete once again to will get special
treatment! The
NCAA seems to becoming more and more than nothing but the oversight of
college athletics that just collects money. The NCAA investigates
allegations and violations and hands down punishments and disciplines
which most of the time are against athletes for a team violation or
potential violation for taking money or making money and the NCAA
suspends the athlete at its will which is wrong.There needs to be a
defined detailed process for these issue. On the other hand a College is
charged with violations and it is stripped of scholarships and maybe a
playoff suspension depending on what the violation was, but then the
College usually challenges it and the NCAA backs down. SMU and its Coach
Larry Brown were handed down a punishment for violations of NCAA rules
and SMU is no stranger to NCAA wrong doings and now they want to
challenge the discipline. Syracuse and its head B Ball Coach Jim Boeheim
challenged his 9 game conference suspension for many violations under his watch and once again the NCAA in a spineless move changed his suspension from conference games to the non conference schedule sending yet another show of being powerless and caving into pressure from a Big University that doing wrong nowadays has no true ramifications anymore under the watch of the NCAA. He should of been suspended at least 1 year for what
happened! And we are still waiting for the outcome of the investigation into that an assistant
coach at Louisville under Head Coach Rick Pitino hires escorts to have
sex with players and recruits for 5 years. If this is true, the NCAA
should make an example of Louisville and show the other Universities it
means business and penalize the Basketball program for 3 years taking
away scholarships and give them a post season ban and possible removal
of the head coach as well. It is time to let everyone know that even as
athletics have taken over as big business at the college level the rules
and regulations have to be followed and if you break them they are
serious consequences that will be instituted.
NBA and NHL: The NBA has had a great start with the defending Champions, the Golden State Warriors winning 24 straight games before losing their first game of the season. They definitely have a chance of beating the best record ever in an NBA season. And Kobe Bryant announces his retirement at the end of this Season. In the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens and the Dallas Stars are the 2 best teams so far, each leading their Conferences in points.
See
my weekly NFL Power Rankings and weekly NFL Picks and My Final
CFBTop25 and CFB Bowl picks at www.cupofjoeinthed.blogspot.com .
@cupofjoeinthed
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