My Sports Recap and Thoughts from the "D" and Beyond....

My weekly review post of Sports and My Thoughts as they pertain to the "D" and Beyond for the week ending Friday  09.30.16 .  This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":
Lions:  Detroit heads into the Windy City to play the winless Chicago Bears (0-3) on Sunday. It is a must win game for the Lions (1-2) as they lost again last Sunday to the Green Bay Packers in a game that was pretty much over by halftime. The Lions who are banged up with many players injured, looked real bad defenselessly and the offense was hit or miss.  The Lions have a tough schedule this season and are playing there 3rd game out of the 1st four on the road. The Lions also made headlines this off season when they announced they would finally have real cheerleaders at their games. I see the Lions winning 8 games maybe 9 if they stay healthy and can play some defense this season.
Red Wings:  Hockey Season is just 13 days away. Detroit opened up training camp a week ago and are trying to figure out a line up in training camp that will hopefully get them into the playoffs for the 26th straight year. I see the Red Wings no higher then a 6th seed in the eastern Conference this year. The need to remain healthy this year and have great goal tending for Detroit failed miserably in Free Agency to land a top defenseman in the off season.  Saddled with big contracts to underachieving aging players could cause salary cap issues once again.. The new name of the Red Wings arena which is scheduled to open for the 2017/2018 season is The Little Caesar's Arena, maybe they will rename the new arena in his name? 
Pistons:  NBA Season starts in 25 days.  The Detroit Pistons are looking forward to the upcoming NBA Season. The Pistons were busy in the off season and look forward to making noise in the NBA East Conference. The Pistons also resigned C Andre Drummond to a 5 yr $130M deal.  Detroit made the playoffs for the first time since 2009 were swept in the 1st round.Detroit should continue their climb this season up the NBA East Standings and be a #3 or #4 seed in the playoffs.
Tigers: The Tigers are currently in 2nd place in the AL Central with a 85-73 record.  Detroit is 1.5 GB behind both the Blue Jays and Orioles with 4 game to play. The Tigers were rained out in the final game against the Indians and that game will be made up on Monday. Detroit plays a final weekend series against the Atlanta Braves and the Tigers need to pretty much sweep the Braves to have any chance at getting in one of the 2 WC spots that are open.  Nick Castellanos is finally back in the lineup after missing almost 2 months with a broken hand.  Detroit which has been a Feast or famine offensive team this year need to close out the season winning all 4 games left to make the playing playoff game.
Spartans:   The Spartans play the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday night. Michigan State is coming off their 1st loss of the season which was an embarrassing blowout from the Wisconsin Badgers. The Spartans came out flat, look disorganized, played uncharacteristically bad and the play calling was brutal at best. It will be interesting to see how the Spartans respond and how the rest of the season will play out for the Spartans. MSU is also morning the loss of a 2nd ex player when Mylan Hicks only 2 years out of college and playing in the CFL with the Calgary Stampede was fatally shot in Calgary.  Hicks is the 2nd ex Spartan, the others was ex punter Mike Sadler lost 2 months ago.  The MSU Spartans football team is now an elite College team  The Spartan basketball team which lost out on the Josh Jackson sweepstakes still had a Top 5 recruiting year and will look to be another March Madness favorite next season.They also landed top 5 recruit for 20127  named Jared Jackson.   Congrats to Coach Tom Izzo for being inducted into the  Naismith Hall of Fame for College Basketball. The Spartans will be a work in progress this upcoming season but Tom Izzo knows what it takes to win and I see them winning 22-25 games and another invitation to March Madness. 
Wolverines:  The Wolverines rolled easily over a once proud Penn State but who are now a mediocre team in the B1G conference.  Michigan dominated the Nittany Lions in all facets of the game to go to 4-0. The Wolverines play the surprising and undefeated Badgers on Saturday in their 5th straight home game to open up the season. With an easy first 7 games, Michigan should be 7-0 before they face any stiff competition this season. Michigan football is making plenty of waves in the betting world as they are the team most bettors are putting money down on to win the national Championship this season. Harbaugh who has done a marvelous job of recruiting and getting the Wolverines back into the National spotlight will have his hands full with a much tougher schedule than the one He had last year. One of the biggest knocks against Harbaugh in his great coaching career is that every year His teams lose a game or two that they should of won.  He has recruited strongly and has started a new trend of being part of Satellite Football Camps all over the World. With a budget in the Top 3 of all Colleges, it seems He has an open checkbook to do as He pleases. There is no doubt that He has restored the football program to one of National prominence once again but at what expense? Good luck to the Wolverine football team this year and I see them winning 10 games in 2016. The Wolverine basketball team is retooling and hoping for another NCAA run next season. Coach Beilein  has done a good job at Michigan and I see another 18-20 win season and a possible March Madness berth for the Wolverines this up coming season.
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL: The NFL Season is in week 4.  Bill Belichick and the Patriots are geniuses, they have developed a Plug and Play System where they can plug in a player with years or experience or little to no experience and the System allows the Player to succeed and win. All teams should model their NFL Football team around this proven system of winning. Week 3 of the NFL Season saw many key players go down with major injuries some of them season ending. the biggest loss is the loss of Texans start defensive player JJ Watts who re injured his back and is possibly done for the season. Many have called Watts the mot selfish player in the NFL for it is all about him and never the tram. Watts who had surgery to repair a herniated disk in July, came back months ahead of what doctors said he would and in doing so He re injured his back and now is lost for the season and costing the team a chance to make possibly the playoffs and win a game or two this season.  Rookies QB's are winning when no one gave them a chance to win this early on and there are a few teams that have risen to become the early favorites to get to the Super Bowl. Another season of NFL teams playing games in London, England opens this Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts face the Jacksonville Jaguars.   Most fans and players alike say the preseason is a waste but to the NFL and the Owners it is all about screwing the fans over for even more money with the 2 additional home games each team gets with the preseason. Until it is addressed, more players will get hurt and in the case of the Vikings, they went from being a playoff team and possible winner of the NFC North to a team that will be lucky to win 6 games now.  NFL teams are working hard in training camp to establish their 53 man roster for the season opener. Excitement is always high at this time of year. The biggest news so far is the injury to Tony Romo that will sideline him for 6-10 weeks.  Joey Bosa 3rd round pick of the Chargers has finally been signed by the Chargers but what type of shape he is in for the first couple of games has yet to be seen.  This is what pro sports has come down too, athletes demanding trades, athletes demanding which teams they will play on and who they want on their teams. Entitlement is the new word for both the Owners and the Players nowadays and that leaves the fans to pay the price for this so called "Entitlement.  As if the Owners and the NFL do not have enough money, the NFL is now going to play games in China as well as the UK and Mexico. The NFL should concentrate on making the game better and dealing with its current issues instead of trying to dilute the game and water it down with thoughts of global expansion on the horizon just to make more money
MLB Baseball:  MLB  is now into the final weekend of the regular season. Teams are jockeying for the final WC spots in both the AL and NL and it will be a very interesting last weekend for fans and players and teams alike.  Teams are seeing players hurt, and are relying heavily on their minor league farm systems to fill the gap. It is time for all the high priced , high payed players to earn their monies and the young players to show they belong in the Major Leagues.
NCAA:  CFB Football is in week 5  Week 4 is over and it was a week with most Top 25 teams handling their business.  Alabama continues to be #1 in the CFB rankings while Ohio State and Clemson maintain the next 2 spots behind the Roll Tide. The biggest match up this weekend will be the #6 Louisville Cardinals going into Death Valley to play the #2 Clemson Tigers in a show down of 2 of the best teams and QB's in the Country.  It should be a shootout and possibly coming down to who has the ball last in this game. 
NBA and NHL: 
     NBA is less than a month away from its Season opener and their is plenty of excitement.  Many have the Golden State Warriors winning it all and winning possibly 75 to 78 games in an 82 game schedule. NBA teams as they do every year have new line ups and players and all hope to make the playoffs this season.
     In the NHL, the season opener is less than 2 weeks from today. NHL players and fans an teams as they enter training camp look to see how their teams look and where they will be as the season opens and will they be a playoff contender or pretender this season. The NHL also announced expansion into Las Vegas in a few years and Seattle is the next potential city to host an expansion team. I cannot understand the rationale of expansion when their are quite a few team struggling financially right now in the NHL. 
Miscellaneous; The Ryder Cup begins today and Team USA desperately wants to win after a drought to Team Europe. Cowboys Dez Bryant hurts his knee last Sunday, He has an MRI done but doesn't seek treatment for 2 days in yet another selfish move on his part. Red Sox player David Ortiz is playing his final regular season games this weekend after a great career and an amazing last season as the DH for Boston. The WNBA playoffs start this weekend. Only 2 weeks until the CFB playoff teams start to be revealed week after week. College Basketball practices start within a few weeks and we are only 6 weeks away from the CBB opener. The NHL and NBA are within a month of their respective openers for the upcoming seasons. Huge CFB game Saturday as the 4-0 Western Michigan Broncos travel to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan to face the 3-1 Central Michigan Chippewas.  And oh yeah Christmas is only 87 days away.
Nascar: Kevin Harvick wins at New Hampshire    PGA: Rory Mcllroy wins the TOUR Championship

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