My weekly review post of Sports and My Thoughts as they pertain to the "D" and Beyond for the week ending Friday 8.21.15 . This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":
Lions: The Lions have played 2 Preseason games and the Offense and Defense seem to be ready for the upcoming Season. Downside is there is a huge drop in talent when the backups are in, especially on the DL and defense in general. Injuries also play a huge role and for the Lions to have a repeat of last years 11-5 record, they will need to remain healthy for most of the Season. The Offense will have to really step up this year with Stafford leading the way if the Lions are going to challenge the Packers for the Division title and this possibly could be the year the Lions will win a Playoff Game! Look for the Lions again to be 11-5 or 10-6.
Red Wings: The Red Wings are looking forward to the upcoming Season with a renewed sense of having a talented team with a healthy mix of veterans and younger player. Gone is Coach Mike Babcock and in his place is Jeff Blashill. A change was needed for the RedWings who have the longest streak of any Pro Team in reaching the Playoffs, have been huge disappointments the last few years in the Playoffs. It is time for the Red Wings to step up and make a deep run this year! I see the Red Wings finishing with 100+ points this year.
Pistons: The Pistons will be an interesting team this year. They drafted Stanley Johnson and traded for Ersan Ilyasova and signed guard Reggie Jackson to a huge contract even though He hasn't proven himself yet in the league. Stan VanGundy resigned Jackson to this contract and it could be a great deal or one that will come back and haunt the Pistons as did the signing of ex Piston Josh Smith last year! Hopefully this team will learn how to play defense this year and not live and die with the 3 ball. I look for the Pistons to win 35 to 40 games this year.
Tigers:
The Tigers have been a disappointment this Season to say the least. They are underachieving, seem to be at times unmotivated, do not play fundamentally sound baseball and yet because of parity this year in a weak AL, they are only 3.5 GB of the final wildcard spot. With an offense that is either all Feast or Famine, the Offense will have to be all Feast the rest of the year for the pitching is average at best and on most nights the offesne will have to score 5+ runs a game for the Tigers to have any chance. The Tigers were sellers at the trade deadline for the first time in many years but with a depleted farm system, former Pres./GM Dave Dumbrowski traded 2 key FA's for 5 very promising pitchers of the future. It also came as no big surprise that the Tigers fired DD in early August for everyone knew DD wouldn't be back next Season and the Tigers promoted Avila to the GM position. Some fans are in an uproar for it only took DD 2 weeks to land the President of Baseball Operations for the Red Sox. A great signing by the RedSox but just as it was with RedWings Coach Mike Babcock the same goes for DD, It was time for him to go!!
Spartans: The Spartan football team is 2 weeks from its 2015 opener against WMU and already the #5 ranked Spartans are being included in the talk as a Potential CFB Championship. Mark Dantonio's Spartans are loaded on both sides of the ball and have always played great as a team. There first real challenge will be against powerhouse #7Oregon in the second game of the season. The loss of defensive coach Pat Narduzzi, who took the HC position at Pittsburgh will be felt immediately and it will be interesting to see how the new Coaches that were promoted step up to ensure that MSU once again has one of the top defenses in the Country. The MSU basketball team is on its way to Italy where they will play European teams in exhibition games. It will be a good test for the Spartans who are ranked in the preseason as high as #12 but Tom Izzo will have his hands full putting together a roster filled with very talented freshmen and sophomores as He looks to get his team ready for another deep run in the NCAA tournament. I predict a 24 win season for the Spartans and 2nd place in the powerful B1G conference.
Wolverines: The
Wolverine football team will be a work in progress this year as sporting publications have the Wolverines winning as few as 5 games all the way to winning 11 games. In Jim Harbaughs first season as HC at Michigan it will be interesting to see how he mold a team that has lost allot of its prestige in CFB the past 5+ years. Harbaugh is said to be a hard nosed off the wall guy who wore out his welcome at Stanford as well with the 49'ers. Time will tell if He was the right pick for the Wolverines! I see them either 7-5 or 6-6 and going to a Bowl game. The Wolverine basketball program looks to have allot of promise and depth and barring any injuries this year, they look to be a 20 win program and an NCAA tournament team.
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL:The NFL Season is just a few weeks away but already some key players have suffered season ending injuries during this long grueling exhibition season. Injuries that often occur in the Preseason sometimes take a team primed to make a run in their Division and the Playoffs and relegates them to maybe if they are lucky a .500 season. Deflategate is still a hot topic where there has been no settlement in the case between the NFL and Tom Brady, the case is in Federal Court and the sides are due back in court on August 31st. The Patriots record will depend on if Brady gets suspended for 4 games or not! The NFL still has a Black Cloud hanging over itself due to the handling of player issues and a laughable agreement in place with the NFLPA. The NFLPA appeals every player suspension or incident where as the NFL either backs off the original discipline or it ends up in Federal Court. This makes the NFL, Goodell, the Owners and the Players look very bad in the Public Eye!
Baseball: The trading deadline has come and gone and a few teams strengthened themselves by making trades to fill key positions either by renting a FA for a few months or trading for a player to be part of their team for a while. The NY Mets, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and the Pittsburgh Pirates have been the most surprising teams this year along with the STL Cardinals and KC Royals pulling away early on in the season and not looking back. September should be a wild and fun month for Baseball fans as the season winds down.
NCAA: The NCAA got a huge break last week as the NLRB ruled in their favor against Northwestern University players wanting to form a Union. Unfortunately, the NLRB wasn't forthcoming and did not rule on a key part of the players lawsuit. The NCAA has lost allot of its ruling power against major Universities whose lawyers challenge any and all decisions against their star players or the Universities itself. It is time to either revamp the NCAA as a whole or abolish it and set up a new governing body to oversee college athletics.
NBA and NHL: Both Seasons are just a couple of months from now and their is excitement brewing. I do not see Golden State or Chicago repeating as Champions this upcoming season.
NFL Season: Starts in a little over 3 weeks on Thursday, September 10, 2015.
CFB Season: Starts in less then 2 weeks on Thursday, September 3, 2015
See my final Season Predictions for the NFL and CFB the week of August 31, 2015.
@cupofjoeinthed
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