My weekly review post of Sports and My Thoughts as they pertain to the "D" and Beyond for the week ending Friday 10.9.15 . This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":
Lions:The Lions are off to an 0-4 start and are in danger of losing this Sunday against Arizona. The Defense has played well enough in the past 2 games to win but the Offense has been a no show and the play calling has been terrible! The NFL officials once again blew a call late in the game that cost the Lions a chance at the potential winning touchdown but the Lions offense didn't show up until the final 5 minutes of the game. Injuries are a big part of the game for all NFL teams and this year is no exception for the Lions, they have had key players out and haven't had their true team out there for any game this year. An 0-5 start is a real possibility as is going 5-11 if they do not turn it around quickly. They only have a couple more weeks to start winning or they might as well start looking at who they will draft in the Top 10 next year.
Red Wings: The Red Wings opened up the 2015/2016 Hockey Season with a 4-0 shellacking of the Maple Leafs. In the return of former Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock with his new team, the Red Wings and new Head Coach Jeff Blashill started off fast and played well in their first game. The Red Wings showed finesse, grit, and are a fast skating team. They look renewed and it should be a real good season for the Red Wings 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 finished the Season and for the first time in a few years are sitting out this years Post Season. The Tigers were a huge disappointment as the team displayed many glaring holes that need to be filled during the off season. The Tigers often played uninspired and lackadaisical. The were not fundamental sound as they missed cut off men, were terrible on the bases, couldn't bunt or play short ball and looked like they were just going through the motions in many games this year. The Coaching was bad and I like many do not understand the rationale of bring back Manager Brad Ausmus for another year, in his second season he seemed to get worse instead of better and some of his decisions cost the Tiger at least a dozen games this past season.
Spartans: The Spartans are currently 5-0 and ranked #4 in the CFB Top 25. The Spartans have looked real good at times and other times a bit off. They have been working out the bugs of replacing Pat Narduzzi as the DC and the defense is young and had injuries that have slowed down the progress of the defense getting better. On the Offense side of the ball, the play calling has been ultra conservative and even predictable at times. The play calling has dropped the Spartans from #2 in the Country to #4 by not putting away teams that they should and scoring more points. For the Spartans to win the rest of the games and go to the CFB Playoffs, the play calling must get more aggressive and help out the defense which has been relied on too often this year to win games at the end.
Wolverines: The Wolverines are 4-1 and have been a nice surprise in their first season under new head coach Jim Harbaugh. The defense has been awesome and the offesne is still a work in progress. An easy schedule with most games at home early in the season has helped the Wolverines, but if they can get the offense on track and not have to always rely on their defense, the Wolverines could end up with a 9 win season.
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL: The NFL continues to have a Black Cloud over it, as once again the Officials caused the outcome of a game to be called into question as none of its officials in the game made a call that was suppose to be called and it cost a team a potential winning touchdown. This has become the norm as in a playoff game last season the Officials also blew a call that cost a team a win. The NFL seems to do what they want when they want for the NFL is a money making machine that makes the Owners money hand over fist! The NFL also needs to stop being patsies when it comes to dealing with the NFLPA and needs to put very detailed strict consequences to an offesne or violations by players or teams that are not negotiable! There needs to be a fair and just disciplinary agreement that stops the NFLPA from going to federal Court every time they want to but also deals with the violations in a fair and timely manner!
MLBaseball: The Post Season is underway and as usual in baseball having home field advantage early on doesn't seem to matter as the Astros and Cubs won their one game showdowns on the road and the Rangers have won the first 2 games of their series over the Blue Jays in Toronto.
NCAA: 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 want to challenge his 9 game suspension because he now wants to have his discipline compared to what the NCAA gave to Larry Brown even though the suspension of 9 conference games for Jim Boeheim was nothing more than a slap on the wrist for the transgressions that occurred under his watch at Syracuse. He should of been suspended at least 1 year for what happened! And now just this week it has come to light 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 NHL opened up its season this week and we are less than a month away from the NBA opener!
See my weekly NFL Power Rankings and weekly NFL Picks and My weekly CFBTop25 and CFB weekly picks.
@cupofjoeinthed
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