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 Thursday 6.14.18 .  This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":    
Lions:  Detroit just finished its OTA's and now we wait until practice starts officially with the kickoff of training camp which opens on July 27th.  The Lions have the second toughest strength of schedule for the 2018 season.  Lots of changes have taken place after the 2017 season with the biggest being the firing of Head Coach Jim Caldwell and replacing him with ex Patriots DC Matt Patricia. Also gone is DC Teryl Austin and taking his place is new DC Paul Pasqualoni.  This off season the Lions made a quiet splash in the free agency market but the biggest signing was RB Legarrette Blount. Detroit also tried to shore up its OL with adding backup Lineman as well as taking Arkansas Center Frank Ragnow with their first round pick.  The Lions need to be able to run the ball, something they haven't done with much success the past decade.  The defense will be a work in progress and it looks like for the Lions to win games this season, they will have to rely on QB Matt Stafford and the offense lighting up the scoreboard and outscoring their opponents. Many sport pundits have the Lions going 7-9.. If the Lions can establish a running game, stop opponents on 3rd done and stay relatively healthy,  I see them as a surprise team going 10-6.
Red Wings:  The Red Wings are getting ready for the upcoming draft now that the NHL is over.  This years draft will take place on June 22nd and 23rd. Detroit missed the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season, yet chose to keep GM Ken Holland and HC Jeff Blashill.  The Red Wings have a chance to load up on future NHL Players but most of their draft picks are 3rd round and lower.            It may be a few years before Detroit makes it back into the playoffs. The Red Wings have been saddled with aging over priced and under achieving players and have to rely on a very suspect draft this year to draft mid round players and try to develop them for 3-5 years down the road. Detroit could be in jeopardy of missing the playoffs for a 3rd year.
Pistons:   The Pistons announced this past Monday, of the hiring of ex Toronto Raptors HC Dwane Casey to replace Stan Van Gundy, who was let go after another dismal and under performing season. The Pistons do not have a 1st round pick in the upcoming draft after trading it mid season to the LA Clippers in exchange for Blake Griffin.  Detroit is also saddled with some terrible long term contracts.  Staying healthy and playing a bit of defense will be important if the Pistons have any chance of making the playoffs this upcoming season.  The Pistons had a hard time attracting fans this past season and it looks like it will be the same again. High ticket prices in the new LCA and an average team will make it hard to fill the seats this season.  In an average at best NBA Eastern Conference, if the Pistons can win 45 to 48 games next season they have a chance at making the playoffs.
Tigers:   The Detroit Tigers are 32-37 and are currently in 2nd place in the AL Central only 4.5 games behind 1st place Cleveland. The Tigers which are in possibly the worst Division in all of baseball this year have a chance of winning 75-78 games. Although the lineup is void of top MLB talent, this Tigers team hustles and doesn't seem to give up. Not a power hitting team, the Tigers rely on speed and trying to do the small things to win games.  Detroit was dealt a blow this week when All Star 1st basemen Miguel Cabrera was lost for the rest of the season with a ruptured bicep muscle.  The MLB draft was this past week and the Tigers with the 1st overall pick, took Auburn RHP Casey Mize. The Tigers are looking to restock their farm system and rebuild on the fly with players selected the past couple of drafts as well as the players they received in trading all their top MLB players for last season in a fire sale. Suspect pitching and weak bats hurt the Tigers, but playing in the AL Central boosts their chances to play decent baseball the rest of the season. Don't be surprised if the Tigers trade a few more of their players before this years trading deadline.
Spartans:  The Spartans coming off a 10-3 season look to continue with another 10+ win season. The football team looks to build on last seasons success and the schedule is favorable this season for them to make a serious run for the Big Ten Championship.  After dealing with turmoil for the past few seasons within the football program and the University in general, HC Mark Dantonio sees a bright future for his program. Although as I have said for a long time now, the football program needs to bring in top Assistant Coaches to help mentor and train and take MSU to the next level. The current coaches all who HC Dantonio has been loyal too, need to be seriously looked at and some need to go and the others need to be reassigned elsewhere. This team looks strong and has added depth with experience, I see the Spartans going 10-2.   The Spartan basketball team which made the Tournament for the 21st straight year, saw an early exit once again and also lost 2 top lottery picks to the NBA in Miles Bridges and Jaren Jackson. The Spartans will be loaded again heading into the upcoming season and will make the NCAA Tourney for the 22nd consecutive season under Head Coach Tom Izzo.
Wolverines:  Michigan will be a Top 25 team in the upcoming collegiate football season but the real question will be, can the Wolverines and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh win the big game(s)?  The Wolverines are stacked with 4 and 5 star recruits who cruise thru the season and then lose a close game they should not loose. Transferring QB Shea Patterson should help an offense that at times had trouble scoring last season. The real question is can a Harbaugh led team beat in State rival, MSU and also Penn State and Ohio State who all 3, have had their way with the Wolverines the past 5+ seasons. The Wolverines once again have made waves across the NCAA. First off, Michigan is the first Public Institution in the Country to pay 3 football coaches over $1M a year and that doesn't even include Head Coach Jim Harbaugh's $9M a year paycheck.  Also, Harbaugh decided to take the whole football team to Paris for football practice and very debatable studying abroad. I think if the football team is able to go at whatever price it is costing them, then every other student athlete at Michigan should be afforded the same opportunity at no cost to them as well. Since there seems to be no limits to the Wolverines football teams athletic budget, this makes all the more case as to why student athletes should share in all the revenue the school makes from them. The Wolverines basketball team which had another great season and made it to the NCAA Championship Game need to lock up head coach John Beilein for years.  The Wolverines will have a good returning class for next season and Coach John Beilein should make another deep run into the NCAA Tournament. 
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL:   NFL season is 83 days away.  Mandatory mini camps are underway as teams have went thru rookie and team OTA's. Some players have been MIA such as Rams DT McDonald, Falcons WR Jones, and Steelers RB Bell just to name a few. Teams and fans and sport pundits alike are filled with excitement about how their teams will fare this upcoming season. he NFL Owners also finalized what they will permit players to do during the singing of the National Anthem. The NFL has an off season coming up to work on the many issues that it is dealing with; once again what is a Catch, its declining viewership, players pushing for marijuana to be legalized, shortening games, revised OT, and dealing with player incidents and black eyes on the NFL. Severe injuries, especially concussions are rampant nowadays as almost all the replays show that either a players head is being driven into the turf and also so many head to head deliberate hits as well as hitting defenseless players in the head. And it seems the NFL with all their new Concussion Protocol Procedures, they still cannot get it right in regards to protecting a Player safely.  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:  The MLB season is already 2 and 1/2 months in and already there is talk abut who will be buyers and sellers within the next 6 weeks before the July 31st deadline  Also, MLB is trying to find a way to speed up the games so they don't last over 3+ hours for a 9 inning game but they are just kidding themselves, baseball games are becoming increasingly long and boring and many games way over 3 hours for a 9 inning game.  The games are not being monitored by the umps as players continue to go in and out of the batters box before each pitch like it is a wait until I want to swing the bat. The only thing being kept up is the times a team came go to the mound in a game. Replays are the norm now and why it takes so long to review a call is beyond me. No doubt as to why viewership is going down as today's fans do not want to sit and watch games go on and on and on for no reason.
NCAA:  The NCAA took a black eye on the scathing report on college basketball. The findings were fully expected and the changes implemented may or may not work. Addressing the one and done rule with the NBA was a step in the right direction.  On the football front, it took years for the NCAA to finally do the right thing and allow its athletes to transfer schools without the athlete having to sit out a year.  It also now allows schools to go after other schools players with no recourse. It will be interesting to see the sharks of the Big Time Schools and how long it takes them to go after Mid Level schools and it talent. Also, it was a joke that UCF's self proclaimed National Title after going undefeated. No doubt they had a great year but their record was inflated by a cream puff Conference schedule whose other Conference teams would get crushed week in and week out in the Power 5 conferences.  For UCF to be taken seriously, they need to move to a tougher elite Conference.
NBA and NHL: 
    The NBA finals are over as the Golden State Warriors won their 3rd Championship in the last 4 years with a 4 game rout over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Kevin Durant won the MVP and it looks like the Warriors are primed for another run the next few years. The Championship Series wasn't even close except for the 1st game. The biggest news in this off season is where LeBron James will end up.  Will He stay in Cleveland or move on? My thought, He will move elsewhere but not where most think He will end up for next season.  Also, the NBA draft is just 7 days away and teams are looking at who they will be drafting in the first 2 rounds of the draft as well as the top Free Agents available.      In the NHL, the Washington Capitals won their 1st ever Stanley Cup over the surprising 1st season Las Vegas Golden Knights. If I was the President or GM of most NHL teams, I would be looking over my shoulder as the Owners of the NHL teams have to be asking how could the Golden Knights, take players that all NHL teams chose to leave off their rosters get chose by Las Vegas and they in their inaugural season make it to the Stanley Cup! The officiating was brutally bad at best and the NHL needs to take a serious look at how to make changes to have better officiating all season long. The draft will be in a week and outside of the first 5 top guys it looks like another weak draft.   
Miscellaneous:
    President Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un meet in a historic event aimed at the denuclearization on North Korea going forward.  Signed agreement is met with baited breath as many think the Kim Jong UN played President Trump. The real winner in all of this is China.  Also, G7 Summit was held and US Allies are mad at President for He is trying to even out the trade imbalance the US has all over the World.  It sparked a war of words by Canada's PR Trudeau. The PM must have amnesia as to, throwing in how Canada's armed forces stood with the US in WWII but forgets who protects Canada nowadays in case of a War breaking out. Lip service was the only thing paid by the past Presidents regimes over the past 20 years as the trade imbalance has gotten far out of control.  Time will tell if the Presidents plan will work or not with our Allies as well as other countries in the World. 
Other Sporting Events:
    The World Cup beings in Russia with the 32 team event starting today and going for a month. The PGA event this weekend is the US Open.
 
PGA:  Dustin Johnson wins St. Jude FedEx Classic  NASCAR: Clint Bowyer wins at Michigan International Speedway
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