My weekly review post of Sports and My Thoughts as they pertain to the "D" and Beyond for the week ending Tuesday 8.28.18 . This was a week filled with all sorts of drama and ups and downs. In the "D":
Lions:
Detroit is playing Preseason game #4 this week and is just 13 days away from its opener on MNF against the NY Jets. The Preseason which is filled with meaningless games comes to an end on Thursday night. The Lions haven't showed much at all during the previous 3 preseason games and I am sure much of that has been by design. Many of the questions that dogged the Lions since the end of last season are still dogging them now. The OL hasn't shown any physical prowess that is expected of them and the DL and Front 7 has been knocked off the ball for the most part. The OL and DL have been badly beaten in the trenches. Even the secondary, which is one of the Top 10 in the NFL has been beaten on a regular basis during the preseason. HC Matt Patricia has his hands full in his first season with the Lions as Detroit has the 2nd toughest schedule in the NFL. The Lions went out in the past few days and signed FA DE Robert Ayers and then released him the next day and traded for LB Eli Harold from the 49ers. These moves will help boost depth on the defense. The defense is a work in progress and the players are still getting used to the new schemes. The keys for the Lions this year will be establishing a running game to compliment Matt Stafford and the potent passing game and a defense that must be able to get off the field after 3rd down. I see good things for the Lions as the season progresses but I also see the team relying on Stafford's arm and a few shootouts especially early on. Many sport pundits have the Lions going 7-9.. If the Lions can
establish a running game, stop opponents on 3rd down and stay relatively healthy, I see them as a surprise team going 10-6. See my previous Blog post on NFL Team Predictions and Power Rankings.
Red Wings:
The Red Wings opener is just 37 days away. Detroit had a very good draft this past off season and took 2 elite
young players that have a chance to be stars in the NHL. There is an air
of optimism in the Detroit locker room now even as Detroit missed the playoffs for the 2nd consecutive season, and yet
chose to
keep GM Ken Holland and HC Jeff Blashill. A big question mark for the Red Wings is, will Captain Hnerik Zettererg be able to play this season after ongoing back issues that could end his career. 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 Detroit could be in jeopardy of missing the
playoffs for a 3rd
year. But the future is looking up for the first time in a couple of
seasons. The Red Wings also announced that the Hockeytown Logo at center ice will no longer be there as they want to concentrate just on the Winged Wheel.
Pistons:
The Pistons will open up the season in 51 days against Brooklyn. New HC Dwayne Casey inherited a roster of misfits and also hindered with huge ill advised contracts from the Stan VanGundy era and will be challenged to turn the losing around and try to make the playoffs. 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.Without a 1st round pick in 2019, Detroit will have to continue to develop some of its younger players and play some defense to win close games. I see the Pistons making the Playoffs as a 6 or 7th seed.
Tigers:
The
Detroit Tigers are 53-78 and are currently in 3rd place in the AL
Central, 21.5 games behind 1st place Cleveland.
The Tigers are
in possibly the worst Division in all of baseball this year and will now be lucky to win 70 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. 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.The Tigers starting pitching has been surprisingly above average but the bullpen struggles and the offense is woeful at best. The teams batting average as of Sunday was .241 and on some days outside of Castellanos bat, the team average is closer to .230. The rebuilding of the Tigers started 2-3 years later then it should of and don't look for much success or a team that will challenge for the AL Central until 2022 or maybe later. On a side note, with the season having just a little over a month left, this is the farewell stretch for Victor Martinez. Martinez is now 39 years old and in his 17th season and has indicated he will retire at the end of the season. He was a force in the middle of the Tigers lineup in his prime.
Last Sunday, the Tigers retired Alan Trammell's #3 to go along with Jack Moris's #47 a few weeks before as both players were enshrined in MLB's HOF in Cooperstown in early August. Congrats to 2 Tigers greats. Now it it time for the HOF to elect Lou Whitaker to join them!
Spartans:
The Spartans open the 2018 season this upcoming Friday against Utah State. MSU is coming off a 10-3 season and looks 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. Many including myself see them winning 10 or 11 games this season and once again they should have a Top 5 ranked defense to go along with a very talented QB in Brian Lewerke. How quick the offense jells will decide how far Michigan State will go this season. If the Spartans beat Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State, look for a potential CFB Playoff for them. The
Spartan basketball team which made the Tournament for the 21st straight
year, saw an early exit once again. 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. Look for the basketball team to once again be a favorite to win the Big Ten and they will be a Top 10 team in the Country and should make a deep run during March Madness
Wolverines:
Michigan will be a Top 15 team coming into the collegiate football
season but the real question will be, can the Wolverines and Head Coach
Jim Harbaugh win the big game(s)? Michigan opens the season at Notre Dame on September 1st in South Bend. The defense will be elite again. 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 three, 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 locked up head coach John Beilein for years to come. Beilein is recovering from double bypass heart surgery but will be ready to coach the Wolverines in the upcoming season. The Wolverines
will have a
good returning class for next season and Coach John Beileins team should make
another deep run into the NCAA Tournament. John Beilein is a well respected Coach but under appreciated by many.
Sports beyond the "D":
NFL: NFL season is 9 days away. Week 4 of the NFL Preseason is upon us as teams have one more meaningless game before they all have to reduce their rosters to 53 players. Some players have been MIA such as Rams DT McDonald, Steelers RB Bell and Raiders LB Kahlil Mack just to name a few. Bell looks like the only one to report before the deadline. Also, NY Giants WR Odell Beckham signed the richest contract yesterday for a WR. It was for 5 years and 95M with 60M guaranteed. Teams and fans and
sport pundits alike are filled with excitement about
how their teams will fare this upcoming season. The NFL Owners and the NFLPA are still working to finalize 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 new revised Helmet Rule, 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. The new Helmet rule which forbids a player for leading with his helmet when tackling is going to decide and cost teams games this season. Also the new kickoff rule makes no sense at all. 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 in the "Dog Days" of Summer with 6 weeks remaining in the season. Many trades were made before the Trade deadline and the RedSox have the best record in baseball. 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 last 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. Will the Astros and Dodgers repeat as World Series opponents?
NCAA: CFB season has officially begun. The Polls are out and Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Wisconsin and Washington are the Top 5 to begin the season. College football took a huge hit when Ohio State chose wins and $$$$ over doing the right thing and firing Urban Meyer for his role in the Zack Smith Domestic Abuse scandal. The school gave Meyer a 3 game slap on the wrist and thus will have this scandal looming over the University for years to come. The NCAA also 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 Power 5 Conference. See my previous Blog post on CFB Top 25 as the season begins.
NBA and NHL:
The NBA season starts in 50 days and once again the Golden State Warriors are the favorites to win the NBA Championship. After all the hoopla, LeBron James chose to sign with the LA Lakers. Teams continue to throw crazy money at players as it is now a Players first league where players tell the Owners where they are going to play. Prices continue to skyrocket for fans to go to games as the Owners and Players get richer and richer at the expense of the fans.
In the
NHL, the 2018/2019 season opens on October 4th. The Washington Capitals who won their 1st ever Stanley Cup last season are the favorites to repeat this season. The biggest surprise of last season was the success of the Las Vegas Golden Knights playing in their inaugural season. The Golden Knights chose players that all NHL teams put out on a list to choose from. These players jelled together under Coach Gerard Gallant and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup. 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, taking these players, put together a top team in the NHL in its 1st year.
Miscellaneous:
The Nation is in morning after the passing of Sen. John McCain who was a Veteran and Hero and respected Senator from the State of Arizona. Senator McCain and President Trump didn't see eye to eye and the President often took to Social Media to mock or degrade McCain. President Trump is not attending McCains funeral but both past Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush will give the eulogies. President Trump reached a tentative deal with Mexico on trade and put more tariffs on China. Also, He cancelled a meeting with North Korea as they have seemingly backed out of the so called agreement on Nuclear Arms. The stock market continues to rally and break new records which President Trump has had allot to do with but it was already on the upswing long before He took office. Other issues still at the forefront of the Trump Administration are the Russian Collusion, Trump Tower Meeting, Manafort found guilty, Cohen singing like a canary to the Feds, possible indictment of Donald Trump jr. and the potential releasing of Trump tax returns. Not to mention Immigration reform, Supreme Count Nominee, Racial Inequality, Gun Control and of course the upcoming November elections which could turn the tide in Congress.
Other Sporting Events:
PGA: Bryson DeChambeau won The Northern Trust. NASCAR: Kurt Bush wins at Bristol.
twitter; @thecupofjoeinthed email; cupofjoeinthed@gmail.com www.cupofjoeinthed.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment