St. Louis Beats Detroit Again

The Glass Is 99/100 Full

Even though I turned off the TV the split-second Inge struck out and didn't listen to another piece of World Series news the entire weekend, it's important that we don't get too down on the Tigers. To consider their season a failure just because they didn't win the Series would be a big mistake. Just think, this was a team that was maybe expected to have a .500 season. Instead, they ended up as one of the best teams in baseball. Then, after their late season collapse, they were given up for dead against the Yankees, whom they proceeded to beat in dominating fashion. Next, a sweep of the A's. Sure, it's depressing that the Series ended the way it did, but I hope Detroit sports fans aren't so fickle that they don't forget the other 99% of the season. Otherwise, the "We Always Believed" signs aren't quite as credible.

Well boys, the bad news is the World Series is over. The good news is that season 4 of The OC commences on Thursday at 9:00. I'm pretty pumped to have Seth Cohen and Summer Roberts back in my life.

While I'm in this neighborhood, did anyone else notice that the PA at Busch Stadium was playing the Venga Boys when the Cardinals closed it out? Is that really the best song to celebrate a World Series victory?

Also, I haven't read the papers or even looked online all that much, but I'm getting the impression that most people around here are pretty disappointed in the Tigers. I was at a bar last night and when the MC asked everyone to make some noise for the boys in blue, the response was lukewarm at best. Besides that, the bartender was wearing a Bonderman Jersey with the "D" crossed out and a sign around his neck that read "Trade Me." I know there were some pretty serious breakdowns that cost the Tigers the title, but all in all I can say I had a hell of a time watching this run. Going from 71 wins to the World Series deservers some appreciation.

We Can Still Do This People!
Look, if anybody asks you whether or not the Tigers are still going to win the world series, say 'Yes'. At best you're a true fan/genius that never gives up on his team and knew they were going to put it together just in time for a win. At worst you're a homer.

We're now on Day 4 of "Dirtgate" (a term I loath), and given the lack of actual baseball to talk about, I suppose commentators have to fill their pages and airtime with something. But one of the reasons I enjoy sports so much is that compared to the "real world," at the end of the day there's a final box score, and you can move on. I'm reminded of the baseball documentary "When It Was A Game." Perhaps it's nostalgia for a time that never really existed, but wouldn't it be nice to go back to a time when it really was just a game?

Momentum Is The Next Day's Rain Delay

I hate to say it, but this year’s World Series has been somewhat of a letdown so far. After the excitement of the ALDS and ALCS, we’ve been treated to a 7-2 loss, a 3-1 win that felt more like a loss (after having to endure endless talk about brown stains), a 5-0 loss, and now what looks like a multi-game rain delay. I’m still psyched that the Tigers are even in the World Series, but let’s hope the rest of the games give me a reason to stay up past my bedtime.

I was going to post a comment to Tiny's music blog about how Bill Simmons had covered similar Mellencamp ground on his webpage. Then I continued reading Simmons and was smacked in the face by his bush league shots at Bob Seger: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/061025. I figure a spirited defense of the frontman of our humble blog's namesake deserved an entry of its own.

First of all, no artist from that generation carries him or herself with more class than Bob Seger. Calling him a sellout for doing Chevy ads (which were actually good, albeit overplayed) is just uncalled for. Might Simmons feel guilty knowing that Seger didn't sell out his snowy hometown roots at La La's first beckon?

Secondly, there are two prominent ways for a musician to sell out:
1) Use their music, likeness, and/or image to sell a product.
2) Allow their bread and butter to drop in quality because of a priority placed on other ventures.
Number 1, if an offense at all, is far less egregious than Number 2 (Method Man's Right Guard commercials never bothered me until I paid $13.99 for Tical 0: The Prequel). Seger may have have gotten a fat check from Chevy, but he never went back to the well and asked people to pay for an album he pumped out as an afterthought.

Lastly, I knew Simmons' Boston bias was bad (DJ more hall of fame worthy than Joe D?), but I didn't realize how rampant it was unti I read him calling Bob Seger "the sellout rock artist of his generation" over Beantown's own Steven "Tyler:


Milk!









Dodge!






Sony!

Most people have the ability to tune music out. I am doubly cursed. I can't ignore songs I'd rather not hear, and I'm a music snob. I've endured years of grinding my teeth through the sounds of Billy Joel in restaurants and the idiocy of the Pussycat Dolls (currently) at the bar. I try not to be a jerk about it; I realize I'm the one with the problem. For the most part, I deal with it, like one might deal with razor-burn or child birth. But there are some arenas where I just can't take it. For instance, when Detroit teams are in the finals.

When I was a kid, these songs were cool, I'm even nostalgic about them now. I remember hearing a lot of "The Heat is On" by Glenn Frey when the Tigers were in the playoffs last time. There was a little "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor going on back then as well, and no ten year old boy hearing that song didn't love it. Later we got into "Can't Touch This" by Hammer sounding off to celebrate the back to back bad boy championships in 89 and 90. Some of you probably remember "The Final Countdown" by Europe or "We are the Champions" by Queen. They changed the feed for the suburbs. It's why everyone was so confused when Salley kept jerking his ring away from reporters claiming that "they couldn't touch this". After that I remember I heard the chorus from "Like a Rock" about 7000 times during March Madness. Only Chevy could ruin a Bob Seger song (whose backing band is where this blog got its namesake). We'll get back to Chevy in a minute.

Then when the Pistons were obviously going to lose to 'the greatest starting five ever assembled' of Shaq, Kobe, The Glove, The Mailman, and Rick Fox (!?!?) we had to endure that damn Black Eyed Peas censored version of "Let's Get Retarded" which boringly became "Let's Get it Started". Watching The Peas do the intro to the games in all Lakers garb got better and better every time as we watched the Pistons not only crush the Lakers, but send them to every corner of the earth, the organization never quite recovering from all the quality minutes Darko pulled down in that series. Considering how well that game series was prognosticated, they should have stuck with the retarded version. After that, my mind will never be able to get the image of Sheed leaving Big Shot Bob open on the three point line every time I hear that eerily foreboding Rob Thomas "Heading for a Heart Break" atrocity. Rob Thomas doesn't even like Rob Thomas.

Now the Tigers are in the series, and Chevy is back with another gem, a rousing jingoistic tune by none other than John (all grown up and not The Cougar anymore) Mellencamp. I don't know what Indiana truckstop they decided to flyer to get a hold of this guy, but I guess he's just going to have to put off those local fried chicken joint spots and car dealership appearances until next year. It's bad enough that this is just a terrible song. Michigan's economy is in complete shambles at the moment and a lot of that has to do with the big three's unwillingness to believe that it's not 1982 anymore, when a song like "Jack and Diane" might just be stupid enough to sell some trucks. As someone who's future and who's family's future will be directly affected by the success or failure of Chevy's ad campaigns, I'd give up some of the memories of the great songs of my youth just to be able to tune this one out.

Blogging a dead horse

The best thing about the national media is that they know when to let go of a story. If Terrell Owens, O. J. Simpson, and Barry Bonds are any indication, we will be able to look forward to reasonable, informed and unbiased reporting on the tough matchup for the Tigers in St. Louis this evening.
For those of you looking for coverage of Kenny Roger's brown palm, there's probably some coverage of it on the blogosphere somewhere.

Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls

When my buddy asked me, in light of the Ben Wallace relocation, what I thought the odds were of the Pistons landing a marquis free agent from the 2007 class, it didn't take long for the optimist in me to surface. I dreamt of Bird Rights (Chauncey), Mid Level Exceptions (MoPete, as I'm an MSU homer), and the resulting cap space engineered by Dumars and Co. Then I checked online and found out Elton Brand and Jermaine O'Neal aren't free agents until 2008. While the glass no longer appears full, it's definitely not half empty.

I'm one of the few who thinks, without caveat, that Detroit will be better off without Big Ben. He was one of the best (possibly the best) help side defender(s) of all time. Just the likelihood of Ben waiting weakside to swat your shit probably won the pistons 8 games a year. Block parties not withstanding, Ben was never that phenomenal of a one-on-one defender, and he's only getting worse. One sick block on Shaq does not a great man-up defender make. Now that he'll be plying his trade in Chicago, without Sheed's feloniously underrated anchor defense, I think the world will see a more stark contrast between Ben's defensive strengths and weaknesses. Is he going to guard Tim Duncan? More importantly, the Pistons won't be forced to put up with Ben's historically horrible offense in return for his defensive contributions. As Academy Award winning Dwayne Wade continues to get up one more time than he's fallen down, and David "The Relic"Stern (a topic for another blog) continues to reward him, a continually increasing premium is placed on speed and slashing. I'm probably in the minority, but I'd love to see Flip experiment with a starting 5 of Chauncey, Rip, Del Fino, Nazr, and Sheed. Anyway, Ben cashed in on years of hard work and got a ridiculous contract from Chicago, no one can hate him for getting paid. I just don't think the Pistons will particularly miss him.

Back to the original topic: free agency. I'm no Joe Dumars, but I don't see a whole lot of game-changing big men in the Free Agent Class of 2007 (Here is the link I'm using, let me know if it's outdated: http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_13008.shtml). That leads me to think, however painfully, that the best move would be to run the offense through Sheed until January, let him pad his stats, and then convince McHale's dumb-ass to send KG for a Sheed-led package. I hate writing this becaus Sheed was my favorite, but he broke my heart in the '06 playoffs and it would be hard to trust him again after the half-assing he did on both sides of the court. Then again, the aforementioned optimist in me likes to think Sheed's effort was just a byproduct of a poisoned locker room in which the heart and soul (Ben) of a team had bailed on the coach. I'm hoping this is the case.

It just occurred to me that I saw something that might be hooked into last night's "Dirtgate." I noticed the batboy tossing the discarded balls to a guy in the Tigers dugout. This guy proceeded to inspect the ball, and then write something down in a folder he had. He did this with every ball that came off the field. I didn't notice it until the 3rd or 4th inning, but I made a point to mention it to my wife. Initially, I thought he might be logging serial numbers off of World Series balls to be either given away or sold as souvenirs. But now, I'm wondering if he was inspecting each ball to make sure it was clean of any "foreign substances". Dirtgate continues!!

It's weird to think that I went to the World Series last night, but all I read/hear/think about today says Kenny Rogers cheated. Did he? I don't know. There are quotes out there from other pitchers saying the default "Everybody does it." But does that mean it's okay? Do I even know if he did anything? No. Maybe he actually did get dirt/resin. Maybe he held someone's bat while they were tying their shoe. Maybe he got "chocolate cake" on it. (Love you, Jonesy) In any case, LaRussa didn't do much about it, possibly due to his friendship with Leyland. It has to fall on the manager making the complaint, and then the umpires. The problem now is we can never know what actually happened. Which unfortunately could ruin Rogers' amazing run. Back to the matter at hand:

I never once thought in my entire life, that I'd be going to the World Series. Not because the Tigers couldnt' make it, but mainly because it never seemed real to me. The last Tigers memory I had of the WS, I was covered in spaghetti, screaming in joy, watching Larry Herndon catch the ball that crowned the Tigers, "Champs." (I was 6. Seriously.) But as I walked in, all I could think about was how huge it was. The whole season culminated in this battle between two teams. And for me, this is the ultimate in sports playoffs. The crowd was a little different than normal. Not as different as you hear on talk radio ("No real Tiger fans!!!) but different enough. Lots of fur coats, lots of souvenir shopping. I actually heard one mother yell at her kids in the shop, "Do you want to watch the game, or get a World Series coat? MAKE UP YOUR MIND!!" And there seemed to be a decent amount of people there from other cities, just making a trip to see a World Series. Overall the atmosphere was exciting, with all kinds of national media there. The first game was disappointing from a fan standpoint, but still fun. And I guess that's the difference between the WS and other playoff games. Just saying the name "World Series" gives it a certain aura, or mystique.

It really hit me last night, when my wife leaned over and said, "Look" as she pointed to the scoreboard in right field. "There aren't any other games, but this one." To which I replied: "Awesome."

Fantasy Schmantasy

I suck at fantasy sports. I never win and generally hover around third to last place for most of the season. I’ve only actually been in about 5 leagues of various sports and all have been at my work and none included a cash prize. My first league was football and I never put in my starters, never made a trade and basically ignored my team the whole season. Despite my lazy indifference, I stayed in second place for most of the season and ended up in third place or some ridiculously good spot. By contrast, my second league was basketball and though I made numerous moves and trades I ended up coming in a far last place. Admittedly, while I know how to actually play sports, I HATE reading stats and really don’t know how to pick good players from crap ones just by studying their numbers. Even when I nab some good players in the draft, I still can’t seem to put together a competitive team. And it’s not for lack of trying. I mean, I WILL trade with you.

The best I’ve ever done at a fantasy league was this past baseball season when I tried really hard to manage my team. I grew up on baseball, generally understand the stats and like the game enough to follow it closely. I had some good players and made move after move, twisting my brain around player stats. It was a monumental effort and at season’s end, I tied for third place with a co-worker who left the company during the first week of play and quit managing his team. Maybe it’s because I was never good at math and therefore harbor a fear of crunching numbers – a requisite skill to really understand player percentages. Or maybe it’s because I’m not a sports nut. I mean, I like baseball and basketball alright, but I’m generally more into music, movies and other non-jock related interests. My own sports career ended around 9th grade when I didn’t make it onto the high school baseball team – I could field third pretty well, but my hitting just wasn’t good enough. I’m also more of an emotional sports fan. I love watching my favorite team and I know the strengths and weaknesses of my favorite players, but I don’t really pay attention to the hard numbers.

The people who I know who are really great at fantasy sports are either the “sport nut” types who read the sports magazines, watch all of the games and can remember really boring statistics like who holds the record for the most assists during the third quarter of late season games in the Eastern Conference from 1984 to 1992 -- and yeah, I know that’s most likely not a statistic worth knowing or one that even exists – or people who sign up for a league and then die before they can screw up their team by putting in their starters. Needless to say, I am neither one of those guys and don’t really see myself putting in the time and effort it would take to become a good fantasy player. I just can’t be arsed to spend time on such minutia, let alone watch every game. Yet, still I play and make trades and pick-ups in the hopes that one day I’ll end up in first place. Like I said, I suck at fantasy sports.

Okay, so everyone thinks Kenny Rogers is a cheater. Apparently, everyone in every sport cheats, and the trick is just to not get caught. But can I please, please still pretend otherwise?

In this age of 24/7 sports news, HDTV cameras and rabid bloggers, isn't hard to believe that an 18-year veteran pitcher would cheat during a World Series game with something as obvious as pine tar? Even to the most cynical sports fans, it just doesn’t quite add up. Not when there are plenty of other ways to cheat that aren’t as noticeable. Just ask Mark McGwire. If the umpires had any inkling that something underhanded was going on, we’d surely know about it. And if LaRussa thought Kenny Rogers was actually cheating, wouldn't he let it be known, friendship with Leland be damned? Bad blood between Rogers and the media (after his pushing of a cameraperson last year) may help to explain their intense coverage of this non-story. But it mostly seems due to their insatiable thirst for controversy, even when none exists. Maybe Rogers did cheat. Anything's possible. The sad part is that we've become so accustomed to foul play in sports that few exceptional performances are able to go unquestioned. So, what we have here is either: A) a pervasive cover-up conspiracy among the league's powers-that-be (given their don't ask/don't tell doping policy during the late '90s, not as big a stretch as one might hope), or B) an exceptional World Series performance by a talented pitcher that's been tarnished, perhaps forever, by inuendo and accusations. Either way, it's certainly not good for baseball.

You know that creepy old lady in Throw Mama From the Train? The scary one that was in the Goonies and a bunch of shows in the 80s like Alf and Family Ties? For some reason, late in Tiger games, her voice screams "Todd Jones is tryin' ta kill me!" over and over in my head. I wish I was joking.

Dr. Strangewallace
or how I learned to stop worrying and love Nazr Mohamed

You're not going to see a lot of writers ranking the pistons on top of the Eastern Conference this year. Ben Wallace was the heart of the Pistons, the soul and the effort, the poster-boy for defense and strong team play. He did a million things no one noticed, from setting picks for the guards to having enough presence inside that offenses were drawn up to avoid his help defense.

Ben neglected to renegotiate his paltry salary with Joe Dumars despite being the best player on a team coming off a championship. He said that the Pistons were the team that believed in him, who gave him a contract that no one else would at the time, and he would respect that. Dikembe Mutumbo was hobbled, not even starting behind Yao Ming, and making twice as much as Ben. It's enough to get a Piston fan a little choked up. This is the kind of unselfishness it takes to get a ring. Players have to be paid less than they're worth in order to assemble a roster as daunting as the 2004 Pistons. But now, Ben has chosen the money and defensive philosophy of Chicago, his troubles with Flip Saunders behind him. Should the Pistons have beat the $60 Million, 4 year offer? Do we have a chance this year without him? Ben will be greatly missed around here, but here are some reasons why we shouldn't worry as much as you might think.

First of all, the league is changing. Handchecking and offensive 3 second penalties are being called with increasing strictness, the value of speedy guards are at an alltime high. Dwayne Wade is getting calls of comical proportions. (Jordan had to earn this type of treatment whereas D-Wade appears to have earned it as a marketing tool, which is terrifying...) Why do you think Steve Nash has won the MVP twice in a row? He's got no rings, and couldn't defend most starting point guards in a telephone booth, but the league is sending a message. It wants the 80s back, and it's not going to let the Pistons come in and elbow and clothesline it's Larry Birds and Magic Johnsons of the future. Joe Dumars recognized this, and refused to tie up the future in an aging dinosaur. Ben Wallace can't have the same impact on this league as he did the one a few years ago. Not to mention that so much of his game is based on athleticism and hustle, qualities known to diminish on a player entering his mid thirties. Good GMs stay mobile, they don't lock up money. They see what affect rule changes have on player success and they make adjustments. Believe me when I say that losing Ben was not option A, but Joe knew what he was worth and couldn't jeapordize the next 4 years on a monster contract for one of the best starting five in the league. As much as Ben talked up the fact that he confided in the rest of the Pistons when he was negotiating with Joe D, any outlandish contract he signed was going to take money away from the rest of the starting 5. We need to resign Chauncy next year, and no one is going to convince me that he brings less to the table than Ben. He's one of the speedy guards that the league is banking it's future viewership on.

Ben is diminishing in other areas as well. Famously this last year he refused to come back in after a time out due to frustration with his involvement in the offense. He argued with Flip Saunders in the locker room and criticized the team for getting away from the defensive philosophies that built it's championship run in the past. During the playoffs, Ben made 18-of-66 free throws, a disturbing 27.3%. This low mark won't go away any time soon. This is why Flip sat him in the fourth quarter of games. His rebound totals have been going down as well. Ben's amazing defense more than made up for these weakneses within the offense, but as his athletic abilities wither with age, Joe wondered whether or not he will continue to be worth having on the floor.

Joe went out and got us Chicago native Nazr Mohamed (far left) to try and fill Ben's shoes. Not known for relying on athleticism, Mohamed excels as one of the smarter centers in the league, getting rebounds with smart positioning. He's no Ben Wallace on defense, an inch short and not known for his shot blocking, but he's also no Ben Wallace on offense, where the Pistons will no longer have to play 4 on 5. He looks comfortable in Flip's sets, and things seem to be flowing through him nicely, since his man is going to have to respect that 17 foot jumper. He's also backed by Antonio McDyess, who seems to be getting better with age, his sweet turnaround jumper and offensive rebounds being one of the few scoring brightspots down low for the Pistons in last year's playoffs. Jason Maxiell should also make an impact, if his strong moves to the hole during the preseason are any indication of what's to come. All of this is shored up by Dale Davis, who is more than reliable if we need to get really mean in the post.

But if these players aren't your top choice, how does being the top player in a free agent market involving Jermaine O'Neal and Elton Brand sound? It's on the books next summer...