By Brian Rexroth

Sports Guy Bill Simmons most recent offering chronicles the history and intricacies of the NBA, according to the author.  Even reading this book is no small undertaking and at 700 pages, the reader is told by the author that it should be read over the course of a few weeks.

I enjoyed this book and spent many late nights learning about the NBA prior to my existence and reliving moments from my own history viewing and following the NBA. Simmons relates to the average 20-30 something with pop culture references from some of the great ‘man-code musts’ (yes, I just made this up) in movie and TV entertainment including The Wire, Boogie Nights, Mad Men, and The Godfather Series.  The book even includes a fictional stat line from the movie Teen Wolf and discussion around Kobe’s similarities to the fictional character Scott Howard aka Teen Wolf, was as you can imagine quite humorous.

My favorite parts of the book include where Simmons reinventing the NBA Hall of Fame by basically blowing it up and rebuilding it in a pyramid format where HOFers are ranked and debated, where The Pinnacle Guys as Simmons refers to them reside at the top of the pyramid in the elite space they deserve.

If you have seen my Facebook profile you would have seen that this book led me multiple times to research and relive moments from NBA/ABA past via Youtube clips. I am a fan of Simmons from his ESPN Mag column fame and I would read more from him in the future.  When discussing the Pistons Back to Back Championships, he doesn’t give too much love, especially to Isiah Thomas with whom the author, much of the NBA, and all NY Knicks fans don’t have much love/respect  for either for his off the court statements and lack of successes as a front office guy. Simmons does give it up for his skills on the court even dubbing Chris Paul the ” Evolutionary Isiah.”  Simmons also (being from Boston) despises Bill Laimbeer for another reason, his on the court antics, but did admit if he was a Celt he would have loved him.  And, Simmons shows much respect for perhaps my favorite Piston during those years, The Microwave Vinny Johnson.

Surprisingly (spoiler alert),  he did at least set aside his Boston bias and spoiler alert, ranked Michigan Man Magic Johnson over his beloved Larry Legend in “The Pinnacle” discussion.

Overall, The Book of Basketball was a great read, and if you want to read more about Larry/Magic, I would also recommend When the Game was Ours and given that we are on the heels of March Madness check out When March Went Mad about the Bird/Magic showdown in the 1979 NCAA Championship which still remains and will most likely forever be the highest viewed championship ever at around 20 million people watching.

Email Brian

Posted 9:30 a.m.

Share on Facebook

By Matt Pelc

***Wonder if he went on a late night bender last night?***

It’s Opening Day in Kansas City.

Justin Verlander is getting squeezed with balls and strikes and he is not liking it. He immediately starts jawing with the umpire.

Now as a baseball fan since before I can remember, I know baseball, like in life, is patently unfair at times. Hitters can stare at the umpire, swear at him and tell him he is dumb for calling an obvious ball a strike and more times than not, the batter will get warned to shut up and he won’t be tossed. Yet if a pitcher even sneezes the wrong way following a horrible ump call, he could get run.

With that in mind, pitching coach Rick Knapp heads to the mound as does catcher Alex Avila to calm down the Tigers best hurler so they do not lose him in the second inning on Opening Day. He calms down and mows down the Royals for the next five innings before departing with a 6-1 lead.

No this is not a forecast of the future of the Tigers’ opener on April 5 in Kansas City, but rather an excerpt of the game that I played the other night on my new game, MLB 10 The Show for PS3.

***The only bad thing? A Twin on the cover. ***

That is the realism that comes with this game. This game, made by Sony for the exclusive use on their machine, has realism that EA’s flagship sports franchise, “Madden” only wishes to possess. Each year Madden introduces something new to increase the realism of the game yet MLB 10 The Show has everything that the real game would have already. For God sakes, it told me after the home opener in Comerica Park to grab the People Mover at Grand Circus Park! No, I am not kidding!

You would swear that you were watching the Tigers on Fox Sports Detroit. They have the same graphics FSD uses during Tiger games, even a scroll at the top of the screen reminding “viewers” to get their Tiger home opener tickets during a spring training game in Lakeland that I played to tune my skills when I first bought the game.

The game is so realistic that it can be annoying at times. You have scouting, training and rehab to do as part of your regiment in the day-to-day operations of your favorite team. Splendid, but I have no clue how to do these things, even in imaginary land. That is fine though, simply toggle your “sliders” to Manual and you do not have to worry about those things.

You can pretty much tune the game to however you want it to be played. You can use the DH in every game,  no games or how it is now, in AL parks only during interleague play.

***The Polo Grounds was torn down in the mid-1960's, but you can play baseball here anytime you want on MLB 10 The Show***

You can even record your own cheers and insults and insert them into the game for when your favorite–or least favorite (cough, cough A.J. Pierzynski–stupid Polish bastard) is at bat. Pick the song they walk up to before their at-bat and after a home run. The user can also pick the song that plays following your team’s win or loss. You may pick from the existing soundtrack or upload your own to your PS3.

Negatives about the game are few and far between. Like the sport of baseball, it takes a long time to play a game. I can usually wipe out a game of Madden in 40-45 minutes, if not earlier if I am running the ball a lot, but playing a single baseball game can take upwards of an hour. I have debated using one of the options to trim the number of innings to seven to reduce game times, but somehow (even though I play five minute quarters in Madden), I feel that cheapens the game.

Also in the franchise mode, you have no other option than to play 162-game seasons. You can not reduce it to get to the postseason and off-season earlier. What I do is play two games of a three game or four game series and simulate the other or others to keep the season going at a better pace.

Like every game these days, the downloadable content in this game is a bit sickening. One of the trailers on the web for the game shows that you can play in six historic stadiums. One of those stadiums, the Polo Grounds in New York has always fascinated me because of its monster center field that extends 483 feet away. The stadium was configured more towards–yes polo as the name would suggest–than the New York Giants baseball team who played there before moving to San Francisco in the late 1950s. (Here’s hoping Tiger Stadium makes an appearance next year!)

***Baseball Stars is still #1, but MLB 10 The Show is closing in ***

Several other historic stadiums are available for purchase for $9.99. Since the game cost nearly $65 with tax, it is a bit of an insult that they are trying to pry more money from gamers, but this is a problem that is happening with every game manufacture and console, not just Sony. And this is the only additional item you need to purchase whereas this past Madden had a ton of items and, from what I have heard, will have even more on the horizon in Madden 2011.

My baseball video game love began with Baseball Stars on the NES. Nothing like building your team, giving them all names, making them better by spending the money you earn from wins to build practically the 1927 New York Yankees and then going on to play it one day and seeing the memory wiped out by one of the many Nintendo bugs.

Gaming systems and games have come a long way in the 20 plus years since the introduction of Baseball Stars. While that game will always be my favorite baseball game, it is now followed closely in second-place by MLB 10 The Show.

If you have XBox, you’re out of luck. Your only baseball option is the vastly inferior MLB 2K10. Skip it, trade in the XBox, buy a PS3 and MLB 10 The Show and we can get some online baseball action going.

My Playstation Network ID is MPELC78.

Look me up.

Batter up. Play Ball!

Email Matt

Posted 9:30 a.m.

Share on Facebook

By Matt Pelc

***NEW LION: BURLESON***

NFL free agency started at midnight and the team that has made the most headlines have been….

Have been…….

The team is…….

Wait for it….

YOUR Detroit Lions.

I’m serious.

Would I lie to you fellow long-suffering Leo supporters?

It started this morning when the team announced one of the first free agent signings, Nate Burleson, formerly of the Seattle Seahawks.

FREEP: LIONS SIGN WR NATE BURLESON TO FIVE-YEAR DEAL

My first reaction to this move was ambivalence. Perhaps it is the Lions recent history with wide receivers, but I thought “great another receiver.” And I wanted to hold my judgment to make sure this was not the only move the Lions made.

As it turns out, it would not be.

I warmed to the Burleson signing throughout the day. The Lions lacked a legitimate second receiving option last year. While rookie tight end Brandon Pettigrew was helping out a bit before his injury, poor Calvin Johnson was being double and triple teamed. Burleson has a past 1000 yard season and is a much better second option than Dennis Northcutt or whatever slug suited up at receiver for Detroit last year.

***NEW LION: VANDEN BOSCH***

Next up, Kyle Vanden Bosch

ESPN: LIONS BRINGING IN ‘BIG TIME PLAYER’

Vanden Bosch gives the Lions a legitimate cog on defensive line since Shaun Rogers was playing at the top of his game circa 2004. Coach Jim Schwartz used his past connections with the player, who made it to the Pro Bowl last month, to recruit him to Detroit.

I understand he is a bit older, but he can help implement what Schwartz wants to do from a defensive standpoint and he excelled when Schwartz was his defensive coordinator in Tennessee.

The team than made it a trifecta by trading for defensive tackle Corey Williams from the Cleveland Browns for a fifth or sixth draft pick.

FREEP: LIONS TO ACQUIRE DT COREY WILLIAMS FOR DRAFT PICK

Williams spent just one season in Cleveland where he did not fit the defensive scheme of the Browns, but will fit in the one here. He had his best days while playing with the Green Bay Packers and the Browns gave up a second-round pick last year to pick him up.

Kevin Siefert points out in his NFC North blog:

“And now, suddenly, the Lions are 50 percent of the way to overhauling what I’ve considered their weakest position group.”

***NEW LION: WILLIAMS***

He calls Vanden Bosch a “big-time player” and also added should the Lions use their number two pick on Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy:

“That’s how you improve your team. In a hurry.”

By no means should the Lions pat themselves on the back and smoke a stogy while waiting for next month’s draft. There is still plenty of items that need addressing, including the secondary, offensive line and running back, where I just don’t see Kevin Smith working out, especially with a wealth of older free agent backs. Bring in LaDanian Tomlinson or Brian Westbrook for 2-3 years and draft a young back in the high second round since this is a running back-rich draft.

The other option the Lions now have available in the draft is to trade down and get more picks. I am never a fan of this, unless you can get a top 15 first rounder in return or even two first rounders somehow, but that first round pick is always key.

Finally, kudos to Martin Mayhew and the Lions braintrust. Many, including yours truly, hammered the Lions for sticking with people in the organization following the Matt Millen era. Millen did such a lousy job that Mayhew and Tom Lewand, while seemingly decent and hard-working guys, should have been thrown out to fumigate the whole front office. But these moves, and the hijacking of Jerry Jones and the Cowboys with the shipping Roy Williams out of town for three draft picks last year has proved they may know what they are doing.

Bottom line, it will take a long time to get the Lions at least back to the 9-7, 8-8 days and beyond.

I think we all know that, but at least we can see these positive moves as not just a step, but a huge leap in the right direction.

Email Matt

Posted 2:40 p.m.

Share on Facebook

By Matt Pelc

I have a confession to make: I love football.

I know, that is an earth-shattering statement.

Readers of this site know that I must love football to devote my life to the Detroit Lions comedy show–or perhaps that means I hate football, but at least I think I love football.

With that said, enough is enough ESPN.

I noticed once again that the self-anointed “Worldwide Leader” had a mock draft just hours after the New Orleans Saints won their first Super Bowl last month. Then each day Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay argue about whose updated draft board is more accurate. BTW, is there anything more transparent than this? With stupid reality shows filled with moronic people yelling at each other that gets huge ratings by idiotic Americans, it is pretty clear why the network plays up the “rivalry” between the two so-called “draft experts:” Conflict=ratings.

Now as I said, I love football, but the season JUST ended.

I love my children. I love them more than anything in this world, but sometimes I need a break from them as I do from football.

ESPN is so in love with football that they are like a creepy stalker staring at their fantasy gal from the bushes. Everywhere you go on the network, any of their networks or any of their media outlets (TV, radio, magazine and internet), they give more attention to the NFL draft in one day than they do to the NHL over a one-month period.

Recently I heard an ESPN Radio host have a segment on a prediction that he had of seeing a little-known wide receiver from a Division II school becoming, not a top receiver, but a strong second or third receiver in five or six years with an NFL team.

Luckily I was not driving at the time or I may have fallen asleep at the wheel.

Meanwhile, at the same time, the USA hockey team was on their remarkable ride in the Olympics and the radio hosts barely covered it. But then again, that IS hockey after all. ESPN ignoring hockey is in its mission statement.

I have always liked watching the NFL draft, for a little while. I can not stomach sitting there for six hours just watching Chris Berman become even less relevant than he already is with each team being put on the clock, but I still got excited for that Saturday afternoon, but about a week before, not three months before.

But now the NFL, no doubt driven by ESPN, has decided to switch their draft to three nights instead of two weekend days. The first round will be held on Thursday, April 22, followed by the second and third rounds on Friday night and the final four rounds on the traditional Saturday date.

It was one of those cases of, if it is not broke, don’t fix it. The draft has always gotten great ratings, especially for that first day on Saturday, but the NFL wants it in primetime for whatever reason.

The NBA does their draft in the evening–or prime time. So that is what it boils down to. The term “prime time” does not mean Deion Sanders in television circles, it means the time when most people watch television and, in turn, when the networks make the majority of their ad dollars.The prime time period is 7:30-11 p.m. each night.

So I feel that the NFL moved the game to prime time because they think they can charge advertisers more money for ads. The sad fact is that, unlike the other three major sports that play the majority of their games in prime time, football is not a prime time sport.

Football commands the highest ad rates and their games are primarily played on the usually television wasteland of Sunday afternoon. They play only two prime time games per week, with a third one being added on Thursday nights about six weeks before the end of the regular season.

Even the Super Bowl starts before prime time begins, yet the NFL wants to change tradition with the draft? C’mon!

Avid readers of this site also know of my loathing of ESPN. With that in mind, over the last couple of years, my one solitary protest has been to watch the NFL Network’s coverage over ESPN’s, but while I am taking money out of the one humongous corporation, I am putting it into the other, even larger entity, the National Football League, who may be the one place that cares less about their fans and more about the almighty dollar than the Worldwide Leader.

Email Matt

Posted 9:30 a.m.

Share on Facebook

By Brian Rexroth

As much as the signs of spring are beginning to show their face, we here at least in the north are not feeling much spring in our step instead having to un-bury ourselves from a mountain of snow.

Here are a few things I am looking forward to in the upcoming weeks and months that show signs of spring on the horizon.

First, Spring Training in Florida, granted chilly for Florida in the low 60’s, but if that were the case here in Detroit I would be wearing shorts right now so who’s complaining?  The Tigers open the spring season on Tuesday March 2 at Joker Marchant Stadium against Florida Southern College.

Second, March Madness is nearly upon us with Selection Sunday March 14 following the conclusion of the Big Ten Championship Game.  MSU has fallen of late dropping their #1 spot in the Big Ten regular season race and will need to make a run down the stretch to secure a solid seed in the tournament.  Although, when State seems to make a run in the tournament they usually start out as lower seeds and as we all know anything can happen when it’s one and done.  However, given their outstanding start to the season the way they are ending it is unexpected and State fans are rooting for them to get out of their current funk and should not be happy at a #3 regular season finish in the conference.

Michigan, similarly has been stinking up their own arena losing their last two in Ann Arbor including a winnable game against Illinois.  With three games to go, facing off against two of the top three teams in the league to finish out the regular season doesn’t bode well for the 13-14 (6-9) Wolverine squad.

Even UofD might have a chance to upset #10 ranked Butler, a team they have battled close twice this year in the Horizon League tournament to possibly do some damage come tournament time.

Assuredly, there will be media surrounding the 2010 PGA Tour Master’s April 9-12th whether Tiger Woods will be playing or not, but the donning of a new Green Jacket (2009 winner Angel Cabrera) always signals warmer weather ahead in Michigan and all of us hackers, I mean golfers, are able to hit the links once again.

Lastly, the Detroit Lions are on the clock as the NFL Combine started today and Draftniks (I think Mel Kiper Jr. is already prepping his hair and further destroying the ozone layer for the event) are already speculating on who will pick who on Thursday night April 22nd.  The Lions have the #2 pick in the draft.

So, fear not fellow snowbound Michiganders, the official start of Spring is March 20th although it is still seemingly cold here until at least a month after this date on the calender, I forecast warmer skies ahead and we can all wish for better sports output from our beloved teams.

Posted 9:30 p.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Share on Facebook

By Matt Pelc

Well it took a long time to do it, but it appears that Johnny Damon and the Detroit Tigers have FINALLY agreed on a contract for his services for probably just this upcoming season. The Tigers will have a press conference at 2 p.m. to officially announce the expected and Damon will arrive a few days after most of the rest of the team began working out about 60 miles west of the Pelc Compound in Lakeland, Florida.

I am not sure if he or his agent were trying to lure more money or that he did not really want to come Detroit and was trying to coax a more lucrative offer to become a Dirt Sox, but whatever the circumstance, he is a Detroit Tiger.

It seems to me this signing has been very divisive between happy Tiger fans and angry Tiger fans because suddenly the Tigers found money to pay Damon when they traded Curtis Granderson to dump salary.

I have seen what people have said on the comments field in the newspaper web sites, Yahoo Sports and people’s takes on Facebook and I see that some people just do not grasp the situation the Tigers are in currently and I thought I would knock out some misconceptions with this article.

First we will go back to the notion above that THE TIGERS WILL PAY JOHNNY DAMON $8 MILLION FOR ONE YEAR BUT TRADED CURTIS GRANDERSON TO DUMP SALARY.

I was mistaken by this at first as well. I thought they dumped Granderson to save salary, but the reality of it was that the Tigers needed to get some bodies in here and to do that, they needed to give up a marketable player. I too was devastated by Granderson leaving Detroit. If you remember I was pretty distraught here on JLABANNERS.com. But I think the Tigers proved they were not cutting salary when they got Jose Valverde and made a push for Damon.

DAMON CAN NOT THROW AND LEAVES US WITH TWO BAD OUTFIELDERS  AND A QUESTION MARK IN CENTER.

The Valverde signing following the Granderson trade showed Detroit was not dumping salary.

There is no doubt that Curtis could run down a ball in Comerica Park and Austin Jackson will have to learn the huge dimensions of the park to get up to speed. Damon does not have a very good throwing arm, I will grant that, but does he have a worse arm than Carlos Guillen or Marcus Thames? Probably not. And I don’t get the knock on Magglio Ordonez in right. Sure he is not the most fleet of foot, but I remember him gunning down some runners last season. He is not the best option in the American League at right, but far from the worst.

So basically you are giving up Granderson’s defense for Damon’s offense.

$8 MILLION IS TOO HIGH TO PAY FOR A 36-YEAR OLD AND THIS IS ANOTHER BAD CONTRACT THAT WILL WAY US DOWN

Right, $8 million a year is too high to pay anyone that is not trying to find a cure for cancer. I get that, but sports is what it is, so we all need to accept that. As for a bad contract, it is for one-year. ONE-YEAR. This is not a Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis type of deal that we will be stuck with for years to come.  It will be over after one-year for better or worse, not to mention Damon is going to give his all in a contract year so that he can get a multi-year deal with some team to finish his career.

I guess I can understand people’s frustrations with seeing Curtis go, however if you truly are a baseball and Tigers fan, how could you not root for them to sign Damon? They needed a hitter and they have never really had a legitimate left-handed hitter who could take advantage of the only favorable dimension for a home run hitter in Comerica Park, right field.

It just boggles my mind that they would rather see their team struggle all season long without a lot of legitimate bats in the lineup because of the departure of one of the players.

Finally, everywhere Damon has been, he has been a winner. Heck even when he started his career in Kansas City they weren’t as bad. He can bring some of that winning attitude in from Boston and New York into a Tigers locker room that only knows choking in a pennant race.

The Tigers have often had good fortune in late off-season signings, signing Pudge Rodriguez and Ordonez in February of 2004 and 2005 respectively, when no other teams wanted to take chances on them and each proved a good commodity for the team as they turned baseball relevant in Detroit again.

However, despite my support of the move, I can imagine that if  Damon does not produce to his usual levels, the crowd will get ugly on him Juan Gonzalez-style. If he is this divisive already, it can turn ugly quickly.

By the way, this season will mark the 10th anniversary of baseball at Comerica Park and the 10-year anniversary of that horrendous one-year for Gonzalez in Detroit.

I am still having the nightmares. Hopefully Damon will become a pleasant dream.

Email Matt

Posted 9:30 a.m.

Share on Facebook

By Brian Rexroth

As the NBA trade deadline approaches at 3pm today and the rumors subside, it is clear that the Detroit Pistons will not be making a splash in the trade market until at least the end of the season.  The contracts of Tayshaun Prince, Rip Hamilton, Ben Gordon, Jason Maxiel and Charlie V are way too lucrative even after this season  for another team to take a chance on until the players show something on the court.  Another rumor that fell through was Ben Wallace reuniting with Chauncey Billups in Denver.  The good news is that their may be a market for their services in the off season for the teams that do not win the Lebron James or Dwayne Wade lottery.  It seems as if by those teams making moves to support their superstars, they will stay in their respective cities anyways rendering, as in most cases, the hype meaningless.  The Cavs picked up Antawn Jamison and it is rumored that a deal for Amare Stoudemire might still go down sending him to the Heat and out of his situation in Phoenix.  At the very least, even if the deal doesn’t happen, it shows support for Dwayne to stay in the Sunshine State.  It’s not that Joe D didn’t try, he did pick up the phone wanting to deal for former CMU star Chris Kaman, being told that he is not available, and I’m guessing he didn’t receive too many calls on his end.

Let’s flip to All Star Weekend for a minute.  Pistons Rookie Jonas Jerebko helped the Rook team break the streak of seven wins in a row by the Soph squad by his hustle and defensive intensity.  He also came out of the All Star Break with an All Star performance in the Pistons first game back against the T-Wolves and coach Bill Laimbeer scoring 21 points in 21 minutes to lead the team to victory.  Unfortunately, the Pistons went back to being the same old team against the Magic in the following game hanging with their opponents for the first half and then blowing it in the second.  Jerebko is fast becoming (to steal a line from the Tigers) my Piston.  Despite the season results thus far, I am still enthused to see the play of the young guy’s especially Jerebko and Stuckey (yes, even despite Stuckey’s lack of scoring and shooting touch the past few games).  Oh yeah, the East defeated the West 141-139 in the real game on Sunday night as Wade takes MVP honors scoring 28.

Former MSU Spartan Shannon Brown, put up a lackluster performance shown here in the Dunk Contest won for the third time by Nate Robinson the Spud Webb for our generation.  The final round can be seen here.  Impressive first time out for rookie Demar Derozen in the losing effort.  Former Spartan Steve Smith, perhaps my favorite Spartan of all time next to Scottie Skiles and, of course Magic, competed in the shooting stars competition for Team Atlanta and doesn’t appear to have aged a day from his days in East Lansing.  The competition can be seen here.

In other Pistons news, it can’t be a good sign that the Freep reports that Pistons CEO Tom Wilson is resigning his role with the team.  Wilson is a class act and will be missed by the franchise and is seen here in better times with Bill Davidson.

Who is to say what direction the team is going?  No moves made at the trade deadline, 29 games left and the team is 19-34 and is almost certainly out of the playoff hunt, and to add a dagger to all of this, the team is for sale.  What’s next for the team, your guess is as good as mine.  I would love to hear what you think the direction of the team should be in the comments section.

Posted 11:10 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Share on Facebook

By Matt Pelc

Poor Jimmy Howard never stood a chance

In sports, the bad usually balances out the good.

For every Cleveland Cavaliers, there is a New Jersey Nets. For every New Orleans Saints there is a Detroit Lions, but in the NHL the good teams seem to outnumber the bad teams.

A good team is usually a team that finishes above .500.

We often lament why many Americans can not get into hockey. It does not help that ESPN totally ignores the sport, but if a casual fan looks at the standings, they may be a little more than befuddled.

Other than a couple of teams, no one is horribly under .500. In fact there are only five in all of hockey. This has made playoff races seem clogged with teams that have no right to be there.

Coming into Tuesday’s games, both conferences had eight teams separated by eight points (in the East) or ten points (in the West) for the final two or three playoff spots.

So why the glut of teams? Simply put, it is the shootout.

I was a big fan of the shootout when it was implemented following the lockout, but the more I have seen them, the less I like shootouts.

The introduction of the shootout was supposed to bring new people into the game, but obviously that has not worked. In fact it may have driven casual fans away because the shootout cheapens the game.

Because each team is rewarded one point following regulation, you do not have much motivation to play all out offense on one end and risk giving up a goal at the other end if you don’t want to lose that point. The winning team in overtime or the shootout gets the extra point.

And when an Eastern Conference team plays a Western Conference team, that lost point really does not matter much because it does not improve or decrease a team’s standing in head-to-head matchups with one’s own division or conference. And it seems like many of the games go into overtime and shootout for this reason.

Imagine a Home Run Derby deciding the winner in baseball

Additionally, you have two teams playing hockey for three periods and a five-minute overtime period and then, all of a sudden, an All-Star game skills competition is used to decide the winner of the game, which is like a baseball game stopping in a tie in the 11th inning before a home run derby is used to decide the winner or a slam dunk contest in basketball.

The other aspect that confuses the casual fan is that the rules in regular season hockey are different than the playoffs. Even the rules of overtime is different with four skaters aside in the five minute period before the start of the shootout. In the playoffs, each team stays five skaters aside and plays until a winner is decided and as we have seen in Detroit often over the past decade, it could last all night and into the early hours of the next day.

To me, that cheapens the regular season and tells the casual fan, don’t bother watching the regular season because we don’t really care who wins those games.

Lastly, teams who have two or three sharpshooters can play the old dump-in game as the game is winding down in a tie and in the overtime. Why? Because they have a decided advantage in the shootout.

Our old friends the Pittsburgh Penguins have Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, among others, who can fire the puck in against the best of them. Not coincidentally they have not lost in a shootout this season in seven tries.

So what is my answer?

I would have the teams play five aside for at least five minutes and then play four aside for another five minutes. I say at least five minutes because I would not break up the period, but the first stoppage in play at or after the five-minute mark would be time for the two skaters to leave the ice.

Then, and I know this is sacrilege, if the game is tied, it remains in a tie.

I am sure there are better ideas than mine and yes it still does not solve the problem of having different overtime rules for regular and postseason, but I would be interested in your opinions.

Do you like the shootout? What would you do to change it?

Email Matt

Posted 9:45 a.m.

Share on Facebook

By Brian Rexroth

Not since the likes of Bo Jackson and “Neon” Deon Sanders have we seen too many two sport athletes in sports.  Understandable given the money the teams have invested in the athletes and the multiple clauses in contracts that stipulate that the athletes are not allowed to partake in dangerous sports activities such as riding a motorcycle.  I have even heard of contracts that won’t allow a baseball player to play pickup basketball in the offseason due to threat of injury.  This also makes sense due to the funny ways that athletes have injured themselves, ie opening up a DVD case with a knife like baseball’s Adam Everett or Sammy Sosa who had back spasms due to a sneeze but that’s another article entirely.

This topic entered my mind when reading about former NFL running back Herschel Walker who is now trying his hand at ultimate fighting and he won his debut fight in Strikeforce with a ground and pound on Greg Nagy.  He had some great technique and had some takedown skills.  Walker also tried his skills at bobsledding in the 1992 Winter Olympics finishing seventh.   You can watch his debut MMA video here.

And, of course, who could forget Dennis Rodman or Karl Malone as a professional wrestlers.  All of this got me to thinking, who would I like to see crossover into another sport?  Feel free to input your suggestions as well.  A few thoughts…

Up for serious consideration, Lebron James playing for the Cleveland Browns, Jason Giambi as a heavyweight boxer, Peyton Manning in the shot put, or perhaps a baseball catcher such as Joe Mauer as an NHL goalie.

Some not so serious suggestions might be Michael Vick in an Iditarod Race, Gilbert Arenas skeet shooting, or Mark McGwire in a World’s Strongest Man Competition.

I am sure you can think of some better examples.  So let’s have some fun and make each other laugh with this topic.

Posted 9:45 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Share on Facebook

By Brian Rexroth

If nothing else, we got a buzzworthy clip from Coach Rich Rodriguez urging the media to be positive which unfortunately I can’t find a soundbite for.  Positive, we’re talking about Positive Rich Rod, how about a winning season under your coaching before we talk to the media about being positive when discussing the controversy around the signing of CB Demar Dorsey out of the state of Florida who has an alleged checkered past.

The highlight of the 27 player recruiting class is local talent Devin Gardner, a four star recruit out of Inkster, MI who will likely redshirt at the QB position his Freshmen year with the program.  If Rodriguez is allowed to stay past this season, Gardner will be his program building QB in the spread offense.  If you have seen any of his clips on youtube you know that Gardner is a QB who has unique scrambling ability where his size and strength not to mention his leg speed make him tough to tackle.   Another local four star recruit is someone that Gardner will most likely be airing the ball out to in 2011, Ann Arbor native Jeremy Jackson a big strong WR.  He joins fellow A squared HS WR and four star prospect Ricardo Miller in the WR core.  Rounding out the offensive recruit highlights is RB Austin White a 3 star recruit who really needs to grow into his shoes his first year at UofM and should have an opportunity to do so given the depth at the position this year.

To round out his defensive and special teams recruits, Rodriguez primarily went out of state and signed solid players from Pennsylvania, Florida, Maryland and Ohio.  He also thinks that he has an immediate fill in for  Zoltan Mesko in Will Hagerup, the #3 rated Punter in the nation.

The Spartans, who thankfully aren’t going ahead with the helmet logo change, also fared fairly well especially considering their off the field foibles towards the end of the season.  The highlight of the class has to be four/five star defensive talent William Gholston a beast out of the “D” at six foot seven inches and 237 pounds.  Look in this clip how he looks like he comes from (I wanted to say prison league) but I’ll save the Sparty jokes and say a different league than his opponents on the O line. He even catches the rock!  They also bring some size and speed to their own O line in 6 foot  inch 275 pound Skyler Schofner out of Ohio.  Sparty is also bringing in some new talent at the QB position in Joe Boisture, a 3 star recruit who looks like the prototype for a college QB at 6 foot 6 201 pounds, out of Saline MI who has what many consider to be great potential when developed at the college level.

EMU Head Coach Ron English is happy with his recruiting class, even snagging a few players that were recruited from Big Ten Schools.  Read more about his class here

CMU with departing QB Dan LeFevour and three QB’s already on the roster, only recruited one more in Kyle Smith out of the state of Pennsylvania.  Read more from the CMU site here.

WMU notches six three star prospects.  Check out their list here.

Wish we could have covered all of the recruits in detail here, but as we all know, stars mean nothing until it’s proven out on the field at the next level of competition.  Who has it and who doesn’t?  We’ll have to wait until Fall to find out.

Posted 11:00 p.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Share on Facebook