By Matt Pelc

J.V. addresses media while announcing his new contract

The Detroit Tigers got a bit of good news late last week when it was announced that ace Justin Verlander signed a five-year, $80 million deal to stay with the team through at least the 2014 season.

The Tigers started the off-season by choking down the stretch to fail to make the postseason and soon broke their fans hearts again by trading everyone’s favorite Tiger, Curtis Granderson and rising star Edwin Jackson. Because they got a lot of young guys in return for the duo, many fans, including yours truly, felt it was a salary dump and that the Tigers were resorting to the golden (shower) days of the 1990’s.

But a couple of moves since then have defied this and showed that Mike Illitch is still willing to spend on the Tigers and that perhaps the moves, including allowing Fernando Rodney, an aging Placido Polanco and Brandon Lyon to head out of town without a counter offer from Detroit, were just a part of pruning and restructuring the team rather than dumping salaries.

Valverde is the Tigers' new closer

The Tigers signed Jose Valverde to take the place of Rodney. While I always disagreed with the people who hated Rodney (yes he caused my blood pressure to soar as well, but he only had one blown save all of last year, something no other closer could stake claim to), I never saw him as a bona fide closer. He filled the gap between the retirement of Todd Jones and the Tigers holding out hope that Joel Zumaya would come back strong to be the stopper, which does not seem to be the case.

Valverde was described by a couple in the national media as the best closer on the market and the Tigers snatched him up.

Then they locked up their ace and kept him out of the greedy and lucrative hands of Boston, New Yorks and Los Angeles teams who would have all certainly driven his price well over $100 million.

Some complained that no one is worthy of $80 million per year to play a sport and yes that it is true, but it is the way sports are today so either accept it or stop watching sports. Others pointed to the foolish contracts to Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson. The difference with those two being that Bonderman, and especially Robertson (which I feel was the Tigers worst contract since the Bobby Higginson fiasco), were never considering one of the top pitchers in baseball and a perennial Cy Young candidate.

Verlander is also the only pitcher in baseball history to throw for a no-hitter, start a World Series game and appear in an All-Star game all before the tender age of 30.

So as upset as I was following the season swoon and the Granderson deal, I am again looking forward to baseball. I am sure it is the whole “Hope Springs Eternal” mindset or perhaps it is my undying love for the team who wears the Olde English D which spanned through 100 loss season after 100 loss season, unlike many who jump on and off the bandwagon on a daily basis.

The AL Central is wide open and while I tend to lean towards the Minnesota Twins winning it again, I feel that any of the five teams (yes even the Kansas City Royals) could finish first and any of them could also as easily finish last, so the Tigers are as alive and well as anyone in the American League this season.

They do, however, need to add a bat. Johnny Damon would make sense with a one-year deal and he wants to be here and as we saw with J.V. it feels really good when someone wants to stick around your favorite team for awhile.

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Posted 9:30 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Talks have sparked up this past week about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament being expanded from its current format of 65 teams (gotta love that play in game), to 96 teams.  The NCAA has the option this summer to opt out of its current CBS contract this summer to broadcast the games.

To me, this seems like a money grab more than anything else and I am not convinced that it would even work as that in the long term.  More games =More money makes sense but to me, even as a fairly avid fan this would denote overkill of something that is already a solid product that consumes office pools from the average Jane/Joe fan to the hardcore.  Jane Office Pool might pick a team because she likes their purple uniforms or their mascot is cute  (it worked for George Mason in 06′) and the ironic thing is that she has just as good of chance most years as the die hard sports slappy statistic studier.  That is what makes March Madness so fun, that any given moment a buzzer beater could knock out a contender and knock a bracket down from winner to loser in the blink of an eye.

Only the coaches seem in favor of the move as fans and media alike, even Mr. Tourney Time himself, Dick Vitale is against the move.  I understand the want for inclusion but I also am realistic and know that there will still be teams that feel deserving on the outside looking in.  Hey, we’re all adults here and we don’t give out participation trophy’s to college age young men for doing a great job in the regular season.  The formula is simple, win and you get in, lose and it’s NIT or nothing for you.  The goal is the trophy on the right not the trophy on the left.  If the tournament gets expanded wouldn’t it diminish the thrill of winning that trophy just a little bit?

I love the fun that is Selection Sunday.  I love the banter of who should be in and who should be out (that’s what sports is all about right?).  I love the candid shots of the teams who got in celebrating.  I love the debate that is and consumes sports.  I love the field of 64 being dwindled down to the Sweet 16 in a four day span.  I love the drama and pageantry that goes into who will make the Final Four, and I love the Championship Game that decides the winner.  All in all, this fan likes the current format and would not be in favor of a change.  Take note NCAA, greed is not always the best way to go.

Posted 9:00 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

By Matt Pelc

Bah, football season is over.

It just seems like yesterday we put a countdown clock on the site to commemorate the upcoming football season. I remember it being around 45 days or so when we first put it up, making football season seem so far away. The season now seems like a blur and was gone in what seemed like a second.

Seriously why can’t the basketball season go by that fast?

Now here we are on the eve of the last football game of the year, the Super Bowl (please don’t sue me for promoting your game by using the correct name of your game, money hungry NFL).

I have to say that I am looking forward to this Super Bowl and hoping for a good game, despite what I think will probably happen. But we will get to predictions in a little while.

This was the matchup I was hoping for prior to the postseason, the Indianapolis Colts against the New Orleans Saints. They were the best teams of their conference all season long, were both undefeated through three quarters of the season and were the most entertaining teams in the league this year.

On a personal note, I have no one that I am rooting for, which means I have no one I am rooting against.

Avid readers of JLABANNERS.com know that I have a problem. I am a “playa hata.” I find myself, when not having a rooting interest in a game, usually picking against the media darling team or the over-hyped athlete on a particular team.

But in this Super Bowl matchup, I have no hating.

I know, I am shocked too.

I should hate Peyton Manning for all his commercials, all of his man love and everything else, but I have actually been a fan of his since his Tennessee days. The Saints were a good story and I remember the draft of 2001 standing in the produce prep room of a now defunct Farmer Jack Supermarket listening to the NFL draft on the radio pleading with my Lions to draft a plucky quarterback from Purdue, Drew Brees.

Then they drafted Jeff Backus.

And the rest, they say, is history.

So for the first time in I don’t know how many Super Bowls, I will not be rooting against a particular team and will just be hoping for a great game as I will be happy for either team coming out as champions on Sunday night.

SUPER BOWL XLIV

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (15-3)

VS.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (16-2)(-5)

SUN LIFE STADIUM, MIAMI, FLORIDA 6:25 p.m.

So while I am hoping for a good game, I am not expecting one.

I was totally not impressed with the Saints effort in the NFC championship game. If the Vikings could have held onto one of their billion fumbles or the Anointed One did not once again fold under pressure (yes I know he has a lot of lovers out there as I found out on Facebook during the game. I will acknowledge he was once a clutch quarterback, but the Anointed One has not won a big game in over a decade. It’s over babe, time to FINALLY AND FOREVER hang up the cleats).

New Orleans could catch a break if Dwight Freeney can not go. The Colts defense is already pretty banged up with Bob Sanders among several key defensive starters out of action for the season. If Freeney can not go, that means Indy’s top two defenders are out, making it easier for Brees and the offense to move the ball.

Still though, I think the Saints will move the ball with or without Freeney, but will their defense be able to stop Manning and the Colts?

The Saints had the 25th ranked defense in the regular season and did do a decent job on Arizona in the divisional round, holding Kurt Warner in his final NFL game to just 14 points, but they did not play very well against Minnesota in my opinion.

Sure you see the five turnovers Minnesota had in the game, but much of those were just dropping the ball. Not strips, just drops. And if they thought the Vikings offense was tough, they did move the ball very well despite losing, the Colts are even better.

The other factor may be the weather, which may include rain and temperatures in the low 60’s at game time. I may give an advantage to one team over the other if only one team was a domed team, but both play in domes, granted Indy’s retracts, so no one has a real advantage.

Although keep in mind when the Colts won their last Super Bowl in February 2007, there was plenty of rain in a game also held in Miami.

So where does that leave us?

While I tip my hat to the Saints for an awesome season (and leaving the Lions as the only NFC team to never go to a Super Bowl (barf)), I think the depth and experience of the Colts leads them to a victory and a (sadly) fairly easy win in Super Bowl 44.

COLTS 34, SAINTS 19

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Posted 9:30 a.m.

By Matt Pelc

Each of us knows someone who has been affected by breast cancer whether it was our mom, sister, wife, aunt, grandma or friend.

My cousin Courtney is pledging her efforts to helping the cause of eradicating Breast Cancer within our lifetime by taking part in a 39.3 mile walk in Washington D.C. on May 1 and 2.

But I will not do it justice, let me allow Courtney to talk about the walk in her own words off of her fund-raising site:

I’ve committed to participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. It’s a big commitment, one that will require me to spend the next several months training and fundraising. But breast cancer is a big disease, one that still affects far too many people, and I’m determined to do everything I can to help put an end to it. The money I raise will be managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Crusade to help provide access to care for those that most need it, fund educational programs, and accelerate research into new treatments and potential cures. I’ll be just one of thousands of people that will walk up to a marathon and a half over a weekend, raising awareness of the cause and educating even more people.

I can’t do it without your help. Though I’m required to raise at least $1,800 in donation, I plan to raise much more!

I hope that I can count on your support.

We will be walking in honor of the many women and men are directly affected with breast cancer.

Cathy McGrath
Frances Chenevert
Cathy Mueller

You can make a donation to my fundraising campaign right here on the website by clicking on the pink “Donate Now” button. If you prefer to write a check, just contact me and I’ll send you the information and form.

As I prepare for this exciting event, I plan to update this page frequently so that all my supporters can follow my progress, so please visit often. While you’re here, you might want to spend some time on the site to find out more information on why this event is so important, and the organizations and people that will be helped by the money we all raise.

Thank you in advance.

Courtney Jekot

Courtney’s goal is $1800 and she is on her way, hitting $700 on Monday.

Let us help her reach that goal!

To donate, visit her pledge site at http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR?px=5277319&fr_id=1910&pg=personal.

Donations are due by April 29.

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Posted 10:45 a.m.

By Matt Pelc

More than seven months ago, I stated that this blog would be mostly sports, but occasionally would delve into non-sports issues. That really has not happened much, until now.

Trying like mad to avoid the two-week Super Bowl hype machine (that will come later this week on here), there is not a whole lot of sports happening right now, so I felt it was a good time to do a non-sports feature on this Monday morning.

While I may be a little late to the game on this one, I wanted to discuss the controversy surrounding The Tonight Show between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien.

Everyone knows the story, I am not going to rehash it here, but basically Leno left the Tonight Show to make way for Conan in June, something that was not his decision, but rather an idea by NBC. In order to keep Leno from going to another network and taking his number one nightly show up against The Tonight Show, they asked him to stay on to do a weekday 10 p.m. show, which was just destined to fail.

Leno’s nightly show may have worked if they did it once or twice a week, but when you stick in a non-traditional show into primetime and play it too often, people tire of it quickly and go back to their regular viewing habits.

Two good examples of this were Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Deal or No Deal. Everyone remembers the beginnings of Millionaire because it was a pop-culture phenomenon. But it was so popular because there was an air of mystique about it. ABC played it a couple times a week for two or three weeks at a time and then shelved it for a couple of months and made people clamor for it when it came back.

But like true network executives with dollar signs tattooed in their eye lids, they thought: more shows=more money. Not the case. When they decided to play it four times per week, every week, people quickly tired of it and the show was never the same. A similar situation happened with Deal.

So when Leno’s new show was not working and Conan’s Tonight Show was not working, of course the network was going to make a change, because it is all about the dollars and cents. Everyone has had a show they have loved get canceled in its first season because they can not get a large audience which translates into ratings and that translates to dollars. So the shifting of Leno back to the Tonight Show is nothing more than that, business as he looks to reclaim the number one spot that he held for more than a decade at 11:30.

Now Leno has been taking a beating in the press and by people who prefer Conan. They think Leno forced his way back in, which is simply not the case. The network asked him to reclaim the Tonight Show when Conan basically quit, rightfully or wrongfully, when they tried to move him and the Tonight Show back to 12:00.

Though I am defending him, I was never a Leno Tonight Show fan at all. I never watched his show or really liked his brand of humor.

Conan on the other hand, I loved. Everyone who knows me knows I am a huge The Simpsons fan, and I have always thought Conan’s era of writing and producing for the show, circa 1992-94, was its best era. He has a sophomoric brand of humor–like my own. So I was excited about his move to 11:30 and I watched or recorded his first few months of shows at 11:30.

I was very disappointed.

The edge that made him so popular at 12:30 was gone. He was trying to appeal to a more mass audience and by doing so, had become Leno-ized. So I stopped watching, and I imagine many Conan fans did the same, until they wrongfully felt he was slighted against Leno, forming the “I’m With Co-Co” group and took part in rallies for him (honestly people, don’t you have jobs?)

Though his comedy is not my style, I have always respected Jay. He seems like a stand-up guy, including when he hosted a couple of free concerts for unemployed people in Michigan last April at the Palace.

Because he was number one, the guys he always beat, like David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel, know now is the time to take shots at the guy who beat them.

To me, Letterman, once revolutionary, has not been funny in a decade. He has been going through the motions of his show for a long time and he really could not care less about his guests, audience or fans, something that can not be said for Leno.

Then there is Kimmel, who I have never found funny. His smugness and arrogance is very oft-putting and he has made a living the last month attacking Leno on his show, even mocking Jay on his 10 p.m. when Leno had the balls to put Kimmel on, only to be continually insulted.

Though I am annoyed by Letterman’s harassment of Jay, he probably has earned it. Kimmel has not earned anything and should just shut his unfunny mouth up.

As for Conan, he got paid $45 million to go away. Yes he got robbed–by NBC not Leno–and never could establish his audience at 11:30, but I am hopeful that he goes to another network or cable to do a show more like Late Night where he can be funny, edgy and be the Conan we all love.

And if he is at 11:30, going against Leno and Letterman, may the best man win.

Not to mention we can see the return of The Masturbating Bear and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and the old Co-Co, who didn’t make the cut to 11:30.

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Posted 1:30 p.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Coached by none other than Lions Head Coach Jim Schwartz, the North All Star Team defeated the South All Star Team 31-13 in Mobile Alabama’s 2010 60th playing of the annual Senior Bowl.  Aside from winning the game, state of Michigan Senior’s had good outings in the game including Central Michigan’s Dan Lefevour was 5/10 passing for 97 yards, 1 TD passing, 1TD rushing in the game. MSU Kicker Brett Swenson added 1 field goal and was 3/3 on extra points for the North team.

Defensively, Michigan D-Lineman Brandon Graham was chosen as the game’s MVP with 2 sacks and a forced fumble.  “It shows that I’m going to go hard 100 percent of the time all day and whoever gets me is going to love me,” Graham said.

Michigan also represented the team with Zoltan Mesko at the punter position.

South starting QB Tim Tebow did not have a good outing 8/12 for 50 yards and two fumbles in the game.  He was humble, as always, when discussing his performance,  “It’s a game of football,” Tebow said. “You’re playing with a bunch of great players, a bunch of great coaches. I’m out here playing football. I love it.”

It is nice to see good representation and a win for the team with many players from Big Ten or MAC schools.  Nationally, as we all know, the north gets little respect these days when talking college football since schools from the south and west have the ability to practice year round more effectively and can entice top level recruits perhaps more easily with warmer weather climates.

The win also puts a silent statement on football being dominant once again in the north after the Big Ten went 2/2 in BCS games, and with the Big Ten having the most BCS appearances, and generally having a good showing in the rest of the 2009-2010 Bowl Season.

Hope Schwartz didn’t get too enamored with any of the WR’s in the game and the Lions make the right call on draft day!

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Posted 12:45 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

With a little more than two weeks left until the NBA trade deadline on February 18th and the team in the bottom of not only the Central Division but also in almost every statistical category compared to the rest of the league, Piston President Joe Dumars is sticking close to his vest about any possible trades he may be seeking out and is saying he wants to evaluate what he has with the current roster given that they haven’t had a chance to play together consistently this year.  I agree with what some of what he is saying but we need some muscle and size in this lineup as we all know Ben can’t do it all himself for the long haul and although Chris Wilcox has shown some promise thus far in his young career, Kwame Brown was just a bad idea leaving the squad still in need.  We shall wait and see.

At the beginning of the season we knew it might get bad but none of us fans thought it would be this bad.  We didn’t know how severe the team would be hit with an injury bug and we didn’t anticipate a lack of offense from the team.  Currently, the Pistons rank 29th out of 30 teams in total offense, field goal %, 3 point field goal % and assist to turnover ratio.  See previous paragraph as the league is progressing into one of size and strength and one reason for our lack of offensive firepower is for that very reason.

Defensively, the Pistons are actually performing above expectations currently ranking 9th in the league in points allowed tied ironically enough with their opponents for tonight’s contest the Miami Heat which we hope is another streak breaker after a three game losing streak.

In positive news, the Pistons will have representation at All Star Weekend in the form of Jonas Jerebko playing in the annual rookies vs sophomores game.  “I mean it’s a good showing for me to be the last pick to be in the All-Star Game, and it also shows that some teams missed out, maybe,” Jerebko said.  In my opinion, Jerebko has been solid, especially defensively this year, even being asked to to play the point guard role at one point in the season.  Jerebko is averaging 8 points and 5 rebounds per game, is playing many more minutes than anticipated this year, and shows great energy and great promise in the league.

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Posted 7:30 p.m.

By Matt Pelc

Last week, we talked about the possibilities of the Red Wings and Pistons sharing an arena in Detroit and the fact that the Red Wings may be playing their games at the Palace while things sort themselves out for a new arena in the city.

We covered the possibilities in that last article, but it is shocking that if this is indeed the final season of the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena, it is truly the end of an era. And while we had a season long farewell celebration for Tiger Stadium in the 1999 season, it seems like there will be no pomp and no circumstance when the place shuts its doors to hockey one last time this spring.

It was different for Tiger Stadium. The Tigers were leaving a beloved city icon for generations, while the Joe Louis Arena has been around only since 1980 and was never beloved by anyone.

The arena was set off on its own on the outer reaches of the Detroit River. The construction was quintessential Detroit (you know a good idea like the People Mover gets downgraded to roughly a three-mile Disneyland ride). They got 90 percent of the way through construction before realizing that–oops–they forgot to tack on a press box. The luxury boxes are in the nose bleeds, the cheap seat nose bleeds actually give you nose bleeds and you have about as much legroom at a Red Wings game as you do on an AirTran flight.

Not to mention the long lines at the bathrooms, the horrible parking, the lack of TV monitors in the concourses and those stairs–oh those stairs. Why do you install stairs for a place that is being used primarily in the winter with Michigan’s ice and snow; not to mention install stairs for a place where people get hammered for three plus hours?

But with all its flaws, it may have been the best venue in the history of Detroit sports. Think about it. No venue has yielded more consistent success for any of our teams than the Joe Louis Arena. Perhaps the Joe is only rivaled by the Wings’ first home Olympia Stadium, which yielded three titles in the 1950’s and Tiger Stadium (then known as Briggs Stadium), not for the Detroit Tigers, but the Detroit Lions, who won three championships–yes the Lions once won championships–in the fifties as well.

The Joe yielded four championships and six Western Conference championships. Steve Yzerman played his entire career there. McCarty pummeled Lemieux there, Stevie Y scored the thrilling double overtime winner in Game 7 against the Blues in 1996.

Those are just some of the memories at the Joe.

The Pistons made their first postseason appearance in six years in 1984, playing the final game of the five-game first round series at the Joe because of a conflict at the Pontiac Silverdome. The game, though the young Pistons lost in overtime to the Knicks, is still considered one of the best games in franchise history as Isiah Thomas and Bernard King dueled late into the Detroit night.

There was boxing, concerts and wrestling at the Joe, but all that may be silenced as it has been deemed that the arena would need millions of dollars in repairs to bring it up to code by next hockey season.

Finally, the arena just has had the coolest name of any venue in sports for the past three decades. No arena in this current corporate sponsorship world has come close to touching JOE. LOUIS. ARENA. It paid tribute to a Detroit legend and told opposing teams that they were indeed in for a fight when playing the Red Wings there.

So while we all view Joe Louis Arena with some disdain as it has been outdated since 1981, its second season in operation, let us never forget the terrific memories that took place there.

I beg the Red Wings to give it the proper farewell, perhaps celebrate it with a uniform patch after the Olympic break and a post-game ceremony after the last regular season game.

The spirit of the arena deserves at least that.

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Posted 9:30 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

I stumbled across the following site allowing fans to simulate the NBA Draft Lottery and wanted to bring it up here and see what people thought about it and others like it that in my opinion jump the gun of the sports year’s natural progression and kind of ruin the fun of a sports season.  The site projects the future of 18 -19 year old college athletes who will most likely make the NBA jump after their Freshmen/Sophomore years of college and what NBA team is likely to win the rights to pick them.

First of all, the season just recently crossed its halfway point and we are nowhere near time for the draft lottery.  Secondly, the college season still has over a month to go until its postseason tournament climax.  I say, let the players in both leagues play without this type of distraction.  Websites abound for scouting talent at all levels and experts are hired by legitimate news outlets to keep up on scouting reports for these young athletes.  Who is to blame, or is anyone, heck I don’t know.  Fans love looking for the next big thing and this is just another avenue of tracking who that might be.

I for one hope that the Pistons can still make a run the playoffs despite the bleek look of the season thus far and the temptation to look ahead at the prospect of these talented young players wearing the red, white, and blue.  On a side note, in case you are wondering, the site is fun and somewhat addicting although I think there is a Detroit bias as the Pistons are never projected to pick higher than 6th and are projected to likely draft Al Farouq Aminu out of Wake Forest or Demarcus Cousins out of Kentucky both a far cry from the true draft day prizes of either John Wall or Derrick Favors.

In other Piston news, the reason we are even having an NBA Draft discussion is that the Pistons slipped once again to the cellar of the Central Division a place we didn’t think we would see so soon after winning four of five including an upset victory over Boston at the Palace.  The Central seems to be all but wrapped up by the Cleveland Cavaliers who have distanced themselves from the Chicago Bulls by 12.5 games.

The Pistons have dropped two straight and need to end January on a high note and take advantage of the three remaining home games in this home-stand.  With a .500 record at The Palace, the Pistons are a paltry 4-17 away from home.  February’s outlook features 8 away games to 5 at home.

The next game pits the Pistons against the Memphis Grizzlies whom we defeated handily in the season opener, the last time the Pistons roster was at full strength.  For this contest as well, the team may be at full strength.  Hopefully this time for good.  The home-stand ends this weekend with Miami an Orlando.

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Posted 9:30 a.m.

By Brian Rexroth

Kalin Lucas was the hero with 3.5 seconds left on the clock hitting a clutch jumper in the face of the entire Michigan team to give the Spartans a one point lead and ultimate game winner that showed why he was named pre-season player of the year in the Big Ten Conference.  He led the Spartans to victory over the University of Michigan tonight in Ann Arbor.  The victory improves the Spartan record to 8-0 in the Big Ten for the first time in the history of the MSU program.

I am never one to blame the referees for a call, or in this case a no call.  And I suppose it depends on which side of the fan bench you are on as to whether or not you saw the final play of this game as a missed call on the alley oop layup miss by Deshawn Sims to end the game.  You make the call.

As a Michigan fan first I will be the sportsman and congratulate State on the victory because to win a game and quote a tired sports cliche’ make more plays than the other guy.  Michigan was able to capitalize on 18 turnovers by the Spartans, but once again shot pathetically a distinct opposite from MSU almost making half of their shot attempts in the contest.  MSU also dominated second shot opportunities and hustled the offensive glass to make the most of their rare misses something the Wolverines have struggled with all season long.

With the loss, Michigan falls to the bottom third of the Big Ten Standings and is now 10-10 on the year.  MSU has now defeated Michigan 17/20 times in the hoops rivalry owning the Wolverines year in and year out.  With the win MSU has a two game advantage over Wisconsin in the Big Ten Standings.

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Posted 10:00 p.m.