Tigers trade Doug Fister

The Detroit Tigers continued their off season makeover, by trading
Pitcher Doug Fister to Washington for infielder Steve Lombardozzi,
left-handed reliever Ian Krol and prized pitching prospect Robbie Ray.

MLS Schedule Change A Bad Idea

They're at it again. FIFA wants MLS to move to a fall-winter-spring
season, which is what many leagues around the world. I believe that this is a bad idea. Soccer in North America has always been a sport that roughly runs parallel to the baseball season, and that lessens the competition, as opposed to competing with the NBA, NHL, AND the Colossus of American sports, and, as others have stated on this thread, the climate in the northern part of the continent is absolutely brutal in the winter, which would probably kill any expansion into Detroit, for instance. 
 

REALLY?

The USADA busted an 80 year old Masters age-group weightlifter for...using
Performance-Enhancing Drugs. REALLY ? An EIGHTY-YEAR OLD weightlifter on 
'Roids? Are you serious? What is there to be gained for a man that age?
It's not like he is going to get cash for this! I think I have heard
everything now. 

The First Pitch Hall Of Shame

Last night, U.S. Olympic legend Carl Lewis threw out the first pitch in Houston(?) and proceeded to throw the ball over everyone's head. This makes him a two-time offender. On his previous attempt, he gave Bud Selig and Carly Rae Jepsen a run for their money by essentially spiking his throw. This time around, he made sure THAT wouldn't happen again by throwing a pitch that the Jolly Green Giant couldn't get to.

How do you start an online fan convention?

I would like to organize a Rolling Stones fan online convention. Does anyone have an idea how? Apparently a sci-fi fan did this a couple of years ago, and I'm not sure how it went. If it went well, this could be great. No renting halls, selling tickets, taxes, etc...and all the "guests" can stay at home, saving money!

Max Scherzer to Start All-Star Game

Max Scherzer will become the 7th Tiger pitcher to start the All-Star Game.

Tiger pitchers started the All-Star Game
Justin Verlander (2012)
Kenny Rogers (2006)
Jack Morris (1985)
Jack Morris (1981)
Mark Fidrych (1976)
Denny McLain (1966)
Jim Bunning (1962)
Jim Bunning (1961)
Jim Bunning (1957)
Hal Newhouser (1947)

YOU WONDER WHY I QUIT REFERREEING...

Crazy story out of Brazil....

From FoxSoccer.com: An amateur soccer match turned outright barbaric, leading to the deaths of a match referee and player in northeastern Brazil.
According to multiple reports from Maranhão, match referee Octavio da Silva Catanhede Jordan allegedly stabbed Josenir dos Santos Abreu to death after an argument with the player during a game on June 30.
The 20-year-old referee reportedly had a knife with him at the match and attacked Santos Abreu. The 31-year-old footballer was pronounced dead on arrival by a local hospital.
What subsequently happened was more appalling.
After witnessing the horrific attack, family and friends of the player reportedly invaded the pitch to lynch the referee, who was gruesomely quartered and decapitated by the mob, which later hung his head on a stake.
In an official statement, Valter Costa, police chief of Santa Ines in Maranhão, confirmed the ongoing investigation and assured the public that suspects were being questioned.
“Reports of witnesses have indicated some people that were in place at the time of the fact. We will identify and hold accountable all those involved. A crime will never justify another. Actions like this do not collaborate with the legality of a state law."

I was a local soccer referee for five years, and I recall one of our best referees, one of the finest men I ever knew, was severely beaten due to a call he made in a match. If HE, a high quality ref, could get beaten up for a call, what might happen to a mid-level official like me? Referees and fans murdering each other on the pitch proves one thing: some of these people are just idiots, and are taking the games WAY too seriously. This match was not the World Cup folks. This was a small time match. Chill out folks.

The Mickster is such a cutup!

Last night was the last show of the "50 And Counting" tour. Mick has told a couple of jokes about current events. When the Stones were in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, he said he would "not tell jokes about Mayor Ford, he's such an easy target, so we'll just crack on" and at the last show in D.C., in a reference to the NSA scandal, Mick said "President Obama is not here tonight, he's just listening in" So, when the Stones pack it in, Mick could host a late night talk show. The Stones are playing the Glastonbury festival Saturday. BBC is showing an hour of their set live. Hopefully, they will stream it worldwide.

HAWKS WIN! HAWKS WIN! HAWKS WIN!

The Chicago Blackhawks, for the second time in four years, have won the Stanley Cup, after two last-minute goals to wipe out a 2-1 lead, and turn it into a 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. I ended up 9-6 on my picks, all in all a nice spring for me. Patrick Kane won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Playoffs.

The Cruel Tragedy of The Iron Sheik

Yahoo.com did an article about the sad life that "The Iron Sheik" is living today. Here is an excerpt:

His voice was instantly recognizable, like that of a long lost friend. But it was a joyless voice, and sounded a bit feeble.


Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, is 73, and is in pain. He badly needs knee surgery that he can't afford, but if the truth is to be told, every joint on his body could use fixing.



A lifetime in wrestling, amateur and professional, will do that to a man.
So Vaziri, better known as the evil pro wrestler, "The Iron Sheik," would on this day rather sit in his chair and let the hours pass by than talk about his life.

He aches all over, he's not making a lot of money and he wants to be left alone. "Bubba, please, I will talk to you and answer all of your questions," he says, pleadingly. "But let's do it another time. Now is not good."

Now, though, is the time. At least that's the view of Page Magen, who along with his twin brother, Jian, serves as the Sheik's manager. The Magens are attempting to raise funds through crowd sourcing to produce a documentary on the Sheik's life.

Patrice Bergeron taken to hospital with suspected spleen injury

Bruin Patrice Bergeron was taken to hospital with a suspected spleen injury last night, when he left game five in an ambulance. Coach Claude Julien says he is the proverbial "day to day", which, if this story is true, is awfully hard to believe. Perhaps the Bruins are induging in wishful thinking, as they could use him in game six tomorrow night.

ORIGINAL SIX FINAL!

For the first time since I was in High School  (a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away) two Original Six teams are meeting in the Stanley Cup Final.

Last round 1-1
Overall 9-5

FORWARDS- With Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, etc... A slight EDGE  to CHICAGO

DEFENSE-Zdeno Chara is enough by himself to give the EDGE to BOSTON

GOALIE-Corey Crawford is very good, but I think Tuuka Rask si even better-EDGE BOSTON

COACH-Both of these coaches are very good, but I give the EDGE to Joel Quenville of CHICAGO.

Both of these teams are very evenly matched, but I believe the BRUINS will win in SIX/SEVEN GAMES.

Third Round Predictions

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are half over, which means it is time for the Conference Finals. After going 4-4 in the first round, I went a perfect 4-0 in the second, making me 8-4 overall, and with only 3 series left, clinching a winning record. Here are my third round predictions:
CHICAGO-LOS ANGELES-I predicted the Hawks and Penguins to be in the finals this year. Unless the Red Wings exposed a weakness in the Hawks, I see no reason to change that. That being said, I expect a tough series that the BLACKHAWKS will win IN SEVEN.

PITTSBURGH-BOSTON-This series should be a dandy. Crosby and friends have been off for eight days, and may have some rust, but once they get going, the PENGUINS should win IN SIX.

A HISTORIC NIGHT AT UNITED CENTER

Tonight, the Detroit Red Wings will play the Chicago Blackhawks in game seven of the Western Conference Semi-Final. With realignment coming next season, barring a Stanley Cup Final meeting, this will be the last time they play in the playoffs, certainly for decades, maybe ever. This is only the third time in the storied franchises 87-year history that they have gone seven, and the first since 1965. Enjoy.

Round 2 Predictions

Pittsburgh-Ottawa-The Pens are the better team. Period. Sidney Crosby can be the X Factor in any series he plays. PENS IN FIVE.

Boston-Rangers-This could be a dandy. These two old rivals have been going hammer and tong at each other for decades. This won't be any different,  Henrik Lundqvuist could be the X Factor here. That being said, the BRUINS IN SEVEN.

Kings-Sharks- Perhaps the hardest series to call, This series may be more or less a rumor to many fans on the East coast, since the games will end after 1 A.M. in several cases. These are evenly matched teams, but Jonathan Quick may well be the X Factor here as the KINGS will win IN SEVEN.

Red Wings-Blackhawks-This series has a nostalgic feel to it, as with the Wings' move to the East next year, it will be the last time they meet in the playoffs for years, maybe decades. That being said, the Hawks have dominated the Wings , and despite Valtteri Filpulla possibly being an X Factor, The HAWKS should win IN SIX.

Last round 4-4
CORRECTION: I misidentified next year's Islander goalie Tim Thomas, when Nabokov played in the series. My Bad.

2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs

Eastern Conference

Pittsburgh-Islanders The only chance the Islanders have in this series is for Tim Thomas to stand on his head. It won't matter PENGUINS IN FIVE

Montreal-Ottawa The Habs should win this series, IF Carey Price is on his game. HABS IN SIX

Washington-Rangers Ovechkin has been the hottest player in the league in April. They're going to need him. They should win become of him. CAPS IN SEVEN

Boston-Toronto The Leafs are returning to the playoffs after an eight year abscence, The B's have loads of playoff experience, and should win, but it won't be easy, and an upset is possible. B'S IN SEVEN

Western Conference

Chicago-Minnesota The Wild have no chance in this series. This could be quick, especially if Crawford is on his game. HAWKS IN FIVE, MAYBE EVEN A SWEEP

Anaheim-Detroit This could be an upset. The Wings have loads of playoff experience, and did very well with the Ducks this year. Johann Franzen could be an X factor, as he tends to be a Glenn Anderson type. That being said, the Ducks are probably the better team, and will probably win. DUCKS IN SIX, BUT THIS SERIES IS THE MOST LIKELY UPSET

Vancouver-San Jose Vancouver does very well against most teams, except Chicago, but they're not playing them. As well as the Sharks are playing, the Canucks should win. CANUCKS IN SIX

Los Angeles-St. Louis The Blues are upset minded, but it's not going to happen. The Champs will remain so, for at least another round. KINGS IN SIX

NHL CLINCHING SCENARIOS FOR TONIGHT

Teams that can clinch Saturday: The Wild, Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets will decide the final two playoff spots in the Western Conference on Saturday.
The Red Wings clinch a playoff berth as long as they earn at least one point against the Dallas Stars. They can also get in without picking up any points as long as the Wild lose in regulation or the Blue Jackets lose in any fashion.

The Wild clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the Colorado Avalanche in any fashion. They also get in as long as the Blue Jackets don't pick up more points than they do.

The Blue Jackets clinch a playoff berth if they defeat the Nashville Predators in any fashion and either the Red Wings lose in regulation or the Wild lose in any fashion. The Blue Jackets also get in if they earn a point against the Predators and the Wild lose in regulation.
Playoff positions to be claimed: 2
Teams in contention: 3

LIONS RELEASE 2013 SCHEDULE

The Detroit Lions,along with the rest of the NFL, released the 2013 schedule tonight. Sun Sep 8, 2013	Vikings	1:00 PM ET	FOX
2	Sun Sep 15, 2013	@Cardinals	4:05 PM ET	FOX
3	Sun Sep 22, 2013	@Redskins	1:00 PM ET	FOX
4	Sun Sep 29, 2013	Bears	1:00 PM ET	FOX
5	Sun Oct 6, 2013	@Packers	1:00 PM ET	CBS
6	Sun Oct 13, 2013	@Browns	1:00 PM ET	FOX
7	Sun Oct 20, 2013	Bengals	1:00 PM ET	CBS
8	Sun Oct 27, 2013	Cowboys	1:00 PM ET	FOX
9	--- BYE WEEK ---
10	Sun Nov 10, 2013	@Bears	1:00 PM ET	FOX
11	Sun Nov 17, 2013	@Steelers	1:00 PM ET	FOX
12	Sun Nov 24, 2013	Buccaneers	1:00 PM ET	FOX
13	Thu Nov 28, 2013	Packers	12:30 PM ET	FOX
14	Sun Dec 8, 2013	@Eagles	1:00 PM ET	FOX
15	Mon Dec 16, 2013	Ravens	8:40 PM ET	ESPN
16	Sun Dec 22, 2013	Giants	4:05 PM ET	FOX
17	Sun Dec 29, 2013	@Vikings	1:00 PM ET	FOX

Trades, Trades, And More Trades 2013, Playoff Matchups with Three Weeks To Go

Here we go again, one of my favorite articles of the year. NHL Trade Deadline time.

Pittsburgh acquires Brenden Morrow from Dallas, Douglas Murray from San Jose, and Jarome Iginla from Calgary. Penguins showed they meant business when they got these guys. It turned out they needed to, as Sidney Crosby is now out indefinitely with a broken jaw after he was hit by a puck last Saturday.


Playoff Matchups With Three Weeks To Go

With three weeks to go in the season, get a load of this: The Original Six teams would play each other if the season ended today. Les Canadiens would play the Rangers, The Leafs would play the Bruins, and The Wings would say goodbye to Western Conference hockey with one last series with the Hawks.

Yanks tie Mexicans 0-0 in World Cup Qualifying

USA GETS A RESULT AGAINST MEXICO AS THEY DRAW 0-0 AT AZTECA STADIUM. This is a huge point for the Yanks. Brad Davis gets booked in stoppage time for holding a Mexican player in a questionable call.

Bring Back Les Expos!, U.S. World Cup Qualifier Comedy

Montreal Expos great Warren Cromartie is campaigning to bring back a new version of the team, and I hope he can be successful. The team was excellent in the 80's, so much so that my friends and I actually imagined a Tigers-Expos World Series. It could well have happened, as both teams were terrific at that time. The team declined in the 90's after the '94 strike, which prematurely ended a season that the Expos were leading the National League East (they were declared division winners after the cancellation of the remaider of the season, but the damage had been done, and the team never recovered).

U.S WINS QUALIFIER IN COMICAL CONDITIONS

The USMNT won a 1-0 World Cup Qualifier match over Costa Rica for a much-needed three points, but the conditions were the story, as Winter Storm Virgil dumped nearly a foot of snow on the Denver area. This, my friends, is why MLS should NOT move it's season to what much of the rest of the world plays. The North American winter weather is much worse than many countries that play their seasons in what is our NBA/NHL season (not to mention an already crowded sports schedule in the fall/winter/spring with NFL/NBA/NHL/NCAA, etc). The weather was so brutal that watching the match, even on television, became nearly impossible at times. Frankly, while international football is meant to play be played in cool weather, it is NOT meant to be played in a  blizzard.

BREAKING NEWS: Red Wings Pavel Datsyuk says he is the victim of fraud

WDIV in Detroit reported tonight that Pavel Datsyuk is suing a company that he says has been selling t-shirts, jerseys, etc.. that have had his likeness without permission.

EUROPOL UNCOVERS MORE THAN 380 SUSPICIOUS MATCHES

An investigation by Europol has revealed that more than 380 matches may have been tampered with. A match fixing scandal of this magnitude would be unprecedented, and the repercussions could be disastrous for European football. Some of these matches include World Cup and European Cup Qualifying, as well as Champions League matches.

BREAKING NEWS: WDIV-TV in Detroit is reporting that a Detroit Red Wing player has been the victim of Identity theft.

NHL Expansion? and Various Musings about other things

NHL Expansion?

Rumors are flying that the NHL will expand to Quebec City and Markham, Ontario within the next three years. The NHL denies there is a plan in place, but remember this; the NHL tends to speak in code, which means when they say it's "Not on our radar', as we learned here in Michigan with the political system, that means it'll happen. Not that that's a bad thing. Les Nouveaux Nordiques would give Les Canadiens a natural rival they have lacked since the old Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995.  Markham would give the Maple Laffs some actual competition for the billion dollar Toronto market, and might inspire that team to actually do something to revive that moribund franchise, and would also give Buffalo another natural rival as well.

US Soccer friendly was... too friendly

The USMNT played it's last tune-up before the hexagonal World Cup qualifying begins next week, and their match with Canada did nothing to inspire confidence that they will be ready with a lifeless, goalless draw in Houston that was so boring my wife dozed off while we were watching it, especially when compared to the whipping the Red Wings were laying on the Stars (that ended while the US match was early in the first half). If Jurgen Klinsmann has a plan for Team USA going forward, I'm, at least at this point, not sure what it is, and they had better find out in the next week.

Subban and Benn sign

P.K. Subban of Montreal and Jamie Benn of Dallas signed their new contracts this week. It's about time. I mean, you go through a three-month lockout, so when the lockout ends, you decide to hold out? REALLY? Even though your teams could not formally negotiate with you during the lockout, your representatives couldn't chat with your teams on the sly so that when the lockout ended, negotiating would be more or less a formality?

A-ROIDS named again in PED investigation

In an investigation that is being said to rival the BALCO scandal of the 1990's, A-rod is the leading name linked to the purchase of PEDs from a Miami steroid ring. This is an individual who admitted using steroids back in his Texas days, who apparently was using them again in 2012, not that they helped him against the Tigers in the ALCS.

This is why they are the Laffs

The Toronto Maple Leafs decided to end the lockout by firing G.M. Brian Burke. WHY? Did the Leafs lose a bunch of games while the league was LOCKED OUT? Did he suddenly become a lousy G.M. during that period? Did he suddenly lose the skills that produced a Stanley Cup in Anaheim? Do the Leafs have a big-name G.M  in waiting, like the Red Wings did during the 2005 lockout? OR-are there other agendas involved, such as an internal dispute over a Luongo trade, or have there been incidents away from the ACC, as have been hinted at by the Toronto press? The bottom line, is this seems to be so typical of the Maple Laffs (purposely misspelled), who have come to symbolize incompetence in the NHL, much like the similarily named Detroit Lions have in the NFL.

WE HAVE A DEAL!!!!

The NHL and its Union reached a deal just before dawn this morning, so the lockout delayed 2013 season will be starting about January 18/19th, and the 48-50 game season should run along the lines of my last post the other day. It feels good tobe thinking about games ON the ice, as opposed to games off it.

A 48 Game Season-How It Would Work

Despite a setback tonight in negotiations, I believe the NHL is heading for a settlement within a few days. In fact, future Hall-Of-Famer Teemu Selanne (663 career goals) flatly predicted a settlement on Monday. With this in mind, here is a primer on how a 48 game schedule would work: I originally thought that the teams, if they settled this week, could play pre-season games with "nearby opponents" (examples : Wings-Jax, Laffs-Sabres, etc...) that could be offered free of charge, as a goodwill gesture toward the fans. This is what the NBA did last year, but this will apparently not be the case. That said, something the teams COULD do, is offer intra-squad scrimmages for free, as MLB teams did in 1981 after a two-month strike. Here IS a likely scenario for a 48-games season:

Let me begin by saying that the season will almost certainly follow the template from the 1995 48-game season, which works perfectly from the script the league seems to have been following all along. First of all, January 19th is perfect for this reason, A) It's Saturday, Hockey Night In Canada, and B) January 5th and 12th are NFL playoff nights, and the NHL wants no part of competing with the colossus of american sports. With that in mind, All teams open the season on the 18th/19th, most cases being "rivalry games" Pens-Flyers, Wings-Hawks, Habs-B's-Laffs-Sabres, Kings-Ducks, etc...Then NO teams play on the 20th, and again, it's all about the NFL, as that is the date of the conference championship games. Then games are played until February 3rd, the date of Super Bowl XLVII, when possibly Les Habitants are the only team playing, since they traditionally play on Super Sunday. The season then continues until about May 1st, with the playoffs beginning about May 5th, and continuing until about June 29th.