Random thoughts on the Detroit Sports scene
Lots of stuff going on so I decided to write one post to give my take on each topic.
University of Michigan Football
I found all of the sniping and griping following the Michigan-Michigan State game to be as profoundly boring as - well - Mike DeBord’s offense. It’s times like this that I’m glad I live out of state and don’t have to listen to all of that nonsense. This week’s buildup to the Ohio State game isn’t going to be quite as interesting as it would be if the Buckeyes were undefeated and were playing for a slot in the BCS Championship game.
The winner will become the sole Big Ten champion, so that’s a familiar storyline. The thing that concerns me is that a Jim Tressell coached Ohio State team wouldn’t lose to Appalachian State. Never happen. But given how they struggled against Illinois I think the Oregon Ducks would have shredded the Bucks just like they shredded the Wolverines.
If Chad Henne and Mike Hart are healthy I think Michigan has a decent shot given the game is at home. If they aren’t healthy and don’t play much then I’m not sure how the Wolverines pull this one out. It would be great to send the seniors out with a win against the dreaded Buckeyes and make a return trip to the Rose Bowl.
University of Michigan Hockey
I haven’t seen any games yet but I’m going to the Wisconsin and Minnesota games so those should be good games to see how the team looks against high quality competition. One thing I am impressed with is Red Berenson seems to have put together a team, led by Kevin Porter, that doesn’t rely quite so much on high-end offensive players and instead has better two-way players. The hockey team has been much more successful when they’ve had guys like John Madden and Jed Ortmeyer. The team seems to be playing good defense in front of Billy Sauer and it’s made a big difference.
The Wolverines aren’t going to have the highest average goal total per game as they did last year, but that doesn’t concern me in the slightest. I do like the fact they’ve only given up more than 3 goals once and that in conference play they are allowing just under two goals per game. They haven’t faced the heavy hitters yet in MSU, Miami and Notre Dame. But they are playing the way they need to play so we’ll see how that plays out as the season progresses.
Detroit Tigers
I mentioned earlier that I wasn’t thrilled with the decision to give up two high-end prospects for Edgar Renteria. However I’m very happy that Kenny Rogers decided to pull a Mathieu Schneider and test the free agent waters. I hope someone is willing to overpay for him [cough New York Yankees cough]. There are reports the team is pursuing Dontrelle Willis in the event that the Gambler doesn’t come back. I’d take Willis over Rogers in a heartbeat but I’m concerned that the Marlin has pitched over 200 innings on average over the past 5 seasons. Given how much Dave Dombrowski has parted with in trades thus far I don’t even want to think of what he’d give up to get Willis.
There are reports Dombrowski’s prepared to renew Todd Jones’ contract. On the one hand I think he’s forced to as a result of Joel Zumaya’s shoulder injury. But there have got to be better options available than Jones. I’m not going to be very impressed if Rogers is atop the pitching rotation and Jonesy is the closer.
Detroit Pistons
I’m impressed with Joe Dumars’ decision to take a pass on bringing Chris Webber back. It was obvious during the playoffs that Webber is nowhere near the player he once was. In some ways he was a perfect fit for a Flip Saunders team: all offense with great passing but no ability to play defense. Boston is clearly the team to beat but the one thing I want to see the Pistons do is continue to develop their younger players. Jason Maxiell is finally getting decent PT and hopefully that will be the case with some of their other younger players.
The team is a lock to make the playoffs but the only way I see them being a legit threat is if they can get Rodney Stuckey, Aaron Afflalo and Amir Johnson siginificant playing time in order to build up their bench. That’s obviously been put on hold in Stuckey’s case but Johnson has only appeared in two games thus far. Afflalo is getting some decent PT and he’s appeared in every game thus far.
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[…] I was a little concerned about the number of innings Willis has pitched over the past few seasons but opined that I’d gladly take him over Kenny Rogers if given the choice. Well Dombrowski got both, and with the Tigers’ rotation Willis shouldn’t have to pitch nearly as many innings as he pitched for the Marlins. Detroit signed the Gambler for another season which is nice and all but look at the starting pitchers in 3-4 years. […]