H O C K E Y D I N O

Do you think anyone has the balls to tell John Madden that he sucks? Listening to him has become worse than listening to nails on a chalk board. It really is nauseating to hear him stumble and bumble about nothing. Seriously, how many games has he actually done where he doesnt mention his love affair with Brett Favre? Sometimes these broadcasters reach an icon level and they become severely out of touch. If I have the game on in the background...I serioulsy can't stand it.


Al Michaels I find just as annoying. They have become cartoons of themselves, trying so hard to make jokes, trying so hard to sound important. I guess I want Phil Simms and Jim Nantz on every broadcast, where they actually talk about the game, and the games within a game. Real football is about getting in the trenches and watching the X's and 0's. I personally do not like to watcht he Fox pregame show, it's all too much fluff. And do I really care about their inside jokes every second? I understand the need to have fun and be light hearted but it gets so routinely boring.


Let me know what you think of my pro football broadcast list:


These guys are good:Merril Hodge, Chris Mortenson, Ron Jaworski, Howie Long, Ron Pitts, Steve Young, Tom Jackson, Chris Berman, John Kruk, Phil Simms, Dan Marino, Shannon Sharpe, Paul Maquire, Bob Trumpy, Don Criqui, Kenny Albert, Joel Meyers, Boomer Esaison, Tim Ryan, Brian Baldinger, Dan Dierdorf, Troy Aikman, Dick Engberg, Moose Johnson, Sean Salsbury, Mark Schlerath, Randy Cross, Jim Nantz, Sam Ryan, Solomon Wilcots, Tim Brando, Suzy Kolber, Trey Wingo, Skip Bayless


These guys are not good:Al Michaels, John Madden, Michael Irvin, Rodney Peete, Bob Costas, Chris Collingsworth, Terry Bradshaw, Jimmy Johnson, Jim Brown, Sterling Sharpe, Tony Sirgusa, Joe Theisman, Dan Patrick, Mike Tirico,Tony Kornheiser, Bill Maas, Richard Baldinger, Kevin Harlan, Greg Gumbelr, Mike Ditka, Stuart Scott, Mike Golic


I also think sideline reporters are useless...although Michael Clayton, Arman Ketayuan, and Sal Paoloantonio I like for pregame stuff. Andrea Kraemer is probably the best at this. However during a game I don't see the point of having sideline reporters such as...Jill Aringon, Lesley Visser, Michelle Tafoyua, Melisa Starks and Bonnie Bernstein. It's not that they don't do a good job, but I don't need to hear what they say half the time.


I also don't need the obligatory pan to the booth to see the announcers talking about the game. I don't care, I never cared, and I never will care to see them. I just want to hear them, and I want to hear them talk about the game. Do we really have to know about their pregame meals, and the restaurants they go to in each town? Save that stuff for the baseball guys.

Oh that reminds me http://www.shutuptimmccarver.com/

WS 2006 Game 5 Musings


Hey nice first inning Verlander..ya rookie. I don't buy into the fact that you don't pitch Rogers. If you are at elimination time, you throw everything and the kitchen sink to win the game. Sure you need to win the other games, but there is no tommorow. Worry about tommorow when it happens. You need to win today! Am I wrong here???


By the way, Fox is the worst sports network ever. Their announcers and color commentators are lame. Their anchors and guests are worse. Yeah even Joe Buck is annoying.


I cannot take the commericials between innings, especially the same ones every frigging inning. You wonder why ratings are low? Why is tivo so popular? Because people do not want to watch commericials! Madison ave are you listening? WE DONT WANT YOU!! Have your commericals in the upper corner, have it scroll by between innings. Fox what are you doing? You have the power to do this. Between innings show practice, do interviews with fans and players, show stats, keep people on your channel. For the love of God come on and do it!
In the first inning...Inge should have went home and got Molina in a pickle...but since he too basically is a rookie, what do you expect? Oh I forget...the Tigers are the only team where rookies make mistakes. My bad.


Polanco = Shanahan. I love Sean Casey...what a gamer. You need to bring him back next year as a bat off the bench. Others don't agree, but I think you need that veteran presence. Plus they need depth with some pop.


Amazing how the pitchers can't field. They look like a friggin softball team.
Where the hell was Thames and Infante? Come on.


By the way, Guillen sucks at short. Put him at 3rd and move the strikeout king to utility role. Infante is gone next year...and watch, he'll do just fine in the NL. Hopefully though we'll get Texiera. Please God, a 3b with some real pop!


Well I know the feeling is that since they made it to the Series, that they had a good year. Big friggin deal. Who cares? Seriously...pennants are nice, but winning it all is what mattters. So in that sense, failure. Disapointment. They gave the series away. 8 errors!

Congrats to the smart Cardinals.

WS 2006 Game 4 Musings

Well Pudge finally came through...but still left a few on.
How many errors from the Pitchers can we get? It's bad enough they make the wrong pitch selection, and then to boot a ground ball or a make a bad throw? That's a tough break.

The one run, caused by Grandy falling down. I still they could have gotten the out at home on the throw. I dont think cutting it off was a smart move, of course the genius McCarver thought so.

The Cards sure know how to move runners up. I've always loved that about NL ball. I wish the AL would do that more. I know it goes against Moneyball philosophy, but I think it works. Especially during playoff time. The Cards have it down to a science.

At first I didnt like batting order, but it sure panned out for the most part. Way too many ducks on the pond though that were left.

Am I the only one who freaks out everytime Rodney and Grilli are up in the pen?
Am I the only who things the Tigers very rarely can beat out a ground ball for it? Man what a slow time. I suppose Grandy and Inge have the speed, but they strikeout so much...they don't get the chance. Dang it, put the ball in play, utilize your speed.

It bugs me how Larussa jumps up and down like a little school girl when they get a hit or make a play. It's very unbecoming of a manager with his track record. It makes him look silly.
You gotta love when Casey hits a jack...because that rarely happens. That opens the door for the others when a non power guy can jack one.

Damn that Rolen. He's rollin.

I think Bondy could have gone another batter or two.

Pudge seems to be struggling behind the plate. I wonder if he's hurt? that passed ball was the winning run. Holy cow.

It blows me away how that pipsqueak at short can hit the friggin ball.

Well it doesnt look good now.

WS 2006 Game 3 Musings

Pudge you are killing me. Hall of fame catcher? Your legacy now is you suck. Come on. Maybe getting hit in the nads will wake your ass up.

Miner - stop.

Zumaya pitching on the road - worthless

Verlander pitching at home - worthless

Nate pitched ok.

Nice errors on the mound. Baseball 101 - defense wins ball games.

CMO , where was the usless home run tonight?

Mags...swing at the second pitch lately?

Inge - strikeout..need I say more?

Cards get someone on base all the time when Pujols is coming up. It's amazing.

Tigers still only get hits with 2 outs.

Casey is a professional hitter. But it's a waste with no RISP.

For the love of Pete...bat Polanco first or 2nd. We dont need speed on the bases...we need men on the bases...anyone.

Rodney scares the hell out of me.

Ok Supp and Reyes are next...just great.

Plate Discipline is so important and so missing from this series. Come on guys.

Being Sunday and all I decided to do some biblical reading and catch up on my Sports Commandments. In a moment of deep reflection and inner inspection, I was summoned with a list. Yes another list. This list was evil entities in sports. Evil exists, and once you understand that you can face it much easier. So here is my list of evil in sports as they pertain to my world - Detroit Sports:

Notre Dame

Ohio State

Colorado Avalanche

Chicago White Sox

Cleveland Indians

New York Yankees

Red Sox Nation

Chicago Bulls

Nebraska

Minnesota Vikings

Dallas Cowboys

Atlanta Braves

Florida State

Florida

Miami FL

Stanford

Mighty Ducks


What is missing?

Tiger Fan Current

In the late 70's growing up in the Midwest the summers seem to last forever. More often than not, they actually did. The one underlying theme of those summers was baseball. Baseball all day long until dusk, with breaks only for lunch or the occasional toy army man fight. Playing ball all day long, with the sounds of Ernie Harwell and Paul Carey through the neighborhoods was music to our ears. We had friends who would grow their hair long like that of Tiger shortstop Tommy Vereyzer. Another friend would keep a baseball card of Aurielo Chi Chi Rodgriquez in his wallet. He didn't have any money, but he had Chi Chi with him all the time. What did I do? I painted my baseball bat black and put black make up under my eyes to be like Steve Kemp. If only I batted left I thought, I could knock in 90 rbi's like him. Others had t-shirts that had a picture of The Bird on them, because he was all the rage. Champ Summers, Chuck Scrivner, Rusty Staub, Ron Leflore, Jason Thompson...these were our heroes. We looked up to them and wanted to be like them.

Yes, we rooted for the Reds and the Yankees, because at the time they were the powerhouse teams, and that's all you saw on TV. We never really wondered why the Tigers weren't that good, we just knew it was our team. We didn't expect them to win, it didn't seem to matter. Yet we wanted them to win, we just didn't know why. It didn't matter because it was baseball. And playing baseball was everything win or lose. My father would take my brother and I down to Michigan and Trumball to see the Tigers play several times every summer. To this day, I do not think there was a better treat then having peanuts and a hot dog sitting with my glove watching a young Jack Morris walk batters after another in his rookie year. Again, we didn't expect them to win, we just wanted them to. I didn't know any better, didn't know what it was like to have a winning baseball team.

I was 1 when they won in 1968, so I didn't really identify with that team. I was in awe at how my uncles would constantly talk about Denny McClain's high kick, or the whirlwind swing of Willie Horton. That 68 team was special to them.As I got older, I rode the wave that was 1984. Wow what a magnificent season. I had watched them develop a team of Lance Parrish, Lou Whitaker, Alan Trammel, Kirk Gibson and Morris. They became our heroes. The late 70's bad teams were washed away by this determined bunch of hard working ball players. A team that truly identified with the hard working class of the Motor City. Yes, those 70's when inflation and unemployment was high, and morale was low in Detroit, those Tigers really helped spur our hopes. Just as 1968 came at a time to calm the riots that plagued the city in the previous years, the 84 team gave us hope for a new turn.

Now these 2006 Tigers face a similar fate. Michigan's unemployment rate is at an all time high, the car companies are struggling to get by, and the state is ranked 50th or so in the economy. Can it get any worse? They say often that art imitates life, but in Detroit more often than not sports imitate life. When Detroit suffers, their sports teams pick them up. There's a reason Detroit is one of the best sports cities in the world, it because we need our teams probably more than most. We need this team to unite us, to spur some hope, some positive cheer and perhaps give us some economic growth no matter how small the effect. When Detroit sports teams are bad, they are bad. When they are good, they rise to the occasion - Red Wings, Pistons, and now the Tigers. We won't even talk about the football team. If they won, the roar of the fanbase would be heard for years throughout outer space. We need these Tigers to succeed. They represent more than just our baseball team. Our hopes, our dreams, our demeanor relies on them. This is the cross we carry by being born in this area. We live, we breathe, we die for our teams.

The game starts soon, I need to go find some eye black.