Let's make Turducken

It’s Thanksgiving Week and the Lions and Pistons are a combined 5-15 (pending the Pistons loss to the Celtics tonight).  This dumpster fire is getting bigger by the day and come Thursday when I’m relaxing back in GP ready to stuff my face with turkey, I know I’ll shake my head all the way to the dinner table after Houston drops 50+ on the Lion D.

The Lions can’t close a game and the Pistons can’t win a game. Lions will miss the playoffs and finish under .500 and the Pistons will struggle to get to .500.  The lone bright spot from either team comes from Auburn Hills and it’s regarding a roster spot.  Kyle Singlar played one season in Spain and has decent success.  Charlie V and Austin Daye have sucked their entire time with the Pistons.  Singler gets a couple tune ups and already surpasses both of these bums on the roster putting up 15/5 numbers for Singler and a bunch of DNP-CD’s for Charlie and Austin.  Glad to see Piston Brass got that one right.  My hope by the end of the year is this starting lineup: BK, Singler, Maggette, Moose and Drummond

Since it is Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season is upon us, I wanted to take an opportunity to ask what Detroit Sports moment are you most thankful for.  There are a lot of options to choose from but let me know your moment either as a comment in this blog or on facebook (sportsinthe313).  Thanks for reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

For Mike Pachla

Wow, my apologies for letting this blog fall by the wayside for as long as it has.  Pachla, you’ve been requesting an update so while I watch the Lions dismantle the Jags, here goes nothing.

The NBA is underway and the Pistons are winless.  My only hope for them this year is they play Drummond, Singler and English early and often.  See what you have in your youth.  The combo of Greg “The Moose” Monroe and Brandon Knight are the future.  Gone are the days of exceptional defense from Tayshaun Prince and whatever anyone thought Stuckey would bring to the table.  Anyone else on the roster not in their first or second year is just adding to the dumpster fire the Pistons team is.  The playoffs are a (slim) possibility. I’ve told enough of my friends (@ddiggy209, @chaps07 and Pachla) that I do believe they sneak in as a 7-8 seed.

Lions have crawled back to .500 with a win against the lowly Jags.  A trap game? Yes. A game that was a must win?  Definitely.  They’ll need some help the rest of the way if the Leo’s want to make it back to the playoffs this year.  I still think they’ll fall well short of the season expectations.  Their drafting has been shotty the past couple of years and they don’t have a real dependable defense.  But a win is a win and getting back to .500 is impressive as they head into the meat of their schedule. 

Now normally I don’t comment on my Alma Mater but since I do reside in the 989, let me comment on the Mighty Chips of Mt. Pleasant.  The chips dropped another rivalry game against Western yesterday.  They squandered a 9 point lead to lose 42-31 in a game they fumbled away.  Now I’m not a coach or claim to be but I tell ya, the play calling for the Chippewas is an embarrassment.  Enos hasn’t worked out as the successor for Butch Jones and the steep drop off from the LeFevour era has really crippled this program.  I don’t believe it’ll be another 3-9 year, mainly because 2 of our last 3 games are against team with a combined total of 1 win.  Sure, there may be some improvement record wise, but it’s not the Chippewa football I or my friends from CMU are used to seeing.

A bit of a housekeeping note, I forgot/lost my account info for @sportsinthe313 so please check out @ajcoopdeville for the latest and greatest. Until then, Cooper out.   

Relax Hockeytown - Everything's Alright

Many of you may be wondering, why haven’t the Red Wings had a big time free agent signing this offseason? Doesn’t Ken Holland see the need for some new talent on a team that hasn’t won a cup since 2008 and that quickly approaching the five year mark?  Well Wings fans, I don’t think there is any cause for concern right now because there isn’t the talent out there that I’d want the Red Wings to spend their dollars on. Guys upfront like Filppula, Helm and Emmerton will have to provide some scoring power and on defense you're going to see some new faces who'll have a great opportunity to step up. 

My opinion, I'm glad to see that they didn't make any high profile signings.  I'm intrigued by the fact they've got some young talent in the works that will have the opportunity to have significant ice time this season.  Brenden Smith, Gustav Nyquist Jan Mursak and Jakub Kindl could be the future for the Red Wings.  In past years, playing time has been at a premium but that's changed.

Sure, if they would have added Parise and Suter then we’d be talking about a whole different ballgame.  However, just because they didn't sign either of those two and didn’t waste their money on the likes of Alexander Semin or Jaromir Jagr or Matt Carle doesn’t signal the end of their playoff streak.  I still see the Wings as a dominate team in the Central.  Just by process of elimination they are still on top.  The Predators and Jackets lost key players and the ‘Hawks and Blues but I'm not worried - this division is very much winnable. 

The extra dollars Holland has to work with allows him to reassess the situation and play free agency the right way and not the Joe D way (cough cough 40 million for Charlie V cough cough).  Rest easy Hockeytown, all is well western front. 

For Pachla and Chando

I haven’t written one of these in a while so the next few posts, allow me to touch on some past events that I’ve been meaning to discuss.

Pistons Draft Recap

Joe D for the third consecutive year has had the best player on the board for the Pistons fall right into his lap.  Andre Drummond, the seven foot center from  UCONN  will anchor the middle for Detroit this
fall.  As many of you know already, I do really like this pick.  The ‘stones are going to have a very formidable young nucleus of players in Monroe, Knight and Drummond that should help the front office to build around these three musketeers.

Drummond will provide much needed help side defense for Monroe and be a more typical shot blocking center.  He has Tayshaun-like wingspan and is already big in size.  I see all too often young centers out of
college getting drafted that are talented but lack the body mass to go up against NBA centers.  Though very green, Drummond already has the size at 270 lbs. which will help him heading into this season.
Now the question begs, do the Pistons make the playoffs? Well, with the way this offseason has been, the likelihood of them getting a 6-8 seed is plausible.  It still doesn’t change the fact that they need
quality players around their young core.  The Pistons do not return to a playoff calibur team unless one of two things happens. 1. The threesome of Monroe-Knight-Drummond are actually really good and Joe D puts some average to above-average players with them or 2. They tank, get another high pick and strike it rich with the next Kevin Durant and build around that marquee talent.

Since 1984 only 8 teams have gone on to win the NBA championship.  There isn’t much parity in the NBA and this nonsensical GM approach has eliminated any competitiveness in the league.  Look no further to this Dwight Howard trade for a reason why nothing has changed in this league.   The Pistons have history on their side so it’s not an impossible quest for another championship.  They weren’t supposed to do it in ’04 so who’s to say they couldn’t do it again sometime in the next 5-10 years.

Check back tomorrow for a Red Wings season preview.  Mike Pachla and Dan Chandonais have really been pressuring me to get another blog published.  If you see them on the street, be sure to say HI and thank them for their endless support.

Fire up CHIPS – I live in Mt. Pleasant

C's and D's get Degrees

Blah blah blah...that's what I've thought about the Red Wings off season so far.  I'm not really surprised either.  Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were the targets and we struck out on both of them.  They signed with Minnesota for 13 yr. 100 million dollar deals that makes the Wild good enough for an eight seed next year.

I think the problem with the Wings is that they've lost all their cache that they once had in the league.  This isn't 2002 anymore and the salary cap has handcuffed the Wings.  They can no longer go out and get every top free agent available and we've seen how difficult it's been for the Wings to sign top free agents the past 5-6-7 years.  The Red Wings are an Original Six organization, tops in the league but what does it say when the oldest teams in the league like Toronto, Montreal and Detroit cannot get the top talent?

I'll give this off-season a C.  Losing Hulder is fine with me because he's making more than he's worth with the Flames.  Acquiring Samuelsson and Tootoo fill roles but are not high impact signings.  Samuelsson will help on the powerplay and he shoots a shit ton but he's old.  Wings fans that clamor for toughness will get it from Tootoo but he's nothing more than a poor mans Darren McCarty - just lacking any offensive skill.

I've had people ask me whether or not this season is the one the Wings finally miss the playoffs.  Hate to say it, but there's no way they don't make it.  The Wings are just one of those organizations that are destined for success.  In hockey it's easier, my opinion to sustain a high level of success.  It also helps that they've got the best front office in the league.

UPDATE from Mt. Pleasant! - so I survived my first week and already halfway thru the second.  Making a lot of cold calls and i've set up 7-8 meetings so far.  Still lookin for that first sale but I got a feeling it's coming soon.  I also got my keys to Kelly/Shorts and McGuirk so anyone wanna play????

also - sleeping on an air mattress sucks - off to GP this weekend to celebrate my good friends Bryan Ramberger and Trisha Monahan who are gettin hitched.  Looking forward to the celebration!

Live from Mt. Pleasant

I know I know, it’s taken me damn near forever to update this blog and I’m sure you’re all clamoring for the latest and greatest.  Well before I get into it, let me tell you the reason I’ve been away.  I recently have taken a new job with IMG College as an Account Executive with Central Michigan.  I moved back up to good ol’ Mt. Pleasant on Sunday and started my new career.  In my downtime since leaving MA, I spent an awesome week in Port Austin slamming Hams (beer not the meat), doing shots of Root 100 (terrible idea) pounding vegas bomb after vegas bomb and building the biggest man made slip-n-slide Port Austin has ever seen.  All in all a great final week in metro Detroit but I am now back “home” in Mt. P.

Now on to the pressing questions…and I’ll be short and sweet. 

Pistons draft pick Andre Drummond – I LOVE it for 2 reasons.

He fills a need.  Greg “The Moose” Monroe needs help on the weak side and although he’s a kid, Drummond is already 280 and has a Tayshaun-like wingspan. 

Name me another GM that for 3 straight years manages to have the player of their dreams fall AGAIN so the Pistons can draft them.  Monroe, Knight and now Drummond all were players that weren’t supposed to be there.  Joe lucked out again and I think it’ll really pay off.

The next step for Joe is to amnesty CV31, play the hell out of the young guys and clear as much salary space as possible so Joe has the funds to go out and get real gamechangers than can help the Pistons return to form.

Tigers will be fine.  The AL Comedy Central is a joke. The White Sox and Tribe are not as good as advertised and the Tigers will win this division.  Pitching has come around, hitting has DEFINITLEY come around and though their defense still sucks, I’m not worried.  The trade deadline will come and go, Tigers will not make a move and we’ll be just fine in the second half of the season.

I'm very excited about this opportunity and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.  Stay tuned for the latest sports chat.  Feel free to drop me a line and suggest a topic.  Until next time, same bat place same bat channel - #FIREUPCHIPS

Lions be Drinkin' Lions be Smokin'

I’m not going to be the first one to say how bad of an offseason this was for your Detroit Lions.  Two players, two different positions and two arrests each this offseason may have sealed the fate for both Mikel Leshoure and Nick Fairley.  Adding to this laundry list, Johnny Culbreath also was arrested for a dope charge.  It’s really sad to see these young promising players show their true maturity levels in their childish acts this offseason.  These guys are professional football players.  They are paid to perform, not to smoke pot or drink and drive.  Add these arrests to the issues with Titus Young in the past couple of weeks and you’ve got some high draft picks turning into an unmitigated disaster. 

There will ultimately be suspensions for these players.  Leshoure and Fairley for sure will receive suspension, although there is no telling the amount.  My guess is at least four games for Leshoure and maybe eight for Fairley.  Commissioner Goodell has been playing Conan the Barbarian lately, dropping the hammer on the participants in “Bounty-Gate”.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the penalty for the Lions wasn’t a bit stiffer than what we anticipate. 

I don’t mind if this team has the reputation of being the “bad boys” of the NFL.  Play hard, hit harder is just fine with me, but do I want this team to be the Bengals 2.0? Absolutely not.

This team needs players on the field in order to win games.  The Lions gave this fan base ten wins last year.  The benchmark has been set now and there has to be improvement on last year for this team to trend upwards.  Anything less will be considered a failure.  The Lions will be without these players for part of the season and it will hurt them.  How does management steer this ship and right the course? Does the team lack leadership? Does Jim Schwartz change the game plan? Any way you look at it, this offseason has definitely cast doubt on the hopes for this upcoming season.

Let me know how you think this offseason has gone for the Lions.  Are they the Bengals 2.0? Leave a comment, hit my Facebook page http://on.fb.me/INlTqF or get at me on twitter @sportsinthe313