Results

The fans have spoken. Thank you for choosing to give me credit for the picks. I have now succeeded in each of my last eight selections.

Playoff update

A quick summary of the first round

Like our Red Wings, the Anaheim Ducks, the Vancouver Canucks, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals, the Carolina Hurricanes, and the Pittsburgh Penguins all were able to make it to the second round of the NHL playoffs.

The Ducks.

Yes, the Ducks.

After pulling off a shocking upset of the top-seeded San Jose Sharks, Anaheim will face the Red Wings in round two. Now I know it's common to have strange picks in your bracket, but be honest, how many of you really thought that the seemingly indestructible Sharks could fall to a squad led by a goalie practically young enough to be in High School? That's what I thought. Even I, the wise and wonderful Sports Schawb, did not see this coming.

The Canucks pulled off a quick sweep over St. Louis and will face the Blackhawks who, by contrast, dueled the Flames in six games. Meanwhile, the Bruins managed a sweep of their own and will face cinderalla Carolina. The Penguins easily blew past Philly.

Finally, the Capitals, whom I have predicted to take the Eastern Conference, managed to take a seven-game duel despite dropping their first two home games. C'mon guys, did you really have to scare me like that? Led by Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green, the Caps will face Pittsburgh in round two.

Lions draft has ups, downs

But the important thing is that they seem to know what they're doing

Sure, they surprised us with a few of their picks but for the most part, the Lions did fairly well in the NFL draft.


Some would question taking tight end Brandon Pettigrew 20th overall with Ray Mauluga still on the board. Same goes for taking Louis Delmas with the first second round pick with Mauluga still there. But Mauluga slipped all the way to 38th. Maybe the 32 NFL owners knew something we didn't.

Consider this: The Lions managed to draft the best quarterback, the best tight end, and the best safety in the draft. When you're coming off an 0-16 season, it comes in handy to add the most talented players availible.

Stafford has a lot of upside, but also a great deal of downside. The Georgia QB went to the same high school as former Lions quarterback Bobby Layne, who, fifty-one years ago, supposedly said that the Lions would not win for fifty years.

It's chilling.

The important thing here is that Stafford is basically hit-or-miss, but I personally feel that there is a higher chance of the hit. He has a good arm. He would do well with deep threat Calvin Johnson.

Pettigrew can help with the mediocre blocking that the offensive line has been providing. His ability to catch passes will help draw the double teams off Calvin Johnson. I know it sounds crazy, but in two years, with Pettigrew and Stafford devoloped, the Lions might have a fairly explosive offense. Calvin can catch Stafford's deep passes, while Pettigrew can catch the short ones.

Delmas has been criticized for his size disadvantage. Forget that. He was still the best safety in the entire draft, hands down. Delmas can help with the long-term project of restoring the defense. Unfortunatley, this project may take a lot longer than improving the offense will. The main negative side to this pick is that it was a bit of a reach.

Considering the way the Lions drafted during the Dark Ages (formerly known as the Matt Millen era), we should be grateful for the way they handled things Saturday and Sunday. Unlike Millen, Mayhew and Lewand seemed to have a good idea as to what they were doing (note: not counting Jason Hanson field goals, this is the first time in several years that the Lions have received that compliment).

Will it work? We don't know. Don't tell me it will. Don't tell me it won't. Because you don't know. But if one thing's for sure it is this: The Lions seem to finally be competing on the same level as the other 31 teams in the NFL (no asterisks).

Lions sign Stafford

The Detroit Lions signed Georgia QB Matthew Stafford to a six-year deal on Friday. Most were expecting them to do it, so it's no big surprise. We'll see what this guy can do for the franchise.

Wings succesful in sweep

Strong goaltending by Chris Osgood, effective playmaking, and yeah, a few of Columbus' defensemen, were the key elements in the Wings' four game sweep of the Blue Jackets.
Osgood was solid for the first three games, allowing a total of just two goals, one in the first and one in the third. An injury in game 4 in the second period contributed to his allowance of five goals. Still, the Wings won that game as well, which was the only game where Osgood wasn't voted player of the game.
Here ends Columbus' run. Alas, they were too young and inexperienced to make it through the postseason. Keep an eye on them next year, though.
Chris Osgood, why did so many of us doubt you?
OZ-ZIE! OZ-ZIE!
You came through (again) despite all naysayers.
OZ-ZIE! OZ-ZIE!
What more can I say?

Madden Announces Retirement

And we salute him just as much as he saluted Brett Favre

There is no doubt that this guy will be missed. John Madden seemed to have something that other announcers did not, seemed to have a magic touch of some sort. He is, without a doubt, the greatest broadcaster of all time.

Football fans love to argue. From My team is better than yours to My team has a better waterboy than yours. But the fans all agree on one thing: We all love John Madden. He is just one of those guys that are impossible to dislike. How can anyone hate Madden? Something sets him apart. When your team's losing, don't you often mute the broadcasters because they won't shut up about how overmatched you guys are? But, for one reason or another, you can't find it in yourself to mute when John's calling the shots. Why? Because you have to love the way he broadcasts.
We fans love Madden so much we even decided to name a video game after him. This series of games, which adds a new game ever year, has sold better than any other sports video game. It has exceeded all other video games. Disagree? Then you tell me why we have televised tournaments every year for this game. There is no denying that we've seen a success rate that you just don't even come close to seeing from other games. Once again, Madden finishes far ahead of all the others.

Funny how it always seems to happen that way.

Madden has been to broadcasters what Joe Montana was to quarterbacks: an admired figure who just seems to be at a completely different level than everyone else. This guy has done so much, has done so well, that it is almost undescribable. I could write a novel about this guy and still not completely give him the credit he deserves.

We salute you, John, for revolutionizing the game of football, for revolutionizing sports video games, for revolutionizing broadcasting. Heck, what haven't you revolutionized? It was a great ride Mr. Madden. Thank you so much.

Lions release new logo

Yeah, it doesn't mean that they're suddenly going to go 19-0 next year, but you have to admit that the Lions new logo is pretty cool. The colors will remain the same, which is a bit of a disappointment, but at least something changed. If you haven't seen the new logo yet, it can be seen on NFL.com.

UPDATE: The Logo can now also be viewed in the upper left corner of this blog

Feedback: Got a comment on Madden or the Lions new uniforms?

A Three-Way Battle

The race for the NHL's MVP remains undecided

Now that the season has ended I have narrowed the worthy winner of the Hart Trophy down two three players: Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datsyuk.

The case is good for all three.

First, we have Alex Ovechkin, probably the favorite of the three. Why not him? This year the Capitals winger once again succeeded in scoring fifty goals and led the NHL in that category. And, oh yeah, he did manage to score while on the ice AGAIN. Don't forget his toughness either. All this gives OV a good chance of repeating.

The case for Malkin is there, too. He leads the NHL in both assists and total points, making it hard to see a reason as to why he doesn't deserve it.

And then we have Datsyuk.

Yes, Datsyuk.

Despite scoring less than Malkin or Ovechkin, Datsyuk may actually be more skilled than either of his rivals.

Take for instance the fact that our Red Wings center plays an average of nearly four minutes fewer than Ovechkin per game and about three less than Malkin. Datsyuk also averages less time on the Power Play than Ovechkin or Malkin, as well as more time on the penalty kill. Despite all of this, Pav averages the most points per minute of the three.

Datsyuk also could be the most deserving of the three due to his all-around play. What can he do? He can pass, stickhandle, shoot, kill penalties, win face-offs, hit, steal the puck, I could go on forever.

A better question would be: What doesn't he do? Answer: He doesn't take days off. Even when the rest of the Red Wings look bad, Datsyuk looks good.

He plays from both sides of the rink. He is solid both offensively and defensively.

"If you're down a goal in the last minute, who do you want out there- Ovechkin, Crosby, Malkin, or Datsyuk?" says Coach Mike Babcock, "Any of them. But if you're up a goal in the last minute and you need to protect the lead, who would you want? You'd want Pav."

Babcock hits the nail on the head. While all three of our candidates are about even offensively, it is clear that Datsyuk has an edge defensively.

But can he still win it?

Despite the fact that Pavel is probably the most deserving of the three, there still remains a good chance that he won't win. This is partly because of his lack of publicity, and partly due to the fact that he is not alone among the solid players on the Red Wings roster, which contributes to his lack of ice time, resulting in fewer points and hurting his Hart Trophy Case.

So my opinion is that while Datsyuk SHOULD win MVP, it is likely that Ovechkin or Malkin WILL.

You Decide

Prior to the Final Four, my prediction was that North Carolina would defeat Villinova, Michigan State would beat UConn, and that the Tar Heels would win it all. Unfortunately I did not record my predictions, so I think you, my readers, should decide whether or not I deserve credit. Just vote on the poll in the upper right corner. You don't need a Google account or anything to vote.
Thank you for your time.

Tigers hope for a strong '09

Pitching, defense are keys to recovery

Since our 2008 predictions were very (ahem) accurate, it's time for us to start looking at 2009. As of right now, there are two popular theories. One is that the Tigers are likely to play poor like they did last year. The other is that they will turn around and win the AL Central.

I would love to tell that the second scenario is going to happen, but let's examine it first.

The way things are looking, the AL Central will not be the easiest division to win in '09. The Minnesota Twins are the current favorites, which is reasonable considering that they (a) are consistent and (b) have several young players devoloping. The White Sox and Indians are not to be overlooked either.

To win a division, you need both pitching and defense. Lat year the Tigers learned that the hard way. They must use this knowledge to fill those gaps.

We'll start with defense. Here they seem to have done a fairly good job. Skilled Adam Everrett is at short, Gerald Laird and Matt Treanor are catching, and Brandon Inge has finally returned to the Hot Corner (aka Third Base).

So if defense is set, then that leaves us with pitching.

Justin Verlander's struggles were a key reason behind the disappointing 2008 season. If he turns around, it could really help the Tigers in '09.

Fans were shocked to see such a decline last year, but Verlander's struggles really came down three things: A change of strategy, bad defense, and bad luck. Well, the bad defense appears to be gone, and there's nothing one can do about luck, so that leaves the strategy.

In 2008 Verlander tried to mix things up a bit by throwing fastballs less often and trying to be more crafty. Needless to say, it didn't work. If Verlander can simply go back to doing what he does best- destroy hitters, he'll be fine.

Ok then, so what about the other four starters?

You can bet that, after an exceptionally good rookie season, Armando Galarraga will be on the roster. No need to worry about this guy, he's good.

Two down, three to go. Zach Miner and Edwin Jackson are definitely good enough to help the Tigers keep the runs against down.

The fifth spot is a bit tough, so I won't even go there, but I think four good pitchers are enough.

If all goes right, the Tigers will be better this year, but I have to admit that a divsion title is unlikely.

Especially if Ron Gardenhire gets his way.