Michigan Football

So yesterday I got my 2006 football tickets in the mail, and I was unfortunately disappointed in my seating for the second year in a row. For some reason, as a junior, my seating group was put in row 60. This comes after last year having to sit with all freshman in row 79. I wonder who in our group has such terrible credit hours that we get put in such bad seats. But atleast I will be a little farther away from the terrible stench that is Lloyd Carr and his football team. It's really a shame that going into this season I have no reason to believe it will amount to anything resembling a national championship contender. Yeah, the team returns many of its key starters on offense, and they finally got rid of defensive coordinator Jim Hermann, but they still have to deal with a schedule that is in no ways easy. We can pretty much chalk up two losses to Notre Dame and Ohio State because they are both away games against top-5 teams. Luckily, we've got Iowa and Wisconisin at home this year, but those are no gimmes considering how awful Michigan was in the Big House last year.. Penn State on the road could go either way. And if Michigan loses either of its rivalry games against Minnesota or Michigan State, then the whole team deserves to be disassembled. I could easily see a 10-2 season heading into the bowl season. Heck, they could even go 11-1. But there's no way they can beat both Ohio State and Notre Dame away from the Big House in one season. But, knowing Lloyd Carr and his penchant for sucking ass, I'm thinking a 9-3 season with a visit to a New Years Day bowl (like the Capital One Bowl) is a more appropriate prediction.

Football is Back

We're reaching the dog days of summer now, but not everything is that bad. Football is starting to get back into swing with training camps starting to open, and ESPN squeezing in a bunch of football related features to keep us watching. I figured I would leave you with some of my early thoughts on the upcoming NFL season.

1. The Redskins could very easily be as good as 12-4 or 13-3. BUT I could also very easily see them going 7-9, 8-8. The potential is there, it's just a matter of putting it together.

2. The Dolphins are overrated. They will be a wild card team at best.

3. The Steelers will come back down to Earth.

4. Colts should have won it last year and now I think their time as an elite team will slowly wind down.

5. I was not too pleased to see those Donovan McNabb interviews where his face looked real slim. It looks like this whole T.O debacle has motivated him into getting into better shape. IN the past couple years his mobility just wasn't the same as compared to his younger years.

6. NFC PLayoff teams- NFC East winner: Redskins, NFC North winner: Bears NFC South: Falcons NFC West: Seahawks, Wild Cards: Giants, Panthers

7. AFC Playoff Teams- AFC East winner: Patriots, AFC North: Bengals, AFC South winner: Colts, AFC West winner: Chiefs, Wild Cards: Chargers, Jaguars

Trade Deadline

It's getting towards the end of July, and the Nationals are clearly out of the playoff picture. Their team is up there age wise and the bottom line is that they aren't very good. Pretty much every player on the major league roster is expendable except for third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. They have a great player in Alfonso Soriano, but he's the only guy on the team worth more than a throw in prospect. This means that he's gotta be traded. Soriano is having maybe the best statistical season of his playing career, and the Nationals still stink. Some people think that signing Soriano to a long term deal is wiser than simply getting rid of one of the more dynaic players in the game. But if he's having a great year and the team is still losing...he ain't worth the money. But, the pressure isn't on Soriano. This situation is a win-win for him. If he gets traded, it's going to be to a team in the playoff race. And if he doesn't he's still going to get a pretty good deal come winter time. The pressure is on Nationals GM Jim (Brett Myers may throw a harder fastball, but I throw a harder bitch slap) Bowden. If he doesn't trade Soriano for some meaningful prospects he deserves to be fired. There has been all this talk of the Nats stockpiling prospects, but I haven't seen any of it yet. And if the new ownership is really sincere about its desire to build through the minors, then signing Soriano is simply hypocritical. Basically, if Soriano is still in a Nationals jersey come August 1, Bowden needs to find his way out of town. It's time to end the misery that is the Nationals 2006 season, and completely rebuild this thing. I'd rather have a team of young up and comers, than clubhouse headaches like Jose Guillen, or over the hill bums like Jose Vidro and Livan Hernandez.

I haven't blogged in too long

Once again, working at Carderock has totally screwed up this blog. I've been real inconsistent as of late but hopefully things will go back to normal once I get back to Michigan. But since I haven't blogged in what seems like forever (and my last post was total crap anyways), I figured I would just go through the things that have been running around my head recently.

I didn't really understand the Nationals-Reds trade where the Nats gave up Gary Majewski, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris, BIll Bray, and a minor leaguer for Austin Kearns, Felipe Lopez and a decent minor leaguer. All of the national prognosticators deemed the trade as a huge success for the Nats, but I just don't see it. I feel like the Nats completely went against what they have been trying to do since they came to DC. The pitching staff was already weak and it got a lot weaker with the losses of a solid Majewski and a good young lefty in Bray. I felt like they were keepers. It's not like the Nats got all that younger with the deal. Majewski and Bray are essentially the same ages as Kearns and Lopez. And if you look at their statistics, Clayton and Lopez are similar except for Lopez's power numbers. BUt Clayton is far better defensively. And yeah, Kearns is good...but the Nats didn't need another corner outfielder. They are currently trying to trade two away in Soriano and Guillen. Instead of giving up good young pitching for Kearns, why don't they just resign Soriano? I guess Jim Bowden knows something I don't.

Just watched the highlights of the White Sox kicking some Tiger ass tonight. Part of me wants to see the Tigers just die miserably down the stretch. But another part of me wants to be in the Detroit area during the pennant race. And then there is that part of me that knows that everyone and their mother is going to be rooting for the Tigers went I return to Michigan. It will be all these people who claim to have been Tigers fans for eternity, when really they couldn't name a player besides Pudge from last season's team. It will be just like the fake ass Pistons fans of the past few years. Remember just 7 or 8 years ago when the Palace was empty?

It's great that Detroit Free Press writer John Lowe is actually getting to cover a winning Tigers team for a change. The man has not had a winning season in like 20 years writing about baseball.

This whole Israel-Lebanon bombing business needs to stop. The fucking MIddle East is ridiculous.

I can't believe Brandon Fahey is still playing for the Orioles. For anyone who doesn't know him, he's currently a "valuable" utility man for the O's in his first full season in the Big Leagues. But last year he was the starting shortstop for the Bowie Baysox, the AA team I worked for. And from day one, I thought the guy was the one person in that Baysox starting line-up who had no shot at making the majors. He was a decent fielder, but he literally could not hit the ball on a line drive. All of his hits were bloops or grounders. And he only batted like .265 in AA. Maybe that's just how terrible the O's are.

Entourage is finally heating up. The writers finally seem to have settled back into the groove they developed during season two. I think we all agree the Dom situation was a debacle. I know Pete is a happy man now that Sloane is back in the mix.

What to Follow?

This has been quite an eventful day. Currently, I am sitting at a computer in Jess' house writing this blog. IT is 3:52 am. I can't fall asleep. But I'm leaving in about an hour to drive home so maybe that is a good thing. And I am seriously questioning the path I chose to follow on this day. INstead of going with my head and staying home tonight, I went with my gut and came all the way to Philly in order to see a few friends from school. I had a great time, but this drive coming up in an hour could be torturous. The mind or the gut feeling...the ultimate decision.

Jose Canseco and steroids

Haven't posted in a while because I've been so busy working at the pool. I just made it through seven straight 11 hour days. But it doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention to what's going on. I noticed Jose Canseco got a deal with some independant baseball team (I wonder if they signed him because of his impressive performance in the Surreal Life softball game) and promptly had a press conference accusing the MLB of not being tough enough on steroids. And the funny part is...I'm listening to him. For all the crap he got when his book Juiced came out, many of the things written in it have come true. He's been the most honest in this whole steroids ordeal even if he's been doing it all for the money and publicity. And the more and more I listen to Canseco the more and more I think the guy is a very sharp guy. He makes vague statements about steroids that can't be proven right or wrong (so he keeps himself out of legal trouble), but the comments are pointed enough so that they draw attention to what's going on.

But with how competitive pro sports are, I don't think this steroid thing will ever be solved. Someone will always be coming up with some new drug that will get you stronger and faster, whether it's human growth hormone or something even more advanced. Athletes are always going to be trying to get that extra edge, because we as fans expect them to have that extra edge. I remember back before Sammy Sosa hit those 66 home runs in 1998 that he was a huge target of the Chicago media. IN 1996, Sammy hit around 40 homers in a contract year, and the Cubs rewarded him with a big time deal, thinking he was coming into his own. But then in 1997, Sammy flopped, hitting something like 20 homers. And the media and fans were all over Sammy and all over the Cubs about the huge contract. The rest is history, as 1998 was the historic year in which Sosa and McGwire went on their epic chase together. And even though it has not been proven, we all know Sammy did something illegal along the way. BUt you can't blame him completely. He had all this pressure due to the demands of his huge contract. He had to find a way to appease the fans and the media.