In light of the NHL Olympic break and the NBA All Star break plus the sad rebuilding state of the hometown Pistons I feel compelled to jot down some random Olympic musings.
The biggest story line from the Olympics for me is the mens Hockey Tournament which is sure to feature some dynamite games from powerhouse's like Russia, Canada, U.S. and Sweden and of course the ever present dark horse that is just 1 hot goalie away from a run in this one and done format.
It is such a crap shoot between the Russians, Canada and Sweden because they all feature such top level talent from with Russia featuring Ovechkin and Malkin along with Datsyuk and Canada with all world goalie Martin Brodeur along with Crosby, Nash, Iginla etc... just to many names to mention and of course the Red Wings affiliate Sweden team with hometown hero's Zetterburg, Lidstrom, and Franzen. The main strength of the U.S. team is youthful exuberance with just a veteran or two thrown in like Brian Rafalski, the sort of team that just might not know how nervous they should be. I predict the preliminary rounds will go according to form with all the favorites easily making it thru and I see 3 of the 4 in the medal round with Sweden or United States losing in the quarters.
I believe we will see a rematch of the famous 1972 Summit Series between Russia and Canada in the finals. A finals that will shatter many many Olympic Television rating records with the same result as it was in Mother Russia with Canada winning the biggest Hockey Game ever played anywhere.
On a foot note I think for once the Olympic break will greatly benefit the Red Wings given the precarious health of the team all year. I think the 3 weeks off will really allow the players staying home a good long recovery time and a player like Franzen just coming back from a major knee injury a great chance to get his conditioning and timing back. I expect a very hot start for the Wings after the break to safely put them in that 5th or 6th seed slot.
Feel free to comment on any other Olympic moments that stand out to you
Jason
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Michigan State plays Purdue in conference contest
Today we are going to talk about turnovers.
Not the kind bakeries churn out to satisfy the sweet tooth. It's the kind that happens in sports when you give up your possession of the ball to the opponent. When talking about Michigan State's basketball team, they've been churning out plenty of turnovers lately and how sweet that has been for their opponents.
This season's State basketball squad has been giving the ball away to their opponents at an alarming rate. Following Saturday's 78-73 loss at Illinois, the Spartans are the leaders in the big ten in turnovers. In their 11 conference games, MSU has 157 total turnovers. The next closest is lowly Iowa who are near the bottom of the big ten standings. MSU is the conference leader in the standings, but also the conference leader in miscues.
The total turnovers would not be as concerning if they were forcing their opponents into even more miscues. Unfortunately for State, their opponents aren't coughing it up as much. Their opposition is at 122 turnovers which puts State at 8th place in that category. In only 2 of their 11 conference games thus far, they've turned it over less than their opponent (in that category, less is good).
Turnovers are a double edge sword in which you're taking away an opportunity for you to score, but then handing your opponent an extra chance to score. Empty at your end, but a bonus possession at the other end. It's kinda like carrying around a handful of money on a windy day—you're going to get poorer, but chances are someone is going to find those bills and they'll get richer.
So who is to blame? Are big ten defenses that good? Or is MSU's ball handling that bad? Smart money is on the latter. While State may be the epitome of carelessness, several big ten teams are the cornerstone of carefulness. An amazing 4 big ten teams are in the top 20 nationally at fewest turnovers. National statistics here folks, not conference. Wisconsin turns it over less than anybody in the land and Michigan coughs it up the 10th fewest times. Michigan State's next opponent, Purdue, is also a top-20 member of the protecting-the-rock club.
This seems to go against the grain of one of coach Tom Izzo's greatest traits….discipline. His Spartans aren't showing the discipline needed when it comes to maintaining the ball. That will be crucial against Purdue on Tuesday. If State can maintain the ball better, chances are they'll get a win to maintain their conference lead better.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saints defeat Colts 31-17 in Super Bowl 44
The NFL concludes its season with a very exciting Super Bowl game. Saints pick off Manning, Colts to win Super Bowl Drew Brees definitely laid claim to his place in the elite Quarterback conversation and Congratulations to Who Dat Nation in New Orleans.
Jason
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Spartans lose tough road game it Illinois
I have to admit right off the top that I don't watch a whole lot of regular season college basketball, but I did watch Saturdays ESPN's College Game day feature game pitting the hometown Michigan State Spartans vs the Fighting Illini.
Of course there was a major subplot of M.S.U. being without its All American Point Guard Kalin Lucas due to a sprained ankle suffered against Wisconsin earlier in the week. I know during last years magical run to the title run Korie Lucious was a definite spark plug and came up big in some unexpected spots, but being counted on running the attack for the number 5 team in the nation is a whole other matter. Unfortunately he did let his inexperience bubble to the service by to often rushing the plays as opposed to letting the game come to him and this resulted in him having 6 of the 18 total turnovers for M.S.U. Of course he was not alone in the turn over department with several other players chipping in for 3 or 4 turnovers.
Take care and enjoy the SuperBowl
Jason Behr
Of course there was a major subplot of M.S.U. being without its All American Point Guard Kalin Lucas due to a sprained ankle suffered against Wisconsin earlier in the week. I know during last years magical run to the title run Korie Lucious was a definite spark plug and came up big in some unexpected spots, but being counted on running the attack for the number 5 team in the nation is a whole other matter. Unfortunately he did let his inexperience bubble to the service by to often rushing the plays as opposed to letting the game come to him and this resulted in him having 6 of the 18 total turnovers for M.S.U. Of course he was not alone in the turn over department with several other players chipping in for 3 or 4 turnovers.
For a look at the numbers see the Box Score
Take care and enjoy the SuperBowl
Jason Behr
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Alamo finally ends on sunday morning
Got Freep? Then you got nothing.
Well nothing when it comes to Alamo Bowl game story in Sunday's Free Press sports page. Even though the game didn't end until after 1am Sunday morning, it would not have been out of the realms of reality for the Free Press to delay printing of their Sunday edition. Given today's modern technology, the Free Press could have composed a little summary and cut and paste a box score in no time.
The issue though would be space. They would have needed a lot of space to print the box score from Saturday's Alamo Bowl. By now everyone is probably aware that Michigan State lost 41-31 to Texas Tech in a day after new year's shootout. Would you have expected anything less than a shootout in the Alamo? And in true Alamo fashion, State found themselves in the same predicament as Davy Crockett and company were in -- they were simply outgunned. Coming into the game, Texas Tech was one of the top passing teams in the country. State was in the bottom 20 of pass defense in the country. Not only was State outgunned, but they were also out-manned. For the past month, State had the stigma of 14 players suspended due to their alleged criminal actions.
Texas Tech saw State's suspensions and raised them a coach suspension, only to be followed by that coach being fired 3 days before the game. The outside activity by both teams made tv coverage more suited to be done by CNN rather than ESPN.
All off-field controversy aside, the game was able to provide plenty of action on the field. Texas Tech's offense was well known, but MSU's wasn't exactly chop liver. State came into the game as the top passing team in the big 10 and in the top 50 in the country. Perhaps Texas Tech coach Mike Leach even slipped MSU a few play calls too, because the Spartans used a slew of trick plays to their advantage. A punter throwing passes, quarterbacks catching passes, and a wide receiver throwing for a touchdown. Down the stretch State actually led with 8 minutes left, but once Texas Tech made the QB switch, the Spartans could no longer hold back the Red Raiders at The Alamo.
For State to improve next year, the solution is simple -- shore up the secondary. Mark Dantonio may have developed the passing offense sooner than expected, but that positive doesn't outweigh his negative. This off season will give him a chance to try to regain some balance.
Well nothing when it comes to Alamo Bowl game story in Sunday's Free Press sports page. Even though the game didn't end until after 1am Sunday morning, it would not have been out of the realms of reality for the Free Press to delay printing of their Sunday edition. Given today's modern technology, the Free Press could have composed a little summary and cut and paste a box score in no time.
The issue though would be space. They would have needed a lot of space to print the box score from Saturday's Alamo Bowl. By now everyone is probably aware that Michigan State lost 41-31 to Texas Tech in a day after new year's shootout. Would you have expected anything less than a shootout in the Alamo? And in true Alamo fashion, State found themselves in the same predicament as Davy Crockett and company were in -- they were simply outgunned. Coming into the game, Texas Tech was one of the top passing teams in the country. State was in the bottom 20 of pass defense in the country. Not only was State outgunned, but they were also out-manned. For the past month, State had the stigma of 14 players suspended due to their alleged criminal actions.
Texas Tech saw State's suspensions and raised them a coach suspension, only to be followed by that coach being fired 3 days before the game. The outside activity by both teams made tv coverage more suited to be done by CNN rather than ESPN.
All off-field controversy aside, the game was able to provide plenty of action on the field. Texas Tech's offense was well known, but MSU's wasn't exactly chop liver. State came into the game as the top passing team in the big 10 and in the top 50 in the country. Perhaps Texas Tech coach Mike Leach even slipped MSU a few play calls too, because the Spartans used a slew of trick plays to their advantage. A punter throwing passes, quarterbacks catching passes, and a wide receiver throwing for a touchdown. Down the stretch State actually led with 8 minutes left, but once Texas Tech made the QB switch, the Spartans could no longer hold back the Red Raiders at The Alamo.
For State to improve next year, the solution is simple -- shore up the secondary. Mark Dantonio may have developed the passing offense sooner than expected, but that positive doesn't outweigh his negative. This off season will give him a chance to try to regain some balance.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Detroit Lions losing while worse are winning
The bad are getting better. While the worst seem to be getting worse.
About 2 months ago the NFL seemed to be inundated with a lot of really bad football teams. Surprisingly, the Lions weren't at the top, err, bottom of that list. Who would have thought that teams like Oakland, Tampa, Cleveland and Washington (to name a few) would be looking worse on the field than the Lions? Sure, Detroit had a similar record to all those teams, but they weren't looking and loosing as badly as all those teams. After all, the Lions actually beat Washington and Cleveland.
The win over Cleveland seen by a few thousand at Ford Field was definitely the turning point of the season. But not the momentum turning point the local media and Lions loyalists hyped it up to being. Since that made-for-local-blackout moment, the Lions have been outscored 156-58.
How bad are the Lions? They lost at home to St. Louis, a 1-14 team!
How bad are the Lions? They got blown out at Seattle, who in turn got blown out at home by Tampa. Tampa also won at New Orleans last week! Whereas Detroit was destroyed at NOLA in week 1.
Other dismally looking teams besides Tampa have been making progress. Oakland is 5-10 and have won at Denver and at Pittsburgh. Cleveland has just won 3 straight, including a win over Pittsburgh. The common denominator there? Pittsburgh, of course they actually beat Detroit. Washington is up to 4-11 and have beaten Denver.
So while some of the dismal teams of this season have been pro-gressing, leave it to the Lions to be re-gressing. On a positive note, at least they've been backing into the number 2 pick in the next NFL draft.
About 2 months ago the NFL seemed to be inundated with a lot of really bad football teams. Surprisingly, the Lions weren't at the top, err, bottom of that list. Who would have thought that teams like Oakland, Tampa, Cleveland and Washington (to name a few) would be looking worse on the field than the Lions? Sure, Detroit had a similar record to all those teams, but they weren't looking and loosing as badly as all those teams. After all, the Lions actually beat Washington and Cleveland.
The win over Cleveland seen by a few thousand at Ford Field was definitely the turning point of the season. But not the momentum turning point the local media and Lions loyalists hyped it up to being. Since that made-for-local-blackout moment, the Lions have been outscored 156-58.
How bad are the Lions? They lost at home to St. Louis, a 1-14 team!
How bad are the Lions? They got blown out at Seattle, who in turn got blown out at home by Tampa. Tampa also won at New Orleans last week! Whereas Detroit was destroyed at NOLA in week 1.
Other dismally looking teams besides Tampa have been making progress. Oakland is 5-10 and have won at Denver and at Pittsburgh. Cleveland has just won 3 straight, including a win over Pittsburgh. The common denominator there? Pittsburgh, of course they actually beat Detroit. Washington is up to 4-11 and have beaten Denver.
So while some of the dismal teams of this season have been pro-gressing, leave it to the Lions to be re-gressing. On a positive note, at least they've been backing into the number 2 pick in the next NFL draft.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Tigers Season comes to a crashing end
Well has everyone recovered from yesterdays classic/heartbreaker one game playoff yet. I don't know about you but watching the highlights just made it more and more depressing to me. This game had it all classic Metrodome "house of horrors" see one of my very very early posts along with classic season long problems.
Well good riddance to the metrodome and all those artificial turf high hoppers (ala should have been game ending double play in 10th between Polanco and Everrit) and the classic losing the ball in the outfield (thanks to rookie Dan Kelly) and the ever friendly outfield bounce (compliments of Ryan Raburn's attempted sliding catch with bonus points going to Curtis Granderson not taking proper back up angle). Of course all that does is gloss over the most glaring hole the team has had from beginning to end and that is lack of clutch hits over and over again. It was dizzying how my runners got stranded at third with less than two outs not only in this game but thru out the season.
As always people will second guess the manager for the 100's of small decisions that are made in any given season and serve as the seedy underside of many wins and losses thru out the season. I do wonder why he "rested" Polanco in the 4th to last game of season and how he only played Magglio (Mr. 380 batting average in September/October) 6 innings on the day of the Monday White Sox double header. But the most glaring error in judgment was being married to his righty/lefty batter/pitcher match ups where he started Aubrey Huff and is one hundred and change batting average instead of starting Ryan Raburn and his season ending 291 batting average.
In the end one of the analyst had it right when he said "it seemed like so many players had 4 to 5 times to change the course of this game" and when our line up regularly feature 3-4 sub 250 hitters and the Twins simply did not you end up with this result.
Good Luck DD on construction next years team and building on the momentum of this season.
For an official recap see this ESPN article and for my rant on it please keep reading
Well good riddance to the metrodome and all those artificial turf high hoppers (ala should have been game ending double play in 10th between Polanco and Everrit) and the classic losing the ball in the outfield (thanks to rookie Dan Kelly) and the ever friendly outfield bounce (compliments of Ryan Raburn's attempted sliding catch with bonus points going to Curtis Granderson not taking proper back up angle). Of course all that does is gloss over the most glaring hole the team has had from beginning to end and that is lack of clutch hits over and over again. It was dizzying how my runners got stranded at third with less than two outs not only in this game but thru out the season.
As always people will second guess the manager for the 100's of small decisions that are made in any given season and serve as the seedy underside of many wins and losses thru out the season. I do wonder why he "rested" Polanco in the 4th to last game of season and how he only played Magglio (Mr. 380 batting average in September/October) 6 innings on the day of the Monday White Sox double header. But the most glaring error in judgment was being married to his righty/lefty batter/pitcher match ups where he started Aubrey Huff and is one hundred and change batting average instead of starting Ryan Raburn and his season ending 291 batting average.
In the end one of the analyst had it right when he said "it seemed like so many players had 4 to 5 times to change the course of this game" and when our line up regularly feature 3-4 sub 250 hitters and the Twins simply did not you end up with this result.
Good Luck DD on construction next years team and building on the momentum of this season.
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