Wow...Been A While Since I saw a Great Pistons Game

The youngsters came to play last night against the Celtics. I was expecting another one of those supreme blowouts we have become accustomed too the last month. The first half looked like they were well on their way to getting slaughtered, but they managed to keep it around 10 going into halftime.

I have been looking forward to this game for a while now. Especially after we started off so well. Wanted to see how they matched up with a title contender and a rival. Wanted to see what the crowd reaction was to my boy Rasheed WALL-ACEEEE as well. They were mixed, and it saddened me. Sheed was a man in Detroit and one of my favorites while he was here.

“That’s how it’s supposed to be,” Sheed said.

Still it felt like the game was slipping away in the 4th like they are prone to do in the 2nd half of games. Wasn't optimistic we had what it took to finish it off. The team just didn't bring the same energy in the 2nd half that it was earlier in the year. Only thing to talk about lately were the freak show that are the Bernstein family (You can't possibly have watched any Fox Sports Detroit game and not thought this is the most f'd up family you have ever seen.), and maybe some Orange NJ dental implants.

BUT...the boys came through with a thrilling victory. Stuckey forced to play most of the game due to injuries (Gordon, Bynum, and even Chucky bruised his sternum, but came back) got busy last night to the tune of 27 points, 11 boards, and 7 assists with a +14 +/-. Our boy Charlie V had a big game with some big plays. A couple big blocks to go with 19 points off the bench. 10 of which he scored in the 4th quarter.

CV and Sheed had a bit of post game chatter:

“Of course, he wanted to show the fans what they’ve been missing,” Villanueva said. “But Charlie V’s here.”

Villanueva scored 10 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter, but Wallace wasn’t impressed.

“Chuck hit a couple 3s,” Wallace said. “He didn’t do anything extravagant.”

They just had the energy last night and played hard all the way to the end. Nice game to watch if it was one of your only ones during the season. Pistons won 92-86!

Think I Need To Switch Back To DirecTV

When you switch cable companies it is like a gamble as to what stations you actually end up with when they leave your house. I don't care how much you have reviewed the packages on the website, or even what the person you ordered from told you, you never have all the channels you think you are gonna have.

Half the time you get a new channel you love in the switch, but lose another one in the same stroke. Like when I first switched from Dish Network to DIRECT TV I had stuff like NFL Network, but I didn't have a bunch of local sports stations I wanted for the Pistons.

So then I decided to switch to another provider from DIRECTTV and ended up getting some of those, and getting MLB Network (This station is gold for fantasy), but at the same time I lost NFL network and a ton of regular season games that they play later in the season. Not to mention all the NFL Replays where you get to watch condensed versions of the weeks' games.

Now that the NFL season is almost over I'm not as worried about it,b ut when this contract runs out I will probably switch back to DIRECTV simply for NFL Network and the ability to get the MLB Ticket for all the MLB games that you can't get on most other providers. I don't know, it is just annoying.

Been a While...Let's Give the 0-16 Lions a Flashback Tribute

I'm sure many of you Lions fans are with me in that watching the NFL playoffs without the Lions in it is basically just the wya things have always been. We have to pretend to be fans of teams we would never root for any other year because we have absolutely no chance to ever be in the playoffs ourselves.

The Super Bowl has been played in Detroit TWICE in my lifetime, and the Lions have won only 1 playoff game since the first one was at the Pontiac Silverdome in Super Bowl XVI. They whooped the Dallas Cowboys 38-6 I remember in a 1991 playoff game, but got killed in the NFC Championship game by the Redskins 41-10.

Most fof the players we have seen on this team since the 90s when we actually made the playoffs a few times are out of the league within a couple years. That is unless Millen drafted them in the top 10, paid them a ton of money, and refused to cut them loose. Almost all of his picks probably should have just stayed in school and gotten IT Jobs, or soemthing rather than play for the Lions. oh wait...the Lions pay everyone they sign 5 x as much as any other team would.

Well...when you watch excellence like we see in the NFL playoffs it is only fitting to give us the ultimate accomplishment that our Lions will ever give us. An accomplishment that they, and they alone hold. Probably the only team that ever will too. The 0-16 season.

I know I probably posted this before, but I'm in the mood to be depressed about this garbage franchise.

Tribute to the 0-16 Lions:

Favre Favre

So...let's talk about the great Brett Favre. Everything should be Farvin' talked about when he plays. The Farvin' Favre is Favrin' Favre IMO.

The Favrin' xyphedrine side effects, are only a short Favre away from a Favrin' Favre.

OK...enough Farvin' Favre. I guess we can safely say that Favre hooked up with a pretty amazing situation by signing with the Vikings eh? Favre has played as well this year as I think he has in any year of his career. Maybe not the offensive numbers we hav e seen,b ut the lack of mistakes have certainly been a pretty important change for him compared to recent years.

I guess we will see if he chokes again in the NFC Championship game, but I have my doubts. I think they may jhust be the best team in the league.

Do People Actually Still Act Like Mark Sanchez is the Sanchize?

I'll admit that I was hardcore anti-Sanchez going into the draft before the season. I didn't wnat anything to do with him. I wanted Stafford for the Lions, and I got what I wanted. Am I having second thoughts? No way.

Even if you want to give Sanchez a lot of credit for not doing anything WRONG in his 2 playoff games, you can't be that high on him can you? He actually had an INT in the game against SD. HE only threw for like 120 yards, and had little to nothing to do with them winning.

Of course the old Trent Dilfer argument is going to arise. I don't care about whether the Jets win it all, or any playoff games for that matter. This is down to who is the going to be the better QB. Sanchez isn't taking over games. He is is "play not to lose" mode and the Jets are praying that he doesn't make them lose.

Darrell Revis is the man that is making the fat burner supplements a necessity for WRs who can't get away from him. Sanchez seem like he is just a glorified pretty boy, that hands off the ball. Put Stafford on that team and I will almost guarantee you that he is much, much more dynamic, and that team is a much better offense. Argue all you want, but I will not change my mind on this.

Anyone Know Who to Pick in the NFL Championship Games Anymore?

I thought that I had a good grasp on the NFL playoffs going in, but I have been completely wrong on quite a few of these games. I didn't expect Arizona to lay down this week. I actually thought that the Green Bay Packers might even make it as far as the NFC title game before losing to Minnesota. I was convinced that New Orleans just wasn't playing well enough to advance from their first game. LO @ me.

One thing I was pretty confident in though was that both Dallas, and the San diego Chargers were probably going to choke at some point. If you have watched th NFL for the last decade you have seen the San Diego Chargers with as stacked with talent as any team in the NFL. They seem to alway be there with a lot of regular season wins, and a ton of pro-bowlers. Then they blow it when the playoffs come. This year was no different when they ran into the NY Jets defensive buzzsaw.

Tony Romo...yeah...this guy is the definition of "choker". Dallas is just like San Diego. They have tons of All-pro athletes, and are always considered one of the most talented teams in the league. Then when it comes down to actually winning a big game, they are nowhere to be found. Romo is usually the reason for it. This time Minnesota laid a defensive whooping on them.

So...how do we go about this weekend in the Jets/Colts and the Vikings./Saints match ups? All I know is that I expect both games to be incredible. The Jets/Colts game I think may be a borefest if you aren't a big fan of Darrell Revis and the Jets defense. I have to go with the Colts though. Manning is good enough to tear them up, and funnily enough, if the Colts wouldn't have given up on the undefeated season in Week 16, the jet wouldn't even be in the playoffs right now. I'm sure J-E-T-S fans will CLAp at that silly mistake all week.

As for the Vikings/ Saints? Man this game could be really, really good. Both teams played outstanding this past weekend. Both put up big numbers on offense, and both played solid D. Great d in the Vikings case. I am leaning toward the Minnestoa Favre's, but anything can happen here. I just don't think that the Saints D is gonna be able to do as much as they did against Arizona with the superior Minnesota O-Line, but they are a team of takeaways. Anything can happen when you have the USC Reggie Bush playing at his best though.

Darrell Revis Shouldn't Have Been Defeensive Player of the Year?

I know everyone has seen his hit list of superstar WRs he has shut down this year by now, but I doubt many have seen him actually play until yesterday against the Chargers in the Jets 2nd playoff game. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE me some Charles Woodson from my favorite college team the Michigan Wolverines, but Darrell Revis was just way too good not to win.

Look at this list of victims:

andre johnson - 4/35 7 targets
moss 4/24, 5/34/1 8 and 11 targets
ochocinco 0/0, 2/28 4 and 6 targets
wayne 3/33 7 targets
s. smith (Carolina) 1/5 7 targets
TO 3/13, 3/31 8 and 9 targets
r. white 4/33 10 targets
colston 2/33 6 targets

I will admit that I was as shocked as anyone to see the Chargers have such a hard time scoring against the Jets. I knew their defense was amazing, and that Revis was just a flat out stud, but damn I expected the Chargers to get some points and Sanchez to be the reason the Jets lost due to lack of scoring. Boy was I wrong.

So...who made the biggest play in the game? Obviously, it was the Revis INT that turned the game around. Revis won't make the no xplode reviews list anytime soon because he is always blowing up on the field.

Detroit Tigers: Valverde Signed, and Johnny Damon Rumored?

While I didn't say anything at the time about the Jose Valverde signing last week, I don't really see a ton wrong with it. Dombrowski said all along he wanted to sign a veteran closer in the off-season and he didn't waste a lot of time beating around the bush. Jose Valverde has signed a two-year, $14 million deal with the Tigers that includes a third-year option for $9 million.

This also costs us our 1st round pick, however as Valverde is a Type-A free agent. So...Houston gets our 1st rounder as a compensatory pick in the next draft. MAny probably are upset about the pick since we seem to be rebuilding, but I don't think we really are to that extent. OF course having a 1st rounder is always nice, but odds are that the pick may actually cost more than Valverde would anyways.

IF you know me, you know that I am always for signing high end closers every year regardless of need. They are a great insurance policy every year. Especially this year with the loss of the first rounder. When the Tigers are inevitably out of the pennant race we can rape just about any team in need of a closer for prospects anyways. Ones we know probably are more proven than the one we were going to draft, and closer to MLB ready. Small consolation I guess, but closers are worth a lot more than people realize in trades. Just remember the Ugeth Urbina for Placido Polanco trade several years back and feel comforted.

People are also needing hemorrhoid treatment for their flare ups about a rumor that said OFer Johnny Damon could possibly sign with Detroit. They say if we were cutting payroll, then why are we trying to sign this guy? They may have a point, but DD never actually said they were rebuilding, and personally I think that Granderson was probably about as valuable as he was ever going to get in the trade market. IF Scherzer becomes what I think he can, then we made out just fine anyways.

As for Damon? Could care less either way. He would be a great help to the offense that's for sure. It's just the money that matters, and it doesn't matter to me because I don't pay him. He has the power Grandy did, and he is a lefty we need. He can also at least come up to bat against lefties. He's not great, but .270 BA and .332 OBP is a heck of a lot better than the .183/.245 Grandy was sporting.

Oh boy...That Arizona New Orleans Game Sure Was Let Down

New Orleans came out and put a 45-14 whoopin' on the Cardinals last night. Even with Tim Hightower taking the opening offensive play of the game 70 yards for a TD, the Cardinals never looked like they were in the game after about 3 minutes in.

New Orleans came right back and marched down the field to tie it up on the ensuing drive with no problems. Then Arizona and Kurt Warner settled in for a vicious beating. Warner even had to leave the game for the end of the first half after getting his head bashed in. Some say it will be his last game. He is getting up there in age and ready for best wrinkle treatments by now, but after his 5 TD game against Green Bay last week many don't think he will hang them up.

The best thing about the game I think was the re-emergence of the great Reggie Bush. HE looked like he was locked in for the first time in a very long time. He ran hard and north/south. His 40+ yard TD was a classic run the second you saw it. Then he proceeded to do it all even returning a punt for a TD. USC Reggie Bush was in the house and my dreams of the Saints cutting him and the Lions signing him in the off season were dashed.