So OK, Jim Leyland got another year on his contract with the Detroit Tigers, and aging outfielder Torii Hunter came aboard as a free agent. The Tigers were the runners-up this year. The glass half full says they were oh-so-close to being World Champions. The glass half empty says they were lucky to get that far, because there were a few other teams that were better than them. Either way, can we finally please stuff them in a closet for a while until, like maybe next September, when the games start to matter again? The Pistons are terrible, the Wings aren't even playing and, dammit, it's football season.
Big time congrats to Rochester Hills native Brad Keselowski for becoming the NASCAR Sprint Cup champion. A local boy found a way to disprove all the nay-sayers during the course of his meteoric rise in NASCAR racing, and now sits as king. The MAN. Very cool. Kind of weird how a related matter played out, though. Roger Penske, the owner of Keselowski's team, seems to have had success in just about every venture he embarks on. Besides his fame as an Indy car owner, where he can boast many champions, he's had car dealerships, established his own fleet of vehicles in the do-it -yourself moving business, has his own brand of motor oil -- Pennzoil -- and a national chain of quicky oil change joints that will gladly pump it into your crankcase. Major cha-chings every which way -- but he'd never won the major title in NASCAR. Now he has. Yet, there's major irony afoot. Penske, and hence Keselowski were operating with Dodge equipment. A while back this year, Dodge made the corporate decision to bow out of NASCAR when the 2012 racing season was complete. So while the Dodge folks can briefly celebrate a championship that they probably never thought would happen, Penske and Keselowski are left in the unenviable position of starting next season with completely new gear. Penske was historically a Chevy guy at heart, but somehow wound up with Dodge in NASCAR. So what will it be for him and Brad next year? Ford? Toyota? Back to Chevy? Will Keselowski jump ship to another team? Something has to give. We'll see.
Definitely an eye-opener watching the San Fran 49ers demolish (sorry Deb) Da Bears on Monday Night Football. Both teams were without their starting QBs, due to concussions, so that was a push. Thing is, though San Fran doesn't have a lot of guys with name recognition, when they're firing on all cylinders, those guys are really, and I mean REALLY good. O-line, D-line, linebackers that can chase down running backs, shut-down corners, brutal safeties, a featured running back of their own, receivers, and outstanding special teams' play. You name it, and they've pretty much got it. Given what head coach Jim Harbaugh has already accomplished out there in such a short time, don't be surprised if a couple more Lombardi trophies wind up in the Bay area in the next few years. Unlike the Detroit Lions, which too often rely on the Matthew Stafford to Calvin Johnson show, the 49ers are a complete team, and will likely keep getting better.
On a nonsports note, Jay Leno showed a pic of an Asian restaurant with an interesting name. Pho King Way. So if one gets asked to go there and doesn't want to -- does one say No Pho King Way? And what is it with Ricky Minor and the Tonight show band? Every time they fire up, it's like 10 or 12 guys all playing a different song at the same time. They don't create music. They make noise. And somebody tell Ricky he's allowed to go above the A string on his bass guitar. Those other two are there for a reason.
Sorry, got off track there for a second.
Anybody seen Tiger Woods lately? It's way too quiet in Eldrickland. He must be up to something.....
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