Sunday, October 13, 2013

A playoff rant and UM chokes

I don't get it. Yeah, the pitching staffs are pretty good amongst the teams still left in the Major League playoffs -- but c'mon. Pick one -- the Cardinals, Dodgers, Tigers or Red Sox -- and look at their batting line-ups. You'll find a bunch of equally good hitters. These guys have put the bat on the ball in a serious way all season long.

So what's the deal with St. Louis yawning our way to a 1-0 win over LA, and Detroit doing the same with Boston? And no, I don't care the Tigers yanked their starting pitcher out when he was still working on a no hitter. What I care more about is the Bosox would only get one measly hit the whole game. Forget pitchers' duels. They're for the baseball purists, who I would equate to the Quakers, hard-core Amish, or maybe even an ultra-orthodox sorority. Y'all enjoy whatever it is you're not doing, but yours truly finds your lifestyle decidedly boring.

If I wanted to see 1-0, three hour coma-inducing outcomes, I'd tune into a soccer game. Give me a few home runs, 5-6 doubles up the gap, an occasional triple, stolen bases galore, and light up the scoreboard. For both teams. That is edge-of-your-seat action, whether one is actually in attendance, or merely watching it on TV. Yours truly has been to enough games to say pitchers' duels are about as exciting as watching your grandma knitting a sweater, while slugfests will keep you geeked for the whole game. And isn't that what it's supposed to be all about?

Alas. The Maize and Blue is undefeated no more. After a few overtimes, they finally went down to Penn State.

Idle thought:  The Penn State Nittany Lions play their home games at Beaver Stadium, in a place sometimes referred to as "happy valley". A sick mind might make a connection between "beavers" and "happy valleys", but far be it from me to go there.

At any rate, Michigan would appear to have a few problems. First and foremost is their quarterback, Devin Gardner. Though he's a wonderfully skilled football player -- the young man is also a turnover machine. Last time I peeked at that game, Gardner had thrown 3 interceptions and lost a fumble. Against any sort of half-way decent team on the road -- this is a recipe for disaster.

Yet UM somehow still had a chance to win -- and likely should have. Except for their other glaring problem. Their field-goal kicker, one Brendan Gibbons. Though Gibbons had successfully converted his prior 15 field-goal attempts before this contest -- when the pressure was on late in the game in the happy beaver valley -- he choked like a chihuahua on a chicken bone. A low kick that was blocked. Another from barely over 30 yards that sailed wide left. Either would have won the game. Despite his prior success, I dare say young Gibbons just joined the Rodney Dangerfield fraternity amongst college place-kickers. He won't be getting much respect any time soon.

Regardless, once again UM has been vastly overrated. Besides beating Notre Dame, which has turned out to be quite average this year -- Michigan has played a patsy schedule. They have one more to go next week when they host Indiana.

After that, they'll finally face some serious competition for the rest of the year. And you know what? Unless they get their act together -- it's entirely possible Brady's boys might not win ANY of them.

More about that in a few weeks.......

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