In my opinion, Matt Mowery does a first-class job (Hawkins who?) covering the Detroit Tigers for this newspaper. Here's hoping he doesn't mind too much that I'm going to heavily reference a small article he recently wrote about the outcome of Miguel Cabrera's alcohol related legal problems in Florida.
It seems Cabrera pled no-contest to DUI, which isn't an admission of guilt, but is treated the same for sentencing purposes, while the prosecution agreed to dismiss charges of resisting arrest and having an open intoxicant in the vehicle.
The sentence? No jail time. A couple grand in fines and/or court costs, a year of probation and 50 hours community service. His driver's license will be suspended for 6 months. All nice and tidy, case closed, and it sounds fair enough, right?
Hardly. Let's take a closer look. Cabrera might be able to get out of his probation if he meets the other conditions of his sentence. By the way, he can pay off his community service at $10 an hour.
The end result? Basically no punishment whatsoever. It's a joke. Cabrera made $20 million last year playing baseball. For the purposes of this argument, let's say, after taxes, he netted $15 million. Take home. Does anybody in their right mind think a $2000 fine is going to faze this guy? The pair of shoes he wore into court probably cost more than that. In HIS world, that's chump change. High priced legal-eagles to represent him? Would it surprise anybody if the Tigers were picking up the tab for those services?
Getting rid of 50 hours of community service at $10 an hour? My math says that's $500. So either Cabrera can go back to Florida and spend 50 hours cleaning up trash on the sides of roads, helping out in a soup kitchen, mowing lawns at churches, or perhaps even giving inspirational speeches to kids. Or he can throw 5 C-notes down and forget about the whole thing. What's the next rung below chump change? Decisions, decisions. Gee, I wonder what he will do?
And here's the kicker. He will have fulfilled all his sentence requirements, so his probation will likely be cancelled and he'll get his driver's license back. After almost a year of working it's way through the court system, the end result appears to amount to nothing. So what was the point? The arresting officers in Fort Pierce might as well have asked him for his autograph, swiped his booze, and chauffeured him to wherever he wanted to go.
Consider an "average" citizen in Fort Pierce, or anywhere else, for that matter, getting busted for the same crime(s). Let's assume that guy is making $20,000 a year. Let's even assume he would receive the same sentence that Cabrera did. While it's chump change to Cabrera, a $2000 fine would hurt that guy. That doesn't seem fair.
There's a better way.
Depending on the severity of the crime(s), make the fine a percentage of what they earn -- off the top. Gross income. That way rich people can't have their CPAs figuring out a way to write it off. Let's further say a certain crime was worth 5%. In Cabrera's case, that would have equated to a million bucks. Cough it up. The guy that's making $20,000 would pay a thousand bucks. The clerk/cashier is right down the hall.
That way they would both theoretically suffer the same amount of financial hurt for the same crime. Yes, I understand Joe Citizen would miss his thousand more than Cabrera would miss his million, but you have to start someplace, because the current system is somewhere between rigged and ridiculous.
But what if that citizen was amongst the millions that don't even HAVE jobs? He could be fined a million, a billion, or whatever, but he can't give what he doesn't have, and currently has no way of earning.
THAT is where community service should come into play. If nothing else, the man's got time on his hands. The alternative is to throw him in jail, house him, feed him, all at taxpayer expense, and take away any opportunity he might have had to get a job in the first place. How much sense does THAT make?
One more suggestion. When sentencing rich guys like Cabrera to community service -- forget about 50 hours they can buy out of for the price of a cheap night out. Give them, say, 2000, with the same $10 an hour opt-out clause.
If I could send a message to Cabrera, it would be this ----
Hey Miguel, you have a choice. Do you want to play baseball next year in major league parks, fly on private charters, stay in 5-star motels, and be adored by millions of your fans -- or do you want to spend it putting in 40 hour weeks at a soup kitchen in Florida?
I know you don't like it, but think of it this way, amigo. At $10 an hour, you just created another $20,000 job for a guy that needs one. You're doing your small part to help with the unemployment problem in the country that has made you rich.
Be very thankful you never had the pleasure of meeting a young lady named Kimberly Small. She's a judge, and I'm pretty sure you don't want to get to know her in an official capacity. Trust me on that one.
Say hi to Hugo for me.
Friday, January 6, 2012
UM and the Lions rule Michigan sports
I expect to catch some flak for this, but before you start thinking my very last functional neuron finally gave up the ghost -- bear with me.
First, I attended neither UM nor MSU, so I play no favorites there. I graduated from Oakland University in Rochester. Second, this is in no way meant to ignore all the other fine schools in Michigan, and the myriad of sports programs they offer, but I'm going to keep this about UM/MSU football and basketball. I'll get to the Lions later.
MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo has built a program to be highly admired. They have a national championship, 6 Final Four appearances, are perennially a Top Ten ranked team, consistently recruit blue-chip prep hoopsters from all over the country, and, well, success breeds more success. In the meantime, UM has gone through scandals, a few head coaches that didn't work out, and dismal records. But honestly ask yourself -- if Michigan's program ever returns to prominence -- who do you think will get the spotlight?
Look at football. Under Mark Dantonio, MSU has beat UM 4 times in a row. MSU went to the Big "Ten" conference title game this year. After the disastrous RichRod era, Michigan hired a new coach, Brady Hoke, who made them at least respectable. But they only came in 3rd in the conference, while suffering yet another defeat at the hands of the Spartans. Yet.when all was said and done, UM got to play in a higher tier bowl game than MSU. More money, more exposure, more everything. I'm not saying it's right -- I'm just saying it's real. Many scribes have said UM is on it's way to reclaiming its "rightful place" at the top of the heap. So what's so righteous about UM and non-righteous about MSU? Beats me, but sometimes it seems like that's just the way it is.
Academics? Both have a lot to offer. At that, what could be more important than health? UM has a first-class teaching hospital, with a burn center likely second to none. You've likely seen many TV commercials where they boast of their prowess in specialized fields, particularly pediatric care. On the flip side -- if you just need a regular doctor for an office call, good luck finding one that came from UM.
MSU offers something different. People that love their pets will take them to a veterinarian for routine check-ups, vaccinations, heart-worm pills, etc. Unless a vet came from another state and somehow transferred their license to practice, all those people in this state went to MSU. There's lots of law schools, med schools, this schools, and that schools, but, to my knowledge, there's only one veterinary school in Michigan. (On that note, I would highly recommend Dr. Richard Hirr, his associates and staff at the Waterford Veterinary Hospital, to take good care of your 4-legged kids.)
It all depends on what you want or need.
On the pro-level, it would seem absurd to say the Lions rule the state. They haven't won anything since -- what -- the Eisenhower administration? But stop and think about it.
The Pistons won back to back championships in the late 80s, and another one in 2004. We celebrated all of those. The Tigers haven't won a World Series since 1984, but as Ernie Harwell used to say, hope springs eternal every year. Maybe it's because there's nothing much else to watch in the summertime, but the Tigers' faithful will always be there. Recently, they're at least competitive every year. The Red Wings have won a few Stanley Cups in the not so distant past, had parades, and it's pretty well taken for granted they will make the playoffs every year. After that, it's a crap shoot, as hockey fans know.
But the Lions rule. They always have. Even though they've been mocked and ridiculed for many years, and for many reasons, including the Ford ownership, Matt Millen, various head coaches, draft picks that were busts, and a win-loss record that approached the Washington Nationals' against the Harlem Globetrotters' only a few years ago -- the fan base has always been there simmering barely underneath the surface, year after year, like a volcano that's just trying to find a way to erupt. And look at what's happened.
In only one year, they've gone from joke to merely respectable. Fans have found their fissure to finally just let all that pent up energy, heat, and in the case of some local scribes -- gas -- go. The Lions haven't even won a single playoff game in 20 years, but people from executives on down to bar flies are talking about the Super Bowl. Maybe it will happen. I hope so, for their sake. Then again, maybe Donald Trump will stop by my house tomorrow and hand me a million dollars because he really likes this blog -- but I wouldn't bet on it.
Let's put it this way. It's highly unlikely, but if in the same sports year, the Pistons were to win the NBA championship, the Tigers the World Series, the Red Wings the Stanley Cup, and the Lions went to the Super Bowl, but got beat -- even hammered -- which do you think would inspire the most passion amongst sports fans in Michigan?
These days, sports bars are chock full of Lions' fans that will pay big bucks for drinks, and will jump up and scream at the big screen when it comes to a questionable call against their beloved team. Last year, those same people would probably have been home watching them on TV, while mumbling and grabbing another beer out of a 12 pack.
But they watched. They always watched. They always WILL watch.
It's a passion.
The Lions rule.
First, I attended neither UM nor MSU, so I play no favorites there. I graduated from Oakland University in Rochester. Second, this is in no way meant to ignore all the other fine schools in Michigan, and the myriad of sports programs they offer, but I'm going to keep this about UM/MSU football and basketball. I'll get to the Lions later.
MSU head basketball coach Tom Izzo has built a program to be highly admired. They have a national championship, 6 Final Four appearances, are perennially a Top Ten ranked team, consistently recruit blue-chip prep hoopsters from all over the country, and, well, success breeds more success. In the meantime, UM has gone through scandals, a few head coaches that didn't work out, and dismal records. But honestly ask yourself -- if Michigan's program ever returns to prominence -- who do you think will get the spotlight?
Look at football. Under Mark Dantonio, MSU has beat UM 4 times in a row. MSU went to the Big "Ten" conference title game this year. After the disastrous RichRod era, Michigan hired a new coach, Brady Hoke, who made them at least respectable. But they only came in 3rd in the conference, while suffering yet another defeat at the hands of the Spartans. Yet.when all was said and done, UM got to play in a higher tier bowl game than MSU. More money, more exposure, more everything. I'm not saying it's right -- I'm just saying it's real. Many scribes have said UM is on it's way to reclaiming its "rightful place" at the top of the heap. So what's so righteous about UM and non-righteous about MSU? Beats me, but sometimes it seems like that's just the way it is.
Academics? Both have a lot to offer. At that, what could be more important than health? UM has a first-class teaching hospital, with a burn center likely second to none. You've likely seen many TV commercials where they boast of their prowess in specialized fields, particularly pediatric care. On the flip side -- if you just need a regular doctor for an office call, good luck finding one that came from UM.
MSU offers something different. People that love their pets will take them to a veterinarian for routine check-ups, vaccinations, heart-worm pills, etc. Unless a vet came from another state and somehow transferred their license to practice, all those people in this state went to MSU. There's lots of law schools, med schools, this schools, and that schools, but, to my knowledge, there's only one veterinary school in Michigan. (On that note, I would highly recommend Dr. Richard Hirr, his associates and staff at the Waterford Veterinary Hospital, to take good care of your 4-legged kids.)
It all depends on what you want or need.
On the pro-level, it would seem absurd to say the Lions rule the state. They haven't won anything since -- what -- the Eisenhower administration? But stop and think about it.
The Pistons won back to back championships in the late 80s, and another one in 2004. We celebrated all of those. The Tigers haven't won a World Series since 1984, but as Ernie Harwell used to say, hope springs eternal every year. Maybe it's because there's nothing much else to watch in the summertime, but the Tigers' faithful will always be there. Recently, they're at least competitive every year. The Red Wings have won a few Stanley Cups in the not so distant past, had parades, and it's pretty well taken for granted they will make the playoffs every year. After that, it's a crap shoot, as hockey fans know.
But the Lions rule. They always have. Even though they've been mocked and ridiculed for many years, and for many reasons, including the Ford ownership, Matt Millen, various head coaches, draft picks that were busts, and a win-loss record that approached the Washington Nationals' against the Harlem Globetrotters' only a few years ago -- the fan base has always been there simmering barely underneath the surface, year after year, like a volcano that's just trying to find a way to erupt. And look at what's happened.
In only one year, they've gone from joke to merely respectable. Fans have found their fissure to finally just let all that pent up energy, heat, and in the case of some local scribes -- gas -- go. The Lions haven't even won a single playoff game in 20 years, but people from executives on down to bar flies are talking about the Super Bowl. Maybe it will happen. I hope so, for their sake. Then again, maybe Donald Trump will stop by my house tomorrow and hand me a million dollars because he really likes this blog -- but I wouldn't bet on it.
Let's put it this way. It's highly unlikely, but if in the same sports year, the Pistons were to win the NBA championship, the Tigers the World Series, the Red Wings the Stanley Cup, and the Lions went to the Super Bowl, but got beat -- even hammered -- which do you think would inspire the most passion amongst sports fans in Michigan?
These days, sports bars are chock full of Lions' fans that will pay big bucks for drinks, and will jump up and scream at the big screen when it comes to a questionable call against their beloved team. Last year, those same people would probably have been home watching them on TV, while mumbling and grabbing another beer out of a 12 pack.
But they watched. They always watched. They always WILL watch.
It's a passion.
The Lions rule.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Discovering the Orange Bowl.
While watching the Discover Orange Bowl, yours truly also discovered a few things.
I discovered #23 West Virginia was a hell of a lot better than #15 Clemson.
Unlike so many of the other bowl games, I discovered even a blow-out was more fun to watch than waiting 3 or 4 hours for field goal kickers to decide it in the end.
But I also discovered something I'd never seen before. Clemson was signalling in offensive plays by holding up a picture of somebody? No wonder they lost.
I saw First Lady Michelle Obama's pic held up. What was that supposed to mean? Eat healthier? When you're behind by 43 points in the 3rd quarter, it would seem a little late for that strategy.
Not sure, but I thought I saw Michelle Bachmann's pic held up once as well. Could that have meant just give it up, because you're too far behind already? Beats me.
It leaves one to wonder, though, about what other pix could have been used to signal in other plays....
Kim Kardashian's might have meant be careful because we're due for a turnover.
Tim Tebow? Take a knee.
No doubt a mail carrier in uniform would have signalled in a post route.
Jerry Sandusky? The blitz is coming.
The late ex-Prez Gerald Ford might have meant something about not fumbling.
The late Norman Rockwell? A draw play, of course.
A traffic light? Stop and go pattern.
James Carville? Power sweep left.
Mary Matalin, his wife? Power sweep right. (If you ever figure out THAT team chemistry, let me know, because I don't have a clue.)
A reverse? Pick a politician, ANY politician, when their approval rating is falling, and hold their pic up. Double reverse? If they just got re-elected.
A picture of the Pope would probably mean a Hail Mary.
Betsy Ross would only be displayed against a zone defense. A seam route.
"Uncle Sam" would likely tell the quarterback to stay in the pocket.
If they want him to scramble to avoid being pancaked, maybe a pic of an IHOP would be in order.
A pic of a butcher might tell the offensive linemen it's OK to chop block on the next play.
Tilt any of those pictures slightly to one side, and you have -- a slant pattern.
The possibilities are endless. Lay a few on me if you have better ones.
From what I saw, West Virginia was beating the orange right out of Clemson. Somehow that reminded me of Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, but I'm not exactly sure why......
At any rate, I finally discovered something else.
I discovered this was probably a dumb idea to write about in the first place.
So now I'm going to bed, where I will discover my two yorkies already sleeping underneath the covers somewhere.
I'll just slowly ease in there and try to find a place, while not disturbing them, or else I'll discover once again who's really in charge around here.
I discovered #23 West Virginia was a hell of a lot better than #15 Clemson.
Unlike so many of the other bowl games, I discovered even a blow-out was more fun to watch than waiting 3 or 4 hours for field goal kickers to decide it in the end.
But I also discovered something I'd never seen before. Clemson was signalling in offensive plays by holding up a picture of somebody? No wonder they lost.
I saw First Lady Michelle Obama's pic held up. What was that supposed to mean? Eat healthier? When you're behind by 43 points in the 3rd quarter, it would seem a little late for that strategy.
Not sure, but I thought I saw Michelle Bachmann's pic held up once as well. Could that have meant just give it up, because you're too far behind already? Beats me.
It leaves one to wonder, though, about what other pix could have been used to signal in other plays....
Kim Kardashian's might have meant be careful because we're due for a turnover.
Tim Tebow? Take a knee.
No doubt a mail carrier in uniform would have signalled in a post route.
Jerry Sandusky? The blitz is coming.
The late ex-Prez Gerald Ford might have meant something about not fumbling.
The late Norman Rockwell? A draw play, of course.
A traffic light? Stop and go pattern.
James Carville? Power sweep left.
Mary Matalin, his wife? Power sweep right. (If you ever figure out THAT team chemistry, let me know, because I don't have a clue.)
A reverse? Pick a politician, ANY politician, when their approval rating is falling, and hold their pic up. Double reverse? If they just got re-elected.
A picture of the Pope would probably mean a Hail Mary.
Betsy Ross would only be displayed against a zone defense. A seam route.
"Uncle Sam" would likely tell the quarterback to stay in the pocket.
If they want him to scramble to avoid being pancaked, maybe a pic of an IHOP would be in order.
A pic of a butcher might tell the offensive linemen it's OK to chop block on the next play.
Tilt any of those pictures slightly to one side, and you have -- a slant pattern.
The possibilities are endless. Lay a few on me if you have better ones.
From what I saw, West Virginia was beating the orange right out of Clemson. Somehow that reminded me of Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner, but I'm not exactly sure why......
At any rate, I finally discovered something else.
I discovered this was probably a dumb idea to write about in the first place.
So now I'm going to bed, where I will discover my two yorkies already sleeping underneath the covers somewhere.
I'll just slowly ease in there and try to find a place, while not disturbing them, or else I'll discover once again who's really in charge around here.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
New Orleans. High times, big bucks, and a bad job.
Given all the major football games that recently have been, or shortly will be, played in the Big Easy, that town's rocking and rolling indeed -- and good for them.
There's also big bucks involved. Michigan and Virginia Tech just got done with the Sugar Bowl as I write this. In a few days, the New Orleans Saints will host the Detroit Lions in an NFL playoff game. A couple days after that, Louisiana State and Alabama come to town for the so-called college football national championship game.
In the course of little over a week's time, consider what will happen there. Motels, hotels, car rental outlets, taxi drivers, bars, restaurants, night clubs, souvenir shops, stadium concessionaires, parking lots, and probably other businesses that aren't occurring to this feeble mind right now, stand to make a fortune with the constant turnover, not to mention jacked up prices to begin with. One would think everybody in New Orleans would be tickled pink over their good fortune, right?
Maybe not. There's one job that has to be done, and the people that do it probably aren't happy at all.
That would be the folks that chalk the field inside the Superdome. It's something most fans never even notice, and take for granted, but consider their take on all this. Here's what one of them might have to say:
First, I have to get rid of all the NFL stuff from a few days ago. Then I have to put the "All State Sugar Bowl" logo in the middle of the field. In one end zone Michigan, and the other Virginia Tech, with BCS logos in both, to boot. You think all this color stuff is easy with the micro-specs those bowl guys insist on? It's like they expect me to create a Rembrandt for the TV cameras. What those geniuses don't seem to understand is....
When those damned kids clear out of here, I have to erase all that nonsense anyway, and go back to the NFL thing. That one I pretty well have down pat, but here's hoping some suit in New York doesn't get the not so bright idea of making me chalk a Detroit Lions thing in one end zone, just because it's the playoffs. I never know about those guys. Sometimes they come up with good ideas, and other times I think maybe
THEY should be the ones that are drug tested.
Regardless, when THAT game is over, another thundering herd of college crazies will head this way. Time to "disappear" the NFL stuff again. I'll be given a new set of colorized specs to put something about LSU in one end zone, and Alabama in the other, along with some more BCS junk, or something about the national championship.
I hear All State is sponsoring that game as well. Maybe they have a monopoly around here since Katrina. Beats me, but I'll have to create yet another "masterpiece", while sticking to brain surgery parameters. The next day, I'll erase that one too. You'd think a "masterpiece" would last longer than that, but what do I know?
As much trouble as all that is, there's something a lot worse.
Most people don't notice those little one yard stripes, known as "hash" marks. Two sets of them run down the entire field, and I put there there. The problem is -- they're set wider apart for college games than pro games. There's 160 of the damn things. When they go from pro game to college game, back to pro game, back to college game, and maybe back to another pro game, that's a whole lot of little marks I have to erase and redo, over and over again.
While everybody else in this town is getting rich, I'm putting down little chalk marks on a field that will be played on by millionaires, or a lot of college brats that soon will be. I am not a happy camper.
Perhaps All State is the right sponsor. If this keeps up, it might not be long before I turn into the real life version of that guy they're featuring on their commercials right now, that's running amok everywhere tearing up things. It seems like a weird ad campaign for an insurance company to run, but hey, that dude's getting rich too.
And I'm getting really, really sick and tired of this chalk thing. Do this. Do that. Hurry up. Make it perfect. Erase it. Do it again, and make it even more perfect. Forget about overtime pay because it isn't happening. Those hash marks are a centimeter off. Redo those. And speed it up.
Nope, not everybody in New Orleans is happy.
There's also big bucks involved. Michigan and Virginia Tech just got done with the Sugar Bowl as I write this. In a few days, the New Orleans Saints will host the Detroit Lions in an NFL playoff game. A couple days after that, Louisiana State and Alabama come to town for the so-called college football national championship game.
In the course of little over a week's time, consider what will happen there. Motels, hotels, car rental outlets, taxi drivers, bars, restaurants, night clubs, souvenir shops, stadium concessionaires, parking lots, and probably other businesses that aren't occurring to this feeble mind right now, stand to make a fortune with the constant turnover, not to mention jacked up prices to begin with. One would think everybody in New Orleans would be tickled pink over their good fortune, right?
Maybe not. There's one job that has to be done, and the people that do it probably aren't happy at all.
That would be the folks that chalk the field inside the Superdome. It's something most fans never even notice, and take for granted, but consider their take on all this. Here's what one of them might have to say:
First, I have to get rid of all the NFL stuff from a few days ago. Then I have to put the "All State Sugar Bowl" logo in the middle of the field. In one end zone Michigan, and the other Virginia Tech, with BCS logos in both, to boot. You think all this color stuff is easy with the micro-specs those bowl guys insist on? It's like they expect me to create a Rembrandt for the TV cameras. What those geniuses don't seem to understand is....
When those damned kids clear out of here, I have to erase all that nonsense anyway, and go back to the NFL thing. That one I pretty well have down pat, but here's hoping some suit in New York doesn't get the not so bright idea of making me chalk a Detroit Lions thing in one end zone, just because it's the playoffs. I never know about those guys. Sometimes they come up with good ideas, and other times I think maybe
THEY should be the ones that are drug tested.
Regardless, when THAT game is over, another thundering herd of college crazies will head this way. Time to "disappear" the NFL stuff again. I'll be given a new set of colorized specs to put something about LSU in one end zone, and Alabama in the other, along with some more BCS junk, or something about the national championship.
I hear All State is sponsoring that game as well. Maybe they have a monopoly around here since Katrina. Beats me, but I'll have to create yet another "masterpiece", while sticking to brain surgery parameters. The next day, I'll erase that one too. You'd think a "masterpiece" would last longer than that, but what do I know?
As much trouble as all that is, there's something a lot worse.
Most people don't notice those little one yard stripes, known as "hash" marks. Two sets of them run down the entire field, and I put there there. The problem is -- they're set wider apart for college games than pro games. There's 160 of the damn things. When they go from pro game to college game, back to pro game, back to college game, and maybe back to another pro game, that's a whole lot of little marks I have to erase and redo, over and over again.
While everybody else in this town is getting rich, I'm putting down little chalk marks on a field that will be played on by millionaires, or a lot of college brats that soon will be. I am not a happy camper.
Perhaps All State is the right sponsor. If this keeps up, it might not be long before I turn into the real life version of that guy they're featuring on their commercials right now, that's running amok everywhere tearing up things. It seems like a weird ad campaign for an insurance company to run, but hey, that dude's getting rich too.
And I'm getting really, really sick and tired of this chalk thing. Do this. Do that. Hurry up. Make it perfect. Erase it. Do it again, and make it even more perfect. Forget about overtime pay because it isn't happening. Those hash marks are a centimeter off. Redo those. And speed it up.
Nope, not everybody in New Orleans is happy.
Ndahmukong Suh and a bad joke.
Picking up an opposing quarterback and depositing him on his head was bad enough. Trying to wring somebody's neck like a chicken was worse. Jumping on the back of an opponent while he's down, slamming his head into the ground a few times, and cowardly stomping on him while he's helpless finally got all but the hardest-core Detroit Lions fans to see what kind of individual this, and I use the term loosely, "man" is.
Yours truly doesn't know what sort of "up-bringing" Suh had in Portland, Oregon, nor how he was treated at the University of Nebraska but, in my opinion, nobody ever taught him anything about being a man.
People make mistakes. A MAN will step up and admit it, suffer the consequences, hopefully learn from it, and move on. Not Suh.
Suh was granted an audience with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to clarify a few rules about his behavior. This is not something that happens just every day. A player having a chat with the Commish would be like a worker getting in to see the CEO of the company, or a citizen sitting down with the governor of their state to hash out a few concerns. A MAN would respect that authority and listen up to what came back. Not Suh. His response? I'm not going to change.
Evidently he hasn't. He's gone from being perceived as dirty, to disrespectful, and now seems intent on proving himself to be a chump.
Yes, he gets paid millions of dollars to be a disruptive force against opposing offenses on the football field, and he's very good at it. Yet if the Detroit franchise suited up a REAL lion, tucked it's mane and tail in, and put a helmet on it, I dare say if it could comprehend snap counts, it would wreak havoc as well. Can you imagine being an All-Pro guard or tackle and having that thing lining up against you in a 4-point stance? That would take "false starts" to a whole new level. Like running off the field.
But that lion could be excused, because it's merely the nature of the beast. Whether you believe in Divine creation or evolution, that creature has been around for thousands, if not millions, of years, and it's not supposed to act like a man. Suh is.
He hasn't. In his latest bit of showing no class, after sacking the back-up QB at Green Bay, Matt Flynn, who was in the process of shredding the Lions' defense, Suh decided to mock Packers' starting QB Aaron Rodgers over a TV commercial Rodgers had filmed weeks before about holding the "title belt". Evidently, Suh never realized that Rodgers wasn't even suited up for the game, along with several other of Green Bay's top players. Why risk injury when you have home field already locked up? That also raises another possibility. I would certainly hope Suh could tell the difference between the names and numbers on the backs of opposing QB's uniforms. If not, it would leave one to wonder --- just exactly what sort of classes was he taking in high school and college anyway? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.
But leave it to Ndamukong to make a fool of himself. Again.
It started out as a novelty, then turned to concern. Over a short time, it became outrage in many quarters, including scribes from coast to coast and beyond, and certainly the internet.
Now it's just a joke.
It seems there's only one guy that doesn't get it.
Maybe that's because he's the punch line.
Yours truly doesn't know what sort of "up-bringing" Suh had in Portland, Oregon, nor how he was treated at the University of Nebraska but, in my opinion, nobody ever taught him anything about being a man.
People make mistakes. A MAN will step up and admit it, suffer the consequences, hopefully learn from it, and move on. Not Suh.
Suh was granted an audience with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to clarify a few rules about his behavior. This is not something that happens just every day. A player having a chat with the Commish would be like a worker getting in to see the CEO of the company, or a citizen sitting down with the governor of their state to hash out a few concerns. A MAN would respect that authority and listen up to what came back. Not Suh. His response? I'm not going to change.
Evidently he hasn't. He's gone from being perceived as dirty, to disrespectful, and now seems intent on proving himself to be a chump.
Yes, he gets paid millions of dollars to be a disruptive force against opposing offenses on the football field, and he's very good at it. Yet if the Detroit franchise suited up a REAL lion, tucked it's mane and tail in, and put a helmet on it, I dare say if it could comprehend snap counts, it would wreak havoc as well. Can you imagine being an All-Pro guard or tackle and having that thing lining up against you in a 4-point stance? That would take "false starts" to a whole new level. Like running off the field.
But that lion could be excused, because it's merely the nature of the beast. Whether you believe in Divine creation or evolution, that creature has been around for thousands, if not millions, of years, and it's not supposed to act like a man. Suh is.
He hasn't. In his latest bit of showing no class, after sacking the back-up QB at Green Bay, Matt Flynn, who was in the process of shredding the Lions' defense, Suh decided to mock Packers' starting QB Aaron Rodgers over a TV commercial Rodgers had filmed weeks before about holding the "title belt". Evidently, Suh never realized that Rodgers wasn't even suited up for the game, along with several other of Green Bay's top players. Why risk injury when you have home field already locked up? That also raises another possibility. I would certainly hope Suh could tell the difference between the names and numbers on the backs of opposing QB's uniforms. If not, it would leave one to wonder --- just exactly what sort of classes was he taking in high school and college anyway? Let's give him the benefit of the doubt on that one.
But leave it to Ndamukong to make a fool of himself. Again.
It started out as a novelty, then turned to concern. Over a short time, it became outrage in many quarters, including scribes from coast to coast and beyond, and certainly the internet.
Now it's just a joke.
It seems there's only one guy that doesn't get it.
Maybe that's because he's the punch line.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Michigan State/Georgia and a poor devil
It could have been Kirk Cousins. It probably SHOULD have been Kirk Cousins. Towards the end of the Outback Bowl, when the pressure was on, the Spartans' quarterback made some horrible throws. At times, it seemed like he forgot which color jersey he was supposed to aim at.
Had the Georgia Bulldogs even slightly taken advantage of those mistakes, Michigan State would have lost the game, and Cousins would have had a very long plane ride back to East Lansing. Once there, he likely would have hung his head in shame, holed-up for a while, contemplated how he never won a bowl game in his career, and wondered how far his NFL draft status just dropped. Poor devil.
But it wasn't Cousins. He lucked out. Michigan State won the game. He'll be partying on the plane with his coaches and teammates, get a hero's welcome in East Lansing, finish out his senior year as a BMOC, and likely see his future NFL stock go up a couple points.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio can hoist the trophy, smile for the cameras, and blather on all he wants about a stout defense, trick plays, the will to win, and anything else he can think of, but even though he'll never admit it, he knows what it all came down to in the end.
Georgia's field goal kicker. That guy had a chance to win it with a 30-some yard field goal. Kids in high school routinely kick them longer than that. The Bulldogs even wasted a down to get the ball smack-dab dead center in the field. Good snap. Good hold. The game should have been over. Nope. Wide right. More overtime.
A while later he had yet another chance to tie it with a medium range field goal to force even more overtime. Good snap. Good hold. Low kick. Blocked. NOW the game is over. He and his teammates hang their heads, and slowly trudge back to the locker room.
The actual flight time from Tampa back to Athens, Georgia probably isn't much more than an hour, but I've got a hunch that will be the longest plane ride of that kid's life. He has to go back on campus himself, and suffer through all the whispers and sideways glances that will inevitably come. BMOC will likely take on another meaning. Botched Most (of) Our Chances. Poor devil.
By a couple quirks of fate, one guy winds up a hero and the other a goat. Maybe it's destiny, or perhaps just luck.
Speaking of Luck, Andrew's ran out in the Fiesta Bowl later on. More specifically, Stanford's kicker's. He missed two of them also in the late stages of the game. Stanford probably should have won. Instead, Oklahoma St. celebrates.
Not sure about poor devils, but I'm thinking that's a Cardinal sin.
Had the Georgia Bulldogs even slightly taken advantage of those mistakes, Michigan State would have lost the game, and Cousins would have had a very long plane ride back to East Lansing. Once there, he likely would have hung his head in shame, holed-up for a while, contemplated how he never won a bowl game in his career, and wondered how far his NFL draft status just dropped. Poor devil.
But it wasn't Cousins. He lucked out. Michigan State won the game. He'll be partying on the plane with his coaches and teammates, get a hero's welcome in East Lansing, finish out his senior year as a BMOC, and likely see his future NFL stock go up a couple points.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio can hoist the trophy, smile for the cameras, and blather on all he wants about a stout defense, trick plays, the will to win, and anything else he can think of, but even though he'll never admit it, he knows what it all came down to in the end.
Georgia's field goal kicker. That guy had a chance to win it with a 30-some yard field goal. Kids in high school routinely kick them longer than that. The Bulldogs even wasted a down to get the ball smack-dab dead center in the field. Good snap. Good hold. The game should have been over. Nope. Wide right. More overtime.
A while later he had yet another chance to tie it with a medium range field goal to force even more overtime. Good snap. Good hold. Low kick. Blocked. NOW the game is over. He and his teammates hang their heads, and slowly trudge back to the locker room.
The actual flight time from Tampa back to Athens, Georgia probably isn't much more than an hour, but I've got a hunch that will be the longest plane ride of that kid's life. He has to go back on campus himself, and suffer through all the whispers and sideways glances that will inevitably come. BMOC will likely take on another meaning. Botched Most (of) Our Chances. Poor devil.
By a couple quirks of fate, one guy winds up a hero and the other a goat. Maybe it's destiny, or perhaps just luck.
Speaking of Luck, Andrew's ran out in the Fiesta Bowl later on. More specifically, Stanford's kicker's. He missed two of them also in the late stages of the game. Stanford probably should have won. Instead, Oklahoma St. celebrates.
Not sure about poor devils, but I'm thinking that's a Cardinal sin.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Signs of the Detroit Lions. Good, bad, ugly, and who knows?
The 2011 (and on-going) version of the Lions seems to be all about signs. No, not the ones on billboards, storefronts, or even the ones the networks may or may not give to certain fans to hold up in the stadium for the cameras. (Though I've been to a whole lot of games, and never saw a fan bring one through the turnstiles yet). Signs. Like in omens. Good, bad, and who knows?
Preseason pundits picked them to finish anywhere from 4-12, a bad sign, to 12-4, a good sign. Yours truly figured around 8-8, and they wound up 10-6. Could they have won a couple more games? Given a break here or there -- maybe. When things seem to be falling your way, that's a good sign.
Could they have lost a couple more? Definitely. While the Lions faithful might look back at a "bad call" here or there, they tend to forget about some of those "prayers" QB Matthew Stafford heaved up to Calvin Johnson, most times in double, and sometimes even triple coverage, only to have those prayers answered. Hail Marys are not exactly a high-percentage play, especially when the other team knows they're coming. Take those away and the Lions probably aren't in the playoffs. That would be a bad sign.
Along those lines, the Lions came back from double-digit deficits 4 times, an NFL record, to win games. Were they lucky or good? Hard to say. Probably some of both, but a good sign. Now that the Lions are no longer considered a joke by other teams in the league, counting on that trend to continue for future success would be a bad sign.
The Lions got their first Monday Night Football exposure in a very long time. This is a good sign. Was it merely a return favor from the NFL for hosting a Vikings game the year before when the dome in Minnesota collapsed? Who knows?
The NFL, in conjunction with the TV networks, moved the Lions-Saints game from its formerly scheduled afternoon time slot, to prime-time on Sunday night. The Lions were hot and the Saints, Drew Brees and all, were, well, the Saints. That was a good sign.
No sooner had the schedule been changed, and the Lions went into a mid-season slump in the weeks leading up to the game. When it finally WAS played, the Saints took them to the proverbial woodshed while countless millions of people tuned in. That was a bad sign.
In the season finale, the Lions lost yet again to the Packers at Lambeau Field. Even though the Packers were resting some of their starters, notably QB Aaron Rodgers, the Lions couldn't quite get over that hump. That was a bad sign.
Yet the back-up QB for Green Bay, Matt Flynn, threw for almost 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. That's an all-world day for ANY QB. It's doubtful even Aaron Rodgers, as great as he is, could have improved much on THOSE stats.
Despite that onslaught, the Lions were still in the game, and actually had a decent chance of winning it in the closing seconds, until their luck ran out. That might be a good sign, but in a bad way. Matthew Stafford through for over 500 yards and 5 TDs himself. That's good. The Lions still lost. That's bad. So who knows? See what I mean?
As schedules go, the Lions had a soft one in 2011. Look what happened within their own division, where they have to play home and away against Green Bay, Minnesota and Chicago. Few would doubt Green Bay was the class of the field, but Donovan McNabb didn't work out in Minnesota and the Vikings went into free-fall. The Bears were in the hunt until Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, their star running back, both went down with injuries. Meanwhile, Lions QB Matthew Stafford, not that long ago referred to as the "china doll" because he seemed to be so fragile, stayed healthy all year. That was good for Detroit, but bad for Chicago. So who knows?
The rest of schedule? Kansas City and Tampa Bay? They're awful. Winning at Oakland and Dallas on miracle comebacks? See above. Atlanta's pretty good, but not considered elite. They waltzed into Ford Field and dispatched the Lions. Detroit beat the Broncos in Denver when Tim Tebow was just getting his feet wet as a starter. What to make out of Tebowmania and the rest of that team is a total mystery to me, but I dare say that was considered a "soft" game when the NFL put it on the Lions' schedule. San Francisco? Be honest. Who amongst you would have ever guessed that first year coach Jim Harbaugh would turn them around so fast, and go so far? Certainly not me. That looked to be a soft game too. I mean, c'mon. The "worst" team in the NFL is pretty good, and the schedule makers can only accommodate them so far in the name of parity. Any given Sunday, and all that. The league bent over backwards to help the Lions out this year. A good sign.
They've finally got some respect. An even better sign.
Now they have to go back to the Big Easy for another go-round with Drew Brees and the Saints. Unless Matthew Stafford and company can figure out a way to put up about 50 points, and make the Hail Mary play routine, on a New Orleans defense that's statistically far superior to what they just saw in Green Bay, that might not fall into the category of either good or bad.
That might get flat-out ugly. Again.
"Signs, signs, everywhere are signs." Lyrics from the classic oldie performed by the Five Man Electrical Band, circa 1971. "And the sign said long-haired freaky people need not apply".
It's probably a good sign that rule isn't still enforced, or else a whole lot of athletes, in several sports, wouldn't have ever played, or be playing right now.
And I'm thinking that would be a bad sign, but perhaps that's a topic for another day.
For right now, there's only one thing to do.
Sign off.
Preseason pundits picked them to finish anywhere from 4-12, a bad sign, to 12-4, a good sign. Yours truly figured around 8-8, and they wound up 10-6. Could they have won a couple more games? Given a break here or there -- maybe. When things seem to be falling your way, that's a good sign.
Could they have lost a couple more? Definitely. While the Lions faithful might look back at a "bad call" here or there, they tend to forget about some of those "prayers" QB Matthew Stafford heaved up to Calvin Johnson, most times in double, and sometimes even triple coverage, only to have those prayers answered. Hail Marys are not exactly a high-percentage play, especially when the other team knows they're coming. Take those away and the Lions probably aren't in the playoffs. That would be a bad sign.
Along those lines, the Lions came back from double-digit deficits 4 times, an NFL record, to win games. Were they lucky or good? Hard to say. Probably some of both, but a good sign. Now that the Lions are no longer considered a joke by other teams in the league, counting on that trend to continue for future success would be a bad sign.
The Lions got their first Monday Night Football exposure in a very long time. This is a good sign. Was it merely a return favor from the NFL for hosting a Vikings game the year before when the dome in Minnesota collapsed? Who knows?
The NFL, in conjunction with the TV networks, moved the Lions-Saints game from its formerly scheduled afternoon time slot, to prime-time on Sunday night. The Lions were hot and the Saints, Drew Brees and all, were, well, the Saints. That was a good sign.
No sooner had the schedule been changed, and the Lions went into a mid-season slump in the weeks leading up to the game. When it finally WAS played, the Saints took them to the proverbial woodshed while countless millions of people tuned in. That was a bad sign.
In the season finale, the Lions lost yet again to the Packers at Lambeau Field. Even though the Packers were resting some of their starters, notably QB Aaron Rodgers, the Lions couldn't quite get over that hump. That was a bad sign.
Yet the back-up QB for Green Bay, Matt Flynn, threw for almost 500 yards and 6 touchdowns. That's an all-world day for ANY QB. It's doubtful even Aaron Rodgers, as great as he is, could have improved much on THOSE stats.
Despite that onslaught, the Lions were still in the game, and actually had a decent chance of winning it in the closing seconds, until their luck ran out. That might be a good sign, but in a bad way. Matthew Stafford through for over 500 yards and 5 TDs himself. That's good. The Lions still lost. That's bad. So who knows? See what I mean?
As schedules go, the Lions had a soft one in 2011. Look what happened within their own division, where they have to play home and away against Green Bay, Minnesota and Chicago. Few would doubt Green Bay was the class of the field, but Donovan McNabb didn't work out in Minnesota and the Vikings went into free-fall. The Bears were in the hunt until Jay Cutler and Matt Forte, their star running back, both went down with injuries. Meanwhile, Lions QB Matthew Stafford, not that long ago referred to as the "china doll" because he seemed to be so fragile, stayed healthy all year. That was good for Detroit, but bad for Chicago. So who knows?
The rest of schedule? Kansas City and Tampa Bay? They're awful. Winning at Oakland and Dallas on miracle comebacks? See above. Atlanta's pretty good, but not considered elite. They waltzed into Ford Field and dispatched the Lions. Detroit beat the Broncos in Denver when Tim Tebow was just getting his feet wet as a starter. What to make out of Tebowmania and the rest of that team is a total mystery to me, but I dare say that was considered a "soft" game when the NFL put it on the Lions' schedule. San Francisco? Be honest. Who amongst you would have ever guessed that first year coach Jim Harbaugh would turn them around so fast, and go so far? Certainly not me. That looked to be a soft game too. I mean, c'mon. The "worst" team in the NFL is pretty good, and the schedule makers can only accommodate them so far in the name of parity. Any given Sunday, and all that. The league bent over backwards to help the Lions out this year. A good sign.
They've finally got some respect. An even better sign.
Now they have to go back to the Big Easy for another go-round with Drew Brees and the Saints. Unless Matthew Stafford and company can figure out a way to put up about 50 points, and make the Hail Mary play routine, on a New Orleans defense that's statistically far superior to what they just saw in Green Bay, that might not fall into the category of either good or bad.
That might get flat-out ugly. Again.
"Signs, signs, everywhere are signs." Lyrics from the classic oldie performed by the Five Man Electrical Band, circa 1971. "And the sign said long-haired freaky people need not apply".
It's probably a good sign that rule isn't still enforced, or else a whole lot of athletes, in several sports, wouldn't have ever played, or be playing right now.
And I'm thinking that would be a bad sign, but perhaps that's a topic for another day.
For right now, there's only one thing to do.
Sign off.
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