betterREDthandead

There have been people speculating as to whether Brady Quinn would pull an Eli Manning and refuse to play for the Lions. I'm such a hypocrite about it, really. I don't want Quinn, and if he decided to do that, I'd probably actually be fairly happy about it. But I'd still hate him for it.

No, but a lobotomy ought to do it. Until the offensive line is straightened out, there isn't a QB in the world that can save the Lions.

We Lions fans were feelin' pretty bummed after that figgie the Bears kicked in 2000. It's a good thing we didn't have any idea what the future would hold.

Watching the Poinsettia Bowl between TCU and NIU. Am I the only one who absolutely cannot stand listening to Lou Holtz? It's not that he's saying stupid things - in fact he's got a lot of good insight into the game. Comes from being a coaching legend. It'sfsth jufszst that he has thisths way of pronounscfthing his S's like his tongue is twisthfe as thick as normal people. Get a lot of spit in your mouth, put your tongue loosely between your teeth, slack your jaw and say the letter S and you get an idea.

Given that Ted Lilly signed for the same length of time and $2M more, I'd say this Bonderman deal is terrific. I'm pretty happy that the Tigers aren't forced into the absolutely ludicrous free agent market this year. Take a look at the signings: Miguel Batista, Seattle, $8.5M/yr, 3 yrs. Adam Eaton, Philly, $8.16M/yr, 3 yrs. Ted Lilly, Cubbies, $10M/yr, 4 yrs. Jason Marquis, Cubbies, $7M/yr, 3 yrs. Daisuke Matsuzaka, BlowSox, $8.67M/yr, 6 yrs. Gil Meche, Kansas City, $11M/yr, 5 yrs. Vicente Padilla, Texas, $11.25M/yr, 3 yrs. Jason Schmidt, LA, $15.67M/yr, 3 yrs. This doesn't even cover what Barry Zito is gonna get. Nor did I mention Randy Wolf, who's gonna be paid $8M next year on a one-year deal to suck. Wolf is a 30-year old whose ERA was closer to 6 than 5 last year, and he's somehow worth $8 million? All those pitchers above, with the exception of Schmidt (who still isn't worth $15 million) and Matsuzaka (who nobody knows how he'll do in a major league season) are middle-rotation schmoes. The Meche and Padilla contracts are especially baffling. Eventually, the Tigers are gonna have to pay Verlander pretty handsomely too, but at least they'll be getting something worth a damn for their troubles. The Cubbies on their own have managed to shell out almost $300 million in contracts this offseason. There's only one explanation for what they're doing: Matt Millen has secretly taken over.

According to ESPN, the deal is for $4.5M next year, $8.5M in 2008, and $12.5M each in 2009 and 2010, for a total of $38M.

Really pleased about the last two games. Flip could have just shortened his rotation for a couple games with Sheed out, but he gave heavy minutes to Blalock and Maxiell. And Maxiell came up big. Said it like two months ago and I'll say it again: Maxiell needs to be part of the regular rotation and be getting about 15-20 minutes a game. This guy's a whirlwind. He's 6-7, 250, and he literally had the Sonics coach thinking he was 6-11, 280+.

I can't understand the pining for Fedorov to come back. We are not getting the Hart Trophy Fedorov of the mid-90s, nor even the two-way Fedorov of the Bowman years. He's not a good fit for a team like the Wings that needs wingers and has too many natural centermen, and he would gobble up too much cap space. Fedorov is still useful for certain teams - he's not exactly washed up. But the Wings are struggling enough with trying to transform away from the old Wings and rebuild into something new. Fedorov would be a big weird variable in that equation that we don't need.

I don't see what Mesa brings to the (hehe) table that Miner and Grilli don't. There shouldn't need to be a spring training battle between those two - they both pitched well enough to be depended upon.

Thanks for the translation, very interesting interview. I'm really starting to hope for big things from Mursak. It sounds like he's having little trouble with adapting to North American hockey and the lifestyle, which to me is more important than the flashy stats.

Was wondering the same thing. Four right-handed one-inning/short relief guys in one bullpen is not a good mix. Something's brewing.

That was fun to watch. Thorne and Spielman said Delta State gave up 11 points a game all season, and Grand Valley torched them for seven touchdowns. After watching that game, and reading the accounts of last week's game against North Dakota, I'd say the only team that can beat Grand Valley is Grand Valley. My brother bought me a GVSU t-shirt on the occasion of his arrival there this fall, and I'll be sporting it on Saturday for the championship. Shamelessly jumping on the Laker bandwagon

Yup. And Ledezma.

Don't scare me like that! At first I thought, oh no, not that flamboyant candy-armed bastard again! Then I remembered I was thinking about Jose Lima instead. So Joe Table will be a Tiger. Huh. I'm not sure why. I mean, Mesa isn't really washed up yet, he can still pitch and should be a valuable addition, but in what role? Does this mean Todd Jones won't close any more? We've already got two of the best right-handed setup men in the majors. It's kind of an odd pickup.

He's a Rule 5 pick, they can't send him to the minors, or he will go back to the Cubs.

Loss #70. Fire Millen already.

Oops. Um.....Roman Colon is, uh, Dominicanese for Fernando Rodney. yeah that's it.

Projected 25-man roster. Because I'm bored: Rotation: Kenny Rogers Jeremy Bonderman Justin Verlander Nate Robertson Mike Maroth 'Pen: Todd Jones Joel Zumaya Edward Campusano Wilfredo Ledezma Zach Miner Jason Grilli Roman Colon Lineup: C - Pudge Rodriguez 2B - Placido Polanco SS - Carlos Guillen DH - Gary Sheffield RF - Magglio Ordonez CF - Curtis Granderson LF - Craig Monroe 1B - Sean Casey 3B - Brandon Inge Bench - 1B - Chris Shelton SS - Omar Infante LF - Marcus Thames C - Vance Wilson

Hijack: Anyone have plans to attend any of the bowl games? I'll be going to the bowl game in Orlando formerly known as the Tangerine Bowl this year (the Purdue-Maryland game). My brother goes to Purdue and he's repaying me for the ticket I bought him to the Virginia-Pittsburgh bowl game in Charlotte a few years ago. As of now I fully intend to bring a FIRE MILLEN sign. Unless, by a Christmas miracle brought down from on high, he has already been fired by then.

According to the Freep, the Tigers are close on an extension of Inge's contract for four years and about $6M/year. Sounds like a plus to me. Inge is a solid defender, and is the kind of bottom-of-the-order hitter that good teams have. (It really chafes me when people marvel at how he "grew" into being an infielder after being a catcher. Feh. He wasn't a catcher til after he was drafted, and only because some scouts randomly happened to watch him throw to second base from a crouch. He's a shortstop by trade.) Also, the Orioles expressed great interest in Marcus Thames, but the Tigers wanted a lefty outfielder in return, and the O's wouldn't part with Nick Markakis nor could they come to an agreement to obtain Luke Scott from the Astros or Ryan Church from the Nats. There was a reported 3-way deal that would have brought Scott to the Tigers that fell through.

If I wanted to add the corporate sponsor, I would have done it like this: Rose Bowl Game presented by C***

About 100 years of Rose Bowl tradition of having outstanding matchups coming from the cream of the Big 10 and Pac-10. Playing the playoff system outside the bowls entirely would relegate the Rose Bowl to also-ran status. Not to mention that the Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl are each about 70 years old and also have a tradition of outstanding matchups. You would suck a lot of money out of the bowl system, because the domino effect of losing the top teams would trickle down to the rest. Not that I'm happy about losing the Citrus Bowl, Peach Bowl, Copper Bowl, etc. to corporate sponsors.

You're laboring under the assumption that me showing up has anything at all to do with whether or not I'm actually invited

That'd ruin the tradition of the better bowls.

That one Blak posted is the only idea that even resembles something I might appreciate. Potential problems: Mid-majors will hate it, as it leaves them right back to square one. And it won't eliminate the problem of teams feeling screwed, because everyone above the worst conference champion will complain.