betterREDthandead

Ernie's on! Ernie's on! When they have him doing play-by-play, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm closing my eyes. It's the only way.

so what does it really mean? I just saw Lang and figured "what other common phrase do we have on this site that uses the word Lang?" actually I figure it's "long may your something something."

Better chance than Minny, anyway Honestly, I think the Yankees need this game more than we do. They can't be liking their chances in Game 4, not with Jaret Wright on the mound against Bonderman. And they're surely sweating this one out too. If Randy Johnson's back is bad, he won't be throwing his fastball like Randy Johnson....and the Tigers have made a living all year making outfielders chase bad fastballs. And if Johnson gets tagged, the Yankees have to go to their bullpen early....and their bullpen is horrible. Wow. I'm pretty confident. I think the Tigers can do this, I really do.

Possible. Was it the Devil Rays? The games I saw were against the Rays with Bonderman starting and the Angels with Verlander pitching. Very similar games.

Fair enough. Stay the hell away from Comerica then PS: Ditto me, by the way. I've been to two games this year and they lost both in extra innings by letting Todd Jones pitch too long and watching him unravel after the 9th.

Oooooo, tough question. It's Ohio, and the block M is always a good choice in Ohio. Still...the Tigers are demanding special attention. Go with the D. Now my question is, what the hell are you doing going to Cedar Point when the Tigers are in town and playing a game? In October!

Ernie in the booth?!?!? Ernie is a freaking LEGEND. I honestly believe there has never been a better baseball man. For sure, there isn't another person involved with the game that I'd rather meet. He's a gold mine of baseball knowledge and his unselfishness and willingness to share it with fans is what makes him so great. That and his voice. I just want to hear one more home run call from him. That and I want to hear him tell the whole world the hometown of the guy who caught the foul ball. When I was in first grade, I always wondered how he knew LET'S GO TIGERS!! They can DO THIS!! I'm beyond excited. I want them to win in the worst way.

Has anyone noticed what a phenomenal week this is for football? Check out the matchups: Florida State-NC State: the Wolfpack upset Boston College a couple weeks ago and FSU is vulnerable. Purdue-Iowa: the Boilermakers are back on the rise. Clemson-Wake Forest: time to find out if Wake is for real at 5-0 so far. Navy-Air Force: leg 1 of the race for the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Washington-USC: the Huskies are dangerous again. LSU-Florida: separation game in the SEC. Texas-Oklahoma: the Red River Shootout! It's the closest thing the rest of the country has to Michigan-Ohio State, in terms of interstate rivalries. Michigan-Michigan State: poor, poor Sparty. Tennessee-Georgia: another separation game in the SEC. Oregon-Cal: huge Pac-10 matchup. First week of the season where the pecking orders will really start to be established. This is gonna be a good Saturday.

I don't really think so. They tagged Robertson that inning anyway. I think they'd have just scored 4 instead of 5. The Tigers hit well, but it's the missed opportunities at the plate that did them in. Polanco, Maggs, and Inge all killed rallies with two runners on. Still, I like our chances, we just have to get to Mussina. And I like the matchups in Detroit.

Sweet but unlikely. And I would actually hate for that to happen, because OSU would show up to the championship game pissed off and motivated. Actually I think Auburn is a very good bet to reach the championship game. Their schedule is not particularly tough, only a couple games where they could trip. Michigan-Auburn sound good? Rematch of the Citrus Bowl from a few years back. But any scenario where Michigan beats Ohio State is good in my book.

Tough loss, but at least the bats are working. I might have despaired had Wang held the Tigs down, but they're hitting, and making the Yankees sweat a little. So there's definitely hope for the future here. Must get a great game from Verlander tomorrow, because I think the Tigers can put up another four or five runs. Edit: Mike Myers, the same Mike Myers who gave up a home run tonight, was a Tigers pitcher once and set a club record, which I'm almost positive he still holds. Anyone have any guesses?

How long til the Fire Millen signs show back up at Ford Field (and random places like a Wings-Thrashers game.....in Atlanta)? That's what I want to know. I'm all for it.

I've never approached a baseball game with this kind of anticipation! So this is what it's like to actually care about the baseball postseason the same way I do the NHL playoffs. Had this game on my mind all day. And so far, it's been a visitor's kind of day with the A's and Cardinals winning. Let's hope that trend continues. LETS GO TIGS!!!!!

I'm not worried about Michigan finding room to move up: - USC is not a good enough team to get through a tough Pac-10 schedule unbeaten. Washington, Arizona State, Cal, and Oregon are all quality teams, and Notre Dame is on that schedule as well. No way USC beats all five of those teams. - Auburn and Florida have to play each other. That's one spot right there. Both have to play Georgia. Plus Florida has to play LSU and Florida State. And then there's the SEC championship game. There's enough losses to go around. - West Virginia has their two toughest games on the road - Louisville and Pitt. Brian Brohm should be back for the WVU game for Louisville. But most importantly, Ohio State will likely win out up until they play Michigan. So they'll be #1 rolling into that week. The lowest Michigan will be (if they also win out) is #5 due to a loss by either Auburn or Florida. That's high enough to claim the #1 spot by beating the #1 team. Bottom line: if Michigan and OSU are unbeaten going into their game, that game is for a spot in the national title game. End of story. Soapbox time: With the potential for the biggest rivalry game in all of sports to be for as many marbles as a regular season game could possibly be for, WHY THE HELL would anyone want to diminish that with a stupid playoff??? If those two teams are undefeated, the game will be of Super Bowl proportions. Bigger. A playoff would take away everything. The national championship drama starts now, dammit. It's already begun. Look, you got six teams going for it, and not one of them can afford a single slip. That's drama. The no-playoff system practically guarantees an undefeated national champion, every single year. Does anyone seriously think that Michigan should be able to goof against MSU, or Auburn to mess it up against Mississippi State, and still win the national title?

The Wings' relationship with the Griffins is pretty solid for now, but this kinda makes you wonder just how long-term that relationship will be.

1. I think they count a view after you post and it takes you back to the thread. Obviously that doesn't count as a time you must post otherwise everyone would be stuck in a continuous loop of forever having to post. 2. I believe (but I don't know for sure) that bots are recorded as views too. And the bots aren't posting. 3. Lots of cheating. Guilty as charged on that one....if I don't have something witty to reply with or something I just HAVE to share with the world, I sneak off without posting.

Leyland was managing to win that game, not to preserve his rotation for the playoffs. He'd used up most of his bullpen the game before, including long relief specialist Grilli, and Rogers was the starter with the most rest. Had Leyland been thinking about preserving his rotation, he'd have had a position player out there on the mound and simply punted the division title.

What I don't understand is why all of a sudden people think Rogers is being held back so he won't have to pitch at Yankee Stadium?? Since when has Leyland given a rat's ass about stuff like that? Rogers is being held back because he pitched Sunday, not because he's afraid of the Bronx!

During the '97 championship season me and a bunch of my friends gathered every Saturday to watch Michigan play. Corso ("the old guy" as we affectionately referred to him) picked against Michigan every single week. when Michigan was included in his predictions. Including the Rose Bowl.

Must remember to keep my perspective: We're in the playoffs, and the White Sox, Red Sox, etc. are not. Division title or not, this has been the best Tigers season I've ever seen. And I'd rather face the Pinstriped Assholes in a five-game set than a seven-gamer.

Oh don't be silly, these are the Lions we're talking about they'll find some way to beat the most unlikely team (perhaps Atlanta) for no apparent reason at all. In fact it's not totally out of the realm of possibility that they win 2 of the next 3 to go into the bye 2-5....mount a mini-rally to get to the very fringes of playoff contention....make everyone think that they've got some real bite after all.....and finish 7-9 to ruin their chance at drafting that shutdown corner they desperately need. They're the Lions....they do s*** like that. Now, the offense was clicking today, against a St. Louis defense that isn't actually a complete embarassment to the state of Missouri. In othe words, they're starting to learn how to score against mediocre defenses, which all the next three opponents have. So they just need to put it together on defense, which shouldn't take longer than three or four games. Just in time for Bye to come to town, and we never lose to Bye! Bad sign though: Daunte Culpepper is playing poorly, which means Harrington might get the start against us on Thanksgiving. So he'll be in Ford Field, and he'll see the Honolulu blue unis, and he'll get all confused and throw to the guys not wearing blue just like old times, only this time those will be his receivers, and he'll go for 400 yards. So Thanksgiving is already in the loss column.

Smith's Louisville teams were always known to be fairly undisciplined and penalty-prone. That has always been a big part of MSU's problem; why the Spartan brass would think Smith was going to fix that problem is beyond me. MSU's other problem is that Lloyd Carr outrecruits the blue blazes out of them, for about 50 different reasons. MSU needs to bring in an alum to coach, the way a lot of successful schools have done. They wasted their shot at Ty Willingham. Just take a look at the successes of Al Groh, Ralph Friedgen, and Frank Beamer at their respective alma maters. I really believe alumni coaches have a recruiting edge, and they're not likely to pull a Nick Saban or a Dennis Franchione. They'll stay til they're fired.

GOD DAMN IT. How do you get swept by KC? Guess we'll just have to beat the Yankees. Fine. Wither and die, New York. Not that I haven't been wishing pain and misfortune upon the Bombers for about fifteen years now. Now it's double.

How professional is Matt Stairs? He's known since Day 1 of his tenure as a Tiger that he can't go to the postseason with them, he's got his mind on going back home to Maine and coaching hockey, but he gets sent in to pinch-hit in his last at-bat of the season and (for now) rescues the Tigers' chances at the division. Much respect for Stairs.

As it should be. Michigan's got three tough games (MSU, PSU, Iowa), then three doormats (N'western, Ball State, IU). Ohio State's got doormats from here on out to Michigan (BGSU, MSU, IU, Minn, Ill, N'western). MSU is not exactly a tough game, but every five or six years something ridiculous happens (pass interference non-call, games that last 60 minutes and 2 seconds, etc.) and MSU wins. Threat to Michigan, yes; threat to OSU, no - not after a freshman running QB (Juice Williams) shredded them. By the way, isn't it funny that MSU got pissed at Illinois for planting the flag? Notre Dame fans must be laughing their collective asses off after that one.