betterREDthandead

Beer beer. I mean hear hear!

I'm not for supporting the other team. Screw Cincy....Sunday, they're the enemy. That's what I loved about the Minny game....it was near open revolt in the stands what with people successfully eluding security and other fans writing FIRE MILLEN signs on anything they could find. And yet.....people cheered the Lions on when they had a chance to win. Cheer for the Lions, not the visitors. I say swarm the stands with Honolulu Blue, to show support for what the unis are supposed to look like, not this silly black jersey. and FIRE MILLEN.

Beer.

So what's missing? Got WRs and an RB. O-LINE baby. That's where it all starts. Pistons fans are getting into the act; here are the game notes from the Pistons game against Sacramento last night: I can't wait to see what happens this Sunday, the last home game of the season. According to the Detroit News, WDFN is trying to organize an anti-Millen march. Even Wayne Fontes didn't hear it this bad.

that's OK, you would have totally misspelled it anyway it may phonetically sound like "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" but in reality it's spelled "fred".

Flibberty jabbet galumph yavinchable bibbly bibbly WOOOOOOOO!!!!!

BUMP this thread WHO CALLED IT? Yea baby. Yea. Florida State and Bowden will kill "Pathetic State" in the bowl Negative. Florida State will be trounced. They don't even belong in the Orange Bowl....they ought to be in the Champs Sports Bowl this year.

I know the pocketbook is the best way to make yourself heard, but frankly, I'm very proud of the fact that the Lions sell out constantly. Lions fans are the best in the league - who else would continue to sell out the stadium? And if the Lions are ever good, no fans will be more deserving of a good team than Lions fans.

I get the feeling the Fords will wait until after next year's 5-11 season to fire Millen. They always wait.

Someone should go to Millen's house and whisper in his ear while he sleeps: THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS. THE O-LINE SUCKS.

the Palace is a college atmosphere....I think that's the highest sort of praise you can give a building....when the crowd is rocking and Big Ben is chiming and the announcer is yelling DEEEEEEEEEEEETROIT BAAAAAAAAAASKETBAAAAALLL!!! it's right up there with Cameron. very few places can get you pumped up watching on TV....the Palace is one.

As long as everyone's healthy and playing to their capabilities, there isn't a single team in the league, Spurs included, that the Pistons can't find a weakness in the matchups and exploit the hell out of it. But Flip still needs to trust the bench more. They're better than most benches in the league, and Dice, Mo Evans, Delfino, Arroyo and yes even Darko need to get more playing time. 35+ minutes a night for every starter is going to wear them down and put them at risk of injury.

Bush will get it but I think Vince Young should instead. Bush can run....Young can run and throw. End of story. At least this year there's no Jason White up there to steal a Heisman from someone clearly more deserving. Bush is a worthy candidate.

the tigers are doing what they should be doing. just opening up the pocketbook a ton and just sign anyone. show other free agents that all star players will come to detroit. Is Kenny Rogers overpaid?? WITHOUT A DOUBT!! Is Kenny Rogers the answer to the pitching woes?? NO WAY!! Is it a start? YES!! To quote Kenny Rogers: "You've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them..." The tigers have become the gamblers. If Pudge and Maggs couldn't convince other star players to come to Detroit, nobody will. Pudge himself was swayed thanks to the Fernando Vina and Rondell White signings. So far gambling on free agents has been a bit of an anchor on the Tigers. Good or bad, we're stuck with Maggs for quite some time. That's not how you build a team. This is how. Develop enough prospects that some will help you out on the big club and some will become trade bait for those established players you can't get otherwise. Free agency is for filling the gaps, not trying to catch up with the rest of the league. "Open up the pocketbook a ton and just sign anyone" is a recipe for anonymous mediocrity, at best.

You guys are gonna leave out Virginia Tech in favor of Arkansas State?? I quote from a playoff promoter above: So here we have automatic berths for freakin' Arkansas State - a "non-BCS team" taking a spot from a team easily ranked in the top 16. You just kicked out Virginia Tech, LSU, and UCLA, all of whom had terrific seasons in good conferences. You think there's squawking when an undefeated team gets left out? You oughta see what happens when 6-5 Akron, 6-5 Arkansas State, and 7-4 Tulsa (records before conference championship games) beat out 2-loss teams in the SEC and ACC for spots in the playoff. A 16-team playoff would take four weeks - that's longer than the 64-team March Madness, because you can't play two football games in one weekend. Academics is a big enough problem on football teams, and now you've taken away a huge chunk of the second semester as well as the entire first one. A round-robin would be even worse, it'd be like a whole new season. Va Tech, LSU, and UCLA had their chances to win their divison. Under a 16 team playoff that rewards big and small divisons, every team gets a shot. Its not a perfect system but neither is the current BCS system. Very difficult to come up with a perfect system. A college playoff championship game would draw as many people and buzz, if not more than the Super Bowl. A perfect system is impossible, I think that's the one thing everyone agrees upon. But in your scenario, Ohio State, Miami, and Oregon had chances to win their conferences too, didn't they? Fact is, no matter how you do it, the basic problem is this: Who gets a chance to play for the national championship and who does not? The best way to do it, in my opinion, is to pick from as small a field as possible. Picking a field of 16 means that you're trying to narrow it down from about 20-24 worthy candidates, so as many as 8 schools will feel jobbed. Picking a field of two means very few teams can make any kind of case. The debate has never included more than three teams. A lot simpler than trying to pick 16 or 8 from as many as 20-24 worthy candidates. And I don't see the college championship game ever approaching the hype of the Super Bowl. We will see this year with the Rose Bowl: nobody can dispute that USC and Texas are THE picks for the national championship. With no distraction coming from teams thinking they should be there instead, we have a true national championship game.

Points taken and understood. But don't tell me you'd take still take an offensive lineman if they had a shot at a guy like Leinart. Depends on the lineman. D'Brickashaw Ferguson or Eric Winston, sure. At some point, you have to draft for need instead of drafting for flash and show. I don't even think Leinart is all that astoundingly good....I think he's more Jason White than Peyton Manning. Overrated because of the talent around him. Part of it is, I'm sick and tired of anointing the franchise's savior QB and watching him flounder and suck (Andre Ware, Charlie Batch, Joey Harrington) while other teams just seem to get lucky over and over and over and over with late-round picks. I want to see Dan Orlovsky for the rest of the season. There are some good QB's out there that don't need to be taken in the first round. Look at what Brett Basanez has done at Northwestern with no NFL talent around him. Jay Cutler at Vanderbilt is another one. Hell, call me a homer but Marques Hagans at UVA. I'd prefer to trade for a QB, though, someone who's got a few NFL games under their belt. Like Matt Schaub.

I see no reason why drafting a franchise quarterback in the first round is all that helpful. The Patriots didn't do it...Tom Brady is a sixth round pick and he had to fight off What's-His-Face Bishop first. Of the likely playoff teams this year, very few drafted their QB in the first round...Carson Palmer, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, that's about it. Drafting your so-called franchise QB in the first round is no more likely to work out than drafting your so-called franchise QB in the fourth round. The Lions need offensive linemen BAD and should take seven of them. EDIT: Charlie Whitehurst is a senior but he is the MOST overrated QB I have ever seen. If the Lions draft Whitehurst I will be furious. And I will be equally furious if they take Drew Stanton, another overrated hometown putz. Highly touted Michigan State players have done nothing but suck (hey, they're Spartans, what did we think would happen?). Charles Rogers needs to go. Mateen Cleaves was worthless. If the Lions take Stanton as a franchise QB, they are finished.

This is why it's going to feel soooooooo good when and if the Lions ever do anything worth a damn. I can't sell my loyalty on ebay, because what if the Cowboys, Packers, or Vikings win the auction? Too late, I'm already attached to the Lions for life.

Looks like the rotation as of now shakes out like this: 1. Bonderman 2. Maroth 3. Rogers 4. Robertson 5. Whoever distinguishes themself in spring training. The order is pretty likely to change too. Ledezma, Verlander, Zumaya, Grilli, and Colon (not Bartolo...we wish) will get their shot at that fifth spot. All but Verlander are bullpen candidates if they lose out...Verlander will simply pitch in Toledo. Jones will be the anointed closer. Rodney and German will be better off without the pressure of the ninth inning. Walker will continue to be steady, as will Spurling, so there isn't a lot of room in the 'pen for the losers of the rotation competition.

Ugh. This Kenny Rogers deal WILL bite the Tigers in the ass. The second year should have been a team option. He's 41 for crying out loud, and now they're shelling out $8 million a year? Let's hope this one falls apart. EDIT: prelude to a trade? He's a similar pitcher to Maroth and Robertson: finesse lefty. Having a lot of lefties plays to Comerica Park's strengths because it causes the opposition to load the lineup with right-handers, so I figure that Rogers is either supposed to be a stopgap until Verlander and/or Zumaya is ready (as suggested by MLB.com) or an attempt to load the rotation with southpaws.

You guys are gonna leave out Virginia Tech in favor of Arkansas State?? I quote from a playoff promoter above: So here we have automatic berths for freakin' Arkansas State - a "non-BCS team" taking a spot from a team easily ranked in the top 16. You just kicked out Virginia Tech, LSU, and UCLA, all of whom had terrific seasons in good conferences. You think there's squawking when an undefeated team gets left out? You oughta see what happens when 6-5 Akron, 6-5 Arkansas State, and 7-4 Tulsa (records before conference championship games) beat out 2-loss teams in the SEC and ACC for spots in the playoff. A 16-team playoff would take four weeks - that's longer than the 64-team March Madness, because you can't play two football games in one weekend. Academics is a big enough problem on football teams, and now you've taken away a huge chunk of the second semester as well as the entire first one. A round-robin would be even worse, it'd be like a whole new season.

Ummm....I did think my post was pretty clear that I always thought Bykov sucked, not that I was expecting him to play like Bryan McCabe. Still do. I was surprised to see him make the club at all, and the whole season he played I felt like the only reason he was playing was because the Wings decided not to spend the money on a veteran retread. I wasn't expecting him to be McCabe, I was expecting him to be Max Kuznetsov. I don't think Bykov could do anything for the Wings that Lilja or Rivers isn't doing. He's a borderline 3rd pair, more of a 7th defenseman than anything. I don't miss him.

$11 million for Todd Jones. Too much, way too much, I was thinking more along the lines of $5-6 million, tops. oh well, at least they didn't shell out $47 million to B.J. Ryan. But Fernando Rodney blew 4 of 13 save chances last year, so it was too risky to go into spring training with him penciled in for the ninth inning. Tigers also decline to offer arbitration to Rondell White, Jason Johnson, Bobby Higginson, and Fernando Vina, ending their stay in Detroit.

Here's one Ever since leaving Detroit in the Redman trade in '01, Jones has pitched for the Twins, Rockies, Red Sox, Reds, Phillies, and Marlins. This will be his seventh move in less than five years. I think he can still pitch. He posted some awful numbers with Colorado, but what pitcher doesn't? It's always fun to get a blast from the past back, and I would trust him much more in the ninth inning than German or Rodney....especially Rodney. Wonder what the terms of the contract will be.

I always thought Bykov was Russian for "pylon". Not exactly the scoring type, and not big enough or willing enough to be a big force defensively. I suppose we should have been happy we got anything at all out of an 8th round pick, but had he stayed in the NHL, he would never have been more than a 6th or 7th defenseman, and probably would have done a lot of shuttling back and forth to the AHL.