betterREDthandead

Detroit News reports that Dombrowski adamantly denies the rumor. True or not, I agree with those who say it'd be a bad trade....Vazquez is not an ace, I think he's a solid third or decent second, but not an ace. My point was that if Vazquez demands a trade and then shoots down a perfectly good one, that'd be a pretty spoiled thing to do. And I hate it when players refuse to play in Detroit....even though I can't always blame them for it.

Exactly....the 64-team field is big enough to weed out the pretenders. And watching the underdog win wouldn't be much fun, because the underdog would not be Southnortheastern West Dakota Tech, it'd just be a team you've seen before. No Cinderella fun. An 8-team field is just the right size to let a totally undeserving team sneak in. Would you like to see 2-loss Miami (the 8th BCS team right now) cruise to a championship because Reggie Bush blew out an Achilles on the first play of the game? The system is flawed, but somebody propose me a playoff scenario and I'll blow it apart and show it's just as flawed, if not more, than anything we've got now or saw in the past. A playoff in college football would be a colossal mistake. Every single game right now is crucial. You don't get second chances in college football, which is as it should be.

How would a playoff solve that? Instead of bitching that the #3 team got screwed, people would be bitching that the #9 team got screwed.

According to ESPN, Javier Vazquez declined a trade to the Tigers that would have sent, among others, Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya to the D-Backs. Whiny little punk, I say. Wants out of Arizona so bad he files a formal trade complaint, which I forget the details of, but Arizona has until I think March to trade him, and if they don't he becomes a free agent with some kind of compensation going to the D-Backs. I say, the trade demand should become null and void, or the deadline extended, or some such thing, if you use a clause in your contract to nullify a trade. Add Vazquez to the list of people deserving boos at Comerica next year.

NEVER. There's no better regular season in all of sports than college football. In basketball, you can have a nice long playoff to weed out all the Cinderellas, all the teams playing way over their heads on a hot streak. Can't do that in football. That's what the regular season is for.....if you make it to the national championship, you earned it by not tripping up in the regular season.

two years ago, iowa played florida in the outback bowl. 3 years ago, michigan played florida. guess that throws my theory out the window. dunno why they picked Iowa then. I sure don't think it's worth bitching about getting "screwed" out of the Big Ten's third choice and falling to fourth, especially with such a subpar season.

This year, sure. If you think Michigan is not a top-5 football program, you have some serious head-out-of-ass-pulling to do. But I agree that Oregon is not worthy of a BCS berth. Oregon plays in the Pac-10, a conference that had to give up it's sixth bowl berth so the ACC could put eight teams into a bowl. Oregon beat 4-7 Washington State on a last-second field goal, got absolutely stomped by USC (as opposed to Notre Dame who lost in a heartbreaker), squeaked by 3-8 Arizona, got one of their wins against I-AA Montana, and didn't play one of the few decent Pac-10 teams, UCLA. Oregon would be, at best, a four-loss team in the ACC, Big 10, SEC, or Big 12. It's too bad Oklahoma is such a pretender this year too, because Oregon would get their asses handed to them against any worthy opponent.

Getting ugly these days...the fans are definitely making themselves heard. Only one home game left for the fans to vent, and vent they will, because Cincinnati is coming and there's nothing like getting stomped early on to stir up the fans' impatience. Didn't realize Backus will be a UFA. He's as good as gone then....who on earth would stick around this clownhouse?

Unfortunately Da Brick plays the same position as our best lineman, Backus. To get Ferguson (and believe me, I'd be thrilled to have him) the Lions would do well to try and convert him to guard instead of tackle. Left guard is easily the worst position on that line. Eric Winston of Miami plays left tackle as well, so that's no better an option. Forget Reggie Bush. No running back can run behind that line. I say, nab Ferguson if he's available.

probably because the Outback wanted Florida, the instate program, and Michigan just played Florida in the Outback not too long ago. the Alamo Bowl officials are probably s***ting their pants with happiness to get Michigan and Nebraska. P.S: Let's Go 'Hoos in the Music City Bowl against Minnesota! In my opinion, any bowl that isn't directly named after the corporate sponsor is a good one. So I like the Music City much better than some of the other options such as the Meineke Car Care Bowl. PLECH.

Can't watch the game myself, but I see that it's halftime and Garcia is 8-for-19 with a whopping, what, 41 yards? Time for Orlovsky.

The Tigs are not counting on Percival this year....it looks like, with his age and his condition, his career is over. Rodney seems the most likely candidate to hold down the closer spot, if they can't acquire anyone, but Franklyn German was acquired with the idea of being the closer of the future, so he'll get a shot. You're right...Pena will probably figure out how to hit as soon as he leaves Detroit, kinda like Phil Nevin and Juan Encarnacion (of course, Nevin was probably roid ragin'.) Leyland is set on a four-man rotation in the outfield of Maggs, Monroe, Nook Logan, and Curtis Granderson, but Monroe has trade value and he might have to settle on Marcus Thames, or use just three. Maroth and Robertson being lefties, they have value in a trade as well, but I don't see them going anywhere. The winter meetings should be interesting. I'd love to see the Tigers come out of there with a new acquisition. Bobby Seay for Toledo has been it so far....I hope they continue to be wise about not spending too much on free agents, it is not a terrific crop. At the moment, I see the lineup looking like this: 1. Nook Logan - CF 2. Placido Polanco - 2B 3. Magglio Ordonez - RF 4. Pudge Rodriguez - C 5. Carlos Guillen - SS 6. Dmitri Young - DH 7. Chris Shelton - 1B 8. Curtis Granderson - LF 9. Brandon Inge - 3B That's not bad. Inge is a quality hitter batting ninth to set up the top of the lineup with Logan's speed. Craig Monroe and Omar Infante would rotate in and be the first off the bench, with Thames getting some time and Vance Wilson, who the Tigers want back, spelling Pudge. Pudge would need to get back to form. I think he will if he settles his emotions down, he had a rough year going through a divorce and all. The rotation is tougher to figure. 1. Jeremy Bonderman 2. Nate Robertson 3. Mike Maroth 4. Wil Ledezma 5. Justin Verlander that's where it stands now. Such potential, but the Tigers would not feel comfortable going into the season with that. Too hard right now to try and guess who they'll get from somewhere else, but it's almost certain they will. I would guess that Fernando Rodney gets the first shot at closing, with German setting up, and Jamie Walker and Chris Spurling for long relief. Jason Grilli will probably stay with Toledo, but get an outside shot at cracking the bullpen, along with Seay and Creek.

And look what happened to him. F%$# Chad Johnson, too, I can't stand him. What is it about wide receivers that, more than all other positions in all sports combined, make them the biggest assholes? I hope Chad gets one catch for 6 yards the whole game....on a play from the 7 yard line.

I'm holding out a longshot hope the Wings will unearth some Swedish guy named Hanssen.....and then they can play on the same line....Hanssen and Franzen....

How ridiculous is the East? The last-place team in the Central (Chicago) would be leading the Atlantic and be second in the Southeast. I know it's silly to talk about it this early, but the playoff seedings would look like this: 1. Detroit (Cent. Div. leader) 2. Miami (SE Div. leader) 3. Philly (losing record; Atl. Div. leader) 4-7: the rest of the Central 8. losing record

Yeah, two ways of looking at it. Either the Marlins have been unprofitable for so long, sharing a stadium with the Dolphins, that they just can't afford it anymore. Or they are doing this on purpose so they can more easily justify leaving Miami.

Which is exactly what I've noticed in every game the Pistons have a shot at losing. I can't see the games, I don't live in Detroit. But the boxscores don't lie. This game definitely saw the bench play much less than usual, and even the usual isn't as much as it should be. And I'm sure I didn't say they've been playing poorly all season, but they sure fizzled out tonight - 6 whole points. No wonder Flip kept the starters in for 37-plus minutes each.

Pistons beat the Nets to avoid becoming the victime of the Nets' 1000th win in franchise history (though the article didn't say whether that counts their time in the ABA). And Flip still refuses to use the bench....not that the bench played like they deserved to get more minutes. He said in the News that the Pistons might have to sacrifice a few games in the coming months to make sure the bench gets some experience....especially Darko. Didn't see it tonight - guess playing to win each and every game is a hard habit to break.

The criticism of Mooch is that his easygoing style works with veterans who can police themselves, but not with a team full of kids who need tough guidance. Why would Mooch make sense for an already undisciplined squad of college kids?

Damn it. That attention ***** McCain and his f*&%ing steroid bill have started something very bad.

Who said anything about LGW? More than just me and "my slappies" held that opinion. peace Can I be a slappy too, Mommy? I'll be good and everything, even eat my broccoli, promise! Anyway I'm reserving judgment on Abdelkader....few players make an impression as a freshman. Adjusting to college is a bigger challenge (taking classes and all....you're not focusing solely on hockey) than playing in juniors for the first time. Only the best of the best - the Dany Heatleys - are freshman stars.

By the way, guess who is now the senior coach in Detroit? Mike Babcock... Hired 6 days before Flip Saunders. And neither of them have even gotten through a full season. Rough year to be a coach in Detroit - we started the year with Dave Lewis, Larry Brown, Alan Trammell, and Steve Mariucci, and they're all out the door. And John L. Smith and Lloyd Carr haven't exactly had banner seasons either - Carr is likely safe but Smith could be gone by New Year's, too.

You're right....forgot about that. Could the Lions actually be thinking of letting him call the shots on offense permanently? Even if so, it doesn't do anything about the horrendous O-line. Raiola, DeMulling, and Kosier have got to go, NOW, and Woody should be next if he doesn't start playing like the Pro Bowler he's supposed to be. Butler and Backus, I'm OK with keeping, Butler's talent became clear when he left the Atlanta game and Harrington immediately started getting sacked like a Lions head coach. I wonder if D'Brickashaw Ferguson (another UVA product - can you tell I'm a little biased that way?) can be converted to an inside position. He might be able to move in one spot to LG from his normal LT position. I'd be pretty comfortable, if I were the next Lions QB trying to throw the ball, if Backus and Ferguson were protecting the blind side - Ferguson is, as of now, a projected top-5 pick. And who wouldn't want a guy named D'Brickashaw on their team?

Why didn't they fire Tollner, too??? Firing a few random assistants seems weird (though the OL is in such a mess, Morris probably had to go). Wonder what they didn't like in Sugarman? And how soon is Tollner out the door? General feeling around the league for several years now is that Millen should be on his way out. I'm torn. Millen has made some pretty shrewd draft-day moves, like the trades to land us Kevin Jones. He's made some good choices, too - Jeff Backus, Shaun Rogers, Kalimba Edwards, Andre Goodman, Boss Bailey, Cory Redding, Terrence Holt, Roy Williams, Kevin Jones, Teddy Lehman, Kelly Butler, Shaun Cody have all been Millen pickups, and the Lions are respectable on the defensive side of the ball. For the most part, his drafts have been praised by the same experts who call for his firing the next moment. That said, he is responsible for building the offensive side of the ball and should be held accountable. So I probably would not be sorry to see Millen go, but I don't think the Lions need to start completely over, as they did by hiring Millen. They have some decent starting blocks. That's why I don't want to draft another franchise QB to develop, and would prefer to trade for Matt Schaub. EDIT - my bad...according to the AP, Tollner has been demoted to tight ends coach to replace Sugarman (good harmless place for him, maybe he can cure Marcus Pollard of the dropsies) and QB coach Greg Olson will call the plays. Probably too late in the season to install a new offense (hopefully, next season, one that has NOTHING TO DO with the West Coast) but maybe Olson can gradually introduce a new concept to the offense for the next few games: actually getting wide receivers open more than 2 yards downfield. And using Kevin Jones would be nice.

It's really infuriating, this casual "business as usual" attitude the Lions have. The Lions business as usual is to lose. Either they need to fire Mooch yesterday, or they need to come out and say "look, Mooch is the coach so piss off and let everyone do their jobs." The way they're handling this absolutely sucks.