Random Thoughts in my head Detroit Edition

-For all of the tormented Tigers fans out there I’ve got some good news. The Tigers farm system is quickly becoming one of the best and deepest in MLB. Here is a summary of the current status of the farm system. The Tigers have another top pick (#6 overall) in this year’s draft. Judging from Dave Dombrowski’s recent drafts, that pick will likely yield another formidable prospect. So, when things don’t go right again this year, just remember that the future is bright.

-The Pistons getting four starters onto the Eastern All-Star squad is quite an accomplishment. However, the Pistons no longer have a strangle-hold on home court advantage. They are only two games up on both Dallas and San Antonio. The championship will be won by the team with home court advantage. Detroit needs to finish the last three games before the break strong which includes games @ Miami and New Jersey. It’s important to remember that the Pistons will have played 13 games in the last 21 days. Fatigue is a factor in the regular season with so many back to back games. That won’t be an issue come playoff time.

-Lloyd Carr backed his way in to naming Ron English the new DC for the UM football team. That collective scream of exuberance that you probably didn’t hear comes from UM fans all across the world. English was already in his first week at his new job as the Chicago Bears LB coach when Carr finally realized that he wanted English after all. English’s effect will be felt through recruiting more than anything else. It was for that reason that it was crucial to keep him in the program. Plus, Jim Herrmann can now bless the New York Jets with his brilliant game-planning.

-The Red Wings are among a group of 10-15 teams that could win the Stanley Cup. I don’t think this Red Wing team is made for the playoffs. I could be wrong but this team reminds me of the 1994 team that set all sorts of regular season records only to get swept in the Stanley Cup finals by a bunch of bullies.

-The UM basketball team is in dire straights with the injuries to Lester Abram and Dion Harris. My guess is that UM will only need to beat Purdue and Minnesota to make the tournament. That sounds easy but without Abram, Dion Harris and back-up point guard Jerrett Smith, UM could be in big trouble at Purdue this weekend. If they lose, sound the alarm. That would put UM’s tournament chances on life support.

-The Super Bowl was far more important and meaningful to the city and people of Detroit than it was to the NFL and its millions of fans. The game was a dud as far as entertainment goes. The officiating ruined any suspense that would’ve gone along with a close game. Bettis-mania and the Porter/Stevens debacle hijacked any pre-game excitement as those stories were beaten to death by the media. Detroit was the big winner of Super Sunday.

-Having said that, the expected talk of how Detroit will use its Super Bowl success to springboard towards respect for the city is ridiculous. Detroit only proved that a). you could go downtown without dying (with the exception of the two people that were actually shot) and b). it can host a sporting event without totally blowing it. Until the city morphs from various patches of “good areas” amidst broken down houses and dark alley’s, to a legitimately safe and aesthetically pleasing city, nothing will change.

-Even though the MSU basketball team is short on depth, the big three is good enough to carry MSU to another Final Four. Duke and UConn are the only two teams in college basketball that are clearly better than MSU. Sparty falls into a group that includes Villanova, Gonzaga, W.Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Memphis and Texas that could go on a run come tournament time. From what I’ve seen, MSU is the best team in the Big Ten and could be the third best team in the country come March.

-Next season, the UM basketball team will have one center and one power forward that has ever played a meaningful minute of college basketball. As bad as that sounds, those two players will graduate next year leaving UM with one power forward (Kendric Price) and zero centers on the roster for 2007. Amaker needs to pull off a recruiting miracle if he doesn’t want the program to take a step back.