Friday, November 30, 2012
Hot Stove Jambalaya
Guesses: Boesch is moved for a combo of cash/minor leaguers/draft picks; Porcello stays; Drew comes, Peralta goes to AZ, we get back not much; Raburn signs minor league contract with Rangers or Rays, stays in A.L. and works on being a DH; Brandon Inge just "is," man. Can't we let him be? Oh, and we get either Anibal or Soriano, but not both.
The Lions will have a better record next year -- but will they be better?
Assuming they go roughly 2-3 the rest of the way (I'll give them wins vs. Indy and at AZ), they will finish at an all-too familiar 6-10. Further assuming this leaves them at the bottom of the division, they'll face a schedule with two games against other bottom dwellers, likely St. Louis or Arizona and Carolina. Still, they'll face the NFC North Three 2x each, NYG/Dall/Wash/Phil, and isn't it their turn for Balt/Pitt/Cin/Cleve again? Let me go on record as saying that, with another top 12 draft in their pocket, they'll crawl back up to a respectable 8-8 in 2013.
Assuming they go roughly 2-3 the rest of the way (I'll give them wins vs. Indy and at AZ), they will finish at an all-too familiar 6-10. Further assuming this leaves them at the bottom of the division, they'll face a schedule with two games against other bottom dwellers, likely St. Louis or Arizona and Carolina. Still, they'll face the NFC North Three 2x each, NYG/Dall/Wash/Phil, and isn't it their turn for Balt/Pitt/Cin/Cleve again? Let me go on record as saying that, with another top 12 draft in their pocket, they'll crawl back up to a respectable 8-8 in 2013.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
A word about NASCAR: My dad started taking me to the drag strip and short track ovals when I wasn't even old enough to comprehend where I was. I liked the drag strip best, probably because the raw power appealed to a young boy as full of kinetic energy as I was. But I liked the short track racing as well.
I always rooted for Plymouth and, to a slightly lesser extent, Dodge, due in no small part to the wonder of the twin Golden Commandos, the Highland Park, Michigan-based mid-60s Plymouth Belvedere Furys with the 426 c.i. Hemis in them, as well as the Barracuda that also ran under that name. I liked the Ramchargers Dodge pair also, but preferred the Plymouths. My father, by then employed by Ford, stayed loyal to his employer, so we got to have some good natured competition while watching the races, and while both rooting against the Chevys and other GM brands.
I bring this up to illustrate the beginnings of my life-long attachment to Chrylser/Plymouth/Dodge, and while I once cheered northern NASCAR boy and namesake Alan Kulwicki on in his Ford in the early 90s, until his shocking plane crash death in 1993, I have always generally favored the Plymouths and Dodges in NASCAR, from Richard Petty on down, as they have come and gone from the sport.
Thus it was with bittersweet regard that I cheered for Brad Keslowski -- a Rochester Hills, Michigan native, and driver of one of the last couple of Dodge stock cars left out on the track, for the Roger Penske team in Dodge's last season in NASCAR before they once again fold up their tent.
And he won. He won the season championship tonight, down in Homestead, Florida after a grueling 36-race meet that began back in mid-February with the Daytona 500. He won it for Penske, the storied owner who had waited more than 40 years to add this last great accolade to his formidable treasure chest. He outlasted the great champion Jimmy Johnson, in an anti-climactic finish, when Johnson couldn't get his car back out on the track after a gear gave out in the last 40 laps.
He won it all, and then he drank from a giant glass of Miller Lite beer (his car's primary sponsor) during his interviews, until he started to get a bit goofy and a touch slurry. And he was a champion -- like Kulwicki, a rare northerner, a Yankee success in a Rebel sport -- driving my favorite car make to its first NASCAR championship since the 60s heyday of Petty Sr., in what may very well be Dodge's final swansong. He beat out the mighty Hendrick Chevy coalition, and the mighty Roush Ford coalition, and he did it while also competing in the little brother division of Nationwide races as well, all year long.
Congrats, Brad -- had I been there, I'd've been waving your team's flag, Dodge's flag, a Michigan flag, and both arms for your outstanding season's victory. You earned it, my man. Too cool.
I always rooted for Plymouth and, to a slightly lesser extent, Dodge, due in no small part to the wonder of the twin Golden Commandos, the Highland Park, Michigan-based mid-60s Plymouth Belvedere Furys with the 426 c.i. Hemis in them, as well as the Barracuda that also ran under that name. I liked the Ramchargers Dodge pair also, but preferred the Plymouths. My father, by then employed by Ford, stayed loyal to his employer, so we got to have some good natured competition while watching the races, and while both rooting against the Chevys and other GM brands.
I bring this up to illustrate the beginnings of my life-long attachment to Chrylser/Plymouth/Dodge, and while I once cheered northern NASCAR boy and namesake Alan Kulwicki on in his Ford in the early 90s, until his shocking plane crash death in 1993, I have always generally favored the Plymouths and Dodges in NASCAR, from Richard Petty on down, as they have come and gone from the sport.
Thus it was with bittersweet regard that I cheered for Brad Keslowski -- a Rochester Hills, Michigan native, and driver of one of the last couple of Dodge stock cars left out on the track, for the Roger Penske team in Dodge's last season in NASCAR before they once again fold up their tent.
And he won. He won the season championship tonight, down in Homestead, Florida after a grueling 36-race meet that began back in mid-February with the Daytona 500. He won it for Penske, the storied owner who had waited more than 40 years to add this last great accolade to his formidable treasure chest. He outlasted the great champion Jimmy Johnson, in an anti-climactic finish, when Johnson couldn't get his car back out on the track after a gear gave out in the last 40 laps.
He won it all, and then he drank from a giant glass of Miller Lite beer (his car's primary sponsor) during his interviews, until he started to get a bit goofy and a touch slurry. And he was a champion -- like Kulwicki, a rare northerner, a Yankee success in a Rebel sport -- driving my favorite car make to its first NASCAR championship since the 60s heyday of Petty Sr., in what may very well be Dodge's final swansong. He beat out the mighty Hendrick Chevy coalition, and the mighty Roush Ford coalition, and he did it while also competing in the little brother division of Nationwide races as well, all year long.
Congrats, Brad -- had I been there, I'd've been waving your team's flag, Dodge's flag, a Michigan flag, and both arms for your outstanding season's victory. You earned it, my man. Too cool.
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