DTroppens

We see Cooper, Weird Al, Godsmack, Poison, Def Leppard, Motley Crue and a few others pretty much anytime they come to the area. We are slowing down on that now because even getting tickets to see Cooper (he's still a great act but he is old) is in the $150 range. So, it's likely we won't see him after this show. And, we probably are going to drop other concerts we may have attended. We'd rather go to the UP for a weekend or something like that with our $$$.

After the All-Star Break is when I finally started watching other games a bit deeper than I typically do. I'm usually putting my TV on a soccer game, some mid-major college basketball game or the golf channel during the winter, but after the All-Star Break I kind of started watching more of the other teams in the Eastern Conference when I saw they were on. So maybe since that is still pretty "new" to my watching, I enjoy it a little more. But that said, so many of those games never have full teams playing anyway, so it's hard to understand what you are seeing anyway. I actually had the Lakers and Mavs on for a good chunk last night. I never watch Western Conference games like that, but just keeping any NBA game on is now starting to sink in my brain than it has over the last 10 years (minus the end of last season a little bit).

That may be true, but I think what probably rekindles interest is the team doing well. That's what brings casual fans back. For example, people loved Mario and Rod and they embraced them. But, if 2006 doesn't happen like the way it does the fan base doesn't return to make that summer the high ratings the Tigers' broadcasts were. There may be an element of what you say is true, but I'd argue it's 80% winning baseball, and now that it's happened that makes people associate them with good times and makes people probably enjoy them more. That doesn't really happen when a team goes 70-92 every season.

I find myself going backwards instead of forward with music. I'm really enjoying trying to learn more about the 70s than what I just learned growing up. The only concert we went to last year was Judas Priest and Alice Cooper. But, we've seen Cooper more than 50 times since 2000 so that's not too much of a shock.

100% - And it's amazing what happens when a team decides to truly play on the defensive end. There isn't a team that if they decide to do that honestly night in and night out, won't improve at least 12 games during the regular season. Probably really at least 15 games. But we had a coach that didn't want to be here and the team was stuck with that. I love defense. This team plays defense.

This game was my highlight of last season. I was in the UP doing a one-day "get to all three great lakes" day because the weather was so awesome. I started the game just sitting in a quiet spot in Lake Huron that I never see anyone in (although there's always evidence that people do walk through the trails to this beach) listening to most of the first half of the game. With about eight minutes left in the second quarter I drove to a spot on Lake Superior where I know there is a reasonable sand bank that allows you to walk about 300 yards out in Lake Superior to a bunch of rocks that (if you can find a spot the seagulls haven't destroyed with poop) you can sit out there and just be away from everyone. I listened to the entire second half in this spot. The water was probably close to 70 degrees and there were no waves to speak of. No one was out there and I'm just sitting on a rock listening to the Lions-Browns game. I was happy to see the internet came out so clear out there. My biggest worry was making sure I didn't drop my phone into Lake Superior. What a relaxing game that was. I plan on doing it again next late summer/early fall for certain. In a season of few highlights, that was a biggie for me.

Please get consecutive hits before the seventh inning sometime today. 🙂

Regardless what happens to Jenkins the rest of his career, I'll always remember this season for his contribution. Seeing a guy like him get an opportunity, seize it, prove that he not only belongs but is a vital part of a team that's going to win their conference and was displaying leadership qualities almost from day one - he's been a breath of fresh air. Athletes like Jenkins makes watching sports 100% worth it.

One can make a post about Lavert like this seemingly every night. I have no clue why he's part of the regular rotation.

I know people get tired of the regular season, but this regular season has just been a bunch of fun. I kind of find these games without a full roster super fun. It's almost exciting to see how the Pistons figure it out without X, Y and Z in the lineup. I know the gang here has probably talked about it all season, but I just popped back up so I'll say it for the first time. In an era when money and individual agendas rule professional sports (especially the NBA) it's 100% apparent that this team just enjoys its company and truly look at each other as brothers, as family. And where else can some guy from the D-League come from nowhere and by the end of the season the guy is not only productive but you can sense his leadership skills among the rest of the team. The playoffs define a team, but while last season was fun this has been just a super enjoyable regular season. I'm going to miss it when it ends.

We do take a lot of meaningless challenges that you know as soon as he challenges it, you know it's going to fail.

I am basically 50% Polish and German so I really wanted Poland to qualify. After the US, my No. 2 team is Poland (it's too easy to root for Germany), so that would be great. However, I think qualifying should matter. It shouldn't be a piece of cake. I think this is Italy's third straight World Cup vacation. That's not a mistake any more. Be better. When the US didn't qualify, I was harping two cycles prior that the US was going to struggle with the cycle eight years later. I honestly think they may have struggled this cycle if not given an auto bid. I enjoy the qualifiers and don't want to see them not matter. I went to plenty of US CONCACAF qualifiers because they mattered. I was earning my fan caps for US-Mexico games in Columbus for quite a few cycles. Six CONCACAF teams automatically in 2030, and a seventh competing in a play-in home-and-home series. Ehhh, even I think the US can blindly just walk through and qualify in that scenario. It probably will go to 64 teams one day. I think there is a little talk about it for 2030,but that probably be more likely a 2034? Maybe I'm off on that and 2030 is more on the table than I think. It's more money, more fringe teams making the cup and if half the field increasing the interest in the event world-wide, so they probably will. That probably would mean another week to the tourney as well.

I play sports baseball board games so I have a ton of players that I just enjoy learning about them. I'd go with Charlie Maxwell (died a little more than a month ago), one of my favorite Tigers to play in any Tiger replay (currently part of my 1947 Tigers in an MLB replay) Roy Cullenbine or maybe John Wockenfuss or **** McAuliffe. It would be cool getting their batting stances on the podium. Maybe an Aurelio Lopez leg kick delivery.

I've always been of the viewpoint if you couldn't win it in 60 minutes, then you only have yourself to blame for allowing a potential coin flip to dictate the result. Again, I know no one else agrees with me, but I never had issues with OT the way it was initially. That's pretty close to what we have now with your idea. I'm not going to go to war on this stuff. I agree with you what is closer to actual regulation play is better. The four-point idea is fine. I don't want anything like the NCAA version of OT.

I would imagine you could almost have to replay it to see if a kick actually was 60 yards or not. That would be pretty funny to see happen. If it went to the NFL, it would be the Lions that would place the ball 1/10th of an inch too far back for the extra-point to count. 🙂 That's a huge rule to state if you lose yards (let's say a 10 yard hold puts you back at your own 42), you still can't punt? You may see teams that get to the 49 and then just run the ball to "protect" themselves from losing yards on a sack or a holding call - at least for a down. Yeah, that is just a crazy concept.

Either are solid selections. I don't have a horse between either, but averaging a triple-double is hard to ignore.

The four-point field goal is an awful idea. In 10 years people will be losing yards on a third-and-17 play to set up their field goal for 60 yards, or just snapping it a yard further back to make it 60 yards. Ditto on the 50-yard punt. If it's third and 17 at the opponent's 49, you may be better served in some cases just to lose two yards. But, again, in 10 years 60-yard field goals won't be that much of a challenge, so maybe that won't happen. Teams may keep two kickers if their accurate FG kicker can't make boots from 57 or further back. One foot - too many rules already support offensive play. I love seeing how athletes keep that second foot in play. They are some of the most amazing plays in sports. OT - I know I'm the only idiot that thinks this, but I'd just go back to 15 minutes, flip a coin and go with it. Or, force the team that tied the game the latest to have to kickoff to their opposition. This way you may promote more people going for 2 or maybe TDs over game-tying field goals, especially if it's the fourth quarter. You know, I just thought about that as I was typing this. I really like that idea.

History repeating itself.

What does everyone think about the expanded format? I have one thing to say. If the US can't advance to the with most of the field advancing they have no one to blame but themselves. The expanded field also means it's going to be a lot tougher to fill your World Cup sticker book. I still have about 12 stickers to go from the last cycle.

My mind doesn't even think of LeVert being on this team right now. On a team of great depth, he just seems to be the invisible generic guy in the rotation that has never made me care enough about him this season. He 100% is a candidate for a salary dump. Who? I'm not that deep in the weeds with it to this point. That's what message boards are for though, thinking out loud. Honestly, how attractive would Stew and LeVert be for any team getting both in any package? They'd have to be going to two separate teams probably in the three-way or four-way trade.

Pitchers more successful than batters? I would've guessed the opposite considering where both are on the field. Not shocked catchers have the highest success rate. In fact, by the time the season is over I bet catchers will have a great grasp on what is being considered a strike and probably will up their percentages to about 75%. Actually probably all three will go up, but just a hunch tells me it will spike for catchers more than the other two. Maybe batters spike higher than pitchers. I'm amazed the pitchers are about 5%

I don't think Stew will be back next season. It's been a gut feeling I've had since basically the start of the season. He 100% has value and is a great fit to the team's mindset. He is under contract for two more seasons, but the second season is a club option, so it could as quick as one more season. There's a lot of reasons to think there is little chance he's going anywhere, but for some reason I just have had that feeling all season. The one thing is if the Pistons made a splash trade in the offseason, there would have to be some big salary dumps to do that. It's not like $15 mil is a super huge amount, but it is one of the Pistons' highest salaries and he certainly could have value to a team in trade. I guess it's not just a willy nilly out of the blue gut feeling. He is making $15 mil, isn't really even a starter and does miss games with injuries frequently, including last season during the playoffs.

I'm not a fan of Benetti. He's going to make a list of about 10 things he has listed on a piece of paper fit in regardless if it does or not. And too often the broadcasts go off on crazy tangents that we just don't need them to go on. During last year's losing skids you'd hear Dirks and Benetti yucking it up almost pretending the squad wasn't falling apart almost trying to bring up any subject they could. And I don't know who's doing this was, but having JK Simmons on every other day as a surprise guest wasn't much of a surprise after awhile. I'd rather they had selected a Tiger fan of 60 years and brought that person in the booth and talk about that person's memories. In fact, why don't they do that. Maybe designate Wednesday games as surprise fan day - someone that isn't a corporate sponsor, a celebrity or a politician. Find people that have had season tickets for 50 years and find some of the "real" fans that never get to a game because their finances can't afford it but watch or listen on the TV or radio "all the time." I'd love this. The last two seasons in preparation of cable eventually losing the Tigers (yes, I still have cable) I've really transitioned to radio broadcasts again. Until the 1990s that's how I followed most games early in life, and I figured I'd see if I can do that if we decided to get rid of cable or the broadcasts ended up off cable. I've really enjoyed it. I sit on my front or back deck with the radio and our pet parakeet, read some of my old Sporting News newspapers or do whatever. Sometimes we'd be out there until 1 a.m. if the game was on west coast. I even listened to a couple of playoff games this way last year. I didn't feel like I was missing out. Sometimes when I came back in I'd watch the replay on in the background of the room as well and maybe see some of the plays I heard and not saw. It got to a point that there'd be times I'd come in from outside midgame and hurry to turn on the radio so I could listen to it in there forgetting I could actually turn on the television. 🙂 I am not going to lead a riot for his firing, but if Benetti was gone tomorrow, I wouldn't miss him.

Hi everyone! GOOOOOOOOOO PISTONS!!!! What a fun season this has been to this point! Deleterious with the Kool-Aid man. Gosh, it's been probably more than a decade since I've seen that combo on the message board, but it feels like yesterday right now.