Dennis Green Goes Nuts

this possibly has to be the funniest coach rant ever

World Series!!

Man was I excited as ever to see Magglio's walk off homer in the ninth inning send the Tigers to the World Series. Who would have thought this was been the year? We had the game on at work watching at and I remember as soon as the ball left his bat me, Sarah and Marc and a few others in the newsroom being excited about what we just witnessed. The Tigers clinching the AL pennant with a 6-3 win over the Oakland A's and a 4-0 series sweep in the ALCS.

its a small world after all

Saturday I was out talking to fans at Adrian College trying to get quotes for a reaction piece about the new Performance Enhancement Stadium on the colleges campus. It was the first football game in the stadium that night and there was a big crowd. While interviewing a man from Toledo, I noticed this guy by me had stopped and was kinda listening in so I approached him after I got done and before I started to ask him questions, he was like hey your Brian, right.

Yes I replied and right then and there I realized that it was my high school history/economics teacher Mark Morris. Very stunned to see him there, he then told me he was at the game because he is an Adrian College alum and former football player. Apparently he was the team captain his senior season and a running back who earned MVP honors. I was pretty impressed to find that out and still couldnt believe that I ran into someone from Coloma out in Adrian.

By the way, the stadium was very nice as was the press box. Very similar to one Ive been into at Western Michigan's Waldo Stadium.

As for the game, Adrian lost 10-0 to Defiance. There actually were two soccer games at the field prior to the football game and Adrian lost both of those as well. So in essence they opened their new field with an 0-3 record - kinda sucky. If it was me, I'd be scheduling some teams I know I would definitely beat to open a new stadium in - but oh well.

Prior to working Saturday I got to see a good portion of the EMU-Michigan State game, and flipped between the Game 5 of the WNBA finals in the second half to only see the Shock clinch the title.
But anyways as far as the football game was concerned, I was glad to see Eastern put up a fight and I actually had hope for them the way they started the second half. Its too bad they couldnt tie the game at 24 after recovering a fumble on the second half kickoff. Oh well, but I think they have a decent shot at beating Northwestern on Saturday.

strike

So its the third day of classes at EMU and there is faculty that is still striking. Man i'm jealous. How come this didn't happen my senior year when the faculty was very close to striking before an agreement was reached the night before classes

Link to story from the student newspaper: http://easternecho.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?11411

but i'm 17

as i was gettin ready to go to hudson to cover a game i decided to go get some gas at the BP by my house and then run back to my apartment for a little bit before i leave. well my trip to the gas station started out normal - i was filling up my car and whatever until a car pulled up next to me and asked me for a favor. me thinking they were going to ask for directions or something approached the car and was like yeah whats up. then the girl asks if i will buy her some cigarettes, to which I reply im only 17. her and her friend look at me and im like for real im 17 - she immediately is like bull fucking shit - and im like i am - and shes like bull fucking shit and speeds off.

like i would seriously buy her some damn cigarettes with the attendant from inside looking out the window. and besides i dont even smoke

streak

I keep on ending up at Tigers games that end up having a streaker run across the field. Last August I went to a game against the Red Sox where a couple of naked guys jumped on to the field from the first base line and one of them made it all the way across to the third base side before gettin caught.

Saturday in the game against the Angels a guy jumped out from the third base line and ran across the field. As he was running he fell on the center field grass quite a bit in front of Tigers centerfielder Curtis Granderson. He then was eventually caught in the rightfield corner.

The game was pretty tight. Sarah and I got to see Verlander pitch and had some decent seats that were 20 rows behind the Tigers dugout. After trailing 1-0, Detroit scored two runs in the eighth thanks to a clutch hit by Marcus Thames to go up 2-1. It appeared it would be another W but shaky defense in the ninth helped Los Angeles tie the game. They eventually scored 5 runs in the 10th with a triple by Chone Figgins keying the surge. They won the game 7-2 which was a crappy ending. Hopefully this loss won't come back to hurt them late in the month when the Tigs try to claim the Central Division title and reach the playoffs
Regardless it was still fun, and I was glad to finally see Verlander pitch in person.
It looked like the game might get cancelled because of rain but the game just started 15 minutes later.

the photos above are from the Associated Press

baseball games

Recently had one of my ultimate stretch of days that included two trips to the ballpark to see the Tigers. Sunday I went to catch the game against the Indians with my dad - a 1-0 victory for the Tigers

A pretty good game and it was fun chillin w/ the pops and keeping score and stuff like that. Despite Verlander not pitching, Ledezma put on a show and performed well. Every time I've seen him pitch in person (also saw him during the 04 season at U.S. Cellular) he's done well.

After the game we went to a nursing home/rehabilation center to see a relative, and to visit both my dad's parents and then met some relative I'd never even met before. The dude, who is my grandpas brother, had like a car shop in his back yard and it included a 1953 chevy that is one of them cars that u see at the Dream Cruise. It looked very good.

Also went to see my other grandma that day so needless to say it was a loong day that didnt end til i rolled back into Adrian at 9.

Yesterday's game was fun even tho the Tigers lost to the Twins. ended up going with Jess and Scott. We had fifth row seats that were outfield box along the first base line. Were pretty close to the action. Robertson aka Gum Time pitched decent but made a few too many mistakes.
Scott and I both ended up getting Tigers jersey shirts - he got Verlander and I got Granderson. Not too much else to add right now

Boo to that

I was all excited and very much looking forward to going to Sunday's Tigers game with my Dad, especially knowing that I'd finally get to see Justin Verlander pitch in person. That excitement just faded a few minutes ago when I was looking on the AP wire and saw that Verlander would miss a start due to a fatigue in his arm.

Sucks for me but a good decision for the stretch run. It should still be fun anyways

Michigan nips Penn State

A classic video

One of the most classic press conferences of all time

what will they create next..

In light of the World Cup and the infamous head butt by France's Zidane, I recently found this on one of my friends blogs

http://addictinggames.com/zidaneheadbuttgame.html

A great first half

I'll be the first to tell you that I'm definitely satisfied with the way the first half of the season turned out for my beloved Tigers. No way did I expect them to have a 59-29 record and have the best record in all of baseball and have a two game lead over the White Sox for the lead in the AL Central.

Heres to hoping they can keep up the pace in the second half and be in the playoffs for the first time since 1987. Hopefully the pitching holds up and the young players like Granderson, Zumaya, and Verlander don't get too fatigued down the stretch. I would hate to do what the Cleveland Indians did down the stretch last year and then have to recall the vivid image of Chicago White Sox coach Ozzie Guillen giving the choke sign (see image)
Also here is hoping that the players (i.e Carlos Guillen, Pudge, Maggs) stay healthy during the stretch run.

The first half of the season was also a great one for two of my three fantasy baseball teams (yeah im a fantasy sports dork). In the random yahoo public league i joined i'm in first place with a game lead over the rest of the competition. I'm boasting a 59-41-10 record and have won seven of my last eight weekly matchups after opening the season by losing the first three weeks.

In the league I care about most (league im in with people from work) I'm a 0.5 game behind Scott for first place with a 118-85-44 record. In that league i've won five straight weekly matchups and seven of my last eight.
Then theres the league I'm doing shitty in.. the league im in with EMU people. I'm 12th out of 14 teams and 39 games behind the league leader.

my wish list

As the second half of the baseball season will begin soon, I decided to make a wish list of players I hope the Tigers acquire for the stetch run.

1. Carl Crawford

Probably not likely because the Tigers would have to give the Devil Rays too much. But Crawford is a young, talented left-handed outfielder with great speed - something that is missing from this year's team.


Stats - .319 average, 12 doubles, 8 triples, 13 home runs, 46 RBIs, 32 stolen bases


2. Alfonso Soriano

A second baseman who has been transformed into a left fielder for my second favorite team - the Nationals. His defense can be suspect at times, but for what he can do with the bat he is well worth it. Not a lefty, which is what the Tigs need, but if they could acquire him it would be a big lift.


Stats - .272 batting average, 20 doubles, 27 home runs, 56 RBIs, 20 stolen bases, 63 runs

3. Dontrelle Willis
Has arguably one of the best pitchers in baseball the past month. Seems unlikely the Marlins will trade him now that they are playing respectable baseball. The price might be too high for the Tigers. The Tigers seem to have enough reliable pitching but you can never have too much.

Stats - 6-7 record, 3.94 ERA, 123.1 innings, 3 complete games, 76 strikeouts


4. Bobby Abreu
Seems to be the most likely of this group. A left-handed bat who gets on base. Has a big salary but seems as things will be worked out in order to reach a deal if one is reached. Likely would lose Craig Monroe or Marcus Thames and possibly a minor league pitcher

Stats - .293 batting average, 22 doubles, 8 home runs, 59 RBIs, 83 walks, 18 stolen bases, .447 on base percentage

*Stats are through the first half of this season

what a coincidence

Just saw that NASCAR driver Matt Kenseth was rear-ended for the second straight day. Seems he must have a target on him.

Kenseth’s rental car bumped at stoplight

One day after a bump from Jeff Gordon sent him spinning out of the lead in the Nextel Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway, Matt Kenseth felt another nudge as he was stopped at a light in his rental car.

He thought it might have been a tap from Roush Racing teammate Greg Biffle, who was following Kenseth from the airport to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for testing.

“He always runs into me, so I thought it was him joking,” Kenseth was quoted as saying Monday in a NASCAR news release. “It wasn’t. It was a student driver and instructor; just pile drove into the back of me. That was exciting.”

Goodbye Ben, hello Nazr

In a couple of days Ben Wallace will be a Chicago Bull. Like many Pistons fans I was disappointed that he decided to leave Detroit when it seemed like the starting five could at least have a couple more long playoff runs to see if they can deliver another title. I also didn't think he'd actually leave, but things happen and change.

At the same time, I understood the business aspect of things and realized that the Pistons couldn't offer him 60 million for four years. Many are skeptical of the signing of Nazr Mohammed as the new center but I'm taking the optimistic approach and thinking we might have something better than people think we have.

When Ben Wallace was traded to Detroit in the summer of 2000 along with Chucky Atkins for Grant Hill, he wasn't exactly an All-Star caliber player. In his last season in Orlando here are his numbers

Ben Wallace (1999-2000 season)
Games- 81 (81 starts)
Minutes /gm - 24.2
Pts/gm - 4.8
Reb/gm - 8.2 (2.6 offensive reb/gm)
Blk/gm - 1.6
FG % - 50.4
FT % - 47.4

Here are Mohammed's numbers from last season with San Antonio
Games - 80 (30 starts)
Min/gm - 17.4
Pts/gm - 6.2
Reb/gm - 5.2 (2.0 offensive reb/gm)
Blk/gm - .61
FG % - 50.4
FT % - 76.5

Their numbers are fairly comparable
Mohammed might not be the defensive presence that Wallace was, but he is an upgrade on the offensive end. While it sucks to lose the face of the franchise this might pay off in the long run

Now I understand

As if I didnt understand before, I got another reminder on how big this area is on there NASCAR.

I was in Meijer picking up some grease for my hair tonight and I overheard a couple of ladies talking in the next aisle over. There discussion began about their day and one mentioned she had watched the race. The discussion took off there as they talked about the end of the race in which Jeff Gordon won by spinning out Matt Kenseth in the final laps.

When the lady who didnt watch the race heard Gordon one she was rather disappointed because she doesn't like him but said she preferred him over Kenseth. The other lady replied I really can't stand both of them and they continued their discussion about their favorite drivers.

After picking up what I needed I took a quick glance over at the next aisle and saw that these ladies just appeared to be your average females.

a trip to the southWEST side

Went home for a little bit yesterday to enjoy the holiday and catch up with some pals. Its amazing all the people I saw while being home for a little bit more than 24 hours. I rolled until town about 3 p.m. yesterday and stopped to get some ice cream and saw a few people I knew working at Dairy Queen.

I went home and chilled there for most of the evening and met my sister's boyfriend Rodney for the first time. Of course I was the last to meet him because I'm never around that way. But from what I hear hes a regular at my house. I ended up heading down to the beach for the fireworks display over Lake Michigan that night and caught up with people I hadn't seen in eons. Ran into one of my classmates and a few of my sister's classmates and then also my friend Erika and one of her pals.

After the fireworks I ventured out to Benton Harbor to meet a few of my close pals at Steak and Shake for a late night snack. Steak and Shake was surprisingly packed with so many people there from the fireworks .. so it took awhile to get food. but that was cool because it just gave me the chance to catch up with Amy, Katie, Kristy and Lynz. Aside from seeing Amy at the end of May, I hsdn't seen the others in quite sometime.

Regardless yesterday was a long day considering I was up at 5 to do pages. and i didn't get much sleep because I was hanging out at a co-workers cookout on Sunday.

Today I stopped at my friend Renae and her husband's house and got a tour. When I get married I'd want to have a house like theirs. It was a decent size and a pretty nice place. Then I ran a few errands and before you knew it it was time to eat. Renae and her husband came over as was my uncle Ron. My sisters boyfriend and his mom and nephew also came but they didnt arrive until after most everyone had already eaten dinner.

while at home it was pretty cool to see the new additions around town, and I was surprised to see that there is a Steve and Berry's in Benton Harbor. I definitely want to hit that up when I return that way

rocket man

Last night I got a chance to see the winningest pitcher in baseball for the first time. That pitching being none other than future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, who was making his second start of the season with the Astros. I saw Clemens pitch 2+ innings (i'll explain later) and he held true to form.

And once again he was plagued by the low scoring Astros' offense as he ended up getting no run support thanks to a solid pitching effort by Nate Robertson. The Tigers ended up winning the game 4-0 and did their damage once Clemens left the game in the 7th.

All in all a nice victory to see for the Tigers who are continuing to play solid basbeall. They just swept the Cardinals and took the first two games of their series with the defending National League champs.

As to why I only saw Clemens pitch for 2+ innings.

I arrived to the stadium at 6:20 ish and headed toward the will call line with the people I was with. We were in line by 6:25 and didnt get in the ball park until close to 8:00. By that time the bottom of the fourth inning was one out away from being over. The delay? A long will call line. I could have never imagined having to deal with something like that and I feel sorry for people who were way behind us. I'd be surprised if they got into the stadium before the seventh inning.

It didnt make sense that the Tigers didnt have all the ticket offices outside the stadium serve will call needs since the game was pratically sold out -- which doesnt often happen for a night game in the middle of the week. But oh well I guess. I wrote a letter to the Tigers to speak my mind on the matter and hopefully they get back to me about it.

After the game we ended hoping on the people mover to get to Greektown where we ate at Pizza Papalis before heading back home. Not a bad night, minus the long will call line.

catchin up

Nice to catch up with some friends that I hadnt seen since last summer last night
I journeyed up to Ypsi for Pat and Anna's birthday party at Frenchies in Depot Town.

Not a bad time. Ended up driving over to my buddy Scott's apartment on Summit to watch the end of the Tigers game (another great, magical win for the Tigs) and then making the 15 minute walk to Depot Town. That was prolly the first time I had walked to Depot Town from the main campus area since I went to Summer Insitute in the summer of 2000 (i was getting ready to enter my senior yr of HS then).

When we almost were at Frenchies I saw Glenna Frank Miller chilling outside a restaurant and she recognized me and said hello. and then once we got there I ran into a lot of the peeps I used to chill with from time to time like Steve, Ken, Carrie and Trisha along with Pat and Anna. Also ran into some people I knew from my days on OTEAM as well.

All in all a pretty fun night and it waw great to catch up with some people I rarely see

im still here...

im still alive to whoever reads this

been busy of late... a few things ive done recently

- covered the East-West All Star game at Comerica Park Tuesday.. an interesting experience. I found out that one of our local coaches actually knows Jim Leyland. I heard him talkin to another guy talkin bout how he tried giving Kate Leyland (Jim's wife) a call and was shocked that he knew him. I guess tehy used to do camps together in the Toledo area which makes perfect sense since leyland is from that area.

- spent this whole past weekend at MIS covering NASCAR stuff and my cousin Bill Lester (just a joke there). For those who don't know Bill Lester is an African American driver and he was racing in his second race in the Nextel Cup Series. He races in the craftsman truck series as well but is tryin to break through in the major series. Seemed like a cool guy from what i saw of him interacting with people

Adam Sandler was the grand marshal of Sunday's race and said Gentleman start your engines in his happy gilmore voice.. quite entertaining. Walked right past Dale Earnhardt Jr on Sunday. I was standing with Deloris at the time and joked she should have reached out to touch him since that is her favorite driver.

-- oh and yesterday there was that storm that hit Adrian. My power went out at 6 pm yesterday and didnt come on until 11 am. Talk about sucking especially since I had to get up early for pages. Thank God for cell phones

Another random thing... last week Sean and I were playing tennis at Adrian High at night. It was starting to get pretty dark.... so dark we could barely see the ball so we decided to leave. As we were walking to our cars a security guard emerged from the school asking us if those were our cars and telling us to move them because they were closed. Closed??? how were they closed? there were no signs posted. That was pretty much just wack....

i think that is enough rambling for now. hopefully ill write more soon