Detroit Sports

Tuesday, November 30, 2004

John Navarre back in Michigan

The Michigan Wolverines' former starting quarterback John Navarre will get the start at quarterback this week when the Cardinals face off against the Lions. Navarre was drafted in the 7th round by the Cardinals(202nd overall) in last year's draft. The game is in Detroit where the Lions have won only one game this year.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

The Demise of Detroit

Lately the Detroit Sports scene has been somewhat in ruins. Almost every professional sports team in Detroit seems to be stuck in a downfall.

The Detroit Pistons were NBA champs last season but they will have a major cloud over their heads for the rest of this season after their horrible brawl with the Pacers took place. Besides the brawl, the Pistons are barely playing 500 ball. They have already allowed 100 or more points in a game 4 times this season. They only allowed 100 points or more in a game 4 times all of last season.

The Detroit Lions are in a huge downfall. They started the season great at 4-2 but they have now lost 5 straight games(most of them fairly close). Their playoff chances have now almost completely gone down the tube. The Lions' offense has been horrible all year and their defense was horrible this past week. A lot of people are calling out Joey Harrington. Everyone is saying how he should not be the starter. The more I see him do bad the more I agree with them. Its sad but the Lions will probably have another quarterback under the helm next season.

The Detroit Redwings are also in a downfall. I think that because they have not played at all this season but also because they have not done much in the playoffs during the last 2 seasons. A lot of their best players are getting older and this lockout is not helping at all. Head over to On the Wings for all your lockout and Red Wings' news.

The Detroit Tigers are the only team on the uprise in Detroit. They greatly improved this past season by signing a lot of good players in the previous offseason. This offseason they have already signed Troy Percival and they are in possible contention for Jeff Kent, Derek Lowe, Carl Pavano, and other stars. They should be able to finish very close or over the 500 mark this upcoming season. They play in a very weak division and they must take advantage of it.

There you have it, my breakdown of what is going on in the Detroit Sports scene. Maybe you disagree or agree with me that the Detroit Sports scene is not doing that great. I think the Pistons and Red Wings will pick it up but the Lions will not do much better anytime soon.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this. If you have any thoughts on this then just leave a comment or email me.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Thanksgiving Notes

The Detroit Lions got completely destroyed by the Indianapolis Colts on national television. Peyton Manning threw for 6 touchdown passes in just three quarters as the Colts beat the Lions 41-9.

Joey Harrington threw for 156 yards on 14 of 23 passing but he could not get the Lions into the endzone during the Lions' first couple of drives. He was benched and was replaced by Mike McMahon late in the game. McMahon threw for 77 yards on 11/15 passing. McMahon also threw an interception on the final play of the game.

The Lions actually had a decent game running the ball but it was not nearly enough. Kevin Jones ran for 99 yards on just 12 rushes. Shawn Bryson ran for 51 yards on 7 carries.

The Lions just plain got blown out of the water. They did not score one touchdown. The Colts were the much better team. They completely lit up the Lions' secondary. Dre Bly and Fernando Bryant were burned time and time again. This game was horrible to watch. The Lions usually play good on Thanksgiving but they did not today. The Lions' playoff chances have now gone almost completely down the tube. Next season here we come!

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Final Brawl Thoughts

It has been about five days since the brawl at the Palace took place between the Pacers and Pistons but the topic is still hot. A lot of people continue to wonder what really happened and who should take the blame for it. We have all the seen the video clip over and over. This brawl will be planted into the minds of basketball fans for a long time. This whole incident can mostly be blamed on Ron Artest and some of the fans in Detroit. Ron Artest acted like a stupid little punk. The fans involved in this also acted stupid. John Green denies he threw the cup at Ron Artest but come on; we all the saw the tape. This former convict clearly threw the cup, sparking this whole mess. This brawl will put a black cloud over the Pistons for the rest of this season. I am not sure if the Pistons deserve a bad reputation from this incident but that is probably what they are going to get. I think we all just need to move on and hope that this will never happen again.

My New Site
I recently started another Detroit Sports site. Instead of posting news about Detroit Sports, I will put up all the best pictures I can find from the Detroit Sports scene. Right now I have about 5 pictures from the brawl. The address to my new site is
http://detroitsportspictures.blogspot.com

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Some More Brawl News

After watching the video of the brawl at the Palace, the police have identified John Green of Southfield as the idiot who threw the plastic cup at Ron Artest. After he threw the cup; Ron Artest ran into the stands looking for the guy who threw the cup at him. If this dumb fan had not thrown the cup at Artest then this whole situation would have not ended in such a terrible mess. This fan should be fined and jailed. His season tickets have already been revoked by the Pistons. "John Green" showed how one fan's stupidity can lead to a horrible outcome.

Sunday, November 21, 2004

Weekend Wrapup

More Brawl News
The NBA came down very hard on the players involved in Friday night's brawl at the Palace between the Pistons and Pacers. Ron Artest was suspended for the rest of the season(72 games). Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games. Jermaine O'Neal was suspended for 25 games. Ben Wallace was suspended for 6 games. Five other players involved were suspended for one game a piece. I think these suspensions were right on the money. The NBA had to give harsh penalties on the players in order for this to never happen again. I don't like the Pacers but I feel bad for them; this stupid brawl really hurt their championship hopes. I also feel bad for the NBA because off how terrible it made the league look.

A Thorny Rose
The Michigan Wolverines are headed off to the Rose Bowl as Big Ten champs even after an embarrasing 37-21 loss to their chief rivals Ohio State. Ohio State was at home and just plain outplayed Michigan. Michigan is still going to the Rose Bowl because Iowa beat Wisconsin and Michigan held the tie breaker over Iowa(both teams were 7-1 in Big Ten play but Michigan beat Iowa). Yes, it was an embarrassing loss but Michigan fans should still be fairly happy with Michigan's second straight chance to play in the Rose Bowl. Hopefully they will not get lose like they did last year.

Another Terrible Loss
The Lions played another horrible offensive game in a lose to the Vikings. They were leading the Vikings 19-7 before the Vikings came back to score two touchdowns to take the lead. Joey Harrington threw a interception on the final drive of the game to seal the victory for the Vikings. Harrington and the rest of the offense again looked horrible. Lions' fans can starting look to next season already. The Lions themselves can also starting looking for another quarterback to lead their team. Whatever excuse you want to use; Harrington just plain isn't up to the task.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

A Dark Day in Detroit

Larry Brown called the end of last night's Indiana-Detroit game the "Ugliest thing I have ever seen as a coach or as a player."

The Pacers beat the Pistons last night but everyone in this game was a loser in the end.

Larry Brown was talking about the huge brawl at the end of the game. Here is how the huge brawl started-Indiana was up by 15 with just under a minute left. Ben Wallace was going up for a layup when he was fouled hard by Ron Artest. Ben Wallace went crazy and pushed, not punched, Ron Artest. The players were going at eachother on the court but no punches were thrown. Ron Artest was laying on the scorer's table away from the mini brawl when Ben Wallace threw a towel at him. Ron Artest got up but then sat back down on the table. After this point it was complete insanity. While Artest was laying on the table, he was hit on the chest by a plastic cup filled with some type of liquid. The cup was thrown by a fan. Ron Artest went crazy and went into the stands after the fan who he thought threw the bottle(it was actually the wrong guy) and took him down while trying to punch him. Stephen Jackson of the Pacers also ran into the stands and was fighting in the stands with the fans. Rasheed Wallace ran into the stands trying to break up the fights. Once Artest and Jackson came down to the court again;another stupid fan challenged Artest and Artest took him out as well. Then Jermaine O'Neal came into the mix and punched the same fan that Artest had punched on the court. After all the players got out of the stands, the worst think happened(in my mind). As the Pacers were going into the tunnel out of the court, they were showered by drinks, popcorn, and who knows what else. A chair, yes a chair, was even thrown at Jermaine O'Neal. The chair luckly missed him. After the Pacers went into the tunnel, the game was called. To get a more complete wrapup of what happened, click here or click here.

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This was the most horrible thing you can every imagine that will happen in a basketball game. Nobody goes without fault in this game. I got this email this morning from someone who was very very mad about this.

Any fan of the Pistons has got to be one of the
dumbest scumbags on the face of the earth.

Consider yourselves not welcome anywhere else

To the person who wrote this-the fans at the game who were involved in this brawl were the "dumbest scumbags" on the face of the earth. Very few Pistons' fans are actually like that. They were probably drunk and some of them deserve to go to jail. They are the main people to be blamed for this. They gave Detroit a bad name. They are not the only ones at fault though. Ron Artest was one of the main ones who was a complete idiot in all of this. He should not have cheap fouled Ben Wallace so late in the game. He also probably should have not ran into the stands when he was hit with the plastic cup. His suspension will be the longest I assume. Ben Wallace is also at blame. He should not have gotten so mad at Artest for his foul. If Wallace had just walked away, none of this would have happened. Stephen Jackson also has some blame. He should not have went into the fans trying to take somebody down. I think the biggest singular blame of all of this goes to the complete idiot who threw the plastic cup at Artest. That started the chain reaction to all the other fans I think. That fan should be jailed and fined.

This whole incident was just horrible. It will leave a scare on Detroit and the NBA for a long time. To all the fans and players who caused all of this to happen:you really disapointed a lot of people. There were little kids at this game who did not need to see this. You made yourselves look like little babies on national television. This should have never happened. I hope nothing like this will ever happen again.



Friday, November 19, 2004

I have some competition

In the last couple of months there has been an outburst of sports blogs that are based or loosely based on Detroit Sports. I have added each of them to my links and I like most of them. Here is the list of them and a short report on each one.

Beyond Boxscores
A good new site based on Detroit Sports. This site is also based on sports as a whole. I like this site and I think it will do well. A site well worth checking out.

Sports Pig
Yes, I know the actual name to this site is "Detroit Sports Blog" but it would be too confusing by listing it like that because mine is so close in name to it. This site recently got a nice new site design with a very cool picture banner. It is based largely on Detroit Sports. It has some new links as well. I read this site every couple of days. It is a good site that is worth checking out.

The Cheap Seats
This site has been around longer then my site. It is loosely based on Detroit Sports. It has some nice articles but it is not updated a whole lot. It has a nice site design and it is worth checking out.

Luke Walton's Forehead
This site has a weird name and the guy who runs it sounds kindof crazy but from the looks of it, it seems to be a good site. I just found out about this site and the posts I have read have been pretty good. This site is mostly based on Detroit Sports. I like it and I think it will do well once it gets some other sites to link to it.

C'mon Ref!
This site took a break for a while but now it has come back into the blogging sphere. It is based mainly on Detroit Sports. It has some nice pictures on it to view. It is a site worth checking out to find quick information.

Rhubarb
Another site based on Detroit Sports. It sortof has an ugly site design with some decent posts. It recently added some more links. Check it out but don't expect it to be an awesome site.

The Detroit Trio
No offense to the people who run this site but this is probably the worst of the new Detroit Sports sites. It is not updated a whole lot even though it is run by three people. Besides its cool banner, there is not a lot on this site except a few links. This site bugged me for a while to link them and I finally did. Maybe this site will do better in the future but right now it is not very good.

There you have it folks. Those are the seven other sites I know of who are at least loosely based on Detroit Sports. Most of them are fairly good and they are worth checking out. If you know of another site that is based on Detroit Sports then just send me an email and I will add it to my links.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Tigers Sign Percival

The Detroit Tigers opened the hotstove offseason by signing former Angels' closer Troy Percival to a two year deal worth about 12 million. Percival had a 2.90 ERA and recorded 33 saves last season as the Angels' closer. Percival is 35 years old but he can still pitch good. The Tigers might have overspent on this guy, but he is still a quality pitcher. The Tigers will now probably try to trade Ugueth Urbina. Urbina was their closer last year and he did a good job. The Tigers had just picked up his option for this season and now they will either trade him or maybe use him as a setup man for Percival. This was a good signing for the Tigers. It was nice to see them open up their wallet a little. Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come for the rest of the offseason.

Here are Percival's 10 year stats while with the Angels.
Games:579
Win and Loss Record:29-38
Saves:316
Blown Saves:50
Earned Run Average:2.99

Here are some other thoughts on this deal.
Tigers sign Percival
More Percival,Urbina
Tigers sign Percival
Pudge's signing opened his eyes to Motown
Here is another link about baseball:The Disposable Baseball Blogger

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

What happened to Harrington?

A lot of people are blaming the Detroit Lions' three game losing streak on their starting quarterback Joey Harrington. A few weeks ago I posted about how good Harrington was playing this season.

Three weeks ago Harington threw for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns in a loss to Dallas. The week before last he threw for 269 yards on a 50 percent completion ratio in a loss to Washington. This past game was just terrible for Harrington. He threw for a horrid 121 yards and an interception on just 11-33 passing. A few of those passes where dropped balls but most of his passes were just plain ugly. He did have a horrible game this past week as I said, but I do not know if you can say that he should not be their starting quarterback already. I am a big Joey Harrington fan and I want him to succeed more than anything. This season was the year for Harrington to step it up and maybe besides one or two bad games; he has done a decent job. I do not think you already start to look for another quarterback. I am not making excuses for him but he has no running game and his receivers are thin. However, if he has another couple terrible games like he did this past week; then I think you can start looking for a better quarterback to replace him. We should all give him a few more games to see if he is really as bad as everyone makes him out to be.

Here are Joey Harrington's stats for the season.

Yards Passing:1684
Touchdowns:13
Interceptions:6
Completion Percentage:56.4
Quarterback Rating:81.3

Sunday, November 14, 2004

Weekend Wrapup

The Michigan Wolverines can give much thanks to their instate rival Michigan State after Michigan State beat the undefeated Wisconsin Badgers. With the Badgers losing, Michigan will now take the Big Ten crown if they win next week on the road against their biggest rival-Ohio State. Michigan won this weekend against a decent Northwestern team to stay undefeated in Big Ten play. Mike Hart led the way with another great game. He rushed for 151 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Detroit Lions played another horrible offensive game in a losing effort to the Jaguars in overtime on Sunday. They scored zero offensive touchdowns and they were only in the game because Eddie Drummond returned 2 punts back for touchdowns. Joey Harrington had another terrible game. A lot of people already think he was a bad pick at number three in the draft, and I am starting to agree. This was the season for him to step it up and he just plain has not done that. He could be gone after the season. The Lions are now 4-5 after starting 4-2. They will face the Minnesota Vikings next week. They will lose that game too probably and end up being 4-6 going into Thanksgiving weekend. All of us Lions' fans can starting looking to next season already, something we have been doing for the last 45 years.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Around the Horn

The Detroit Tigers recently picked up a one year 4 million dollar option on Ugueth Urbina. Urbina was their closer all last season. He did a good job and the Tigers should be happy to have him back....Other Tigers' news is that Ivan Rodriguez won the "Tiger of the Year Award". I think the award should have gone to Carlos Guillen, but Pudge still had a great season.

Former Detroit Redwing defenseman Larry Murphy was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Some critics thought that he maybe did not deserve to get in but regardless; Murphy was a great player. He was one of the smartest players with the puck. He was huge in helping the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup 2 times. He is a great player who is still missed by some.


Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Progress Reports

The Detroit Pistons have played four games this season. They are currently 3-1 on the season. They have played good and they look like they will again contend for a championship.

Chauncey Billups is having a great season. He is averaging 20.3 points per game and 7.5 assists per game, both tops on the team. New Piston Antonio McDyess is having a rough time. He is averaging only 4.5 points per game but is also averaging only 18 minutes per game. He should be able to pick it up as the season goes on. The Pistons' defensive leader Ben Wallace is again having a great start to the season. He is averaging 12.8 points per game, 12.8 rebounds per game, 2.75 blocks per game, and 3.8 assists per game....I will talk about the rest of the players as the season goes on.

So far the Pistons look good. It is a long season and anything could happen. Hopefully they will be able to repeat as champs.

Monday, November 08, 2004

Another Bad Loss

The Lions lost a bad game on Sunday vs the Redskins 17-10. The Lions were down 17-3 in the fourth quarter and scored a touchdown to be down by only 7 points but it was too little too late. The Lions had another terrible game on the offensive end of the field. They must establish some kindof running game if they want to have any chance at being 500. The Lions are now 4-4 midway through the season.

Friday, November 05, 2004

A Golden Opportunity

The Detroit Lions have a great opportunity before them this Sunday when they face the 2-5 Washington Redskins. If the Lions win then they will have a 5-3 record which would mean that they would be just one game behind the Minnesota Vikings for the division lead(and that is if Minnesota wins this weekend). The Vikings play the Colts and the Vikings are missing Randy Moss. If the Lions win and the Vikings lose then both teams will have a share of the division lead, something that Lions fans haven't talked about in a long time.

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Season Opener

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The Detroit Pistons started the 2004-2005 NBA Regular Season with a victory over the Houstin Rockets. Rasheed Wallace led the way with 24 points. The Pistons raised the banner before this game and gave out the Championship rings. Their defense of the Championship starts now.

Tuesday, November 02, 2004

11/2 Notes

The Detroit Pistons officially start their championship defense tonight when they open up the regular season at the Palace. The banner will be raised and the rings will be handed out. It should be another great season.

Long time Lion Robert Porcher retired earlier this week. He finished first on the all-time Lions sack list. He was a great player and the Lions were lucky to have him. He hasn't played all season, and it is unknown if he will go to another team or stay retired.