Sports Are Us

For college football fans...today is Christmas.  It's THE best day of the year!

Today is the day!  It's national signing day!  A day when high school football players from across the country will sign their letter of intent and decide where they will officially be playing football next season!  The big one locally is of course Western Michigan University.  The Broncos are expected to make their announcements at 3pm.  

We'll be providing a live stream of the announcement right here and on wkzo.com.  To watch the announcement just click play below. 

Streaming live video by Ustream

Gotta love Marketing Departments!  The Carolina Panthers have how should I say: "tweaked" their logo to as they put it give it a more "aggressive, contemporary" look.  It's the first tweak to the logo since the team was founded in 1995 and frankly I am still unsure of what it is that I am looking at.  

What exactly did they change?  Old Logo...

New Logo...

I am being serious.  They made a 'slight tweak' and it's one of those things where you have to wonder if the Marketing team was just sitting around bored at the office thinking what can we do today?  Oh let's add a line to the Panther!  It's aggressive and fierce now!  

Even with the fierce logo tweaking it's kind of a good time to be a Panther.  Rookie sensation Cam Newton was somehow selected to replace Eli Manning in the Pro Bowl over Detroit Lions Quarterback Matthew Stafford who threw for over 5000 yards and at the end of the day the Panthers play every single home game in one nice warm climate.  

Let's do this one more time...old logo...new logo...old logo...new log oh wait now I see the difference!  :)

(Image from the 2006 Pro Bowl via Wikipedia)

When winning an award Steve Martin once famously stepped to the podium...paused and said something along the lines of: "Thank you.  I am trying to find a way to...CARE."  That has to be the feeling Brandon Marshall has following his amazing performance in a game that means zero.  In a game that fans watch only because the Super Bowl is a week later the Miami Dolphins receiver set the world on fire!

6 catches, 174 yards and 4 touchdowns en route to a Pro Bowl MVP and a 59-41 AFC win over the NFC Sunday in Hawaii.  Again...why should we care?

I am convinced that the smartest thing the NFL could do is move the Pro Bowl back to the mainland and play it the weekend following the Super Bowl.  The week after the Super Bowl has always left a feeling of empty.  A time when we all wish we were still watching football, so why not hold the Pro Bowl when the season is over?   

Holding the game after the Super Bowl allows players from the leagues 2 best teams to participate while also giving more of a vacation type feel for the players.  The AFC beat the NFC Sunday in the Pro Bowl.  I repeat the AFC beat the NFC Sunday in the Pro Bowl.

Still trying to find a reason to care?  Well, here's a video of Brandon making an awesome and meaningless catch risking injury:

He may not remember but there are certainly stories all around Metro Detroit about Prince Fielders days as a young boy in the area.  I'll share the one I always heard.  Somewhere around the early 1990's Prince Fielders youth league team came to Bosco Field in Novi, Michigan.  The field is no longer in it's location...it was developed and most of it is either homes or a large field next to the Bosco family home off Beck Road and 11 mile road. There was a point however when I heard stories of Prince Fielder coming to the park.

At the time Cecil Fielder was starring with the Detroit Tigers and Prince was the talk-of-the-town.  He was seen in the dugout, running on the field and taking batting practice.  It was however this story that probably made it's way to every single playground in Metro Detroit that everyone was talking about.  

Somewhere early on it began making the rounds that Cecil wasn't able to attend Prince's Little League games because of his star power.  So Fielder would sit in his windows tinted vehicle watching his son play.  That story morphed into a time that the younger Fielder once hit a line drive through his fathers windshield.  

As stories started coming out that Fielder was going to sign with the Tigers I started telling co-workers about this story.  Somewhere along the way I realized it has morphed from Fielder hitting the homerun into his fathers windshield somewhere to Fielder hitting the homerun at Bosco Field in Novi, I was playing against him and I saw Cecil Fielder get out of the car.  

Maybe it's true.  Maybe it's not but I know one thing: the legends are MAJOR when it comes to Prince Fielders Little League accomplishments in the early 1990's.  Here's to hoping he shatters some more windshields over the statues in right center at Comerica Park.

(Photo is courtesy of Reuters)

Tigers owner Mike Illitch elevated himself to being the most beloved owner in sports by signing Fielder Thursday.  I read a story saying how you can't sign players like that in Cleveland or Pittsburgh.  In Detroit...in Michigan...the Tigers can because the Illitch family generously shares its money to make Detroit a winning city.

That's what I call a great owner.  Fielders back...because Mike Illitch put his money where his mouth is and now the Detroit Tigers are back as favorites of the American League Central Division in 2012.

As I was sitting in a meeting reading the Detroit Tigers press release it immediatly hit me: "2012 is starting to feel alot like the days of Gary Sheffield".  As many of you know it was announced this afternoon that Tigers star designated hitter Victor Martinez will most likely miss the 2012 season with a torn ACL.  Martinez reportedly tore the ACL while training for the upcoming season in Florida.

That part of the story is now done.  Whether Martinez misses almost all or all of the season shouldn't play a role in the Tigers 2012 plans anymore.  The new question becomes: "Who replaces Martinez bat in the Tigers lineup?"

Let's start with the my choice and the heavy hitter: Prince Fielder.  We are talking about a superstar hitter with a family history of Detroit Tigers baseball.  Fielders father Cecil of course played for the Tigers in the early 90's even hitting 51 homeruns in the 1990 season.  I'm not sure if that's a positive or a negative however because Fielder has gone through a falling out with his father in the past.

The positive however is that we know Fielder grew up going to baseball games in Detroit and certainly witnessed the love Detroit baseball fans can shower great players with.  In 1990 and 1991 Fielder was THE elite player in Detroit baseball.  With all of that said however it's extremely unlikely that Fielder would be willing to sign a one-year-deal with anyone and even if he made an exception for the Tigers it would be at an incredibly high rate.

So forget Fielder.  

Instead with the help of our friends at Bleacherreport.com here is a list of potential replacements for Mr. Martinez:

Carlos Pena

Johnny Damon

Andy Dirks

Hideki Matsui

Carlos Lee

Of these players only Pena and Lee make sense to me.  Pena has the history with the Tigers and it could be a nice return if Pena were able to rekindle his Tampa Bay Rays success in the way the Tigers originally hoped he would in Detroit.  

Lee on the other hand has a massive 18.5 million-dollar salary to deal with.  I am guessing the Astros would pay alot of that if the Tigers were willing to take some of it off their hands.  Lee is a free agent in 2013 so it works for one season, gives the Tigers more pop in the middle of the lineup and might work.  

Only one issue with Lee and Pena and that is that they both strikeout A TON.  Martinez on the other hand his .330 in 2011 with low homerun numbers.  If the Tigers hope to make a 2006 style-run in 2012 they may want to consider searching for a replacement for Martinez average rather than the pop in his bat.  

What do you think?  Who would you like to see the Tigers go after to replace Victor Martinez?

Go back about 10 weeks and you would have never found me preaching about how fun it is to watch the San Francisco 49ers.  At that point I would have been mad as hell that former Michigan quarterback and current Head Coach Jim Harbaugh slapped Lions Head Coach Jim Schwartz on the back.  I would have been wrong.

The Harbaugh boys are slowly becoming THE item to discuss in the NFL.  How cool would it be to have brothers facing off in the Super Bowl?

Brothers facing off is of course an awesome thing but what makes this extra special is the fact that their Dad was the former Head Coach of the Western Michigan Broncos.  During his time at WMU Jack Harbaugh compiled a record of 26-26-3 and will forever provide a link between what is fast becoming the best coaching family on-record and the city of Kalamazoo.  

I'm rooting for San Fransisco vs. Baltimore in "Harbaugh Bowl 1"

It came out this morning that the underachieving New York Jets are now talking to the papers and jumping all over young quarterback Mark Sanchez.  Jets players are claiming "He's lazy and content because he knows he's not going to be benched."

What a bunch of cowards these sources are.  Going out and speaking anonamously to the sports media is being ridiculous.  If you have a problem with your quarterback and you are a professional athlete you need to be a man and address it behind closed doors.  Spouting off in the media is THE most childish way to go about it.

As I heard this story this morning I did realize something: I found myself wondering...why is ESPN forcing us to care about the New York Jets anyway?  This is an 8-8 team that absolutely floundered it's way out of the playoffs.  They don't even deserve to be on television.  

Can we please move on to teams like the Packers, Saints, 49ers, Giants, Broncos, Patriots, Ravens or Texans that are actually still playing?  You know...teams that don't deserve all team chemistry because of 2 or 3 idiots?  

At this point I welcome more Tim Tebow time if it means less New York Jets and Mark Sanchez in my face.  Thank you.  It's Tebow Time.  

The Alabama Crimson Tide are the best team in the country this season.  There is no doubting that following their 21-0 rout of the previously unbeaten LSU Tigers in New Orleans Monday night.  Alabama dominated LSU not allowing the Tigers to pass mid-field for the first time until late in the 4th quarter.

Alright good.  I have made the announcement that Alabama is great.  The SEC reigns supreme and all is well with the world.  The real question now becomes: "Michigan or Michigan State...which team has the better chance of making it to the BCS National Championship game next season?

In 2012 I have to believe it's the Michigan Wolverines that have a realistic shot at getting to the National Championship.  The Wolverines lose several key starters like Mike Martin on defense but retain offensive power in Denard Robinson, Fitzgerald Toussaint, Vincent Smith, Darryl Stonum and a host of others.  The Wolverines first real test however comes in game 1 of the season when they take on the now defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide in the opener.

If the Wolverines can shock the world and beat Alabama in the opener...it's going to be an interesting 2012 in Ann Arbor.

Michigan State on the other hand will be dealing with the early loss of Jerel Worthy on defense, Kirk Cousins to graduation and a host of other Seniors that have defined this program since Mark Dantonio came over from Cincinnati.  This group of Seniors never lost to Michigan, beat Wisconsin, Ohio State and won a New Years Dayish bowl game.  It's going to be hard to compete for a national title after losing that kind of leadership.

2012 should be an interesting season and I already find myself wondering when NCAA Football will be back already.  Getting sick of waiting you know.

It's finally here!  The re-match of two teams from what most would proclaim THE best conference in the college football ranks.  It's LSU and Alabama!  Nevermind that LSU and Alabama played one of the most boring games in the history of college football earlier this season.  Nothing says exciting like a 9-6 defensive slugfest!

Of course that all changes tonight.  It's LSU and Alabama playing for all the marbles in New Orleans!  

I have to say that this is one of those games that I am finding it hard to get excited for.  The major TV networks are of course trying to pump it as the game of the century but I just don't know how a re-match can be this exciting.

With that said...Alabama wins this one 14-10 in yet another defensive battle.  I'll be the one on the couch flipping between it and the home shopping network.  The HSN is expected to be debuting power tools and the offense will be more readily available with those.

Yes Tim Tebow just shocked the world and threw for 316 yards including the game-winning 80-yard-touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas to win their opening playoff game in overtime.  Yes Tebow has pretty much done things like this all season, but the real question becomes: "Can Tim Tebow knock out the Goliath New England Patriots this weekend in New England?

The Steelers are a great football franchise but let's face it they had Ben Roethlisberger hurting in a big way, their running backs were decimated by injury and after winning 12 football games this season they were forced to go to Denver to play an 8-8 division champion.  This week New England is fully loaded and looking for their first trip to the AFC Championship game since 2007.

I'm truly not trying to take anything away from Tebow on this one.  I swear i'm not.  But this week it's the New England Patriots on the road for a chance at the AFC Championship.  Tebow can't pull this one off right?  

The ads for the 2012 Super Bowl are already sold out.  It seems like that would always happen but in years past that hasn't always been the case.  Some years the Super Bowl ads don't sell out.  Luckily that isn't going to happen.  NBC announced that their average sale per commercial this year is 3.5 million-dollars for the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.

17% higher than last year!

NBC Universal says:

"Anheuser-Busch bought nine slots during the game. Pepsi has also got a place and will feature Melanie Amaro in one of its commercial. Amaro is the winner of season one of The X Factor. The spots will also see ads of Coca-Cola Company, Doritos, Mars, Dannon Yogurt, Bridgestone, General Motors, Volkswagen, Kia Motors, Toyota, Hyundai, Audi, Century 21 Real Estate, and GoDaddy."

As always Doritos is taking submissions again this year for their commercial.  Let's take a look at Doritos entry!

and here is a compiliation of the best of 2011: 

This weekend is going to be a BIG one at Lawson Ice Arena.  Defending national champion Minnesota-Duluth invades Kalamazoo for a 2-game-series with the Western Michigan Broncos hockey team.  The Broncos are coming off a tough 2-1 overtime victory over St. Cloud State in Minnesota Saturday.  The Bulldogs of UMD are on a 14-game unbeaten streak headed into the showdown with Andy Murray's 8th ranked Broncos squad.

The Broncos and Bulldogs could have potentially met in the NCAA tournament last season but the Broncos fell to Denver in the Green Bay regional.  While the Broncos and Bulldogs aren't considered rivals yet...it's about to happen because WMU will soon join the National Collegiate Hockey Conference with the University of Minnesota-Duluth.  

The long and the short of it is you need to go to this game.  WMU has a realistic shot of getting into a national championship discussion in hockey and this is the type of series that can propel a team to new heights.  It's in Kalamazoo, it's at Lawson Ice Arena and that place needs to be ROCKING on Friday and Saturday night.  Make sure you get there if you can!