The Sports Review

Ladies and gentlemen welcome once again to the Review

This week I'm going to try and focus on the pistons and what they plan to accomplish this year.  For those of you who don't know, this year is the pistons 50^th anniversary of operation in Detroit, they original started out as the Fort Wayne Zollener Pistons in 1942 then moved to Detroit in 1947.  With that in mind the pistons have prepared to celebrate there anazersy with some special logos and also a hardwood classics jersey that will be presented later on in the season in November.  Bringing the total number of jerseys up to 4, the first one being the white home jersey, the blue away jersey, the red alternative jersey, and the new hardwood classics. 

In other news deals with our roster situation.  As it stands right now, we have over 17 people on the roster that must be trimmed down to 15 by the official start of the season.  Chris Webber is the easy one out right now due to the fact that he only had one veterans minimum contract and the salary cap space issue with Nazr Mohammad.  Chris has stated that he doesn't mind waiting around until the issue with space is settled.  Joe D has talked to him and gave him a guarantee that if he is able to fix the space problem soon he will bring in Webber by the middle of the season. In the meantime Nazr has also stated that he will come back into training camp stronger and ready to get his starting job back, seeing as how he is the only true center on the team.  That remains to be seen though as we do have a rookie prospect in Check Sambie, who is 7'2 but looks to get playing time in the DL. 

Speaking of playing time, this year looks to be a good year for 3rd year forwards Jason Maxiell and Amir Johnson.  Joe D has instructed Flip to start integrating the younger blood into the rotation to "insure that the veterans know that there job isn't safe anymore with them around".  Maxiell looks the most ready to start the season, he came back about 25 pounds lighter than before and has been working on his mid-range, lay-up, and free-throw shots.  Amir Johnson came back to camp taller than last time.  When we drafted him 3 years ago he was 6'9, right now he stands at 6'11 1/2.  He has also worked on his game, developing a 3 point shot which could make him as dangerous as Rasheed is.  Also look for the rookies to contribute as well.  Our 15th pick Rodney Stuckey is poised to become the main backup to Billups, with his skill modeled after Dwayne Wade, he can cut thorough defense and drive it in, while our other rookie, Arron Afflo will remind fans of a younger and taller Lindsey Hunter.  His shot isn't' that good but his defense is pretty damn good.  The pistons have him being the second option off the bench for garbage minuets and coming off behind Flip Murry for Rip. 

Last but not least is the condition of the coaching staff.  Joe D went kind of crazy on the asstants and fired all but one and hired new people.  This was done to take Flip out of his comfort spot and give him something to work for.  As you know since he took the helm, the pistons have been excellent during the regular season but suck ass during the playoffs.  The farthest that we have gotten as been to the eastern conference finals.  It's starting to look like the same problem that he had during his tenure in Minnesota.  Joe doesn't want that and the only reason that he wasn't fired was due to his business like conduct and his not pissing off the owner, Mr. Davidson.

But he has been warned, Detroit has high standards for winning and he is the first coach in ten years to last to third season, the last coach to do that was Doug Collins in 97, and he only lasted till the middle of the season.

So here's to Flip not doing a Doug Collins.

Well that's it for now,

I'm out, like Coach Collins in '97.

Life's Progress (part 3)

During the next few weeks I avoided her calls, I couldn't' take what she had to tell me, and yes I know that wasn't the manliest move I could have made but I'll get back to that in a second.  The rest of the time I didn't talk to her was due to my phone nearly being crushed by a falling garage door that made looking at the screen impossible.  For the rest of that summer we didn't talk. The only form of communication that I made with her was an e-mail addressing what had happened with my phone and nothing else.  All the while during this period of silence between us my personal back ground was made a living hell, but that's another story for another time.

            Now here we are, another year of school has started and with it, another chance to try and work that which has been built up and torn down over and over again.   With school back in session things where starting to look better, we where back into talking to one another and I was trying desperately to enact all that I had learned from therapy. (talk about that later) Like I said everything was going well until I offered her help with her calculus.  She said she would let me only if I seriously wanted to, and of course I did.  So we set up some dates and I didn't' think more of it.  We where suppose to meet some time on Saturday night, in my opinion but I think we had a mis-understating and she called me on Friday afternoon.  Now keep in mind that I like to get my sleep in during the afternoons and I just wasn't' awake to answer the phone.  Later on that night I found out about what happened and how pissed off she was at me, which brings us to the present. 

Commin soon, Part 4.  ( I think I might be runnin out of stuff to say at the end )

I'm Out, like the Detroit Tigers are out of the MLB Playoffs

Life's Progress (part 2)

Well I hope you enjoyed part one, without delay here's part 2

Christmas break didn't do much to help us out as far as a relationship goes. There is an old saying "Out of sight, out of mind", that saying couldn't be any more true with me.  I rarely got to see her from the jump seeing as how we go to different schools and I don't have a car (I'll get back to that point in a minuet), and now having to go back to our respective homes just made it worse.  Prompting this downward spiral was a little incident that happened when I got back to Huntsville a week or so before she did.  I was supposed to be helping her with some money that I had promised to give her, and wouldn't you know it, I couldn't come through with it.  Looking back on that and what it turned into, with the running around and pay-day advances here and there I look at that and see that it was clearly my fault that that situation escalated the way it did.  After that, she started looking at me as some kind of unfortunate asset that she had unwillingly taken on and would cause her grief. 

            During the last part of my sophomore year, things between us settled then rose and settled then rose.  It was a back and forth see-saw motion.  One that both I and her were getting sick of.  When school finally let out, most of the stress was lifted away and it was a mutual feeling between the both of us that we would work on our relationship during the summer.  Unfortunately the fates had other things in mind.  I started working at General Motors under the instruction of Mrs. Reeves and she started back at work at Cracker Barrel and picked up a second job (as did I) late at nights.  The phone calls became few and far between, I kept promising her that I would try and make it down there so I could at least spend a week or a weekend of the summer down at her house, but nothing ever came of this.  She started getting upset with me over issues such as me "never wanting to help her with some of the bills she had" and "never caring about her".  It all came full force some time in the middle of July when I mentioned to her that I was considering buying a watch, bracelet, and chain set that was going for a good price from jeweler in Livonia.  The reason I was telling her about it was due to her constantly telling me that I need to dress better, and I thought that it would help out with my image (plus I always kind of wanted a chain to match my watch.)  Anyway, she got really upset about this and it was like all hell broke loose. 

Look for part 3 tomorrow.

Until then,

I'm out, like my patience.

Life's Progress (Part 1)

Hello everyone, I would like to say thanks for all the patience’s that you guys have put on in anticipation of my release of part 1 of my ongoing social life.  I would just like to tell you, before you get to reading, that this document started over 2 weeks ago and it is still being added on to so the first two paragraphs are just the into, you'll get more tomorrow.  So enjoy.

Hello folks and welcome to the newest edition of the Spectators Review: Life's Progress in Retro-Spec.

Author's Personal Note: It would help in the reading of this article if you where listing to Andre 3000's song "A Life in the Day of Benjamin André" off The Love Below album.  Mostly due to the fact that I was listing to in on repeat when I wrote this.
        

 I would like to start out this conversation with a little bit of history about myself; As it now stands, I have joined the ranks of thousands upon thousands of kids and teens who's parents have been divorced.  Not saying that this is a bad thing but I just never knew that it would come to that with my parents.  In saying that, one must know that, even though I didn't think it would come to that conclusion, it doesn't mean that it didn't look like it would.  I was in denial about a lot of things in my parent's relationship.  A lot of times it looked as though they where fixing things and that everything would be ok and then turn around and it blows up in me and my siblings faces.  My parents where always arguing about things as well, from the biggest of issues to the smallest of things, there was nothing they didn't' argue about and it is at this point that I would like to start my life review from this starting position.

         

 For the past nine months I have been "involved" with a young woman  that I met at work.  Now this girl, I will admit, is gorgeous in every single way and the why she carries herself, one can tell that she is no push over, she get what she wants.  So needless to say that being the shy person that I am, I was pursued by this young lady.  Once we got the ball rolling afterwards I started to notice that, even though she was ideal woman to be with I quickly came to the conclusion that she didn't think the same for me.  I'll admit that I have some quirks that would take a certain group of people just to understand me (hence my current friends) but it started to become obvious to me that, while she meant everything to me, her interests where only skin deep. 

Well that was the intro, we'll see where this thing leads to tomorrow,

Until Then

I'm Out, like all the energy I used playing Halo 3.

Welcome to New Beginnings

Ladies and Gentlemen

As per the agreement that I made to my readers at the beginning of the school year, I promised to diverge into my personal affairs, to give you a glimpse in the mind of the persons you "think" you know.  A mind that is clouded and twisted and sometimes even scary when reading a paragraph about what goes on in my mind.  These are to be a series of events in my life that I will dictate as best of my abilities to you, the reader to better understand the inner workings of my sub consciences and consciences.  I plane to show you that there is more to me than meets the eye.  I have more to my mental state then just what you do know about me in the realm of Engineering and Computer Electronics.  This, my friends, is the world where only my mind and soul dwell, a place protected by my AT Field, and I'm am lowering the barrier around my mind to let you in. 

Welcome to the spectators mental dwelling. 

Over the next school semester I shall be posting updates to this specific part of the blog so be sure to check in regularly.  I'll try and have it during Wednesdays and Fridays.  

So until then.

I'm out, like my medical prescription drugs!!

Sports Brief: A catch up

Hello and welcome once again to the Spectator's Review. 

Sorry I've been gone for so long, in short I had a lot of things happen in my life and it involve my beloved car and computer, but anyway let’s get on with some reviews on some things that have happened since I last wrote to you all.

Since my last posting a number of things have happened.  One the FIBA Americas tournament got off to a start and finish with the new Dream Team that did a hell of a lot better than the last couple of dream teams that we knew before.  I believe that its safe to say, the way in which we handled ourselves during the tournament, if we can keep it together for the upcoming year in Beijing we just might have a chance at taking the gold medal and no less. 

As far as the WNBA is concerned the Detroit Shock have once again dominated the regular season and are already in the WNBA Finals with a 1 game lead over the Phoenix Mercury.  It looks like this will be the test for the women to prove if offence does in fact sell tickets while defense wins championships. Only time (about 1 week) will tell.

 Also another key factor that I observed during the Labor Day weekend was the return of the IndyCar Racing and LeMans to Detroit.  Man that was something enjoyable to watch as the F1 cars raced around a new redone track at Belle Isle. 

Lastly the Detroit Tigers have been going through there usual "play good the first half of the season and suck the later part only to barley  pick it back up as the season raps up" trend.  In fact as I sit here in the lobby of Edwards hall and type this, I read that Granderson has just made history in getting 20 homers, 20 triples and 20 doubles.  Making him just the 6^th person since 1900 to do that. 

Well to close this up, seeing as how this is the Sabbath, I would like to also state that, due to the new school year starting, I will have some more diverse sports topics to address as well as some personal things as well.  Starting on my new section "The Self Performance Review", there I will be addressing some person things in my life, things that will have you get to know me a little better.  Also I know that I've talked about more Detroit things then you probley car to hear about but like I said, school has started so look forward to some new things.  So until then,

I'm out, like Curtis Granderson's home run ball.

The NBA Draft

Hello sports fans and welcome again to another edition of the Spectator's Review

            Well as you know the draft was last week and I've been poring over how to approach this and how to analyze these draft picks.  I will say the obvious in stating that this draft was VERY deep and I expect that all the top 15 players to make a very big impact on the team that they've been drafted on. That being said, I would also like to point out that I think the pistons finally did draft some one good this time around in a long time.  For the 15^th pick we chose Stuckey from Eastern Washington University.  Now I don't know much about this kid but I will say that from the reports coming out of his school and also the mere fact that he is only the second person from his school to be drafted in the first round out of his school in its history speaks of what the kid is really about. 

I'm out, like Ray Allen to the Celtics

Playoff Perspective 3

Hello sports fans and welcome again to another edition of the Playoff Perspective (which will now be known as the Spectator Review)

            As everybody knows, the Spurs are the Champs of 2007, almost effectively making them a dynasty, being the only team to win the championship 4 times since '99.  As you also know, Tony Parker was named Finals MVP.  It's funny because I just saw the reviews of the network rankings from ABC and as it turns out this year's final was actually WORSE than the '05 playoffs between the Spurs and Pistons.  Stuff like that makes me wonder wither or not the pistons meeting in the finals with the spurs would have been more entertaining than the Cav's meeting them instead. 

            My dad was saying that the spurs and pistons aren't good for the NBA, and it now looks like that he was right, but unfortunaly for the NBA, they can't simply set up failer for the Spurs like they can for the Pistons.  Ya that's right, I said it, that series with the pistons and cavs had to be rigged.  There is no way a team lead by one man, even when he elevates his game 3 steps about Normal can a team like that beat an actual TEAM.  Then again, like I said, the spurs are more consistent in all that they do compared to the pistons and the on again off again mentality.  Really all you had to do was wait for the pistons to loose there focus and you had them.  While the spurs never loose there focus.  I will tell you this though, had the pistons meet in the finals with the spurs, the series would have gone 7 games again, although I'm not sure who would have won it, but it would have been watched more than last time. 

            Right now the fan base of the NBA is shifting towards fast paced, action packed basketball and two teams really don't fit into that mold: the Pistons and Spurs.  The pistons are trying to adapt but doing it very poorly while the Spurs are sticking to there guns and still winning.  Its this kind of mentality that has people in Detroit wondering wither or not it was a good idea to get rid of Larry Brown and let Ben go via free agency.  For one thing that still rings true wither it be popular or not is that Offence sells tickets while Defense wins Championships.  I know a lot of people don't want to hear that right now but its still the truth and the Spurs and Pistons are living proof of that.  Why just look at the fact that the Spurs have won it 4 times and the pistons won it once (when they were on there defensive philosophy). Unfortuanly though the pistons have turned from what they know best while the spurs have stood by it thus winning them four 'ships while the pistons only have 1 to show from it.   The only way the pistons will return to greatness is that we MUST get rid of those that practice the dark arts of offence first/ no defense.  Argo we must get rid of Philip Sanders, as long as he commands the helm the pistons will but only gets so far as the Eastern Conference.

            Speaking of making a step in some kind of direction, the pistons also announced today that they have traded small forward Carlos Delfino to the Toronto Raptors for 2 first round draft picks in 2009 and 2011.  What kind of trade was that!!   I don't know what's going on in Joe D's mind but I hope it's good.  Then again he as been known to make trades like this that doesn't seem to work now but will in the long run.  I just hope this cloud has a silver lining in it.  ESPN has said that it might have been done to make way for people such as Alex Acker who has had a phenomenal season over in Europe.  Others say it could be for Grant Hill who will be a free agent this year as well.  Personally I was very surprised to see that it wasn't the sorriest person on the team to go first but a still very promising young man. Coiencendtly it's also causing a stir of racial satire due to the fact that Delfino was Argentinean and there for the only person who wasn't black.  As currently as it stands, Detroit is the only team in the NBA that has all black people and a roster full of Americans, and boy is that starting to piss people off.  More importantly though is the fact that Nazr Mohammad is still on the team. A Person who should have been let go first has been kept in favored of trading a person who will probably thrived if giving the chance. 

            All that to say that I just hope that Joe D can do these top four things: 1 is to make GOOD draft picks.  This year we have two first round draft picks, 15 and 27, and with this year's draft behind deep as the 7^th layer of hell, I hope we make some good decisions.  The second is resign Billups and Webber, for as good as we are, we are nothing without Billups and with Webber there is no body else out there that's better suited for the position then he is so we need both right now.  The third is to get rid of Nazr, I don't care how we do it just get rid of him, hell release him or do something cause he will not help us. A side note to number 3 is to get Grant Hill back, now that we got rid of Carlos we will need someone coming off the bench for Tayshane and Grants the best way to go.  The final part is to do something about our lack-luster coaching staff.  I know we're not going to get rid of Flip (which we really should) but the staff really needs to be refocused in the right direction, the direction of a championship.  The way we played during the regular season should have shown ten fold in the playoffs just like the Spurs did.  We cannot afford to have a staff that lets the pistons just simply turn it on and off at will.  It must be on at all times to win, and with that I'm going to sign off.  I might have just exausetedteh web page from this blog

I'm out, like Carlos Delfino to the Raptors