"Football season is over." That's how Hunter S. Thompson started his suicide note. An extreme reaction, but that's how the next month seems. It just seems dreary.

By the way, if any of you have ever read any of his stuff or enjoyed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas or The Rum Diaries, Thompson was sent to cover the Super Bowl before. He wrote an article called Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl. What is great about this article is that it sums up a lot of what we've talked about here. The game has become so much more than a game. It's all commercials, msuic, gambling. It's almost shameful at times. Thompson got that and treated the spectacle as such. He maced his way through the crowd and got drunk enough (among other things) to be able to take things into the right perspective. 

I can only imagine actually going to a Super Bowl. It seems so jumbled just watching it on tv. Would it really feel like a game? Could you sit through Madonna without being able to change the channel? If I ever somehow got a free ticket, I know I'd go. I don't see myself ever spending that much money to go sit through a game where I'm in the minority of the crowd: a guy trying to watch a football game. 

Football's over for Ricky Williams. Williams announced his plans to reitre today. Hard to believe the guy has played 11 seasons. He managed 5 1,000 yard seasons and played his best season in 2002 with the Dolphins. That season he rushed for 1,853 yards and 16 TDs. Of course, the thing with Ricky was his potential. Coming out of college, most people figured he'd be a beast. He showed good progress, then suddenly things changed. The guy dropped out. He got caught smoking a lot of pot. Williams just joins the ranks of those you'd have to wonder about. How good could this guy have been if he'd focused on the game?

So, now what do we move on to? I suggest college basketball. BlackBandit wrote up a hell of a review and went into some great depth about how things are shaking out. I'll admit to losing sight of the college basketball season until right about now. I didn't even pay any attention to the MSU-UofM rematch before the Super Bowl. It's a bit more exciting for me when the Big Ten is on their game. I'm also impressed that Michigan has brought their program back so quickly. 

My dad, oddly enough for me, has really gotten into Alpine downhill slalom. I caught some of a competition with him a weekend or so ago. It really is interesting to see the flying down hill like that. Michigan, at least where I am, being relatively flat, I couldn't see myself doing that. The best is when they have races where all the guys start at the same time. I'd have to admit that those races have much more wow factor.

Looking forward to the spring and baseball. I can't complain too much as we've had a mild winter, but I figure some of you are more than ready for spring. I'm excited about baseball. I gotta wonder about the A's out there in B.O.B. land. Today they decided to re-sign their GM Billy Beane for another seven years. I know this guy is something of a big deal. He inspired Moneyball and all that. He hasn't, however, managed to bring in too many wins in a number of years. The A's haven't been to the playoffs since 2006 and just finished up their 5 losing season in as many years. I suppose he had some ideas that worked for a time, but I think he's run his course in Oakland. Seven more years of Moneyball better produce at least one winning season.

My bro, IHM, celebrated his birthday on Monday. He got a Giant's Super Bowl win. I'm happy to see that he will be joining us in the rotation again soon. 

Well, that's it for this week. Hope everyone can find a way to get through the next few weeks. I'm hoping to get back into college basketball, if for no other reason than to luck my way into dominance in the Gab bracket. I think I need to find some stupid system. I'm gonna go by which team has the best names on the roster.

Super Bowel, noun

So, I have mixed feelings about sequels. Now there have been some good ones. Off the top of my head I can rattle off....Terminator 2:Judgement Day, The Dark Knight (and the new one coming this summer should be amazing), and the original three Star Wars. Quick side note about the new Batman, titled The Dark Knight Rises, my friend Eric got to be an extra. The film company put him up in Pittsburgh. He got to go to Three Rivers. He got free food all day. He got a Gotham Rogues t-shirt. More importantly, he gets to be an obscure face in the crowd in a scene you should be able to see in the trailer. He also got to catch a Pirates game.

Yeah. That was Hines Ward.

Still, more often than not they are severely under whelming. See most of the Rocky movies and the X-Men movies past the first. You can even see it in comics. I bet Frag will agree that while the issues like Spiderman or Batman are great, some of the smaller titles are so much cooler. If you've read the Watchmen or V for Vendetta, you might agree. 

That, of course brings us to this Sunday's game. Now, there are some pretty good sports re-matches. I loved watching the 49er-Cowboy battles during the 90's, but was always bummed by the Cowboys-Bills Super Bowls. The Super Bowls of 1993-94 were less than sporting, as normally is true. 

Super Bowl XLII back in 2008 was a good game. I was pulling for the Giants, just because I get tired of seeing the same team win. It was a slow game and low scoring. Even lower scoring than Super Bowl XL, which a lot of people complained about. Of course it was capped off by one of the best Super Bowl plays in recent memory. 

Still, I can't help but see this as something of a let down. I have some recent precedent, of course. The college national championship was a rematch. While the first Alabama-LSU game didn't live up to the game of the century hype, I liked it. I like good, old defensive battles. A few of you liked it too. The actual national championship was so long after that game that LSU just looked rusty. It was all Bama and never entertaining. Is this what we're looking at Sunday? I hope not. The playoffs have been great this year. There were upsets galore and a lot of close shaves. Ideally, I want this to follow suit and go to the wire, but I fear this might just be the next super letdown.

Also, I can't help but note some folks saying that a loss by New England is a black mark on Brady and Belichek. That just seems stupid. Look, I know they have an unusually bad record against the Giants. That stat has been thrown around like pies in a Three Stooges short this week. You're talking about a coach that many hail as a defensive guru. A second string QB who took advantage of his one big shot and went on to win three Super Bowls. I find it hard to see how losing to one team twice would tarnish that kind of legend.

Big news for Jeff's AL team: Ron Washington got a two year extension. The Rangers have Washington locked up til 2014.

So, just when you thought we had enough sports, the History Channel is bringing out a (relatively) new one...

Really makes you miss Heath Ledger. Well, it's not quite this awesome. The History Channel will air Full Metal Jousting. Guys will dress up in Iron Man like suits and joust. Just like at the Ren Fest, but without guys like this....

Well, that's it for me this week. Thanks as always for stopping by. As far as the game, I think I'm going to root for the Pats this time. I just hope it'll be a good one. Take care and see you at the discussion. Don't forget about the Puppy Bowl with this years pep rally pigs. (Yeah, it might seem corny, but it'll be better than Madonna.) I'll leave you with your word of the week, but with a special twist. 

So, if you happened to be listening to our coordinates here in Detroit, MI, you may have heard something like this...

And with that the Detroit Tigers showed that I thought like an idiot last week. Rather than going for a cheap replacement or bringing up young talent (though Jeff did show that while we have good young arms, we are lacking bats on the farm), the Tigers signed Prince Fielder. We didn't just sign Fielder. We sign him for 9 years. We also paid him $214 million. 

Yeah. Dave Dombruski and Mike Ilitch found a spare $214 million laying about. It must be nice. We ranked 10th in MLB in terms of team salary before Fielder. Adding Fielder would roughly bring us over Chicago (AL) to fifth on the list. 

I won't wine too much. I loved watching Prince's dad growing up. Of course, Prince won't have the benefit of old Tigers Stadium like his dad did, but he should still hit a good number and protect our boys. 

Elsewhere, San Fran decided to pay Tim Lincecum. Lincecum signed a two year deal worth around $40.5 mil. He is still eligable for free agency in the off season.

In other MLB news. Jeff's guys in Texas signed YuDarvish, the latest import from Japan, to a six year contract. In light of recent Japanese pitching products, I'd be somewhat nervous here. The Twins picked up former Tiger's flamethrower Joel Zumaya. Jorge Posada decided to call it quits and I saw he finished 9th on the Yankees all time HR list. Crazy thought. At least IHM will be able to watch the All-Star game without bitching about Posada whoring his kids to the camera.

In the NFL, no one had a worse weekend than Kyle Williams of the 49ers. Ted Ginn, Jr was out, so Williams had to step in as the return man. From what I saw, it didn't look like he got much practice. That last fumble showed Williams looking strange holding that ball. Clearly it was tough to watch, like this:

My apologies to Beeze and my dad.

Honestly, though, people need to lighten up on the kid, especially San Francisco fans. Now I don't know if this year's wines were more fermented or had more alcohol content than years past, but those fuckers were violent this year. They have decided to end the year on a bad note by issuing death threats to Williams. There's not much to say to that aside from stay classy, San Francisco.

I also hate to tell people on ESPN anything about sports, but the end of the 49ers game definitely sucked more than Cundiff missing that field goal. Two fumbles on special teams sucks worse in my opinion. Not sure why people are calling for Cundiff to be cut either. He was hitting over 75%. Out of the guys remaining: Tynes hit 79%, Gostkowski was at 84%. Pro-Football Reference has Cundiff ranked 9th. 

Honestly, if one person should be sticking up for Cundiff it should be Lee Evens. If Evens woulda held on, Cundiff woulda been off the hook. Plus, Cundiffs miss pissed enough people off that they forgot about him. 

Finally, there's talk of the Colts getting rid of Peyton Manning. They may do it soon, as he'll be given $28 mil in about a month and a week. Sure, they have a chance to start over with Luck, but I have never been a fan of just throwing a guy in there. Sure you have great recent examples (Cam Newton for one), but there are just as many failures. 

Speaking of failures, many of us have asked: where were the rest of the Colts? We never knew Peyton played on the defense too. Sure, the defense was always a weak spot, but I never thought they were that bad. I don't know how you can make Peyton the goat here, but I guess loyalty left sports when free agency swooped in.

So, that's it for me this week. I've gotta say that as odd as I'd find it to see the AFC hold the Lombardi, I prefer to see the Pats win it. I'm kinda assed out by the re-match angle. Bust em up, Belichek. Thanks for reading as always. I'm off to teach some English at East Detroit High (which is not actually in Detroit). Take care and...enjoy that Pro Bowl. Or college basketball.

eye brocoli, noun

If anyone out there was listening carefully enough this afternoon around 3 o'clock, they may have heard something like this coming from Michigan....

If you haven't heard, the Detroit Tigers have lost Victor Martinez to a torn ACL before spring training even starts. It's likely he's out for the year and even if you're an optimist, he misses the bulk of the season. What that means for us is that we lost a 300 level hitter who is generally good for around 100 RBIs. Martinez didn't put up the same HR numbers (12), but then again he played in Comerica all year, which probably took a decent number of homers away.

Now, this doesn't hurt us behind the plate. Odds are Martinez wouldn't play behind the plate too often. We have a great first option in Alex Avila, who is a beast and started 141 games, the bulk of those at catcher. While I'm not too confident in our back-up, Gerald Laird, I think he's serviceable enough on defense that he might be able to help so long as he can stay healthy.

It hurts like hell at DH. The only other guy we have on the depth chart is Delmon Young and he'll likely start in left. There isn't a lot of help in free agency either. The guys will more than likely be too old (Johnny Damon), too highly price (Prince Fielder) or too highly price and too old (Vlad and Derek Lee). Besides, Prince isn't going to want to be hampered into a DH role yet. He's got some decent leather and stands to do much better as a first baseman. That is only a hypothetical option and one that is pretty close to impossible. Also, Craig Council is out as he retired this week. (Kidding of course, but I genuinely liked Council. That guy played with genuine hustle and was a scrappy little bastard). 

That leaves us with one option I have seen that intrigues me: Ryan Ludwick. Last season wasn't his best: .237 with 13 HR and 75 RBIs. He's put up big numbers in the past, however, most notably in St. Louis in 08. Ludwick got plenty of playing time that season (152 games) and hit .299 with 37 HR and 113 RBI. Those numbers are similar to Martinez's and Ludwick will also benefit from not being the main focus of the opposing pitchers. Like the Cards had Pujols in 08, Detroit has a premier bat in Miguel Cabrera which should afford a guy like Ludwick enough protection to produce. 

So, If the Tigers are listening, they should consider Ludwick. If nothing else, he'd free up Delmon Young to DH. It's worth a shot since he comes at a nearly $7 mil, which is about as much as we pay for Inge, Benoit, and Young.

Eslewhere in baseball, I guess Pujols and Tony LaRussa both missed out on the trip to the White House. They've both been before, but you figure they'd make one last show of it...

Speaking of Michigan sports: UofM finally beat MSU on the court. It's been sometime since I've seen that and I just watched it go down. I can't help but wonder if Izzo has lost some of his touch. The guy's had a solid career and a lot of people mention that he's done it all without any huge name NBA players among his former players. He's definately one of the greats, but I hope this is just a lull and not the end.

In a rare instance of not minding one's manners in tennis, Rafel Nadal called out Rodger Federer this past week for not doing enough to speak out against the treatment of players. Apparently, tennis players are at odds with the folks running the Grand Slam events over the length of the season and the fact that tournament prize money hasn't grown in proportion with profits. Much like other sports, the players believe the owners are getting too much from the player's labor. Soem players say that their travel costs and taxes often leave them with little. 

I tend to believe them. Guys like Nadal and Federer should be expected to speak out. Both have made plenty and are now reaping the rewards of endorsements, but a lot of guys are scraping by on what they might be able to win. I agree with Nadal that the stars of a sport should be on the front lines, yet I can see that calling Federer out in the media was out of line and not in keeping with the culture of tennis. 

Nadal has recently apologized and patched things up with Rodger. Try to keep it on the court guys.

Well, that's it for me this week. Despite Felber's threats, I'd like to say I'm pulling for the 9ers. I think it'd be a strange twist to the season to see the AFC get the Lombardi. Whenever someone seemed to step up there, they'd get it taken to them from a weaker AFC team or a so-so NFC team. Either way, I'm looking forward to this weekend's slate of games.

Take it easy Gabbers. I leave you with your weekly vocab.

hugh wear, noun

The damnedest thing happened this weekend after the Lions lost a great game (well, maybe a great game until the fourth quarter) to the Saints: a player got angry over fan comments and said something stupid over Twitter. So as fans in Detroit were not very confident in our secondary to begin with, a few people got a bit angry after Brees threw for 466 yards and three TDs. A good deal of heat came on the secondary after a few wider open than they should have been TDs. Granted, Brees is going to do that, but Henderson and Meachem had catches and runs of 41 and 56 yards respectively. 

Unfortunately for Aaron Berry, he happened to miss what could have been a sure INT in the early fourth quarter. That might've got a few fans more riled up than usual, not to mention Berry. Responding to some unkind words on his account, Berry wrote “Y'all can go back to being Broke & Miserable...now back to regular scheduled programming...” That might be considered a pretty poor choice of words considering the condition of most of his fan base. I will give Berry credit that he gave a personal apology to the press, but he never owned it. 

“But for people to grab it and make it economical now is just — wow. Everybody in this locker room and around this building and even y’all know the type of person I am. I would never do that, disrespect the city, the fans of Detroit, what they do to be loyal to us to stick around and be by our side even through the 0-16 season.

So, Barry was apparently using the word broke in the context of someone actually being broken? As in injured or crippled? That's really the only way for that not be taken economically.
 

What I stranger still was this gem: 

“When you think about it, to mention that, what the city went through — just to bring that up, just the ‘broke,’“ he said. “Even the words I used, the terminology I used was just off-topic. I apologize for it. I didn’t mean anything by it. “

As a relatively broke Detroit Lions fan, I can accept Barry's apology. I do so, however, while offering the following advice. Own up to your mistakes and apologize outright. Don't claim that people took your words out of context. You only used 15 words. It's hard to comprehend anyone twisting them: the message was pretty clear and concise. If you would've applied your knowledge of Twitter to your apology and just said the last 44 words I've included here, you'd be in much better shape.

On to baseball where the Baseball Writer's Association have chosen the few and proud that should be enshrined. This year's lone inductee was Cincinnati Reds SS Barry Larkin. A good choice in my book, but not the only man who deserved it on the ballot. The votes do give me some confidence though. I was presently surprised to see Jack Morris in second place getting the nod on 66.7% of the ballots. Bagwell finished third with 56% and my boy Lee Smith (who currently has the 3rd most saves as a reliever) was fourth with 50.6%. To recapp my stance on Smith, he has comparable or better stats when you reference him against guys like Goosage or Blylevn. If you judged them worthy, how can you deny Smith?

Somewhat more surprising, it seems that McGwire lost some traction this year. Only 19.5% of the voters gave him the nod. Palmero continued to see his chances slim as well, getting a mere 72 votes. This isn't surprising to me, I figured that confirmed steroid users would have a tough time. It is interesting, however, when you look ahead to next year's class which will be headlined by Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. It'll also feature Sammy "I don't speak English" Sosa. If McGwire doesn't get in, we all know why. But, if you punish him for taking steroids, can you let Bonds or Clemens in? The argument I usually hear is that both were great before they juiced. How do you know when they started? Are you going to go by their testimony? I don't think you can pick and choose here. Either keep all the steroid users out, or let in the guys like McGwire.

I can see two guys possibly getting in their first year next season: Craig Biggio and Mike Piazza. Some argue that Biggio just got good numbers because he hung around. A lot of guys hang around. Wade Boggs played for some pitiful Tampa Bay teams. Biggio got 3000 hits and close to 1200 RBI. Plus he has the distinction of being the most beaned player ever. He paid his dues. Piazza was only one of the most productive offensive catchers ever in the game. Curt Schilling is also featured, but I don't know if he's quite worthy. He's had soem amazing moments and mythology, but his numbers could hurt him. He's got about a three and a half career ERa with a 216-146 record. He was good, but I don't know if he was great.

Speaking of which, ESPN conducted a poll asking which current players would make the hall. Unfortunately, they didn't let you write in players and had a predetermined list. You could only vote for 10 of the 25 players. Here's who made it and their percentage: Derek Jeter (90.6), Mariano Rivera (88.4), Albert Pujols (88.2), Ichiro suzuki (77.5), Jim Thome (75.9), and Chipper Jones (75.6). A-Roid came in with 57.4%. Roy Halladay and Pudge Rodriguez barely missed with percentages of 61.4 and 58.9 respectively. I voted for both, though apparently many would keep Pudge out for being a teammate of Conseco. I am not aware of Pudge being juiced, anyone out there hear anything?

Still, doesn't seem like a horrible job to me. What say you, Gabbers?

Well, that'll be all for me. I'm settling back into scholastic life. I'd like to thank my bro for stepping in for me last week. He will be richly rewarded with a jar of Peyton Hillis Red Zone slasa. We both decided they should make a salsa verde and coin it Peyton Hillis Turf Toe Salsa. You can get yours at northern Ohio Giant Eagles. I only got the one jar because it was $1. Have a good week and thanks as always for stopping in.

New Year Boredom, noun