Tiger Town

In the last 16 months, Detroit will have hosted an NBA Finals, Baseball All-Star Game, Super Bowl, NCAA Tournament, and now a World Series. And everyone tells me, if you think this town has gone nuts over the Tigers, wait until the Lions make the playoffs, then they'll REALLY go nuts. I think it'll be at least a couple more years before the Lions make a playoff run, but the World Series will be here Saturday night and the Tigers are on a roll. This season is the definition of a storybook. Honestly, the one game where I thought it could be a special season was back in May on a Friday night with the Reds in town. In the 7th inning, Ken Griffey Jr. hit a grand slam off of Joel Zumaya, the big blow that looked to be the decisive one. But the Tigers fought back and tied the game on a 2-strike, 2 out homer by Curtis Granderson to the opposite field. The Tigers won the game in the 10th and they continued on. I've never witnessed a celebratory, ticker-tape parade. The Tigers are 4 wins away from exactly that.

It's been a couple of weeks, what's going on:

• We're a month away from possibly the greatest game in college football history. I think I've said this already, but could you imagine #1, unbeaten Ohio St. hosting #2, unbeaten Michigan in Columbus with the Big 10 and Fiesta Bowl on the line??? It would be the equivalent of North Carolina playing Duke for the NCAA championship in hoops, the Bears playing the Packers in the Super Bowl, the Red Sox and Yankees playing in the World Series, and Tiger Woods playing Jack Nicklaus in an 18 hole playoff for the US Open championship. With the hype already building, it's probably not going to happen. Ohio St. appears to have an easy road. This week's home game vs. upstart Indiana, coming off their upset win over Iowa is the toughest game left on paper. The only way the Bucks lose is by looking ahead, maybe the week before at Northwestern but Ohio St. hasn't been caught looking ahead under Jim Tressel. Michigan hosts Iowa this week, their toughest remaining test on paper. Their trap game is a road trip to Bloomington the week before. These are the two best teams I've seen play this year. I'm hoping they get to The Game unscathed so we can witness history.
• USC only beating Arizona St. 28-21 is not a good sign for the rest of the year. With games against Oregon, Cal, Notre Dame, and UCLA left, USC will have to step up their game. The one advantage they'll have in the first three of those is they'll be at home. I mean, Arizona St., who plays no defense, scored a defensive touchdown!
• The SEC may be the toughest conference top to bottom, but I would still take Ohio St. or Michigan on a neutral field. I was surprised Tim Tebow wasn't used in 2 goalline situations like he had been. He came in on the 2nd down play before the Chris Leak fumble, but why not 3rd down like he had been? I thought the fumble was an incomplete pass; Leak's intent was to pumpfake and tuck the ball, but what actually happened was a pass. Tough break for Florida, but Auburn deserved to win the game. Auburn's offense still isn't very good, settling for too many field goals after their defense put them in position to score TDs. If the SEC wants to prove itself, here's a novel idea: play tougher non-conference schedules!!! Tennessee played Cal, at home and recently played a home and home with Notre Dame. Florida does battle with Florida St. Get off your horse and go play somebody.
• Miami is off the snide with a 38-31 win at Buffalo. It wasn't pretty, but a win's a win, right? I saw Miami play Northern Illinois the week before last and the frustrating thing was Miami didn't look like a bad team all night like bad teams usually do. Miami has good, young players, but with youth comes inexperience and mental mistakes, and Miami makes many of those. The future is bright, but that's just what it is, the future.
• The Bengals' two losses have come without Chris Henry. Coincidence? I think not. Henry is a first receiver playing the role of a third receiver. He has great speed, height, and the skill of a first receiver. But as a third receiver, he often draws a safety or nickel back, creating an advantage in his favor. If only he could keep himself out of trouble.
• Don't give up on the Steelers. Once Ben Roethlisberger gets his confidence back, he becomes tough to stop. He has his confidence back after Sunday, look out. I haven't seen Ben play that poorly since the Iowa game in 2003. He was able to bounce back and have a good year I recall.

And lost in the fray, Midnight Madness was Saturday morning so college hoops practice is underway!!!! Once I do my research, the conference previews will start appearing. The youth and inexperience of last year is now a year older and despite the return of Florida's Fab Five, there are many teams that have a legitimate chance of winning it all.

Back to see if the Bears can come back from a 20-0 hole. The offensive line got dominated in the 1st half, they have to play better in the 2nd half, right? And as much as I don't like Matt Leinart, he played a good half of football.