Eastern Conference Finals: Detroit 1, the Fighting LeBrons, 0

Well, that was certainly an...er...interesting game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals. In a game where Detroit did not deserve to win (At ALL), they played enough defense, and hit just enough shots to come away with a 79-76 victory of the Cleveland Cavaliers (aka the Fighting LeBron's, named so because of their superstar, LeBron James). The big talking point of this game is LeBron had the ball, down 2, and instead of trying to force up a wild shot in triple coverage, he passed to an open teammate who missed a potential winning 3 pointer. Apparently, everyone and their grandmother thinks that in order to be a superstar in this league, you have to pull a Kobe/AI/Carmelo/D-Wade/insert generic shooting guard here, and jack up 40 shots a night. This is why I like LeBron better than all those other characters. He makes his team better, because he is a team player. They don't all stand around and watch as he throws up shot after shot. Most of the media think this is a crime, and that he should keep shooting til his arms fall off. Well, 'most of the media' is the problem with the NBA. Why don't they just make it a 1 v 1 league, and have 1 guy represent each of the 28 cities, and just play a bunch of 1 on 1 games. This is the reason why TEAMS have been the most successful the past 7 years. The Pistons are playing in their 5th consecutive conference finals. The Spurs have been one of the most consistant teams since the beginning of the Millenium. The baby Bulls knocked off the defending champs, with TEAMWORK, not jacking up 40 + shots a game. As soon as the NBA realizes that this is how they should market their franchise, by what's on the front of the jersey, not what's on the back, then this league will be much, much better. Until then, let's all watch in awe as Kobe Bryant scores 60 + points on 13-45 shooting, with a zillion trips to the free-throw line. OOOOOhhhhhh.....

Done being Bull-ied

Well, the Pistons finally ended their 2nd round series against the Chicago Bulls, with a solid 95-85 win at the United Center last night. With the defense again coming though, putting the clamps on Ben Gordon, Kirk Heinrich, and Luol Deng, the Pistons led for most of the game, and await the winner of the Cleveland-New Jersey series. 4 of 5 Piston starters scored in double figures, and the defense came up huge, especially in the 2nd half, and allowed the Pistons to finish the series.

It wasn't all good news for Detroit teams, though, as the Wings fell 5-3 to the Ducks, and the Tigers lost both games of a day-night Double header against the Boston Red Sox. But the most important game was won, and I guess that's all that counts. The Wings resume their series Sunday afternoon, looking to be on the right side of a 3-2 series count.

Yeah, I would post more, but I got nothin, except for this awesome YouTube clip: Homer Simpson vs. Peter Griffin - the video game. Check it out.

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Well, as good of a day May 5th was for Michigan Sports (Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings, Rampage, Whitecaps, and Floyd Mayweather jr. all won), Sunday was just as bad.

The Tigers started rookie RHP Virgil Vasquez against the Twins on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, and he promptly gave up 4 1st inning runs, on the way to a 16-4 defeat. Torii Hunter was the big culprit, hitting 2 home runs, and driving in 7 in the victory. Vasquez only lasted 2 2/3 innings in his debut, and all the Tiger pitchers seemed to have a problem with keeping the ball down in the strike zone. All elevated pitches thown by the Tiger hurlers ended up evading fielders, and creating lots of runs.

It didn't get any better for the Tigers last night, as they fell 7-1 to the Boston Red Sox. Japanese pitching sensation Daisuke Matsuzaka (pronounced Di-su-k, not "dice-k" as everyone insists on pronouncing it in the baseball world) pitched a complete game, with his one run against being a home run by Curtis Granderson, and Bobby Seay gave up 4 runs in relief of Nate Robertson, as the Tigers' bullpen struggles with inconsistancy early on in the season. But there's another chance tonight, and with the season not quite 1/4th of the way through, the Tigers are still in first place, and look to maintain their 1 game lead over 2nd place Cleveland.

The 'Stones were up next, looking to close out the Bulls in 4 games, and instead found themselves on the wrong side of a 102-87 scoreline. You knew the game was not boding well for the Pistons when Tayshaun Prince missed 2 consecutive free throws in the 1st quarter. Detroit never really seemed into this game, and only a late comeback prevented the score from being worse than it was. Detroit looks to close out the Bulls again tonight, at the Palace, and avoid going back to the United Center for a game 6.

And finally, the Red Wings took one on the chin as well, falling to the Anaheim Ducks, 4-3 in OT. With all the injuries the Red Wings have accrued to their Defenseman, it's no wonder they struggled in this game. And though the Wings won game 1 against the Ducks due in large part to a couple of fluky bounces that went their way, this time the Ducks were the beneficiaries of the flukey bounces, as their 2nd goal barely squeezed by Dominick Hasek and the post, and their 3rd goal was because the puck got stuck in Dom's leg pads. Game 3 of this series takes place tonight at the Pond in Anaheim, and the Wings need to win this one, just to guarantee the split in Anaheim.

So, hopefully Tuesday will be better to Detroit fans than Sunday was, and hopefully we'll have some time off from 1 series. We shall see.

Movie Time!!!!!

Ok, there are 6 movies that I have seen recently, and so I've decided to tell y'all what I thought of them...

1) 300 - 300 is the store of the ancient Spartans trying to prevent the Persians from taking over their country, making their women and children slaves, and killing the men (I'm sure everybody has seen at least 1 preview for this movie, since it was severly overhyped through the media). This movie was actually really good. It was an action movie that was funny at parts, and it had a pretty good story. The one bad point about this movie is the overuse of the slow motion effect. Every five seconds, it seems that some event has to occur in slow-motion, otherwise a trivial event may be overlooked. Instead, we get to see said trivial event for way longer than necessary. Thanks for that one, Zack Snyder! (director, fyi). But overall, I give it a 2 thumbs up for being a very good action movie, with a pretty decent story, good acting, and decent cinemaphotography.

2)Meet the Robinsons - This Disney story is like most Disney stories, except it's in the future. OOOOHHHHH. But it is still a very good story, albiet I don't think I'm in the target audience for this film. From IMDb (see link on left hand column), here's the synopsis (I tried to write my own without giving anything away, but I'm lazy, so :-P)

'Lewis is a brilliant inventor who meets mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson, whisking Lewis away in a time machine and together they team up to track down Bowler Hat Guy in a showdown that ends with an unexpected twist of fate.'

This movie was definately worth seeing, with some very good writing, and the voice actors played their parts well. It was entertaining throughout, and pretty funny, and although not the best Disney film I've seen, it's closer to the top than it is the bottom. 1 thumb up, 1 thumb neutral.

3)Grindhouse - This Tarantino/Rodriguez double feature was freakin' awesome. Not for the feint of heart, this film is very, very gory. But it also has some great humor, and Kurt Russell/Bruce Willis as the main characters was a stroke of genious. They were really good. Of course, Tarantino had to find a role for himself in his flick, but he did pretty good, too. Since these are two seperate stories, it's kind of pointless to give the synopsis for each, but what I will say is that it was fantastic all the way around, and if you get a chance to see it, and can stand a little (ok, a lot) of violence, I highly reccommend it. 2 thumbs up.

4)Hot Fuzz - Hot Fuzz is a comedy about a London police officer being transferred to a small town police station, where his collegues are convinced that no crime ever happens. This movie was slow moving at first, but once it got going, it was really funny. It's supposed to be a spoof of the action cop film genre (SWAT, Bad Boys, Die Hard, etc.) The same guys who made 'Shaun of the Dead' are responsible for this masterpiece (haven't seen Shaun of the Dead? I highly reccommend it, it's a good spoof of zombie flicks), and they are just as good in this as they were in their previous film. 2 thumbs up (I thought I had some more to say about this film, but really, you just need to see it. Really).

5)Smokin' Aces - This was a mob movie with a twist. A magician/part mob boss, Buddy 'Aces' Israel, has agreed to turn State's evidence against the mob's kingpin, Primo Sparazza. The FBI is trying to keep him alive. And everybody else is trying to kill him. This movie was really good, action-packed, and fairly unpredictable. The bad part is that it has Ben Affleck in it. But I enjoyed this movie, and if blow-em-up movies are your cup of tea, you'll like this film as well. 2 thumbs up.

And finally, 6)Spiderman 3 - The latest installment of Spiderman. I'm not gonna say much about this movie, but it's good. How good? Umm....Probably the best of the franchise. Go see it. 2 thumbs up.

Well, that's it for today...I was gonna do a 'Stones update, but ran out of time. I'm not sure when my next update will be, but when I come back I'll have probably 2 Pistons updates, and 2 Red Wings updates, and maybe a Tigers update as well (oooohhhh).... let me know what you thought of my movie review segment, maybe I'll break it out every once in a while!

quick update

I know all of you were waiting for my movie review with much anticipation, but I'm afraid I'll have to hold off for another day, as I just do not have time to give that post the attention that it needs at the moment. But tomorrow, if all things go well, there will be a movie review (and maybe a Pistons recap to boot! We'll see how ambitious I feel). Again, sorry for the inconvienence :-P

Umm, Chicago, you realize the series started on SATURDAY, right...

Well, this is the most lopsided 2 games to open a playoff series that I have ever seen. On Saturday night, the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls started what many had predicted to be an epic 2nd round affair between 2 of the better teams in the East. Well, many had predicted wrong, at least so far... Detroit is heading to Chicago with a 2 games to 0 lead, after totally and utterly dismantling the Bulls in both games at the Palace. On Saturday night, it was the Chauncey and Rip show, with the Pistons backcourt duo dropping in 20 points apiece to lead the Pistons to a 95-69 victory. 5 Pistons had double digit points, and did not allow Chicago's 2 big scorers (Luol Deng and Ben Gordon) to beat them (Deng led all Bulls scorers with 18; Gordon had 7; only 2 Bulls recorded double digit points). After the game, everybody thought the Bulls would come out with more passion, and if they were to lose, they would make it a close game, because of their horrendous game 1. WRONG!!! Game 2 final, 108-87, with the Bulls not doing anything to make their fans forget about game 1. This time, it was Pistons forwards Chris Webber and Tayshaun Prince doing all the damage, with Prince going for 25 points, and Webber contributing 22 of his own. So the 'series' moves to Chicago for Thursday and Saturday night games, with the question of 'Will Chicago make it a series?' I personally would rather see the Pistons sweep aside the Bulls, and prepare for the winner of the Cleveland/New Jersey series, but I can't imagine the Bulls playing as bad as they did in Detroit. But I couldn't imagine it before the series started either, so we'll just have to see if the 'Stones get a vacation, or if they may actually have to work before the conference finals.

In other sports news, the Red Wings are moving onto the conference finals themselves, taking care of the San Jose sharks last night, 2-0, and now will meet Anaheim on Friday. Mikael Samuelsson scored both goals in the 1st period, and Dominick Hasek became 'the Dominator' once again in net for the Wings, stopping all 20 shots that he faced in the shutout victory. With the Wings Defense ailing due to all the injuries sustained, it will be nice to have this 3 day break in between series, and this Ducks series should be just as good as the one we just finished with the Sharks. And hopefully, we'll get the same result out of this one as well.

I'm thinking about doing a movie review segment either tomorrow or Thursday, of recent films I've seen in the theater...stay tuned!

7 random things about me

I have been tagged by Robert, and in accordance with the rules, I will post this on my blog...

Here are the rules as passed on - Each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. (You need to choose seven people to tag and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment that they have been tagged and to read your blog!) *added* this part optional.

Seven Random Things About Me

1) If there is a song from mid '90's or later, in the genre of pop/rock/rap, I probably know who sang it, and what it's called. There is also a 60% chance I know the lyrics of said song, and can sing it if persuaded or if I've been drinking.

2) If there is a football or basketball athlete from the past 10 years, I probably know what college he played for. If it is from the turn of the century, I probably know who drafted him. I don't know why this is, but it's true.

3) Comedy movies, same as above. I have a high amount of useless information stored in my brain. If I've seen the movie, I can probably quote it fairly accurately.

4) I hate chocolate ice cream. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate to begin with, but I don't eat chocolate ice cream. I rarely eat candy. I've thrown away so much candy as a kid from halloween/christmas/easter (that didn't get stolen from my mom/sister), it's ridiculous. (exception - reese's peanut butter cups - love 'em)

5) I am very uncomfortable talking to people I don't know UNLESS they talk to me first. I don't know why, I talked to everybody when I was a little kid, regardless if I knew them or not.

6) I don't like Coke or Pepsi coolers in Europe. They keep the pop just cold enough so that it feels like it's cold, until you pull your hand out of the cooler...and the pop only stays cold long enough for you to pay for it. I like my pop ice cold.

7) I love to travel. LOVE to travel. I would like to visit as many countries as possible before I die. So far I have US, Canada, the Bahamas, Germany, Austria, Italy, England, and (airport only) the Netherlands. I've also visited 18 of the states in the US, and if you include airports, and driving through other states, that number is over 30.

Welcome back!

That's right loyal reader(s, perhaps, but not with my weird posting schedule), I'm back to give you more sports goodness, and maybe more (as per a request I had to write more about me, and less about sports....we'll see what I can do).

First of all, the most wonderful time of the year is upon us (and a month into the season already, where does the time go)....it's BASEBALL SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Tigers, while not exactly blowing people away yet, are playing some decent baseball, even though they are not hitting very well. But that can be said for all of baseball, as it seems that the bats are just now breaking out of their respective winter slumbers. So we'll see if the Tiger bats can help out the pitchers, and bring home a World Series this time....

The Wings and the 'Stones both steamrolled through the 1st round of their playoffs, with the Wings taking care of Calgary in 6 games, and Orlando was dispatched in 4 by the Pistons. While the Pistons wait almost a week to play game 1 of the second round against Chicago, the Wings are tied 2 games apiece with San Jose, with game 5 to be played at the Joe Louis Arena. This series has been grueling so far, and it probably will go 7 games, and the winners will have to face a well rested Anaheim (unless Vancouver can somehow make a series out of it, but it's not looking good). So, good luck to the stones and wings, and hopefully we can celebrate another couple championships this summer.

The Lions just got done with what one analyst described as "the nfl's annual pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey competition" (hilarious, and true), the NFL Draft. And they defied all the experts by taking, and not trading, the best player in the draft, WR Calvin Johnson, from Georgia Tech. And even though this is the 4th receiver in 5 years that the lions have taken, I LOVE this pick. It means that Millen didn't settle for the garbage people were trying to give him to trade up to the 2nd pick, and that he didn't settle for a player that would've fit a need, but wouldn't have fit the value of being 2nd overall. Kudos to Millen for being smart for once. The rest of the draft is interesting, a lot of promising talent, and all of the picks are guys who love to play football, and they will fit Rod Marinelli's scheme pretty well. Hopefully that translates to more wins (I'm hoping for 8, but we'll see). As of right now, I think we look a ton better than where we were at the end of last season, but things change quickly in the NFL, so we'll see if we changed for the good, or for the bad.

And finally, after U-M hired it's new head basketball coach, 2 of the 3 recruits held their commitments, with the lone exception being Alex Legion, whom many consider to be the best of the class. This kind of thing happens all the time, and Legion had already decommitted once before the coaching change, so it's not really suprising, but rather unfortunate for Mr. Beilein. So, we'll see how that plays out next season, and hopefully John Beilein can bring a winning attitude to the Wolverines, and make Ann Arbor 'more than just a football school'...

That's it for now, I promise the next post will be inside a week, and not a month later...maybe a personal story, haven't decided yet...