I’d rather be working.
Surgery has placed me on the DL for the better part of two weeks, but the forced time away has allowed me to do something different with my life -- watch sports.
Fortunately, there’s a Red Wings or Pistons game (thanks condensed schedule) on FOX Sports Detroit almost every night. Some great football over the weekend, and The Barrett Jackson Auction was a godsend.
Like a lot of you, I woke Sunday to the news that Joe Paterno had died. As I watched the coverage, I became increasingly saddened to see the words “sex” and “scandal” attached to his name as it scrolled along the bottom of the screen.
I won’t debate Paterno’s culpability, but that he has become the face of the scandal and the alleged perpetrator, Jerry Sandusky, is a footnote remains a travesty.
I didn’t know Paterno personally, but I did cover his teams and had the privilege of covering one of his famous pep rallies on the night before an Ohio State game in Happy Valley. I was struck by the way 18- and 19-year-old coeds hung on this 80-year-old man’s every word.
The message was positive, and maybe even a bit corny if it wasn’t such a genuine exchange between figurehead and student body. But there was love and decency, and witnessing just that small moment makes me understand the sympathy, denial and disdain that accompanied his final days. He deserved better.
I missed the Tigers Winter Caravan this year. Can’t believe it’s here (and gone) already. I guess that’s what happens when you play late into October.
I like the goatee Jim Leyland sports during the winter. I think he should wear it all year. Sure it’s a bright shade of silver, but I think it makes him look younger -- or maybe that’s the Vicodin talking.
Are the Pistons a good team that plays badly or a bad team that occasionally plays well? Is there a preference?
How do you score only 30 points in a half (Memphis) and then come out and score 35 in the third quarter of that same game? Don’t let it be said there’s no reason to watch this team. You might not always like the reasons but they provide some.
And is it just me or is the first release of Mel Kiper’s mock NFL draft before the conference championship games a lot like Christmas decorations in stores before Halloween?
Nothing is more overblown than the NFL Draft. One of the true redeeming qualities of the Lions' playoff berth is that it at least held off draft talk on the local sports-talk shows for at least one more week.
“You know there’s a D-lineman out of Utah State that the Lions could take in the third round that would be an absolute steal!”
SHUT UP!
“No, not you, Nurse Ratched!”
“More meds?”
Nite, nite.
