Let’s start off today’s rant with a positive note about my bowling team. Somebody taught us to bowl! We pre-bowled on Sunday so that we wouldn’t miss the ‘Big Game’. Our first and third games were above 800 (804 and 825). Getting that kind of score, in this league, puts you in a good position to win most games. Our middle game was our off game. We came in with a 724. We needed to hope our opponent was struggling. We currently sit in a tie for ninth. With the seventh and eighth place teams tied and two points ahead (and playing each other).
Our scheduled opponent was my parents team, they are currently in fourth place. Mom called me during my Super Bowl party to let me know that they didn’t break 750 in any of their games. The one game they had a chance to beat us they finished with just under a 720. Look at that. We were able to follow up the surprise of last time with a solid 8 point victory and maybe two places in the standing. Our return to respectability may have taken another step forward.
As a former marketing major I always feel obligated to judge and rank my favorite commercials from the game. This years lot seemed to be much ‘safer’ than in years past. That is probably understandable after last years halftime show. Even still the commercials were generally creative, some a little weird, some a complete waste of money. Here are my favorites in no particular order:
FedEx: Burt Reynolds and the dancing bear (funny. I loved the last line. The bear says ‘I loved you in Smokey and Bandit’)
Ford: Frozen Mustang (a little morbid, but creative)
Bud Light: sky diving pilot (kind of changes the outlook of throwing yourself out of plane that will probably land safely)
Pepsi: P-Diddy’s truck (always nice to see Carson Daly being mocked, even if it’s by himself)
Career Builder: I work with monkey’s (got my attention)
Pepsi: free music ad’s (I thought those were creative and fun)
24 : ‘buy another pair you’re going to need it’
Ameriquest: convenience store hold up. (I saw it coming a mile away but it was funny watching those Asian people beating up that idiot on the phone – I hate those phones)
Tabasco: the hot swimsuit (If I had had TiVo I likely would have missed the rest of the game)
GoDaddy.com: Senate hearing malfunction (paying $8 a month to them for my domain name now seems TOTALLY worth it)
Finally, the Tigers land a free agent position player. Yes, we over spent giving Magglio Ordonez $15 mill a year. Yes there are questions about the stability of his knee. Much like last year with Ivan Rodriguez, Dave Dombrowski was able to structure the deal to offer us at least some protection against recurring injury. I am excited about the potential upside of this deal. I don’t really expect him to have the same level of impact that Pudge did last year. But, if he remains healthy, he could have a big impact on this coming season. With him in the clean up position we’ve got a nice middle of the line up.
I am going to jump head first into a trap that Derek loves to lay out for me every year. I’ll go ahead and make a prediction, with a qualifying statement. Assuming Pudge and Mag’s stay healthy for much of the season, and they both have respectable performances. I will say that the Tigers will finish with a .500 record for the first time in many years. Playoffs in 2006? It's not out of the question.
Our return to respectability HAS taken another step forward.
With my comment about my nephew in my previous rant I was able to suck my sister into the world of blogging. Welcome Kim. We look forward to hearing from you. klryan75.blogspot.com
2 comments:
1. Congrats on the bowling win. Just focus doing a little better each week.
2. Didn't see most of the commercials, but I did see the GoDaddy one. Don't know who that chick is, but I'd like to.
3. Yes, you overpaid for Ordonez. I haven't heard the out clauses, but getting one or more was needed, particularly for that money.
4. Ordonez by himself doesn't get you to .500. Did you overpay for Pudge? Yes, but he was bringing (at the time) some serious leadership that was sorely lacking on the team. Ordonez doesn't do that, and I think you paid more for a younger rightfielder with more power but less leadership than you did for an older catcher that had a direct (and positive) impact on both the offense and the pitching staff.
5. Mark my words, Ordonez power numbers will go down. You paid for a guy who should give you a .290+ average (which you'll probably get) and 100+ HR's over the first 3 years (which you won't) and 150 HR's over 5 years (which you also won't). You'll be lucky if you get 75 home runs over 3 years and 110 over 5. You heard it hear first (and probably second, and third, and...).
I'd call McNabb's performance an anomoly, for this season anyway. I will admit to not watching the whole game, as I was doing some work and meeting prep in there. Heard a report on PTI yesterday that Donovan had the dry heaves during the last couple of drives, which was why they weren't moving very fast.
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