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The technology is working!
I am sitting here at the Division 1 state softball semifinals watching Monroe play New Baltimore Anchor Bay. In previous trips here, the wireless connection would not work at the press table. I was pleasantly surprised to get a signal this time.
Monroe’s Amber Rafko was safe on an error in the top of the first, but the Trojans did not score.
Now, the real fun starts for the Detroit Red Wings. They start a second-round series with the Anaheim Ducks Friday night.
The first round against Columbus was too easy. It was hard to tell if the Blue Jackets were just overwhelmed by their first playoff experience or if the Wings were just that good.
It probably is a combination of the two. Anaheim will be a much stiffer test.
And while the Wings are playing the Ducks, it might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Vancouver-Chicago series. Wing fans should be rooting for Chicago.
There are a couple of good reasons for this:
1. It would be fun to see an Original Six matchup and rekindle the rivalry with the Blackhawks.
2. Avoiding Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo would be a good thing. He is the kind of netminder who can steal a series.
3. A Chicago victory would mean that the Red Wings can avoid back-to-back series against a Western Time Zone team. Those can be draining.
I was hoping my buddy Jeff Meade was wrong.
I was shocked to read his column in today’s Evening News (http://www.monroenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090120/MEADESPTSCOL/101209974) and discover that sports talk radio WDFN was planning to drop all of its local programming.
I’ve enjoyed having two sports talk stations in Detroit. When one got boring, you could switch to the other. I’ve always believed that WXYT was a poor imitation of WDFN. That said, some of the WDFN programming had gotten stale.
I wouldn’t have minded losing the other local shows, if the station had kept the “Stoney and Wojo” show in the afternoon. Those two had the most entertaining sports talk show in Detroit. Perhaps they will show up somewhere else.
So the Detroit Lions have a new coach.
Will Jim Schwartz be a good coach? No one knows the answer to that question. Only time will tell.
I like what I have seen so far, but, then again, I liked my first impressions of R0d Marinelli and Steve Marinelli, too. I did have reservations about Marty Mornhinweg from the start.
Anyway, Schwartz seems to have a good resume. He has paid his dues as a defensive coordinator and has a record of success doing that. The people from the Tennessee organization that I’ve heard talk about him have lots of good things to say.
And I like that the Lions went for a defensive guy. Detroit’s offense was not all that bad last year. They have a dangerous receiver and a capable running back. The defense was the main reason they went 0-16. The Lions simply could not get stops at key times.
A lot has been made of the comment Schwartz made about the Lions needing to find a replacement for Bobby Layne. Everyone assumed he was talking about the draft.
What if that replacement is Vince Young? The Titans seem to have soured on Young and Schwartz might have some ties to him.
Week 5 of the high school football season took me to Gibraltar Carlson.
It’s always fun going up there. The field is beautiful and the people are very friendly.
New coach Kent Sikora appears to have the Carlson on track. Despite a brutal schedule that sent them on the road for the first four weeks of the season, the Marauders have a winning record at 3-2 and stand a good shot at making the state playoffs. They need to win three of their final home games, but three of them are at home.
The offense seems up to the task. Ryan Gerbo is a capable quarterback and Carlson seems to have a stable of good backs. The Marauders will have to step it up on defense, though. They are not very big and Redford Union was able take advantage of that to run effectively up the middle.
Earning a playoff berth would be a good boost for the program which suffered through a tough year in 2007.
Other thoughts on Week 5:
1. SMCC made it through the first five weeks without a loss, now the real fun begins. The Falcons face Huron League contenders Airport, Milan and Jefferson in the next three weeks, then finish up against always tough Dearborn Divine Child. The good part about it is that all but Airport are at home.
2. Monroe has turned its season around with three straight wins after opening with a pair of frustrating losses. But the Trojans now face the toughest part of their schedule with games against Dearborn Fordson, Allen Park, Dearborn and Flint Carmen-Ainsworth. We’ll find out how far they have come.
3. I was really happy to hear that Milan guard Thom Box will be able to play again this season. He is part of an outstanding Big Red offensive line that has been the key to the team’s 5-0 start.
4. Dundee-Ida will be an intriguing matchup this week. I am glad that it’s my boss, Ron Montri, that picks the local high school games, not me. I don’t know how I would go on that one.
5. What a sad quote from Huron coach Dan Kalbfleish after Friday’s tough loss to Flat Rock. “This is beyond disappointing,” he said. “We get a touchdown and recover the onside kick and I thought this was the year we were finally going to get a break.” I admire the job has done with the Chiefs. He can’t seem to catch a break.
A lot was on the line when Jefferson’s football team visited Airport Friday night.
It’s still early in the season, but the loser would have two losses in the Huron League and would virtually be out of the race. The winner would keep its league hopes alive at 2-1 and move to 3-1 overall, solidifying position in the race to clinch a state playoff berth with six wins.
The level of play showed that both teams knew what was at stake. On top of that, this is always one of the most intense rivalries in the Monroe County Region. The hitting was fierce and every yard hotly contested. The game wasn’t always pretty, but it was always entertaining.
In the end, Airport’s defense ruled the day. The Jets, stinging from their loss to Milan a week earlier, won the battle of field position most of the night. The Airport offense helped a lot in that area. The Jets didn’t move the ball a lot, but did enough to keep Jefferson pinned in its own territory most of the game.
Airport has an interesting defense. There are no big stars, but everyone knows their assignments and flows to the ball well.
Jefferson has a nice team, too. The Bears have more offensive versatility than past years. Quarterback Mike Oley can really throw the ball and Blaise DuBois is a nice target.
But the Bears face a tough road to the playoffs, needing to win four of their last five games. And they still have two of the top teams in the Huron League – Milan this week and SMCC on Oct. 17 – still to go.
Other thoughts on Week 4:
1. What a nice win by Bedford over Ann Arbor Huron. The Mules dominated the game. Jeff Wood has done a wonderful job with that team.
2. Gibraltar Carlson had the oddest schedule in the Region, opening the season with four straight road games. The Marauders did a good job to survive that stretch at 2-2. Now, they get to finish with four home games in the final five.
3. It was nice to see Flat Rock get its first win of the season. The Rams had to open the season against three of its toughest opponents — Hillsdale, Milan and SMCC.
4. Ida faces a key game against Blissfield on the road this week. The Blue Streaks suffered a tough loss last week against Onsted, but they have to forget about that quickly. If they don’t, the season could unravel quickly with games against Dundee and Hudson coming up.
5. Monroe is back to 2-2 and quarterback Willie Johnson is getting better and better each game.
My most lasting impression of Week 3 of the Monroe County Region high school football season was the power of the Milan offensive line.
These guys are huge and ruled the line of scrimmage against Airport. Milan’s most effective play involved quarterback Kyle Crump taking the snap and then hesitating for a second to see where the hole developed and diving through it. That play was good for five yards just about any time the Big Red ran it. Losing Thom Box to a knee injury was a big blow to the Milan line.
And it’s fun to watch Demetries Love play middle linebacker. He is listed at 165 pounds but isn’t even that big. He gets the most out of his physical abilities, flying around the field like a ball-seeking missle.
Here are a few other notes:
1. It was good to see Monroe get its first victory of the season. After two tough losses to start the season, the Trojans rose up to beat a state-ranked Trenton team.
2. Jefferson appears to be back on track. The Bears will get a major test this week against Airport.
3. Watch out for New Boston Huron. The Chiefs are vastly improved this season. At some point this season they are going to pull a big upset.
4. Bedford made a good showing against a strong Adrian team.
5. SMCC and Ida are off to 3-0 starts. SMCC plays Huron this week and Grosse Ile the next before beginning a brutal final four games: Airport, Milan, Jefferson and Dearborn Divine Child. Things heat up for Ida this week as they begin a stretch of three games against Onsted, Blissfield and Dundee.
I was happy to see the Detroit Red Wings get picked to play in the NHL’s outdoor game on New Year’s Day, but it came with a price.
The Wings will not play their traditional New Year’s Eve game at Joe Louis Arena.
That’s too bad. I’ve always enjoyed watching the Wings on television before ringing in the New Year. It was developing into almost as nice a tradition as the Lions on Thanksgiving Day.
But it would have been unfair to ask them to play on New Year’s Eve, then travel to Chicago for a game the following afternoon.
Let’s hope the New Year’s Eve game is back next year.
Still bleary-eyed after the All-Star marathon last night, I am wondering this morning why the game didn’t start until almost 9 p.m.
The pre-game festivities were nice, but Major League Baseball knew that they were going to take a long time. Why not get them started at 7 or 7:30 p.m. Then, the game could have gotten started at 8 or a little after.
Even if it has been a nine-inning game, it probably would have stretched past midnight. Doesn’t baseball realize that people have to work the next day? And what about the people at the game. If they stayed until the end, they probably didn’t get to bed until at least 3 a.m. I bet a lot of people in New York called off work this morning.
It wasn’t easy, but the Detroit Pistons survived a tough battle with Orlando last night and now holds a 2-0 series lead.
The Magic put up a good fight, but the Pistons were simply more poised down the stretch. Their many years of playoff experience paid off.
The win puts the Pistons in great position. All they need to do is win one of the next two games in Orlando and they will have a stranglehold on the series. But let’s hope no one tells them that. The Pistons seem to get themselves in trouble when they think things are going well.
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