Thanx thoughts

#1--The FOX robotic turkey is going to give me nightmares

#2--After Calvin Johnson landed following his catch in the fourth quarter, cameras showed him wincing. I've had that same pained look some mornings following Pub Punch.

#3--Man am I glad I traded for Maurice Morris this week. Thanks Helly! I got a good 2 TD feeling about him this week against the Rams

#4--I love making sandwiches with Thanksgiving leftovers

#5--Huge said today the Sparties are going 30-5 this year. As much as I love screaming PARK PRIDE...I just cannot see that happening at all. Sparties struggled to get clutch hoops against UCLA two nights ago....lacking a consistent inside scorer at this point.

#6--Huge is a complete mo-ron

#7--RynoDave may have sewn up Helly's wild card spot with the Willie Parker disaster.

#8--Cannot get enough of the Bill Parcells Coors LIght commercials. That's a good thing...that's not a bad thing.

10-game report

While many people are venting about la-la-lloyd, I'm seething over the Pistons' west coast disaster, going 2-3 against many of the bottom teams in the West.

Here's my first brief 10-game report.

Pistons are 6-4. They have lost as many games as Charlotte & Milwaukee. Not a great beginning. They have lost Billups and Dice already with injuries, although Chauncey is back already. But the recent road games have certainly illuminated how prone this crew is to sever mental lapses at the end of games, which makes ZERO sense when you factor in how many vets this team has.

Now, Hamilton. He is shooting an abysmal 44% from the floor and a career-worst 76% from the free-throw line (career 85%). His assists are way up (likely due to his poor shooting) and turnovers currently sit at a career-best 2.0 per game. But he is also averaging a career-high 3.6 fouls per game, and is also averaging the 2nd most FG attempts during his time in a Piston jersey.

Pistons are 4-4 this year with him. In their wins, he shot 35-66. In losses, he is 22-63 from the floor. Not good. In their loss to the Lakers, Rip managed to get 5 fouls while attempting to guard Kobe. Last night found the Pistons getting outscored by 16 points in the second half by the sucky Kings to end the road trip.

Here's hoping they turn it around QUICKLY coming back home this week.

The Cuse is loose!

Many promising freshmen up and down the Cuse's roster this year....they are definitely going to struggle inside early, as they really only have one post scorer. But they are LONG, deep and athletic. Plus, everyone's favorite Michigan export, Eric Devendorf, is able to move off teh point, as super-frosh Johnny Flynn is going to be able to take over point guard duties as less of a gunner at the point than Devendorf was.

I'm a happy boy

This will be quick.....OSU GOES DOWN!!!!!

Couldn't be happier. Seriously could not be more pleased about the outcome of a college football game.

Bring on the NBA tonight!

rip Rip

Alrighty....my thoughts on Mr. Hamilton are well-known to those of you who listen to me run my suck about the NBA. Consistently throughout his 5 years with the Pistons, he has given them a consistent midrange jumper to go with the 3-point shooting abilities of Rasheed and Chauncey. There were many nights during the LB years that they relied on him repeatedly to get their offense going. He plays hard every night and with a mask concealing a near-career ending facial injury.

HOWEVER....last night's Bulls game, in my mind, pointed out why the Pistons have likely reached their ceiling with this current crew. Rip put together a 6-17 shooting effort, including at least 3 heavily contested jump shots following offensive rebounds, rather than trying to get to the rim or cycling the ball around. He also picked up a key technical foul in the fourth quarter.

Without Ben to constantly provide a defensive presence to make up for Rip's consistently poor defensive effort, he gets exposed on that end of the floor. I realize no one is ever confusing Rip for Artest on defense, but the Pistons have to specifically target certain players for him to guard...and Rip should constantly be sending Tey-Tey thank you cards for the matchups that Teyshaun has to deal with on the defensive end of the floor so Rip doesn't have to guard certain players. Let's not forget that Tey-Tey's coming out party was in 2003 largely because the Pistons simply couldn't defend Iverson with Hamilton or Michael Curry.

Hamilton is in his 8th season and is part of one of the most well-put together starting lineups in the NBA. His skill set meshes with the other starters. And TRUST ME when I say I certainly enjoy watching Rip move to get open on offense, rather than the Stackhouse offensive sets of throwing it in to him and having everyone stand and stare. But even Blaha, during tonight's Pistons-Clips game, has talked about how Tey needs to open it up offensively more like he did in their first 2 games when Rip was away. And during tonight's first quarter, the FG chart looks much more balanced (McDyess 6, Sheed 4, Rip/Chauncey/Tey 3) to get everyone into the offensive flow earlier in the game.

Here's hoping Stuckey comes back quickly and teams with Hayes to give the Pistons more backcourt options on the nights that Rip can't get it done defensively.

Put the Blame on Me

2 words--We're Sorry. Our Bad.

That's my apology for not keeping this current. But it's back, and I assure you, will stay updated.

Especially now that my good friend, the NBA, is back in town. I really really enjoy watching the NBA. I can't help myself.

Here's today NBA talk---I watched the Jazz-Rockets game last night. Lots of it. Can't get enough of Yao Ming looked simultaneously angry/hungry/sweaty at the same time. Anywho, here's what struck me as I kept watching it...the Jazz and the D are essentially the same team.

Follow me through the rosters.

PG--Billups and Deron Williams. Both rocked-up, inked-up, 6-3 points who can post up.
SG--Rip and Ronnie Brewer. Both 6-7, 159 pound guards who are below-average defenders.
SF--Tey-Tey and AK47. Both incredibly long, very good defenders who sacrifice some points and stats for the betterment of the team. Also both look like they could be alien life forms.
PF--Memo and Sheed. Both finesse forwards, very good 3-point shooters. Memo obviously a former Piston as well.
C--Dice and Boozer. The only spot where this comparison falls a little flat, but not much. Boozer is a much better rebounder at this point, and can get to the rim better, where Dice is more of a jump shooter and on the back end of his career.

Bench--Both have shoot-first backup guards (Flip and Matt Harpring), both have wing guys out of high school with high hopes that are still developing (Amir Johnson and CJ Miles), both have 2nd year slightly undersized power forwards who enjoy mixing it up (Mad Max and Paul Millsap).

So I really wasn't surprised to see TMac lighting up the Jazz for 41 last night. He might as well have been in his Orlando uni, doing the same junk to Rip 4 years ago in the playoffs.

Please keep coming back for more good stuff on my blog about random junk, and I'm beating the crap out of the Stallions this week in the RAFFLE.