Tony's Tantrums

MSU Basketball

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Last night the Spartans took care of Bradley, in Peoria. The Braves came out in the second half hot, but the Spartans were able to shut them down, and take care of business thanks to Drew Naymick and Goran Suton on the boards, Kalin Lucas’ clutch three, and free throw shooting at the end of the game by Raymar and Drew Neitzel. This game was exactly the type of game that the green and white needed. They held onto the late lead, against a very tough shooting Bradley team that WILL be there come March, and are one of the best “mid-majors” in the country. You could hear the relief in Izzo’s voice in the post-game interview. The team needed to face adversity, and come out on top. And they did.

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MSU Football

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I do not like Illinois football. I never have. Ron Zook is going to leave the Illini within two years. But this Sunday, they were my second favorite team. If they made a BCS bowl, the Spartans would be almost guaranteed a Florida bowl. If not, the chances were great that the Spartans would have been playing in Detroit. Well as all of you know, the Illini made the Rose bowl. That put the Spartans in the Champs Bowl. The team that the bowl committee put us against will not just bow down though. Boston College was ranked as high as number 2 this year. Matt Ryan has had a terrific year, even with his stumbles in the past 5 games. But this game will be as close to a home game as a Spartan fan could imagine in Florida. Boston College has historically not traveled well. Rumors are flying that they dropped to this bowl instead of the Chik-Fil-A or Peach bowl because of this. Are the Eagle players coming into this game expecting the Spartans to just lie down? I know that the fans and the athletic director at BC are. The Eagle’s AD is Gene DeFilippo. He was quoted in a Bob Ryan article saying "We're going to a bowl and we will win it. We'll be 11-3 and that will be a heckuva season.” Well Mr. DeFilippo, the Spartan’s haven’t laid down for anyone this year, and that includes to a team in the national title game.

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Detroit Tigers

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WHOA!!!!!!! I was sitting in the studio prepping for the MSU basketball game against Bradley when I got the call. “Hey man, did you hear about the trade? The Tigers just acquired Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis for Maybin, Miller and Rabelo.” My jaw dropped as Jamal told me to turn the television to ESPN. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had heard rumors of this, but I did not think that Dombrowski would pull the trigger. I love this trade. Normally when you think that you’re going to get rid of young prospects such as these, you think you’ll be getting back nothing but older players that will help you win now. Not this time. Yes, they got rid of the top prospect in the organization. Yes they got rid of a player that some are comparing to Randy Johnson. But what they got back was remarkable. In Cabrera they get a 24 year old third baseman that already has a World Series title, and World Series MVP. In Willis they get another lefty in the rotation that has post season experience. Oh yeah, and he was a runner-up for that little award called the Cy Young. Yeah, they got players to win now, but these players could be here making all-star appearances for many years to come.

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Detroit Lions

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Wow. I did not think that it would be that bad. 42-10? Really? I assumed there was a little bit of heart left in the team. It’s all but gone. The players don’t believe in Mike Martz. They’re sick of him. They ran the ball exactly 3 times in their first 40 plays. That’s unacceptable. You can not have a duo of running backs such as Duckett and Jones and not run them at least 25 times a game. I understand that they were trailing all day and trying to get back in to the game, but they ran once in the first 11 plays. These were all when they were tied at 0, or down by 7. For a quarterback to drop back 37 times in the first 40 plays is ridiculous. I am actually incredibly impressed with the porous offensive line, in that they only gave up 3 sacks all game when the Vikings obviously knew what Detroit was going to do. The defense was just terrible. Marinelli called the mistakes “loafes”. I call them quitting. They didn’t even seem to try. They let Peterson and Taylor run all over them. Tarvaris Jackson threw the ball for 204 yards, while completing 75% of his throws. And once again the Lions lost the turnover battle. This team could recover and somehow pull two wins out with their remaining schedule, but don’t count on it. Here’s to hoping that the few remaining players with heart on the team are able to turn the team around.