The Bird was the Word

Once again, the passing of a Tiger legend.
I was too young to be following sports the Bird's rookie (and really only) season, and only heard stories of it when I came to sports fandom age a few years later. Part of me never really understood what the big deal was about him. So he talked to the baseball, big deal.
But a few years back when the All-Star game was in Detroit, I saw a piece on him on the WWL, and I started to get what made him so special.

The 70s were not a very good time for the Detroit sports fan. The Lions made one playoff game in 1970, and then moved out of the city to Pontiac, which must have seemed like another world at the time. The Red Wings were in the midst of a 20 year swoon which saw them make the playoffs only twice, despite the NHL expanding the post season to 16 out of the 20 teams in the league. The Pistons were still a non-entity in the NBA, and the Tigers, despite having won a championship in '68, and a division with Billy Martin in 72, lost 102 games in 75, their first losing season since 1952.

It hadn't always been that way. In the fifties and early sixties, Detroit was one of the centers of the sporting world. The Lions won four championships in seven years, playing at Briggs stadium. The Red Wings won four Cups in six years. And the Tigers, although not a powerhouse like the Yankees (or even the BoSox) were still a consistent top half of the division. Kids growing up in that era had it good around here.

So the downfall of the 70s must have seemed like the end of the world to those kids. Then along comes Fidrych, this non-roster invitee to spring training in 76, who didn't started his first game until mid-may, and wound up finishing 2nd in the Cy Young voting. He went 19-9 with 24 complete games and 250 innings pitched. He was a breath of fresh air to a town that was desperate for a hero.

And then, almost as quickly, he was gone. His career only lasted four more years, he only pitched 162 more innings in the majors after 1962. He was like that girl you dated once in high school that you were crazy about, but moved away before you could learn all the mundane things about her. He was a shooting star, whose peak came at just the right time in Detroit sports history

A Radical Suggestion

From time to time the subject of Big Ten expansion comes up at the office. Usually it's brought up by one of those quasi-sports fan, who knows when the Super Bowl is, but not much more. The question gets tossed at the sports fans in the group, "Is the Big Ten ever going to add another team to make an even number?"
A discussion usually ensues about how any school that might be considered would have to meet a myriad of qualifications, including geographic proximity, academic reputation, and profile of the university. We talk about all the various candidates, and why they don't fit, wouldn't leave their current conferences, or are just too far away. Of course this topic has been covered in much greater detail by the professional Michigan bloggers.
The other day while we were rehashing this, a thought occurred to me: What if The University of Chicago had never left the Big Ten? Would MSU have been invited to join if there were 10 and not 9 members? Would they have looked to Penn State? Would we have 12 teams in the Western Conference now?
If you think about it, the addition of Chicago make sense in a lot of way. Geographically they fit perfectly, and would fit in the western division with NU, Ill, Wisc, Minn, and Iowa. They could play their games in Soldier Field and would be a southside Chicago private school counterpart to the northside Chicago private school Northwestern. The resulting Big Ten championship game could be played in Chicago, which is just teeming with Big Ten grads. Academically they are a perfect fit, as they already belong to the CIC, the academic arm of the Big Ten. Historically, they would represent a return to the roots of the league, as they were one of the founding members of the league, and the league probably wouldn't exist without Chicago. Plus their colors (maroon and white) would be unique in the league.
Of course there is the small problem of them being a Division III athletic program that offers no scholarships, and has facilities that are woefully inadequate for the Division I, let alone a BCS conference. But if Michigan can make the Big Dance, and State can make it to two straight bowls, anything can happen

They're Gonna Wave Him In!

Some catching up on a few items:

-I was in the middle of setting up an Awards Ceremony at the Academic Games State tournament as Michigan was playing Clemson in the first round of the NCAAs. As I was unpacking trophies, setting up microphones, and moving chairs, people would shout the score to me from across the banquet hall, where they were watching it on ESPN gametracker or a shitty CBS March Madnees On-Demand video feed, while at the same time monitoring middle school students playing Presidents. When the game finally ended, my son called me with the score. Needless to say, I didn't really get much chance to break down the game, and I still haven't watched it in its entirety. But over the next few days, whenever I had a moment to think. I found myself repeating the results over and over, "We won a game in the Big Dance, we won a game in the Big Dance!" I am ecstatic with the season, and think John Beilein did a whale of a job making the tourney with two walk-ons at point, and one player over 6-8 in the rotation. He certainly deserved some Coach of the Year consideration in the Big Ten (Izzo winning that award was an absolute joke). I know that the step for a program from bad to mediocre or from mediocre to good is ten times easier than the step from good to great, or great to elite, but I have confidence that Beilein will take us there eventually. If Manny and Pedi Sims come back (cross your fingers), top 3 or 4 in the league, a single digit seed, and a sweet sixteen birth are not unreasonable expectations for next year.
-I'm not an NFL draft expert by any stretch of the imagination, and any time spent thinking about the Lions is wasted time, but it seems to me that a Jay Cutler for the Lions second first round pick (#20) is an obvious deal that would help both the Lions and Denver.
-What the heck is Kentucky thinking? You gotta give a coach at least three years, barring any wrongdoing (like the Kelvin Sampson stuff at IU). I don't know why any established coach without prior connections there would want that job knowing they've run off two pretty decent coaches in the last three years. They just moved up a few spots on my "Teams to root against" list.
-TO in Buffalo?!?! Seriously, that's a joke isn't it? That's like saying that Dennis Leary has been selected as the next Pope, or Rush Limbaugh is the new head of the ACLU. Some things just don't belong together.
-The passing of George Kell earlier this week made me feel really old (and really melancholy). Along with Bob Ufer, Ernie Harwell, and to a lesser extent Sid Abel, Kell was the voice of my sports childhood. You could hear one word from him and you knew who you were listening to. Close your eyes and listen to a few more words and you could see the upper deck in rightfield hanging over the field. You could see the flagpole in deep, deep centerfield in front of the rowdy bleacher creatures. He came from an era when announcers didn't just read the score or the pitch count, but actually painted a picture complete with all the little details that were periphery to the game. His Arkansas drawl was so unique to this area that everyone had their own imitation of it. He was a connection to the Golden Age of baseball for my generation of fans.