A Mixture of Topics

With very little going on in sports recently, this post will include summaries of the Detroit sports scene along with my predictions for the upcoming baseball season. A movie review and some music suggestions will find their way into the fray as well.

First, the NHL: Since my last post, when I ventured to Boston to see the Red Wings continue their great season with a victory over the Bruins, the team has been falling from grace...hard. In the four games since, they are 1-3-1. It started with a monumental collapse against the Kings when they somehow managed to allow 4 goals in the 3rd period and lost the game 5-3. The loss to the Ducks later that week could not have been more aggravating because everything about the game was completely unfair, topped off by a completely blown call with 40 seconds left when Lidstrom had his tying goal waved off by a phantom goaltender interference call on Holmstrom. Bull. Still, even with these recent struggles, I have confidence that this streak will end and that the team will still make a strong run at the Cup come playoff time. They are beat up right now, with Hasek, Cleary, Kronwall, and Rafalski out of the lineup. Once all of those guys get better...this team will strike fear into their opponent's hearts.

Onto the NBA: The Pistons are one of the hottest teams in the Association heading into the All-Star break, having won 10 consecutive games. This team is deeper than any Pistons team I can remember watching in the past eight years, including their title team of 2004. I really think that no one in the East will be able to contend with them in a seven-game series with their added depth of Afflalo, Stuckey, Amir Johnson, Maxiell, and so many others. This team is better than good, they are grrrrrreat. I feel very good about any potential match-ups in the East once the playoffs start, including those pesky Celts. They could take that match-up in six, even without home court advantage.

Moving on...the 2008 baseball season officially starts in my mind when the Tigers take the field on March 31st to play the Royals. Since there is so little to write about, I'll give you loyal readers my preseason predictions with absolutely no analysis to go along with them.

How They'll Finish in '08:

AL East: Boston, New York, Baltimore, Toronto, Tampa Bay
AL Central: Detroit, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City
AL West: Seattle, Anaheim, Oakland, Texas
NL East: New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Florida, Washington
NL Central: Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Houston, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh
NL West: San Diego, Arizona, Los Angeles, Colorado, San Francisco

ALDS: Boston over Cleveland, Detroit over Seattle
NLDS: New York over Chicago, Atlanta over San Diego
ALCS: Detroit over Boston (What, you think I'd pick against my team?)
NLCS: Atlanta over New York
World Series: Detroit over Atlanta

Woo...Go Tigers. They will have by far the best lineup in baseball and as long as they get some good relief pitching from the unknowns in their bullpen they can win it all.

If you have any questions or concerns about my picks, know that there are only two things you should consider in reading my predictions. One, that the Detroit Tigers are my favorite team and two, that everything else was based on a hunch. I have nowhere near enough patience to actually look at who plays for a team like the Nationals (or anyone in the NL for that matter) and then try to figure out who will finish where. It is all a guess anyway so I might as well make it a genuine one based solely on a lack of information.

Now for a movie review...

There Will Be Blood - Eh. I didn't think too much of the plot and was bored through the middle parts. The movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes long and frankly, with the exception of the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter movies, that's too long for me. I like plenty of different movies but this one was just not for me...it's that simple. I will however, commend Daniel Day Lewis on a great acting performance. Final verdict: 2 out of 5 stars.

As for the music scene...I watched Almost Famous last weekend while I was bored because it is one of my all-time favorite movies and I hadn't seen it in a long time. It turned out to be a great decision because afterwards, I decided to download and listen to the entire collections of Led Zeppelin and The Who. And I have to tell you, it was an unbelievable experience. If you haven't listened to such fantastic music, I highly recommend them both. Only listening to the greatest hits CDs and compilation albums, like I did previously, just doesn't cut it. There is a reason why the artists made each album the way they did, so it only makes sense to listen to all of the songs in the way they were meant to be listened to.

Now, I loved every album produced by both bands, but I was able to pick out a favorite for each. Tommy from The Who was a no-brainer. It is probably one of my favorite albums of all time. I listened to it more than three full times this week and it is comprised of 24 songs. My favorite album from Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, was a much tougher decision. Each Zeppelin album was short and fantastic, but I finally decided on Led Zeppelin IV. Every single song on that album could play in my head for days and I would still enjoy them, so that's why it got my vote.

Well, that's all I have for now. Hope you enjoyed the myriad of topic and Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Adios, amigos.