Response to Mel Kiper's Draft Grade for the Detroit Lions

         When grading how every team did in this year’s draft, Mel Kiper Jr. decided to give the Detroit Lions an A-, which tied the Cincinnati Bengals for the highest grade in the draft. When I found out about this I was ecstatic, knowing that I wasn’t the only crazy guy out there that fought the Lions did something right by drafting Nick Fairley, the Defensive Tackle out of Auburn, Titus Young, the Wide Receiver out of Boise State, and Mikel Leshoure, the Running Back out of Illinois in the first two rounds.

            Sure, the Lions didn’t draft for need, (they needed a quality linebacker and a shut-down cornerback) but now they really don’t need one. By adding Nick Fairley to a defensive line that already includes Ndamukong Suh, (Defensive Rookie of the year, Rookie of the year, Pro-bowler, led the league with ten and a half sacks) Kyle Vanden Bosch, Corey Williams, and Cliff Avril, you don’t really need a linebacker all that much any more. Sure it’s nice to have one, that’s why the Lions drafted Doug Hogue in the fifth round as a developmental guy. But still, by drafting Fairley, that pretty much takes care of the defensive dilemma. My guess is that Fairley comes in and has a Suh-esque season, becoming the second Detroit Lion in a row to win the Defensive Rookie of the year award. Quarterbacks in the NFC North beware, (Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, and Christian Ponder) Suh and Fairley are here.

            With the Lions next pick, Detroit took Titus Young, the explosive wide receiver out of Boise State. This kid is absolutely electric, and will be a highly productive guy in the NFL. Now, the Lions have pro-bowler Calvin Johnson as the number one receiver, Titus Young playing the role of the explosive quick receiver on the other side, and Nate Burleson playing in the slot, where he was highly productive in Minnesota. Now, the Lions have one of the scariest defensive lines, and receiving corpse in the NFL. I predict Titus Young will have a huge season with all the attention going over to Calvin Johnson, and could possibly win offensive Rookie of the Year. He definitely has the talent, and the Lions know he will work hard because it turns out that Titus Young is actually from Detroit!

            For the Lions next pick, they traded up and got Mikel Leshoure, the big, powerful, bruising running back that has drawn comparisons to Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburg Steelers. Boy, do the Lions love this pick. Last year, Detroit traded up to get Jahvid Best, the explosive running back out of the University of California. Best was injured during the year after a highly productive first two weeks. After the injury (Turf Toe) the Lions started questioning is durability, so this year, they drafted Mikel Leshoure in the second round, so they could let Jahvid Best step into the role of a change of pace back. This tandem will be Thunder and Lightning out there for the Lions, nobody will be able to stop these two. With Leshoure’s pound it down the middle ability, and Best’s make you miss quickness, the Lions will finally have themselves a backfield. (Well, at least for the first time since Barry Sanders.)

            Yes, I agree with you Mel, the Lions had another spectacular draft this year. And yes, I agree with you Mel, the Lions are officially a playoff-caliber team. They tremendously improved themselves with the additions of Fairley, Young, and Leshoure. And with Matthew Stafford coming back, the Lions have got themselves a football team. 

Response to the College Football Pre-Season Top 25

1.     Oklahoma

2.     Alabama

3.     Florida State

4.     Oregon

5.     LSU

6.     Oklahoma State

7.     Boise St.

8.     Stanford

9.     Texas A&M

10. Michigan State

11. Arkansas

12. Wisconsin

13. Nebraska

14. West Virginia

15.  Ohio State

16. Notre Dame

17. Georgia

18. Missouri

19. South Carolina

20. Texas

21. Arizona State

22. TCU

23. Virginia Tech

24. Florida

25. Mississippi State

Well, what do you think? First off, it is WAY too early to have a top 25. We just got done with the draft! All we have had is spring training; coaches don’t even have their rosters set yet! Why are we doing this? (Oh yeah, there’s a lockout in the NFL, that’s right. We don’t have anything better to do!) Nonetheless, people are already analyzing away, picking through it with a fine toothcomb, acknowledging every single detail, and it’s May! So, here’s my take on the pre-season top 25.

      Boomer Sooner. The Oklahoma faithful have to be happy about this one. But I’m not sure I agree. Every year, even if Oklahoma doesn’t deserve it, it seems like they always have a top five ranking. But what have they shown us? They won the fiesta bowl. Yeah sure that’s great and all, but I hate to tell you they played Connecticut, a team that was slaughtered by a 7-5 Michigan Wolverines team. This is not the right spot for the Sooners.

Now, Alabama, that’s a solid pick, they’re good every year. What really baffles me is Florida State. You have got to be kidding me. Sure they had the top recruiting class, but do you really expect them to win anything with just some highly touted freshman? C’mon man. Next we have the Ducks, who should be ranked atop the polls. They have Lamichael James who is without a doubt the best running back in all of college football. Also, they have Darren Thomas coming back, who will be even better next year. Oregon is my pick (Besides the Wolverines) to win it all this year.

      Let’s skip down a few. At the number nine spot we have Texas A&M. Since when is the number one team from Texas not named the Longhorns? I highly question this pick. Even more now because Jerrod Johnson was lost to the NFL this year.

      Next we have the Spartans from Michigan State. Wait; is this the basketball pre-season rankings? Sure the Spartans had a Sparty Party in Ann Arbor this year, (and the won the big-ten) but that doesn’t vault them over the Wolverines this next year.

Next, we have the most hated team in the land, the Ohio State Buckeyes. They come in at the number 15 spot, and I must say that this is too high. They are going to lose many key players for the first five games this season, one of them being named Terelle Pryor. Also, they lose their head coach for the first five games. My prediction is that after the first five games they drop out of the rankings completely, and the Big Ten will be the Wolverines play ground once again.

      At number 16, we have the Fighting Irish from Notre Dame. Wait, didn’t these guys lose to the 7-5 Wolverines last year. Didn’t they lose to them the year before too? Well, I’m here to tell you that Notre Dame will not return to the “holy land” of college football this season. They will lose to the Wolverines once again and stay out of the rankings for at least one more year.

      If we scroll down we have Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina, Texas, and Arizona State in the next five spots. Georgia will be hopeless this year without A.J. Green, and so will Missouri without Blaine Gabbert. South Carolina should be bumped up a few spots, especially with Marcus Lattimore running the ball for them. The Longhorns will hope to get over that dreadful season of year’s past, but sadly they will not. And Arizona State? You have got to be kidding me. What have they shown to land them a spot in the top-25?

            Skipping down a few we find that there is no Michigan in the top 25. This is not right. Denard Robinson is a front-runner for the Heisman trophy, and along with the new coach, Brady Hoke, and a new defensive system, lets just say you’ll see the Wolverines in the rankings very soon. 

Little Red Riding Hood

            So we all know the story of Little Red Riding Hood. She travels through the woods with a basket of cookies to bring them to her grandmother’s house on the opposite side of the woods, only to find that her grandmother was eaten and replaced by a wolf. Pretty sad, huh? But that’s just it. We only know about the outline of the story, we don’t know any of the background information, the who, what, when, where and why if you will. Well I’m here to tell you what happened-why the wolf was in bed all alone instead of grandma. If you simply do not care what the rest of this story is about, do not proceed. If you wish to find out, then keep reading, and have your wildest fantasies become real.

            It all started out three days before the wolf ate Little Red Riding Hoods grandmother. You see, the grandmother was buying groceries at the at the forests local grocery store when she sees the wolf there. The wolf gives a mean look and the grandmother thinks nothing of it except, “Punk teenagers,” and just walked on until she saw the cream of wheat cereal and started in a mad sprint for it. But the wolf saw the cream of wheat too, and sprinted for it as fast as the wind! The two get there at the same exact time and start a huge fight over it! They rustle and tussle, fight and kick, and rumble around for the o’ so precious cream of wheat cereal. Finally, there is a huge crowd around them, and the manager comes and breaks them up. The whole thing was a huge mess, they get banned from the store, they have to do fifty days community service, and nobody gets to keep the cream of wheat.

         You see, neither the grandma nor the wolf got over that very easy. So they both hatched diabolical plans to get back at each other. Grandma’s plan was very simple. She would just sneak up on the wolf in his sleep, then attack. “Simple and clever,” she thought to herself over a cup of tea. “I will get rid of that pesky wolf that denied me of my cream of wheat, muhahaha!”

         The wolf’s plan was a little more diabolical than the grandma’s plan. You see, the wolf was a lot smarter than what grandma thought. The wolf was an evil, sinister, terrible wolf that would eat up anything that would get in his way. “And,” thought the wolf, “That’s just what I’ll do…”

         So, on the eve of the incident of little red riding hood, grandma snuck out of her house, then proceeded on to the wolf’s home. She creeped open the door, and slowly tiptoed across the room, without making a sound. She moved with such stealth that it could be compared to a preying mantis, moving about ever so slowly, stalking its prey. She walked into the wolf’s room, took out her blade and stood there with it, taking in every last moment of it, imprinting it into her aging brain, taking in the happiness, and the sorrow, the love, and the hate of it all. All of the sudden, the blade rises, as if she is in control no longer. And right at the moment she is about to bring down her blade to end the wolf’s life, the wolf opens his eyes and gobbles her up right then and there, laughing hysterically at the sound of her screams, until the wolf hears no more. You see, the wolf had anticipated this happening all along. He saw that crazy look in her eyes during the fight at the grocery store over the cream of wheat. He knew that she was going to pull a stupid stunt like this, and that was his plan all along, to sleep with one eye open, then to strike at the very last second.

         Then, the wolf started coughing, and coughing until he spat something up. It was a note, a reminder that her granddaughter was coming over with a new batch of cookies tomorrow. “Good,” thought the wolf, “I can have the old lady and her granddaughter too. Oh and cookies as well!” The wolf was overjoyed! He immediately set out for the costume store, to buy none other than an old grandma costume.

         The next morning, when Little Red Riding Hood stepped into Grandma’s house with a basket of cookies, the wolf was disguised as her grandmother, lying in bed, awaiting her sweet granddaughter and the basket of cookies. But what the wolf didn’t know was that Little Red Riding Hood could fight. And not only could she fight, she could kick A. Little Red Riding Hood immediately knew that this was no grandma laying in bed, and attacked the wolf! The wolf was caught in a state of shock, so it wasn’t much of a fight. Little Red Riding Hood beat the wolf up and took him the forest jail, where the wolf was charged of murder, and was sentenced to be locked up for life.

         And there you have it, the truth behind the story of Little Red Riding Hood, why the Wolf was in bed instead of grandma.

                                             The End 

Nuclear Ghost City

            Wow, how could you even imagine walking through the desolate streets of Pripyat? Seeing nothing but nuclear waste and deserted hallways? Let me tell you, I would definitely pay a ton of money to go on that tour. Think about it, walking up and down the streets with nobody there, in this absolutely huge ghost town? I think it would be pretty freakin’ sick.

            On April 26, 1986, Chernobyl’s number four reactor exploded, destroying the entire city of Pripyat, which at the time was considered to be one of the nicest places to live in the Soviet Union. It looked like everything was new, and everything was modern. It was very popular, and when disaster struck, it was all gone. 50,000 people ended up evacuating Pripyat, leaving everything behind. Can you imagine how sad that would be?

            Right now, Japan is scared the same thing is going to happen in the city of Fukushima. The cost would be astronomical to fix, let alone the cost to fix all of those broken souls that had to move away from their beloved homes. Think about the people that lived in the city of Pripyat, everybody that had to leave everything behind. That would be sad.

A-Bomb Imposter

The book, The Last Train from Hiroshima, published by Henry Holt, claims to reveal a secret accident with the atomic bomb that killed one American and irradiated others and severely reduced the bombs destructive power. It also claims that a Mr. Joseph Fuoco was also a last minute substitute for James R. Corliss for the historic bombing run. There’s one problem, both of these statements are claimed to be false by people who were thought to be actually on the bombing run. Or were they? The truth is, nobody really knows who was actually flying over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

            It seems like everybody was defending Corliss, saying that they could shake hands with him on the plane, or they could see him right in the cockpit. His family showed old memorabilia of Mr. Corliss’, such as medals, and old photographs. Mr. Fuoco’s family could not produce any evidence that he was on the plane that was going to bomb Hiroshima.

            Also, there were claims that the accident that killed one American and reduced the A-bombs destructive power never happened. The Los Alamos laboratory that produced the bomb claims that the bomb suffered no accident and no technical failures. Again, Mr. Fuoco has no evidence.

            So, was Mr. Fuoco on the historic bombing run? No, I don’t think so.

Yitta Schwartz

Yitta Schwartz has the biggest family ever. She has 15 children, more than 200 grandchildren, and a ton of great grandchildren. All in all, she has around 2,000 living descendants. That’s a lot.

She is a very Jewish lady. She was a part of the holocaust, and was stuck in many different German concentration camps. She ended up living through the holocaust, and giving the world many many children. At family reunions, she never seemed to forget anybody’s name. Which amazes me, who can’t even remember ten people’s names?

Yitta considered bearing children as her tribute to god. And boy did she tribute. Having 15 children. Wow, that’s something else. All of her descendants lived close by too, in parts of New York. And all of her descendants are tributes to society. They are rabbis, teachers, merchants, plumbers and truck drivers.

Yitta was born in 1916 into a family of seven children in the Hungarian village of Kalev, revered as the hometown of a founder of Hungarian Hasid ism. During World War Two, the Nazis sent her and her family to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

In 1953, her family moved to the United States, in the New York Area. She lived a very happy life with many, many children.

Uzbek Photos

        The photo that Umida Akhmedova took was absolutely fine, and there was nothing wrong with it. She was simply trying to be an artist, and express herself. There is nothing wrong with that. She was simply trying to show the world her opinion. The government should never get involved with things like that. The government was totally wrong to have prosecuted her. The photographer was simply trying to express her opinion. Sure, maybe it doesn’t help the image of the country, but you can’t just arrest her! Also, the artist wasn’t even trying to disgrace the image of her country. In the complaint statement, it said, “With one glance at these pictures one can see that repair work is being done in these words, and that the children entered them purely through the childish curiosity that is inherent to them. But to foreigners, these photographs may give the impression that these children live in these homes.” Yes, these images may send that image, but that’s not the point. The point is that the artist should be able to express his/her opinion without being sent to jail! This whole case was just terrible, and the Uzbekistan government should just stay out of it.

MSU March Hopes

SUMMER's In March. After a disappointing regular season, it's going to be a new life for Durrel, Kalin, Draymond and the Spartans this year in Tourney time.

EAST LANSING -- Did you ever have an itch but you can't reach it, and you twist yourself around and suddenly your arm hurts, too, then your back hurts, and even if someone is telling you to stop acting like a pretzel all you can think about is making that dang itch stop?

Welcome to Durrell Summers' relationship with his jump shot. He can't reach it. He can't scratch it. But man, it's dominating his every thought. Sitting with the senior guard from Detroit in Michigan State's locker room this week, I heard a young player who is so fixed on fixing what never needed fixing, he's in a fix.

"It was right before the season, I kinda changed my mechanics a little bit," Summers said. "Just changed my elbow position. I'm not locking it in. And being a scorer, if it don't feel like I'm shooting it the right way -- it kind of affects my whole game."

Affect it? At times it has swallowed it. Summers has been in single digits 10 of the last 12 games. He hardly seems like the breakout player everyone witnessed in last year's NCAA tournament. There were games this season when he flat-out disappeared.

He blames himself, not others. He works every day, in every way, to try to get the feeling again. So much so, that Tom Izzo has told him to go home certain nights, get out of the gym, stop obsessing over it.

This is a bit like telling a bear to ignore the food smell, or a horse to ignore the buzzing fly on its back.

Totally out of whack

"When you don't have that flow and that rhythm, your timing is off on everything," Summers said, shaking his head. "You might go after a loose ball and not even get it."

This, he explained, was behind one of his lowest moments this season, during the Ohio State game, when he made like a statue as the Buckeyes' Aaron Craft outhustled him for a loose ball and a key score.

"I wasn't being lazy, I was just -- I was just so out of rhythm, I saw it and misjudged it," Summers said. "I was just so messed up worrying about it all. ... You feel like everybody's watching everything you do."

Critics -- and coaches -- claim that he can do plenty besides score. Rebounding and defense are ways to get back in the flow. Summers doesn't deny that. He just says that most of the season, without his "ace" -- what he calls his shooting touch -- the whole game feels as if he's running in a suit and tie.

"I've never gone through anything like this before," he said. You can't help but feel for the guy. He's like a golfer who monkeyed too much with his swing. Summers, when's he's on, just melts into the game. He can fly, he can soar, he can score in huge bunches.

But that's when he's not thinking about it. This dilemma has him over-thinking his pregame routines.

"I go from taking a nap, then, if that doesn't work, not taking a nap. Wear my socks one way. Then not. Listening to music before the game, then stop listening to music."

Trying to scratch that itch.

A reason for hope

Summers has even alternated his prayer schedule. Try it before. Try it after. He prays every day to get his game back and help his team win.

And that may be what haunts him the most. Summers has seen how many close games the Spartans have dropped. "I feel like if I was playing to the level I can play at, we would have had a better chance," he said. "For the most part, Kalin (Lucas) and Draymond (Green) are playing pretty well. Coach always talks about us as the Big Three. But I haven't been doing my part."

The good news for MSU fans is that Summers felt a breakthrough this week. Maybe it's the tournament. Maybe it's the trip to a new arena, a new state and a new team (tonight, in Tampa, against UCLA). But he says a cloud has lifted. The shot feels good.

"It's a new life," he said.

It needs to be. As a senior, tonight's game could be his last. Best-case scenario, he has six college nights to rediscover whatever has abandoned him. In the locker room, already dressed for practice, Summers, the kid with the itch, made this observation:

"Your mind can definitely be your best friend or your worst enemy."

So can your jump shot.

Contact Mitch Albom: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com . Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760).

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The Ice Life

                         This is only my most favorite hockey jersey ever.

          My Pride and Joy- My Easton S17 skates and Easton EQ50 hockey stick

Yep, there's the boys- ready and set to make a run at Nationals. Oh, and that's me, the captain in the middle.

Response to, "Is Blogging Journalism?"

Well, this guy does have a point. But, the question is that is it the right point. And no, it is not. Well, partly. Please, let me explain. Blogging is partly journalism. I think that blogging can be journalism, it just depends on how you use it. And yes, I do get this guy's point, but he hasn't done the research.

There are some blogs on the internet that are totally devoted to the news, not just some guys opinion. No, blogs are not big websites such as The Huffington Post, or even CNN.com. They are small, little sites, cramped in the darkest corners of the internet. And some of these blogs can look a lot like journalism.

Yes, some blogs are devoted to telling you wether or not this guy likes the office or not, but others give you updates on news around the world. So yes, and no... to the question, "Is blogging journalism?" It depends.

Biography of Terry Sawchuk

      Terry Sawchuk on December 28, 1929 in East Kildonan, a working class, Ukrainian section of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He was an outstanding goalie in the NHL, primarily with my favorite team, the Detroit Red Wings. At age twelve, he injured his right elbow playing football, and, not wanting to be punished by his parents, hid the injury, preventing the dislocation from proper healing. Thus, the arm was left with limited mobility, and was several inches shorter than his left, and bothered him for his entire athletic career.
       At age fourteen, a local scout for the Detroit Red Wings saw him and signed him to an amateur contract, and sent him to go play in Galt, Ontario. The Red Wings signed to a professional contract in 1947, where he quickly progressed in the developmental system, winning rookie of the year honors in both the U.S. and American hockey leagues.

       He joined the Red Wings in the 1950-1951 season. He was nicknamed "Ukey" or "The Uke" by his teammates, because of his Ukrainian ancestry. Sawchuk led the Red Wings to three stanley cups in five years, winning the Calder trophy (rookie of the year) and three Vezina trophies for the fewest goals allowed. He was selected to the NHL all-star game his first five years in the league, had fifty-six shut outs, and his GAA (goals against average) remained under 2.00. (That's amazing) He was also called the greatest goalie ever by a rival GM.

        During his career, Sawchuk won 501 games, and recorded 115 shut outs during his career. In 1971, he was elected to the Hockey Hall Of Fame, and in 1994, the Red Wings retired his number 1.

         Sawchuk struggled with Depresion throughout his life, a condition that often affected his conduct. After the 1969-1970 season ended, he got in a fight with fellow teammate Ron Stewart, where Sawchuk suffered from several internal injuries during the fracus from falling on Stewarts bent knee. Sawchuk's gallbladder was removed and he had a second operation on his bleeding and damaged liver. At New York Hospital in Manhattan, another operation was performed on Sawchuk's bleeding liver. He never recovered from the Operation and died soon after from a pulmonary embolism on May 31, 1970 at the age of forty.

       Sawchuk was and still is one of the greatest goalies and competitors of all time, and remains my favorite goalie to this day.

How My Team Will Hold Up at Nationals

 Well, it's that time of year again, the end of the season. Ah, the birds are chirping, the snow is melting, and the temperature is around a solid 38 degrees. Which also means it's time to buckle down and start on our road to Buffalo.

First, let me fill you in on how my team has got to this position for the second year in a row. Last weekend the Utah Grizzlies (my team) the team Northwest Regulators, and the Ogden Wildcats all competed in a tournament for the prize of representing the state of Utah in the USA national tournament. Our first game was against our arch rivals, the Regulators, who we were at that point, (and still are) undefeated against. It was a close game, with my team winning 3-2 in overtime.

The next night, the Regulators and Ogden squared off with the Regulators taking it 4-0. That meant that it was do or die for my team the next morning, because the point system in that tournament was retarded. We ended up winning the game 4-1 against the Wildcats, earning us a spot in the championship game with the Regulators.

Yes, we won the game (4-1) and yes I have the game highlights on my blog if you would like to see them.
Now, thats done with. What my team has got to do now is look ahead to things to come. If the team from  Utah will win any games in New York, we will have to start winning some major games against big opponents like against our buddies from Boise coming down this weekend. In games against some top teams, we always give them really good games and they are only usually decided by one or two scores, but we never seem to be able to pull the rabbit out of the hat. If we are going to have any chance at youth hockey's biggest stage, we gotta start puling that bread out of the oven!

Also, EVERYBODY, I mean EVERYBODY has to be on top of their game. On our team, we only have a few people that can be called consistent, and everybody else just has their good games and bad games. The Utah representative needs everybody there and ready to play at all times if we plan on winning this thing.

Next, we have the issue of our conditioning. Now, my team is very good in the third period, I can truly state the we have won games in the third period, and even more importantly we haven't lost any in the third. What I am going to say is that the other teams at nationals will have their cans worked off in these next six weeks of preparing. That's what my team needs to do-but even more. Coach, we need to step it up. Now, I will say that on wednesday you made it clear that you take my point. People, I got worked so hard I was officially on my hands and knees by the end of it all, and the same goes for my teammates. So, what I'm saying is, keep it up coach, god knows what all the other teams are doing right now.

Last, the team needs to act as a team. A team at the biggest tournament in the world. You see, our biggest problem last year was that everybody thought it was vacation time last year when we went to Wayne, NJ for nationals. Everybody thought that the season was over, even though it wasn't. Kids weren't focused, we were screwing around at the hotel, and we were taking trips to New York everyday instead of focusing on hockey. When we go this year, it has already been decided that the team will stay as a team, which means we will travel together, we will room together, and we will stay together throughout the whole trip. This is exactly how other teams are doing it, and it's also how we are going to do it, keep the focus on hockey.

Alright, I lied. One more thing that we need to do to win nationals. The team needs to stay friendly with each other at all times, especially on the ice. We CANNOT, I mean CANNOT get down on each other, and start yelling at each other. The team needs to keep their spirits up, and keep having a good time if the Grizzlies are going to have a good time winning some games in Buffalo.

So, personally, I think the Utah Grizzlies have the tools to compete at the nations biggest tournament. It all comes down to how we prepare for it, how we handle it, how we can get along, and if we can handle the heat. In the games we have in preparation to nationals, we NEED to find a way to pull the straw out of the barrel. We need to stay as a team, and we need to act like friends all the time. We need to push ourselves to no limit, and keep skating as hard as we can at all times. If we can do these things, I predict the Utah Grizzlies will hold up just fine.