Michigan’s remaining difficult game before the showdown with Ohio State on November 18th is this weekend against Iowa. Michigan’s other games are against Northwestern and Ball State at home and then they visit Indiana in their final tune up for the Buckeyes. Iowa has caused Michigan fits in the last couple of years. The Wolverines have won each of the last 2 years but last year the Hawkeyes pushed Michigan to overtime. In 2003 Michigan lost a close game on the road and in 2002 they were embarassed at the Big House with a score of 34-9.

This year I think that Lloyd Carr will have his team fired up to meet the Hawkeyes at Michigan Stadium. Michigan’s stifling defense should continue to dominate. The Wolverines are coming off a stellar performance where they allowed Penn State -14 yards rushing last weekend. Iowa, who luckily for them relies heavily on the pass, is coming off an embarassing loss to Indiana last week that has caused them to become unranked. They will be looking to rebound this week, but it’ll be an uphill battle. On top of facing the #3 team in the BCS, Iowa also has injuries to contend with, their leading receiver and running may be out as they face Michigan’s tough defense. Michigan will also be without their leading receiver, Mario Manningham, who had arthroscopic knee surgery last week.

I think that Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes will have a really tough day in store. Michigan’s defense will be able to pin their ears back and attack Drew Tate. If the Hawkeye’s offensive line is unable to stop them, Tate will be on his back a lot on Saturday. For Michigan, look for the same thing they bring every week, power running, that sets up the passing game. With a healthy Mike Hart leading the charge, Michigan should win this game fairly easily. That being said, there is something about this team that I don’t quite trust yet. I have hopes that this is a “great” team. But I’m just not sure yet.

Umm. Well. The Bears offense sucked it tonight. Period. Rex Grossman had 6 turnovers. Rex, you deserved to be pulled… in the first half. He must be one hell of a leader, because if I were on that team I would have walked over to him and slapped him on his head to wake his ass up. Four picks. Are you kidding me? Against the Cardinals. They were ranked 29th in the league in passing defense. They suck. The offensive line played terribly. Roberto Garza, you have to wait until the ball is snapped to move. Hello. And then, after that, you’re supposed to stay inbetween the guy on your team who has the ball and the guys on the other team trying to tackle him. Perhaps Lovie needs to go over the fundamentals with the O-Line on their bye week.
Unfortunately, the defense doesn’t get totally off the hook either. Their lackluster tackling, and soft pass defense nearly allowed Matt Leinart to make a name for himself. Guys, let him do that against some other team. He will do it. He’s the real deal. Just not against the Bears. Of course it was Brian Urlacher and the defense who took charge of this game and brought the Bears to victory. But they’re going to need to bring the intensity the whole game instead of just the 4th quarter if this team really is supposed to remind us of the 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears team.

So now the question will surely be, “Is this a team of Destiny?” I don’t know about that. I do know that this defense can really kick your teeth in, and this team can somehow escape a 6 turnover night to win a football game. So I’d say they’re pretty damn good. What do you think?

So it looks like the Cubs are going to hire Lou Piniella to follow Dusty Baker as their manager. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it. He definitely has a track record of success. But I just wonder if he’s too old, and if he’ll stick around to see the club mature. I’ll have to do some more research into how he handles his pitching staff before I really weigh in. I’ve been pulling for Girardi the whole time so I’m not sure how I feel. Someone convince me that this was the right decision.

Image Courtesy of the AP
So the 2006 New York Yankees fielded the “Greatest Lineup Ever”? Does that mean that the 2006 Detroit Tigers featured the “Greatest Pitching Staff Ever”? I don’t think so. While I agree, that top to bottom the Yankees lineup was pretty fierce (notice I said “was”), a lot of the players are past their prime. Giambi, Sheffield, Damon and Matsui are just not as good as they used to be. If the claim was that this lineup featured all of these players in their prime, I could definitely go along with that, but it’s just not true. Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera might be great, but I just don’t know yet.

Image Courtesy of Getty Images

Now, onto the Tigers. They’re a good team with a solid rotation and a deep bench. It seems like their makeup is similar to last year’s Chicago White Sox. They’re a scrappy bunch led by an old school manager. Jim Leyland is as old baseball as you can get. But it seems like he’s also like everyone’s favorite uncle, or grandfather. Proven by the affection that his team showed when they hoisted him up on their shoulders after they conquered the “greatest lineup ever”.

Jeremy Bonderman pitched one hell of a game. He seemed in control from the outset. He was perfect through 5 innings and ended up going eight and third only giving up 5 hits and 2 runs. Jamie Walker came in and gave up a meaningless 2-run home run to Jorge Posada in mop up duty in the 9th.

Notice I haven’t talked about Jeter, or ARod, or the aged Yankees pitching staff. Even though Jeter had a nice series (he hit .500 in the series, and I still think he’s overrated), he couldn’t supply the Yankees with all of the offense necessary to win this series. I think that Steinbrenner’s philosophy of throwing money at aging superstars will continue to be proven ineffective. This team looks great on paper, and in the history books, but the truth of the matter is that they aren’t a good team. They are obviously great individual players, but as a team they’re just not there. Johnny Damon should know this better than all of his current pin-striped teammates. He was a part of a great team in Boston when they won the World Series in 2004.

Recent events such as the Ryder Cup, FIBA World Championship, and Italy’s World Cup victory show us that a teams win championships, and individuals win awards. So you can keep your ARods, and Jeters, I’ll take the young, hungry team. I can’t wait to see where the Tigers go in the playoffs. As the team of my childhood, I’m definitely rooting for them. I hope the Yankees enjoy the offseason, and New York fans, you’ve still got the Mets.

CBS Sportsline ran a story today about a memo that the NFL’s vice president of officiating, Mike Pereira, sent to all NFL teams this week. Apparently, the NFL feels that the recent practice of using the no-huddle offense to catch the defense with the wrong personnel is giving the offense a competitive advantage. Yeah. Umm. Isn’t that the point?

Teams would use the no-huddle offense to get to the line of scrimmage and try to begin the play before the defense could substitute or shift their defensive formation. “The only provision in the recent rulebook is for defenses to foul and void the play, so defenses were put in a very difficult predicament.” What a stupid thing to say. Of course it puts the defense in a difficult predicament. That’s why they’re doing it. Is the NFL next going to mandate that all teams are given the opposing team’s playbook and game plan before each contest? Just so no one is at a competitive disadvantage. And from now on Peyton Manning will have his arms tied behind his back, and Marvin Harrison will have his shoelaces tied together. They’re just too good, and that’s a competitive disadvantage for the other team.

So Cubs CEO Andy MacPhail (or MacFail) resigned today. This relief for Cubs fans comes after 12 years of weak misguided leadership. He could have given us relief sooner. But I’ll take it. I think the hire of a new CEO of the Cubs is the most important decision they have to make this off-season. I know that Jim Hendry and the Cubs will be deciding the
managerial direction for their club soon, but I think that Dennis Fitzsimons’ decision the new leader of the Chicago Cubs will prove to have more long-term impact than who will manage the Cubs from the bench. The person hired will most likely outlast the manager, as well as the general manager Jim Hendry. So this is a big one. Take enough time Dennis. Make the right decision.

As for the managerial position. Everyone knows that Dusty won’t be back. It will become official on Monday. Where do the Cubs go next? I have said before that I want Joe Girardi. Is it possible? Definitely. Girardi has had a well-documented feud with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, and will most likely get the boot shortly after the season is over as well. In this case, I think Hendry should move quickly and sign this guy to a long term deal. I think Girardi is the real deal and will do well with the wealth of young players (particularly pitchers) that the Cubs have. Hell, he worked with a whole bunch of pitchers from the Cubs system this year as skipper of the Marlins.

As a recap. The Cubs need to take time and get the right person in the CEO role, and they need to move quickly and get the manager that is right there for them.