Spring...

Well I have failed miserably at keeping this thing even semi-updated regularly. But, as I have some here, I will write a few ideas/thoughts/opinions on Spring and what comes with it...

DETROIT TIGERS BASEBALL

Spring brings baseball to us...my favorite sport. While my Tigers have had a rough start so far going 1-3 in the first four games, there is still 158 games to go on the season. The additions of Victor Martinez as well as Brad Penny and signing Jhonny Peralta to a contract makes the Tigers a definite threat in the AL Central. Until we play the Twins, White Sox, Indians, and Royals a few times, I will not say much. But, I do think we have a definite shot at winning the Central Division. Jim Leyland has got them in the right mindset and they just need to not have a nose-dive month like they tend to and stay in the thick of it until the end of September.

MICHIGAN FOOTBALL: SPRING BALL

Coach Brady Hoke has gotten his first few practices in and the team looks good. Junior QB Denard "Nard-Dog (or Shoelace I guess)" Robinson has been taking snaps under center and is looking pretty good. The team is learning the new schemes and showing that they can transition to a new coaching staff smoothly. Hopefully this is actually the case and they come out in September bigger and better than ever. The "Spring Game" will be held April 16th at The Big House. Hoke has made it clear that it won't be an actual game (not enough bodies) but they will definitely run drills and put on a bit of a show for the fans.

DETROIT RED WINGS: BACK IN THE PLAYOFFS

The Wings are in the NHL playoffs for the 20th consecutive season. They clinched the Central Division the other night with a win over the Minnesota Wild. They will most likely be the 2nd seed in the West behind the Vancouver Canucks, President Trophy winners. The Wings have been in the playoffs for the majority of my life and them not making would be like Michigan running out of the tunnel on a fall Saturday not wearing the Maize and Blue... THROWBACK JERSEYS FOR THE MAIZE AND BLUE Michigan will be wearing throwback unis against Notre Dame at the Big House on Sept. 10 in the first night game in Michigan Stadium history. While no pictures have been released yet, it appears they have been described as having numbers on the side of the helmet and a Block M's on the front of the jerseys. We shall see... Seems pretty cool though. I'm always up for spicing things up a little bit, as long as its a one-time thing. Can't hurt to pay homage to previous teams. Notre Dame will be wearing throwbacks as well. If I were to guess this is definitely a brain-child of Adidas (both ND and UofM are Adidas schools).

Pistons... Meh...retired Dennis Rodman's jersey...I guess that was cool.

NCAA FROZEN FOUR

The Michigan Hockey team has advanced to the Frozen Four after defeating Nebraska-Omaha in OT and Colorado College out in St. Louis two weeks ago. They now face North Dakota in the national semifinals in St. Paul, Minnesota. They play tomorrow (April 7th) night at 8:30pm. The game will be on ESPN2. I think Michigan definitely has a strong enough team to beat North Dakota, but it will be tough. North Dakota is the current No. 1 team in the country and were preseason No. 2 behind Boston College. In the other semi-final, Notre Dame faces off against Minnesota-Duluth. The championship game will be Saturday night. Hopefully I will have a reason to celebrate this weekend. This is certainly a busy time for sports. This was all just a few points and well known stuff already but I thought I would just do some writing. I will probably post a post-Frozen Four post in the next few days. Hopefully it is a celebratory one. If not...well...lets just hope we don't have to deal with that. Until later... Here's Red Berenson in the good ole days... Cheers, Kevin