You gotta like the Tigers, for a variety of reasons

So, who do we like?

Giants?

Tigers?

I’m going to leave all the legitimate analysis to guys like Griff who know far more than I do because, well, because they’re smarter than I am (although any team with a Triple Crown winner on it has to be great, doesn’t it, Mr. Sabremeticians among you?).

But that doesn’t mean I can’t have a rooting interest and let you know about it, does it?)

It’s just deciding why that’s hard to get to.

You know I think Justin Verlander is the best pitcher of this generation and Miguel Cabrera is, well, a Triple Freaking Crown Winner and the rest of the Tiger staff is outstanding until you get to the arsonist Valverde in the ninth so that should be enough, right?

But …

San Francisco is an exponentially better city than Detroit, there is not even a comparison.

But …

The old Tiger Stadium was way better than the old Candlestick.

But …

I’ll take Willie Mays and Juan Marichal over Al Kaline and Jack Morris, I believe.

But …

The new park in San Fran looks way cooler than the new one in Detroit, which is far too cavernous for my tastes.

But …

Tomassso’s is one of the top 10 road restaurants; there is nowhere good to eat in Detroit or Auburn Hills.

But …

There might not be a more under-stated and classy uniform in all of sports than Detroit’s.

So …

Tigers in six.

Sounds pretty well thought out, no?

-

Thinking cap time.

Best World Series I can remember?

Top five?

Here we go, from five down to one.

1986 Red Sox-Mets

Buckner. Mookie. Crushed.

2011 Cardinals-Rangers

Game 6 might be in top 10 games I’ve ever seen.

1991 Twins-Braves

Puckett’s homer, Morris’s One For The Ages.

1968 Tigers-Cardinals

Lolich and Gibson both go nine in Game 7? Unheard of. Classic.

1975 Reds-Red Sox.

Bernie Carbo. Carlton Fisk. Joe Morgan. Will never forget it.

And if you can’t recall it, check out this recap of Games 6 and 7 and live some nostalgia. I sure did.

What have you got?

Any why do I long for the days when you’d hide a transistor radio in your desk at school? Ah, the good old days.

-

Oh yeah, did you guys get the news yesterday?

About the Raptors hiring a guy named Dave Pendergraft as the team’s new pro personnel scout?

He’s the de facto new Jay Triano and comes over after being an assistant GM in Atlanta. He’ll be out on the road an awful lot checking other NBA teams and their personnel and he’ll be another Henchman to bounce stuff off as trade talks heat up.

And I’m sure he’ll put putting together a dossier and a depth chart on the other 29 teams that’ll come in handy next summer when it’s free agent time just as much as it will next January and February when Bryan’s in the throes of thinking about trade possibilities.

It’s a pretty big job and it goes a lot further than just knowing who’s playing well and who can make a jump shot or not. One thing pro scouts have to find out, through sources and their own eyes and repeated visits and conversations is what kind of guys players are. Are they good teammates? Are they the least bit disruptive when things aren’t doing their way? Do they get along, generally, with coaches and general managers?

All too often we’ve seen players acquired amid even marginal fanfare and a few months later they’re on the move again because there’s just something about them that doesn’t fit.

I’m not saying it’s all on the pro personnel guy to figure that out – like everything else, the final call remains with the GM – but it’s part of the “scouting” process that sometimes falls by the wayside.

-

For no other reason than it popped up on the iTunes shuffle while I was writing …

That and I’m sure we’ve never had Trombone Shorty and James Andrews here but we should have ..

-

Kirk Hinrich hurt his groin in a game last night and Derrick Rose is on the shelf for months and John Lucas III picked Toronto over any chance to stay in Chicago.

That really says an awful lot about the kid, doesn’t it?

-

Right, it’s that time of year again.

Am on a panel this afternoon to pick the guys on the NBA’s all-star ballot (the other luminaries scheduled to take part are NBA.com ace Steve Aschburner, Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle and Kenny Smith of TNT fame) so when it comes out and your guy’s name isn’t on it, blame them, okay?

But it looks like we might have a different job than in the past – this is my fourth and final year on the job, thanks to my gig with the writers association – because they seem to be finally changing the way the ballot is laid out, according to this David Aldridge story.

Makes entire sense and makes it far easier on us and, after all, we all know it’s all about me, right?

-

It’s going to be crazy busy over the next few days with some Nash stuff for the weekend, some Lakers stuff for the first of next week, a trip to Memphis to catch up with the lads later this week and a whack of NBA preview stuff to do.

But there’s always time for mail if you’re so inclined.

Click. Write. Send.

-

I’m way late to the dance on this and I know a couple of Irregulars already mentioned it but I did get a chance to electronically congratulate and say hi to Tammy Sutton-Brown this week after she and the Indiana Fever won the WNBA title.

Tammy’s is one of the most under-reported stories of the last few years, she’s had a long and illustrious basketball career here and all over Europe – I think I recall writing that she won a title in Turkey one year – and it’s a story we should have told more often.

And it’s not just basketball she’s been busy with.

Check out this little gem, the little girl and the chameleon who area the subjects of some children’s books Tammy’s penned. That’s pretty cool.

Not sure if there’s much basketball left for Tammy, she’s going to stick around these parts this winter to work on her girls camps – she’s been running them in and around Toronto for a few years now – and market her books.

I must admit I haven’t read them but I’ll blindly recommend it because I’m pretty sure Tammy would do a good job.

Someone check ‘em out and let me know? Thanks.

-

 

 

Comments

[gdr]

Doug, small typo. Cards/Rangers was last year (2011), not 2001. Go Tigers! Cheers.

Blogger's note: Will get it fixed

[doug]

I like the Tigers just for there uni's...my friend when I was a teen his dad was a huge Tiger fan and no matter where he was he'd always have his transistor beside him listening to Ernie Harwell....so for nostalgia reasons for me tigers....in that GM list yesterday there was a solid Rap connection, the one and only Jay Triano getting mentioned as one of the best assistant coaches....good for him...ok cheers...

[JT]

Doug, I like your baseball commentary. Its refreshing. I'm a bit surprised I haven't read you weigh in on the John Farrell situation though...

Blogger's note: Let brighter minds do it

[Eric-in-NS]

1961 PIrates-Yankees
Mazeroski 7th game 9th inning home run from an unlikely hero.
Yankees outscoring Pirates in series 55-22, I believe.
You're too young, I guess, Doug?
Also: New York media doesn't recall this series very fondly so it's not talked about as much as it should be.
The roller coaster ride of that 7th game made me a baseball fan.

[Tim H.]

Hey Doug:

I'm not too happy that you jinxed the team across the river - I was hoping they would win!

[Alan C.]

I am totally with Eric re the Pirates-Yankees series. As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, the Pirates were terrible for years (as were the Steelers), setting a major-league record for losing in 1952. This was the first time anyone had anything to cheer about in a long, long time. I was in the locker room getting ready for a JV football practice when Maz hit his home run, and I remember the coaches running around, celebrating in their jock straps. Only thing I would add -- it was 1960, not that it matters that much.

Blogger's note: Who was the left fielder watching the ball go out? (I have faint recollection of the game, know the guy well)

[sam]

No warm and fuzzy's for the 92 series Jays and Braves - As I recall it was some pretty good baseball.
We had the flag flap, and the first world series to be won by a team not in the good old US of A..
Perhaps I suffer from a little homerism, but that is the series that I remember the most.

[james]

Bluenoser Eric's post suggests another list: Top World Series the Yankees were in but didn't win. I am old enough to remember the 1960 Pirates, but my fave would be 1963, when the Dodgers swept New York and in about the 7th inning of the fourth and final game, Mel Allen, "the voice of the Yankees" lost his voice. One regret though: not being quite old enough to remember 1955.

[jc]

As was once said better than I can, it was twenty years ago today.... I guess no one can call you a homer. Even '93 (one of the only ones to ever end on a walkoff home run) gets no mention. Don't worry. After l'affaire Farrell, we're used to it :)

[Alan C.]

Doug, the Yankees left fielder on the Maz home run was Yogi Berra, better known as a catcher and later manager.

Blogger's note: It was, indeed

[511]

The '92 Jays - Braves series (Sam) was something but ... how about the '93 Jays - Phillies series?

Game 4, Philadelphia, the slop game. Blue Jays up 2 games to 1. Game is back and forth ... Phillies up 12 - 7 in the fifth, 14 - 9 going into the eighth. Blue Jays score 6 runs in the eighth and win the game, 15 - 14.

Game 5, still in Philly. Pitchers duel between Juan Guzman and Curt Schilling. 2 early Phillies runs hold up, they win 2 - 0.

Game 6, Skydome. Blue Jays up early, finish the sixth inning with a comfortable 5 - 1 lead. Top of the seventh, Phillies have a huge inning, scoring 5 runs to take a 6 - 5 lead where it stays until the bottom of the ninth, setting the table for Joe Carter's historic 3 run walk-off homerun to win the game for the Blue Jays and the second consecutive World Series title.

Has to be in the top five.

[Cluck Kent]

Re: Farrell

I don't want a guy whose dream job is working for my competitor. Based on the events that occurred during his tenure, he didn't actually sparkle in the role either. Much ado about nothing.

[Penguin]

Thanks for the memories. I can't recall how many years I'd sit in class with a transistor radio discreetly hidden and the cord with the ear piece running up through my sleeve (shirt or jacket) to my hand, which I would lean on to hide the bud in my ear. On reflection now, I'll bet the teachers knew what I and others were doing, but looked the other way (this was in New York City, by the way). The Series seemed to have more magic for me in those days, but maybe it was just because I was so much younger then than now.

[Ryan]

Come from behind, win-it-all walk off homerun in '93... I really don't think you can leave that out.

We already have the American media that'll do that just fine, Doug :)

[Mike D.]

Doug, if I may digress briefly from baseball and hidden radios, I was looking at the Star's "letters to the editor" today and noticed the one below (triggered by comments from Rosie DiManno) about venomous (and anonymous) on-line comments.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/1276139--dimanno-s-courage-lauded

I think kudos are in order for the way you "police the lane" of reader posts on your blog, and I suggest that you are entitled to celebrate with a Dikembe-style finger wag.....maybe in your next recording of Grunt TV.

Returning to "hidden" sports listening devices, I should point out that it's not limited to school. I have fond memories of the fathers at a pre-natal class repeatedly ducking out one night, to the beumusement of the instructing nurse and the eye-rolling of their expectant wives, because someone had brought a mini-TV to keep an eye on a vital playoff game.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Great baseball recollections, everybody. And Penguin, you know why those games held so much magic back in the day? Because we were listening and happening to them live, as they happened, whether in school or at home or in the car or while out raking the leaves... and you know why? Because they were held in afternoons and early evenings, when kids and geezers could actually be awake and paying attention!!
The death of baseball is not going to be that it's old-fashioned... or too slow... or too long... it's going to be the fact that we're now into a second generation of kids who have never had a chance to actually watch and follow along with a playoff series... live and as it happens. Even some of us geezers can only wait for the next-day highlights these days.
Cheers. Go Raps!

[511]

... then again ... having just read Bob Elliott's Reliving the Blue Jays first World Series win ... ya, I'd have to have the '92 Jays' WS win in my top five, as well. '92 and '93 would both be there, for me. Obviously, a Jays fan. But still.

[Lorie]

Used to do it with a tiny transistor hidden under the pillow in the dark. At one time it was with a boombox the size of a Buick. Now I can do it with my smartphone. But the magic of listening to ballgames never failed to both stir the imagination and soothe the soul. And listening to this lullabye of the ballpark is still my favourite way to fall asleep. And, Doug, choosing to which team to cheer for ultimately because of their uniform? Really? Are you serious? That's great and positively enlightened. ;) Cheers! (And really great blog today: really enjoyed the music, the World Series clip and the mention of our wonderful Tammy Sutton-Brown.)

[Tim H.]

@D-Mac: You beat me to it. Not only are the games on late, many times you must have cable/satellite in order to view them. I have neither (I have better things to do with my money than pay to have 500 channels, three of which I watch!), so I don't get to watch a great many events. I can't remember the last time I was able to watch a CFL game. It's too bad!

[Peter]

I'm younger than you Doug, and I'm probably a home town fan, but I think sometimes the games you watch as a kid are the ones that stick out the most, perhaps because it's the first time you've seen major league drama of that magnitude in your life.

So for me, it was both '92 and '93 for all the reasons that were mentioned before. Joe Carter's walk off home run, and the feeling in the room of 20 or more of my friends and their parents as the room exploded, yeah... that was pretty cool.

Toronto has yet to give me a sporting moment that felt like that, and in my baseball memory, which runs back to the early 80's, that tops them all.

[Bob Wesley]

Hey Doug,I like to thank you for helping me understand the NBA.I finally could afford to go to a game tonight here in Winnipeg.It was an Honour to give a standing ovation to a Dream team member(touching audio,vidio)Clive Drexler.I like to thank Rodney Stuckey for giving my Aboriginal Brothers 10 Free Tickets.Nothing but a Class Act!Wow what a Night!P S Drummond KID Fouled a Wolve at the end of a Quarter(three pointer nevertheless)Like you said its going to take a few years to determine who had the better first rounder.