MSU Football 2003-2006

Check out this great YouTube video featuring the both the good and bad moments of the John L. Smith-era at Michigan State.

Detroit Sports Radio Rankings

With all of the driving that I do, sports radio has become one of my interests. With that said here is the official ATB.com ranking of Detroit sports radio.

1. Stoney and Wojo — It just seems like these guys are friends and it makes for good radio. I love all of the little gimmicks (drop here?) like Wojo's "Happy New Year" and Stoney's "AHHHHHH, Yesssss." It doesn't hurt that they have all of the most relevant interviews with the coaches and writers you actually want to hear from.

2. Morning show with Jamie — I don't know what it is exactly about this show, but Jamie makes it an interesting listen every time. Although the show seems like it could be a little boring, the topics are usually on target and make for a good show.

3. Karsh and Anderson Middays — The right mix of funny and sports talk. By far the strongest show on 97.1

4. Caputo and Fithian Evenings — Although many people don't like him, Pat Caputo is a guilty pleasure of mine. Something about him just draws me to the radio. Fithian is just there, nothing too bad — yet nothing special.

5. Sean Baligian — I used to really like his show, but time has not treated Sean well. His show has hardly changed and it seems like hes running out of ideas. I still enjoy his "Pick 3" segment, but new additions like "Skirts on Sports" just aren't that funny. And they need to cut it out on the overwhelming pro-wrestling sound-drops that are constant throughout the show.

6. Jim Rome — Yuck. Rome is all schick and it's not a good one at that. Coming up with fake names for marijuana and bragging for 15 minutes about how you haven't taken a caller all week does not make for compelling radio.

7. Valenti and Foster — Simply put, this show sucks. Valenti yells and makes outrageous comments all the time, which is fine if it's done right. He seems like he's trying to be a Skip Bayless-type, except that he can't pull it off. This is DNLR — Do not listen radio. Tune the dial to 1130 and listen to Stoney and Wojo.

Honorable Mentions:
These aren't really Detroit radio shows, but since I live in East Lansing and I have to listen to these, I thought I would make mention of them.

Staudt on Sports — Pretty interesting show, as long as they are talking about MSU or pro sports. Far too often the topic turns to Middle School Basketball or Haslett Girls Softball. At that point the show goes from very good to DNLR.

The HUGE Show — He's got the voice, but the show just isn't that good. Far too much of a West-Michigan bias. I know he's based out there, but I don't even think people who live on the west side of the state care about what's going on there.

What hockey is all about...

Now this is teaching the fundamentals to the kids.

Detroit Lions Schedule Review (Part 2)

Back here with part two (part one here) of the review of the upcoming 2008 NFL Season for the Lions. Quick tidbit, apparently the Lions will now be hosting the Super Bowl champion Giants in the opening pre-season game(!!) And as you may have noticed (probably not) The blog has a new look and is now called 'After the Buzzer,' a homage to an old pre-blog website that I thought about starting once-upon-a-time.

Without further ado...ONTO THE REVIEW
^poet and I don't even know it

Week 10 — Lions vs. Jaguars: NFC vs. AFC = Take the AFC. Lions vs. AFC elite = take AFC. All of the signs point to a Jaguars victory and who am I to argue with that. This one's probably a horrible, horrible blowout. Yuck.
Result: Loss (3-6)

Week 11 — Lions at Panthers: Let's get this straight, Carolina is no good, there's no reason that the Lions shouldn't be in this game. Jake Delhomme's shoulder will be hanging on by a thread. DeShaun Foster should be in a full body cast and Steve Smith will have been thrown into the fantasy-bust pile. So why not pick the Lions. No every reason I just stated above, obviously.
Result: Loss (3-7)

Week 12 — Lions vs. Buccaneers: This is the first game in a late-season three game home stand. Sounds like a late season playoff push to me. Let's just say it — Tampa will be awful in 2008. They were a fluke team last year and a fluke team in 2005. They're good for nothing except padding the Lions' victory total.
Result: Win (4-7)

Week 13 — Lions vs. Titans: Ah yes, the annual Thanksgiving game for Detroit. While the last few years have resulted with losses, this year will be different. With Ford Field sold out and with the Lions on the fringes of the Wild-card race, they should be out and playing inspired football.
Result: Win (5-7)

Week 14 — Lions vs. Vikings: By this point in the season I'm thinking that the Vikings will be the front runners in the race for the NFC north division crown. On the other hand at 5-7, Detroit will start creeping into ESPN graphics about potential wild card winners. Combine that with the fact that the Lions have had a long week coming off the Thanksgiving game, coupled with the fact that that this is their third home game in a row, they should be rested, prepared and ready to win.
Result: Win (6-7)

Week 15 — Lions at Colts: Oh no.
Result: Loss (6-8)

Week 16 — Lions vs. Saints: At 6-8 the Lions will need plenty of help to get into the playoffs. Luckily 8-8 might just be enough to make to to the post-season. With the home crowd behind them, the Lions will roll in a blowout-type victory.
Result: Win (7-8)

Week 17 — Lions at Packers: At 7-8 there will be a lot at stake for the Lions. The best record during the Millen-era and a potential playoff spot. Too bad for the Lions, the schedule makers have cursed them with another late-season game in Green Bay...a place in which Detroit never wins. Added to that with the pressure of a .500 season and a potential playoff spot, it'll just be too much for the beloved Lions.
Result: Loss (7-9)

Well, my official prediction for the Lions is 7-9, which is a lot better than what some people have been saying and the exact same record they ended up with last year. But with a few "meaningful" games to be played at the end of the year, it might be at least a pretty enjoyable season. And that's what it's come down to for Lions fans. Pretty enjoyable is about the extent of excellence that we have come to expect.

Scary!

One video of the new, scary, NBA Playoffs commercials. This one is by far the scariest though, have a look. What do you think?

Detroit Lions Schedule Review (Part 1)

Now that we're back here at AIWIS (quite the ring to it isn't it?) What better way to introduce people to the blog than with a little Detroit Lions talk. The 2008 schedules were just released by the NFL and this is our first true look at how the Lions season might go this year. Without further ado, here is my "expert" opinion of how the season will breakdown - game by game.

Week 1 - Lions at Falcons: Hmmm...it seems almost too easy to pick a Lions victory here. The Falcons were a disaster last year, and there's no real reason why that should be different this year. Except maybe for the departure of Joey Harrington, which usually leads to good things for teams...But I'm sticking with the Lions here. They usually like to give fans some sort of hope at the beginning of season (example: last year) before completely blowing it. If this game were week 10, the results would probably be different, but in week 1 the Lions are good to go.
Result: Win (1-0)

Week 2 - Lions vs. Packers: Brett Favre isn't here to kill the Lions (although he did usually have trouble in the Sliverdome/Ford Field) Aaron Rodgers should be a fine QB, but is he enough to beat Detroit? Not at home I say, subscribing to the Lions-Early-Season-Success Theory of mine.
Result: Win (2-0)

Week 3 - Lions at 49ers: Man, another game that you could almost pick the Lions to win, but for that reason I'm not going to. Plus it's a road game and if you ever want to make money gambling on football, bet against the Lions when they're on the road.
Result: Loss (2-1)

Week 4 - BYE: Early bye week this year, does it matter? Not to me.

Week 5 - Lions vs. Bears: Who are the Bears this year? Who knows, either they'll be good or they'll be bad. I don't foresee a merely mediocre season for them. Chalk this one up to the...........Bears.
Result: Loss (2-2)

Week 6 - Lions at Vikings: The Vikings are my pick to win the NFC North this year, even with someone named Tavaris playing quarterback. Based on my prediction of a good season from Minnesota and the always relevant "Lions suck on the Road" theory, this pick is easy.
Result: Loss (2-3)

Week 7 - Lions at Texans: Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to the second (and last) Lions road win of the year! Book your plane tickets now as the Lions jump back to the .500 mark with a big victory over the Houston Texans....in Texas no less!
Result: Win (3-3)

Week 8 - Lions vs. Redskins: By this time of the year I'm figuring that something horrible has happened to Tatum Bell and that the Lions are relying on the potent offensive led by Jon Kitna and Aveion Cason. (Is Cason actually on the Lions this year, or do we still have to wait for the inevitable mid-season signing?) Upon looking it up it appears that he has a roster spot already.... I'm chalking this loss up to him. And, if you didn't care to click on the link to his Lions-team bio, it includes this nugget of information: "Loves Martin Lawrence, and owns most of his DVDs like “You So Crazy”, “Runteldat” and “Martin." INTRODUCING MR. AVEION CASON!
Result: Loss (3-4)

Week 9 - Lions at Bears: Another road game? At Solider Field? Against the Bears? In potentially blustery November weather? Taking on Rex Grossman? Wait forget that last point, but the rest of them are pretty valid. I'm taking the mediocre (or good) Bears to defeat the disguised-as-mediocre Lions.
Result: Loss (3-5)

That's it for today. Part two is coming tomorrow afternoon-ish.
Email me with comments

Blog is Back in Business

Welcome back to 'afterthebuzzer.com' I'm going to make a second go-around at doing this blog, and I promise this time it'll be better (kinda)than when I posted 3 times a year ago. If you missed the description to the left, or the picture on top of the blog, I'm a big sports fan and this blog will be where I talk about sports that I have watched.

There (should) be an emphasis on Detroit-area sports, but I'm not limiting myself to anything. This is a blog, and I'm going to write about sports!