Where are the Wings?

I don't want this to be another NHL-bashing post. Killing the NHL for everything they do is very popular, and although I usually agree with those people, I'm going to avoid it this time.

BUT WHY CAN'T I WATCH THE RED WINGS PLAY!!

Versus. We all know it was a horrible mistake for the NHL to go with this network for their cable coverage. The channel is fine, and I like the coverage...when I can watch it. By cable company is really, really bad. That being said, I don't get Versus (like many people in the country.) Hence I flipped to FSN Detroit, expecting to see the Wings taking on the Stars in Game 1 of the confrence finals.

Instead, I found the Tigers. Now I enjoy Tigers games just fine, but there's 162 of them. There is at maximum, 7 Western Conference Finals games. The law of averages determines that the Wings game was the bigger event...except that it was on Versus.

This got me to thinking, why doesn't the NHL try to negotiate a local TV package for areas not covered under Versus massive umbrella. I'm thinking similar to what the NFL does.

Monday Night Football is broadcast by ESPN. Everybody has ESPN. But the NFL, always thinking, makes sure that the game is broadcast on local TV networks in the cities that the local teams are playing. Why? For the seven people out there that still don't have cable TV. Now if the NFL is willing to do this when their games are on ESPN, why can't the NHL do something like this when their games are playing on Versus?

It seems like it would be a relatively cheap way to make sure everyone that needs to see the game does, and to maintain a fan base, which in markets like Detroit right now, is important.

Please, do something NHL. It's a rare occasion that I actually want to watch hockey, please don't make it impossible to do so when I want to.

ATB.com hits the "Big Time"

Well, it's pretty big time for me anyway. DetroitBadBoys.com (only the best Pistons blog out there) posted the video I took of Chauncey Billups' controversial three in game two. Cool Stuff. Also, the video is up to 750 views on YouTube. ATB is a big deal. (kinda)

More Pistons Videos and Observations

A few more videos that I took from Game two of the Magic series. Before that, a couple of quick observations that I made from attending game two.

• Thundersticks are probably the most fun/annoying thing ever. The best part is they never get old...at least to the people with them. The Official ATB.com Girlfriend got a little too excited a few times with them, and started hitting the people in the row in front of us. Eventually on about the third time she dropped the sticks on the guys, they just didn't give them back. Thundersticks, genius.
• I was handed two free tickets to the Detroit Shock opening game on May 17. Is there anything that I would be less likely to go to for free?
• The pistons announced that that the game was their 231st consecutive sellout? By my observation the Palace was only about 80% full, and half of the people that were there didn't get to their seats until the second quarter. Not only did my group buy 6 tickets tickets on Stubhub for $5.95 a piece ($50 face value) but we didn't hit a lick of traffic on the way to the game, and we only got there about 10 minutes before tip-off. How the Pistons claim they sellout every game is beyond me.

Quick thoughts on the game its self:

• I have no worries about the Magic. Sure the game was close in the fourth quarter, but that's only because they were 7/7 from three-point range in the third quarter. After all of that, they weren't even ahead. The magic might win one in Orlando, but this series is pretty well locked up for the Pistons.
• Hedo Turkoglu made some crazy layups during the game. Those points will not happen again.
• I cheerfully booed Theo Ratliff coming into the game, but after two huge blocks, I was screaming "Go to Work." Maybe Ratliff can be of some use in the playoffs against Howard/Garnett. He no Dale Davis like we've had to deal with the past few years.
• Holy Walter Herrmann sighting?!
  

Now onto the videos. The first one is of Tayshaun's monster dunk in the first half of the game. The second is Rasheed hitting a turnaround jumper with the 'and-one.'

Chauncey Billups hits a controversial three

Here's video I took from section 212 of the Pistons game yesterday. This is Chauncey hitting a three pointer after a clock malfunction. This play has gotten a lot of air time on ESPN today, and I have to admit my friends and I thought it was borderline cheating at the time that he made the shot.

They probably should have just started the play over and ran it again. That being said, there is no reason that the referees shouldn't be able to use instant replay video when trying to determine plays like this. The use it in college and it seems to work just fine. So check out the video and see what you think...

(On another note, I do not think that this play had much of an effect on the game overall. Orlando still had an entire quarter to try and out play the Pistons and it didn't happen.)

Kentucky Derby Is Overrated!

I caught the Kentucky Derby on Saturday evening before I had to go to work. Let me tell you, what a disappointment.

The event is hyped as one of the greatest events in sports...all 2 minutes of it. I just don't see how it can be considered one of America's greatest sporting events, when it lasts about as long as it took me to type this paragraph.

And another question, why do TV networks pretend that anyone cares about horse racing? It's not 1932 and Seabiscuit and his jockey Tobey Maguire aren't running wild across front pages. I have literally met no one who knows anything about horse racing. Look at that for a second...literally no one. So why do I care that some horse named 'Big Brown' is a 2-1 favorite to win the race? I've never heard that name, and at best I'll hear it two more times in my life. (Unless he gets...yikes...the Barbaro Treatment)

I'll also never understand people who like to bet on horse racing. As one 'expert' I heard on the radio said, one of the variables of the race was that the course was sloppy and the horses might get spooked by mud spraying in their faces. Who in their right mind would risk perfectly good money on this when there are about 1000 things that would be more fun, and less a shot-in-the-dark?

Now I'm not hating on attending the event, which I hear is very fun. I like the idea of tradition, big hats and mint juleps but as a sporting event covered by ESPN and NBC? Please.

Give me The Masters, College World Series, NBA All-Star Game, Little League World Series, NCAA Tournament, The Rose Bowl and anything else. Just don't make me listen to any more coverage of the Run for the Roses.