Mid-summer sports roundup

July 25, 2010

Mid-summer sports roundup
Say good-bye to international soccer... again. We will check-in after
another four years, just before the next World Cup. Rats! Many of us
were so-hoping this would be the year Americans caught on to the sport
that the rest of the planet lives for every day.
Soccer has completely disappeared from the U.S. radar since the last
vuvuzela hummed during the Spanish win in the final a few weeks ago.
The U.S. team’s elimination from Cup play two tournaments in a row by
tiny Ghana may explain why the sport isn’t more popular here. We
Americans just aren’t crazy about games in which we can’t pummel the
rest of the world.
Interest in the Detroit Tigers has evaporated recently, almost as much
as the US Soccer team. When the team crash landed after the All-Star
break with a seven-game losing streak, we have already begun thinking
about football season. Like many predicted before the season, this
seems to be an average baseball team, at best.
Next year’s results will determine whether Dave Dombrowski deserves to
continue as general manager of the Detroit organization. As the
salaries of several over-paid players come off the books and many
promising youngsters get their rookie years behind them, the Tigers
should be retooled and much improved in 2011.
Don’t give up on the Detroit Pistons just yet. While this basketball
team is in a major transitional period, the potential is there to
contend in the Eastern Conference very soon. Like other NBA teams, GM
Joe Dumars has been waiting for the elite free agents like LaBron
James and Dwyane Wade to make their team decisions (what a fiasco that
was) before Detroit finalizes its 2010-2011 roster.
Last year’s poor record was not an accurate gauge of the talent on
this team. Massive amounts of games missed due to injuries and lack of
big men to pound the boards doomed the Pistons in most games. The
drafting of 6’11” Greg Monroe will help immediately and expect Richard
Hamilton and/or Tayshaun Prince to be traded for more inside beef.
Detroit will have a better record this season and expect a breakout
year from Rodney Stuckey.
The Detroit Lions must improve significantly this season or risk
rebuilding still again and becoming the laughingstock of football for
another 10 years. Many new pieces have been put in place. Drafted
number two overall, Ndamukong Suh (no one in sports ever needed a
nickname more) is expected to be a force on defense, beginning on day
one. The offense has also put more scoring threats in place to
complement Calvin Johnson.
The key to the Lions’ chances this season, though, is on the shoulders
of one guy, quarterback Mathew Stafford. The second-year signal-caller
showed flashes of greatness as a rookie last year at a position filled
with mediocrity in Detroit since the infamous trade of QB Bobby Layne
over 50 years ago.
It is no wonder that the team has only won one playoff game since the
1957 championship. Until now, the Lions have not had a decent
quarterback since then. If Mathew Stafford stays healthy in 2010...
well, we better see if the Bobby Layne jinx is finally over before we
make any rash predictions here.