Back at it (kind of)

Pt 1
I’ve been out of commission for a while now, just getting back into blogging on a limited basis. What’s happened since my last post?

• Personally, I completed a marathon (despite still recovering from a leg injury) with a respectable time of 4:16:39, my first child was born (a lovely girl), and got recalled to a (supposedly) permanent position. Sadly, the Detroit sports teams have not fared as well as I have…
• The Lions solidified their place in the history of pathetic sports franchises by spectacularly choking away the playoffs after the NFC North was practically gift-wrapped for them
• The Pistons parlayed a couple questionable off-season pickups, a questionable draft pick, and a questionable coaching hire into yet another losing season, almost certainly missing the playoffs and likely losing their 1st round pick as well
• The Wings have been banged up all year and Jimmy Howard has underperformed, leading to the possible end to the longest active playoff streak in sports
• Jim Leyland retired (like) to be replaced by Brad Ausmus (like). Jim Schwartz was fired (like) to be replaced by Jim Caldwell (dislike). Mo Cheeks was fired (like, with qualifications) to be replaced by John Loyer (hopefully not permanently)

I’d like to touch on that last point, briefly. It’s strange to me that the Tigers appear to be the best run franchise out of the four (I put them over the Wings based on recent history). During my formative years the Tigers were a laughingstock, the Wings seemed like they could win the Cup every year, the Lions at least made the playoffs every other year (always losing in the 1st round), and the Pistons at least had Grant Hill and made the playoffs from time to time.

I think to discern the quality of each franchise, all you have to do is look at the coaching situation. The Pistons are the most poorly managed team of the four. They’re on their 6th coach since 2006, look no further than that (if you WANT to look further than that - which I wouldn’t advise - you could look at 6 straight losing seasons, blown draft picks, bad trades, bad free agent signings, and the fact that they gave up a pick in the most loaded draft in recent memory). The Lions closely follow the Pistons, being a bit more stable but bad nonetheless. The Wings are in a similar boat to the Tigers, but Babcock has probably been there 4 years too long. Not a bad coach, but he’s just getting old for this team and will likely miss the playoffs this year. Leyland left at the right time and the right replacement was hired, putting the Tigs on top. I’m most optimistic about them making the playoffs, and they have an outside shot at winning it all.