Quick Hits from the Weekend

A couple of random thoughts on the events that transpired this weekend:

1.) Matt Millen is gone. Period. Not only do the Lions stink worse than any other team in the NFL, but Joey freakin' Harrington walks into town and throws 3 TD passes to spank Detroit and shove it in the face of all those who booed him both during and after his career in Detroit. It becomes worse when you realize that those 3 TD's were the first scoring passes Joey has thrown in Detroit on Thanksgiving. Savor the moment Joey, it only took ya five years.


2.) If Michigan doesn't lock up Top 20 recruit Ronald Johnson (Muskegon) in the next couple weeks, they're not gonna get him. The kid is a difference maker. Even though he's been playing with a sports hernia the past 5 weeks, he was still easily the best player on the field on Friday's Division 2 State Final. If Lloyd Carr allows RonJon to visit USC and meet their cheer team he's as good as gone. I've talked to the kid a couple times...he's no dummy.


3.) The Pistons are screwing themselves over again. They started the season by saying all the things we wanted to hear..."Yeah, we're focused on developing our young players"..."Oh, our bench will have a more expanded role this season"...and then they promptly abandoned that strategy 8 games into the season. Wow, you mean to tell me that relying on your veterans means that your team will make fewer mistakes and have a better chance to win? No way! Now let me let you in a secret: overplaying your starters in November will be detrimental to their health for the playoffs. Look, you can still make the playoffs and get a decent seed if you sacrifice 5 or 8 wins in order to get your young guys some playing time and save your vets for the part of the year that matters most. And here's an idea...those young players who are costing you wins this year might actually mature due to the playing time and help you WIN games next year. Think about it. But seriously though, if they keep playing Tayshan Prince these kinds of minutes he'll become so worn down that Sally Struthers is going to feature him in her next commercial about starving Ethiopian children.


4.) Finally, what's up with KC and Denver playing on Thanksgiving??? And if you're gonna crash the Lions and Cowboy's party, why would you do it on the NFL network, where no one can watch it? Just stupid. That's like holding Coast Guard festival during 4th of July weekend, but having Milwaukee host it. How the heck is anyone supposed to enjoy this? Maybe if the NFL wasn't so worried about their coaches looking classy wearing suits instead of rocking the Bill Belichick Half-Hoodie Hobo outfit they'd realize these things.

The West side...becoming the best side?

I felt a little bit of deja vu while at Ford Field this past weekend (and no, I did not feel like Denzel Washington; though it would be sweet if everything I said sounded way cooler than it actually was thanks to my deep voice and bad a$$ attitude). Last year West Michigan sent five teams to the State football Finals, and four came out victorious. While this year once again five of the eight games featured teams from the West side (though there were actually six teams present, as Coopersville and Zeeland West faced off in an all-West Division Four final), and four teams brought home State Finals hardware.


I would like to think it was my intimidating sideline presence that caused the East side teams to fold in the face of our local boys; but as anyone who played football with me can tell you, the only feeling the sight of me in pads elicits would be overconfidence.

But seriously folks, we've come a long way since the days where it was just an event for a West side team to make it far enough into the playoffs to have the honor of being blown out by a Detroit football power. Now I know Muskegon holds the state's record for wins by a school, but they have not enjoyed the amount of State Finals success as a program like East Grand Rapids simply because they are forced to traverse the Division 1 or D2 road every November.

Coming from a guy who hung up his cleats 5 years ago, a lot has changed in how the East side views teams from the West Michigan area. In earlier years it seemed like the East siders were just another breed of player; much faster, bigger, meaner than the average West side squad. I remember watching teams like Orchard View and Fruitport roll through team after team with their dominating running game, only to get snuffed out by some super-squad from Detroit that spread the field in a college-style offense and ran right past guys used to grinding it out in the mud.

But now all that has changed, and I believe the coaches deserve a lot of the credit. Guys like Tony Aneese (Muskegon), Ralph Munger (Rockford), and Peter Stuursma (EGR) have figured out how to close the deal in the highest divisions. Others such as Wing-T master John Shilito (Zeeland West) have realized that a massive running game doesn't mean much if you can't contain a pass-oriented offense. Teams have opened up the playbook enough where they actually throw the ball even if they don't have to (translation: when you're down by 21 and that draw call on 3rd and 20 doesn't look quiet as sexy as it did in the 1st quarter), and kids no longer seem to be as intimidated by the speed and size of many East side teams, mostly because the coaching staffs have them training to the point where the past two years it was apparent that the faster and more confident teams were from the West side.

West siders have been arguing for some respect for many years, but as usual those from the East have been reluctant to give it. The success of these past two years has gone a long way to diffuse the idea that the West side brand of football is inferior to that of our cross-state rivals. Now, if only we could get the same respect in basketball.