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Triple Crown Trash Talk

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An outstanding weekend of sports is on tap. And, believe it or not, we are going to lead off with baseball. The end of the regular season was as compelling as has been seen in a very long time. While most of the attention was focused on the battle between the Yankees and Orioles, Miguel Cabrera pulled off a Triple Crown and the amazing Oakland Athletics caught up, and on the last day of the season in a head to head matchup, passed the powerful Texas Rangers to win the AL West. In the National League, the Natinals, despite parking their ace, Stephen Strasburg, for the season won the East going away and the defending champion Cardinals sneaked into the playoffs with the second wildcard.

Whew, that is a lot of hardball goodness, and then came…..the one and done wildcard night. And what a night it was. Buck Showalter and the O’s went down to Texas and took it to the Rangers. So, the Rangers are done just that fast, and the O’s move on to meet the Yanks. But all hell broke loose in Atlanta as, apparently Roger Goodell’s replacement refs have moved on to MLB. The umps blew a call on the terminally quirky “infield fly” rule and arguably cost the Braves, and the retiring Chipper Jones, the game. A riot nearly ensued and, as ugly as it was, you have to sympathize some with the fans in Atlanta, they got hosed. Nevertheless, the Cardinals will move on and the Braves are done.

And then there is the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, who has, in a quiet workmanlike fashion, won the hallowed Triple Crown. Rookie Mike Trout of the Angels was phenomenal, but my vote is that Cabrera is the MVP. You win the first Triple Crown in 45 years and, in the process, power your team into a division championship and the postseason, that is the definition of a MVP. I was alive and kicking when the last Triple Crown was won by Carl Yastremski in 1967. When you consider that the two best hitters in the intervening 45 years the game has seen, Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols, couldn’t do it, it is all the more remarkable that Cabrera has. Hat’s off to Miggy. Detroit pride isn’t just cars now. Simply great stuff.

The class of the college games this week are all in the SEC. Most weeks a matchup of unbeatens such as #4 LSU at #10 Florida would be the top game on the slate. But I think both those teams are a little overrated this year and the game is a tossup. If the Gators can hang tough on defense, they might pull off the upset. But the real game of the week is #5 Georgia at #6 South Carolina. The days of Fun & Gun are over for the ‘Ole Ball coach Steve Spurrier, he now runs a fairly conservative game management offense that relies of super back Marcus Lattimore coupled with a very aggressive and good defense. This is going to be a great game, and I look for the Cocks to come out on top.

West Virginia at the Longwhorens should be pretty interesting too. Will be exciting to see if the new version of RGIII, Geno Smith of WVU, can get untracked for another big day. Don’t think he will have another 8 touchdown day like last week against Baylor, but here’s hoping he lights up Texas. Honorable mention to Northwestern at Penn State. The Fighting Journalists – er, Wildcats – are a shocking 5-0 and leading the Big 10.X. But the game is in Happy Valley and the Nittany Lions are starting to gel after all the turmoil. With a couple of breaks, PSU could be 5-0 too, and I think they are going to take this one in a small upset.

For the pros, well what could be better than Peyton versus Brady? Nothing. That is the marquis matchup for the week. Denver has a far better defense, the Pats still have a better offense. Which is going to give? I have no idea, but it will be fun to see. By the way, you think we talk trash here? Holy smoke, get a load of the Twitter Fight that Brady and Manning got in yesterday. It was so fun that half of the QBs in the league piled on by the time it was over. Seriously, you HAVE to check this out, it is hilarious.

The other compelling game is Iggles at Stillers. As badly as Philly and Vick have sucked, they are still 3-1 and Big Ben and the boys loping along at a disappointing 1-2. I think that changes this weekend and Pittsburgh wins the battle of Pennsylvania. The Steelers get a big shot in the arm with the return Troy Polamalu, James Harrison and Rashard Mendenhall to the lineup. Look for the surprising Vikings to run their record to 4-1 with a win over the seemingly woeful Titans, although with Matt Hasselbeck taking over for the injured Jake Locker, Tennessee has a shot. The Sunday Night game is the Bolts at Aints. Nawlins has to snap out of their slide, right? Maybe, but the Bolts won’t make it easy.

Lastly, the F1 Circus is in Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix. Built in the early 60s as a Honda test facility, Suzuka is a beautiful circuit by any measure, and certainly the best of the Asian circuits by far. The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber have the front row. Jenson Button was third fastest in qualifying, but is assessed a five place grid penalty for swapping gearboxes, so will start in P8. Kamui Kobayashi put on a show for his home country, put in the fourth fastest time and will start from P3 due to Button’s penalty. Points leader Alonso will start from the third row, which puts him at a disadvantage in his battle with the surging Vettel. Coverage starts on Speed at 1:30am Sunday EST and 10:30pm Saturday night PST. It is always a good race at Suzuka, tune in.

As a parting shot, who knew Michael Phelps could golf? Dude drained a 159 foot putt. Wow.

Big Kitty Cats On The Prowl & Talking Trash In Detroit Motor City

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[Hi there Kitty Kat fans!! The tigers are tied with the Rangers in the 9th and the Lions coming on soon. Time to Prowl, so Trash has been moved back up to where it can be found – bmaz]

The big cats are on the prowl, and they are growling right on down Woodward Avenue. Los Tigres are Looking For Love and they’re Making Thunderbirds.

And they are not the ever lovely Watertiger kind of kitties either. Nope, these kittehs are big, bad, lean, mean and will Fuck. You. Up.

Detroit Motor City is happenin baybee; seriously happening, and here is hoping there is no Detroit Breakdown.

First on the catwalk are the Tigers. Los Tigres dispatched the evil empire of the NY Yankees. Fittingly, the game, and series, ended with a strikeout by Mighty Casey LeBron Rodriquez, aka “Mr. April”. Congratulations pinstripe pushers, you have 6, count em six, more years of this joy at the low, low price of only $27 million a year. Worry not though, while he has already been through Kate Hudson and Cameron Diaz, you still have the ARoid and Gwyneth Paltrow hookup to look forward to. So you got that going for you, along with you new number one starter, AJ Burnett, after CC Sabathia bails. Red Sawx cognoscenti feast. As to everybody else, ponder whether there is enough Justin Verlander to slow down Josh Hamilton, Michael Young and the Rangers. Say what you will, these are, at this point, the two best teams in the American League.

In the Senior Circuit, my local kids, and they are kids since they are the youngest team in MLB, came up just a bit short tonight against the BrewCrew. Awesome game five, and awesome series. Both teams just had so much personality and good vibe, it was hard to root against either one. But someone had to win, and in extra innings in the win or go home game, Milwaukee did. And Albert Pujols and the Cards shocked the mighty Phillies, in Philly, to make the unlikely advance to the NLCS. This is almost certainly not the NLCS matchup FoxTV hoped for. Too bad, both teams earned it, suck on that Fox.

In the college gridiron type of sporting activity, a couple of has beens like Texas and Oklahoma are playing. If only they both could lose. Then the better and more appealing team, the Boise State Broncos, could move ahead to the rank they deserve in the standings. Especially after dropping 57 points on conference rival Fresno State Friday night. The most exciting team in the country as far as supposed first tier conferences go, the sharp toothed Wisconsin Badgers, have a bye week.

Next on the beautific catwalk are the Deetroit Lions. These too are some slinky cats.

The Chicago Poo Bears are going to mosey into the Lion’s Den at Ford Field, where the Kitties hope to say “Suh you later”. So far, so good, Matt Stafford is still healthy and leading the Lion offense. Stafford’s resume is spotty because of injury, but when healthy, he has clearly demonstrated he is a top-flite quarterback. Javed Best is a nice back, but the Lions might want to invest in another back at some point to insure the future that seems so bright. As good as the Lions’ defense has been so far this season, they have been playing without what many considered the best athlete in the draft, Nick Fairly out of Auburn. Dude has the potential to be another Suh. If he is even close, it is hard to imagine what it will mean to Detroit, and he may make his season debut against Da Bears.

I understand there may be other games of both the student and professional athlete variety, but if they ain’t from Detroit, you will have to supply your own analysis in comments. Because this is Motor City Madness Weekend!

Well, okay, maybe we will get to non-motorcity talk because, if nothing else, there is some shit going down in Suzuka. And if you know squat about F1, you know there is usually wet, and corresponding wild, in Suzuka. That’s just the way it is. Vettel was off pace in practice, but was fast and took pole in qualifying, with Jenson Button of McLaren in P2. Lewis Hamilton hung on for P3 followed by Mass and Alonso in the Ferraris. True to form, qualifying was off schedule due to rain. We will see yet what the conditions are for the actual race, but I have always found the wet to be a good thing at Suzuka as it seems a bit pedestrian of a track without it. The race goes off at 2:00am EST and 11:00pm PST and is being carried in the US by Speed TV. If Vettel finishes anywhere in the points, even with the minimal single point, he clinches the Drivers’ Championship, and that is a pretty safe bet to occur.

As you may have noticed, this is a VERY heavy music Trash post. But, if there is one thing Detroit is known for other than American steel on wheels, it is music. I didn’t roll with the common Motown motif, and I did not fall back on old friends that used to be from Detroit, but now are here in the desert. If you are a music nerd, check out the enantiomer MC5 version of Motor City Is Burning. Not sure exactly what the deal is, but it is clearly, whether intentionally or unintentionally, a reverse print if you look at all the right handed people flipped opposite. Weird. Probably not many people remember the MC5, but they were one of the early foundations of straight up hard rock, and they were dead nuts killer.

So, that is it for the Motown Trash. Burn it down!