Sports Smörgåsbord for February 22, 2010

Posted by Iroquois Plisken

Since I've got a lot of thoughts and can't pin down a topic, I'm going to throw them all out there and see what happens.

MLB - Judas Damon signs a one year deal with the Detroit Tigers, a move that makes sense, but one that fails to overwhelm. First, he's 36. Nobody post-PED-en-vogue era is going to have a career year, not to mention the inevitable padding his stats got because he was in the Yankees lineup. You've got to expect his age to catch up with him sometime. Still, a good and smart leadoff hitter will keep the Big Bopper happy (Miggy Cabrera) with the maintenance and possible exceeding of expectations in terms of R and RBI.

Second, Damon's numbers will (likely) be negatively altered by the change in ballpark. I'm expecting a reversion back a few years to his career average of about 15 HR. He also figures to have less RBI as well because of that heinous bottom of the order. Still, there's something to be said for consistency, and I'd expect to return a combination of 2004 and 2007 Damon stats, a line of something around .290, 15 HR, 80 RBI, 80 R and maybe 20 SB. That's still pretty good.

Third, his noodle arm isn't getting any better. It's never been terrific but manning LF for Detroit probably won't do him any favors. Hopefully he doesn't impact either Austin Jackson or Ryan Raburn in the quest for a better OF (I would think Mags would be the bigger opposition, at any rate). Still, Damon's lack of defense is offset by his idiocy.

NBA - Maybe there's a reason to play the rest of the games after all. The Cleve has dropped three straight since their mega-trade, including one to my favorite squadron. While this isn't any reason to freak out (it normally takes time to integrate the so-called missing piece), it's always nice to have a pleasant reminder that anything is possible in the world of sports. In the coming weeks, we should start to see teams adjust their strategy while jockeying for either lottery balls or playoff seeding, fortuitously timed with March Madness and college basketball conference tournaments.

Hockey - The United States beat Canada 5-2 in the Olympics the other day. I feel, as a pretty disinterested party in both the Olympics and Hockey, that I represent the average American, so I feel I can speak for the general public when I say, "U-S-A! U-S-A! That'll show those hosers what's what!"

However, some mere puffers are claiming this is the biggest victory since Lake Placid. Is that even remotely close to true? From what I understand, it's not like America is guaranteed a medal yet. The victory over the Pinko Commies in 1980 is one of the biggest sports events ever. Comparing this non-medal round upset of the Canadians to that game is completely and utterly blasphemous in my opinion. See, I can be overreactionary like the average bandwagon fan, too.

And finally, in the Stuff Nobody Cares About department...

It's intramural time again (at least in the warm weather states). In softball, Team Jolly Drank is 1-0 with a 13-2 victory last night. Your fearless writer has the Eli Marrero (get used to hearing his name bandied about during baseball season around here) position on lock, playing RF/C for the team and going 2-3 with 2 R. Not a bad debut, but man, am I out of shape.