BB: MIAA: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

Could hardly be tougher - they get #1 ranked Chapman!

Go Bulldogs!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Sorry for the misinformation - they eliminated Linfield today (UWW eliminated #1 Chapman), 3-2.

It is well-nigh impossible to come back from a first game defeat, but I'm sure the Bulldogs will give it a go!  Tomorrow they face UWW at 1 (EDT); if they make it over that hurdle, they would face the loser of JHU (revenge, anyone?) or (so far) undefeated Trinity.  And if they are still alive, they would then have to beat the well-rested winner of JHU/Trinity TWICE on Tuesday.  NOT an easy prospect, but GO BULLDOGS!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Adrian making it to the "Final Four" is aboslutely awesome.  Keep going Bulldogs!!

[Mr. Ypsi]

Oh, so close!  Adrian had the winning run on in the bottom of the 9th, but an amazing outfield catch left them with a 13-11 loss.

Great season, Bulldogs - 4th in the nation is better than several hundred other teams did!

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I agree - way to go Bulldogs, 4th in the nation is AWESOME!!!  Thanks for helping the MIAA get some recognition!

[mr_b]

Congrats to Adrian on a fine season and a great performance in the D3 championships!

[bulldogalum]

Lots to be proud of from the Bulldogs this postseason.  That was truly a great run into the tournament, and a great finish to the season.  Hopefully this will be a springboard for the whole league on a national scale.

[hope1]

hey good job bulldogs   nice to have a great seasson way to go

[Mr. Ypsi]

Hello, all!  Since no one else is using this board, I thought I'd see if anyone wanted to discuss the Tigers.  (I prefer civilized discussions with people whose IQ is higher than my dog's, so I avoid other Tiger chatrooms!)

The discussion questions (for starters):

With a third of the season now in the books, is it too late for the Tigers?  (My answer: with their record, they COULD be 13-14 games out, but no one is running away.  I'm still cautiously optimistic, but they'd better make a move soon.)

Were the Tigers overrated (SI, among others, had them winning the World Series)?  (My answer: seemingly so, but they STILL look - on paper - like one of the best, if not the best, teams.  I have no explanation for why everytime one part of the team finally seems headed north, another part goes south. )

And an observation: the bullpen is pathetic (wow! that was original! ).  Miner is finally coming around, but Crucetta is already gone and Fossum has an ERA of 135.00 (OBA of .833)!   Rodney and Zumaya, please be ready soon, and PLEASE be as good as (or better than) before!!

Oh, and welcome home, Stanley Cup!!

[Ralph Turner]

I thought baseball was the sport that occupied the time between the Stanley Cup Finals and the pre-season for the Wings. 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I thought baseball was the sport that occupied the time between the Stanley Cup Finals and the pre-season for the Wings. 

Since the Lions will probably always suck, that was true when the Tigers were the Pussycats (ala 2003).  But we really thought we had a contender!

I'm not throwing in the towel quite yet, but in 5 days we've gone from 6 out to 10 out.

[sac]

Chuck I'm not a huge baseball fan, but follow it enough to worm my way into some conversation.

I think the Tigers true troubles begin and end with the injuries to Rodney and Zumaya.  They have a shakey bullpen and everyone knows it, from the starting pitchers who press hard to get strong outings, to the hitters who try and hit everything out of the park.  They have no bullpen and the most dramatic closer in baseball history. (seriously)  I don't think the Tigers ship will ever straighten out untill they figure out the bullpen.

For this season, losing Granderson early just set a terrible tone for the year and its been followed up by injury after injury.  I honestly don't know if Detroits played a single game with the starting 9, Leyland envisioned in March.  To go with all of that, the great free-agent signings of years past (Kenny Rogers, Ivan Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield) are finally showing their age.     Everyone expected alot from Dontrele Willis, but I think even the most pesimistic Tiger fan expected something from him........there is no wondering now why the Marlins were so anxious to part with his company.  He was supposed to bolster an already good starting 5.  Clearly his acquisition was overrated.

I've viewed 2006 as an aberration, they weren't supposed to be that good so soon.  The Tigers set out on a 4 or 5 year plan when Leyland was hired, which would be a target of 2009 or 2010.  So they might still be a year away, but every Tiger fan will tell you they expected more this season.  There's still hope this year can turn into something, they have some serious weapons. 


  Don't forget it took Illitch forever to finally get it right with the Wings (15 years).........the Tigers are on the right path and seemingly almost mirroring the early 90's versions of the Wings.  The early 90's Wings were good, but not ready to win the cup...........and so it is with these Tigers.

The reason we have the Lions is so we can appreciate the Red Wings.

[Mr. Ypsi]

It's a very long season, so I try not to get too excited over short-term results, but with the Tigers snapping CWS's win streak yesterday, then Verlander twirling a complete-game 4-hitter today (giving the pen a well-needed break after the Dontrelle Willis fiasco), could this finally be the Bengals we hoped for?  Or just another teaser?

[old scot]

I'm waiting for Jim Leyland to quit on the Tigers like he did on the Pirates, Marlins, and Rockies.
He said those teams were not committed to winning. He can't use that excuse with the Tigers.

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm waiting for Jim Leyland to quit on the Tigers like he did on the Pirates, Marlins, and Rockies.
He said those teams were not committed to winning. He can't use that excuse with the Tigers.

After 2006, Leyland hasn't used up his sainthood just yet!