Team USA

With the Wings still on their Olympic Break, I thought I’d take this time to cover the hockey aspect of the Olympics which they are taking a break for. 

Elephant in the room: The USA Women’s team just beat Canada for the gold medal yesterday. First of all, hell of a game, and what a win it was. From a last minute equalizer from American ace Hillary Knight to send the game into overtime, and then a one-timer deke from hero Megan Keller to win it.

Great game on both sides, great win for the US, but we’ve still got unfinished business on the Men’s end. 

The Men’s team just beat Sweden in OT this past Wednesday to cruise to the Semi-Final against Slovakia. Sweden made me nervous. We hadn’t beat them in the Olympics in a while (“Who we playing Rammer?”), they tied it up at the end (thanks to a perfect pass from Red Wing Lucas Raymond), and they’re just a scary squad. But, thanks to a great performance from American goalie Connor Hellebuyck, and a goal from my hero Dylan Larkin to take the lead, the USA got it done in spectacular fashion against the Swedes.

Slovakia, while lacking some big names (no disrespect towards Tomas Tatar), made quite a run this Olympics, and although they’re a tough team who is battle tested, I don’t think they’re as good as Sweden or Germany, who we’ve beaten in the past.

I think the US dominates in this one, I’m a little worried about our goalies that aren’t named Connor Hellebuyck. Boston young’un Travis Swayman was pretty abysmal against Latvia, allowing 3 goals on 11 shots. But, given our stud defensemen, I think the US comes out on top here.

Of course, that most likely means we face the Canadians for the Gold. One that we haven’t won since Lake Placid in 1980. It was a miracle back then, and it’s going to have to be a miracle now.

Look, I have faith in our boys. I think we’re so loaded, we have a shot to get it done. We beat Canada in the four nations last year during the preliminary stage. We can do it. But man, Canada is really good. 

Any team with McDavid and MacKinnon is scary in its own regard. The two best players in the world on the same team means the team is good, plain and simple. They’ve also got like 20 more all-stars though. But I think Hellebuyck is a better goalie than both of their options, and if we beat the Russians 40 some years ago, we can beat the Canadians now.

“If we played them 10 times they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight.”

USA in one.

Los Lions

Still no football guys. Hate to break it to you. So with the NFL draft now on the horizon, let’s go through three guys I could see the Lions taking at #17. We need a good draft class this year, and I trust Brad Holmes with my life. We’re gonna get a good pick no matter what, I’m manifesting it. But here are a few guys I’d like to see.

Vega Ioane, Offensive Guard, Penn State. With the O-Line in shambles at the end of last year, we definitely need some bolstering to the interior. Ioane, who comes in at 6’4 and 330 pounds, is a bruiser who could fit right in. Now, Decker is probably on his last legs as a Lion, and while he is a tackle as opposed to Ioane, who’s a guard, we could probably shift some things around, I just really like Ionae, and think he could very well be the future of the O-line with Penei. 

Not only does he share some of the qualities that Penei boasts, but he gave up only one sack in three years in college. You don’t need to be a football nerd to know that’s impressive. Overall, I really like Ioane, but he might go a little sooner than number 17, which would be a shame, but if he falls to us I would definitely take him.

T.J. Parker, Defensive End, Clemson. Another thing that needs some work, this time on the defensive end, is the line itself. Hutch is great, don’t get me wrong, but without a certified number two rusher, it just allows the opposition to double or just focus exclusively on Hutch, because who else is a problem? Marcus Davenport? Please. 

Parker is great against the pass and the run, providing a big and physical two-direction end to have on our squad. He was pretty scary at Clemson this year, and while his production did drop in 2025 a bit, he is still just a tractor that can erupt inside. 

Watching some of his tape, he’s not as mobile or shifty as Hutch has proven out to be, but it’s good to have some variety. I guess I’m just talking myself into his flaws, but he’s still just a big threat to the run and pass, and would be great on our D-line.

Kayden Proctor, Offensive Tackle, Alabama. 6’7, 360. Enough said. Besides playing for Alabama, still a well respected institution, he would fit right into Decker’s spot at left tackle. He’s ranked in the 20’s as far as draft stock, but if he suits our team the best, I’d rather we just take him. Brad is no stranger to selecting people well before they’re supposed to be taken, and I would actually support this one.

Besides being enormous (compliment), Proctor was loyal to Bama, playing all three years there, and backed up many quarterbacks in his time there, excelling with each and every one. I think this is the guy I want, he’s got some speed issues, but so does Decker, and I just think he’s flat out better than him right now.

More on the draft later, but I just thought I’d give a few names that fans might be hearing over the next few months.

The ‘Stons

The Pistons, along with the Wings, were on their mid-season break as well. The All-Star game was held this past weekend, with three Pistons, Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren, and coach JB Bickerstaff participating in the games. 

As far as the game itself went, it was a nice change of pace for the athletes to actually try in the all-star game, most of them anyway. In past years, it’s been pretty disappointing with players giving minimal effort and not really trying, but thanks in part to our three Pistons, as well as Anthony Edwards and Victor Wembanyama, players seemed to care a lot more than in the past.

But, the regular season NBA resumed last night, with the Pistons taking on the dreaded Knicks of New York. This was a really important game for us. Not only am I (and loads of others) still salty about last year’s playoff loss, and Jalen Brunson’s cowardly and unethical style of play, but we had a chance to sweep the Knicks on the season last night, and we were down both Jalen Duren and Isaiah Stewart to suspension.

But B-Ball Paul and Tolu Smith both stepped up and proved again how deep this team is, and beat the Knicks in their own house last night.

It brings me so much joy to see this team prove their worth against their rivals while being shorthanded. Not to mention Cade’s 40 piece, and one board away from a triple double. Usually when he has a high scoring game, it’s not the most efficient of shooting, but last night Cade shot 50% from the field, a very respectable number.

The Pistons are now at the #1 spot in the NBA. I never thought I’d see the day. With OKC and San Antonio both on the schedule this week, those should be some very entertaining games as far as standings and seeing how we fare against the West.

Sing that song, Gmac Cash. 

Motor City Kitties

I wrote an entire segment about the rotation for the Tigers the day that we signed Valdez. No biggie, just gotta tweak some things. And then Reese Olsen was announced to be out for the season. Okay, that’s fine. I mean it’s mildly annoying to write a third rendition of this, but okay. Then we signed Verlander and I gave up. But at this point, I’m assuming we’re not going to make any other major deals regarding the pitching staff. So let’s take a look at what is now, one of the best rotations in the MLB

The numbers regarding the 2025 season were pretty good, I mean, any season in which the majority of statistics are above league average is a win in my book, but considering how much we’ve improved overall in the offseason, a new assessment needs to be made.

Although last year’s pitching ranked right around average to above average in most statistical categories, there were some glimpses of hope enticing next year. Casey Mize flashed some prowess last year in the midst of a shaky season, notching an all-star appearance in the process, Reese Olsen was 2nd in pitching WAR (wins above replacement) before going down to injured reserve late in the year, Jackson Jobe, whom I adore, also showed some greatness before getting hurt, and Troy Melton looks to be our young gun in the bullpen (more on him later). Skubal, of course, is the two-time reigning Cy Young winner, and the bona fide best pitcher in baseball, and looks to be sticking around for this year. Nobody expected us to get Valdez, but against all odds, he’s now a Tiger. But let’s set up a 5-man rotation and go in depth for the fun of it, because it’s February, and I need more baseball in my life.

1. Tarik Skubal. The 1st spot in a rotation typically goes to the ace of the group, and it is very obviously Tarik Skubal. Skubal won the Cy Young in both 2024 and 2025, leading the league in ERA both years, and winning the coveted Triple Crown in 2024. No denying his excellence, however this will likely be his last year as a Tiger, as Chris Ilitch doesn’t want to use his billions to pay the man. Everyone knows Skubal is great, and everyone knows he is the ace of the group.
2. Framber Valdez. What might be the best 1-2 punch in the league, Framber headlines the latter. Backing up the young and great Hunter Brown in Houston, he’s now backing up the best pitcher in the world in Detroit. Valdez threw basically the same number of innings last year as Skubal, not to mention leading the league in complete games. Although the bullpen has gotten better, it was still a bit shaky last year. Vest was awesome, and Finnegan was fine, but other than that if we had a pitcher get pulled in the 4th inning it could get rough real fast. That is rarely a problem with Valdez. The guy just eats up inning after inning. He led the league in complete games last year (with two), and boasted some pretty impressive numbers alongside it. Despite the attitude concerns, Framber is going to be great in Detroit, and will serve alongside King Skub wonderfully.
3. Jack Flaherty. Flaherty is an enigma in my eyes as a pitcher. In 2025, he led the league in losses, and yet had an average of 10.5 strikeouts per 9 innings, which is a crazy good number and doesn’t seem right. To add to his strangeness, if you take a look at his statistics against playoff teams vs non-playoff teams, it seems backwards. You’d expect a pitcher to be better against bad teams compared to good ones just based off of the talent they’re facing. This would be true, except for the fact that nothing in baseball makes logical sense. Below is a graph I have constructed to illustrate Flaherty’s confounding stats in the dog days of summer, like the end of July to mid September. As you can see, Flaherty pitched extremely well against playoff teams, and the opposite against non-playoff teams. I guess I would rather have it this way, but it just goes to show you how polarizing Flaherty is as a pitcher. He is turning 30 this year, and if we can get even a fraction of his greatness against playoff teams, he’ll be an extremely solid number three.
4. Casey Mize. So last year Mize started off as the #2, and then shifted down to #3 as Flaherty heated up later in the year. Mize pitched a pretty decent 2025, having a 14-6 win/loss record with a 3.87 ERA and retiring 139 batters by strikeout. Looking at it, it’s a pretty decent season. Mize definitely looked better than these numbers at certain points, and definitely worse. Mize had an ERA below 3.00 up until mid July and got an all-star appearance. He ballooned a little bit later in the season, as did the rest of the Tigers, but overall showed a lot more promise than we all thought he had. Mize was our #1 overall pick in 2018 and was thought to be a bust, but he proved us wrong a bit in 2025. I think he’s going to improve, and I think there’s a chance he makes a return at the all-star game and establishes himself as the certified number 3 in our rotation. But I’m giving the 3 spot to Flaherty solely because of how they finished last year. 
5. Justin Verlander. Oh yeah. JV gets that number 5 spot. I mean, every team’s number 5 starter isn’t necessarily a great pitcher, unless you’re the Dodgers. But it’s still nice we get a guy like JV. I’ve talked about him in previous articles, how he’s 43, and there’s bound to be some digression, and he’s 43, and his ERA hasn’t been good since COVID, and he’s 43, but he is still Justin Verlander. And he can still be nails every now and then. Nolan Ryan pitched a no hitter when he was 44, which is insane, but it goes to show that the greats are the greats for a reason. JV can have his worst season ever, and I’d still be happy he’s on my baseball team. But he’s not going to have his worst season ever. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.
6. Troy Melton. I know I said this was a 5-man rotation, but I can’t leave out my boy. With the absence of the beloved Jackson Jobe last year due to a Tommy John surgery, Troy emerged as the perennial rookie starter who was very impressive for his age last year. Troy had a 4-3 record with a 2.76 ERA while only being 24 years of age. That’s extremely promising. The kid showed that classic Detroit grit by pitching in a total of four different playoff games during the postseason, all of which he performed excellent in. Most notably starting in game 1 of the ALDS against the Mariners. Due to Troy’s late season surge, during which we were significantly worse at scoring, he didn’t get a lot of run support in his starts- playoff or regular season. For reference, Skubal’s average run support was 4.31, meaning the team scored on average 4.31 runs to help out Skubs on the mound to maintain the lead. Troy’s average run support was 2.83. A significant difference that negatively impacted his stats. Nevertheless, I think Troy makes a jump next year, but given his age and experience, I think he starts out either in the bullpen or at the bottom of the rotation and works his way up.  Recap: Ace/#1: Tarik Skubal, #2: Framber Valdez, #3: Jack Flaherty, #4: Casey Mize, #5: Justin Verlander, #6/HM: Troy Melton. TIGERS PLAY BASEBALL TOMORROW!