A More Pleasant Goodbye

The 1984 Galaxy boat has gone to a better place, and that better place is Kentucky. Various members of the family, mostly my dad and I, spent much quality time coaxing and persuading the attention deprived boat to start. We're sorry Galaxy for not being there for you when you needed us. You needed dry gas to keep condensation out of your fuel, and we gave you shade under a tree and it's leaves in the fall. All you really needed was a little more TLC than we could offer and you'd be a nice, reliable boat. We're sorry Galaxy. But now, you've got a new home in Kentucky with a new owner in Jeff who may sound a little funny at first, but in no time you'll be adopting that same southern draw. The rumors are not true that as soon as you left the driveway on your way to your new home, my dad called to look for your replacement in a seadoo. It's also not true that we thought "nobody wanted you" and you we're "past your prime". You were good for us Galaxy. All of those slow 10 mph rides on skis as I drank all of Spring Lake until you could muster up enough speed to pull me out of the water were just making me a better skier. Each time we would turn around going full speed and you would lose half of your speed, we would say you were "just being safe". Galaxy, it's been real and it's been fun...

Opening week for college football is upon us, I'm a little excited. I'd be more excited if I could actually watch the Michigan game on Saturday. The Big Ten Network, which launches on Thursday, will be carrying the game. The only problem is there isn't any cable providers that have a deal with the "BTN" yet. But nonetheless, football is here...

The Tigers may be back, keyword may. Tonight they put up 16 runs on the Yankees to win the series 3-1. The funny thing is the stats from the game. The only home run was hit by Polanco, who doesn't hit many home runs. The only triple was hit by Casey, who runs slower than my dad... I love you Dad. And Brandon Inge, who is not feared at all from the plate, went 3 for 4 with 3 doubles and 4 rbi's. It was a fun one to watch, unless you are a Yankee's fan.

T-Shirt Of The Day:
"Magglio's Barber Shop"

Pay homage to our MVP front runner and frizzy haired Magglio Ordonez with a Magglio's Barber Shop T-shirt.

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Just When I Thought I Was Out, They Pull Me Back In

I was literally days away from calling it quits on Charter (my cable TV provider). The promotional that we had was over and we were paying more for our cable than we wanted to. Charter didn't have many stations that I wanted such as ESPN2 HD, ESPNU, Fox Sports Detroit HD and the NFL Network. I got a letter yesterday that Charter was now going to carry ESPN2 HD, ESPNU, and FSD HD. It's like they were reading my mind. It's so cool to be able to watch the Tigers in High Definition every night. By no means am I now happy with Charter, they still gouge us with their rates because we have no other cable TV options in Grand Haven. At least now there is hope. I can "ditch the dish" for a little longer. We're probably going to cancel our DVR and by our own TIVO, you can own your own for the cost of a few months of renting one. We're also going to cut out our HBO channels which we never watch but were included in the promotion that we had. They try to get you by getting you into the nice package and hope you'll forget and just pay the bill when the promotion ends. So in short, don't buy a TV... they cost money.

In other news in my world, my softball team got beat BADLY for the second week in a row. We lost to the American Legion team 18-8. It's funny, we scored 5 runs in the first and things looked good for us. In the bottom of the first, we surrendered 8 runs. After the first inning, things settled down for a bit. Then, in the 5th we gave up 10 more runs. If it wasn't for those two innings we probably would have won. So it's looking like we still have some work to do to show we belong in this division. Next week we play at Mulligan's Hollow at 9:00 pm. Come cheer us on, we need to get this season turned around.

So it looks like our lovable Tigers are back, along with Joel Zumaya. They were starting to worry me and they still have work to do, but they are fighting for it. They just need to win 2 out of every 3 games, and let the rest work it's way out. With the pitching starting to come around, which was our downfall of late, there is no reason to think we won't have a legitimate shot at either the division or the wild card.

I think I'm going to start a new section of my blog. It will be call "T-shirt of the day". I've seen so many shirts out there that are either really clever or really funny and thought I would share some of them, the tame ones.

"I Heart Hart"
It's a play on words with the U of M running back's name, Mike Hart. This year is gonna be a great one for the senior and heisman contender.

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Saying good-bye to an old friend.

My childhood cat, Abby, died on Sunday. The Morstadt family adopted her in 1991, shortly after we moved to Michigan. My brother, Alex, picked her out at the Humane Society. She was brought home and quickly sent to do what cats do best....kill mice. Our rental house in Michigan was sort of infested with them....and the mice weren't going to be allowed to stay. Fortunately, Abby was a great mouser!

She lived in the basement of our house on Redbird for many years, and after a while was joined by the small and spunkier Sophie. After a while, both cats were moved outside where they slept in the garage by day and had the run of the neighborhood at night. I think Abby enjoyed living outdoors best. During her prime kitty years, she would venture out and we wouldn't see her for days. Sometimes she would leave a little dead present at the door, just to show us that she was still a good hunter. At the end of her life she spent more and more time in her bed: a converted kennel with no door and a Rainbow Brite sleeping bag as her bedding -but she would always come out and "talk" with you if you called her.

Now she's gone. Alex said it best last night: that you lose a part of your childhood with the passing of a family pet. Looking back at Abby's long life really sheds light on how much time has passed and how different our family is now.

The babies who crawled around the floor of the home she kept free of mice, come home from a movie to find her body in the garage and then quietly and respectfully bury her, like real men would.

The kindergartner who picked her out, calls from Navy flight school to reminisce.

The 10 year-old who forced her to cuddle (knowing Abby wouldn't hiss or bite to be released), blogs about her hunting prowess during breaks from lab work.

Abby was a good cat. She was never a snuggler, but always excepted gentle petting and a good scratch behind her ears. Our whole family will miss you, Abby (and I think Sophie might too). RIP.

Cameron Maybin

If you've been watching the Tigers in the past 2 games you may have noticed a new left fielder. A tall, skinny, very young looking guy who looks like he belongs on a basketball court. This guy's name is Cameron Maybin. He was the first-round pick for the Tigers in 2005 and played for the Whitecaps last season. Scouts are saying this guy is the next Ken Griffey Jr. or Willie Mays. He's extremely fast, has a good arm, and hits for average and power. We've never really had anyone this talented, but he's still young and has learning to do. Hopefully he plays well enough to stay in the majors, because we can definitely use him right now.

Now with the good news comes the bad news. Craig Monroe, a popular outfielder for the Tigers has probably seen his last days in an "Old English D uniform". Obviously, the Tigers had to make room for Maybin and Monroe was the first one to go. He's been hitting awful all year with no sign of getting out of his season-long slump. He gave us some great memories last season, big home run against the hated White Sox and 5 home runs in the 2006 playoffs(franchise record). Hopefully, Monroe will get traded or signed by another team that will give him another shot. A lot of times a changed team will turn around a players fortunes. Carlos Pena and Dmitri Young are perfect examples of guys who just needed to get out of Detroit and start over.

Tigers vs. Indians

The Tigers played the Indians last night in the first of a two game series, and they won. This game was important because both teams were tied for first place. If you didn't see the game, it was tied 2-2 going into extra innings. Gary Sheffield hit an RBI single and Magglio Ordonez hit a 3-run home run to make it 6-2. Not that these hits weren't awesome and important but there was a play that Curtis Granderson made in the 8th inning that allowed the Tigers to get to extra innings. There were two outs, a runner on second base, and the Indians' Travis Hafner at the plate. Hafner, who hits left handed, normally hits to right field so much that teams normally shift their fielders that way. However, Hafner hit a line drive up the middle which looked to be a sure base hit in front and to the left of Granderson in center field. Granderson, knowing the importance of the game, sprinted and dove for it and made the catch. If he had missed it, the Indians would have taken a 3-2 lead and would have probably gone on to win the game. Sweet play Grandy! Now the Tigers are a game ahead of the Indians in the Central Division race. They need as much room as they can get because their next twelve games are against the Indians(4 games) and the Yankees(8 games). This could be really good or really bad.

You'll see I added a section to the side bar on the right of this page called "We are famous". It's just a section keeping track of when we, or someone we know, is in the news, on TV, or some other spotlight. If you know of any that I can link to, let me know and I will post it there.

Tigers Slugfest

Wow!!! What a dramatic game! The Tigers were losing 8-1 at one point, people were going home, and we were thinking "Oh well, at least we'll be able to move up and get better seats". Then, they came back and led 9-8 and we were thinking "Wow, what a comeback! The Tigers should be fine now." Then Oakland scored 8 more runs in one inning to take the lead 16-9. The, people that stayed for the first route then left after the 8 runs. My question is "Why did they stay through one but not two?" If you stay through the Tigers being down 8-1, wouldn't you stay the rest of the game?

Anyway, it was fun. D.J., his friend Matt, and Lacey all enjoyed themselves so that's all that mattered. We got to play around with our new camera by taking some wide angle pictures.

Tomorrow is our fantasy football league's draft. Fantasy football might not mean much to some of you, but it has become a pretty big event in our household. Our fantasy football league consists of myself, Katie, her three brothers, her dad, Dave Clinansmith, Andy Helm, Justin Hobeck, and Cody Borta. It gives us a little side game to pay attention to while the Lions are busy losing on Sundays. Hopefully the Lions give us a reason to watch closer this year, but just in case, we have fantasy football.

REAL Men's League

We had our first softball game on Wednesday in the upper division. If you remember, I said we only lost one game last session and easily walked away with the trophy. But this session, we moved up to the more competitive division. Well, we won our first game 12-9 in extra innings... and we didn't play that well until extra innings, so I think we belong. The other thing was, we didn't have all of our players, so that really made me feel good about it. Next week will be the big test, as we will be facing the team that normally wins this division.

The Lions just got done playing their first pre-season game of the year... AND THEY WON!!! It was actually pretty thrilling. They were losing 26-10 going into the 4th quarter to the Cincinnati Bengals. They scored 17 unanswered points in the 4th to win. They also kicked and onside kick, blocked a punt and a field goal... all in the 4th quarter. Now, this game didn't mean squat, but it was fun to watch especially at the end. For a Lions fan who hasn't seen any hope since Barry Sanders last donned honolulu blue and silver, that was pretty therapeutic. Calvin Johnson, the Lions first round picked looked very promising hauling in some very nice receptions. I hope he and Roy Williams can both stay healthy and be productive, because they can be DEADLY.

On a sad note, the Tigers are habitually losing again. They lost 8-1 in a day game to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays of all teams. With the loss, the Tigers ended up tying the Tampa in the series 2-2. Tomorrow the Tigers host Oakland and me, so hopefully they will start pitching better and get a little bit of a roll going. Young Jordan Tata is pitching for Detroit, who is one of the bright spots in the rotation right, so that should bode well for the Tiggers.

A New Home Run King

Barry Bonds finally did it. He is now the all-time home run king. It was really something to see last night. I had the game on last night in the background while I worked on other things. I just happened to look over when he hit it. It was probably the biggest thing in sports that I've seen.

Now, a lot of people say this record is tainted because they believe Barry Bonds used performance enhancing drugs. He may or may not have, but we have to look at the facts here.

Steroids didn't even become illegal to use in baseball until 2002. Bonds had 567 home runs BEFORE the 2002 season. So even if he did use steroids before 2002, it wasn't a banned substance yet.

The next thing is, steroids do not make your make your hand-eye coordination better, it doesn't give you bat speed, it doesn't make your reflexes better. The only things steroids can do is make you stronger and able to recover faster from working out.

The last thing you need to see is that baseball has ALWAYS been a cheaters sport. It's always been a fact that teams try to steal signs from the other team, so they know what pitches will be thrown, if someone will be stealing a base, etc. Then there's the dirty tricks like going hard into a base to break up a double play, running into the catcher to try to knock the ball loose, and Ty Cobb was infamous for trying to run his spikes into the player trying to tag him out at a base. Pitchers have been accused and caught "doctoring" baseballs and using "foreign substances", recently we experienced this with our very own Kenny Rogers last year in the World Series. Batters have corked their bats including our Norm Cash who admitted using one during the 1961 season when he batted .361. Home teams have let their grass grow longer than normal so they can take advantage of a "slow" infield. So leave the sport alone! Yes, steroids are bad and illegal. We've taken steps to correct that, players get tested and suspended. Barry Bonds is innocent until proven guilty, and even if he is proven guilty the record won't be taken away from him. 756 home runs is a lot, you have to work very hard and be lucky enough to stay healthy to get even close to this. I'm not a big Barry Bonds fan, I'm not a big Alex Rodriguez fan, or Tom Glavine, or Craig Biggio, or Cal Ripken, or Pete Rose... But what these players have done is incredible and they deserve respect.

On a lighter note, I just dug up Barry Bonds' rookie card to check it's value and was surprised to see how much skinnier he actually was in 1986.

Softball

Softball starts back up tonight for me and some of my friends. Tonight is my church team (First Presbyterian Church). We just found out that we're in the same division as my previous team, Mike Schaap Builders. They're really good, so this should be interesting. My other team, Neitring Fine Carpentry, starts on Wednesday and we'll be defending our championship... except in a tougher division. I'll be keeping stats and such on here for those of you who are interested. Wish us luck.

Coast Guard went by pretty fast for us, as it normally does. We made our rounds for the parade, seeing different family and friends. Later we watched the fireworks from the roof of our church, which turned out being a pretty sweet view of Grand Haven. Justin and I made a run for elephant ears and lemonades in a vehicle right before the fireworks started, turned out being a epic move. I carried 3 lemonades up the ladder to the roof, not one drop was lost... maybe.

The Tigers capped off an awesome weekend of sub-par baseball by losing to the White Sox completing a series sweep. It was a demonstration of a team that had been plagued by injuries beating a team that is now plagued by injuries. It's a good thing we don't have to play them again until next month, when we'll hopefully have a healthier team. Don't panic, they will pull through this as long as players heal.

The Lions open preseason play this Thursday on FOX @ 7:30 against the Bengals. I think the Lions can be good this year, but we'll find out early. I'm excited to see Mike Martz's offense with Calvin Johnson (rookie wide receiver) in it.

The Bourne Ultimatum

We went and saw the Bourne Ultimatum on Friday night. Justin, Dave, and Heidi went with us. The movie is third in the Bourne series (Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy). It was a crazy intense action movie. So, if you like those types of movies where it just doesn't let up, this one is for you. There is definitely quite a bit of violence and some language in the movie, so probably don't want to bring the yutes.

Today is Coast Guard Saturday, so let me be the first to say: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY COAST GUARD!!!"

So on another note, as some of you may have noticed, Katie and I have joined the "facebook borg". To those of you who don't know what facebook is, it's just a way for friends to communicate, establish friendships, share pictures/videos, and waste time on the web. I never thought I would get addicted to it, but when you know as many high school and college aged kids, like we do, you get interested pretty quickly. So, it's pretty fun.

The Tigers are out of first place after last nights loss to the White Sox. Somebody needs to step and right this ship before we lose the a chance at the playoffs. Hopefully with Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney coming back soon, it will produce a spark. The problem isn't really in the bullpen though, the starter again really lost the game tonight. Andrew Miller, being a rookie gets a pass but not for long. They gave him the spot in the rotation because they thought he could win on a regular basis. I love the kid, but if he can't be more consistent every five days then I would pull for Zach Miner or Chad Durbin to start again in his place. Also, it looks like Neifi Perez has seen his last days as a Tiger or least for this year. He tested positive for a banned substance for a third time. That means he's suspended for 80 games (remainder of the season). I've never been a big fan of his anyway since he's been here. Omar Infante has a much brighter future with the Tigers in my opinion.

Lastly, I just saw that USA Today put out it's annual football pre-season rankings. I'm a little shocked. Not that Michigan is so low (#5), but who is above Michigan. USC is #1, not much of a surprise being the media darling they are. LSU comes in at #2, also not a shocker after walloping Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl last season. But then Florida and Texas are #'s 3 and 4. Both of these teams lost a significant number of players from last year, as opposed to Michigan who lost a cornerback, and a couple of defensive linemen. Oh well, looks like it's going to be another thrilling season if this many teams are "better" than a Michigan team which I would say is no worse that #2 or #3.

Anyway,I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend. Good night!

Alison Krauss & Union Station

The Concert last night was pretty awesome. I'd never been to the Fox Theater in Detroit, it was way better than the State Theater in Kalamazoo. Katie and I sat right next to the stage on the right end. Every time Alison Krauss played her violin she was looking right at us. Anyway, they didn't allow cameras in so I couldn't take any pictures.