Eighty-Six the 98: Devin Gardner honored Tom Harmon by wearing the #98 for the night game showdown against Notre Dame. He played terrific, Blue got the victory, and it was meatball hoagies all around at Pizza Bob’s. But that should have been curtains for the honorary number.
You do it once, create a unique memory, and move along. But Gardner has somehow turned this novelty into a more permanent thing, and the uniform gods have not looked kindly upon it. The junior has committed an eye-popping seven turnovers over the last two Saturdays against less-than-stellar competition.
You have to be careful not to step on the toes of legends when donning their digits. Just ask Jonas Jerebko. He arrived in Detroit, brazenly slapped Grant Hill’s #33 on his chest, and has since taken up permanent residence in the Pistons’ doghouse. Take heed, Mr. Gardner, and put ‘Old 98’ on ice for the year.
“Second” to None: A round of applause for 2nd sacker Omar Infante, who has quietly put together a fine season for the Tigers. The franchise struggled mightily in finding a replacement for Placido Polanco, but Infante has managed to fill the void very nicely.
He is batting at a sparkling .317 clip, which would be top five in the American League if qualified (he is about 50 plate appearances short). With the health/status of Jose Iglesias/Jhonny Peralta uncertain, the bat and glove of fellow middle infielder Infante become that much more important.
General managers nowadays are twice as likely to be criticized for errors than praised for success, so let’s take a moment to appreciate just how well Dave Dombrowski made off in last summer’s swap with the Marlins.
They dealt away pitching prospect Jacob Turner, who has started 20 games for the Fish this season and won three of them. He has also made more errors than any pitcher in baseball.
They received Anibal Sanchez, a legitimate Cy Young candidate, and Infante, the unsung hero of this division-winning team.
It’s still early and Turner could wind up being a quality hurler down the line. But for now, this looks to be the best Detroit trade since getting Ben Wallace and Chucky Atkins for Grant Hill and his left ankle, which at the time was composed of 20% bone, 80% coleslaw.
(Statistical oddity: Infante is the only Tigers’ regular not to have been hit by a pitch this season.)
Help Wanted: Those with even an elementary understanding of the sport can grasp just how important the quarterback position is. Never has this been more evident than in Michigan State’s 2013 campaign.
Simply put, the defense has been outstanding. The unit entered the Notre Dame contest ranked 1st nationally, and looked the part on Saturday. Aside from a handful of shaky flags in the secondary, which in turn led to touchdowns, the Spartan defenders were stout as usual. But that only takes you so far.
Sports wisdom has always stated, “Defense wins championships.” There’s also a little postscript attached to that, which reads, “…when given appropriate support by the offense.” There was nothing of the sort against the Irish.
It leads you to wonder how and why it’s been so difficult for the Spartans to find an elite quarterback. Of course, All-Americans don’t grow on trees, but you’d figure that a well-known Big Ten school with a consistently strong defense would be able to lure a superstar passer one of these years. They’ve had so many of the same solid but unspectacular types; from Tony Banks to Jeff Smoker to Drew Stanton to Brian Hoyer, it’s a production line of Stan Humphries clones.
If you remember, Humphries quarterbacked the San Diego Chargers for the better part of the 1990s. The team always had a hard-hitting defense, an underrated running game, and a very respectable win-loss record. But the man in charge was just too average to make them a real championship contender. Humphries was grittier than a Mississippi breakfast, but he just lacked that “it” factor you need from a Super Bowl or Big Ten winning QB.
The Rose Bowl starved fans in East Lansing can relate.
At Last: To accomplish anything of significance in life, there needs to be a process.
A plan has to be devised, diligent work must be put in, and execution shall be precise. But sometimes it’s still not enough. Sometimes, you need to catch a break along the way.
The Detroit Lions, a franchise famous for its fumbles and stumbles, finally got that break on Sunday in the form of a bobbled touchdown catch by Aldrick Robinson. And with that, the Lions’ history of misery went away in Washington.
But let’s not chalk up this streak-busting victory to mere happenstance. Good fortune must be capitalized upon, and Matthew Stafford’s offense did just that. After the touchdown reversal, the Lions took possession facing the same situation they experienced one week ago; on the road, fourth quarter, holding a slim lead, with one quality drive separating victory from defeat.
In Arizona, the sequence of events was vintage Lions. A short 3-and-out followed by a game-winning Cardinals march. Yesterday at FedEx Field, the Lions’ personal House of Horrors, they grabbed the pig by the snout and put the apple in its mouth.
Stafford led a gorgeous nine-play drive covering 71 yards, replete with bulldozing from Joique Bell, a clutch grab by the reliable giant, Kris Durham, and a stake-through-the-heart touchdown grab from Calvin Johnson. In one afternoon, the Lions said goodbye to their disastrous track record and said hello to a fresh outlook on a new season.
For teams like the Patriots or Packers, the difference between 1-2 and 2-1 might be infinitesimal. They know it’s still early, and that eventually the cream will rise to the top. But for the Lions, a franchise with a dangerously fragile psyche, that numerical flip-flop means everything.
And so they go forward, sitting comfortably with a .667 winning percentage, a pair of critical divisional matchups to come. But they can now look to those games with a renewed confidence courtesy of a road win in a previously impenetrable environment.
The monkey is finally off the Lions’ back. And he’s dancing a jig.
