Nice:
Allyssa DeHaan had 22 points and 13 rebounds to help No. 21 Michigan State beat eighth-ranked Xavier 66-53 Wednesday night.
We saw MSU a few weeks ago at Van Andel against Western Michigan. Definitely not one of DeHaan’s better games. Nice to see her rack some up against a top team.
LIONS SCREWED AGAIN: Army orders Lions draft pick Campbell to withdraw
Caleb Campbell will not get a chance to play for the Detroit Lions because of a change in military policy.
Campbell was a seventh-round draft pick for the Lions in April. At the time, Army policy would have allowed the West Point graduate to serve as a recruiter if he made the team.
But a subsequent Department of Defense policy has superseded the 2005 Army policy.
Not that this is really a serious blow to the Lions. Campbell wasn’t projected to have a major impact on the team. But it’s just another example of things going from bad to worse for the struggling team.
RAMPAGE WIN AGAIN:Rampage upset Chicago in AFL playoffs
The Grand Rapids Rampage are one win away from playing in their second ArenaBowl.
The Rampage, the sixth seed in the AFL’s American Conference, upset the top seeded Chicago Rush 58-41 Sunday at Allstate Arena.
I was at the ArenaBowl when the Rampage won its first championship. They’ve been a pretty mediocre team this season, but they’ve peaked at the right time.
Next up is San Jose.
WILDCARD WIN: Rampage proving they can compete with big boys
Grand Rapids 48, Arizona Rattlers 41:
The Rampage won a grinder game, played at Arizona’s pace, with the reduced number of possessions and limited scoring typical of a playoff game. For anyone who thought the Rampage had to score in the 60s to 90s to win a game, their playoff opener offered a tangible response.
They got an interception on the Rattlers’ first possession and spent the entire game milking it.
A defensive stand late in the game against Arizona’s quarterback Jeff Smoker (formerly of MSU) iced the victory.
I JUST SIGNED UP FOR MLB.COM’S PREMIUM INTERNET TV SERVICE. It took me about two minutes to decide to cancel.
Even though I checked the ZIP codes of home and work and both showed ‘okay,’ it tells me I’m blacked out for all home Tigers games. What someone is calling the “official MLB blackout map’ indicates that all of Michigan is blacked out for Tigers home games. I’m not sure that it’s an accurate map or that MLB.TV uses the same map, but if that’s the case MLB.TV’s ZIP Code checker needs to be fixed.
I also tried entering an Arizona zip code into my account to see if that would make a difference. Predictably, it doesn’t.
I called customer service and waited on hold for a while, then was told I’d be called back “probably within half an hour.” We’ll see. I’ve already sent an email directing them to cancel my service.
I tried to check out another game just to see what the quality was, but I’m getting error pages for all games now. Whether or not this has to do with my pending cancellation (or my zip code trickery) I don’t know.
According to the map I linked to, the entire state of Iowa is blacked out for home games for the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox, the Kansas City Royals, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, and the St. Louis Cardinals. Blacked out for six teams despite not having a single one in the entire state.
Honestly, this isn’t 1981 any more. Major League Baseball is going to have to rework the way blackouts work if they want to enter the world of 21st century media.
I’m sure they’ll get right on that.
SLIP-N-SLIDE:
Detroit Tigers pitcher Todd Jones entertained the fans by donning a Magglio Ordonez hat and wig and pretended to hit, round the bases, and then slide into HP, Ala Ordonez, on the tarp covering the field during their rain delay against the St. Louis Cardinals at Comerica Park in Detroit, MI on Wednesday June 25, 2008. JULIAN H. GONZALEZ / Detroit Free Press
The game later resumed and the Tigers won 8-7, pulling to within three games of .500.
COOL: Teams Qualify for Upcoming National Championships
WALLED LAKE, Mich.–Young sporting clays shooters from across Michigan earned state titles–with many qualifying to represent Michigan at upcoming national championships–at last weekend’s Scholastic Clay Target Program (SCTP) Michigan Sporting Clays State Championship.
BRONCOS AT FORD FIELD: Western Michigan to take on Illinois at Detroit’s Ford Field
Western Michigan will play 2008 Rose Bowl contestant Illinois on Nov. 8 at Ford Field in Detroit.
Cool.
END OF AN ERA AT MICHIGAN: Carr’s final game comes against No. 9 Gators in Capital One Bowl
Florida head coach Urban Meyer has got it done in the postseason, Carr has not.
Meyer-coached teams have won their last four bowl games. He won two at Utah and both at Florida.
Carr’s team hasn’t had nearly the same success, losing four bowl games in a row and five of the last six.
Just underway.
