Dear Dave Dombrowski

Dear Dave,
I appreciate the small effort you have made so far this offseason to provide depth and veteran leadership to our team. However, as you recall, the two guys you brought in have a history of being "me-first" players. I will give them the benefit of the doubt, and let's assume that combined, they are good for 5 additional wins next year. Let's even say that Leyland over Trammell is another 5 game improvement. That gets us to 81 wins. And here is my proposal:

Miguel Tejada has demanded a trade from the Orioles. Now I know you have already tried once this offseason to trade for a player in a similar situation and he refused to come here (Javier Vasquez). I appreciate the effort. However, effort is not enough. It is your job to close the deal. I don't care what it takes, you need to convince Tejada to come here. He is a great player that will bring a spark to the team, something sorely lacking last season. Send Inge, Rodney, and Zumaya to Baltimore, bring in Tejada and move Guillen to third. Now, we are talking IMPROVED BALLCLUB.

Sincerely,

SportPsych Detroit

OK OK I am strange

Today's post will not be about Steve Mariucci, Matt Millen, the hopeless Lions, a washed up Jeff Garcia, or a frustrated fan base. No, today, I will talk about deja vu, or in this case the synergy of discussing a random event from 1988 and then opening today's paper to find an article referencing the same story.

I get mocked (in a respectful way, I think) by my buddies for my detailed sports knowledge (see previous posts such as the Sports quiz, Pick 3, and Sports math). It has become somewhat of a running joke that when I have the occasion to watch a game with the boys, I will make statements about a guy's college background or penalties or records that are being approached before the statistician has a chance to inform Al Michaels to speak up. And I know that is nothing particularly special, and that many people out there share this gift.

What I have, though, is Jaydar. The ability to hone in on a topic of obscure useless information and make conversation that becomes relevant, if not critical. Yesterday, while hanging out with the guys, I was asked if Jimmy Howard was born after Steve Yzerman became captain of the Red Wings. I responded that I did not know how old Howard is, but that Stevie Y became captain after Jacques Demers was hired in the summer of 1986. I mentioned that Demers had 2 very good years of inspired coaching, but that his downfall was not disciplining a group of players who went out drinking on the eve of Game 5 of the conference finals in Edmonton. I added that they went to an adult establishment known as Goose Loonies. I remember the story being that some of them played that night, hung over and perhaps still a little intoxicated. It was the beginning of the end for Demers and that configuration of the team. Ok, nice story.

Today, I open the Detroit News and Free Press sports page, and find a story on Jacques Demers, and his new book. He writes about his career in coaching and attributes his downfall as the Wings head coach to that night in Edmonton when a group of players went out drinking to the Goose Loonies on the night before the biggest game of the year, Game 5 of the conference final against Edmonton. Of course, the article provides more details, and they are very similar to my description to the group. Weird