Metro Detroit area cardiologists saw a spike in patients Saturday night, but ultimately Matthew Stafford ugly looking hand injury was just a false alarm.  The season will go on and Stafford is just fine.

Catch my spin on it at the Sidelionreport.

Well, just a link this time–but hey I finally updated my blog after a couple weeks of neglect.  If this blog were my baby, I’d be on Springer right now.  Come to think of it, is Springer even still on?

Anyway, had a few life changing events.  You know…small things–baby, job–that have screwed up my normalcy.  Thanks a lot baby Eli.  However, things are starting to ease back into normal life.

Here’s a piece that was published on the Detroit Athletic Club.  Keep in mind that disappointing is completely different than worse.  Yes the 0-16 2008 Lions were the worst team ever in the history of pro sports.  However, our expectations for them were…shall we say…were muted at best.  We thought they’d suck and boy they delivered.  Actually, aren’t they the opposite of a disappointment?  They were a wild success completely exceeding our expectations.

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When Brandon Inge departed from the Detroit Tigers, a huge void was left in the hearts of Tiger fans everywhere.  Gone was the beloved hero who could do no wrong.  Gone was the modest, stoic figure who was always an image of calm in an otherwise turbulent sport.  Despite the emptiness in the Tigers’ clubhouse, one man is more likely than other’s to fill the void of favorite Tiger left by the recently departed Brandon Inge—that man is Ryan Raburn.

Raburn has never found a home on the baseball field—bouncing between third base, second base and outfield—but is about to find a place to reside in the hallways of Detroit Tiger lore.  He’s due to join a select crew of players who have bonded Tiger fans like no others.  That list of players includes names such as Nate Cornejo, Juan Gonzalez, Jason Grilli Nate Robertson and Mr. Inge himself–all players who have united a fanbase and staked their claim as Mr. Tiger.  They are about to be joined by Raburn.

While at a FOX Sports Detroit shoot for an upcoming segment on most popular Detroit athletes, Raburn took a break from rubbing elbows with such iconic Detroit sports names such as Charlie Villenueva of the Pistons and Jeff Backus of the Lions to talk to the Sportsczar.

Raburn knows what’s at stake in the coming weeks.  “Listen, I know that no one can replace Brandon Inge.  The way the fans flocked to support him was amazing.  He could be cold and go 0-5 or heat up and go 1-4, it didn’t matter…fans loved him just the same.”

“Before he left, Inge pulled me aside and told me he was passing the torch to me.  He’d said all the joy he provided to Tiger fans the last decade—it was all on me to keep that going.  He said I’m the next in line and there can be only one—kinda like in that movie the Highlander.”

“Anyway, Inge brought up how similar the situation was to when Albert Pujols left the St. Louis Cardinals.  Cardinal fans were in disarray.  They lost their most beloved hero.  But the team has rebounded to a hot start despite his loss.  Inge said to me, ‘Detroit’s lost its’ Pujols’.  That’s about as well as I could put it.  He went on to say it’s up to me to bond this team, this fanbase and this community, and doggone it, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

So far Raburn has lived up to his promise.  He’s gone 3-32 with 12 strikeouts since Inge departed, aptly filling in as Mr. Tiger and becoming a hot topic among Tiger fans after years of anonymity.

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All Inge all the time, so it appears.

Another link to an article to the Detroit Athletic Co. and another link about our dearly departed friend–Brandon Inge.   While Inge is tearing it up on the West Coast–hitting .180–we’re looking for someone to take his place in the blame game in Detroit.

There’s a likely list of candidates: Portly Jose Valverde and his cardiac save adventures; Ryan Raburn and his annual early season attempt to run Detroit on wind energy (whiff, whiff); and Jim Leyland and his Marlboro withdrawl influenced lineups.  See who I think the candidates are here.

Well, back to full on baby alert at the Sportsczar house!  Luckily I stocked up on a 1000 pack of onsies, a 25 gallon drum of soy formula and a crate of Huggies last week at Costco.  That should last us until June.

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The Terminator of baseball’s closers makes Tiger fans feel like we have the Winnie the Pooh of closers in comparison.

Jose takes a break after another tough save

Sorry Jose Valverde.  A guy with a nickname reminiscient of a terrible food court offering at the mall–the Big Potato–can’t compare to Rivera, so don’t bother trying.  That’s what I’m trying to tell all of the Tiger fans on my latest post at the excellent Detroit Sports Site, the Detroit Athletic Co..

Sorry, not much original content today at the The Sports Czar, just a shameless plug–which I am by no means above.

See, here’s another one:

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*photo courtesy www.10to1.com.

How unfair is the NFL Draft?  The winningest QB in college history went unselected.  Unselected in a Draft that had previously seen Jamarcus Russell, David Carr and Tim Couch go number one overall.  All three bombed worse than a Nick Cage movie and none of them could have held Kellen Moore’s jock in college–who was 50-3 as starter at Boise State.  Granted it was for a team whose field looked like a smurf threw up all over it, but bad taste doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

This year, the Cleveland Browns took a QB in the first round who is already a member of AARP, 54 year old Brandon Wheedon.  OK, he’s actually 28 but that’s 54 years old in NFL years.  In a stroke of genius with ’Dan Snyder’ written all over it, the Redskins took Robert Griffin III #2 overall and followed him up with MSU’s own Kirk Cousins in the 4th round, perhaps trying to discover the mythical 2-QB formation.

All-in-all, 11 QB’s were selected before Kellen Moore.  The names are about as exciting as a trip to the DMV.  Ryan Lindley…B.J. Coleman…Chandler Harnish.  Guys you never heard of and I’m willing to bet guys you’ll never hear from again unless it’s 0n TMZ for doing something stupid or as a MAC color guy on an ESPN360 web only broadcast in a couple years.

Moore was passed over by every NFL team because of intangibles, as if 50 wins isn’t tangible enough to outweigh intangibles.  Sensing an opening in the roster after Drew Stanton got Tebow’d, he signed with the Lions.  He’s all but guaranteed a spot on the Lions roster and will be given a chance to develop into an NFL QB behind Matt Stafford and Shaun Hill.  Moore brings leadership, accomplishments and about 1,584,985 fans–the population of Idaho.

Moore isn’t just a typical FA signing.  He’s extremely popular.  If you look at the search trends on Google, Moore is sandwiched somewhere between Kate Upton and Kim Kardashian–actually, not a bad place to be I guess.

No doubt, Matthew Stafford is the QB in Detroit.  He had a record setting season and basically picked the Lions up and carried them to the postseason.  He was the Lions’ Brandon Inge if you will–I kid, I kid!  However, Lions fans are a fickle breed.  They won’t be happy with simple playoff appearances for too long and will be screaming for change if the Lions don’t show improvements.  We’ve all seen it–or been a part of it–and let’s not forget that’s how Matt Millen got here?  Remember the highly disappointing–but playoff filled 1990s–that wasn’t quite good enough for us?

At the first sign of a struggle, Lions fans–most of them drunk–will be calling for the third string QB in Detroit and Moore will join the likes of Stoney Case, Mike McMahon, Dan Orlovsky and Stanton as the most popular athlete in Detroit.  Add a million and half freshly silver and blue Idahoans to those fans and you got the makings for a full blow QB controversy down the road.

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Brandon Inge is a Detroit Tiger no more.  At least for now.

The Detroit Tigers have unconditionally released their love ‘em/hate ‘em utility man in a move stunning to everyone named Brandon Inge.  The daunting task to replace Inge’s bat in the Tigers lineup will fall on the massive shoulders of the Toledo Mudhens own Roy Hobbs, Brad Eldred.   The 31 year old journeyman has nearly 7 times as many home runs at Triple-A (13) than Brandon Inge has hits this season (2).

Eldred will forever be known as the man who finally delivered the death blow to the most heavily scrutinized–or crappy, if you will–player in Detroit Tigers history.  Rumor has it that the president of the Detroit Tigers fan club is petitioning the Detroit City Council to erect a statue of Eldred in Grand Circus Park.  The City Council is asking for $2500 in unmarked bills and 7 new iPhones to hear the matter which might be too much to get the deal off the ground.

Either way, kudos to you Brad Eldred for making an embarrassing sweep at the hands of the punchless Seattle Mariners a little more bearable.  Expect a ticker-tape parade in your honor down Woodward next week.

Follow me on twitter @detsportsczar.

Photo courtesy mlive.com.

Who doesn’t love a fat guy.

Think of all the great fat guys in history.  Teddy Roosevelt?  Awesome, but overshadowed by Franklin.  Chunk from Goonies, comic relief who made friends with a mutant.  The dude with the red hair from Braveheart, pretty badass but he ultimately had to watch his best friend get drawn and quartered and couldn’t do anything about it.  John Belushi, John Candy and Chris Farley, geniuses gone way before their time.  The bigger they are, the worse things normally work out for them.  But here are the Detroit Tigers, a bunch of fat guys out to rewrite the history books.

Normally in the male social pecking order, a fat guy is somewhere in the middle—definitely higher than their fat girl counterpart is on the female social pecking order—far below the svelte jocks and intellectual class presidents but above the metalheads and World of Warcrafters.  What a fat guy lacks in slenderness, he can usually make up for in sense of humor and huggability from his female friends.  He’s probably not going to step past the friendzone with those ladies—except probably the fat ones—but definitely isn’t someone who’s going to steal your girl.  When you’re out, he’s the enforcer…not looking for a fight but willing to get the back of the cocky skinny guy who doesn’t shut up and seldom does he get messed with.

However, on the Detroit Tigers there is a dichotomy.  The fat guys rule supreme in Detroit where the star power of chubby Miguel Cabrera is bested only by nearing obese Prince Fielder—supposedly a vegetarian.  Being 275 as a meat eater is impressive—as a vegetarian it’s downright fantastic.   The official roster says these two guys are 515 lbs between them.  Perhaps on the moon.  Regardless, in the rest of the world these guys would be relegated to comic relief or a “great friend” but they’re studs in Detroit—very fitting for the Coney Dog capital of the world.  These two cherubic sluggers give guys with a high BMI—myself included—a reason to believe that we can be at the top of the food chain, figuratively not literally.

I haven’t always been fat, but I’m getting there again like I was in my awkward preteen years—by awkward I of course mean fat.  Let’s just say my favorite appetizer is ribs and I’ve never met a 300 calorie microbrew I haven’t liked.  It’s OK for me to call these guys fat because a. I’m there too and b. it’s what makes the Tigers unique.  So what if their cholesterol levels are right around the same numbers as their batting averages, they’re out to prove that fat is the new skinny and be proud of who you are.

It’s not just the gerthsome twosome that is leading the way with the Tigers.  Their closer—Jose Valverde—is fat, and saved 49 consecutive games.  Like his clogged arteries, his pitching might be heart attack inducing—not good for those of us with high blood pressure—but like when he’s polishing off a 50 pack of buffalo wings, he gets the job done.  Shortstop Jhonny Peralta—skinny in comparison—still has a little pudge and made the All-Star game.  He doesn’t so much as glide to groundballs, more rolls, but he’s an adept fielder and no slouch with the stick.  Even the once exhiled backup catcher Gerald Laird is back for another tour of duty sporting a beer belly that puts a senior at Michigan State to shame.  He’s fatter than last time…and probably not ironically, better.  Laird’s actually hitting the ball, legging out bunts and gunning down runners, skills that would diminish with each day of P90X.

So I say good for you Detroit Tigers.  While the rest of the world is telling us that thin is in, you’re saying screw it…I’ll be the best and fattest at the same time, and prove you wrong.  That gives fat guys like me a reason to believe that our day will soon come, too.

Follow me on twitter @detsportsczar.

Rob Gronkowski will not be the cover child for the 2012 version of Madden Football.

The Sports Czar caught up with Gronk outside of Vivid Video studios in Hollywood, CA where he was waiting for a lunch date:

SC: How did it feel losing in the quarterfinals of the Madden cover vote?

RG: How do you think man?  You ever had the opportunity to get your face on a video game?  Everything thing I worked toward in my entire life was to be on that cover, bro.  Super Bowl, Pro-Bowl…yeah those are nice, but this is Madden, bro.  It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.  Now I gotta wait a whole year for next year’s vote.

SC: Why do you think Calvin Johnson was able to win rather handily despite your twitter campaign?

RG: Listen, Megatron is a good football player, but how many porn stars has he banged?  One, two at most maybe?  People just can’t accept who I am and what I’ve accomplished in my life.  I think it’s just gotta be all the jealously from the scrubs out there that ain’t me.

SC: How do you recover from this loss?

RG: This is gonna take a long time to heal from.  I just gotta take it one day at a time.  All them people in that 3-D movie Titanic, they had a bad day too, bro, but they got over it—or died.  I’ll get over this, too.  I certainly ain’t in no mood to go out celebrating right now.

SC: What’s your predictions for you next season?

RG: I’m thinking next years vote, forget this twitter junk.  Who do I look like?  Pacman Jones?  No man, I’m thinking bigger, bro.  Billboards, maybe Time Square, Goodyear blimp, you know, stuff to get myself out there.  I’m gonna use this loss to fuel myself next year to ensure my beautiful mug is on that cover.  Ain’t no one keeping the Gronk down.

An emotional Gronkowski cut the interview short citing something being “in his eye”.

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The former duo that were among the most successful players of the 1984 World Champs ran into much less success running the Tigers a little less than a decade ago.

However, the pair of Tiger greats have got the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks on the right track–maybe even setting up a showdown with their former team this October.  You can check out my write up of this possibility on the Detroit Athletic Co.’s blog.