SPORTS Pistons Advance; Wings Let Me Down
When this postseason started for the NBA and the NHL, I was pumped. For the first time in the history of the universe, one city had the best team in both basketball and hockey. New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago… they’ve all never done it before: it was Detroit, baby. D-Town entered the postseason with the Pistons having the best record in the NBA and the Red Wings winning the Presidents cup. Before I get into the Pistons win over the Bucks, let’s talk about the Red Wings.

One year ago, hockey left me. Hockey left us all. In all honesty, I don’t think anyone in Chicago even noticed. And, unfortunately, I’m one of those people. Even when hockey came back this season, there was no way for me to watch any of the hockey games. Chicagoans like to pretend that the Blackhawks don’t exist… and, as such, don’t get to see the Blackhawk games on TV. Furthermore, I don’t get FOX Sports Detroit or any Canadian channel (where the hockey comes from), so I was unable to see the Wings play all but a handful of games this past season. And that reminds me, I didn’t know that hockey was on NBC until fairly late in the season (because I don’t really watch NBC)… and I was lucky enough to find the playoff games on OLN only because I was looking for them. OLN? Who the hell watches OLN? I guess I did. I watched five of the six Red Wing playoff games (not as closely as I would have liked, however)… and I’m not the least bit surprised that the Wings lost. I think I only actually saw two of the Wings goals the entire series. It seemed like whenever I would turn the game on, the Oilers were scoring. And Red Wings playoff hockey is SO INTENSE! I watched all of game 2 and was so MAD when the game was over that I said some pretty mean things. There are only three sports teams that REALLY get my juices flowing, particularly when they lose—but with Red Wings playoff hockey (unlike my Packers), I get mad after a loss. Packers losses make me depressed, not angry. Red Wing losses make me absolutely furious! I know how talented they are as a team… and I feel like, if the Wings lose, they’re losing because they’re not working as hard as the other team. They have the talent… they just need to work harder and smarter… and that’s why I get mad. The Edmonton Oilers WANTED it more. They wanted it and they got it. It didn't look like the Wings wanted it... and want is key to NHL playoffs. More than any other sport, 'want' will beat out pure talent in the NHL 9 times out of 10. Now what for the Wings? Is this the year we see the mass exodus? When we see Yzerman, Chelios, Shannahan, Lang, Lidstrom, Draper, and Maltby all retire? Will Detroit fans murder Manny Legacy, as it seems they always do with goalies who don’t win cups for the Wings? Will the Wings realize that, short of Zetterberg (who REALLY came on in these playoffs!) and Datsyk… the Wings have no good, young players? What will happen to Jiri Fischer… will he ever play again? Interesting questions swirl around the Red Wings this off-season… and hopefully it will entice me back to hockey.

I mentioned to Chelsey that, short of the Wings, I would much rather watch the NBA playoffs than the NHL playoffs. Furthermore, now that the Wings are done, I’ll probably stop paying attention to the NHL playoffs altogether. I’m really into the NBA playoffs this year--partly because the Pistons are so amazing… and partly because the playoffs are so interesting this year. This season, more than any in recent memory, produced competitive match-ups in the first round. Now the Dallas Mavericks (who are sitting pretty in the West) completely destroyed the Memphis Grizzles in 4 games… and the Pistons struggled little against the rising Bucks (who are about one more big player away from being a very good team… Michael Redd could be a star in this league in a different market [Knicks anyone?]), but besides those two series, the other six have been good. And just like I used to feel passionately about the NHL teams that I hated (Colorado, New Jersey, and Dallas come to mind), I now have NBA teams that I hate. I hate the Lakers; I hate the Spurs (I like Tim Duncan and Michael Finley, but hate Tony Parker and Manu “Run-Straight-Into-You-And-You-Get-A-Foul” Ginobli); I hate the Heat (even though I like Shaq and Wade individually… figure that one out); I hate the Pacers and don’t really like the Nets… I love, love, love my Pistons, and I’m cheering for the Bulls, the Cavaliers, and the Clippers (why not the Clippers? and former-CMU star Chris “The Hair” Kamen?) and this all equals my passion about the NBA. The NBA… I love this game *commercial music*

NATIONAL NEWS Newsweek Unveils Top 1,000 High Schools In America
Newsweek magazine released its top 1,000 high schools this week. The schools are ranked thanks to an index which is (basically) the ratio of AP tests taken over the number of graduating seniors. If the ratio isn't 1.000, the school didn't make the list. This is the way Newsweek thinks it is fair to judge high schools. I don't necessarily agree, but I can't really think of a better system. If you follow the link below, you'll notice they also mention the E and E % number. That's the percent of seniors that passed at least one AP (or International Baccalaureate--which must be a test big in other part of the country because I've never heard of it) test. This might be a better measure of whether or not those seniors taken all those tests are actually learning anything. But maybe that's just me. Notice the #2 school in the nation according to their numbers (a school in Alabama) only had 50% of their seniors pass an AP or IB test that they took. Should they really be the number two high school in the country?
Here is the complete list... thanks to the generous people at MSNBC. Let me know if your school made the list. Big Rapids High School, surprisingly enough, did not make the list. In other sarcasm, I was surprised to see that East Grand Rapids HS made the list (668). Fill up the comments and let me know if your school made it. Or just kill time looking over the list like I did.