Some in Toledo who think they know authentic Chinese food might get offended by what I’m about to blog, but hey man, I just tell it the way I see it when I’m talking about food.

And I tell you what, the best Toledo Chinese restaurant is only a couple of weeks away from making a comeback. (more…)

Another day, another fantasy sport.

Yea, as if there wasn’t already enough, right?  Baseball just finished.  Football’s a beast.  Hockey just started.  And now, basketball is upon us.

Honestly, this was the first year I didn’t have the time to do a pre-ranking for my two drafts, and then one of them autodrafted and for the other one, my computer bugged out enough that it pretty much autodrafted too.

So now’s the time to give up, right?  Not so fast.  Now’s the time to REALLY scour the stats and take advantage of some undrafted gems. (more…)

If you’ve been inside Lucas County Arena, you’ll probably agree when I say that it is amazing!

If you haven’t been inside the new home of the Walleye, I highly recommend you give it a looksee.

Seriously, the place is state-of-the-art.  The decor adds so much.  And the structures built outside?  Let’s hope the Walleye can put on a good show.

Judging from this past weekend, they certainly can.  But honestly, this venue is so nice that it almost doesn’t matter if the team wins or loses – as long as the entertainment value’s there.  For example, six fights in a period will satisfy the non-hockey enthusiast or the Toledo youth, I’m sure.  I’m saying this in a complimentary way, by the way.

But really, I gather a sense of hope in the Toledo public.  During game-opening night, numerous people were walking around the arena, just waiting for the place to open up.  They were all super eager to check out the new digs, and the new team as well.

Let’s face it, Toledo: this city is in need of buildings like Lucas County Arena.  Combined with Fifth Third Field, it should revitalize downtown businesses, encourage people to come downtown, create more jobs, and do what it has done already – give the city a pick-me-up.

Sports is a way people can escape from the daily grind.  It offers much more than just going to the mall or going to the movies, and it creates a precursor to maybe a little more Toledo nightlife.  We’ll see if that part improves downtown.

Considering how much the city’s economy is riding on this, seriously, the next time anybody tries to downplay the importance of local sports, just think back to the Toledo Walleye’s opening weekend, the opening weekend of Lucas County Arena, and how that improved the city’s spirits, among other things, and try to say that local sports is not important.

The proof is in the pudding – local sports IS important to the city of Toledo.

Well, I shouldn’t say that they NEED to prove me wrong because if Aaron Opelt’s still hurt come gameday, I don’t want to see him aggravate his throwing shoulder.

But here’s the deal.  We’d be straight-up ignorant if we took Toledo head coach Tim Beckman at his word that his starting quarterback is “probable” for this Saturday’s game against Northern Illinois.  Is it just a bruise like they say?  Maybe.  I do believe the part where they say that nothing’s broken and that nothing’s torn.

College coaches don’t need to give out the real injury information to the public, so they don’t.  Remember a few years ago when Toledo was preparing for a nationally-televised game at Fresno State?  Tom Amstutz did NOT want Fresno to realize that Bruce Gradkowski was hurt as badly as he was.  Amstutz didn’t want to give Fresno the chance to prepare for Clint Cochran.  Of course, he told the media that it was a day-by-day thing, that pretty much things were fine, and it sounded like things were normal in Rocket land.  Of course, that was NOT the case. (more…)

When the Tigers won a week ago, as in last Wednesday, everybody thought the race for the AL Central was over.  No team in baseball history had come back from a three-game deficit with four to play.  Nobody.

As a result, nobody gave the Twins a shot.

But the Twins are used to being the underdog.  They’re a small-market team.  They rely on genius moves from the front office instead of overpaying superstars and buying your way to success (cough, Yankees, cough!).

Justin Morneau was gone for the year.  He was the protection behind Joe Mauer in the batting order and, even still, the Twins persevered.  Michael Cuddyer became a huge force.  So did Jason Kubel.  Denard Span stepped up.  That Twins bullpen worked wonders.

Meanwhile, the Tigers slowly buckled as the Twins picked up steam.  Detroit’s bullpen, even without the presence of Todd Jones, was  a frequent disaster waiting to happen.  Fu-Te Ni was solid but couldn’t be relied on past an inning.  Ryan Perry could be spectacular but was also wild.  Fernando Rodney and Brandon Lyon were just straight-up unpredictable.

And the offense?  On the brink of the AL Central title, Miguel Cabrera goes and hangs out with his buds from the White Sox and underperforms the entire series, to put it mildly, and he’s the guy that carried the Tigs offense all year.  Do you think the Twins would do this?  Well, they weren’t pleased with Jose Mijares in the Tigers series, but they got over that and united as one for one cause – to keep the hope alive.

Sure enough, the Tigs lost the lead and the AL Central title boiled down to one game.  Detroit fought valiantly.  They had their chances.  They had the lead more often than the Twins did.  Magglio Ordonez flashed the power that was so rare during the regular year, but little details – Curtis Granderson getting doubled off first… Ryan Raburn maybe going for a bit too much sliding to catch for a ball that turned into a Cuddyer leadoff triple that led to a tying run… Gerald Laird not showing enough plate discipline with the count at THREE balls with the BASES LOADED in the 12th.  And finally, in the bottom of the 12th, after pulling a Houdini about ten times (slight exaggeration), Alexi Casilla lifted the Twins to victory by driving home Carlos Gomez.

It was a microcosm of what had been taking place the entire final month of the regular year.

The Twins just wanted it more.  Sorry, Tigers fans, the Twins totally deserve this AL Central title.

For all the talk about how the Lions are horrible, with their 19-game losing streak, it’s almost a good thing that Detroit got the monkey off its back.

Now, the focus is on the NFL’s truly horrible – the Cleveland Browns.

There.  I said it.

You can hate me all you want, but it’s true.  Just watch the games.  Even before the season, before any football was played, I have a question for Browns fans: was there seriously any reason for optimism?

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As you can see with the title of this post, there’s no way you can spell upset without the letters UT.  For all those readers out there who aren’t from Toledo, that’s UT as in Toledo, not Texas or Tennessee.  Just clarifyin’.

Anyway, this town is definitely still riding a high coming off Toledo’s big win over a Big XII opponent – Colorado.  Not only did the Rockets beat Colorado, they dominated that game.  The Buffaloes truly had no answer for the Rockets offensive attack.  On the flipside, even though Toledo gave up as many points as they did, the score may have been a bit deceiving because the defense did come up with some big plays.

Unfortunately, now they go against a whole different beast entirely when Toledo travels to Cleveland Browns Stadium to take on The Ohio State University.  First off, we’re talking about a Buckeyes team that is hungry to redeem themselves after a loss to USC.  Secondly, this Buckeyes team is definitely a top-ten team, although right now, they sit at #11.

The key to pulling off an upset is for Toledo to somehow contain Terrelle Pryor.  UT head coach Tim Beckman said as much during Monday’s press conference.  He didn’t hesitate when he said it, actually.  I think there are some keys outside of that too, such as stopping Boom Herron because he is a punishing runner.  That UT defensive front seven better fill the gaps and prevent runs averaging 6 yards or more, otherwise Toledo is in trouble.

I do think that Toledo will put up some points against Ohio State, although not at the same clip as they did against Purdue and Colorado.  I don’t expect Toledo to score over 30 points.  My guess is that 20 points would be a very generous expectation, while 13-17 points might be what the Rockets actually get.

This is a big stage for the Rockets to step up.  Stephen Williams and Barry Church will have NFL scouts watching.

But can an upset truly begin and end this week with the letters UT?

Well, in more ways than one, it really depends on what happens in between the beginning and the end.

• 1. Adrian Peterson
• 2. Michael Turner
• 3. Matt Forte
• 4. DeAngelo Williams
• 5. Maurice Jones-Drew
• 6. Brandon Jacobs
• 7. Steven Jackson
• 8. Frank Gore
• 9. LaDainian Tomlinson
• 10. Drew Brees (more…)

• 1. Adrian Peterson
• 2. Michael Turner
• 3. Matt Forte
• 4. DeAngelo Williams
• 5. Maurice Jones-Drew
• 6. Brandon Jacobs
• 7. Pierre Thomas
• 8. Frank Gore
• 9. Clinton Portis
• 10. Drew Brees (more…)

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