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The Agora
10
January30
2012
Ted Boss
Agora Staff
With the regular season being
a lingering memory, the Detroit
Lions have some pressing needs
toaddressbeforethe2012season.
There are many free agent play
ersavailablethattheLionscould
beneft Irom signing. Let`s start by
position.
Offensive Guard, Offensive
Tackle and Center are all posi
tions of need. All too have cur
rent players on the downside of
theircareer.(Over30)
Offensive Guards on the mar
ketthattheLionsmaylookatfor
futureemploymentwouldbeCarl
Nicks, G, New Orleans Saints.
Nicks is a pro bowler with super
bowl experience and would bol
stertheoffensivelinegreatly.
Next Position would be Offen
sive Tackle. Demetrius Bell. OT,
BuffaloBills,Wouldbeanexcel
lentpickupiftheBillslethimslip
through the cracks. He is a good
pass defender on the blind side
andanevenbetterrunblockeroff
theedge,somethingthathasbeen
a thorn in Detroit`s side Ior years.
TheCenterpositionisaplaceof
need in the fact that Rayola is in
his thirties and mediocre at best.
ItwouldseemthoughthatDetroit
would do best in waiting for the
draft to address this in that the
free agent market is not stacked
well enough to fnd someone bet
terandyounger.
Linebacker is a position for
the Lions that is in great need of
bolstering.Ifweareabletokeep
Stephen Tulloch, then we would
only need to addAnthony Spen
cer,OLB,DallasCowboystothe
mixtohaveasolidfront7.
As Ior the back feld, I would be
absolutely delighted if Schwartz
was able to snipe yet another
Tennessee player in Cortland
Finnegan, CB, Tennessee Titans.
He is an outstanding Cornerback
and would really tighten up the
Lions backfeld.
Asforthedraft,thereareafew
different players I would like to
see Detroit address. In the frst
round,withthe23
rd
pickoverall,I
wouldliketoseetheDetroitLions
select Zebrie Sanders, OT, Flori
da St. University. He has what it
takestoreallybolstertheleftside
of the line and help in keeping
MattStaffordhealthy.Iwillhave
myfullMachDraftinthenextis
sue.
In a local turn, nf.com has Aud
ieCole,ILB,N.C.State,aplayer
that hails from Monroe, going in
the third round to the New York
Giants. Wouldn`t that be neat iI he
couldgetbackhomeandcometo
theLions?Ithinkso.
Tyler Rogoff
Agora Staff
FirstbasemanPrinceFielder
hassigneda9year,$124mil
lion contract with the Detroit
Tigers.
Fielder`s Iather, Cecil Field
er, played for the Tigers from
19901996, and his son would
take batting practice at the
teams.A young Prince started
hitting shots into the upper
deckatTigerStadiumattwelve
yearsold.
At the old ballpark, Ce
cil, after Tiger games, would
come up to the box and bring
me Iood and say thanks a lot`
and he`d sit down and all we`d
talkaboutisPrince,andPrince
is gonna do this and Prince is
gonna do that, owner Mike
Ilitchsaid.Princestartedput
ting it in the upper deck, and
I told him you don`t have to
comeuphereanymoreandtell
meabouthim.
Fielder, who was born in
1984,spentmuchofhischild
hoodgrowingupinDetroit.
'It`s awesome, I don`t know
what to say, it`s an awesome
moment, said Fielder. 'I`m
glad I get to be here with my
Iamily, one oI my sons. It`s
awesome, a special day. I can`t
waittogetitgoing.
With Fielder signing to play
frst base, current frst base
manMiguelCabrerawillmove
to third base, where he played
whenbreakingintothemajors
with the Florida Marlins. Ca
brera will look to lose 1520
poundstoprepareforthetran
sition.
Many are skeptical about
Cabrera`s move back to third
base, though. With Fielder`s
reported demand to play frst
base instead of being a des
ignated hitter, concerns have
risen in the event that Cabrera
cannot successfully convert
backtothirdbase.
'Yeah, I mean, I`m a team
guy. I`m sure we`ll talk about
it. But right now, I`m confdent
Miguel can do a good job at
thirdbase,Fielderstatedwhen
askedaboutthepossibility.
Fielder became a viable op
tionfortheTigerstosignwhen
designated hitter Victor Mar
tinez was lost for the season
with a torn ACL in offseason
training.Martinezisexpected
toreturntohisroleasthedes
ignatedhitternextseason.Itis
assumed that Fielder and Ca
brera will occasionally fll in
the designated hitter slot this
seasontogivethembreaks.
Photo Courtesy of Steve Paluch
Newest Tiger: Prince Fielder
Tigers welcome
Prince Fielder
Tyler Rogoff
Agora Staff
The Detroit Red Wings have
cruisedintotheallstarbreakwith
the most points in the NHL.The
last two times the Wings led the
league in points at the all star
break, they went on to win the
StanleyCup.
GoaltenderJimmyHowardhas
been leading the league in wins
forthemajorityoftheseason,and
was the frst to thirty wins Ior the
second straight season. The only
other goalie to be the frst to thirty
wins in consecutive seasons was
Martin Brodeur. At the break,
Howard has 30 wins to go with
11 losses and one overtime loss.
Howardisalsotiedforsecondin
the league with fve shutouts.
The Wings balances has been
fantastic all season, having the
fIth most goals scored a game
while allowing the sixth least
goalspergame.Thespecialteams
havebeenpedestrianthough,with
the twelfth best power play with
an 18.5% success rate, and only
havethetwentysecondbestpen
alty kill, stopping the other team
81.2%ofthetime.
Center Pavel Datsyuk is lead
ing the team with 53 points on
theseason,averagingalittleover
a point a game, and is also lead
ingtheteaminpowerplaypoints,
with 17. Winger Johan Franzen
hasbeenatwowayforce,leading
theteamingoalswith19andhav
ingthehighestplus/minusofany
forwardontheteamwith25.
DefensemanIanWhite,anoff
seasonaddition,hasbeensolidon
the blue line, and is tops on the
team with a plus/minus rating of
27.Whitehasbeenthedefensive
partner of captain Nicklas Lid
strom,thereigningNorrisTrophy
winner,whohas28pointsonthe
seasontogoalongwithaplus/mi
nusof22.
TheRedWingslooktobeseri
ous Stanley Cup contenders this
season, but with an aging team,
thewindowthisthiscurrentcore
could be closing. Lidstrom is 41
thisyearandcouldretireafterthis
season,whileDatsyukis33.Fran
zen,HenrikZetterbergandNiklas
Kronwall are both on the other
sideofthirtyaswell.
Wings lead in points at midseason
!"#$#%&#'($)*+%#,%-.//%0$(.,1)(
Lions taking a huddle to pick their next play
!"#$%&'()*&%*)*+(,&$**-%&.#&/,,
Tyler Rogoff
Agora Staff
The MCCC intramural basket
ball league started again on Jan.
27.
GameswillbeplayedeveryFri
dayforsevenweeks.
Theleagueisfreeofchargefor
allplayers.Gamesarerefereedby
aplayerfromateamnotplaying
inthatgame.
Anybody interested in playing
must have attended the frst meet
ingtobeeligible.
All games will be played on
Fridaysat11a.m.andnoon,and
players were divided into fve
teams of eight using the school
yardselectionmethod.
This is the second running of
the basketball league. The frst
league also had fve teams and ran
Ior fve weeks during Iall semes
ter.
The Cybersharks won the frst
running of the league by going
undefeatedintheirgames.
Nick Jordan captained the Cy
bersharks.Alsoontheteamwere
Ian Schubargo, Bryan Spotts,
Blaine Whitlow, Josh Thornsber
ry,JohnStahl,andHenryJones.
Basketball league
adds athletic
diversity to MCCC
photos by Tyler Rogoff
The addition of an intramural
basketball league brings on-
campus athletic activities to a
total of four. The other three are
volleyball, bowling and the run-
ning club.
sports