Wednesday
September 20, 2006
sports.michigandaily.com
sports@michigandaily.com
She P R TichSan aili
11A
Forget their recent slide:
Tigers to play in October
The Detroit Tigers are leading their division.
In September. Late September.
Seriously, even when I try punching
myself thinking that I've just fallen into a deep
slumber all summer and had this really long and
crazy dream, all I get are bruises, no answers. So
I gladly concede: This summer has been a reality,
and it's really going to happen.
In two weeks, Detroit will begin
playing playoff baseball. Read that
again if you must, but then move on,
because it's the truth. The Tigers will
be playing playoff baseball, and it
won't be on a video game.
To say it's been a long time coming
is an understatement.
I don't care if Detroit is officially
Hockeytown. I don't care if thex
Pistons have spent the past three
years as Detroit's sweethearts. And SCC
I certainly don't care that most of
the baseball world still thinks we're BE
a joke and will get swept in the first Too S
round of the playoffs (or not even make
it, as some moronic analysts still contest).
The fact is, Michiganders still love their
Detroit Tigers, and it's been a struggle for us the
past two decades.
How bad of a struggle, you ask? Let's put a
little context to this.
No division titles in 18 years. In that span, the
Braves won 14, the Yankees won 10 and hell,
even the Cubs won two.
The Tigers have lost 90 or more games in
seven of their past eight seasons. Getting the
point yet?
If not, how about this: In 2003, the Pistons won
11 more games (54) than the Tigers (43). On the
surface, it's not that weird - the Pistons were
good, the Tigers were not. But when you consider
that the Tigers play 80 more games than the Pis-
tons, then you get that whole context thing I was
shooting for.
The Tigers were bad.
Like George W. Bush-in-a-spelling-bee bad.
But things have changed. Much like the Pistons
of a few years back, the front office did things
right. When new president Dave Dombrowski
came over to the Tigers from the Marlins in 2001,
he said it would be a process, but we'd eventually
reap the rewards.
El
Sr
There were definitely struggles (see 119 losses
in 2003), but hey, what do you know, the guy
actually knew what he was talking about.
Dombrowski slowly weeded out the cancers
of the organization (how's that early retirement
going, Bobby Higginson?), wasn't afraid to pull
off a big trade for promising prospects (thanks
for Franklyn German and Jeremy Bonderman,
Oakland) and did an amazing job
drafting and developing good young
talent (I hear this Verlander kid is
pretty good).
And once the core was intact,
Dombrowski wasn't afraid to spend
a little dough on a free agent or two.
He slowly added important pieces like
Carlos Guillen, Ivan Rodriguez and
Kenny Rogers while the rest of the
team came together.
)TT The final piece of the puzzle came
this offseason, when managerial
LL legend Jim Leyland joined the fold.
oon? Now, I love Tigers histoly. I remember
watching Lou Whitaker and Alan Tram-
mel playing together when I was a kid. But even I
have to admit: The step up from former manager
Trammel to Leyland is astronomical.
Leyland's been there before, and with a young
team like Detroit, his experience and motivation-
al tactics have been a perfect fit.
Am I jumping the gun here? Detroit hasn't even
qualified for the playoffs yet. Yeah, I understand
that, but I also have confidence in this team.
Apparently, so do about 120,000 Tigers fans
- tickets for Detroit's theoretical three playoff
games went on sale yesterday and lasted for a
whole 51 minutes before selling out.
Now that I've covered that base and tried mak-
ing excuses for why I can't be called a jinx, let's
attack the real pressing issue: Can this team con-
tend for a world title?
Unfortunately, not even a genius columnist like
myself can answer that for you. I don't want to be
"that guy" who is just happy to be in the playoffs,
but I understand that it will be an uphill battle for
the Tigers to make the World Series.
The Yankees are absolutely stacked and are
playing great baseball. The Twins have been very
hot in the past few months, too, and can make some
noise even though they're Liriano-less. And the A's
See BELL, page 13A
Cornerback Morgan Trent led the Wolverines with six tackles in their blowout win over Notre Dame last Saturday.
Trent came to Michigan as a wide receiver before making the move to comerback after his redshirt freshman year.
A season after switchig
lpositions, Trent t s off
By Kevin Wright
Daily Sports Editor
When Notre Dame quar-
terback Brady Quinn lined up
under center for the first offen-
sive play of Saturday's game,
Michigan cornerback Morgan
Trent figured the ball was com-
ing his way.
And, just as the junior pre-
dicted, Quinn lofted a deep
bomb intended for wide receiv-
er Jeff Samardzija down the
sideline.
What the Irish quarterback
didn't anticipate was Trent
running step for step with
Samardzija. Quinn ended up
overthrowing his well-covered
receiver.
"I knew coming in, especially
in the last game (against Notre
Dame) that they were going
to pick on me," Trent said.
"The first play of the game, I
knew they were going deep to
Samardzija. They tried to set
the tone. You got to be funda-
mentally sound, playing across
from a guy like Leon (Hall)."
When Trent came to Michi-
gan three years ago, he didn't
anticipate that he would make
a name for himself defending
passes. The Brighton native
was recruited as a wide receiv-
er before ultimately making the
switch the cornerback.
It started in the spring prac-
tice before Trent's redshirt
freshman season. Coming off
his redshirt year, which he said
was the toughest part of his
time at Michigan, Trent eagerly
awaited his chance to contribute
to a team he had been forced to
watch from the sidelines.
Then Michigan coach Lloyd
Carr approached Trent with the
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AT NOON ON
SUNDAY TO
FIND OUT MORE.
idea of switching to cornerback.
With the speed Trent brought
to the table, Carr wanted to get
him on the field and thought
cornerback would be a perfect
fit. But Trent had his doubts.
"Me being a receiver guy, I
wasn't sure being out there on
defense and hitting these big
running backs," said Trent,
whose father played cornerback
at Nebraska.
The ori'inal plan had been
for Trent to split time at corner-
back and wide receiver. That
is, until a freshman class that
included Mario Manningham
arrived in Ann Arbor.
"We kept getting good
recruits that are getting on the
field earlier and playing," Trent
said. "If I can be out there and
focus on what I need to on
defense, there's no need for me
on offense when you got guys
playing like that."
After learning the ropes of
the defense last season, Trent
entered spring practice and
training camp this year in a
fierce competition with Charles
Stewart for the starting corner-
back spot, vacated by the grad-
uated Grant Mason.
Trent didn't start in the sea-
son opener against Vanderbilt.
Instead, Stewart got the nod to
line up on the opposite side of
Hall. But that didn't stop Trent
from continuing to work on his
technique and comfort level in
the defensive backfield.
"You really got no time to be
down because your number is
going to be called, especially
with the defense we play," Trent
said. "Our corners are going
to be on the field, so if you're
over there pouting about this
and that, then when you come
to the field, it's going to show.
You got to be ready to play."
Against Central Michigan the
following week, Stewart didn't
trot out there on the Chippe-
was' first offensive possession.
Trent had finally moved into
the starting role.
He shined even brighter
against rival Notre Dame,
enjoying arguably his best game
as a Wolverine. Trent recorded
six tackles and had several pass
break-ups.
Even though Trent's newfound
comfort showed through in his
solid play on the field, he point-
ed to the Fighting Irish's Rhema
McKnight's fourth-quarter touch-
down as his best play of the game.
Quinn-had lofted the ball into the
end zone, and Trent appeared to
catch the ball until McKnight
grabbed it out of his hands.
"I was in the right position,
but I could have played it a
little bit better," Trent said.
"I could have turned better. I
think it's going to help me a lot;
it's something to learn from."
Trent lists his inability to
showcase his speed as one of
the few downsides to his move
to the secondary. Speedy wide
receivers Manningham and
Steve Breaston are hogging the
spotlight, and Trent said he feels
a little left out when conversa-
tions about which player has the
best backburner pop up.
But he's still confident in his
ability to outrun anyone on the
team.
"It depends on who you ask
(about the fastest person on the
team)," said Trent, who runs a
4.4 40-yard dash. "I'll stick to
that until the day I die. I think
we should orchestrate a little
race, and we could find out."
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Sunday, October 1, 2006
10:00-3:00 pm
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East Lansing, MI 48824
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(Schooling, Implicit Collusion, and the
Fundamental Theorem of Poker)
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Portland State University
Undergraduate Mathematics Colloquium
September 21, 4:10-5:00
1324 East Hall (Auditorium)
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6 4