Daily 4: Petr Mrazek’s mad, Tom Izzo’s mad, their teams won, Matthew Stafford, and let’s check in on Dave Dombrowski

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1.  What a big win for the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night via — you didn’t guess it — a shootout! It could have been an OT win after the Wings’ elite goaltender made a sick save, skated a little bit and made a sick open-ice pass to the breaking Pavel Datsyuk, but the zebras blew the whistle. Mrazek was PISSED, and rightfully so:

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsOh well. The Wings still picked up that second point. Riley Sheahan was the hero.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cLv4womgZs]

2.  Michigan State Spartans also had a big win against rival Ohio State on the road on national television, but you never would have guessed it by looking at Tom Izzo all night.[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spNsWSbwI7E]

After halftime, MSU rolled, but that didn’t stop Izzo from screaming furrowing his eyebrows, dropping his lower jaw and screaming his little head off at every little moment of MSU imperfection. Even with the game well in hand and the Spartans having some fun, you could almost see Izzo blow his top over an off-the-backboard alley oop. Can you imagine if this wasn’t executed? Just look at Izzo’s reaction. [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPpLXPIgnH8]

3.  Matthew Stafford broke an obscure record this past season and we’re just finding out about it. Where were you on this one, nerds?  Football Outsiders pointed it out  — Stafford became the 1st NFL QB of all the NFL QBs who have taken a snap in the HISTORY of the league (well, since 1978) to complete at least 60 percent of his passes in each game of a 16-game season. Stafford. Not Matt Ryan. Not fucking Tony Romo. Not Russell Wilson or his bird. Not Touchdown Tom Brady (Go Blue!). Not Drew Brees. FUCKING Stafford. And the fact that we’re just finding out now — after the season, playoffs and Super Bowl, and after a 20-year-old Peyton Manning incident is making the news again — screams to me UNDERRATED.  Stafford is so underrated that statisticians and people who care about pointing out far more obscure shit than this completely missed the wagon.

Yes, I know the detractors will say NFL pass completion percentage is like MLB batting average, and I am cool with that, but it’s still impressive like a batting title and worth recognizing. So recognize. STAFFORD. Not Ryan, Romo, Wilson or his bird, Brady (Go Blue!), Brees, Favre, Orlovsky, Harrington, Mitchell… none of those chumps. MATTHEW STAFFORD. Let that soak in for for a long time.

4.  Remember Dave Dombrowski? The former awesome Detroit Tigers GM is now with the Boston Red Sox, as you know, and is officially cutting ties with Michigan by selling his Bloomfield Hills home.  In addition to peeping Zillow every day, DD’s been in the headlines a little lately for saying he is not concerned with fat ass Big Panda Pablo Sandoval’s weight.  Pablo showed up to Spring Training rocking some sexy stretch marks and a belly shirt. NSFW.

While I agree with Barstool that it’s something DD should probably be more concerned about, I think DD’s just playing the PR game. I mean, what do you expect him to say? Yeah, when I saw that picture I threw up in my mouth a little. It was repulsive. Fatty should lose some weight… or at least get some larger t-shirts.

No, he’s not going to say anything like that, because Sandoval’s weight is and always has been the media’s soup du jour. The Boston market — the media market, not the fast food chain — would EAT that shit up if the new GM came in questioning the team’s almost-perpetually fat guy. I know Tom Werner said he was disappointed to see Pablo looking so fat, but do any sports fans outside of Boston, Liverpool and maybe San Diego know who he is? He won’t make the shock waves that the new GM Dave Dombrowski could have had he been a little more honest.

Do I think DD’s really concerned with Pablo’s weight? You bet’ya. The last fat guy DD had to put up with, he traded him for a normal looking dude (the Dude Ian Kinsler) at the first opportunity.

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