After a server snafu and the rebuilding and restructuring of the Literary Illusion websites, Our Home Team Advantage is back and better than ever! Offering the latest in NCAA, NFL, MLB, NASCAR, NBA, and other sports news, you can expect frequent updates with information on all our favorite teams, and even some of them we don’t like!

Feel free to browse our old articles, our new and upcoming articles, comment and leave your thoughts for what we have to say. We look forward to hearing from you!

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The worst mistake Dumbrowski made this season was allowing for the acquisition of Dontrelle Willis. I dislike Willis even more than Nate Robertson. The pitcher had a good season a few years back and suddenly he becomes the man we are to rely on to help pull our broken down bullpen together. I was nervous during his first start. I felt he didn’t do well, but I hoped it was just ‘new club’ nerves. After his injury, I was secretly glad that he’d be unable to play. I just wasn’t impressed and wondered why the heck the Tigers had added more dead weight to the bullpen.

When Willis went down to Toledo to rehab, he wasn’t particularly good. The Toledo pitchers did a lot better than he did and cleaned up the messes he made. While Willis went out and did fair when he made his first appearance back with the Tigers against the A’s, the Tigers should have known he wouldn’t be ready for starting. Instead, Leyland put him back in the rotation, cutting out the more reliable Galarraga. Boy was that a mistake!

I don’t often say my girlfriend, Ashtyn, is right when it comes to sports, but she really called it. When we heard Dontrelle would be pitching in the last game of a four game series the Tigers were playing against the Cleveland Indians, Ashtyn just shook her head sadly as she said, “Leyland’s making a big mistake.”

Big mistake is an understatement. Dontrelle didn’t even make it through the 2nd inning. He had to be relieved by Denny Bautista. Instead, he gave up eight runs, most of them due to his ability to walk at least five of the Cleveland batters. With the score 8-0 it was nearly impossible for the Tigers to recover from the wreck Dontrelle caused. The end score was 8-2. Not even a rain delay could give them the rest they needed to regroup and get the offense hitting enough balls to snatch away a nearly impossible win.

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I heard all this talk about a Penguins comeback after the Detroit Red Wings allowed them to raise the series to 3-2. I’d expect this from Penguins fans, but what about those in Detroit? Sure, the Penguins played okay, but the team doesn’t seem to have the puck control the Red Wings have. I’d been saying the Red Wings were going to win the Stanley Cup since just prior to the end of the regular season. The Red Wings have been playing awesome and their performance in the semi-finals really proved how good a team they are!

Being from Michigan, the news, radio and everywhere else you looked was going Red Wings crazy from the moment we entered the finals with the Penguins. Then, we let the Penguins win two games and suddenly all those who were certain the Red Wings were going to win started doubting a team that has won consistently to the point where the team has made a record breaking 17 post season appearances in a row, the longest streak in all of Pro Sports.

As if that wasn’t impressive enough, this is the Red Wings 11th Stanley Cup, they’ve been Western Conference Champions five times and they’ve been the Central Division Champions 16 times. This means the Red Wings have made it to the post season in 23 of the last 25 seasons. The team is just that good.

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All Brandon Inge wants to do is play baseball. No crap should be spewed about him getting paid millions for sitting on the bench and doing nothing, because that isn’t the kind of person Brandon Inge is. To say so is an insult to a player who is probably the most underrated on the Tigers team. While Inge struggled with the bat during the 2007 season, he’s come back with a new outlook and a new batting stance that seems to have made him a more powerful hitter than he was before.

Brandon’s never been to an All Star Game. He’s not a Gold Glove winner, though he should have been. Overall, he’s not as appreciated as he should be and it is easy to see why he’d be so frustrated with losing his starting position at third base. He isn’t nearly as good a catcher as Pudge Rodriguez nor is he as good at catching as he is at third base. The whole thing is a mistake on the part of Jim Leyland.

People who question Brandon Inge’s authenticity as a hitter need only look at the fact that he has the most home runs ever hit in Comerica Park. In his career, he has 89 in total, 200 less than Pudge Rodriguez (who has played 18 long seasons as a starter). This is in less than seven whole seasons for Brandon. Likewise, while Inge is batting just .217 he has a slugging average of .400. His career numbers show a .240 batting average and a .395 slugging average. The guy has power and when he’s on his hitting is superb.

What is most impressive is Brandon’s ability as a third baseman. Some may be surprised to know that Brandon was a pitcher in college and he wasn’t half bad at it. However, he has found a way to shine in nearly any position he plays, though his real ability and talent come through the most when playing at third. I’ve been saying Carlos Guillen just needs to become the DH and Brandon needs to return to third, but Leyland just isn’t listening to me.

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The Detroit Tigers went into the series against the Minnesota Twins having just swept the New York Yankees in their last series ever at Yankee Stadium. This is a feat that hasn’t happened for the Tigers since 1966, so perhaps they came in overconfident to face a Twins team they struggled against early in the season at Comerica Park.

In the first game of the series on May 2, the Tigers lost 11-1. Liván Hernández got the win for the Twins and Armando Galarraga had his first loss of the season. In the May 3 game, struggling hot shot, Justin Verlander pitched well until later in the game. The Twins won this one 4-1 while the Tigers offense slept through the first two games. Verlander accepted another loss as Brian Bass got the win (starter Scott Baker was injured and had to be taken out in the third) and Joe Nathan the save.

Today, Kenny Rogers looked good and the offense was alive during the first inning. From there, everything went downhill in the 7th and the Tigers were unable to recover. The offense is either alive or so sleepy nothing happens. When they sleep, players make mistakes. Marcus Thames couldn’t catch a ball Magglio Ordonez probably would have caught had he been in his usual position at center field. Carlos Guillen botched up a catch they teach little leaguers how to perfect. Miguel Cabrera stretched for a ball and couldn’t make it and all in the same inning that gave the Twins the lead the Tigers had carried throughout most of the game.

In the first, Boof Bosner gave up six runs and things didn’t look so well for the Twins. The inning started and ended with Curtis Granderson. He homered in the first at bat of the game. Placido Polanco singled. Miguel Cabrera singled. Magglo Ordonez had an RBI single as Polanco scored. Carlos Guillen singled as Cabrera scored. Renteria singled as Ordonez scored and Guillen made it to third. Pudge Rodriguez struck out, but it was on a wild pitch so he was able to steal first as Guillen scored and Renteria made it to third. A throwing error got Renteria home and the Tigers held a 6-0 lead over the Twins until the 7th inning.

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This Saturday, the UFC is showing off the depth of their heavyweight talent with two heavyweight bouts involving four former heavyweight champions. Yep, four. Granted, one is a former WWE champion, but that’s not the point.

Tim Sylvia - and all the awkward, crowd-despised 265lbs of him - is coming off a big win over the highly regarded Brandon Vera and has his eyes on the title he lost last year to Randy Couture. At 6′8″ and with limbs like tree trunks, to say he has “KO power” would be a soon regretted understatement. Any given strike can end the night early if the strikee isn’t prepared.

And he’s hungry. Tim’s almost uncomfortably obsessive love for the UFC title was well documented (mainly on YouTube) in his previous two reigns as the UFC champion. He has made it very clear that he wants the belt back and will do anything short of kicking a puppy to get it.

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With all the recent drama regarding Zuffa and their heavyweight champion, its good to see some things settled as they were meant to be: In the cage.

Saturday brings us the event from the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England where BJ Penn will get his third shot at the UFC lightweight title against Joe “Daddy” Stevenson.

Now, most people, myself include, expect BJ to dominate the fight. His striking is technical and efficient. His chin is iron. His grappling is a work of art. He’s defeated the best fighters of the sport and fought in four weight classes. His seemingly boneless legs provide a near unbeatable takedown defense and a flexibility on the ground that frustrates and overwhelms opponents.

BJ Penn IS mixed martial arts. There’s no way around that.

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Its official! The UFC’s parent company, Zuffa, LLC, filed a lawsuit in Clark County District court against five time UFC champion and overall MMA idol Randy “The Natural” Couture. The suit alleges that certain comments Couture made regarding the UFC staff and senior management caused the business “irreparable” damage and that he is also in breach of the contract he signed to come back out of retirement in December 2006.

The conflict between fighter and organization had been brewing since Couture announced his resignation from the UFC in October last year. Not only was “The Natural” upset with UFC management, but he also wanted to close out his career by fighting the widely regarded #1 Heavyweight in the world (and suspected Cyborg) Fedor Emelianenko.

Before the announcement, Couture was confident a fight with Fedor, who opted not to sign with the UFC, would be possible later this year when he was free from his obligation to Zuffa. With the suit, though, extensive court procedures may render Couture unable to fight because blah blah blah blah.

The real question is: What does this mean for the fans?

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Takanori Gomi. “Minotoro” Nogueira. Wanderlei Silva. Ricardo Arona. Georges St. Pierre. Mirko “Cro Cop”. Tim Sylvia. Gabriel Gonzaga. “Shogun”.

Other than being some of the best in Mixed Martial Arts, what do these fighters have in common?

They all fell victim to a twelve month period that shall forever live in MMA infamy: The Year of the Upset.

The cold winds of February delivered the first signs that it would be a tough year for MMA fanatics and an even tougher year for MMA bettors. Pride 33: The Second Coming sent the MMA world into a frenzy after three major upsets.

First, a newcomer with a 2-1 record entered the ring and made quick work of one of the best 205 lb fighters in the world. Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira fell to the heavy hands of Rameau Thierry “The African Assassin” Sokoudjou in just 23 seconds, which is considerably shorter than it took me to type out their full names.

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