Oilers at Red Wings – The Wings lost today 4-2 evening the series at 1 game apiece. Even though the Wings lost, I still feel that we were very competitive and the game could have gone either way. I’m not too concerned with the loss, but possibly surprised a bit at just how well Edmonton matches up with Detroit. The Oilers have done an excellent job of clogging up the netural zone and preventing Detroit from playing the puck-possession style of hockey they’re used to. Instead, they have been forced to dump and chase the puck. I still feel Detroit will win this series in 6 games.

Tigers at Seattle – The Tigers look to sweep the series against the Mariners today with young Verlander on the mound. After last night’s pitching gem by Nate Robertson, Verlander will look to keep it rolling against Seattle. Detroit has been most impressive with their winning of close games by 1 or 2 runs, and their bullpen has been unbelievable the last week or so. At last look, they’re 1.5 games behind the White Sox in second place in the A.L. Central and they are atop the A.L. Wild Card, ahead of Baltimore by half a game.

Bucks at Pistons – The Pistons begin their “real” season tonight, against the Bucks at the Palace. Detroit is the odds-on favorite to win it all this year, and of course I agree with that assessment. They have the best starting five in the league and one of the most underrated benches as well. With Detroit playing Flip’s “liberation offense” as Bill Walton puts it and maintaining their great stock defense, I honestly feel that the only worry for the Pistons is the health of their key players. If this team stays healthy, there is no team they can’t beat, including the Mavs and Spurs. Go Pistons – Go Detroit! It’s great to be a Detroit Sports fan today!

The fast start is great for the Tigers, however, I still think it’s too early to proclaim the Tigers “the team to beat.” Even Tigers manager Jim Leyland doesn’t put a whole lot of stock in the 5-0 start, although he admitted that it was a good confidence builder for the team. The real test will come when the Tigers lose 3 or 4 games in a row. How will Leyland keep his players focused and confident.

How much longer can first baseman Chris Shelton continue his torrid pace? He leads the league with 5 home runs through Saturday and is hitting right around .700! On Satruday, he hit two triples! What a mistake it was for the Pittsburgh Pirates to give up on this guy. Their loss is our gain as this Rule 5 pick is turning out to be something special.

The transaction was completed by 10:02 A.M. and out of curiosity, I decided to once again search for the “Best Available” tickets for Opening Day to see if any other sections were available. To my surprise, no tickets were available after 10:02 A.M.!

This may have been the quickest I have ever seen Opening Day sell out. The fact that the Tigers are playing the World Series Champion White Sox likely had something to do with tickets selling out so fast.

1.) Reduction of Trade Barriers (tariffs on imports) – Without tariffs on imports, it makes it much easier for countries to “dump” their products on U.S. shores.

2.) Agreements such as NAFTA – Good for competition, and consumers, but not so good for all American workers.

3.) UAW – Other countries, including some states in the southern U.S., have “right-to-work” rules in place and thus can generally pay workers less in wages and benefits as a result. One of the unfortunate casualties of global competition will be the downfall of the UAW.

4.) Health Care Costs – Most other industrialized countries have national health-care coverage, and thus employers are not required to subsidize employees health care programs.

5) Global Competition – U.S. companies and workers are now having to compete with the world and not just other U.S. companies.

6.) De-valued foreign currencies – With de-valued foreign currencies, especially those of Japan and China, these countries are able to sell their products for much less to U.S. consumers.

It appears to me that the middle-class is shrinking before our very eyes, and we will soon only have two classes: Highly-educated, well-paid employees, and uneducated, low wage earners who will be compenstated based on a global scale of earners around the world, including those in third-world countries.