Mickey's Musings: Week 9
Welcome to Mickey's Musings, my weekly notebook where we skip the linear narrative and dive straight into three completely unrelated, but entirely fascinating storylines that are bouncing around in my head.
First off – let’s talk about that Vikings team. I’m sure you watched them against the Lions. The defense – just wow! B-Flo sending all those blitzes…7 guys on the line and some of them rush the QB, but you don’t know which 4, or 5 or 6, it is gonna be?!? They’re ridiculously good. Their special teams struggled on Sunday, but they’re really good. On offense – JJ and Addison. TJ Hockenson. That’s some good targets to throw to. Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason lead a solid running back room…The line has Brian O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw as the bookends with Donovan Jackson and Jake Brandel inside. That seems like it should be a solid O-line. But I just don’t see the team going far. Why could that be? Hmmm…Well, let’s get to today’s three topics……
Topic # 1: St Florian
Growing up in Houghton Lake in the 1970’s and 80’s meant we often had to travel for a number of things. During my senior year in high school I had a dermatologist appointment in Midland and it happened to be the same day as we had a basketball game at Standish-Sterling High School. Since it was a Tuesday night, and it would be midnight by the time we’d get home, my step-mom dropped me off in Standish at the high school on the way home. That way my younger siblings wouldn’t need to get home so late on a school night. I was there probably an hour before the team bus arrived, so I just hung out and chatted up a few females that I ran into while I waited. (Side note. I have no “game” – so “chatted up” basically meant I said “Hi” to them and said I was on the Houghton Lake team…I mean, after all, I was on the way home from a dermatologist appointment!). On the court I had a decent game that night, scoring 17 points in a 5 point loss. The most memorable thing to me from that game was two huge players on the home team Panthers. Both were about 6’4” or 6'5" and neither was skinny. As high schoolers, they each had full beards and they had long Polish names. I later learned the Standish area has always had a large Polish population and St Florian’s cemetery has a number of graves, many from the 1800’s. St Florian also happens to be the Patron Saint of Poland! As I read more, I also learned Standish Sterling Central is one of the largest school districts in the lower peninsula in terms of area. It covers nearly 262 square miles, including the smallest city in Michigan, population 274, Omer. Speaking of small….How about that Kyler Murray?
Topic # 2: Cal Hubbard
In the 1920’s Robert Calvin Hubbard was a strapping 6’2” and 250-pound linebacker. In 1927 he led the New York Football Giants team that allowed 20 points. That was not an average, that was for the entire season. A few years later Cal moved on to the Curly Lambeau led Packers and was first team all pro for the very first All-Pro teams in the NFL. He retired in 1936 and was eventually part of the initial NFL Hall of Fame class in 1963. While still playing in the NFL his offseason job was umpiring baseball. After leaving the NFL in 1936 he made that his full time gig. In a few years he was called up to the major leagues, where he eventually umpired four world series matchups and three all star games prior to his retirement in 1951 due to an eye injury. That was his retirement as an “active umpire” as three years later he became the supervisor of umpires for MLB, a position he held until 1969. In 1976 he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. To this day, he is the only person that is in both Canton and Cooperstown. Despite being the only athlete drafted in the first round in both baseball (9th overall by the then Oakland A’s), and football (first overall by the Cardinals), Kyler Murray doesn’t seem to be on the fast track to following Cal into both HOF’s. Well, actually, he probably isn’t making either one.
Topic # 3: Call of Duty
The OG version of Call of Duty came out in 2003. The franchise has offered annual reboots every year. Typically, the launch of those new versions takes place in the fall – just in time for the holiday season. When Kyler Murray signed his $230 million dollar deal in 2022 the Cardinals included a “study clause” requiring him to complete 4 hours of independent study each week during the season. The wording in his contract: “Player shall complete at least four (4) hours of Independent Study (as defined below) each week.” The clause continued with specific conditions that invalidate the study credit:
"...Player is engaged in any other activity that may distract his attention (for example, watching television, playing video games or browsing the internet) while such material is being displayed or played."
Over his career Kyler Murray has a record of 7-15 in games that happen near the annual release of the game. In games where COD isn’t an issue, his record is 36-33-1. His passer rating for his career is 92.0. His passer rating during those 22 games that are nearest the release dates of his favorite game? 84.1.
On October 23 of this year Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4
was released. Hmmmm…..
We all saw Murray on Sunday and let’s be real – he was NOT good. Taking out that one 51-yard play to Addison his numbers would be 16-28 for 159 and a passer rating of 80.1. Even worse than his normal COD weekend numbers.
The Lion's D has definitely improved. But let’s just say there may have been other factors that helped the Lions this past weekend.
Despite all those team accolades in the first few paragraphs, I think we know where the Vikings fall short. If they get a quarterback that is even “competent” they could be a force. But that doesn’t appear to be the case for 2026.
On a totally unrelated note – prayers up for Jack Campbell.
Go Lions!
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