Bubba Watson has long held the esteemed title of Official Professional Golfer of ButterscotchSundae.com for several reasons:

1. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. This opinion is based solely on his Twitter feed.
2. He was born on November 5, 1978. I was born on November 4, 1978. We are practically twins.
3. His name is Bubba.
4. He participated in this:

Recently on Twitter, he’s been doing a promotional giveaway kind of thing called Bubbaclaus. He issues a challenge every day, people respond with a photo or a video, and then he gives away a prize. Yesterday’s challenge was to “take a photo trying to look like [Bubba].” So we went outside and did this:

The grip might not be spot-on, but I think the hair and the game-face are pretty well perfect. Apparently Bubba thought so, too. Because later he tweeted this:

Pete was very excited to hear he’d won “the Bubba contest.” So excited, in fact, that he slapped himself in the head and shouted “Aw man!” I don’t think the shirt, visor and golf glove Bubba’s sending will fit him just yet, but we’ll be sure to keep them in a place of honor until they do.

Thanks again, Bubba. You made an already nice day even nicer!

Butterscotch Sundae’s favorite Michigan-specific sports analyst is back with an updated look at the Detroit Lions! -N

In the past two years, I’ve written a few posts about everyone’s favorite team: the Detroit Lions. The first – “The Detroit Lions are improving, and Perry Mason can prove it” — was in the middle of the 2010 season, when the Lions had just two wins. In it, I said that fans shouldn’t be discouraged by the lack of wins because the statistics painted a picture of a team on the rise. The second – “Perry Mason’s final analysis of the Lions’ season” — was at the end of the 2010 season, when the Lions finished strong with four more wins, one of which was against the soon-to-be world champion Green Bay Packers. In that post, I again summarized the statistics and went so far as to predict that the Lions were on a track that would put them in the 2011 playoffs. The third and most recent post – “The status of the Detroit Lions after the draft” – was, as the title suggests, after the 2011 draft, in which the Lions drafted Nick Fairley, Titus Young and Mikel Leshoure in the first three rounds. After such a strong draft, I guaranteed that the Lions would make the 2011 playoffs.

So, how are they doing? Before we look at the record, let’s look at the stats comparing this squad to the squads from the last three seasons. Note that I’ve pro-rated the 2011 statistics to date to 16 games for an apples-to-apples comparison:

Of the eight above statistical categories, which I’ve identified in past posts as the key stats to winning football games, the 2008 squad was better than its opponents at zero of them. And that led to zero victories. The 2009 squad was better than its opponents at exactly one category, which led to two wins. The 2010 squad was better than its opponents in four categories, and it had 6 wins. Your 2011 Detroit Lions are on pace to win seven — 7! — of the eight statistical keys to winning football games. The one stat category they aren’t leading is rushing yards, which isn’t surprising given that they’ve played the majority of the season without the two running backs they expected to carry the load, both of whom were lost to season-ending injuries.

The statistical domination has translated to wins. As of today, the Lions have eight wins and three games left to play. That is as many wins as the 2008, 2009 and 2010 teams combined — and they still have games to play. And what about that playoff prediction-turned-guarantee? The Detroit Lions are currently the sixth seed in the NFC, and they own tie-breakers against the two NFC teams chasing them. With just three games left to play, the Detroit Lions hold in their paws the key to their first playoff appearance since the 1999 season.

The Roar has been Restored.

September 10, 2011. “Verlander is headed for a 25-win season,” ButterscotchSundae.com.

Twenty-five wins.

They might as well give him the Cy Young now.

And let the MVP talk commence.

November 15, 2011. “Verlander a unanimous choice for AL Cy Young,” Kansas City Star.

There might be no more obvious choice in this year’s awards than Detroit ace Justin Verlander as the American League Cy Young winner. The bigger question is whether his dominance will result next week in being chosen as the league’s Most Valuable Player.

November 21, 2011. “Tigers’ Justin Verlander Wins AL MVP Award,” ABC News.

Detroit’s Justin Verlander became the first starting pitcher in a quarter-century to win a Most Valuable Player award, adding it to the Cy Young Award he won last week.

Perry Mason is clearly a Major League Baseball sage. Should we fear him or praise him? Maybe a little of both.

In other news, I added another picture to my Take 25 Portraits of People I Love project. I also took a portrait of my dad’s girlfriend’s dog, Lola:

I woke up yesterday morning to Lola staring at my face. She is a startlingly small chihuahua who is somewhat less solemn than this picture would suggest. She also has the roundest noggin I’ve ever seen on a canine.