Leelanau Sports Guy’s World at sportspig.com

Here’s another…

No Lie. It is confirmed that Dominik Hasek will sign with the Red Wings for a 1 year deal.

Read Red Wings bring back Hasek for third time at ESPN.com

Norm the Detroit Insider just emailed me with the breaking news…

Tigers receive Sean Casey from the Pirates for a minor leaguer (pitcher Brian Rogers AA) and option Chris Shelton to Toledo.

Is this the first of many trades today?

Read Tigers get Pirates 1B Casey, send Shelton to minors at ESPN

Terry Foster of the Detroit News and Jeremy Speer of the Gaylord Herald Times recently visited Wuerfel Park and give this rundown of the experience, the stadium, and Beach Bums fans…

Read Beach Bums’ park a hit in the Detroit News

Read If you build it…Beach Bums ‘Field of Dreams’ is T.C.’s Wuerfel Park in the Gaylord Herald Times

Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz sure is. He loves his trio of quarterbacks, and from what I have read he really thinks highly of Dan Orlovsky.

Here’s why Martz is excited as practice starts today…

“Overall, this is the best group that I’ve had,” Martz told WKRK. “All three of these guys can start in this league and play at a high level. To say that we have basically three starters that can play this game is worth getting excited about.”

The best group he’s ever had? WOW! I love how Martz and head coach Rod Marinelli are entering this season. They are both no-nonsense guys who are really fired up! Martz wants to prove he’s still got it and Marinelli wants to prove he can be a NFL head coach. I believe both will succeed in this.

Also, Marinelli named Jon Kitna his starting quarterback, but says there is still competition.

Read Marinelli squashes speculation, names Kitna starting QB in the Freep

The Record Eagle’s Mark Urban talks to offensive lineman Tom Kaleita on the eve of training camp. Kaleita spent the spring playing for the Berlin Thunder in NFL Europe and is ready for another chance to become a member of the Detroit Lions.

Read Kingsley’s Kaleita goes camping in the Record Eagle

Detroit Red Wings annual training camp tickets, as well as the NHL Prospects Tournament will go on sale Saturday, July 29th from 10am to 3pm.

Red Wings training camp features scrimmages on September 15th, 16th and 17th, and the Gold Medal game on September 18th.

NHL Prospects Tournament will be Sept. 8th through 12th and feature the following eight teams – Detroit, Columbus, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Atlanta, St. Louis, N.Y. Rangers and Dallas.

IMPORTANT!

The only time tickets for the Red Wings training camp and the NHL Prospects Tournament will be on sale in person will be Saturday. After Aug. 1, tickets will be available at www.centreice.org.

Read Wings camp tickets on sale Saturday in the Record Eagle

Visit Centre I.C.E. on the web

I love my baseball cards. I don’t get a chance to pick up too many anymore, but I still have my old Tiger rookies and some of my favorites from over the years. Here’s a neat look down memory lane at some of ESPN’s page 2 columnists favorite baseball cards.

Read A pack of baseball memories at ESPN

My favorite card is pictured right, it’s my Alan Trammell rookie card. Tram is my favorite Tiger of all-time and the fact that its his rookie, but also Paul Molitor’s, makes this card real sweet.

Farlane pointed me to Jason Whitlock and his NFL Truths column. As I was reading the list, I was basically in agreement and just nodding along until I came to Number 5…

5. Joey Harrington is going to beat out Daunte Culpepper by midseason.

I’ve never been a Daunte fan. Never. I was irate when the Vikings drafted him just months after Jeff George had a great season. But it’s deeper than my allegiance to George.

Daunte is not a student of the game. He doesn’t read defenses. He’s going to get exposed in Miami because his mobility is gone and he’s going to be forced to stand in the pocket and make reads. It won’t be pretty.

Now I have always been a Joey supporter and think given the chance he can still be a solid NFL quarterback. But to beat out Daunte Culpepper? I don’t know about that. Although the Dolphins must have some Culpepper doubts to have wanted Joey as bad as they did. Maybe the Dolphins and Jason know more than we think…

Read Welcome back to the Truths at ESPN

Opinions on four current sports topics and one random topic from Norm the Detroit Insider…

1. Joel Zumaya – Love’em but shut your mouth. Said this week Tigers are going to the WS.

2. Tigers Trade Rumors – Prospects are there to make a big deal. Soriano, No……………Abreu……………………..No………….Shawn Green……………..Yes.

3. Nazr and Flip – Flip Mohammed give more than Ben Wallace. Plus, they obviously didn’t sign for the money.

4. Mike Williams – Glad I’m not fined because of my weight.

5. Steve Nash’s Hair – Looks good. Done for a good cause.

If you want to let the Detroit Insider know what you think, you can always send him an email at norm@sportspig.com or post a comment!

I just got an invite an my email this morning to play the Detroit Lions Trivia Tower contest at CBS Sportsline at 3 PM.

I thought I would check it out and so I tried the British Open contest and got spanked in the 2nd round by the guy or gal with the all-time high score, Lrschill24. Good timing on my part. I was able to get 3 out of 10 questions right, but figure I should fair better in the Lions contest.

Come and see how you do, I will be there…

CBS Sportsline Trivia Tower

Update
Of course I got busy and then missed the start, so just watched a couple of questions in the consolation mode, man, I would have cleaned up!

The hero was Craig Monroe. In arguably the biggest game of the year for the Tigers, Monroe came up with his biggest hit, a 6th inning grand slam to help give the Tigers 5-2 win and move back to 4 1/2 games ahead of the White Sox. I know it’s only July, but the Tigers needed this win in the worst way. They needed to beat the White Sox at home, and now have a chance to win the series with Kenny Rogers taking the mound tonight.

Jeremy Bonderman pitched a strong game going 7 1/3 innings with 6 K’s to pick up his 10th win of the year.

The Tigers also improved to 2-6 against Chicago for the season, which definitely has a better ring to it then 1-7.

Read Monroe’s slam lifts Tigers by White Sox at Yahoo Sports!

I keep hearing Bobby Abreu’s name come up in possible trade rumors involving the Tigers. As long as it doesn’t include trading away Zumaya or Verlander, I say go for it Dave D.!

Read Major League Baseball trade rumors at Yahoo! Sports

The other player rumored to be a possible Tiger at the trade deadline is Alfonso Soriano. The Nationals are asking alot, but again, I think it would be worth it. Adding a player the caliber of either of these two will help the Tigers chances down the stretch.

Read Tigers like Soriano, but the price is steep in the Freep

Just received this in my email box, I don’t know how many of you get FSN Midwest, but in case you do…

Fox Sports Net (FSN) Midwest will televise the 2006 Frontier League All-Star Game to a regional audience on tape delay on Saturday, July 15 at 8:00 PM ET/7:00 PM CT.

The minor league baseball game was played Wednesday night (July 12) at historic Bosse Field in Evansville, Ind. and resulted in a dramatic 6-5 win for the Western Division over the Eastern Division after a tie-breaking home run derby.

Read Frontier League All-Star Game To Be Televised by FSN Midwest at Fox Sports

The Traverse City Beach Bums are sitting at first place in the Frontier League East Division at the All-Star break as their inaugural season continues. Jeff Peek of the Record Eagle reflects on the first half of the season and gives us a preview as the Beach Bums fight for a division crown!

Read Things are just Beachy for Bums in the Record Eagle

Baseball Clinics
Looking to improve your game? The Beach Bums Baseball Academy is led by former Glen Lake star Jason Wuerfel as he leads clinics designed to help improve your baseball skills.

Check out the Beach Bums Baseball Academy at TCBeachBums.com

Fantasy Football Champs is starting to release 2006-07 fantasy football info and have this little nugget about new Lions quarterback Jon Kitna…

QB Jon Kitna, Lions – The Joey Harrington experiment has ended after 4 seasons, and now the Lions offense will be put in the hands of solid veteran Jon Kitna. He has been a backup in Cincinnati for the last 2 seasons, but notably threw 26 TD passes and racked up 3500+ yards with the team in 2003 when Carson Palmer was a rookie. He is a solid leader and throws a good deep ball even though he lacks a strong arm. He is also good at reading the defense before the snap and knows how to spread the ball around to the right receivers. He should build a fine chemistry with rising star Roy Williams, and the pair should excel while under the direction of new offensive coordinator Mike Martz. Kitna should bring stability and consistency to the position that was gravely lacking with Harrington at the controls, and the Lions young offense should finally start playing up to its potential. Kitna could easily throw 25 TD’s and be a top 10 QB.

I am sure most Lions fans would love 25 touchdowns as long as the INTs are under 10 or so. Kitna could be a good fit with the Martz system, but part of me wants to see what Josh McCown could do as well. Either way I think the Lions are better off without Joey and I look for Roy Williams and Kevin Jones to have better seasons because of consistent quarterback play.

For great fantasy info visit Fantasy Football Champs