The family and the day job has taken up all of my time as of late, but I plan on posting regularly (or at least as regular as I ever post) soon. That doesn’t mean I haven’t paid any attention to the ups and downs of our trusty Detroit teams…

Detroit Pistons
That was a big win in Game 4 without Chauncey Billups, and I thought it had basically clinched the series, then Orlando point guard Jameer Nelson went and guaranteed a victory. I believe that will wrap it up as all of us know only one person does guarantees around here! Now about the MVP of Game 4, Antonio McDyess, I’ll let Greg Eno tell you about that!

Detroit Red Wings
Chris Osgood and Johan Franzen have been the two great stories of this year’s playoffs, and it’s been fun so far for the Wings. It looks like Pavel Datsyuk is trying to join the party with a hat trick to lead the Wings to a 5-2 win in Game 3 and a 3-0 series lead. I’ve been listening to the Wings when I can (remember no TV here!) and I have to say I am more and more impressed with Mike Babcock every game. The guy is a terrific coach and gets everything he can out of everyone on the roster.

Detroit Tigers
Ugly. That’s the word we’ve used to describe the Tigers play after most of their games this season. It hasn’t been pretty, but it is showing signs of turning around. Luckily for the Tigers everyone else in the A.L. Central has been almost as inconsistent as them, so they are right in the thick of things. If Justin Verlander and the rest of the starters can figure out how to make it through 6 innings anytime soon, then the Tigers will be in great shape. The offense is picking up and some players (like Gary Sheffield) are finally swinging the bats better. It’s still going to be a fun summer at Comerica!

Detroit Lions
Nothing too exciting about the draft and that’s probably one of the best things for the Lions. They drafted Rod Marinelli-type guys and should be faster and hopefully tougher next season. A more dangerous than it looks schedule doesn’t do them any favors, but I do an improvement on the 7-9 record of a year ago. Will it be enough to make the playoffs? In the NFC you just never know.

Well that’s it for now, I’ll be bringing you Traverse City Beach Bums updates as they begin their 3rd summer in TC. I was just told my Aunt will have her company tickets in hand this week, so I’m looking forward to picking out my games. I hope to make the All-Star Game and skills challenge, I think that will be fun!

I missed it until reading about it in the Detroit News today. Check out this block by Detroit Pistons 3rd-year forward Jason Maxiell on the New Orleans Hornets Tyson Chandler…

I (like many others) have penciled in the Celtics and the Pistons playing in the Eastern Conference Finals. Fox Sports Randy Hill analyzes the other contenders to see if any can stop this from happening.

He mentions Toronto and Washington, the current 5th and 6th seeds, but his main focus is on the current 3rd and 4th seeds…

The first development is the current 9-3 run by the Orlando Magic. Included in this extremely modest string of triumph is a victory over a winning team from the West (Denver) and a breakthrough at Detroit.

The second development is the uprising in Cleveland, where LeBron James and a few new playmates are sitting pretty with five victories in their last six games.

Read Can anyone stop Celts-Pistons collision course? at Fox Sports

The Detroit Free Press has organized some of their best photos of our favorite Detroit Sports Legends and Moments. Very cool! You can check out many photos including Justin Verlander’s No-Hitter, the Fab Five, the Best of Pistons-Bulls Rivalry, and even Joey Harrington (for lots of great sack photos!).

Visit freep.com/sportsphotos to check them out!

Above photo by the Detroit Free Press

Traverse City Beach Bums pitcher Jared Locke has been signed by the Philadelphia Phillies. Locke joined the Beach Bums last summer and appeared in 21 games out of the bullpen and finished with a 1-1 record, a 3.42 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 23.2 innings. He also recorded 2 saves.

“We are very excited for Jared to have this opportunity,” said Jason Wuerfel, the Beach Bums’ Director of Baseball Operations. “He is a 6′6″ lefty, throws in the low 90s with great movement, and he is only 23 years old. The sky is the limit for Jared and I believe he will be successful anywhere the Phillies put him.”

Locke was originally signed out of college by the Texas Rangers.

Read Phillies sign Beach Bums lefty Jared Locke at TCBeachBums.com

I love The Onion and the made-up news stories, so it’s only fitting that I would love the fake sports stories as well. The editor from eTrueSports.com, sent me this little gem…

Read Sheffield Wins $5,000 A Month Sweepstakes Prize at eTrueSports.com

My View: Great stuff, very funny! I liked this one, too!

I usually keep the posts related to our great state of Michigan and this one is loosely, if I mention ex-Spartan Maurice Ager and ex-Piston Jerry Stackhouse were traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the New Jersey Nets for Jason Kidd. Ager and Stackhouse, along with Devin Harris, Devean George, Desagna Diop, $3 million, and TWO future 1st round draft picks now belong to the Nets. The Nets threw in Malik Allen for fun, but seriously this trade is very one-sided, and a big advantage to the Nets. Devin Harris is an up-and-coming star in this league and to get rid of the headache of Kidd (that’s not what I meant!) and get 4 players, cash and two 1st round picks, well, great job Rod Thorn!

Read Kidd traded to Dallas in latest blockbuster deal at Yahoo! Sports

UPDATE
Apparently Devean George has blocked the trade for the short-term. Jerry Stackhouse’s mouth might have blocked it for the long-term!

Read League to look at Stackhouse’s comments at Yahoo! Sports

Keith Langlois sat down with Joe Dumars recently and they covered lots of topics…

…a wide-ranging interview that touched on the All-Star selection of Chauncey Billups and Rip Hamilton, the state of the Pistons just past the season’s halfway point and the outlook for the season ahead as the playoffs approach.

Check it out below!

Read Taking the Temperature at Pistons.com

The Traverse City Beach Bums have agreed to home and home exhibition games versus the Gary RailCats, champions of the Northern League in 2005 and 2007. The Beach Bums will travel to Gary, Indiana on Tuesday, May 13th for a 3:00 PM exhibition game at the U.S. Steel Yard. The RailCats will make the trip to Traverse City in 2009.

“This is a great opportunity and challenge for our 2008 team,” said Jason Wuerfel, the Beach Bums’ Director of Baseball Operations. “Gary has set the standard for good baseball in the Northern League and it will be a great test for our players and evaluation tool for our coaching staff.”

Former Beach Bum Mike Reese is on the RailCats roster. For more information on the RailCats and their very nice stadium, the U.S. Steel Yard, go to www.railcatsbaseball.com.

Read Beach Bums to play Northern League Champions at TCBeachBums.com

Photo The Steelyard by Z for Zano

ESPN.com is reporting that Mike Martz has been fired by the Detroit Lions and that Jim Colleto will be promoted to offensive coordinator and Kippy Brown promoted to assistant head coach and passing game coordinator. None of this means a whole lot if the Lions don’t improve the offensive line or find a way for the defense to actually defend, but it is news.

Read Lions fire Martz at Yahoo! Sports

On a side note, I agree with Drew Sharp!

After reading a couple of articles previewing this game, I had a feeling this might happen. The Detroit Pistons used the depth of their starting lineup to halt the Boston Celtics home winning streak with a 87-85 win. Chauncey Billups led the Pistons with 28 points including 12 in the 4th quarter. The Celtics are talented but beyond the Big 3, they are young and Billups made them pay with his strong finish. It’s only December, so I’m not going to get too excited, but the Pistons are deeper and match up particularly well against the Celtics.

Read Pistons hand Celtics first home loss at Yahoo! Sports

I am proud to be one of the Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes and vote in the annual DIBS Tiger awards for the year.

Here’s the official release (finally)…

ORDONEZ NAMED TIGERS PLAYER OF YEAR
Verlander top pitcher, Granderson breakout player

DETROIT — The Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes are proud to announce the results of the 2007 DIBS Awards balloting.

DIBS (Detroit Independent Baseball Scribes) is a collection of independent Web sites that cover the Detroit Tigers. Formed by Brian Borawski, Bill Ferris and Ryan Sosin in 2005 with the idea of uniting a community of fans and writers, DIBS is focused on improving and promoting the quality sports coverage taking place on the internet.

Magglio Ordonez was selected by 14 of 16 DIBS voters as the player of the year. The Tigers’ right fielder finished second in Most Valuable Player balloting by baseball writers this season. His .434 on-base-percentage coupled with a .595 slugging (1.029 OPS) made Ordonez a force at the plate all season. He hit 28 home runs and 54 doubles to go with 139 RBI. Curtis Granderson received the remaining two first-place votes. His 20 stolen bases, 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs season put him in rare air, allowing him to join just Willie Mays and Frank “Wildfire” Schulte at the time. A left-handed center fielder, Granderson got on base a .361 rate and slugged .552 (.913OPS). Placido Polanco, who completed an errorless season at second base, placed third overall with two second-place votes an 11 third.

Right-handed starter Justin Verlander was the unanimous selection for Tigers pitcher of the year. His no-hitter pitched against Milwaukee June 12 is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Tigers season, but he was consistent throughout the year and finished 18-6 with an ERA of 3.66 and 1.23 WHIP. He struck out 183 and walked 67 in 201-2/3 innings pitched. Closer Todd Jones finished runner-up with 10 second-place and one third-place votes. He made 38 saves in 44 chances (86.4 percent success) and had a 4.26 ERA and 1.42 WHIP. Left-handed middle reliever Bobby Seay placed third overall with two second-place and eight third-place votes. He had a 2.33 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He struck out 38 and walked 15 in 46-1/3 innings pitched.

Granderson was also named breakout player of the year with nine of 16 first-place votes. Utilityman Ryan Raburn, called up from Triple-A Toledo in July, finished second in balloting with four first-place, four second-place and four third-place votes. He got on base at a .304 rate and slugged .507 (.847 OPS) while playing in 49 games. He had four home runs, 12 doubles, two triples and 27 RBI. Pitcher Jair Jurrjens, now a member of the Atlanta Braves organization after being included in a trade for shortstop Edgar Renteria, finished third in voting with one first-place vote, five second-place votes and five third-place votes. Jurrjens started seven games for the Tigers. His ERA was 4.70 to go with a 1.14 WHIP. He struck out 13 and walked 11 in 30-2/3 innings pitched. Receiving his first start Aug. 15, Jurrjens pitched a span of games from Aug. 21 to Sept. 16 where he gave up just one run per game.

The blogs that voted included:

Roar of the Tigers
Mack Avenue Tigers
Out of Bounds/Johnny Grubb
Wayne Fontes Experience
Daily Fungo
Detroit Tiger Tales
Bless You Boys
Leelanau Sports Guy
The Fanhouse
D Town Baseball
Take 75 North
Grandy Report
From the Copa
Detroit Tigers Weblog
Tigerblog
Motown Sports Revival

My picks this year were…

Player of the Year
1. Magglio Ordonez
2. Curtis Granderson
3. Placido Polanco

Pitcher of the Year
1. Justin Verlander
2. Todd Jones
3. Bobby Seay

Breakout of the Year
1. Curtis Granderson
2. Ryan Raburn
3. Jair Jurrjens

Post a comment and share your Tigers of the Year!

Traverse City Beach Bums Vice President and Director of Baseball Operations Jason Wuerfel is gaining one title but losing another. Wuerfel is the Beach Bums new hitting coach but will give up his duties as “DJ Jazzy Jay”.

“I really enjoyed being DJ Jazzy Jay,” said Wuerfel, “but I’m a baseball guy. Baseball is my passion and if I can’t play anymore, I want to be coaching. I need to be coaching.”

Read Wuerfel joins Beach Bums coaching staff at TCBeachBums.com

New Beach Bums Blog!
You can now follow the latest news from the Beach Bums at their new blog www.tcbeachbums.blogspot.com.

Opinions on five current sports topics from yours truly…

1. Lions vs. Packers - This is definitely what a Thanksgiving matchup should be! Two division rivals squaring off. The division is virtually locked up for the Packers, but a Lions win keeps some hope alive. Plus you need to watch in case Roy Williams does get 300 yards receiving!

2. Michigan State Football - That was a big win against Penn State for many reasons, but the way the Spartans did it impressed me the most. Down 24-7, they didn’t quit and that says more than anything else to me about Mark Dantonio and his staff. The future at MSU is very bright.

3. Lloyd Carr - I always enjoyed his conversations at halftime with sideline reporters, I would not have wanted to be in their shoes. He will be missed, but it was time for him to step down. I know alot of U of M fans that are happy, but if I was a Michigan fan, I wouldn’t be. He ran a great program and really coached some high-quality kids. They had better make the right decision about the next coach, and I’m not sure that means Les Miles.

4. Football at The State - Michael Moore has opened up the State Theatre in Traverse City on Saturday morning and will be showing Traverse City St. Francis playing for a state title. A great idea for those who can’t make the trip. I am sure it’s going to be a packed house.

5. Leelanau Sports Guy’s World - I plan on spending some more time getting things cranking again, so look for a new design and more frequent posts in the near future. Thanks to all who visit and send me emails, I appreciate it!

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

Jeff Peek of the Record Eagle reports that former Eastern Michigan University football player Daniel Skibbe is beginning the process of bringing semi-pro football to Traverse City. The Traverse City Wolves could begin play as early as 2009 and be one of 120 teams in the North America Football League.

Here’s some info from the article…

“This is a great football community,” said Skibbe, who moved from Detroit five years ago and coached for two seasons under Josh Merchant at Elk Rapids. “When I came up here I realized that northern Michigan not only has a lot of talented players, but disciplined ones, too.”

“You don’t get to play football after high school unless you’re gifted and go on to college,” he said. “So this league is for guys who play for the love of the game.”

Players are age 18-40, with 45-50 players on each team’s active roster. Skibbe said the Wolves would typically practice 2-3 nights per week, with games set for Saturdays or Sundays.

Sounds like fun and that it could be a success in TC!

Read Semi-pro franchise coming to TC in the Record Eagle

You can also visit TCWolves.com (content coming next week) to keep up to date with the latest news.

My View: Traverse City keeps getting bigger and bigger so more and more opportunities will keep coming for more sports and entertainment. Northern Michigan has a big football fanbase, so I would only think this could be very successful. It looks like they have a good plan, and I’m all on board. I just wish they would have asked me to help with the website!