LATEST STORIES FROM OUT OF BOUNDS
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": Hoopin' It Up, with A. Sherrod Blakely
October 13, 2009 by
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The Detroit Pistons and the NBA took center court, if you will, last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.That's because our guest was A. Sherrod Blakely, who is the Pistons beat writer for MLive.com.Sherrod...
Just Like That, Steel Curtain Closes On Lions' Chances
October 12, 2009 by
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They say more NFL games than you know come down to a handful of plays. The talent level, supposedly, is so close from team to team that in any given game, wins and losses are often decided by maybe no more than three or four percent of the total number of plays run.Usually, though...
Red Wings Enforcer Polonich Never Same After Brutal Attack
October 11, 2009 by
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Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, as he is wont to do, succinctly summarized why his team had signed Brad May to a contract. “We had him for a few exhibition games and no one bothered our guys,” Babcock said. “Then we didn’t have him and people started taking some liberties. ...
Will (gasp!) Backup Goalie Be Red Wings' Bugaboo?
October 08, 2009 by
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Can a backup goaltender, of all things, decide whether a hockey team reaches the promised land or not?We're about to find out.The Detroit Red Wings pull the curtain back tonight for the first time in front of their home crowd in the 2009-10 campaign. And their fans will see something...
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": We Put the Gloves On, Then Took 'Em Off!
October 06, 2009 by
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We turned extra combative last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.That's because our guest was none other than Marvin Hagler, Jr., son of the multiple world champion boxer.Junior was on to discuss his upcoming...
Lions Once Again Kings of 30-Minute Football
October 05, 2009 by
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The Lions turned in another of those 30-minute jobs yesterday in Chicago, and it cost them, big time.A 21-21 halftime tie turned into a 48-24 laugher for the Bears, but here's what's NOT funny.Matthew Stafford dislocated his knee cap, according to ESPN.The thing popped back...
Stafford Has QB Presence Like No Other Lion in Years
October 04, 2009 by
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It was Super Bowl week, and Thomas Henderson wanted to try out some new material. What better opportunity than Media Day—held on Tuesday before The Big Game—to show how brilliant you are, and how much the other guy isn’t? Henderson, the bombastic Dallas Cowboys’ linebacker...
Time For Hamilton To Lead, Like It Or Not
September 30, 2009 by
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Rip Hamilton appears to be done grieving, and that's a step in the right direction, anyway.Hamilton chatted up the team during Media Day on Monday, and he spoke with a twinkle in his eyes and often times barely able to suppress a grin."We have to teach the newer guys, the...
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": Pistons Talk Put On Hold, But Some Good Rants
September 29, 2009 by
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Our NBA talk got put on hold for a couple weeks last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.Our guest, A. Sherrod Blakely---Pistons beat writer for MLive.com---got caught up in some work-related stuff and couldn'...
Streaking Lions Win First Straight Game
September 28, 2009 by
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Every dog really does have his day.Every blind squirrel really does find a nut.The longshot came in. The House lost.It was "any given Sunday," finally. The dice came up snake eyes.Someone had to be the victims of the Lions' losing streak ending, and it happened to be...
Red Wings' Run of Excellence Taken for Granted in Detroit
September 27, 2009 by
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I was in New York, one of my favorite towns, and I started walking. It was a June day, some 18 years ago, and if you haven’t been to New York in June, then your life officially has a missing ingredient. I set out around Times Square and headed north, up Sixth Avenue, from around...
Whether Forced Or Not, Jimmy D Got Rooked In Federko Trade
September 23, 2009 by
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Jimmy Devellano, recently announced as a winner of the Lester Patrick Trophy for dedication toward hockey, was the first man hired by Mike Ilitch when the latter purchased the sad sack Detroit Red Wings in 1982. One of the reasons was Jimmy D's uncanny ability to sniff out NHL...
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": Can the Shaky Tigers Hold On?
September 22, 2009 by
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The Tigers' wobbly state as a first place team took center stage last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.Our guest was Johnny Lawrence, one of the featured Detroit Tigers columnists for The Bleacher Report...
New Coaches And Players, But Lions Still Getting "INC" Grade Every Sunday
September 20, 2009 by
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The Detroit Lions have been Kings of the incompletion.Not talking about passing here; talking about overall performance.On select Sundays, the Lions will play perhaps 15, 20 minutes of decent football. On special occasions, they might squeeze out 30 minutes. Things could even get dicey...
Miguel Cabrera's Shoulders Getting Narrow at the Wrong Time
September 19, 2009 by
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It was in a fit of frustration, earlier in this unusual baseball season, when Tigers manager Jim Leyland tried his hardest to inflict a scolding on his star first baseman without naming him. “It’s time,” Leyland said, while the Tigers were again laboring so hard to score some...
Cemetery, Sadly, Now Beckons Clark For Real
September 18, 2009 by
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"See you at the cemetery."Sadly, those words are no longer simply metaphorical.Monte Clark is gone---dead at 72 after a long illness---and this has been a ghastly year for sports deaths, if you're a follower of the teams in Detroit.The following list is only partial:...
Osgood Must Make Good On Yet Another Promise
September 16, 2009 by
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Ty Conklin did everything the Red Wings wanted him to, and more, and now he's gone---bugging out of town after just one season in Detroit.Conklin, the Red Wings' ace in the hole last season in net, is the typical vagabond goalie on tour---taking his act from city to city on...
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": Hey, Hey Hockeytown!!
September 15, 2009 by
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It was finally time to talk some serious hockey again last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.Our guest was, as Big Al calls him, "The Godfather" of hockey blogging, Paul Kukla of Kukla's Korner.Paul...
Not Too Much Unexpected As Lions Fall To Saints
September 14, 2009 by
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It was a storied line, uttered by the most powerful man in the world, once upon a time.The quote is attributed to President John Kennedy, in 1961, recently installed into the Oval Office after a bitterly contested election against Dick Nixon."What we found out," JFK said...
20 Years Ago, Sanders Turned Lions Fans On From Carry No. 1
September 13, 2009 by
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The rigors of another NFL training camp were past. The meaningless dress rehearsals known as exhibition games, all four of them, had been played. The fates of certain pro football players—the fringe guys on that imaginary “bubble”—were now hanging in the balance. And the fate...
The Decision Is Made, So Might As Well Wish Stafford The Best
September 09, 2009 by
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Occasionally, pro sports provides us with delicious irony and poetry.Seven years ago, the Lions beamed with pride. Finally, a genuine article at the quarterback position. In the second year of what would derisively and painfully be known as the Matt Millen Era.The Lions would no longer...
Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": A Football Fest, With U-M and Lions Radio Guy Jim Brandstatter!
September 08, 2009 by
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It was a football frenzy last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.Our guest was U-M and Lions radio analyst Jim Brandstatter, who gave us some insight on Michigan football after the Wolves' 31-7 win over WMU...
Michigan's Coaching Job Not All That Anymore? Don't You Believe It
September 06, 2009 by
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The press conference was held in a conservative little room, with the principals leaning forward on a sofa, a smattering of microphones on stands, propped up on the coffee table. A far cry from the made-for-TV events of today. They bunched together on the couch: the athletic director...
Better Late Than Never: LeBeau On Verge Of Hall Of Fame
September 02, 2009 by
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Maybe the best compliment that could be paid to Dick LeBeau is that he turned out to be a better coach than a player---and he was a Hall of Fame player, so what does that make him as a coach?A portion of the above sentence has been met with a stone wall for some 32 years---the part...
Last Night on the "The Knee Jerks": We Get Literary, Then Cranky (As Usual)
September 01, 2009 by
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He was a little late, but our guest, author Marty Appel, showed up on "The Knee Jerks" Monday night, to enliven my weekly sports gabfest with Big Al from The Wayne Fontes Experience.Appel's new book is "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankees Captain," and it...
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An unashamed view on sports with a decidedly Detroit flavor. Opinions and observations from a combination fan/media member, which means some of the dish will be an insider's take!
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