Where are we at in society today? Come after me. I'm a man,
I'm forty. Go ahead, make my day every single week. I
put my freaking heart and soul into this. I don't go out there and
laugh. It's not funny. Nothing's funny to me. I don't wanna go
out there and get embarrassed on Monday night football fun everybody. I think that
at the beginning of a beautiful friendship. So I ain't nothing changed from yesterday.
Still the same person I was yesterday, and I got the same thing
for you that I had yesterday. You know why I'm here. You play
to win the game. You don't play to just play it. That's a
great thing about sports. You play to win. I don't care if you
don't have any wins. You go play to win. When you start telling
me it doesn't matter to retire, get out for the math. That is
right. Good morning, everybody. Dennis Fifthian in for Matt Shepherd. On
this Friday, This Friday, heading into the holiday weekend, heading into the
Memorial weekend, Friday, May the twenty fourth, allys Fridays. Like a
lot of people, it's my favorite day of the week, and heading into
a holiday weekend where you know, I know, I would guess if you're
listening right now, you probably are heading to work. Did you get up
and head out to the lake you go fishing heading into the Memorial weekend because
you're off, maybe, but the most people getting the Monday off and it
just just feels good. It makes you think about you know, some of
the I don't know which countries do it, but you know they say,
you know you only work forget the five day work week, four days.
Everybody's neither their head, Yeah, four days. People driving right now listening
saying the five days I worked seven days. So we're going to keep your
company, get you into this weekend. You're a sports fan, you know.
Last night rang the Bell and Memorial Weekend with a little bit of stuff
for everyone. If I'm thinking about what is very top of mind for me
and I'm thinking for you. It was the Lions and Dan Campbell who talked
at OTAs yesterday and he was asked to question, it's the question of the
day. I'll be answering it myself an hour from right now at seven to
one. Of course, you could jump in and answer it is it super
Bowl or bust? For the Detroit Lions this upcoming season. Dan Campbell interrupted,
I mean he answered the question, but he interrupted the question saying he
doesn't see bust, he sees Super Bowl. It was a fine way to
answer the question. I think about this time last year, I was asking
this question with Michigan, with the Michigan football team, was it national championship
or bust? And Michigan fans agreed that it was championship or bust. Now
college and pro, there's some obvious differences with Michigan. Certainly, they had
been to the two previous college football Playoffs and it took him a while to
you know, they had the long streak where they couldn't beat Ohio State.
They had to deal with all the jokes that they hadn't won the Big Ten
since they moved the since they had a championship game and it was in India,
they had to deal with, hey, you know where Indianapolis is at.
But so they were able to do that, slay that dragon, but
they lost the TCU in the College Football Playoff. The first year they lost
to Georgia, I think got people know it was a pretty good Georgia team,
great Georgia team, but Michigan was favored to be TCU. That was
a chance to get to the national title game, and they say they blew
it, didn't do it. So coming back when they had JJ McCarthy and
Blake korm you go down the list of all the they were set, they
were ready. They had ten players out of the transfer portal, and it
felt like if it wasn't going to belast year at the Ohouse, State game
was at home, they had another super easy non conference schedule. If it
wasn't going to be last year for Michigan, there was a question of,
well, is it ever gonna happen or certainly now you know, I didn't
feel like with this group, although JJ could have come back for his senior
season, so you could have made that argument, and some people did,
but the other guys, you just it was it was National Championship or bust
last year for Michigan, But so is it Super Bowl or bust for the
Lions. Dan Campbell doesn't see bust. He sees Super Bowl. As he
was standing up at the podium with his grit hat on, we'll get into
that. Pistons have a new man at the top calling the shots, Trajan
Langdon the Alaskan Assassin for those of you that can go back and remember when
he played at Due. Not many ballplayers coming out of Alaska, but Langdon
did, and he went to Duke and then you know, a couple of
years in the pros, then overseas and then you know, getting involved on
the front office side of things. He'd been down to New Orleans. But
he is going to be the next president of basketball operations. But what he
is going to be is the guy with the final say and personnel decisions,
and that's the top job. And so this is going to be the guy
that will either you know, Troy Weaver has been calling the shots for the
past few years. It will be Langdon now for the next few seasons,
and we'll see what he will do. I'll I'll give you a couple ideas,
you know, for the you know, you think about if you're a
Pistons fan coming off a season where he only won fourteen games and the bitter
disappointment in almost every area for the team, and you look to this season.
In the draft, there was there was nothing. It was it's called
you know, one of the worst I get the worst draft ever. And
you know, obviously they didn't win it, and they you know, fell
to five. So not only was it a terrible draft, but you wouldn't
have minded it wouldn't have uh have minded grabbing that number one pick. But
they fall to five, which you know, felt like another loss for this
team. So now they sit here, there's not great prospects. But oh
if if you sometimes you find that Brad Holmes was coming in, it was
a for the Lions. Honestly, that felt like a rinse and repeat type
situation. I've seen a lot of general managers over the years come in for
Detroit and the fans, and that's what you do. You're like, yeah,
we got a new guy. Let's put our you know, full faith
behind him. Maybe this will be the guy. Oh, Bob Quinn,
you know he's the guy. And he was not the guy obviously, Bob
Quinn. It did not work out, but Holmes I was. So you
know, there's when you get somebody new like that, there is at least
with the change part, you feel like, you know, maybe a chance
we'll ship through what his most important moves are, at least that we see
on the surface. That talked about yesterday that these teams you look at the
four teams that are remaining in the playoffs, and you you look at their
roster, you look at their front office, you look at how they have
been able to get where they're at and has it just been sitting back and
getting lucky. In some cases it is Minnesota of the year that they get
the number one pick. The last time, I mean a couple of years
before they got kat Karl Anthony Towns and that didn't look like it was really
gonna be all of that. But you know, they get the ant man
Anthony Edwards, and that was lucky, but they did have to take him.
There was it wasn't a slam dunk. There were a lot of people
saying, hey, take LaMelo Ball in that draft, and they didn't.
So that was part of it. But we'll get into a little bit of
that actually straight ahead, and we'll cover what happened last night on the ice
and the hardwood in the playoffs. We had the Tigers in action as well.
So I feel like a lot of balls in the air this Holiday Friday
with all of that that I just mentioned, we'll tackle it all. We'll
dive into it straight ahead. It's exciting to be here. I'm Dennis Fifthy
and Informatt Shepperd ben Zost as always he's here. He'll take your calls.
He's reading your texts. It's Exes and bro special edition. Here on the
Michigan Sports Network. Bill Simonson. Here from my good friend Josh Garvey.
Now he's a managing shareholder at Dorn Mayhew's Grand Rapids office. Their world headquarters
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accounting and business firms in the world, they're right here in Michigan, Dorn
Mayhew's Troy office on the east side of the state, and Josh Garvey is
a managing shareholder for their Dorn Mayhew gr office. Right there by the S
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just google Dorn Mayhew. That's do O E RI E N M A Y
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business firms. They're Dornmayhew. We're teeing off our tenth year at the Meyer
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Is it super Bowl or bus for the Detroit Lions? That was the
question posed to Lions head coach Dan Campbell after OTA's yesterday. He says he
doesn't seek bust. He's the super Bowl. What about you? As it
super Bowl our bust? I'm answering that question at seven oh one. Good
morning, Dennis Fithian Here, Axes and Bros. And the Michigan Sports Network.
I'm gonna run through what happened last night in sports. I got a
bone to pick with the ESPN. They it's nice today after Dan Campbell spoke
yesterday. Now they they pick a team Sports Center does and they picked popular
teams a lot of times. Right now the Lions are are are a popular
team obviously, and Campbell spoke yesterday, so they're talking a lot about the
Lions. But they put up a graph and you know, it has the
Lions win total at ten and a half and then at the bottom and then
it says they've got eleven and one odds to win the Super Bowl. And
at the bottom of that it says the best title odds in forty five years,
which is a little bit of an attention grabber. You're like, wow,
because the Lions said, oh you go at ninety three, ninety one,
they had one, they had won one playoff games. It's fifty seven.
We knew all of these numbers. They're ingrained in our brain. It
is a relief last year when they won one, not only two. I
mean, you know the whole story there. But so when I saw the
forty five years, I was thinking, you know, that's interesting. If
somebody asked me one with this is the best title odds since when, I
think I would have said nineteen fifty seven. I don't know even know if
they had odds back at nineteen fifty seven. I thought about the same thing
they have odds forty five years ago, but they do because I see them.
They often talk about the Jets and Joe nama Is guarantee, and you
know what sort of underdog the Jets were, or they were their double digit
underdog, and that's what made the guarantee by Joe Namas so famous. So
I get that part. But then I was just thinking myself because I was
a young, very young kid in at nineteen seventy nine, and I would
have I was a Lions fan. But so I'm thinking with the Lions.
Was I thinking about the Super Bowl back in the late seventies for the Lions.
Absolutely not. Now, the Lions went two and fourteen in nineteen seventy
nine, you'd say, well, you know, it's seventy eight. They
must have had a hell of a season to have the the best odds until
twenty twenty three. Well, no, they went They went seven to nine
in seventy eight, seventy seven, they went six in eight the whole seventies.
I'm sorry. In nineteen seventy either the Lions beat the Cowboys like five
nothing or I'm sorry they lost to the Cowboys of five nothing in the playoffs
and so if it would have said seventy one, that said coming off a
playoff appearance, all right, But the rest of the seventies it was nothing.
But you know, seven wins, six wins the seventy nineteen, which
is interesting because it was two and fourteen. It was a famous song that
made its way around the Motor City after that by by Spider Man. Allen
to the song by Queen as Spider Man said, he was sitting on his
seat something. I'm trying to remember the lyrics there, Spider Man sitting on
his seat. But the line was last year was two and fourteen, but
this is the year for New Orleans. Now that rhymed when Spider Man said,
it didn't seem like a really rhyme to roll off the tongue there for
me when I was rolling it out. Maybe it's just because it's early in
the morning, but I don't know, I have I'm sending that off to
ESPN. I'm questioning their odds. Now, if they would have said the
Lions in a ninety one, you know they lost the conference finals, or
when they lost actually, you know, the winning against the Cowboys. Remember
when they got that one playoff win for the first time. So it's fifty
seven. A lot of people thought and it was the next for the foreseeable
future, it was going to be the Lions and the Cowboys. This is
it. Look at the young talent on these teams. Well they were kind
of right. The Cowboys would go on and we win three Super Bowls,
but not the Lions. So I could have seen if they were saying that
in ninety four ninety five that there was there was something there for Detroit ninety
two. I guess that's I think, the best Super Bowl odds, But
you know, so I'm questioning it. That's what I have to say for
ESPN best title odds in forty five years. I know there were less teams
and everything else, but it just didn't make sense to me as my mind
works through it all right. Last night in the playoffs, she had Game
two in the NBA in the Eastern Conference Finals with Indiana going into Boston.
Boston had won. That had bugaboo, one of those things in Game two's
where they were losing no matter who they were playing in the heat, and
you just go through it. And so Indiana, after the way they played
played in Game one and threw Game one away and only had themselves to blame,
and thinking, well, however you want to look at it, I
felt pretty good about their chances to steal the game. But you know,
Boston with a twenty zero round of the first half, it looked like it
was going to be over as I watched it. But I watched this game
up to halftime. The Pacers Pascal Siakam, they got it down to a
half dozen. It was a six point game at the half, but then
in the third quarter it was mostly Boston, but the Pacers did inch within
a bucket there the third but Tyrese Halliburton got hurt and then that's pretty much
it. And that is going to be the main storyline for Game three.
Halliburton and his hamstring and his availability in Game three, that is the big
question and the series. Of course, if Halliburton, they might lose anyways
and might get swept anyways. But if Halliburton is out, I would think
that that would be a likely scenario. OH one twenty six, one ten
the final sixteen point victory for the Celtics. They're up to to oh On
the other side, it will be a game two. MAVs te Wolves Tonight
eight thirty in Minnesota on the ice, you had Dallas and Edmonton first game
of the Western Finals. Nobody listening right now stayed up to watch the end
of that one, although it was riveting. I watched the highlights today and
it ends up going Edmonton's way, three to two, double overtime. But
that's a hell of a game. With Edmonton now sitting here, they've got
so much firepower, but they've had this firepower, but the fire power is
being helped by a subtimely goaltending now and another edition of a local product,
Zach Hyman, who they signed as a free agent, who leads the NHL
Playoffs with the twelve goals. Hymen had a goal drive title, of course.
I mean if I asked you to say, hey, who are the
three players that scored the goals for the Edmonton Oilers, you'd say, probably
Hymen, probably Dry Title, and probably Connor McDavid, And you would be
right on all of that. McDavid, with thirty two seconds into the double
overtime scores he's about on the door step, right in the slot. When
Bouchard has been excellent for Edmonton, is over on the right side in the
corner. He throws the puck right front and McDavid is sitting there all alone.
That's going to be a scary proposition as a goaltender, Connor McDavid and
he just he shoveled it the passed from Bouchard. No chance there for Ottinger
winner for Edmonton. They're up one to zero. Two posts for the Stars
in overtime. And if you're looking for a key, how about five for
five of the penalty kill there for the Edmonton Oilers in game one tonight Game
two of the Eastern Finals. Rangers they got shut out in Game one eight
o'clock face off at Madison Square Garden and the Florida Panthers. They're going to
take a two to zero lead there. You're up to speed there. The
Pistons have a new guy calling the shots and we will go over what the
first order of business will be for Trajan Langdon, your new president of basketball
operations for the Detroit Pistons. Straight ahead here on x'es and Bros. And
the Michigan Sports Network Huge here for the Michigan High School Athletic Association. You
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on Facebook. And if you're looking for archive boys and Girls high school Sports
m h s a A dot tv. That's m hs AA dot tv twenty
four to seven. Everything you need to know about high school sports in Michigan.
Log onto MHSAA dot com. We played for the three that rushing field
with the game on the line, I'm Herman Moore Blons All Pro Wide Receiver.
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one or older. In Michigan to playing the old learn something new every day
in this state is just getting started. At six thirty five, headed to
this Memorial weekend, Dennismithian in for Matt Shephard Axes and bros. And I
have just learned something. You know. We have the ability for you to
of course call in on the Meyer Hotline, and we also have the availability
for you to participate the via the text. And this is now my fifth
show that I've been filling in. And I say, hey, text sports
radio to twenty one thousand. Well, the last time I was in I
just tested it out myself and I texted the sports radio and I was like,
hey, what's up Ben? You know it's then, you know,
And then Ben didn't say anything to me, and I thought, well,
maybe Bench just you know, he's you know, not into just being a
friendly via the text or with me. You know, I said it was
me. You didn't say anything. But when I say text sports radio to
twenty one thousand, sports radio is one word. And my problem is when
I tried it twice, it automatically corrected to sports radio and put a space
in there. Sports radio one word to twenty one thousand. You can get
in that way, and hey, Ben is very friendly and he's not ignoring
your attacks. You just have to put sports radio in as one word,
so try it out. That is something that has me kind of fired up,
and that just happened over the last five minutes. Now the question of
the day, and we're going to dive into it head first. Coming up
at seven to one. I'll answer the question. It's about the Lions where
Dan Campbell yesterday was asked by the assembled media whoever it was, Hey Dan,
do you see this year as super Bowl or bust? And Campbell with
five coffees in him, a couple shots of whatever else he puts in those
coffees and the hat with grit on it, stared down that reporter and said
he doesn't see bust, he sees super Bowl, which is a very nice
answer by Dan Campbell. But we want your answer and I'll give you a
myrie coming up at seven one. But there is some news with the Detroit
Pistons. Yes, they are still organization. They do plan on playing the
upcoming season. They do own the number five pick and the twenty twenty four
upcoming NBA draft. As we all know, they finished with the worst record,
but it fell to five, which felt very Pistons like with how things
are going. But the Pistons hired a new guy, a new leader,
Trajan Langdon comes in for the Pistons. According to reports, they are set
to hire Trajan Langdon as president of basketball Operations. Now I am going to
work through what I think his first order of business is now, you might
ask, and I asked this question myself when I saw that they were hiring
Langdon as president of basketball operations and that he had been the Pelicans general manager
since twenty nineteen, I thought, why would the general manager of the Pelicans
want to leave their situation and come to Detroit? And that's a good question,
patting myself on the back. Good question. Well, Langdon was the
general manager, but he did not have final say in personnel decisions. That
was David Griffin, who was the Calves, a guy calling the shot.
I don't know exactly what his title was with the Calves, but that's in
New Orleans. He was the one, which was a pretty easy decision,
drafting Zion Williamson. And that's why you want to be the guy that's calling
the shots. And Langdon is going to do that and we say, well,
is this a good hire. I'm not sure if it's a good higher.
The Pistons are in a real tough spot with the roster that they have
in you know, last year at this time I looked at it and said,
yeah, I know, they got a young roster and you just want
to take incremental steps and prepare yourself and try to surround Kate Cunningham with some
good players. And it's not like they were hit with injuries or anything.
Last year. They had their starting five what you would say, not a
bad starting five, maybe not a playoff team, but a team that you
know, you thought they might have something going for them, but no,
they didn't. They they don't play well. They didn't play defense at all,
they didn't shoot really well. And you know, in their their head
coach didn't see particularly interested in in coaching, which is going to be a
pretty big deal when you know you're sitting there on the sideline and you're Monte
Williams, who the Pistons brought in last year to be their head coach and
they gave him seventy six million dollars. Now, this is the first order
of business for Langdon. I think that if you're listening right now. And
I said that to you, you'd say, what do you think is first
order of businesses? You'd say, fire Troy Weaver and then fire Bonnie Williams.
Broom. These guys out start fresh that way. And I agree with
that. I don't know how Troy Weaver is staying around he is out.
I would I will put all of the money I have on Weaver being out
now. No, Williams is interesting. You know, it's not a cap
situation. The Piston's just oh, Monty Williams sixty million dollars more after you
know, the the six year, seventy six million dollar deal. And he
could say, that's a hell of a lot of money to you eat if
you're Tom Gorris, although a report in the Athletics says that if Langdon wants
to move on, that Gorris will eat that money if Langdon decides to make
a coaching change. So I don't think that Langdon is flying up to Detroit
thinking the money's gone automatically. I think he's going to have an open eye.
Would I would think that he would have an open mind. I would
meet with money Williams. There's the perception if Langdon was asking me, what's
up with you? What do you think of money Williams. I would say,
it looks like he just took the Pistons job just because they offered him
seventy six million dollars. He even said something to that effect when he was
hired and he had fired by Phoenix. It felt like, you know,
after all of this, that he was just perfectly content to live his life
as a multi millionaire and chill. But the Pistons said, hey, how
about seventy six million guaranteed? Who say a no to that? Basically what
money Williams said. But then he coached like he had all the security of
the world and not a care in the world about winning basketball games. And
you can't have that as a head coach. You need somebody driven. You
need someone despite you know, making seventy six million, that he is just
grind it. It's everything consumed with being a head coach and moving this thing
forward. And Monty Williams did not seem like he had any of that,
any drive. He was reluctant to make lineup changes. He stayed with Killian
Hayes for some reason. What every single person that I've ever spoken with or
talked to that watched the Pistons and said, I don't know why Ice,
you know, playing Killian Hayes like he is. And and then finally,
you know, he finally made some moves at the trading deadline. Move some
guys out, move some guys in. But it's totally unspectacular, terrible as
a matter of fact, that's the way it looks. That's what I would
tell Langdon. Langdon's gonna sit down and he's got to look to the other
side of the table and say, money, tell me why you want to
stay here and coach this team. And he needs I would need an impassion
plea from many about what went wrong last year and how he just can't wait
to get out there and turn the narrative around that he's just sitting there and
collecting a check. Maybe he's ready to do that. Maybe he's ready to
Maybe he's already reached out to Langdon and said, I can't wait to get
the work. Let's do it. Whatever it is, it better be a
hell of a sales job from Williams. Now have he said everything that I
just said. I could easily just see him just sitting back. Bonnie Williams
and be like, you want to go ahead, I'll get this retirement underway.
I'll take I made the sixteen million last year. I'll take a sixty
million dollar check and I'll walk A lot of us listening right now think about,
Hey, you don't have to fly around, you have to be at
the pistons next year or the next five years. You can just take your
check, fold it up, put it in your back pocket, and fly
wherever you want for the rest of your life and your entire family as well.
So that is going to be the first order of business. Now,
if I had to predict, it's tough. I don't know much about Langdon
as a player at Duke, and that if you're worth anything as a competitor,
you are going to sell that as I want to be on the sideline
and I want to get this thing going. And you know, you know,
he doesn't need to throw Troy Weaver under the whatever. She used to
go out there and says, you know, he wants to here's his ideas
and he could sell it. But so I think he's going to get an
opportunity to continue coaching. Now. I do think if I was somebody that
was an NBA writer certainly a Pistons writer. And I was in the off
season and the editor said, you know, we're gonna need some content.
I would sit down. One of the first things that I would write was
Coaches on the hot Seat for twenty twenty four. Monny Williams's name is going
to be right at the top, and next to it, it's going to
be training at Langdon is the new basketball president of basketball Operations. He's not
standing for any thing like last year, and then he'll be gone. And
I don't think that he will be the head coach at this time next year,
but I do think he'll be the coach at the start of the year.
So those are the two orders of business for Langdon Waiver. I can't
see how he stays around, but I do think Money Williams will come back,
even though the Pistons are open to taking these sixty million dollars and flushing
it down the toilet. You look at the Pistons and you're training Langdon and
you're flying in, you say, all right, what do I got?
You got Kate Cuttingham. That's the first thing you already thought that Kate Cuttingham
could have been last year saying get me out of Dodge. It's the first
call I'm going to make if I'm trading Langdon saying hey, Cad, these
are my ideas, this is what I'm going to do. Everything should be
about can we get Kate Cuttingham to stick this out for give us a chance
this year. Kate Cunningham said all the right things last year about people were
like, hey, you went out of Dodge and he's like, no,
I don't. I'm in. He has said he's been all in. That's
a credit to Kate Cuttingham. Most NBA players in his spot just be like,
get me out of here. Other than that, Jaden Ivy, last
year's first round pick, User Thompson, you know he's a development piece.
Jalen Duran's nights. It's like these guys are Thompson a beef stew and Jalen
Duran. I think those three starters, those three guys, it would be
if you're talking about a playoff team. You'd like to see those guys coming
off the bench, and you know, having some guys that could score and
shoot in their place is individually they're not all that bad. Like I said,
Thompson, you expect a lot more from him and in the development side.
You know, the beef do is just like he's okay, and he
would be best unless you have four tremendous players around him. He would be
best coming off the bench. And I would say the same thing about Durreat.
So really it's it's cutting Ham and Ivy. Pistons do have sixty two
million and cap space, But you look at the free agents. Is Spicy
p really going to take, you know, some max offer from the Pistons.
Pascal Siakam, he's there in Indiana right now, He's going to be
a free agent. The way he's playing, he's going to command the top
dollar. Is he going to look to the Pistons and say, yeah,
it's a quandary when you're talking about the very free agents. If the Pistons,
you know, would offer a max deal because they would only be coming
for the money, but hey, you've got it, you're at least going
to offer it up, at least to him. Demark DeRozan is also a
free agent. He would also be another one. These are the top two
targets I would think for Langdon. Other than that, you know, I've
seen the name Tobias Harris. I think he played for the Pistons. Maybe
that's why, But I haven't really felt Tobias Harris since he played for the
Pistons. Was he was a disappointment in Philadelphia overall. So you're gonna pay
him a boatload of money. I would be hesitant to do that if I
was Langham. So if you can't get Siakham or DeRozan, you're gonna have
to piece some things together and then you're gonna have to show us what you're
made of that way. So good luck to Trajan Langdon who has that order
of business straight ahead. You want to dial in on any of that you
had the playoffs from last night. Boston goes up two to ozh at Minton
a double overtime. Connor McDavid scores thirty two seconds into the double overtime session
and Edmonton takes a one ozero series lead. They won three to two last
night. And we've got Panthers and Rangers and maps Tea Wolves coming up tonight.
Oh yeah, the Tigers. Tigers played last night and they lost their
fifth in a row. They are four games under five hundred and they get
beat up nine to one. I listened and watched the game, and it
wasn't encouraging. Tigers are now ten games back in the Al Central to the
Guardians, and the Royals are only a game and a half back. The
Twinkies six and a half games back of the Guardians, but low scoring early.
Jack Flaherty on the mound for the Tigers gave up seven hits, three
runs. He worked into the seventh inning, so not so bad. But
then Vladimir Guerrero Junior. The bullpen, which when we were sitting here,
certainly two weeks ago, you talked about, I talked about. You knew
it, Oh man, this bullpen, this starting pitching for the Tigers,
and you know now that has gone sideways. And the offense which perked up
here and there you thought, oh hey, now the hitting's going the pitching's
going south. You know, now both of them are ore south and that's
not a combination that's going to make anybody excited. The story of the game.
However, as I was a dry around, I was listening to the
radio broadcast. Dan Dickerson is working with the former Tiger Andy Dirks in the
broadcast booth, and Dickerson's like, I don't know if that was a splitter
or not. I don't know if that was a slider. We don't have
our our television booth. We have had a power outage here at Comerica and
okay, Dan, I got ya. But then I tuned into the game
and Jason Beniti it was two seconds ahead of the television copy. The audio
was done, I think over his cell phone. It was the worst sounding
and the worst presentation. Not their fault. I don't know though. Whatever
the power outage was, he couldn't get it going. But it lasted so
long, and the jokes, you know, the power outage. We're a
parent for this for this Tiger team and just yea terrible all around situation for
the crew there. The tree had to make the best out of it that
they could. But in the end, when you lose five in a row
and you get the broadcast like that, just they thumbs down all over,
thumbs up on the Lions, though, super Bowl or bust. We're gonna
dive into that straight ahead on this Memorial weekend. I'm den it's fifthy and
in Formatt Sheppard ben Zos is here are the ones and twos on Exes and
Bros and the Michigan Sports Network. Imagine this the day filled with indulgence,
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of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed our
neighbors. Get your tickets now at Meyer LPGA Classic dot com. Everybody,
it is x'es in Bros. Here on the Michigan Sports Network, Matt Shepherd's
off for this holiday weekend. I'm Dennis fifty in coming in off the bench,
ready to fire and ready to go. Let's dive right into it.
It is Lions front and center, and the question to you is a Super
Bowl or bus this season for the Lions? That was the question posed to
Detroit Lions head coach yesterday, Dan Campbell. He says he doesn't see bust,
he sees super Bowl. What about you? What about you sports fans?
When it comes to the Lions, do you consider it a Super Bowl
or bus type situation? Now, joining us is easy. You dial in
eight sixty six eight three eight forty eight forty three. That's the Meyer hotline.
Eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. I'd love to
hear from a first timer. Heck, since I've only done a few shows,
everybody that calls for me is a first timer, So I would like
to hear from you. You also have the ability to text us and get
your thoughts in that way. You text Sports Radio one word to twenty one
thousand, and then you get a prompt and then you text it and we
read those texts over the air, and it's a lot of fun. It
feels good, and you put your name next to it, and then you
know that's cool. I the previous few shows had run into an issue because
I was trying to say hi to ben Zos, who is the producer on
the Variable Resistors, and I text Sports Radio a few times to twenty one
thousand and I was like, hey, Ben, and I never said anything,
and I thought, wow, well, you know he's not responding to
just a little high bend. So I did it a couple times. I
didn't think anything about it, but I was putting a space between sports radio
sports radio all one word. Now, it might take a little bit of
work because when I tried it the first time, it automatically put a space
in there. So but once you get it down, you do get that
prompt and you can participate that way. So that's it with the Lions.
Is it super Bowl or bust? I'm going to answer that question to myself.
Tigers lose last night. They've lost five in a row, nine to
one. The Jay's pound them elsewhere in the playoffs. Dallas takes a one
zero lead in the Western Finals. They get a Connor McDavid goal in double
overtime. Maybeat Dallas three to two. The Boston Celtics go up two oh
in the Eastern Conference Final. They went by sixteen at the Garden last night.
Halliburton from the Pacers pulls a hammy and leaves in the third quarter in
a big question mark next to Halliburton's status for Game three obviously something to monitor.
We've got Panthers Rangers, Game two tonight, Game two, MAVs t.
Wolves, all of that out there. Pistons hiring Trajan Langdon as president
of Basketball ops and he'll be calling the shots. Talked last hour about what
he needs to do in the first order of business when it comes down to
it. Now, the Lions made the NFC Championship Game last year and the
town, the state is on fire. Everyone has Lions fever and the only
prescript sit is a super Bowl to get it done. And so, yeah,
the first thing you want to say is yes, and is super Bowl
or bus for this team? And the super Bowl for this team is achievable,
but it doesn't necessarily have to be this upcoming season. Now, it
would be great, you know, for years it was suggested it would be
talked about I couldn't handle it talking about the Lions and the super Bowl,
that these two things didn't fit and it didn't matter. People would still say,
could you just imagine what it would be like if the Lions won the
Super Bowl? A? Yeah, can you imagine if I won the lot
You know, like, sure, yeah, it would be great, but
we just we had the experience last year of somewhat of what it would be
like, and everybody for years to say, oh, it pale in comparison
to the Wings and the Pistols. If the Alliance wanted just the way everybody
would go and the way everybody would act. And then I always thought that,
you know, dealing with Detroit sports fans, that Detroit sports fans would
be. They'd be all upset if they made the Super Bowl, about the
national media not giving them credit, talking about the other teams, somebody taking
a shot at Detroit City, all those things that you know that happened over
the years, and it wouldn't be about actual alliance. I couldn't have been
more wrong about that last year. During their run, they were the darling
of the NFL, and they deserved all of the credit that they were getting.
They have put together and an incredible team built inside out, with their
calling card being a tremendous offensive line. But they can get you through the
air, they can do it on the ground, and now thinking about where
they needed to improve, they've popped the hood on the defense and they've gone
to work there. So you should feel great about the chance. But the
run last year it was. It was better than I even thought that I
could have imagined. And I heard everybody talk about how great it was going
to be. But the win over the Rams was the most incredible game that
I've ever seen from the Lions, most exciting, most intense, and the
greatest in Lion's history, at least in my lifetime. And they followed it
up with another win, and then at halftime I do remember saying and even
tweeting out, the Lions look super, but they've got one half to go,
and we know what happened there. But the Lions have a window.
But this this doesn't sound as nice. The Lions have a shot, I
would think in three years to get this done. So it's a is it
a three year or bus type proposition? That sounds a little bit. I
don't know if it sounds a vanilla easy cop out, lazy whatever he could
say there put the pressure on him for this year. I do think,
though, you know, we come up with a different scenarios. Let's just
have a scenario. I think that the Lions will win eleven games this year.
They're over and under his ten and a half. I think they're going
over. I think that they're gonna win the North. I think they're gonna
win a playoff game. I think that they'll get to the NFC Championship game.
This is how I'm thinking right now. But let's say they, you
know, they won a home playoff game, and then in the divisional round
they lost, I don't know, by a point to the Eagles or something
like that thirty one thirty incredible game they lose, would it mean that that
the Lions are a bust, that the Lions have gone back to be in
the the same old Lions, the not the new Lions. They wouldn't mean
that. Now. There are plenty of scenarios where you could say that they
could fall back, and there's going to be a lot of fans because they're
just used to it with their entire life, for their entire life, of
the team performing like they have previous to last year, that they are going
to have to fight that fight the ex spectations of the fans. So you
understand the question when it is presented about being super Bowl at bust or super
Bowl or bust. Now. Dan Campbell, in addition to saying that he
doesn't see bust or super Bowl, talked about the Lions. At this point,
he singled out a most improved player and it was Jamison Williams, the
twelfth pick of the draft a couple years ago. I want to talk about
him straight ahead. How much are you accounting on Jamison Williams. What are
your expectations for Jamison Williams. When you hear Dan Campbell saying, I mean
the hype train, jump aboard Jamison Williams most improved player from Thellions. What's
that mean? We'll explore that straight ahead. X'es and bros. And the
Michigan Sports Network. We're teaming off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic
for simply gives. Get ready for the best who are yet to help neighbors
in need while enjoying golf, food and family fun. Join us June thirteenth
through the sixteenth at Blakefield Country Club for fabulous food, discoveryland for kids,
and of course, elite women golfers from around the world competing to help feed
our neighbors. Get your tickets now at Meyer LPGA Classic dot com. So
Lions head coach Dan Campbell feeling pretty good about Jamison Williams in OTAs ready to
talk about that right now here this morning because holiday weekend seven eighteen. Dennis
Fithian in for Matt Shepherd on Axis and Bros. And the Michigan Sports Network.
I'd ask you if you share Dan Campbell's optimism about Jamison Williams, but
not just asking you about just what are your expectations for the Lions wide receiver.
Dan Campbell says he's the most improved player right now. What's that mean
to you? I take it for what it is. Give me your expectations
for the Lions wide receiver. Eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty
three. That's the Meyer hotline for you to join us. Eight six six
eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text Sports Radio one word
to twenty one thousand to get in and get that prompt and let it fly
there. We'd love to hear from you on that situation when it comes down
to the Lions. In the eight o'clock hour at eight thirty five, we
will talk with a Hall of famer in the baseball writing business eight thirty five
for that Tigers get blown out. They lost five in a row. They
lose nine to one to Toronto. They're ten games back. Silver linings from
yesterday is that they play again today, all right. So that's where it's
at for me when it comes to Jamison Williams. You know, his first
year he was hurt and the Alliance moved up to get him, and there
are a bunch of wide receivers that were picked right there. The Lions picked
twelve, and there were a few that were picked in front of him,
Drake London for one, a Lave for New Orleans for another one. And
then was that last year he got the gambling suspension and it felt like you
you can't tell you drafted it when he was hurt, so you can't say,
well, your best availability is availability. You know all that. There's
the cliches that you hear. But then I don't know how you look shooting
yourself at the foot and taking yourself off the field with the suspension. But
you thought it was stupid or not. It was a little stupid, A
little stupid from him, was stupid from the league, you know, to
suspend him with everything else. And then you would watch him and at times
he would flash the ability where you saw like now we know why this guy
is now we know why this guy was picked in the first round. Now
we see that this guy could be a difference maker out of the field.
But as many times as you saw that from him, you saw plays where
they would throwing the ball and he would just absolutely cold drop it. And
for most of the season last year it looked more like if you had to
push all in at different times on him being a bust or him being a
star, you were pushing it towards being a bust. Another drop from Williams,
I mean it was, it's there, it's front and center, you
know that. But then there are a few the game where he took me
the end around and went flying into the end zone. This is why it's
tantalizing to me. Sometimes I'll just see one play from a player and it's
one of those that whether it makes you jump out of your seat or your
just eyes open a little bit wider and you just see the talent and on
that particular run and jump into the end zone, I saw something that in
a league of incredible players and incredible talent and awesome athletes, I saw like
a one percent at the very top of all of that. That's what I
saw with the ability from Jamison Williams. So you want to do obviously everything
you can to be able to get the most out of him. I think
at first I thought, well, would I take double the production? Is
that fair? Well? The production wasn't all that great last year, So
before you would answer that, last year he caught twenty four passes for over
three hundred and fifty yards and had just two scores. So would I take
forty eight catches over seven hundred yards and four tens from Jamison Williams this year?
I would like some more scores honestly with that, but knowing the Lions
roster and knowing what this team has, I would take that. And Jamison
Williams is in a great position. He's not someone that gets out there.
Even if he came out and dropped a few passes off the bat and I
had everybody like, guy's a bust again, Dan Campbell saying, you know,
he's the most improved player at OTAs and he's a man on the mission,
A man on a mission. You love to hear that. There's no
doubt about that. It's not like when somebody says, hey, what do
you think about Jamison Williams and Dan Campbell says, well, he's got a
lot of work to do. We're you know, we're happy with this progress.
It's a pretty bland type statement. Dan Campbell saying he is a man
on a mission and that he is the most improved player at OTAs. Yeah,
when you are like me and you watched allions last year and you watch
this guy fly through the air and look like Superman when he has the ball
in his hands, He's the kind of guy that if you are thinking about
winning a super Bowl, He's the kind of weapon teams have where other fans
around the league are watching it say we need a guy that's explosive of like
that. This guy's a difference maker. He has got that in him and
he is in the perfect situation. He's got a quarterback that can deliver the
ball. He has an offensive line with a complimentary running game. And then
when you go through the weapons on offense at receiver, Amana S. Brown
is a wide receiver one. He is one of the better widest Why I
got rewarded with the gigantic contract. He is one of the better wide receivers
in the NFL. Sam Laporta is the best tight end. I have to
apologize to Travis Kelson. I'm not apologing Sam Laporta is one of the best
tight ends and he's only in his second year. One of the best wide
outs on the other side, with Saint Brown the best or one of the
best tight ends, if not the best, one of the best. This
is being conservative offensive lines. Same thing with their their their running backs.
No, I don't think David Montgomery is the best running back in the NFL.
I think that's Christian McCaffrey. But do I think that the combination of
Jamiir Gibbs and David Montgomery is one of the best backfields in the NFL.
Absolutely, this could be the best offense in the NFL. What would have
to happen, Well, you know, Golf could deliver the ball he gets
the time. You've got the tandem at running backs. You just talked about
Saint Brown and Laporta. These guys are proof of this is not a huge
stretch an offensive line who actually didn't really stay healthy last year and was still
effective. But you've seen the kind of talent they have there. Williams is
the piece that could take this to the next level, and the next level
is being the best and most explosive offense in the NFL. Now That's where
I'm sitting. How about you slamming down a little bit too much Honolulu blue
kool Aid today, I want you you get your thoughts on that, we
get some texts, we'll get to those straight ahead. Your expectations for Jamison
Williams, who Dan Campbell says, is a man on a mission. We're
on a mission to hear from you on this Memorial weekend on Nexison Bros.
On the Michigan Sports Network. Huge year for the Michigan High schoo Athletic Association.
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enjoyable Memorial Weekend. And I think it's just getting started. We're just getting
started here. I'm Dennis Fithian in for Matt Shepherd. A couple of things
I want to remind you about coming up. In ten minutes we continue the
Lions conversation, but I'm going to talk about going all in on a trade
and how you would feel about it. T Higgins an all in situation for
the Lions. In ten minutes, it leaves to explore that and an hour
from right now, we will talk to Tom Gage, the long time almost
forty year Tigers beat writer. We will get to that in an hour from
right now. Right now, we are discussing the Lions, and there's nothing
if you are a Lions fan this morning and waking up and did not hear
Dan Campbell yesterday, there's nothing that is going to light the fuse on off
season expectations, excitement just take off to the moon that Dan Campbell coming out
and saying Jamison Williams as a man on a mission, Jamison Williams has been
our best player in OTAs. That's what Dan Campbell, with his grit had
on, had to say in front of the media yesterday to all of you
Lions fans. So I'm asking you how much you're counting on Jamison Williams and
your expectations. I just say quickly before we go to the texts and the
phones, that is so tantalizing to think about if you would be able to
get the difference maker, playmaker, he is the part, he is the
piece that could take the Lions. I mean, we are looking at it.
We have talked about for our life. How do you get to the
top and how do you win. You win with a great line play quarterback
all over the field, but you win with difference makers and big time playmakers
and Williams. Although at times he's looked more like a bus than he has
all of the things that I'm talking about, he possesses that it where he's
just a stick of dynamite on the field ready to explode and be a difference
maker for a team like the Detroit Lions, who he's playing for. So
that's it. Eight sixty six eight three, eight forty eight forty three on
the Myer Hotline. That's how I think about it. We'll get through those
texts Sports Radio one word to twenty one thousand, we go to Mark and
gun Lake, who joined us on x'es and bros. Hey, good morning,
how you doing today? Oh doing great? Thanks for calling in.
Mark. I think coach Campbell is hitting around at using Jamison in some kick
returns, because if he's going to keep going for it on fourth down,
I think he can get better field position if we got a punt returner or
a kick returner to get that thing to midfield or maybe a little short of
midfield. But if you can average well. When he scored that touchdown and
in the playoffs, unfortunately we lost that game. But I yeah, yeah,
when he got through that line, he broke a couple of tackles getting
through there, and he kept his balance. I'm thinking, man, this
guy could probably return. So do you remember mel Gray from the Lions back
in the day. Yeah, I loved well Gray. Yeah, we all
loved Bell Gray. So yeah, I think he I think he looks a
lot like him with that acceleration and that speed and how he can he can
return that ball. But let me ask you one more thing and then I'll
bounce off the line here. I've been watching some of the NBA playoffs and
you talked earlier today about the Pistons, and I'm getting up maybe a different
person in there to help the team win or win a few games. Anyways,
these teams, these final four teams, these guys are gym rats.
I mean, you can tell this is brutal basketball. These guys are killing
each other. They're running all over the place. They look totally different than
the Pistons, And I think the Pistons got to spend a lot more time
in the gym instead of figuring out why they're losing games. Because these teams
are running, I mean Indiana and Boston. That's all they see these guys
do last night was run. They played defense, if someone was covered,
they passed the ball. They share the ball a lot. So I want
to hear your thoughts on that, if you got a minute about talking about
the Pistons just getting into that gym and focusing on being gym rats. I
mean, they got to start, they got to start winning some games for
people to go back down there. So I think you're doing a great job
filling in for Chef. Thanks for taking my call. Now I'll listen off
air here. Well, thanks Mark for calling. And yeah, I mean
there's a stark contrast when you were watching these playoffs and then you watch the
Pistons during the year and the things. There's a lot of different things that
jump out to me. One is that when you see a team like the
Celtics a starting five, that there's just there's no everybody can do everything.
And Al Horford, who's actually uh, you know, backing up porzingis while
he heals up, could come back this series. He can dial it in
from downtown. And of course they've got the the one two combination of Brown
and Tatum, but Drew Holliday is totally underrated. Derek White. I mean
they've they're coming at you from all five spots, and all five players can
do everything that you want. When you look at the Pistons lineup, they
don't have that Cuttingham can do it at all. Who else? Not many?
They got other guys that need to work on they're all around games.
To your point about getting into the gym, can they develop? I think
that Thompson, the rookie from last year, you know he needs to develop
clearly his offensive game, his outside shot, him being able to put it
on the floor, take it. Ivy needs to work on his outside game.
Isaiah Stewart has, but you know there's a ceiling with him. I
also think there's a ceiling with Duran. But you can have like one guy,
like let's say it was Asar Thompson, they'd say, okay, this
is a project. But you can't have three guys, four guys and your
starting lineup that have holes in their game like the Pistons do, or you're
gonna end up seeing everybody in the standings. And that's where the Pistons are
at. They look up and they see everyone and I know, it's easy
to say, well, yeah, Boston, they have the best record in
the league, they're gonna win the NBA Finals. How about the Pacers.
Pacers seem like the same way. I don't know they you know, they
got spicy p Siakam, who's awesome, who's going to be a free agent.
Obviously Halliburton, which burns me and should burn everyone as a Piston fan.
Because it was only the twenty twenty NBA Draft, we only have to
look back to then to feel like, oh yeah, Anthony Edwards was taken
number one by Minnesota James Wiseman, who is on this Piston team, but
as a bust that's sitting there. But the Pistons took Killian Hayes at seven,
and they were going after a point guard. It was pretty clear that's
what they needed for their team at the time. The next point guard off
the board was ty Reese Halliburton, killer for the Pistons. Oh yeah,
Aaron Netsmith, who is starting for the Pacers. He was also taking a
few picks after Halliburton. And you look at the way he's been playing.
It played great last night or nimhard. I mean, these are these are
not players that are out there that are household names that fit in. Though.
That's the thing with the Pistons just you can you could have five moves
like this, but just recently Haliburton over killing in Hayes, Donovan Mitchell going
one pick after the Pistons take uh Luke Canard, one little thing and this
course of this UH franchise is going to be different. Instead, you know,
they got enamored with the the process and the multiple year tanks, which
the next guy that comes into an NBA franchise that says, there's my game
plan is a multiple year tank. I'm not the owner. I was saying,
you know, well, what do we do you do for thanks multiple
year? Take the idea of the Detroit Pistons and they're Troy Weaver. Yeah,
let's how about some texts. We get some time to squeeze some text
here. Let's go to b Z. It's ben zos. What are we
looking at? This one is back to if it's Super Bowl or bus for
the Lions. Trash man Niles says bust. He says Green Bay Packers are
coming into Detroit round one of the playoffs and knocking us out and Thanksgiving too,
Well, let's let's let's take that of text right out to the trash.
No, you know, the Packers are there, and the Packers get
their quarterback. And I was looking so closely at the Packers yesterday and all
of their moves. Yeah, they they cut David Baktyari, their longtime tackle,
and also moved on from Aaron Jones. They're outstanding running back with their
replacements for those guys, Josh Jacobs. And then they go to the draft
and get Jordan Morgan. Yeah, the Packers aren't going anywhere the Lions and
Packers is you know, you're talking about them coming in and knocking them out
of the playoffs and all those things. I see a split between the Lions
and Packers this year. That is the most formidable team in the North that
the Lions are gonna have to deal with. But right now, the Lions,
trash man, they have more talent, They have a better team than
the Green Bay Packers. You say, yeah, but the Lions defense really
sucked last year. You know they their pass a defense total defense was nineteenth.
It's not like the Packers were sitting there as a top ten defense.
The Packers were at sixteen pound for pound player for player from the Lions and
Packers. I just complimented them. But the Lions have more talent and are
the better team. What else are we looking at, Ben, Yeah,
it says a bust indicates that you have one shot at this. Detroit has
a foundation and they have a window of time to hopefully have a couple cracks
at the super Bowl. Just like Michigan was in the playoffs three times,
it may take a few shots for Detroit as well. So it's not a
bust. It's windows open and expectation. Expectations are the super Bowl. I
think that's what Dan meant. Dan very well thought through and excellent text texts.
More often those are the kind that that that nail it right on the
head. That's the thing college, you know, it could feel like a
bus because you only have that window with that team that year. That's the
thing with the Lions, that that gives you so much hope. Last year
when you look at it, you know, nobody would say, you know,
we're not looking at it and say it was just a fluke. No,
that doesn't it didn't seem like it was a fluke at all. They
won twelve games, They should have won more. They should have gone into
the Super Bowl. I know, the second half and everything else, but
we've gone through the position groups, I mean, the offense and then if
you can add in the shooting star of Jamison Williams, you are really talking
about something lethal on one side of the ball and they do have that window.
See how far that defense could take them on that. I love the
text. Great, great job Dan. Are we going for more? Yeah?
We can do one, do a couple more, one more, a
couple more. Yeah, it says as we know in the NFL, nothing
is a given. You have to earn every year and the Lions are no
different. I am fired up and ready for the challenge. Let's go Lions.
That's from Jyd and Kalamazoo. Well, j y D, I'm right
with you there, and we have a long time to burn between now and
the start of the season. But that's it. This is off season and
this is so much why I like, you know, now, being as
present as I possibly can heading into this Memorial Weekend. All of the years
prior and the it it uh, it's just felt like off season false hope,
like why not us that kind of stuff, But now it's real.
What you can look at it's you see it. You go through the roster,
you look at the talent, you you know how this thing fits in.
Obviously they have to go out there like jyd to get the the job
done. But yeah, they keep hammering that, no doubt what more and
then we will get you ready straight ahead for the possibility of adding a big
piece with this team. What's what's the last one we're gonna squeeze in here?
Yeah, this is a question from Freddie. It says Dennis, if
Dan Campbell was manager of the Detroit Tigers, would they be in first place
right now? This team plays like aj talks like pain drying. Well,
I'm gonna disagree with you on aj Hinch. You now, like, do
you want I think if Dan Campbell was down on the dugout, I like
not like other folks. I don't mind once in a while a manager taking
a batrack and you know, throwing it out on the field, or taking
the cooler, or or spilling over the food spread in the locker room.
I like that kind of thing once in a while. You can't just be
crazy and do all of that. But I think that aj Hinch is the
least of their problems. The problems. You look at the players that they
have acquired, especially the ones that they have acquired with the first overall pick
up the draft. You're expecting these guys like of Paul Skeens, who's going
to be pitching for He pitched last night, He's gonna be pitching Wednesday afternoon
at America Park. He was taken at one one. So is Casey Mice.
Skeens right now is being talked about, Oh, you hadn't seen a
guy like this since Strasburg, who was also taken as the first pick overall.
Strasburg won a World Series. You're hoping that you get a Strasburg or
Skeens. When you take a guy number one like that, or Torque who
was also taken at one one, you're thinking about, Uh, I don't
know Bryce Harper who was taken at that spot. These are the reasons that
the Tigers are where they're at. And also their owner, who is just
tiptoeing and is very much the opposite of his dad, who was conc assumed
with the challenge of getting the Tigers to the postseason and trying to win a
World Series. Chris Ilich comes off as somebody who is the exact opposite of
that. It happens. It happens, But he it seems like he is
much more concerned with the bottom line and how much money that they're pulling in
and every other position that he has. And it's not about being consumed at
all about the Tigers with a winner. But Hinch is the least of the
tigers problems. He's actually something they have that is going for him. If
I was putting together a ledger, all right, we uh will continue on
coming up at eight oh one. I was getting into if the Lions.
I've been making the case for them going all in on a big time trade,
and we will get to that at eight oh one. The name T.
Higgins doesn't get any bigger than that. Now we're talking about an outstanding
wide receiver and Jamison Williams an absolute star, and Higgins he wants out.
Would that be an all in move? Could you even think about that as
a Lions fan? That will lead us off. We'll get to some baseball
coming up. At eight thirty five. Tom Gage will join us. We'll
ask him if AJ Hinch is a problem, as a Freddie suggests via the
text, all right, so it is memorial weekend. We've got an hour
to go. We are going to bring it and we'll continue hitting on these
on these lions. And we've got that Tiger's talk as well. I'm Dennis
Fifthy in ben zost is here as well, fielding your calls, reading your
texts. Matt Sheppard enjoying hopefully his holiday weekend. He's working all Weekend's kidding
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Classics dot Com. Get some facts and come back and SEV. Get some
facts and come back and CEV. Don't throw out salaries or other things.
Get some facts and come back and CEV. You can't handle the true now,
total players, you need to b more like you do. We don't
need a bunch of cats in here. Looking in the mirror, I look
good. I got my extra bands on, I got my others shoes.
Be a doll. We don't need no meals. We don't need no cats.
We need more dolls. I a lot at the time, are you
not? At the time, we weren't good. There's no sense of asking
me things about the game. I'm telling you we laid an egg. So
I'm not gonna break it down for you. He sucks. He sucked.
He laid an egg. That's all I have to say. Guys, I'm
sorry. I'm not going to break it down for you. Nothing went well
for us. It's on us. We have to figure it out and we
will. It's your dad. Tigers laid an egg yesterday at Comerica Park,
coming home after getting swept by Kansas City, losing nine to one. Welcome
in to the eight o'clock hour tennis. Fithian in for Matt Shepherd on x'es
and Bros. I'm the Michigan Sports Network. Yeah, nine to one.
Tigers have lost five in a row. Coming up in a half hour,
we'll talk some Tigers with Tom Gage, a long time I'm Tiger beat writer.
Right now, we're we're talking about the Allions. Is it Super Bowl
or bus? Dan Campbell, Lions head coach, answered that question, also
got the hype train going for the Jamison Williams, calling him the most improved
player, saying he's a man on the mission. He's a man on a
mission. How much are you counting on Jamison Williams? What do you expect
from him? And there's a couple of questions that we have out there.
You're just waking up tuning in Celtics beat the Pacers, Oilers in double overtime
over the Stars down in Big d. Those are your finals in basketball and
hockey and of course baseball. I said, would it be something that the
Lions would think about doing going all in for T Higgins, the outstanding wide
receiver for Cincinnati, who's doesn't want to sign any kind of franchise tag.
He's trying to get DELT. He wants a long term deal. He wants
to get DELT. And you think about the Lions and the position that they're
in, and could you add a T. Higgins? And the first thing
you think, you know, you get a big name, and you get
the Lions offense, and you already got him on our Saint Brown and you're
looking over there and you got left Porta and and everything that you know,
and then we're just talking about Jamison Williams, Like, wow, how about
T Higgins? This could be the best offense in the league. If you
were able to bring T. Higgins in now, that might be the best
offense in the league. Anyways, if if Williams even comes close to the
kind of hype that has been bestowed on him in the last twenty four hours.
The reason I here, I bring it up to kind of get everything
going. But then here's the bunch of cold water on to bring in a
T. Higgins. One if the Lions were going to make a big swing
and go all in, so to speak, it would be on the other
side of the ball. If you follow Brad Holmes so far, at least
through now this upcoming being his fourth year, there's no track record to suggest
that he's doing anything all in. You know, he has not gone after
that big name in free agency. Maybe you think Kevin Zeitler, the offensive
guard from the Ravens that the Lions brought in to fill in on their offensive
line. That's you know, a big name for you all right, DJ
Reader on the defensive side at the defensive tackle. But you know, trading
for Carlton Davis or you know, signing Marcus Davenport. You know those aren't
going all in moves. So a little bit of cold water wrong side of
the ball and then wrong general manager think about the big swing and going all
in. But maybe you know he's got a tree. You know, you
say all of this, but then Holmes is sitting back there, and if
I could see him going completely against what he's done, and you know,
even bolstering the offensive side if the deal was right, because the Lions are
in that position where it is a piece or two a player or two where
you were talking about the possibility of this team winning a Super Bowl. He
knows that, I know that, you know that the movie's going to make
what's it going to be? And honestly, just got to continue this is
that's just kind of hang in there, hang around. This is not we're
not ready to push all of our chips in yet. We're Yeah, we
got some stacks that we're firing once in a while here on our poker analogy,
but not all in Let's go to the phones. Where are we going
to Ben? Yeah, we got Freddy on the line. Oh Freddy,
Freddy, how are you? Good morning, Dennis? How are you baby?
I'm doing good, Freddie. I hope you have an enjoyable Memorial weekend
you as well, Buddy. We gotta get you back on the radio full
time. You're You're much You're much needed, I'll tell you that. So
now, people that are answering this question super Bowl or bust are not answering
it with emotions right now because the football season's out here. They're not watching
the games. You're fooling yourself if you're saying it's not super Bowl or boss.
This team doesn't win a super Bowl in the next I'm not gonna say
five ten years. Let's forget about that the next two years. If this
team doesn't win a Super Bowl next two years, it's an absolute bust.
Okay, because the Rams went to the Super Bowl with Jared Golf and it
was a bust for them. And what they do. They shipped them to
the town and they brought another quarterback to win the Super Bowl. So this
team, if they don't get to the super Bowl this year, I don't
care what anybody says. Half of this fan base is gonna turn on Jared
Golf because they the Golf is a likable guy, good dude, you know
the Jared Golf chants and all that stuff. But he'll be the number one
target if he doesn't get to the super Bowl this year. Absolutely, there's
no doubt about it. But's with the money he's gotten, and it's it's
super Bowl or busts. This team has never won Super Bowl's never been to
a Super Bowl. They smelled it last year. They blew it in the
second half. They absolutely blew it. And and I just think people if
they say, well, it's you know, we don't if we don't get
the Super Bowl. It's okay, you're not you're not dealing with the emotions
right now. You're not watching the games. Once the game starts, your
emotions are going to be completely different. Well you're right about that, Freddie.
If we could fast forward to the divisional round right now, and I've
talked a little bit about it earlier, and you know, the Lions lose
by one point to let's say the Eagles. What you're saying is exactly true.
For twenty four or forty eight hours, people are gonna be out of
their mind and the windows slamming shot and everything else. But you get a
little further back, and you do if you if you don't have the kind
of team where you think that they could run it back and they still have
a window, I mean, that's going to be the thing that you have
to remember. Sure, the emotion. You know, there were people last
year after they completely melted down, that like, this is back to square
one, this is their one chance. This is the same old Lions.
But people even that thought that, after a week or two looked at this
and said, well, you know, this is this team has all of
the components to come back and be in the same position next year, and
you know, we don't know because there's a lot of factors. And sometimes
the window looks wide open and then that's slam shut so fast. And you
know, so there is that danger. But you know, and you even
said it yourself. You put two years on it. If they don't win
in two years, I said three, So we're not that far apart.
I look at it as a three year window or bust. But you know,
it could it could slam shot. I go back to the conversation we
had yesterday. I said to you the two thousand and six all seven Tigers,
right, I always look at Jim Leland and Dan Campbell is the same
person. They know how to manipulate the media. They know how to talk
to the media and motivate their players. That's what they do that makes that's
what makes them great. Now you the old six Tigers, they blew it,
dance chanced. Those these chances don't come along in life, not just
sports. In life, when it comes around, you gotta grab it because
you're never guaranteed. And the Old six Tigers are proof of that. And
I'm not saying this team is well. Even Dan Campbell said at the end
of the year last year. It's not gonna be easy, boys. And
when you get that chance, you gotta grab it. And if you don't,
it's gonna take a long while before it comes along. So go get
that super Bowl. Just shut everybody up, because this town deserves it.
I like your Tiger analogy. You know, thanks Freddie. You know,
in two thousand and seven it was a collapse, and then remember there was
the tie breaker game with the Twins. That felt like it was all over.
But what did they do? They made some key moves. They had
a core, including Justin Verlander at the top there. But then they got
Cabrera and they look. They made it to the Alcs in twenty eleven,
in twenty twelve, they made it to the World Series in twenty twelve.
They were back. They were right there. They should have I can't say
they should have won, they were I thought that they were gonna win.
But the point is is that it wasn't over for them. The Tigers did
have that window. It wasn't two thousand and seven wasn't a World Series or
bust for the Tigers. A little bit of a if you can squeeze it
in. And we're comparing baseball to football. As much as that's hard to
do, I think that that's the part that I look to spin a little
bit forward. The Tigers did have other opportunities. Good job, Freddie will
continue on talking about the Lions and the Super Bowl and their most outstanding player,
their most improved player, and the player that is on a mission.
According to Dan Campbell, Jamison, Williams, Axes and Bros. Michigan Sports
Network, we're teaming off our tenth year at the Meyer LPGA Classic for simply
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now admire LPGA Classics dot com. Does it feel like the holiday weekend because
it's here? Memorial Weekend twenty four Dennis Fithian inn for Matt Shephard this morning
the Michigan Sports Network. We're taking your calls, but talking about the Lions
a lot. It's one of those days where you have the Lions yesterday.
Dan Campbell, their head coach, was asked if it's super Bowl or bust
at OTA's in a news conference there, and he said he doesn't see buss,
you see super Bowl. And then he was like ll cool J and
that beer commercial busted through the apartment in that train. Dan Campbell when he
came in and said, I have our most improved player, this Jamison Williams.
And then he hit the horn and everyone who went crazy when he said
he's a man on a mission. Now, you know, what are your
expectations for Jamison Williams? And if you if you just looked at the numbers
for his first two years, now he was hurt and then he was suspended,
and it's not good for a wide receiver that taken in the top fifteen
of the NFL draft when you look historically. But you do have to put
those two factors in. If you look at the negative side, there's you
know, he has been more times than not considered a bust or been on
a bust trajectory than he has any kind of you know, superstar. But
you know the thing is, you know he doesn't have to be a superstar.
You pick a guy in the first round with the idea that, yeah,
he's going to be a superstar. But what we have seen are big
drops in big spots. But we have also seen flashes of a brilliance and
so much so for me. And I don't even remember the game. I've
referenced it earlier. It was an end around where he scored a touchdown and
on like the five yard line. He do He didn't need to, but
he did, and it looked like he jumped from the fifteen yard line and
it looked like he jumped like fifteen feet in the air. It was.
It was one of those moments, one of the things you love about sports.
Sometimes you're watching it and just like, what did I just see?
I'm watching just some incredible talent. So he's got that and he is in
the perfect position you know, who reminds me of And we take your calls.
See we're gonna talk some tigers coming up in just over ten minutes.
And you know the numbers, let me give it to you. Eight six
six eight three eight forty eight forty three. That's the Meyer hot line.
Eight six six eight three eight forty eight forty three. You could text us
by typing in Sports Radio one word to twenty one thousand, you get the
prompt you can get in that way. He reminds me, I'm thinking of
Rashid Wallace, the former Piston. They going to work Piston who won a
championship. If I went for Rashid Wallace, they wouldn't have won the championship.
But if we went for Rashid Wallace, they you know, they could
have won two championships. I field of guarded Robert Riy, but you know
that's not what I'm here to talk about. But Rashid when he was out
with the jail Blazers, now it is loud mouth getting thrown out, smoked
his way off. You know, he suspend all of these things, ejections
left and right. He just wasn't that guy to lead you to where you
wanted. The awesome player, great talent, all of those kind of things,
but just it just wasn't He couldn't be that guy. And he got
into the Pistons where you know who could be that guy, Mister big shot
Ben Wallace could be that guy, and he fit in with with Tayshaun and
ripped perfectly. He didn't have to be the leader. He didn't have to
be the guy down of the post. He didn't. He just he was
able just to do all of the things that he could do. He actually
could go down to the post. He was great on defense and you know
you he could knock down for he was an incredible player and it just it
brought out all of the best things. And that's the position that Jamison Williams
in. I'm sure somebody had to tell him and they look at you are
in just an incredible spot. You got all the party, you got Brown,
you got everything that with his offense and you can put them over the
top. I'm looking on Twitter and it's been a good two days on Twitter.
Terry has been involved on Twitter. And here I have a tweet from
FTP who was talking about Jamison Williams and he says, Teddy Bridgewater was brought
in to mentor this kid. It's talking about Jamison Williams. He said so
at his presser and Teddy and Jamo himself did a wonderful job turning around the
first two years of off the field stuff. Kudos to both. Yeah,
old Teddy two gloves. He didn't do much on the field, but the
off the field stuff. Last week I saw him throwing as is a high
school coach. Now, it's throwing balls for high school kids. Not a
surprise from Teddy two Gloves like to see that. And if is a part
of it, just being able to turn around the off the field stuff,
I mean, the off the field stuff. What are we talking about here?
We're talking about he got hurt. I like, so I'm not holding
out against him. The suspension. Yeah, you got to be better than
that. You're the other players. You know, he could have been out
of here if and you know, so, if that's a strike or two
strikes, whatever it was, I'm not getting on him because he, you
know, likes to eat at McDonald's or go down to a Coney Island in
the city, which you know, some people it seemed like they were,
you know, or had something needed something to talk about there. But give
me that guy feeling good about himself and his life on the football field with
a ball in his hand and if he can't catch it, hand it off
to him. Because he's that kind of special talent. I don't want to
go overboard. But if we're lining up talent wise, the hundred greatest receivers
in NFL history, just talent Jamison Williams is going to be up close to
the front of that line. Now. I know he's you know, he
has not shown very much uh production on the field twenty four catches a couple
of TVs last year, you know, just over three hundred yards. And
you know what he's he's also a bust. You know what about talent playmaking?
You know that's where it's at when it comes down to uh JMO.
All right, I wanted to give this to you on this Memorial weekend.
If you're you know, you're not going to watch basketball, you're not gonna
watch hockey. You might want to on a Memorial weekend take in a war
movie and just for your viewing pleasure, I have three of them for you
that are available if you have Netflix and if you have not watched any of
these. I liked all three. Number one on the list. It's called
The Forgotten Battle Again. These are all on Netflix. This is one of
the best war movies I have seen in the last ten years. It is
in the marshes of World War Two and the Netherlands. I give it a
total thumbs up. All Quiet on the Western Front is also there on Netflix.
It got cashed in on some awards. It's very gory, so you
have you don't like. It's a war movie, but very gory but good.
And then Narvik also gets the nod for me as a thumbs up,
one that I wouldn't actually think, but I'm pleasantly surprised, and I gave
that a thumbs up. There are three war movies right there on Netflix.
Check all those three out. I think you'd like all three of those.
Little tip for me on this Memorial weekend. Oh you wanna tip on how
to cook a steak? Okay, I don't have to. Maybe next time
when I join you. Coming up straight ahead, we'll talks some Tigers with
Tom Gaates, the longtime beat writer. Next on the Michigan Sports Network,
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eight thirty five in the morning across the state of Michigan on the Michigan
Sports Network, Dennis fit the in in for Matt Shepherd on X's and Bros.
Hey, you can make all the jokes you want about the power outage
last night at Comerica Park, but there was a power outage in the booth
and on the scoreboard for the Tigers. They get beat nine to one.
You probably know that by now, as well as them losing their fifth game
in a row. But they got a lot of ball games to play.
That's all you can say. If you're looking for that silver lining. We're
ready to there's another silver lining as we're ready to talk some Tigers baseball with
a long time Tigers a beat writer, Tom Gage, who joins us on
the line on is in Bros. Live this morning. Tom, How are
you? How are you? Oh? I'm doing great, you know,
Tom. The only thing that would have been more perfect at talking with you
on the radio if it would have been right at game forty, but having
you around Game forty. It was game fifty yesterday, as you know.
But you know it's been forty years as the Tigers, well, the World
Series and that that forty you know that that game start H thirty five and
five and all that, which we'll get to, but you know, I
wanted to start you out with H that forty game. Marcus Is. It's
in Tiger's lore that Sparky said that you can't judge a team after forty.
Did he actually say that or was he just kicking the can down the road
to you guys. No, Dennis, he actually said that, and he
and and with Sparky, he usually didn't say things just once. He said
them many times. So I think he probably said it every year that he
was the manager. But he believed in forty, I know. And that's
probably because he didn't believe in thirty. It was one month. Was just
too fast to judge a team. So forty is a good measure, I
think, in my opinion, it's still a little short of being able to
judge a team. I think where the Tigers are right now at fifty games
is a better measure because you show your true colors. By fifty you've had
some ups you've had some downs, and now you're begin to settle in.
I hope the Tigers aren't beginning to settle in because they're not playing well.
But yeah, you know, I'm a little bit worried about that offense,
as people should be. They just don't score enough runs to support their pitching,
as you know. But you know, Sparky Party did leave in forty
games, and he said so often. You know, what happens to me
every year is that there's a team that gets off to an incredible start.
And this year it's the Phillies and they're thirty seven and fourteen right now,
they've you know, they've won six in a row. They're nine and one
in their last ten. But then you tell people like, yeah, it's
incredible, but you know, thirty five and five, you know that was
incredible. We're gonna get a little bit more of that, you know.
I was Jim Leland back in two thousand and six. As you know,
I don't remember what the game mark was. I think they had lost to
Cleveland and they were getting ready to fly out to the West coast, and
he tore into his team and the postgame media session he wasn't gonna stand for
this, and they got a lot of criticism right off the bat, like
like this guy's just coming in and he's he's, you know, putting his
team on blast that quickly. I say that, Tom, because we had
a caller earlier who said it was time to see some emotion from aj Hitch.
He wanted a rant, he wanted on a turnover the table spread or
something. Do you think that that could be in the offing here for AJ
Hintch, some kind of outburst or something. Well, Dennis, I think
it should be in the aufering, but I'm not sure it is in the
auten because I don't know Aj that well. I covered him a little bit
as a player, but I haven't covered him as a manager. But he
seems very methodical and very very He keeps his emotions pretty contained. I understand
he got upset the other day when somebody said the Tigers hadn't been competitive in
the game, and I think that's too bad because he limits you know,
he limits the media access to his coaches. And if you're the only part
of the coaching staff and managing staff that you allow the media to have access
to, I think you need to show up and not get and not get
upset at the question. I don't think the I know the big writer of
the Tigers now, I know them well, and you know they're professional,
They're not gotcha. They're not a crew that asks a lot of gotcha questions.
So I think media. I think a J. Hinch has it has
a nice situation here in Detroit with the media. Yeah. Well, I
know some of those guys of the radio actually are gotcha kind of guys,
probably the one that threw that question at him. So if you're looking for
a silver lining, if it's for the rest of this year or just moving
forward for the Tigers, what would you point to you You've seen so many,
you know, the seasons and then transitions and new general managers, and
obviously the Tigers have Scott Harris who's just in his second full season. He's
a young guy with thirty six thirty seven years old, but they've got a
low payroll. Is there what would you point to as a silver lining ahead
for this team? Well? I do think that they've developed some solid players
within the lineup, and the carpenter is proving to be a good, solid
hitter, and you know, they've done a good job and picking up some
of the pieces to fill in people like Abanyas and Ershula, and those are
very important players at the pickup. Brshel Was, I think quite important and
Flaherty. You know, the pitching staff has been to me, the starting
rotation has been outstanding with Flarerity and and Olsen and they but I imagine they're
getting a little bit impatient right now because they don't get any runs to work
with. You know, schoobol Is school is going to be a star,
and I think you could see that a couple of years ago. He just
has the stuff to win. And but you know, I've seen Flaherty pitching
person a couple of times. I know, I know he had problems a
little while ago, not this year, but in the past. But he's
throwing very well and I'm very impressed with him. So I think they're I
think there are good building blocks for the Tigers. They just don't have the
core of that offense. And the guys that are letting them down, of
course, are the young players, Tor Wolson and Riley Green. You know,
everybody likes the praise, right Riley Green and do us deservedly so because
he has a lot of rod talent right now, he's not playing very well.
Yeah, is that right? We got Tom Gage with us for a
few more minutes. Tom, I want to go back. You know you've
written a few books. You've got your fourth out right now, or it's
going to be out the Enchanted Season. You wrote this with Lance Parrish about
the nineteen eighty four team. I've already referenced them a few times. Tell
me a little bit about you know, this this particular book and working with
Lance. What was it like. No, I knew Lance very well as
a player. I also knew that he was rather contained with his comments and
and his emotion. And when the publisher suggested this book for the two for
the fortieth anniversary, I wasn't sure how how much I was going to be
able to get out of him, but it was. It turned out to
be a true delight working with Lance because he tried so hard to remember the
bits and pieces and and you know, the the major things and even some
of the minor components of that season. So we would have a couple of
conversations each week and as we want through the different chapters, and again,
I really enjoyed working with a Lance. He's a quality individual, and I
want to stress again, Dennis, he tried very hard to remember what nineteen
eighty four was like and also the other terms of his career. You know
too, might still go with Ben. Excuse me, what was that?
No, I didn't hear you. Oh yeah, I cut out for a
second. I'm stary. We're good. It was just right there at the
end of you talking about Lance. That's good, you know for my generation.
I was in high school, you know, so they bless you boys.
I had them. But you know, growing up with every one of
my uncles talking about the sixty eight team, you know, I knew everything
like that wasn't a chant of team. I knew all of it. And
then it seemed like I was doing the same thing with eighty four. And
the Tigers had their shot obviously, and what twenty thirteen, you know,
getting to the World Series. It would have been great, obviously if they
would have been able to you know, capture another one. But you do
go back and now it's just, you know, to reminisce about eighty four
almost each and every player, just how this thing was put together. But
Tom, take me back to the forty game. Mark, are you sitting
there and you're thinking, there's no way that this team. Now we were
talking about the Lions this morning about is a championship or bust. When you
got to the point where it was the forty gay mark, was it a
realization that this team is gonna win the World Series? There is this going
to be a major disappointment? Well, when when you got to the forty
game mark, and of course that was in Seattle and they lost the you
know, got sworped in this series. Here, I remember the team being
just they weren't basking in the glory of being thirty five and five. I
mean Sparky had that. I ope the conversation. The night before that,
the last game in Anaheim before they went to Seattle, Sparky was at the
team hotel and a guy from Dayton came up to him and said, Sparky
Anderson, boy, I'm from Dayton and I remember your big red Machine teams.
By the way, what are you doing now? And Sparky said,
here I was. I had the hottest team in the major leagues. And
a guy who supposedly was a fan of mine comes up and asks me what
am I doing now? And he said it was a you know It just
put me in my place and it reminded me that you know, we we
were thirty four and five at the time, but it really hadn't accomplished anything.
So Sparky had the mindset at thirty five and five that you better not
let any grass grow under your feet. You had to keep pressing, and
the Tigers did. Uh. For throughout the summer, I didn't play as
well as they began the season. Toronto was on their heels. They had
to play hard, and it wasn't really until September that they put it away.
But this summer was a great test for them and that's where they proved
their their quality of the team. Oh and it came to Smarky and I
was thinking about eighty four. I think, if you know, there's so
many different things to talk about. But the the audio of the World Series
when they had Goose Gossage and uh, it was it Dick Williams who went
out to the mound and they're having the conversation and then you know, they
show Smarty and they got young Gibby, who's you know, he's the cage
lion over there and he knew how to you know, poke and produm and
everything, and they've got the audio. You know, they don't want to
walk you. And of course he hits the home run, which is you
know, it's so famous and it was so great. I think like the
question here is is that how come we didn't hear more, whether it was
even in that World Series or anywhere. Sparky was omnipresident on TV back in
the eighties. I mean, he would you felt like you knew him all
the time. But just that audio on the field, I'd never heard anything
else. And but that clip was so great, you know, from from
Sparky with with Giving in the World Series. Oh, it sure was.
When Gibson had to play betting Sparky ten dollars that he was going to take
out he was going to hit one off of Gossage and Sparky not believe in
it. But you know, Sparky was in his uniform, he was Sparky
Anderson. In his away from the uniform, he was George Anderson. So
he was he was really two people in one. He really knew how to
turn on the charm and the personality when he was when he was in baseball
mode, but when he was George Anderson, he was just really the skill,
the kid from South Dakota. And that's what made him so interesting.
You know that the two the two people in one. He didn't he didn't
allow you to call call him George unless you were his friend or his or
a relative. I never called him George. I called him Sparky and uh,
but I really had great admiration for him, not just as a manager,
but as a person. And you know, he did such great things
for Detroit with the charity catch and uh he really wanted to give back to
the city. So uh, you know, he he was just a very
memorable individual. A couple of minutes there with with Tom Gage, Uh,
I loved you know you've covered it all though, but it's just as a
youngster, you'd always remember going to the game, you know here what Sparky
would come out or I think that was did he have the nickname, uh
Captain hook, you know, to get his pitcher. But he would never
he always made sure that he would not. He had the superstition of not
stepping on the baseline. I sad have been the third baseline there at uh
by right Tiger Stadium, third ane, and I remember it. If they
were losing and the crowd was bullying, and he used to he used to
stop on the way back to the dead Note and let people get express their
emotion because he thought they he said, they were paying customers. You know,
we were sticking up the joint. They had it, they had the
right to express their opinion. Tom, let me give you a couple of
quick hitters. You know, you're a member of the Michigan Sports Hall of
Fame. I've I've been to one of those banquets. Those are that's an
awesome time. But a couple of years ago, the Baseball Writers award you
with the with the spink and you're presented that at the Cooperstown or the Baseball
Hall of Fame. That's got to be at the very top of the list.
What's it like for you as a long time baseball scribe to you know,
have your name there at Cooperstown among all the greats, oh Dennis.
It was a thrill of a lifetime because that was before COVID, so they
the Hall of Fame observed the would present the award at Doubleday Field right downtown,
so you had to have a big crowd there and the Hall of Famers
would sit on the in the chairs behind you, and it was just I
mean, you really, I mean, you don't become a Hall of Famer
just because you win the Sprink Award. You're not inducted, but they treat
you like a Hall of Famer. And again it was it was a huge,
huge thrill. And I remember when I was done with my speech and
you know, the Hall of Famers were congratulating me, and one man came
across the stage and I said, Oh, is he coming over to talk
to me? And he did, and he was. He was the man
who expressed the most I think sincere congratulations for the speech I'd just given.
And and uh it uh, you know it was Sandy Kofax, and you
know that was just a great, great honor. And I you know,
again meeting meeting the Hall of Famers, uh, and being on their bus
and and having a breakfast with them. Uh. There's so many of them
that are gone now. You know, my good friend LK. Line and
Jim Bunning and Little Brock was especially gracious. Uh. And you know I
missed them all, but it was really great to know them well. Tom
the great story there, the Sandy Kofax and everything else and we are out
of time. I want to thank you. You know, I always treated
like broadcasters like me. Uh you know, I could have been a long
time writer, and you're always really gracious with your time, just like you
are today. I want to tell everybody the Enchanted season. I went on
my phone where I buy my books, and I saw it right there.
I could order it up, so I encourage everybody to do that. Tom,
thanks so much for your time, continued success. Always great to talk
with you. Well. Thank you, Dennis, and I really enjoyed being
on your show. All right, take care. There is Tom Gage,
the long time Tiger beat writer. Talk a little bit about the current Tigers,
and of course going back to nineteen eighty four. I want to thank
Ben and Zost for turning all the dials, doing a fabulous job here,
everybody else for listening, Matt Shephard for letting me pitch it. I'll do
it again in June if he'll have me back. Take care everybody, Xes
and bros. And that it's fifthy in here. I'm a Michigan Sports Network.
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later today at three, The Huge Show on the Michigan Sports Network