However and whenever the Pistons chapter of Joe Dumars’ life meets its conclusion, he’s already happily at peace. “Why wouldn’t I be?” he responded incredulously. “Man, the only thing you can do is invest every ounce of your energy and focus into doing the very best that you can with the resources available. People are [...]
The Jose Valverde Reunion Tour should be shut down. It was a worthwhile experiment. If it worked and he stabilized the bullpen, fine. If it didn’t, it cost the Detroit Tigers little. And considering that the Tigers are comfortably in first place in the AL Central despite the gloom and doom surrounding the ninth inning, [...]
Apathy finally claimed the Pistons with their latest coaching search. Joe Dumars spun the revolving door one more time, and it spit out Maurice Cheeks. The Pistons announced the hire Monday night. There’s nothing about Cheeks that excites. There’s nothing about Cheeks that irritates. There’s nothing about Cheeks that draws even a casual shrug. There’s [...]
Ben Verlander was on the phone. “What do you remember about growing up with your brother, Justin?” I asked. Ben said the first thing that popped into his mind. It was just a little story but it said everything. About Justin. And about Ben, the Tigers’ 14th-round draft pick. It was a pick-up game on [...]
There was no name on Jose Alvarez’s cubicle in the further recesses of the Tigers’ clubhouse, only his number 52. And that could have been written in pencil. He knew he wasn’t here long. “They told me before the game that I was going back to Toledo after,” Alvarez said. “I was happy with that. [...]
Jose Valverde leaned back in a leather chair in the Tigers’ clubhouse Saturday night, playing an online video poker game. Valverde looked calm. Composed. Relaxed. “I’m winning right now,” Valverde said with a laugh and a smile, looking down at a handheld device and talking about the poker game. Valverde might act wild and crazy [...]
Baseball cannot escape the cloud of performance-enhancement drugs. As long as there are players willing to cheat, lie and scam their way to guaranteed millions, there will be scurrilous figures confident that their shadowy science can stay miles ahead of antiquated drug testing. Only the perpetually naive believed the sport was cleaner post-BALCO with players [...]
The Red Wings failed against Chicago. Just call it for what it was. There has been enough sugarcoating the Wings’ sudden and startling demise against the Blackhawks that had many reaching for the nearest insulin injection. You can’t embrace the peculiar parity of the Stanley Cup playoffs in one breath and in the next argue [...]
OK. I admit it. I was wrong. Almost a year ago, after Zach Parise and Ryan Suter spurned the Wings and ran off together to the land of 10,000 Lakes, I wondered if Hockeytown had lost some of its luster. I didn’t think the Wings would make the playoffs, not after losing Brad Stuart and [...]
Another Game 7. Of course, it had to be this way. That’s what this team does. Nothing about this season has been easy for the Red Wings. This has been the season of adversity, and exceeding expectations, and drama at every turn. And so it will continue, at least for one more game after Chicago [...]