MY AM ADVANTAGE

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Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

 Social media won't allow Calumet native Ben Johnson to get a second chance in his bid to continue on a professional hockey career.

 It should serve as a strong message to young people that gifts from God in the way of athletic talent don't help you achieve big goals without dedication, hard work and strong moral character. Athletes are role models for young people who are held to a higher standard in the media spotlight. 

 Coaches rant all the time about consequences of hanging with the wrong crowd or getting yourself into trouble. 

Ben Johnson's brilliant career with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) was marred by an arrest and conviction on a sexual assault conviction. As an 18-year-old, he was accused of assaulting an intoxicated 16-year-old female in the restroom of a Windsor night club.

A third round draft choice by the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League (NHL), he was sentenced to three years in prison. 

He spent one month in a Windsor jail and another 12 months in a prison cell in Kingston, Canada.

Steve Martinson, a former Detroit Red Wing who serves in Texas as General Manager and Coach of the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) four-time Kelly Cup champion Allen Americans, signed Johnson on Monday. 

When initial backlash began on social media, Martinson dipped into what he learned during his brief time in Detroit where the media can be forgiving. You know, issue  a statement and try to find a silver lining.

He issued glowing comments about how Johnson has turned his life around since getting out of prison. "Since Ben’s incident when he was 18 years old, he has become a man of faith, a husband, and a father of two," Martinson said in a statement to the Texan media several hours after signing him two days ago.

"The easy thing for us to do would be to not sign this player, but we believe in second chances, and we believe Ben is a man committed to using his situation as a learning opportunity for others," said Martinson to try to cool the flames of social media outrage about suiting up this felon.

. "In his time with both the Kansas City Mavericks and Cincinnati Cyclones in our league, Ben was regarded as a good teammate and someone that has reformed his life,” Martinson said.

But it was Déjà vu for Johnson, no stripper joint pun intended. Just last month, the ECHL's Adirondack Thunder, a farm team of the NHL's New Jersey Devils, agreed to sign him but Adirondack ownership released Johnson less than 24 hours later, too. 

 Social media backlash there was bad, too.

Martinson's offer for a second chance also lasted through just about 24 hours of similar social media uproar.

It seems nobody wants to buy tickets to see a guy who mixes an old prison outfit number with great career numbers in the way of hockey statistics. 

Former Red Wing Martinson didn't get quoted in Tuesday's release of Johnson as he did when making all the nice comments about him when signing him on Monday. The comments this time came from the ownership group.

"After discussions today with ownership and management, the Americans made the decision to release forward Ben Johnson," the team statement said.

So what if he averaged a point per game since getting out of prison to resume trying to crack the NHL. It's not a good look for selling tickets when a scandal is exposed and social media spreads it like wildflower. 

At least that's how former NFL linebacker Myles Jack and his mother, LaSonjia Jack, felt about it. They already have a spotlight on them as the the first black majority owners in ECHL history when they bought the Ottawa Senators farm club for a reported $2 million price tag in 2023.

They couldn't take any more social media heat over the latest signing by their ex-Red Wing GM/Coach Martinson.

Johnson got to suit up for 182 ECHL games before his transgressions as a teenager surfaced to haunt him as a lightning rod on social media when Adirondack signed him. Before that, he had 143 points in those 182 ECHL games with Orlando, Cincinnati and Kansas City. And oh yes, a previous stint in Adirondack when nobody noticed his prison time during a 13-year stint there. He also scored 34 points overseas last season in 39 games with Slovakia's HK Dukla Michalovce and HK Spisska Nova Ves. They are among four European teams he played 117 games for during his rehabilitation tour.

 I'd color that tour black now. He's finished. Social media outrage took care of that.

Maybe he can return to Calumet and hibernate for the rest of the winter with the ice bears. Maybe family, friends and the old hometown hero feeling can help him figure out what to do with the rest of his life because his NHL dreams are over — dreams that once were realistic for sure. 

Johnson played in Ann Arbor for the US National Development team in 2010 before his OHL career. A 28-goal campaign in his third season of stardom with the Windsor Spitfires. Getting drafted by the New Jersey Devils. This kid had it all.

Then came a night of drinking at a Windsor night club where he met a drunken 16-year-old in a rest room and made a mistake that he can never escape because of today's social media. 

Closing note for those who don't remember Martinson's name with the Red Wings. He scored one goal and racked up 84 penalty minutes in 10 games under colorful Coach Jacques Demers during the 1987-88 campaign.

His numbers were not impressive (except the penalty minutes reflect why Demers' style was a hit with Red Wings' fans) but he made it to the NHL and that's memorable. He's in the history books. There were 39 more NHL games with the Montreal Canadians and the old Minnesota North Stars for Martinson — a Minnesota kid who had a 15-year career in pro hockey before getting into coaching.

Ben Johnson won't be remembered for making it to the NHL. He will be remembered for going to prison for an awful act committed as an 18-year-old in the rest room of a Windsor night club.
 

Read Old Sports Thoughts Columns

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint Sports Radio daily at 11:45 am via The Michigan Sports Zone Show to talk about Michigan sports teams and the latest sports world topics. This past fall marked his 50th year as a journalist.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — The Detroit Red Wings will be in action tonight (Dec. 31, 2025) with a New Year's Eve faceoff against the Winnipeg Jets.

It's set for 6:30 pm at Little Caesars Arena in Downtown Detroit. The radio broadcast will be on 97.1 FM The Ticket and the telecast will be on Fan Duel Sports Network.

The Red Wings are coming off their dramatic 4-3 victory on home ice over the Dallas Stars when captain Dylan Larkin produced the game-winning goal just 34 seconds into overtime after a late goal to tie it and force overtime as the Red Wings maintained their two-point lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the NHL's Atlantic Division.

 Detroit's 23-14-3 record has produced the second-most points (49) among the Eastern Conference's 16 teams. An astounding 11 of the 23 victories by the Red Wings have come in comeback fashion. Only the Philadelphia Flyers (13) have done better in the 32-team NHL. 

A team press conference was also held at the practice facility Tuesday (Dec. 30, 2025) as the Red Wings prepare to reach the halfway mark of their 100th season. Patrick Kane and James van Riemsdyk joined Coach Todd McLelland at the media event to field questions from reporters.

 Kane said he believes the Red Wings have been able to find different ways to win this season.

“That’s something we talked about during the offseason and Training Camp, is that resiliency,” Kane said. “You could easily see that game against Toronto [on Sunday] maybe go the other way last year or year before, but for whatever reason this year we’re finding ways to dig into those moments and turn the game in our favor. Even when it was 2-1, and we’re probably outplaying [the Maple Leafs] and they have the lead, we come back next shift and find a way to score, get a point and get the extra point. All those add up. I think that’s happened a lot throughout the first half of the year.”

Asked about the growth Detroit has shown since the start of this season, Coach McLellan noted that it can’t be measured by statistics alone, saying, “When you improve two percent in one area, one percent in another and you start putting it all together, the curve goes up. It’s not a steep curve, but we’ve slowly been getting better. I think the stuff that’s not measurable — the mental part of it and the game management stuff that doesn’t show up on a stat sheet. Analytics are really hard to evaluate, so probably in those areas more than anything.”

McLellan said there are other   intangibles that feature a "shared sense of belief" in his team's dressing room. “Confidence is a real important word,” McLellan said. “We use it often, and don’t want to take it to the point of arrogance. I don’t believe we’ve even gotten close to that, nor should we ever. That’ll be our job to stop it, but we want to maintain confidence. Respect is important too. I think we’re starting to earn some respect from each other in the room and maybe around the League, but with respect comes responsibility. Once you get respected, you better be responsible and live up to it. That’s the next phase that we’re going to have to deal with — we’re going to have to bring it every night now.”

The coach's assessment along those lines was something van Riemsdyk agreed with, saying, “We’ve definitely earned some of the confidence with the way we’ve played but it’s always about the next game, especially with how tight the standings are.  From one to 8 in our division, it’s 9 points. You don’t have time to not be ready to play any game, so you have got to give yourself a chance every night. Obviously, we have a ton of divisional games throughout the rest of the year. Every game for us is an important one, but we’re excited for that challenge.” 

The Red Wings also made some off ice news on Tuesday. They sent forward John Leonard back to their top farm team affiliate.

The 27-year-old had two goals and 4 points in 7 games with The Red Wings.

Leonard returns to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the 

 American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins.

the 5-foot-11, 192-pound prospect had scored 19 times in 20 games. His 29 points lead the team scoring still and his 7 game-winning goals lead the entire AHL.

Leonard spent the entire 2024-25 campaign with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, tallying 61 points (36-25-61), a plus-21 rating and 22 penalty minutes in 72 regular-season games. He, represented the club at the 2025 AHL All-Star Classic while earning a place on the AHL’s Second All-Star Team. Leonard also recorded 14 points (8-6-14) and 18 penalty minutes in 18 postseason contests, helping the Checkers reach the 2025 Calder Cup Finals. 

He was originally selected by the San Jose Sharks in the sixth round (182nd overall) of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft.

Besides this year's 7 games in the NHL with the Red Wings, Leonard has registered 21 points (8-13-21) and 4 penalty minutes in 77 regular-season games with the Sharks, Nashville Predators and Arizona Coyotes. He has compiled 200 points (102-98-200) and 68 penalty minutes in 269 AHL games with the San Jose Barracuda, Milwaukee Admirals, Tucson Roadrunners, Checkers and Griffins.

He is the older brother of Ryan Leonard, who was selected by the Washington Capitals in the first round (8th overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft.

A native of Westwood, N.J., Leonard played three seasons at the University of Massachusetts prior to turning pro, recording 105 points (56-49-105), a plus-30 rating and 42 penalty minutes in 106 games from 2017-20. Leonard earned First Team All-American and All-Hockey East First Team honors after leading the NCAA with 27 goals in 33 games as a junior in 2019-20. He was also named to the All-Hockey East Second Team as a sophomore after helping the Minutemen win a Hockey East regular-season championship in 2018-19. Leonard spent two seasons with the Green Bay Gamblers in the United States Hockey League from 2015-17, logging 43 points (24-19-43), a plus-four rating and 30 penalty minutes in 106 games. He also played three seasons at Springfield (Mass.) Cathedral High from 2012-15, totaling 151 points (91-60-151) in 72 games. On the international stage, Leonard represented Team USA at the 2015 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is John Leonard who has been sent back down by the Detroit Red Wings to their top farm club affiliate in Grand Rapids.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (CCN) — Going down in the pre-season with a hip injury kept Marcus Sasser out of the lineup for the Detroit Pistons until Dec. 6. Sasser had played in just 4 games since — almost entirely in the fourth quarter of blowout victories by the NBA's Eastern Conference leaders.

Sasser had taken only 6 shots from the floor all season, going into Tuesday's (Dec. 30, 2025) ballgame in Los Angeles against the Lakers. But with Caris LeVert out of the line-up, Sasser stepped in for the Pistons and played a season-high 24 minutes. He  scored 19 points on 4-of-6 shooting from behind the 3-point arc while adding 5 assists and two steals as Detroit handed the Lakers a 128-106 pounding.

The blowout moved the Pistons to 25-8 on the season while the Lakers dropped to 20-11.

The victory ended a two-game losing streak and also ended a 5-game west coast road trip.

Pistons' Coach J.B. Bickerstaff was impressed with Sasser coming off the bench to play so well with LeVert on the shelf, saying, "After not playing, but somehow always seeming to find himself ready for the moment. What he did isn’t easy. You know, it was not easy to not play a ton and then come out and to be as effective as he was...but that is this team, and we’ve talked about it all year. When guys get their opportunity, they have proved that they are ready for the moment.”

All-star guard Cade Cunninghma was also impressed, telling the media: “I think that’s a hard job to miss time, to not know when your name’s going to be called and you need to be ready. It takes a lot of grit. It takes a lot of like mental toughness. Emotional toughness, all that stuff, and (Sasser’s) got all that. I mean, he’s weathered the storm being out for so long, having to do extra work, trying to get back to the court.” 

Sasser's 19 points backed Cunningham who pumped in 27 points.

 Isaiah Stewart chipped in 15 points for the Pistons and Ron Holland scored 11 points. 

Detroit now returns home for a New Year's Day game at Little Caesars Arena against the Miami Heat.

Game time is 7 pm.

The radio broadcast will be 97.1 FM The Ticket and the telecast ill be on Fan Duel Sports Network.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Marcus Sasser of the Detroit Pistons.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

ANN ARBOR (CCN) — Michigan's new football coach took to the basketball floor Friday night (Jan. , 2025) at Crysler Arena to fire up fans and bring out his team of new assistants.

Kyle Whittingham, Utah's successful coach hired last month after Sherrone Moore was fired, was introduced to the sellout crown on hand to watch Michigan's basketball team pound USC in a battle of top 25 teams. He then introduced 10 assistants who he told fans would be "trying to be 1-0 every Saturday" and saying he "can't wait to get started."

Whittingham told fans his first order of business is to "find a couple more" assistants to fill out his coaching staff. 

Next up will be salvaging the damage after assessing how many players may choose to leave the program. The transfer portal for college football opened on Friday and players can leave Ann Arbor for another school until Jan. 16.     

Michigan captain Max Bredeson also made it official that he's declaring for the NFL Draft.  "I would put on the winged helmet every Saturday for the rest of my life if they let me," said Brdeson who was a key to the run game as a solid blocking fullback and tight end. Bredeson was a key contributor to Michigan’s national championship team with tremendous blocking as an H-back keying the potent run game.

The 6-foot-2, 240-pounder will be certainly missed next season along with six more starters who entered the transfer portal on the first day.

Hoping to sign somewhere else are safetys Zeke Berry and Jaden Mangham who each have one year of eligibility left, wide receiver Semaj Morgan with one year left, Enow Etta and Cole Sullivan who have two years each remaining and Andrew Sprague who has three more years to play.

Berry was a third-team All-Big Ten selection with 74 tackles and 3 interceptions over 37 games in four seasons, including one interception this year and 10 pass break-ups that tied for the Big 10 lead. He also joined a trio of seniors who were the first Wolverines to address the media after Moore was fired. He told ESPN that he "just felt let down by the decisions that were made."

 Mangham won Michigan's other starting safety job this fall after transferring from Michigan State. He had two sacks among 30 tackles and two pass breakups in 13 games. He made 73 tackles in two seasons at MSU with 4 interceptions over 19 games.

Morgan finished his three-year Michigan career with 921 all-purpose yards as a wide receiver and kick return specialist. He caught 20 passes in 2025 for a career-high 223 yards and one TD but had 8 dropped passes as well as muffing two kicks and fumbling on another one. His impact on returns wasn't as anticipated by taking back 13 punts for a mere 30 yards. Morgan had a record 89-yard TD run on a punt return as a freshman in the Big 10 championship game.

Etta is a former four-star recruit who was the highest rated recruit in the 2023 class. He had  20 tackles, two deflected passes and a sack this season.

Sullivan won a starting job early in the season and finished with 44 tackles(5 for loss) 3 interceptions, two sacks, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup. 

Sprague was the starting right tackle this fall as a red-shirt freshman who started every game and was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection by coaches and media members. He was one of 13 players who chose not to play in the New Year's Eve Cheese-it Citrus Bowl against Texas.

Other starters who opted out were defensive lineman and Edge rusher, linebackers Ernest Hausmann and Jaishawn Barham, offensive lineman Gio El-Hadi and running bak Justice Hayes.

Hayes was nursing a leg injury that kept him out of previous games this fall and Hausmann cited "personal reasons" for not playing.

Among the others to hit the transfer portal on the first day were two back-up quarterbacks to freshman sensation Bryce Underwood and sophomore tailback Jasper Parker who rushed 25 times for 93 yards and two touchdowns as a true freshman. 

The first to exit was freshman cornerback Elijah Dotson who had significant playing time for a true freshman this season. Dotson, a teammate to QB star Underwood at Belleville, took to social media to announce his decision to transfer at one minute before midnight when the portal opened. 

Dotson was the No. 2 recruit in Michigan last season behind teammate Underwood. He was the No. 11 defensive back in the country and named as the No. 131 prospect in the Class of 2025. Dotson made 11 tackles, registered one quarterback hit and picked off an interception against Central Michigan.

The back-up QB's on the move are Jadyn Davis and Davis Warren.

Davis was once considered the heir apparent to J.J. McCarthy when red shirted his first year in Ann Arbor three years ago when arriving in Ann Arbor with lots of hype as one of top prospects in all of America out of high school.

Warren was the starting QB during much of 2024 but lost the starting nod to Underwood in fall camp.

Two other Wolverines, wide receiver Fredrick Moore and offensive lineman Connor Jones, made decisions to transfer in October and December, respectively. 

Moore started as a sophomore in 2024 but was mostly relegated to special teams this season. He had 15 receptions for 160 yards and one TD in two seasons with the wolverines.

Jones has been a back-up for three straight seasons in Ann Arbor.

 Whittingham said he sees the transfer portal as a "positive tool for roster building" and joked about himself being "in the transfer portal" after leaving Utah for Michigan, emphasizing his own move as a strategic career shift. The 66-year-old was Utah's head coach for 21 season and began as an assistant coach there 32 years ago.

His 177-88 mark at Utah included winning records 18 times , 11 bowl game victories and 8 seasons with 10 or more victories.

Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel said when announcing the hiring:  "Kyle Whittingham is a well-respected and highly successful head coach who is widely recognized as a leader of exceptional character and principled leadershi. Throughout our search, he consistently demonstrated the qualities we value at Michigan: vision, resilience, and the ability to build and sustain championship-caliber teams. Kyle brings not only a proven track record of success, but also a commitment to creating a program rooted in toughness, physicality, discipline and respect -- where student-athletes and coaches represent the university with distinction both on and off the field. We are excited to welcome Kyle to the University of Michigan family as he takes the helm of our football program." 

University of Michigan President Domenico Grasso added: "After speaking with Coach Whittingham and reviewing his record both on and off the field, I am confident he will bring dignity, integrity, and fierce competitiveness to the program, while serving as a powerful role model for our student-athletes and staff. He also places a strong emphasis on the academic mission of college athletics, reflected in a 93 percent graduation rate, among the highest in the college football power conferences. Coach Whittingham is exactly the right fit for the University of Michigan at this time."

Whittingham said he's honored to be chosen to lead the program, saying, "We are honored to lead the outstanding student-athletes, coaches, and staff who represent Michigan football each day. Michigan is synonymous with tradition and excellence — both on the field and beyond — and our entire program is committed to upholding those values while striving for greatness together. My family and I are thrilled to join the University of Michigan community and we look forward to helping our players grow, develop, and reach their highest potential — on the gridiron, in the classroom and as leaders. It's a privilege to be part of something that inspires pride in every Wolverine fan. Go Blue!"

Whittingham's coaching staff is led by Jason Beck who was Utah's offensive coordinator and Jay Hill who was defensive coordinator at BYU.

Beck replaces Chip Lindsey while Hill takes over for Wink Martindale.

Beck was the OC at Syracuse in 2023 and at New Mexico in 2024 before going to work at Utah for Whittingham this season. The Utes were second in the nation in rushing, fourth in yards per game and fifth in scoring.

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"Jason Beck is an exceptional leader with a proven track record as a developer of quarterbacks and a creative play caller," Whittingham said. "He's an innovative coach, constantly finding ways to challenge defenses through an efficient, balanced attack — whether on the ground or through the air. We're looking forward to seeing Jason and our offensive staff mentor and inspire the young men who represent our team."

Beck was announced after Utah's 44-22 victory over Nebraska in the Ls Vegas Bowl on New Year's Eve. He said, "It is an honor to join Coach Whittingham at the University of Michigan. I am eager to work with this exceptional offensive staff as we work together to build, develop, and support our student-athletes. My family and I are excited about this opportunity to become part of the Michigan community and the Wolverine family. Go Blue!"

Hill was BYU's Associate Head Coach in addition to serving as offensive coordinator. He took a BYU unit that ranked 109th in the country in total defense in his first season to 13th in total defense last season and then No. 35 in 2025. 

Coach Whittingham said about Hill: Jay Hill is a great leader and one of the sharpest defensive minds in the game. His competitive nature and commitment to excellence will help us forge a disciplined, tough defense that prides itself on physicality. Jay has the ability to consistently put players in the best position to succeed and make plays. We're excited to welcome Jay and his family to Ann Arbor, and we are confident they'll be a tremendous addition to our Michigan football family."

Hill said, "It is an absolute honor for me and my family to join the Michigan Wolverines! We are so excited to join Coach Whittingham, his staff and look forward to building relationships with these great players. The Michigan program is deep with history and tradition that I look forward to honoring. The opportunity to develop great young men on and off the field and ultimately win championships at Michigan is something we are dedicated to do. I can't wait to get started! Go Blue!"

Koy Detmer Jr., has been hired as the new quarterbacks coach to tutor Underwood who didn't have a dedicated QB coach this season although Moore had said in December he was planning on hiring someone.

Detmer is a former starting QB at Texas A&M-Kingsville and the son of ex-NFL QB Koy Detmer. He worked with Hill at Syracuse, New Mexico and Utah.

It's expected that Whittingham's brother, Freddie, will be named as tight ends coach and Tony Alford is being retained as running backs coach while Micah Simon and Marques Hagans are expected to be named as wide receiver coaches to replace Ron Bellamy who was a former Michigan player who was considered by many as the team's top recruiter.

Simon worked with Beck at New Mexico and Utah while Hagans worked with Beck at Virginia before spending three seasons at Penn State.

Freddie Whittingham may be hired to replace Steve Casula who has been let go. He was tight ends coach for his brother at Utah during the last 10 years of his 13-year stay there. He worked with the likes of 2023 first-round NFL draft pick Dalton Kincaid and four-time all-conference selection Brant Kuithe.

Alford has ties to the new coach because his late brother, Aaron, spent 4 years on his staff at Utah. 

The new U-of-M boss called him a "tremendous football coach" during his introductory news conference in Ann Arbor.

The running back position should remain a strength next season with stars Haynes, Jordan Marshall and Bryson Kuzdzal set to return with five-star prospect Savion Hiter coming to Ann Arbor as the nation's top recruit in the 2026 class.

Grant Newsome confirmed to Detroit media he's leaving Ann Arbor, and set to become Michigan's new offensive line coach is Jim Harding who spent 12 seasons leading linemen at Utah where producing 12 first-team all-conference players since 2015 and likely to have two first-round picks in April's NFL Draft.

Expected to sign contracts to join the defensive staff as assistants are Jeraro Gilford of BYU as defensive backs coach, Lewis Powell from Utah as defensive ends coach, Whittingham's son Alex who served under him at Utah before going to the NFL as an assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs where he works with the linebackers. Lou Esposito  is expected to be retained as defensive tackles coach.

Esposito just finished up his second season as defensive line coach at Michigan. He has more than 20 years of collegiate coaching experience around the State of Michigan, including as the first Head Coach at Davenport in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference (GLIAC). Three of his stars at Western Michigan (Braden Fiske, Andre Carter and Marshawn Kneeland) were on his defensive line and all three MAC prospects were selected in the NFL Draft. 

Powell will leave Utah to join his old boss in Ann Arbor. He's been in charge of his defensive ends for 10 of the 11 years on Whittingham's Utah staff. Powell is replacing Pernell McPhee who is out after one year at U-of-M. He was an NFL veteran who played under Martindale with the Baltimore Ravens.

Whittingham's son Alex is in his 8th season on the coaching staff with the NFL's Chiefs. Brian Jean-Mary has been let go after one season on Moore's staff at Michigan.

Gilford worked with new offensive coordinator Hill at BYU as the defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach. He takes over as defensive backs coach from LaMar Morgan who was iat Michigan for only one season on the staff. 

Michigan's special teams coach will be retained. Kerry Coombs was hired just days before Moore was fired and led the special teams in the Citrus Bowl loss to Texas. 

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this photo is new Michigan football Coach Kyle Whittingham.

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025

Coaches of today seemed to have forgotten why they became coaches. 

Now, it's all about prestige, not teaching future athletes.

 This is a story of a hypothetical coach but the sentiments are based on true conversations with multiple coaches. I didn't want to single any particular coach out although I openly wondered if I should. I opted not to do so.

They don't realize that the gymnasium will eventually be empty and the echo of squeaking gym shoes will be fading into memory. He'll be sitting alone on the bleachers, turning over the whistle that had hung around his neck for years, first in youth leagues, then middle school and finally high school.

The whistle was lighter than it looked. But the responsibility it represented? That weight never got easier to carry.

Coach thought about the kid who'd just left his office. Scholarship offer in hand, tears streaming down his face, hugging him like he'd saved his life.

 Maybe he had, in a way. Four years ago, that young man had been angry, directionless, using basketball as an outlet for rage rather than purpose.

Their first real conversation had happened after the kid threw a chair when he was benched. Instead of kicking him off the team, which every instinct told him to do, he'd driven him home. They sat in the driveway for two hours, and he shared something he rarely told anyone: his own struggles growing up, the father who'd left, the hole that had created.

He thought about coaches like John Wooden, who'd understood that basketball was just the vehicle. Wooden's Pyramid of Success wasn't about winning championships, though he won plenty. It was about building character, one block at a time. Industriousness. Friendship. Loyalty. Self-control. Wooden had coached young men who went on to become leaders in every field, not because he taught them the perfect pick-and-roll, but because he taught them how to live. That's old school coaching at its best.

Or Tony Dungy, who'd proven you could win at the highest level of professional football without screaming, without profanity, without breaking players down to build them back up. Dungy's quiet strength, his faith-based approach, his insistence on treating players as human beings first, he'd won a Super Bowl and changed lives doing it the right way.

Pat Summitt came to mind too. The intensity, yes, but always paired with genuine care. She demanded excellence, but she also made sure her players graduated, grew as women, understood their worth beyond the court. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, the outpouring from her former players told the real story; they loved her not just for the wins, but for how she'd shaped them.

"A coach isn't just teaching a jump shot," an old mentor had once said. "Coaches teach them how to handle failure, how to be part of something bigger than themselves, how to push through when everything hurts. They're teaching them life."

The plays and the drills, those were just the language. The real coaching happened in the moments between: the conversation after a tough loss, the decision to sit a star player who'd been disrespectful to a teacher, the choice to notice when a kid showed up to practice with the same clothes they'd worn yesterday.

But I've also seen the dark side. I'd witnessed what happened when someone treated that whistle like a weapon. It happens more often than folks may think.

Bobby Knight's chair-throwing incident at Indiana flashed through my mind. 

The choking of a player during practice. Yes, Knight had won championships and developed NBA talent, but at what cost? His former players were split, some defended him fiercely, others carried scars. The question haunted every coach: when does demanding excellence cross into abuse?

I can recall the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State, not coaching in the traditional sense, but the ultimate betrayal of the trust placed in coaches. The systematic abuse of children and athletes under the cover of a football program. It was every coach's nightmare, the darkest possible perversion of the mentor relationship.

More recently, there was the Larry Nassar case that had rocked gymnastics. Hundreds of young athletes abused while coaches and administrators looked the other way, prioritizing medals and reputation over the safety of children. The USA Gymnastics coaching culture that had enabled it, the culture of fear, the acceptance of abusive training methods, the willingness to sacrifice athlete wellbeing for Olympic gold.

Urban Meyer's pattern followed him from Florida to Ohio State, recruiting talented players with serious character issues, then failing to hold them accountable when they violated team rules or worse. Domestic violence allegations ignored. Criminal behavior swept under the rug. All in the name of winning games. When the program's reputation mattered more than doing what was right, everyone lost.

The Rick Pitino scandal at Louisville had revealed a different kind of corruption; recruiting violations, escorts, strippers, payments to players' families. Pitino claimed ignorance, but a coach was responsible for the culture of his program. If winning required cheating, was it really winning at all?

And there were the countless coaches whose names never made headlines but who damaged kids every day. The AAU coach who screamed obscenities at eleven-year-olds. The high school football coach arrested for hitting a player. The youth soccer coach who told kids they were worthless after losses. The volleyball coach who pressured an athlete to play through a serious injury, risking permanent damage for a regional championship.

Then there are the coaches that brought their personal demons to practice, taking out their failing marriages, their financial stress, their wounded egos on kids who just wanted to play. I'd  seen kids that were recruited college players who flinched when a coach raised his voice even slightly, conditioned by coaches who'd used volume as violence.

The coach pulled out his phone and scrolled through photos. Former players now working as teachers, nurses, business owners, parents. Most had never gone pro. But they'd all learned something about discipline, teamwork, perseverance, and character, when coaching was done right.

Coach thought about Mike Krzyzewski at Duke, building a program on principles of brotherhood and collective achievement. Or Gregg Popovich with the Spurs, demanding excellence while treating his players as intelligent adults capable of thinking for themselves. Doc Rivers, who'd spoken openly about race, social justice, and using his platform to make players better citizens, not just better basketball players.

Dawn Staley at South Carolina, who'd built a championship program while emphasizing education, empowerment, and giving back to the community. Geno Auriemma at UConn, whose players consistently graduated and spoke about how he'd prepared them for life beyond basketball. These coaches understood something fundamental: the scoreboard was temporary, but the lessons lasted forever.

The coach remembered a conversation with a freshman's father just last week. "Will my son get playing time?" the father had asked immediately.

He'd been honest. "I don't know yet. What I can promise is that I'll develop him as a player and a person. I'll push him, teach him, and demand his best effort. I'll treat him with respect. I'll never ask him to compromise his values for a win. And whether he starts or comes off the bench, he'll be part of something meaningful."

The father had seemed disappointed. But the freshman, a quiet kid who'd been sitting there listening, had actually looked relieved.

Being a coach was the greatest honor he'd ever known. To be trusted with someone's child, with their dreams, with their development during the most formative years of their life, there was no comparison. This is the part that many coaches forget.

But it was also a test of character that never ended. Every practice, every game, every private conversation was a choice. Would he take the shortcut or do it right? Would he treat that twelfth player on the bench with the same care as his leading scorer? Would he remember that these were teenagers and children, not professional athletes, and that their mental health mattered more than his win-loss record?

The bad coaches forgot, or never knew, that kids remembered everything.

They remembered which adults believed in them when things got hard. They remembered who taught them to shake hands after a loss, to help a teammate up, to practice like champions even when nobody was watching.

But they also remembered the coaches who humiliated them (Sound familiar, huh?), who played favorites, who valued the scoreboard over their wellbeing, who taught them that authority figures couldn't be trusted. They remembered the ones who hit them, who cheated for them, who broke the rules and then wondered why their players had no respect for boundaries.

John Thompson at Georgetown had once said that before he could teach his players to be good basketball players, he had to teach them to be good people. That was the calling. That was the sacred responsibility that came with the whistle.

The coach finally stood up, turned off the lights in the gym, and headed home. Tomorrow, he'd be back at it: drills and plays, yes, but also conversations about class attendance and goal-setting and handling disappointment. He'd be teaching basketball, but more importantly, he'd be trying to send good humans out into the world. That's the goal, right?

He touched the whistle one more time. Such a small thing to carry such weight. But he wouldn't trade it for anything.

That's a good coach.

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Marty Embry is a former administrator in the Flint school district and an author of 10 books. He was the star center on two of the old Flint Central's state championship teams under legendary Coach Stan Gooch, then went on to star at DePaul University before playing professionally overseas.

 (CCN) — Here are news briefs about the latest happenings on the state and national sports scenes:

STEFON DIGGS of the NFL's New England Patriots faces felony charges for alleged strangulation or suffocation as well as misdemeanor assault and battery in connection with a Dec. 2 incident with a woman who is a private chef.  Attorneys appeared Tuesday (Dec. 23, 2025) in court when the charges were filed. A team statement said: "The New England Patriots are aware of the accusations that have been made regarding Stefon Diggs. Stefon has informed the organization that he categorically denies the allegations. We support Stefon. We will continue to gather information and will cooperate fully with the appropriate authorities and the NFL as necessary. Out of respect for all parties involved, and given that this is an ongoing legal matter, we will have no further comment at this time." Diggs is scheduled to be in court on Jan. 23 for his arraignment. That date falls two days before the AFC Championship Game. Adam Schefler of ESPN reported in a New Year's eve tweet that the NFL is investigating and may suspend the star wide receiver.

TCU BEAT USC 30-27 in overtime Tuesday night (Dec. 30, 2025) to win the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio. Ken Seals made his first start at quarterback for TCU in his final game and directed two scoring drives in the final 5  minutes of regulation and threw the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime as TCU rallied to win. He was  29-o- 40 passing for 258 yards.

MICHIGAN'S WOMEN survived an overtime scare at Oregon in college basketball but won 92-87. The Wolverines are 11-1 overall and ranked No. 6 in the latest national poll. Oregon dropped to 12-3 overall and is now 0-2 in Big 10 Conference play where U-of-M is 2-0. Michigan State climbed from 24th to No. 19 n the latest poll after beating Rutgers 70-64 to go to 12-1 overall. MSU is 1-1 in the Big 10 where losing its opener to Wisconsin. 

IN OTHER WOMEN'S college basketball around the state, Central Michigan University hosts Ohio today (Dec. 31, 2025) at 1 pm. Western Michigan takes a lowly 3-7 overall record to U-Mass today. Eastern Michigan beat Bowling Green 86-76 on Tuesday (Dec. 30, 2025) to go to 7-5 overall and 1-1 in Mid-American Conference (MAC) action. EMU is tied with Bowling Green in the MAC standings while CMU won its opener 89-51 over Northern Illinois. Oakland University's Golden Grizzlies beat Robert Morris 61-59 when a last-second steal secured the triumph which was their first in three conference games. They are 4-9 overall. Detroit Mercy was beaten by Rochester Christian 86-80 to fall to 4-8 overall on the season.

Sunday, Dec. 21  2025

University of Michigan officials need to fire Warde Manuel right away.

Not just for ignoring warning signs about Sherrone Moore's troubles that would eventually embarrass U-of-M on the national stage. Both on the sports page and in national headlines.

Sex scandals can do that when it comes to what the national public likes to read, listen or watch.

But there's another reason.

The king of D-2 football is right under his nose and has been available all along when picking Moore and when not earlier moving from away him after beating Ohio State probably saved his job last year. His first season on the job included going into the Ohio State game with a 6-5 record.

That's not exactly up to Michigan standards.

AD Manuel must not listen to The Michigan Sports Zone where I've regularly tooted the horn of Tony Annese at Ferris State University — just 2 12 hours away in Big Rapids.

I said to hire Annese in 2024 when AD Warde went with Moore — the former offensive lineman from Oklahoma who had never been a head coach at any level when tabbed by Jim Harbaugh to be his assistant. The only way we knew his name was that Harbaugh let him be the substitute head coach a few times when suspended three games by the NCAA violating recruiting and practice rules, then again when the cheating scandal was hanging over their heads when accused of stealing signs. Or maybe it was how he brought shame and laughter to the university when it was his turn to be substitute head coach against Ohio State.

The Wolverines ended their losing skid to the Buckeyes and there was Moore on national TV after the game, shouting to Harbaugh in his living room: "I f***ing love you man."

Um, I yelled then to fire him as an assistant coach.

Not the kind of character, or shall we say lack of character, I want representing my school. Yes, I bleed Maize and Blue. I not so secretly let everyone know that in this space and on my radio show. 

I pull for all Michigan schools including MSU when they're not playing U of M.

My diploma reads "University of Michigan" and my wife earned her Master's Degree there. All four of our children and five grandchildren are Michigan fans — even the two youngest, they just don't know it yet.

So what that Sherrone beat Ohio State twice.

Dirty words on TV to embarrass a great institution?  Poor grammar at press conferences so very uncharacteristic of U-of-M's tradition?

So then we find out this leader of men had a lovely family with a wife and three children, yet he was cheating with a staff member and chasing other women on porn sites and on social media.

Yet, he beat Ohio State. Twice.

Did that cause AD Warde Manuel to ignore all the warning signs about what was going on with Moore? If UM had beaten Ohio State this time, would it all have been swept under the rug?

I hope not. Obviously, I don't question his firing. I only can't fathom why it took so long. Everybody around the Ann Arbor campus seemed to know about it. And what a bad look when considering it's not even the only sex scandal going on at AD wade Manuel's Michigan sports program after a former assistant football coach was accused of spying on female students and privately collecting videos of them on his university computer. The school is facing lawsuits and ex-Quarterbacks Coach Matt Weiss is awaiting trial on federal charges filed against him in 2023.

Sherrone Moore  didn't win the Big 10 title game last year when beating Ohio State, or even play in the title game down in Indianapolis. He was a lowly 6-5 going into last year's Ohio State game. Let's face it. The Buckeyes were looking past Michigan and eyeing what would become a national championship.

If the Wolverines want to get back to the kind of 2023 thinking they enjoyed under Jim Harbaugh when bringing home a national title, it's time to circle Tony Annese's name on their list of candidates to replace Sheronne Moore.

Saturday on ESPN2, Annese led his Ferris State Bulldogs to their fourth national title in five years. That's a dynasty folks.

Annese's teams have lost only seven times in the last eight seasons.  Moore is 18-8 in two years as a head coach.

Annese is 153-21 since starting at Ferris State in 2012. That was after he won two junior college national championships during a three-year span at nearby Grand Rapids Community College, following three high school state championships.

Tony Annese is a winner.

Maybe I like him because our Metro Flint News/Talk Radio has been an affiliate of Ferris State football broadcasts since 2020. Or maybe it's because his first coaching job was in my hometown Metro Flint regional area. Annese led Montrose to six straight unbeaten seasons after a 4-5 record in his rookie campaign and a 7-2 mark in his second season.

Tony Annese hasn't had a losing season since that very first season as leader of the Montrose Rams 39 years ago.

I believe the Michigan Wolverines would be a nice step up that Tony Annese would be interested in taking. Maybe the only one.

I predict this proven winner would win big and create a dynasty —  one we Michigan fans could be proud of without cheating or sex scandals.

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint Sports Radio daily at 11:45 am via The Michigan Sports Zone Show to talk about Michigan sports teams and the latest sports world topics. This past fall marked his 50th year as a journalist.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — What a difference a year makes for the Detroit Red Wings. After being booed off the ice at Little Caesars Arena heading into Christmas last season, it was a complete opposite exit this time.

They left the ice on Tuesday night (Dec. 23, 2025) to cheering and a thunderous ovation after captain Dylan Larkin's game-winning goal in overtime to beat the Dallas Stars 4-3.

Larkin also scored a late goal to tie it and force overtime as the Red Wings maintained their two-point lead over second-place Tampa Bay in the NHL's Atlantic Division.

It took just 34 seconds into the extra session for Larkin to end it. He drilled in a  wrist shot from the high slot — tying linemate Alex DeBrincat for team-high honors with his 20th goal in 38 games.

 Larkin tied it on a power play goal with 4:03 left in regulation when converting off a backward pass through traffic across the front of the net by Van Riemsdyk.

  Riemsdyk also scored Detroit's first goal. It was his 9th of the season just  9:23 into the game when getting a pass on the right side from Michael Rasmussen.

Saturday, Dec. 6  2025

Tony Annese used Saturday's post game press conference in Big Rapids to demand an indoor facility for his Ferris State Bulldogs football program.

"The last three teams we've beaten have an indoor facility Why don't we? Do I need to threaten to quit? It's time. It needs to happen."

His remarks to the media on ESPN+ came after his Bulldogs moved two victories away from their fourth national championship in Division II football in five years.

He pointed out how someone stepped forward last week to donate more than $40 million to Michigan State University's program. "Someone needs to do that for Ferris State," he quipped.

How Ferris State University has kept Annese around so long is a mystery to me.

While this year's team is gunning for its fourth national title in a five-year run, Annese also led his 2009 and 2011 teams to national championships in the junior college ranks at Grand Rapids Community College during a three-year period before landing the Ferris State job in December 2011. His teams have won the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) seven times since he took the job.

The 2025 Bulldogs are averaging nearly 57 points per game in four national playoff victories so far. They beat Minnesota State 52-29 in Saturday's quarterfinals to move on. The Bulldogs won 54-43 over Davenport, 65-14 over Northwood and 56-24 over Ashland in their earlier national playoff tests.

I don't think there's anything that can stop Annese's 2025 ballclub from wining it all again.

They've been No. 1 since the very first national ranking came out during pre-season time.

Being picked number one despite losing eight players to the Division 1 transfer portal?

Maybe they didn't like practicing outside.

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint Sports Radio daily at 11:45 am via The Michigan Sports Zone Show to talk about Michigan sports teams and the latest sports world topics. This past fall marked his 50th year as a journalist.

 SELBY TWP. (CCN) — State ranked Utica Eisenhower has been ordered to forfeit early-season prep hockey games for the second time in three seasons by the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA).

Utica Eisenhower was off to a 5-0 start and ranked number seven in last week's poll by the Michigan  Hockey Hub.

The MHSAA verified on Friday (Dec. 5, 2025) that Eisenhower used two ineligible players who 

transferred from another Macomb County school and moved residences, but the paperwork was not submitted correctly.

The MHSAA ruling deemed those students ineligible for the time being.

 BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI (CCN) — Tarik Skubal eclipsed one of the franchise's most iconic marks Sunday (August 31, 2025) as the Detroit Tigers blanked the Kansas City Royals 5-0.

Skubal pitched 7 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, marking his 11th start this season with at least six innings of shutout pitching to begin a game.

It broke a record set in 1968 by Denny McLain when he won his second straight Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in the American League. McLain won 24 games in 1969 after he was 31-6 in 1968 when the Tigers won the World Series.

Like McLain in 1968, Skubal won the AL's Cy Young and MVP award last season.

 Skubal had an 18-4 record last season with a 2.39 earned run average and 228 strikeouts. He won the so-called triple crown by leading the AL in all three pitching categories.

Sunday's latest gem lowered Skubal's ERA to an even better 2.12. He's so far 12-4 on the summer with 216 strikeouts in 173 innings.

Skubal only fanned 4 batters on Sunday but he only walked one while giving up just 4 hits as he bounced back strong after suffering his first loss in six weeks during his last outing.

Jake Rogers delivered the big blow for the Tigers with a two-run triple to break a 0-0 tie while Colt Keith and Gleyber Torres also drove in runs.

The victory pushed the Tigers to 9 1/2 games ahead of the Royals in the AL Central Division race.   They also moved a half game ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays in the race for home field advantage in the AL playoffs. They have 80 victories to 79 for the Blue Jays but Detroit has played one extra game.

Toronto leads the AL East and the Houston Astros lead the Seattle Mariners by two games in the AL West. 

It was a crucial game for the Royals who came into the rubber match in the 3-game series in Kansas City after climbing within two games of the Mariners in the chase for the final wild car playoff spot.

KS pitcher xxxx Wacha was matching Skubal into the 5th inning, allowing a single baserunner while striking out 4 Tigers. But then came a lead-off walk to Spencer Torkelson and a one-out single by Zack McKinstry to set the stage for the big blow by Rogers.

Keith lined a two-run double and Torres singled in another run to make it 4-0.

Kyle Finnigan pitched a scoreless 8th inning for the Tigers and Rafail Montero duplicated his setting down the Royals in 1-2-3 fashion in the 9th.  

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

CLOVIS, CALIFORNIA (CCN) — One of the last remaining heroes from the 1968 World Series champion Detroit Tigers has passed away.

Dearyl Patterson died at age 81, according to a social media post by the Tigers' organization.

Losing Patterson leaves only seven remaining living Tigers from their 1968 club. They are 

Willie Horton, Mickey Stanley, Dick Tracewski, Mickey Lolich, John Hiller, Joe Warden and Denny McLain.

The 1968 Tigers were down three games to one in the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals and stormed back to win it in seven games.

Patterson pitched three scoreless innings against the Cardinals in the World Series.

It came after posting a sparkling 2.12 earned run average in 68 innings of work during 37 regular season appearances. He made 7 saves, including once escaping a bases-loaded jam in the 9th inning to preserve one of McLain's victories en route to becoming baseball's last 30-game winner.

It happened on July 27 when he came into the game with the bases loaded and nobody out, then struck out the side on nine pitches.

McLain recalled the most memorable game of Patterson's career by joining in with more than 600 comments on the Facebook post by the Tigers' organization to announce the sad news. McLain wrote: "There was one time in '68 that he made a great save for me and one of my 31 wins. Bases are loaded, nobody out against the Baltimore Orioles and he threw nine pitches and all three hitters were out. That’s the kind of fastball he had."

Among his other top career highlights were helping pitch the 1967 Toledo Mud Hens to the  Governor's Cup championship and two appearances for the 1968 Tigers against the New York Yankees. He came on to pitch a perfect 9th inning on July 30 after Earl Wilson walked Mickey Mantle, combining with Wilson on a 5-1 shutout of the famed Bronx Bombers. On Aug. 23 at Yankee Stadium, he gave the Tigers two innings of shutout relief that included striking out Hall of Famer Mantle to end the 8th inning. He struck him out on a full count breaking ball and told a Detroit sports writer years later that it was "one of the best breaking balls I ever threw in my life. Even in his final years, watching Mickey swing was like watching a stick of exploding dynamite.” 

Patterson's son, Justin Patterson, said about all the love fans showed for his father on the Facebook post by the Tigers: "Sitting at home thinking about Big D and I must say that reading all of these comments makes today easier. Dad was always proud to have been a Tiger and his kids/grandkids will forever be Tiger fans as well. Classy organization that has true fans. Appreciate all of you. My Mom and the entire Patterson family thanks you."

Patterson played 12 years of professional baseball after being signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1964. He made his big league debut with the Tigers on April 10, 1968. He was 9-7 overall during four seasons with the Tigers overall, posting a 3.55 ERA and 121 strikeouts in 177 2⁄3 innings. Patterson later pitched in the big leagues for the A's, Cardinals and Pirates.

He broke into the minor leagues with the Dodgers' affiliate in the California League in 1964. He appeared in 22 games for the Santa Barbara Dodgers and compiled a 1–6 won–loss record with a 6.60 earned run average that didn't exactly impress the Dodgers' top management. They released him and the Tigers signed him.

He spent the next three seasons perfecting his pitches until the  big right-hander was called up to help during the 1968 pennant drive.

He moved up the ladder in the minor leagues with a 3.30 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 161 innings for the Rocky Mount Leafs in 1965, then a 4.78 ERA with 117 stlrikeouts in 128 innings for the Montgomery Rebels in 1966  before the call-up was earned midway through the 1967 season with the Triple-A affiliate Toledo Mud Hens.  Patterson's impressive Triple-A level numbers in Toledo included a 3.23 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 156 innings of work on the mound.

The low point of his time with the Tigers came early in the 1971 season when Manager Billy Martin accused him of making a balk on purpose to lose a game. Patterson called it the "craziest thing I’d ever heard" and later said that Martin "just didn't like me" and arranged to have him traded on May 22 to the Oakland Athletics. The Tigers traded him for John Donaldson.

Patterson pitched in only 4 games for the A's in 1971 with a 7.94 ERA in 5 2⁄3 innings before they sold him to the Cardinals on June 25, 1971. He pitched only 13 games in St. Louis with a 4.39 ERA in 26 2⁄3 innings.

 Patterson played winter ball for Ponce in Puerto Rico after the 1971 season and pitched a shutout against Mexico on Feb. 7, 1972 to win the Caribbean World Series. That spring, he reported to the Oakland A’s minor league club in Tulsa, Oklahoma but he then spent the next two seasons in the minor leagues as his ERA ballooned to 5.37 in 52 innings with the Iowa Oaks in 1972 but he improved to a 3.07 ERA in 82 innings with the Charleston Charlies in 1973. He was then released but won another chance in the big leagues with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates acquired him before the 1973 season and called him up in 1974.

He compiled a 7.29 ERA in 21 innings pitched in Pittsburgh and appeared in his last major league game on September 14, 1974. He eventually retired after spending time again at Charleston in 1975.

Patterson appeared in 142 major league games, only three of them as a starting pitcher. His career numbers included an 11–9 record with a 4.09 ERA and 142 strikeouts in 231 innings pitched. 

 After retiring from baseball, Patterson went to work for Pacific Gas & Electric. He rose from helper to chief inspector during a 20-year career. One of his major projects was a $7 billion hydroelectric job. 

Patterson was reunited with some of his 1968 teammates at a 50th reunion event before a 2018 game at Comerica Park. He joined them on a stage in the concourse to remember great moments with fans. He did the same thing a year earlier when returning to Toledo as part of a 50th reunion of stars from the Mud Hens' championship. 

He traveled north to visit with old teammates despite living in Clovis, California. 

Patterson was born in nearby Coalinga on Nov. 21, 1943. He was part Mono which is a Native American people from the Sierra Nevada region. He went to college in Visalia, California where he was a two-sport athlete at College of the Sequoias. He played baseball and basketball.

Saturday, March 29, 2025

Here are some notes and tidbits from my March Madness notebook:.

SECOND SWEET 16 FOR DUSTY MAY: It was the second trip to the Sweet 16 in three years for UM Coach Dusty May. He took his 2023 Florida Atlantic team to the Final Four. He became the first Big 10 coach ever to win the Big 10 tourney this season as a first-year leader of any program. Michigan's turnaround to a 27-10 record and Big 10 tourney title followed a last-place regular season finish in last year's Big 10 standings at 3-17. The Wolverines tied for second place with Maryland this winter at 14-6. They were only 8-24 overall a year ago before Juwan Howard was fired, so the 27 victories marked a 19-game turnaround under May's leadership.  

ELITE EIGHT NUMBER 11: This marks the 11th Elite Eight of Hall of Fame Coach Izzo's career which includes 27 times in a row to make it to the big dance with an appearance in the NCAA tournament. It's the longest streak by an active coach and also the third-longest streak in NCAA history.

RECORDS: MSU improved to 30-6 overall on the season while Auburn went to 31-5. UM finished with a 27-10 record while Ole Miss finished its season at 24-12.

IT'S 1 VS. 2: The Spartans were the second seed in the South Regional while Auburn was one of the four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA field. Houston, Florida and Duke were the other No. 1 seeds, and all three are still alive like Auburn is in the Elite Eight round.

SIMILAR CREDENTIALS: Like MSU which won the Big 10 regular season crown but lost in the Big 10 tournament Auburn won the SEC regular season title but lost in the SEC tournament. Florida won the SEC tourney.

MATCH-UPS FOR REGIONAL FINALS: While 1-2 seeds MSU and Auburn battle for the South Regional championship Sunday at 5:05 pm, top seeds Duke and Houston also face No. 2 seeds. Duke plays Alabama at 8:49 pm tonight for the East Regional title and Houston plays Tennessee at 2:05 pm Sunday for the Midwest Regional crown. Florida plays No. 3 Texas Tech at 6:09 pm today for the West Regional championship.

OTHER SCORES IN SEMIS: Among the other No. 1 seeds besides Auburn, Duke won 100-93 over Arizona and Houston won 87-71 over Maryland for decisive decisions but Florida had a barnburner with Purdue — winning a 62-60 thriller. The Vols of Tennessee avenged two earlier losses to Kentucky by winning 78-65 after losing regular season battles by 78-73 and 75-64, Texas Tech won a pulsating 85-83 barnburner over Arkansas and Alabama advanced by thumping BYU 113-88.

 TOM IZZO ON OLE MISS: "First of all, that team was the toughest, most physical defensive team that we've played in years. It reminded me of the old Gene Keady, Clem Haskins teams when I started in this profession. They did a good job. I didn't think we did a very good job. We got stymied a lot." 

DUSTY MAY ON AUBURN: "Congratulate Auburn and the job they did, especially in the last 8 or 10 minutes of the game. They played with an incredible amount of energy, enthusiasm, physicality, and knocked us off our spots. They were a load on the offensive glass. I think those extra possessions were the difference in the game."

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: His career journey under Coach May began at Florida Atlantic when transferring there from Texas Tech. The 7-foot-1 big man followed May to UM as a fifth-year graduate student. He said, "It’s been great. I love ... my decision that I came in and decided to play for this man. Obviously I can see I got better player than I were before. Probably more important for me is the emotions I got, the relationships I built. I wouldn’t change a thing."

JUST NOT THEIR NIGHT: "I mean, they played physical defense. The shots didn’t fall in. Sometimes it happens," Goldin told reporters after the game. "It feels even worse that it happened in this kind of game, but it is what it is." Golden was averaging nearly 17 points per contest but had only 10 against Auburn. He also grabbed a team-high 9 rebounds.

ONLY TWO OTHERS PLAYED WELL: Goldin's fellow transfer 7-footer, Danny Wolf, came up big but senior Nimari Burnett was the only Wolverine in double figures. Burnett had 10 points and 7 rebounds. Wolf grabbed 6 boards and pumped in 20 points.

GOLDIN ON PLAYING WITH WOLF: He told the media, "I loved every single minute I played with Danny. He’s obviously a great player. It’s been fun. We did something that not many people do, and we did something that me personally, I haven’t done before. I think I learned a lot playing by the side with him."

WOLF ON HIS YEAR AT UM: The transfer from Yale had this to say about this season's experience: "Yeah, playing at Michigan this year was the greatest honor of my lifetime. When Coach May and his staff kind of gave me the opportunity to come here and laid out a plan for Vlad and I, I questioned it at first, but they put so much trust in the two of us, and our teammates make us look way better than we are... First of all, when I left Yale, I didn’t know what my basketball future held. I knew I wanted to be at this level. Obviously in the back of my mind I’d grown up a big Michigan fan and sported a ton of Michigan clothes. After their Final Fours, all I wanted for my birthday was signed basketballs. I have so much respect and gratitude for my coaches for allowing me to come here. It was arguably the greatest year of my life, and I made so many amazing relationships. I met my brothers for life, and we had an unbelievable locker room. We stuck with each other through the ups and downs. It sucks to see it cut short, but yeah, this last year has been the greatest in my life. I have to thank the coaches and my teammates for that.

BURNETT ON MAY'S JOB:  The senior said, "Coming off of last year, Coach Dusty came in, like the guys said, with a plan to win and to get a group of guys together that were fit to win and eventually become brothers, and that’s exactly what we did. Coming off a tough year last year, especially the returners, me, Will, Jace, et cetera, the plan was to write the story and represent the Block M in the right way. This season was amazing. Not only did we build brothers and brotherhood, but we’re going to talk about this for the rest of our lives. It’s something we’re all going to remember. I’m grateful to be a part of this group, and I’m grateful to be a part of the University of Michigan as a whole."

DUSTY MAY ON HIS PLAYERS: "I want to give our guys a lot of credit too. We really, really grew as a group. This was an awesome team to be around every single day. It hurts when you don’t perform at your best for the last game and put yourself in position to win."

 JASE RICHARDSON: MSU's freshman sensation, son of a former MSU great who went on to play in the NBA, blamed his team's slow start on a lack of aggressiveness. He told reporters, "I  think for us in the first half, we weren't being as aggressive as we should have been. I feel like they were kind of just punking us in the beginning. We couldn't get to the paint. Shooting decent shots, but not great shots. I think (in the) second half it really opened up for us. We were being more aggressive, getting downhill and getting driving kicks. I felt like we were at our best in that second half."

 JADEN AKINS ON HIS BIG SHOT: With the game on the line with 1:20 left, Akins took off for a key driving bucket after a broken play to avoid disaster for the Spartans. He said, "We were in a play, it broke down, and I was at the top of the key, and I just tried to make a play on to be calm. I saw an opening, and I took it. Thankfully, I made the shot."  

HAVING FUN KEY FOR MSU: Richardson put it best for the key factor to success for his Spartans. He said, "For us, we always say we play better when we're having fun, but we know that you've got to come in with a mentality. We try to have as much fun as possible playing, but we've also got to be locked in because we've got to key into our defensive things, key into our offensive things, but we have to have as much fun as possible because that's when I feel like we're at our best."

NOT SATISFIED YET: Coach Izzo isn't happy yet though with this cast of Spartans. He told the media, "Elite 8s are great ... (but) we don't put up any banners for great 8s. We put up banners for championships and Final Fours and National Championships."

MY PREDICTIONS: MSU will shoot down a No. 1 seed and join a Final Four field with Tennessee and two other No. 1 seeds in Houston and Duke. Bet on it. Or maybe not. Remember I'm the guy who picked Michigan to beat Auburn on my radio show.

PS: Don't forget my Michigan pick looked pretty smart with the Wolverines sitting on an 11-point lead with just over 12 minutes to go in the game!

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Mike Killbreath is an award-winning newspaper sports columnist. He appears on Metro Flint News/Talk Radio via The Daily Gazette Sports Weekend Show Sundays from 6-8 pm, The Daily Gazette Sports Night Show weekdays at 6 pm and on The Morning Gazette Radio Show weekday mornings from 8 am until 9:30 am. He's an award-winning news columnist and investigative reporter who is the former long-time owner of the local Metro Flint area chain of 14 community newspapers. This fall will be his 50th year as a journalist. He also hosts a new weekly national TV show known as The American Crusaders on cable TV and various OTT TV live streaming platforms.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

ATLANTA (CCN) — Michigan and Michigan State won't play in an Elite Eight rematch.

The March Madness run ended Friday night (March 28, 2025) for the Wolverines when top-seeded Auburn erased an 11-point Michigan lead with just over 12 minutes remaining, turning on the gas with a 26-6 run en route to winning 78-65.

Auburn didn't get its first lead after halftime until under 10 minutes to go.

MSU's basketball team was down 12 points in the second half but roared back to beat Ole Miss in a 73-70 barnburner.

The Spartans trailed all the way until taking their first lead with 7:40 left.

It was a back-and-forth affair from there until MSU wrapped it up with pin-point free throw shooting in the final 26 seconds — led by Jaden Akins going 2-for-2 and Tre Holloman 4-for-4.

It capped a 13-for-14 shooting night from the charity stripe in the second half for MSU which was 19-for-22 for the game.

MSU trailed by as many as 10 points before halftime but battled back to trail only by two at the intermission, until slipping behind big again early in the second half when Auburn went on an 11-2 run to lead by 11 points at 48-39 with 12:15 remaining in the game. MSU had managed to tie it up twice in the early portion of the second half and an 8-0 MSU run in a span of 1:36 pulled the Spartans within 48-47 on a 3-point bomb by Richardson with 10:22 left.

Freshman Jase Richardson's 20-point night led the Spartans. He was 6-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and added 6 rebounds. Sophomore forward Coen Carr, making the first start of his career scored 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting while senior guard Akins added 13 points and junior guard Holloman added 10 points off the bench. Junior center Carson Cooper led MSU on the boards with 7 rebounds. Cooper contributed 6 points off the bench.

MSU Coach Tom Izzo said in the post-game press conference, "I love these guys because they kept grinding. They kept grinding. Getting close before half was very critical. At halftime we felt like we could drive the ball a little bit more. Tre drove it. These guys drove it. Jase made some big shots. Coen, a couple big blocks. And Jaden made a big 3 and then those free throws at the end. It's hard to believe that two days we're playing for a chance to do one of the all time great things in any basketball player's life, and that's play for a Final Four. I'm proud and happy for them. They've earned it. They deserved it. They did it."

UM Coach Dusty May had his Wolverines poised to advance to the Elite Eight with the big lead until the bubble burst on their Cinderella-style run. They lost their last three games of the Big 10 Conference regular season before catching fire. They raced to the Big 10 tournament title before winning their 1st Round and 2nd Round games in the NCAA tournament to reach the South Regional semifinals in Atlanta.

May told the national media afterward in UM's post-game press conference: "Well, number one, I credit them. They bought into a vision, and sometimes it’s hard to buy into something that’s not seen, that you can’t see. Also, they worked. They wanted to figure out solutions. They wanted to figure out the best way to do it, and it starts with just getting really quality people that are good at basketball and then figure out a way to make it work... (We) became a national story because of the unique skill sets, how well they worked together. But also, the other three guys on the court didn’t get as much credit as they deserve because they were the ones spacing, cutting, feeding the ball, whatever the case. Yeah, it was unique for us for those guys to get some really quality attention and press and give us another kind of, I guess, subculture or identity going forward."

While MSU used a second half spurt of energy to come from behind to win, UM experienced a collapse and surrendered 23 points off turnovers.

 Auburn went on a 12-0 run during a three-minute span to begin its 26-6 run to take its first lead of the second half at 51-48 with just under 10 minutes remaining.

Rubin Jones stopped the streak by the Tigers with a driving layup but three consecutive baskets built Auburn's lead to 9 points with 7:27 to go. It became 67-54 by 4:35 to go and UM never cut it to single digits again as the wolverines finished by missing 8-of-10 shots from there.

"Now my mind shifts to next season immediately," May said afterward. "What’s it going to look like? How do we replicate the best of this season? And how do we fix some things?"

Izzo had halftime adjustments Friday night and the MSU staff fixed its first half problems.

He told the national media this afterward about being down 10 points: "(I) Asked them what the hell they're doing. We went out dirty. We went out not doing a good job offensively. They hit slips. The real killer was the turnovers. We had turnovers, and they were kind of ridiculous turnovers, would you guys agree? They always agree with me after the fact, but we had turnovers. I think they had 9-2 points off turnovers. That was the difference in the game. We gave up a missed cutoff free throw. We gave up out of bounds plays. They're supposed to be a poor rebounding team, and they kicked our butts. They had 12 offensive rebounds to our 5. What you should do is give them a lot of credit, and yet give us a lot of credit for bouncing back in the second half."

Michigan State trailed the entire first half and didn't take its first lead until Cooper made two free throws with 7:50 to go to make it 51-50.

 Ole Miss guard Sean Pedulla drilled a 3-pointer to tie it at 53-53 and nobody led by more than two points after that until the final minute when MSU used its free throws to seal the deal.

A thunderous dunk off a steal with 4:43 left gave MSU a 59-58 lead, but Padulla counered again by drilling another 3-pointer to put Ole Miss back on top.

MSU tied it again at 61-all when redshirt freshman guard Jeremy Fears Jr. sank a jump shot in the paint with 3:47 to go.

Akins drove to the middle of the lane with the shot clock winding down and hit a jumper with 1:27 left remaining to put MSU back on top at 65-63, and MSU didn't trail again after that one.

PHOTO CAPTION: Michigan players huddle for a pre-game pep talk from junior leader Will Tschetter.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

(CCN) — Here's our round-up of college baseball action around our state:

WESTERN MICHIGAN'S baseball team surprised Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Broncos blanked the Wolverines 6-0 in a non-conference match-up in front of a sparse crowd of only 494 mid-week fans at Ray Fisher Stadium inside the Wilpon Complex. 

WMU came into the game with only one victory all season. The Wolverines dropped to 11-9 overall.

MICHIGAN GETS BACK to Big 10 Conference action on Friday (March 21, 2025) with a 3-game weekend series in Lafayette, Indiana against Purdue. Losing two out of three at home last weekend dropped Michigan to 3-3 in Big 10 play so far.

Next up after this weekend for the Wolverines is a mid-week, non-conference battle against another Mid American Conference school on Tuesday when Eastern Michigan University visits Ann Arbor.

EMU FEATURES former Flint Powers Catholic star Fisher Hendershot who led the Chargers to last spring's state championship in Division 2. Hendershot has so far pitched 8 innings in 5 appearances for EMU with 9 strikeouts.

A 3-game series sweep last week in Kalamazoo over Western gave EMU a 5-1 start in the MAC. 

MICHIGAN STATE WON 8-5 Wednesday (March 19, 2025) over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a non-conference battle in front of 850 fans at Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.

MSU is now 14- 6 overall but only 1-3 in the Big 10. They go this weekend to State College for a 3-game series against Penn State.

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

(CCN) — Here's our round-up of college baseball action around our state:

WESTERN MICHIGAN'S baseball team surprised Michigan in Ann Arbor. The Broncos blanked the Wolverines 6-0 in a non-conference match-up in front of a sparse crowd of only 494 mid-week fans at Ray Fisher Stadium inside the Wilpon Complex. 

WMU came into the game with only one victory all season. The Wolverines dropped to 11-9 overall.

MICHIGAN GETS BACK to Big 10 Conference action on Friday (March 21, 2025) with a 3-game weekend series in Lafayette, Indiana against Purdue. Losing two out of three at home last weekend dropped Michigan to 3-3 in Big 10 play so far.

Next up after this weekend for the Wolverines is a mid-week, non-conference battle against another Mid American Conference school on Tuesday when Eastern Michigan University visits Ann Arbor.

EMU FEATURES former Flint Powers Catholic star Fisher Hendershot who led the Chargers to last spring's state championship in Division 2. Hendershot has so far pitched 8 innings in 5 appearances for EMU with 9 strikeouts.

A 3-game series sweep last week in Kalamazoo over Western gave EMU a 5-1 start in the MAC. 

MICHIGAN STATE WON 8-5 Wednesday (March 19, 2025) over the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in a non-conference battle in front of 850 fans at Ishbia Field at McLane Stadium in East Lansing.

MSU is now 14- 6 overall but only 1-3 in the Big 10. They go this weekend to State College for a 3-game series against Penn State.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Tom Gores was the halftime guest during the last Detroit Pistons' game, and he updated fans about his group's bid to bring back a WNBA franchise to Little Caesars Arena n Downtown Detroit.

Gores said,  "We will do a good job with it. If we are allowed to get a team, we will do a really good job. We have a great city. We are committed. The community is amazing. … The WNBA runs a good process. We just have to rely on them to choose us." 

A formal expansion bid was submitted on Jan. 31.

 Gores has some notable partners in his group that  include some individuals involved with ownership of Detroit's other pro sports franchises.

They are Detroit Lions owner Sheila Hamp, Denise Ilitch of the Ilitch family that owns both the Detroit TIgers and Detroit Red Wings and Ethan Davidson who is  the son of former Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson.

Among the others listed by the Detroit News as equity stakeholders in the bid to obtain a WNBA team are Gretchen Davidson who is Ethan Davidson's wife,  General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Detroit Lions star quarterback Jarred Goff and his wife Christen, former Pistons' star and NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill and his wife Tamia, NBA Hall of Famer Chris Webber of Detroit, Roger and Carin Ehrenberg, Ashley Crain and Larry Brinker Jr. 

The price tag for a WNBA franchise is $125 million.

Gores, a Michigan native from Genesee who became a billionaire as owner of Platinum Equity, bought the Pistons for $325 million after Bill Davidson died in 2009. Gretchen Davidson, daughter of former State Rep. Lee Gonzales, grew up in Flint Township.

 PHOTO CAPTION: PIctured above this story is Tom Gores who is making a bid to deliver a WNBA franchise for the City of Detroit.

BY GARY ANDERSON

CCN Sports Writer

EDMONTON (CCN) — The Detroit Red Wings rallied from two goals down to win 3-2 in an overtime shootout Thursday night (January 30, 202) over the defending Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers.

The road victory was not only significant because it came against last season's NHL Stanley Cup finalists, but also because it marked the fourth victory in a row for the streaking Red Wings.

The Oilers currently lead the Pacific Division with 68 points — third-best in the NHL behind only the Winnipeg Jets who have 75 points to lead the Central Division and the Washington Capitals who lead the Metropolitan Division with 74 points. The Carolina Hurricanes, who are runner-up behind the Capitals in their division, are tied with the Oilers at 68 points.

Captain Dylan Larkin scored his team-leading 22nd goal of the season in the second period to tie the game at 2-2 and said afterward to the media: “It was a big win. It’s always a hard start in this building. We learned our lesson last year, I think we were down 2-0 after the first shift of the game. We came in the room down two, and we knew we had better. We knew we’d get our legs going from the travel day yesterday, and we did just that. From the second and third (periods) on, we played a pretty solid road hockey game.” 

Goalie Alex Lyon was brilliant in net for the Red Wings with a season-high 45 saves.

Coach Todd McLellan was singing the praises of his netminder to reporters after the game, saying,  “I thought Alex was obviously key to the victory. He faced a lot of shots, not all dangerous, but there were some succession-type shots that he had to be alert and get us some whistles when we broke down. That’s why the goalie wears the same color jersey as everybody else — he’s there to provide us that security, and he did that.” 

Lyon gave up an early goal when Edmonton capitalized on a power play as NHL scoring leader Leon Draisaitl drilled in his 36th goal of the season on a snap shot from the top of the right face-off circle. Lyon stopped Adam Henrique’s shot four minutes later but he couldn't control the puck and it bounded to Jeff Skinner who rifled it in for a 2-0 jump just 10:29 into the game.

Lyon told media members afterward:  “You obviously never want to give up a goal like that in the first (period) when you have a chance to cover it and kind of inflict harm on yourself. But maybe good motivation too and finding that next level to shut it down. That was my mindset — just try to give the guys a chance after that.” 

Larkin got the Red Wings even at 2-2 just 1:48  Michael Rasmussen got them on the board.

The two teams thereafter skated to a scoreless tie, including in the five-minute overtime session.

Larkin and Lucas Raymond tallied for Detroit in the shootout to win it.

Before the current four-game winning streak, Detroit earlier this month won seven in a row after General Manager Steve Yzerman fired Coach Derek LaLonde on the day after Christmas, and tabbed McLellan to go behind the bench.

They are 25-21-5 for 55 points and have pulled within two points of the final wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Tampa Bay Lighting and Columbus Blue Jackets have 57 points each to stand barely ahead of the Wings with 55 points and the Boston Bruins with 56 points.

McLellan's team continues its west coast road trip by going to Calgary tomorrow (Feb. 1, 2025) and to Vancouver on Sunday. They play the Flames Saturday at 10 pm and face the Canucks at 8 pm on Sunday. Both games will be broadcast on Fan Duel Sports Network's cable TV channel and on 97.1 FM The Ticket radio network.

 “I wouldn’t say it was the best start to the road trip, but we’ll take those two points for sure,” said Lyon to the media. “That’s such a good, dangerous team. Just got to enjoy it for a little bit then move on. We obviously got three more games coming up, so just got to stay on top of it.”

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Alex Jones who had a season-high 45 saves to spark the Detroit Red Wings to victory in Edmonton. 

BY ERIC THOMPSON

CCN Sports Writer

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND (CCN) — The Michigan State Spartans stayed even with the Michigan Wolverines in Big 10 basketball on junior guard Tre Holloman 3-pointer Wednesday night (Feb. 26, 2025) from past half court as time expired to beat Maryland 58-55.

The Spartans spoiled the night for the Terps who had a sellout crowd on hand to root for the upset. MSU is No.  8 in the latest poll while Maryland came into the showdown with a No. 18 national ranking with a 21-6 record overall on the season.

MSU, now 23-5 overall and 14-3 in the Big 10, have won four in a row and vie of their last six, including winning at Ann Arbor over Michigan last week to tie for the Wolverines for the top spot.

MSU hosts Wisconsin Sunday at the Breslin Center in East Lansing before going to Iowa on Thursday, and then finishing up at home against the arch rival Wolverines. 

UM hosts Rutgers tonight(Feb. 27, 2025), Illinois on Sunday and then Maryland on Wednesday night before closing out Big 10 regular season play next Sunday at noon from the Breslin Center.

Freshman Jason Richardson scored 15 points and had a career-high 8 rebounds to lead the Spartans with a near double-double against Maryland.

 Hero Holloman finished with 8 points while senior center Szymon Zapala had 7 points and 6 rebounds.

TORONTO (CCN) — Malik Beasley scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack Friday night (Nov. 15, 2024) as the Detroit Pistons beat the Toronto Raptors 99-95 after losing two nights earlier in an overtime heartbreaker at Milwaukee.

It was not only Detroit's second victory in two games but its third in the last five since a one-point loss to the Charlotte Hornets. The other defeat during the streak was a close one, too (a 101-99 affair to the Atlanta Hawks).

It could have been three in a row and 4-of-5 if not for Ken Holland II missing two free throws with one second left in regulation in a 111-111 game at Milwaukee when the Bucks went on to win in OT.

Coming off a 123-121 victory over the Miami Heat, Detroit also blew an early 18-point lead in Milwaukee and led 70-52 early in the 3rd quarter but the Bucks went on a 33-14 run to take their first lead of the night going into the final quarter

The Pistons are now 6-8 on the season and moved into the playoff picture with the No. 7 seed. The top 8 in each conference qualify. The Pistons are now 1/2 game behind the Haks and Heat for the No. 5 position.

Cade Cunningham, who led Detroit with 35 points in the losing cause at Milwaukee, scored 15 points against the Raptors with 10 assists.

Tobias Haris added 11 points and 11 rebounds for Detroit, Jaden Ivey put up 14 points, Jalen Duren 12 points, Holland 10 points and Wendell Moore Jr. 8 points.

Beasley's 20-point night at Toronto followed his  26-point outburst two nights earlier in Milwaukke against his former teammates.

The Pistons will be back in action on Sunday (Nov. 17, 2024) in Washington D.C. against the Wizzrd.  Tip-off is 6 pm with the telecast on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit. The radio broadcast will be on  
ALT Detroit (WDZH 98.7 FM).

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Malik Beasley who scored 20 points to lead a balanced attack for the Detroit Pistons in their victory at Toronto.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

ANN ARBOR (CCN) — New Coach Dusty May will be seeing turnovers in his nightmares after the Michigan Wolverines coughed up the ball an 

 unfathomable 21 times Friday night (Nov. 15, 2024) at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.

Danny Wolf led the way with 14 points and 14 rebounds for his second double-double in three games for the Wolverines who went to 2-1 on the young season in college basketball with a 76-64 triumph over TCU.

They had to overcome a rash of turnovers — 16 in the first half alone.

"We were playing a little too fast” May said to reporters afterward. “Each team presents a new challenge, whether it’s zone or no middle defense or whatever the case. We’re a bigger, less playmaking team off the bounce and when you drive, they collapse. So you have to have great off-ball movement. You have to have ball fakes... We were over-penetrating. We probably stressed not turning the ball over too much, probably talked about it and told them what not to do too much this week instead of focusing on what we wanted to do to beat their defense. But we were so consumed with focusing on ourselves. We’ll definitely spend some more time on the details as far as the turnovers, but it’s part of the growth process for us.”

UM jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and also had leads of 21-15 with 7:56 to go in the first half and 32-23 with 3:41 to go.

Every time, UM's offense went into turnover mode to let TCU back in the game.

After starting off 3-for-3 from the field, UM committed six straight turnovers for 8 points by TCU to take the lead at 10-9. Roddy Gayle Jr. made a layup with 13:36 left before halftime to give the Wolverines the lead again at 11-10, and they never trailed again. They ran the margin to as many as 12 points, and TCU got as close as two points in the second half before UM pulled away.

A 6-0 run by TCU off turnovers cut the margin to 34-31 at halftime.

UM built a 46-38 margin in the first 5 minutes of the second half, then made it 51-40 with 13:57 to go on a 4-of-5 shooting streak.

The visiting Horned Frogs used a 5-0 run to get within 54-50 with 10:34 left and scoring on three straight trips down the floor narrowed it to a mere two points with under 7 minutes to go.

Then came UM's defensive pressure. The Wolverines held TCU to 1-for-8 shooting during a stretch that lasted just over two minutes, and pulled ahead again by building its biggest lead of the night at the final buzzer.

Freshman Sam Walters and junior transfer Tre Donaldson added 10 points and 14 points, respectively, for UM. Fifth-year senior Nimari Burnett, UM's only returning starter who played in all 32 games a year ago, had his best game so far of the 2024-25 campaign by bagging a team-high 16 points to go with snaring 6 rebounds.

But Wolf was the key man. The 7-foot big man improved his early averages to 12.3 points per game and  9.7 rebounds per game with Friday's double-double.

The junior transfer from Yale did commit 4 turnovers in a continuing pattern and didn't like it, saying, “Yeah, personally, obviously (I’ve had) a few games with a lot of turnovers, I think it’s just something where coach May just tells me to slow the game down and let it come to me more,” Wolf said. “I think that a few of turnovers today were travels, the ones where it’s just bad passes and knowing the scout a little bit better, it’s something we’re going to continue to work on. If we don’t turn the ball over, our chances of winning go up significantly. That’s something that coach is going to preach and something we’re going to keep working at. It’s going to come with time.”

One of 11 newcomers to this year's UM roster, Wolf  led Yale to the Ivy League championship a year ago. He was MVP in the tournament when Yale earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and he was an all-Ivy League first team selection.

Wolf averaged 14.1 points per game last season as a sophomore with 24 double-figure games in 31 starts, including 20-point games 8 times. He also grabbed an average of 6.7 rebounds per game.

UM NOTEBOOK:

BALANCED ATTACK: Wolf scoring at a 12.3 points per game clip is part of a balanced offensive attack. Donaldson, also a junior transfer, is UM's top scorer so far at 13.3 points per game. Walters and Burnett are averaging 9.7 points per contest. Fifth starter Gayle, a junior transfer from Ohio State, checks in with a 10.7 average. L.J. Cason has an 8-point average off the bench and Will Tschetter has a 6.3 average off the bench.

PROVEN WINNERS: Along with Wolf leading Yale to the Ivy League title last season when making the NCAA Tournament, UM has plenty of winning pedigree in its lineup. Donaldson helped Auburn make two straight trips to the NCAA Tournament and was on the SEC Tournament championship club last year. Burnett helped Alabama to a Sweet 16 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament and he was on SEC championship teams in 2021 and 2023 before transferring to UM last season. Tschetter was on UM's Sweet 16 team in 2022. Grad student Vladislav Golden, UM's 7-footer as the second half of the twin towers duo with Wolf, was part of the winning program under Coach May at Florida Atlantic. May who was 126-69 there and led the Owls to the Conference USA title in 2023 when they reached the NCAA Tournament Final Four for the first time in school history, 

UM SHARP FROM FIELD: UM shot 50 percent (26-of-52)from the field against TCU.

WORK NEEDED ON FREE THROWS: UM shot only 65 percent (15-of-23) from the free throw lines against TCU.

WILL UM STAY AT FULL SPEED? Coach May said: “From Day 1, we’ve tried to play at such a fast pace. We are encouraging them to play a lot faster than they’ve ever played. The decisions are quicker, we’re seeing bigger bodies. We’re not going to panic, we’re simply going to tighten up a little bit and tighten up a little bit, but there are some themes. We do feel confident that we’ll look back at the end of the year and we’ll have a significant improvement from where we are now.”

UP NEXT: UM will remain in Ann Arbor for game two of its three-game homestand on Monday (Nov. 18) against Miami (Ohio) at Crisler Center. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. UM hosts Tarleton State on Thursday at 8:30 pm. The game will also be on the Big Ten Network.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

EAST LANSING (CCN) — The Michigan State Spartans used a late 18-0 run to overcome a spirited challenge by non-conference college hoops rival Bowling Green Saturday night (Nov. 16, 2024) at the Breslin Center in East Lansing.

Coach Tom Izzo's Spartans won 86-72 but MSU trailed by 12 points (40-28) late in the first half. The Spartans rallied to tie it at 43-43 by the halftime intermission and they built a 50-45 lead 2:47 into the second half. A 14-2 run put Bowling Green back in front at 64-56 with 10:53 left.

Back-to-back dunks by sophomore Coen Carr capped a 10-0 run by the Spartans over a 1:32 span to go back ahead 66-64. The Falcons took a lead again at 70-68 and extended it to 72-68.

Junior Carson Cooper's slam dunk and a 7-point surge by Carr gave the Spartans the lead for good to begin an 18-point run. A free throw by Carr gave MSU a 73-72 lead, followed by a tip-in dunk by Carr and a 3-point bomb by senior Jaden Akins.

Before the closing 18-point flurry, Bowling Green's pesky Falcons just wouldn't go away, and it should have been no surprise to the 14,797 fans. Bowling Green was playing on behalf of the entire Mid-American Conference 's pride in East Lansing against a perennial college basketball power from the bigger Big 10 Conference.

It was also a homecoming for former MSU star Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn Jr. who is now the associate head coach for Bowling Green.

When asked how Tum Tum Nairn being on the opposite bench impacted his team's play, Coach Izzo told the media in his post-game press conference: "I don't know, Tum didn't make many shots, they made them all. But it is different. It's hard enough to coach against your former assistants, but it's even harder to coach against your former players. I've only done it twice, but only one of them was a 4-year guy and that's Tum. Of course, at Butler, MoJo (Maurice Joseph) was the other one, but he was only here for two years."

Bowling Green Head Coach Todd Simon said: "(It was a) good, fun college basketball game ... anytime you get an opportunity to play a program the caliber of Michigan State, it's a big deal for us. I'm grateful to Coach Izzo to give us the game and bring us back close to home for Tum ... it was a good experience. They're tough and it really helped our team development. We are hopeful for some leaps from this game that we can grow on."

Akins liked  Izzo and Tum Tum being close to make the game more competitive, saying, "He knows all of our plays and was calling some of our plays out, so he knows what we do but we still have to execute... No, I was watching him a little bit, but I wasn't talking to him too much. I was just watching when he was talking to his players, when we were playing defense or when I was over there on that side of the court."

Akins led MSU with his first career double-double. He scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Akins also passed out 6 assists and made a couple of steals as MSU improved to 3-1 on the young season. MSU also reached the midway mark of its 8-game non-conference schedule to prepare for the Big 10 opener on Dec. 4 at Minnesota. The Spartans also rebounded from their 77-69 loss earlier in the week to No. 1 Kansas.

Akins said his teammates had to keep their energy focused on preventing a letdown, saying, "You get up for a game like Kansas, or the No. 1 team in the country, and then you come back and play, and you can't think 'Oh, everybody just comes in and we win the game easily.' We saw what they were capable of. They have some good players over there, so we knew it wasn't going to be just the easy game."

The senior from Farmington topped a parade of seven Spartans to reach double figures in the scoring column. Cooper and senior Frankie Fidler added 12 points each, Carr and junior Tre Holloman tallied 11 each and sophomore Jeremy Fears Jr. and junior Jaxon Kohler contributed 10 each.

. 

Izzo liked the balance, saying, "I said that we are strength by numbers, and ironically the only guy that did not score tonight was Jase (Richrson). He is averaging 11-12 points a game. But he didn't get any shots either. I don't know if we can keep it going, but it sure is nice to know that we have different guys that can score it in different ways. We got to just keep riding that horse until a couple guys break out and start really making shots and then we will go from there."

Richardson is the 6-3 freshman from Denver who is the son of MSU great Jason Richardson who made it to the NBA after playing for Izzo.

On the offensive balance, Akins said, "We just go on strength and numbers really, starters come off, bench comes in and provides instant offense and instant points. So, I feel like that just makes our team really dangerous. We have to continue to be like this."

Cooper added: "I think our bench points have been over 30 or something, the last four games. So, our bench has been able to come and contribute a lot, and I just heard Jaden say it, 'strength in numbers,' is another mantra that we have been going by. It's really nice to see everyone kind of step in and have a part in a big win."

Coen said, "Just having a lot of guys that bring the same energy, and that play hard on defense, because everybody comes in and there's no drop off. Everybody comes in and does their job. It's like we have a team full of starters. Just having that can definitely take a toll on teams."

On his energetic big tip-in dunk in the clutch to help fire up the Sparans to pull away and never look back, Coen said, "A lot, I don't feel like my dunks are worth two points, I feel it's worth more than that. I feel it's worth two points and it is worth helping getting us a stop on defense. The other team not knowing what they're calling on offense because the gym's screaming so loud, so I just feel like my dunks do a lot with that."

MSU NOTEBOOK:

KEY STATS: Bowling Green shot 54.8 percent from the floor in the first half (17-of-31) but went 32.3 percent from the floor in the second half (10-of-31). MSU shot 45.8 percent from the floor for the night (27-of-59) while hitting 59 percent of its two-point shots (23-of-39).

ADVANTAGE ON THE GLASS: MSU out-rebounded Bowling Green 42-28, including 25-14 in the second half. MSU is now 3-0 on the year when controlling the boards, losing when out-rebounded by Kansas.

BIG EDGE ON BENCH POINTS: MSU's bench played a key factor, too, by out-scoring Bowling Green's reserves 37-6.

ALL-TIME NUMBERS: MSU has an all-time record of 12-3 against Bowling Green, including 6 victories in a row. Izzo is 5-0 all time against the MAC school two hours south of East Lansing. 

MR. 700 CLUB: Izzo won his 710th career game. He's now 710-296.

SCORING 80 AGAIN: MSU has reached 80 poits in all three of its victories.

DOUBLE FIGURES PARADE: MSU's seven players in double figures marked the first time that's happened since Dec. 13, 2020 when beating Oakland University.

ANOTHER FEAT FOR AKINS: Along with his first career double-double, Akins also had a career-best mark with his 6 assists.

CAREER HIGH FOR COOPER: His 12 points set a new career-high. He hit a career-best 4 field goals and tied his career best with 4 free throws.

FREE THROW MAGIC: Fielder had at least 10 free throws in a game for the 14th time in his career. He connected on 10-of-10 to become just the third MSU player in the last 10 years to do so. The others were Adreian Payne against Delaware on March 20, 2014 and Tyson Walker against Indiana State on Dec. 30, 2023.

UP NEXT: MSU continues a two-game homestand, hosting Samford on Tuesday (Nov. 19 , 2024) at the Breslin Center. Game time is 8 pm and it will be televised on the Peacock Network.

ANN ARBOR (CCN) — University of Michigan officials announced today (Oct. 3, 2024) that a special event will be held to honor one of its long-time administrators — Greg Harden.

Harden, know as the "mental" coach to many hundreds of UM athletes over the past five decades, passed away in mid-September.

UM's 1991 Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard, now a college football analyst for ESPN, credited Harden with helping him win college football's top prize for individual players. "I don't win the Heisman if not for him" he said on an episode of ESPN's College Game Day when the death was announced, calling Harden a "mentor" and "long-time close friend."

Bob Bowman, coach to UM's Michael Phelps,  credited Harden with helping Phelps take his career to the next level when becoming the most decorated male swimmer in Olympic history.

Family, friends, UM staff, UM students and former athletes impacted by Harden are invited to attend “A Celebration of Life” for the long-time UM on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 11 a.m.

The memorial service and celebration will be held at Crisler Center on UM's campus.

Individuals can claim digital tickets at no cost for the event, beginning next week. Former UM student athletes and staff will have access to sign up on Monday (Oct. 7, 2024). Members of the public will be able to claim tickets on Wednesday (Oct. 9, 2024).

The event will include speakers from different eras of Harden’s life.

 A tribute to him on UM's website noted how Harden once  described his work in the following manner: "My real obsession is to convince an individual that they must determine for themselves what sort of man, what sort of woman they want to be. The goal is to make people experts on themselves."

He worked with hundreds of UM student-athletes during his career, including Desmond Howard, J.J. McCarthy, Tom Brady, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Olympians Emily Brunemann and Jeff Porter, as well as Michael Phelps.

Harden specialized as a mental coach for athletes, coaches, university personnel, executives and others on the world's biggest stages. That he maintained close personal relationships with so many, even decades after their competitive or working days had ended, reflects the enormous impact of his work on their performance and lives.

Harden was instrumental in the design and implementation of student-athlete and staff development strategies. His collaborative style and efforts helped to strengthen the athletic department's connection with the larger university community. He started his affiliation with the UM Athletic Department in 1986 when Hall of Fame football coach Bo Schembechler hired Harden as a staff consultant and student-athlete personal development program counselor.

Harden later became President of Power One Performance, Inc. providing performance coaching to corporate executives, professional athletes and community leaders.

He was President of Unlimited Access Educational Services — a non-profit organization. Harden has also served as Senior Vice President of Associated Consultation and Training, Inc.  and Executive Director of Leaders in Prevention.

A Detroit native and graduate of Southwestern High School, Harden received both his Bachelor of General Studies and Master's Degree in social work from UM. He published his first book in 2023 debuted at No. 1 on all of Amazon and became a bestseller on the New York Times list. — Stay Sane in an Insane World: How to Control the Controllables and Thrive.

DETROIT (CCN) — Thursday's dramatic comeback victory by the Detroit TIgers, coupled with the Minnesota Twins losing in extra innings later in the evening, reduced the magic number to one. The TIgers wasted no time clinching a spot in the American League playoffs by then promptly beating the Chicago White Sox 4-1 on Friday night.

It was the fifth victory in a row for the Tigers as they won for the ninth time in the last 10 games. They're 33-11 over their last 44 games for the best record in all of baseball.

They were once 10 games below the .500 mark in August and 10 games out of the wild card race.

Down 3-0 in Thursday's matinee, Detroit rallied to win 4-3 for its most dramatic comeback since July when coming back from five runs down to beat the Dodgers before the All Star Game  break.

A sellout crowd of 44,435 fans showed up Friday night to watch history. The Tigers, who had not had a winning season in seven years made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years 

The Tigers erased a 2-1 deficit Friday night with two runs in the bottom of the 7th inning to win it.

Riley Greene's RBI single and Matt Vierling's RBI double led Detroit's offense while four pitchers combined on a 3-hitter with Brant Hurter going to 6-1 on the season with 4 innings of work to get the victory.

(CCN) — Two long-time high school football coaches in Michigan have been placed on administrative leave and will miss Friday night's (Sept. 27, 2024) varsity games.

Carrollton High School's new varsity football coach has been placed on administrative leave. Multiple media reports say David Schneider is accused of throwing a pen at a student-athlete.

 New Baltimore Anchor Bay school district officials say its football coach, Mike Giannone, has been placed on administrative leave there, pending an investigation. Parents told CBS Detroit TV 62 that they have not been notified about why Giannone was placed on leave.

Giannone left his previous head coaching job at Warren De La Salle in 2019 after several players were accused of hazing younger students.  He won two state championships in three seasons at De La Salle and immediately landed the job at Anchor Bay after he left the De La Salle program. He previously led Macomb Dakota to  15 straight state playoff appearances and consecutive Division 1 state titles in 2006 and 2007. He was 191-64 in 22 years as a head coach until taking thejob at Anchor Bay where he's 18-21.

Carrollton Schools Superintendent Tiffany Peterson confirmed for other media that Schneider is on administrative leave, pending the outcome of an investigation. Carrollton Police Chief Chris Kellet confirms his office has begun an investigation and multiple media reports say interviews will be scheduled soon.

Schneider had 31 years of coaching experience before leaving his teacher position to take a job in Florida as a fishing boat captain in 2013. He took the Carrolton job last spring to get back into coaching after an 11-year run out of the game.  Schneider graduated in 1983 from Cheboygan High and starred there to make the football team at Olivet College . He was a prep head coach at Atlanta in 2008 and 2009 with a 6-12 record and then went to Lincoln Alcona where he had records of 4-5, 5-4, 6-3 and 10-1. 

Anchor Bay takes a 2-2 record into Friday's contest at home against Romeo without Coach Giannone. 

Carrolton is going to Saginaw Novel Catholic on Friday in search of its first victory of the season. The Cavaliers are 0-4. 

 DETROIT (CCN) — Tarik Skubal pitched 7 innings of 2-hit ball to lead the Detroit Tigers in a matinee game at Comerica Park Tuesday (Sept. 24, 2024) as they beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.

Skubal made a strong case to win the Cy Young Award in the American League by winning his 18th game of the season. He blanked the Rays for 7 innings to improve his AL-best earned run average to 2.39. Skubal also leads all of baseball with 223 strikeouts.

Skubal struck out 7 batters in Tuesday's matinee victory at Comercia Park. Beau Brieske came on to get the save with two innings of work. He allowed a 9th inning home run before settling down to end it for Manager A.J. Hinch's Tigers.

They moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Minnesota Twins in the American League wild card playoff race. It became a two-game lead later when the Twins were beaten 4-1 in Miami by the Marlins in a Tuesday night game.

The Kansas City Royals won 1-0 over the Royals to pull back even with the Tigers for the No. 2 wild card spot in the AL with five games to go.

Detroit plays at 6:40 pm tonight against the Rays and close out a three-game series on Thursday at Comerica Park at 1:10 pm. The Tigers then close out the season at home against the Chicago White Sox who have the worst team in baseball.

 Wenceel Perez ripped a two-run double in the bottom of the 5th inning to give Detroit  its lead.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Tarek Skubal who won his 18th game of the season Tuesday at Comerica park by beating the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.

CONNECTICUT  (CCN) — Indiana Fever fans remain in an uproar after rookie star Caitlin Clark was poked in the eye early in Game 1 of their best-of-three playoff series and the Connecticut Sun went on to win 93-69 against an obviously half speed Clark who was sporting a big black eye by halftime.

The Fever and Sun hook up in Game 2 tonight at    MohegaMohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville 

The game will be televised at 7:30 pm on ESPN.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Catilin Clark who was poked in the eye early in Game 1 of Indiana's playoff game with the Connecticut Sun.

MIAMI (CCN) — Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball history to join the 50-50 club in home runs and stolen bases in the same season with one of the greatest individual feats ever.

Ohtani powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to a West Division clinching victory over the Miami Marlins by blasting three home runs, driving in 10 runs and swiping a pair of bases.

He now has 51 home runs and 51 stolen bases.

DETROIT (CCN) — Tarik Skubal made what may have been his last start at Comerica Park a memorable one by turning in 7 strong innings of work on the mound with 8 strikeouts as the Detroit Tigers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Minnesota Twins 7-2.

Skubal's gem came amid rumors flying about a possible trade as baseball's trading deadline approaches on Tuesday.

Skubal allowed three hits and trailed 2-0 after giving up a 1st inning home run, but he surrendered just two hits the rest of the way while shutting out the Twins until leaving with a 3-2 lead after the 7th inning.

Skubal was locked in a pitching duel with Twins' ace Joe Ryan until the 6th inning when Colt Keith's RBI triple in the bottom of the 6th tied it after Mark Veiling opened with a lead-off single, and Keith then scored the go-ahead run off a RBI sacrifice fly by Mark Canha.  

Keith and Javier Báez then drilled two-run homers in the bottom of the 7th inning to offer insurance runs for the Tigers.

It was the third homer in three days for Báez. (See Related Story at right if you are reading on a lagtop or PC, or scroll down if you are reading on a mobile device)

Keith's homer was his 11th of the season — tying  Jake Wood and Nick Castellanos for most by a rookie in Tigers' history.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Tarik Skubal who went to 12-3 with a strong 7-inning outing for the Detroit Tigers on Saturday.

DETROIT (CCN) — Javier Báez had hit only one home run all season but his two-run blast in the 7th inning Saturday (July 28, 2024) in front of more than 35,000 fans at Comerica Park in Detroit marked his third in three days.

Báez drilled a three-run blast in the 2nd inning propel the Detroit Tigers to a 3-0 victory over the American League's Central Division leaders Thursday night (July 25, 2024) in Cleveland.

Báez, who was hitting a lowly .177 going into the Cleveland game, ripped another homer to start a homestand Friday night against the Minnesota Twins before adding the 7th inning blast on Saturday as the Tigers rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Twins 7-2.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is   Javier Báez who has three home runs n the last three games for the Detroit Tigers.

 COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.  (CCN) — Former Detroit Tigers Manager Jim Leyland offered an emotional speech Sunday (July 21, 2024) when inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.

“My contributions to our beautiful pastime pale in comparison to the joy it has brought to my life, from the heart of a little boy to the soul of an old man,” Leyland said.

He was a former Double-A ball back-up catcher who went on to spend 22 years as a big league manger. He won a World Series championship with the Miami Marlins, made it to the World Series two other times in Detroit and won six division titles with the Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Leyland was honored three times as Manager of the Year.

 Inducted Sunday with Leyland were Todd Helton, Adrian Beltré and Joe Mauer.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is former Detroit Tigers' Manager Jim Leyland.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Boxer Claressa Shields will step up to the heavyweight division on Saturday night (July 27, 2024) at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

She announced via her Facebook page that all floor seats are sold out for the big title fight.

Tickets start at $25 and range all the way to $750.

The two-time Olympic champion from Flint is the reigning WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO Middleweight World Champion and is the only women’s boxer in history to hold undisputed world titles in two divisions. She's also s is also a professional mixed martial artist in the Professional Fighters League.

Shields defended her middleweight belts by scoring a unanimous 10-round decision over Maricela Cornejo in June 2023 at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The wildly successful event was the first boxing match ever held there.

“The Queen of Boxing is back! I’m so excited to return to the ring, especially after my MMA victory in February.” Shields said. “I’m excited to bring another entertaining fight to Little Caesars Arena. Last time 12,000 fans filled the arena, and this time we’re going to lift the roof off the building! This is a significant and unique fight where I am moving up two weight classes against a very tough champion in my quest to become World Champion in my fourth weight division. It’s an exciting time for women’s sports, and I thank DAZN for providing a global platform for women’s boxing. I plan to do what I do best: bring that GWOAT energy and continue putting women’s boxing on the map.”

She held a big party in Flint on Sunday at her old stomping grounds of Berston Field House on Saginaw Street.

"We’re taking over the block! I want all my friends, family, and supporters to join me in Flint for my official send-off to fight week," she had posted on social media when inviting Flint friends to join her.

 Shields will fight Vanessa Lepage-Joanisse. The 29-year-old from Canada is WBC World Champion in the Heavyweight division and 8-0 for her pro career. Shields is 14-0 since becoming a pro boxer after winning two Olympic gold medals.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is boxer Claressa Shields who is fighting for the heavyweight championship on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.  

DETROIT (CCN) — The Detroit Red Wings re-signed former first round draft choice Joe Veleno to a two-year contract for $2.275 million per season.

Veleno, 24, skated in 80 games with the Red Wings during the 2023-24 season as a centerman and set career highs in goals (12), assists (16), points (28), power play goals (3), shots (86) and shooting percentage (14.0%). The 6-foot-1, 201-pound forward spent the entire 2022-23 campaign in Detroit as well and finished with 20 points (9-11-20) and only 30 penalty minutes.

Selected by the Red Wings in the first round of the 2018 NHL Entry Draft with the 30th overall pick, Veleno has totaled 64 points (30-34-64) and 81 penalty minutes in 232 NHL games since 2020-21. He also collected 36 points (18-18-36) and 26 penalty minutes in 69 games with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins from 2019-2022. Additionally, Veleno began the 2020-21 season with the Malmo Redhawks in the Swedish Hockey League, notching 20 points (11-9-20) and 20 penalty minutes in 46 games before returning to North America following the conclusion of the SHL season.

Prior to turning professional, Veleno played four seasons with the Saint John Sea Dogs and Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League from 2015-19, racking up 266 points (90-176-266), a plus-82 rating and 106 penalty minutes in 230 games, along with 46 points (27-19-46) and 34 penalty minutes in 61 postseason matchups. 

In the 2018-19 season, Veleno was selected to the QMJHL First All-Star Team after ranking fourth in the league with 104 points (42-62-104) in 59 regular-season games with Drummondville.

 Veleno helped Saint John win a QMJHL title in 2017 when he had 3 goals and 8 assists for 14 points in the playoffs after scoring 13 goals and 27 assists for 40 points in regular season play.

 A native of Kirkland, Quebec, Veleno became the first Quebec-born prospect to be granted exceptional player status by Hockey Canada in 2015. On the international stage, Veleno won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, tallying five points (2-3-5) in five games. He also represented his country at back-to-back IIHF World Junior Championships in 2019 and 2020, earning a gold medal at the 2020 tournament. Additionally, Veleno dished out three assists in four appearances at the 2018 IIHF World Under-18 Championship and captained Team Canada to a gold medal at the 2017 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Joe Veleno who has re-signed with the Detroit Red Wings for two seasons.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS (CCN) — The Detroit Tigers took a high school player with their first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. They took shortstop Bryce Rainer from Hollywood, California with the 11th selection overall.

Rainer is also a top pitching prospect — maybe the top one in the Class of 2024.

He led Harvard-Westlake to its second CIF Southern Section Division I title in school history as a freshman when going 9-0 with 74 strikeouts and a 1.46 ERA in 55 2/3 innings. He also hit .391 at the plate to take home the Max Preps National Freshman of the Year award.

Rainer focused on playing shortstop afterward when catching the eye of MLB scouts.

The left hitter finished his senior season last month with a .505 batting average.

Current Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who was also drafted out of high school from Harvard-Westlake, told reporters in the days leading up to the MLB Draft that he sees Rainer making the big leagues in four or five years.

"I think Bryce is more than capable of being a top-five pick and a kid that goes to the big leagues in the next four or five years,” Crow-Armstrong had told reporters earlier in the week.

"And he’s got the attitude for it, he added. "Now, it’s just his turn to kind of find his way in the pro ball setting and get beat up a little bit, but then have the opportunity to show everybody who Bryce Rainer is. He’s really, really, really talented. Better than me at that age. Not even close. Not defensively, but he can hit, and if he wanted to go try the two-way thing, I think he’d have a good chance of doing that. Talent-wise, he’s got it, for sure."

The Tigers have a history with Harvard-Westlake High School, too. They took Brennan Boesch in the 3rd round of the 2006 MLB Draft. He went there, too, before playing college ball at Cal and making it to the big leagues with the Tigers.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is shortstop Bryce Rainer who was the first pick by the Detroit Tigers on Sunday in the 2024 MLB Draft. Rainer hit .505 last season in high school ball and is also a pitching prospect.

(CCN) — C.J. Weins is headed to Detroit's organization after he was obtained in a trade with the Boston Red Sox.

Weins is a 24-year-old, right-handed pitcher who was a 6th round draft choice of the Red Sox out of Western Kentucky in 2023.

In 20 games this season for Salem in single-A ball, Weins had a 4.62 earned run average in 25 1/3 innings of work. He is 0-2 with 3 saves.

He has been assigned to Detroit's single-A team in Lakeland known as the Flying TIgers.

The Tigers gave up relief pitcher Trey Wingenter to get Weins in the deal.

Wingenter pitched in spring training for the Tigers but has been at Triple-A Toledo all season. He has a sparkling 13.2 strikeouts per 9 innings in 26 relief appearances for the Mud Hens in 2024. He's 4-4 with a 3.31 ERA. Wingenter was a 17th round selection of the San Diego Padres in the 2015 MLB Draft. He has 33 saves in his 10-year minor league career that began with six seasons in the Padres' organization.

Wingenter missed missed almost all of 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to Tommy John surgery. He signed with the Tigers in 2023 and made it to the big leagues with them during his first season in their organization when splitting his time between Detroit and Toledo in Triple-A.

The trade comes as the Red Sox are 7 1/2 games ahead of the Tigers in the race for the final wild card playoff spot in the American League.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is C.J. Weins who was obtained by the Detroit Tigers in a trade with the Boston Red Sox. 

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — The weekend magic continued Sunday (July 14, 2024) for the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. They used a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second day in a row.

Down 3-1, Sunday's comeback began with a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th by Zack McKinstry.  "It was a curveball up in the zone and I was able to get a barrel to it," the ex-Central Michigan star told media members afterward. "I saw it going toward the line and I was like, 'Stay fair, stay fair.' Then it hit the ground and I was like, 'Oh yeah, let's go,' and I turned on the burners." 

An RBI single by rookie pinch hitter Justyn-Henry Malloy tied it at 3-3, before back-to-back bunts were botched by the Dodgers. An errant throw over their third baseman's head into left field resulted in Malloy trotting in with the walk-off winning run.

Malloy and Ryan Vilade were both safe when the Dodgers booted a bunt by Vilade. Then Wenceel Perez dropped another bunt to try to move Malloy to third when the bad throw came by L.A.

Vilade, recently called up from Triple-A Toledo, was 2-for-3 on the day besides the sacrifice bunt.

Detroit's come-from-behind rally on Saturday to beat the Dodgers 11-9 came after they were down by 5 runs going into the bottom of the 9th. They tied it at 9-9 on Colt Keith's fifth home run in the last 10 games, then won it in the bottom of the 10th on the first big league homer by Gio Urshela.

The TIgers also treated their fans to an exciting game on Friday night when a sellout crowd of 42,060 fans packed Comerica Park, and were disappointed when superstar slugger Shohei Ohtani's RBI double in the 9th gave the Dodgers a 4-3 victory.

Another sellout crowd watched Detroit's dramatic rally on Saturday before more than 35,000 turned out on Sunday.

The Tigers climbed to 24,390 fans per game with the big crowds this weekend to move up to No. 21 in MLB attendance average. They went into the weekend at just over 20,000 fans per game to rank next to last in the entire MLB  — ahead of only the Miami Marlins.

Sunday marked the 8th time in the last 10 games that the Tigers won. Taking 2-out-of-3 over the National League's West Division leading Dodgers at Comerica Park followed taking 3-out-of-4 from the American League's Central Division leading Cleveland Guardians in Detroit. They started their hot streak with a 3-game sweep last weekend over the Reds in Cincinnati.

The Tigers got a great bullpen performance on Sunday after starter Beau Bridges surrendered all 3 runs by the Dodgers in the first inning.

Five Tigers combined to toss shut-out ball the rest of the way — highlighted by Kenta Maeda going 3 2/3 innings and giving up only one hit.

The Tigers are now 47-50 going into the break for Tuesday's All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas.

The Tigers are 12 games behind first-place Cleveland in the AL Central and within 5 games of the third-place Royals and 7 1/2 behind the second-place Twins.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Zack McKinstry who ripped a lead-off triple in the bottom of the 9th inning to begin Detroit's rally to win again in come-from-behind fashion via a walk-off winner.

BY MIKE KILLBREATH

CCN Executive Editor

DETROIT (CCN) — Gio Urshela hit his first big league home run in dramatic fashion with a walk-off blast to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-9 in front of a sellout crowd Saturday (July 13, 2024) at Comerica Park.

It came in the bottom of the 10th inning after the Tigers rallied from a 9-4 deficit to tie the game at 9-9 on a two-run homer by rookie Colt Keith in the bottom of the 9th.

The sellout crowd was the second in a row for the Tigers who blew a 3-2 lead to lose 4-3 on Friday night in front of 42,060 fans. 

Manager A.J. Hinch was bubbling with excitement after the game when meeting with reporters. He said, “I don't know how to appropriately comment on that game. It's an amazing feeling to see the guys happy — what a comeback on both sides of the ball.”

The Dodgers, who lead the National League's West Division, were 48-0 when leading this season after 8 innings. “That’s pretty cool,” CMU grad Zach McKinstry of the Tigers said to the media afterward. “Now (48) and one,” he added.

Keith, who drilled his 5th homer in 10 games, told reporters there is simply "no quit" in the Tigers. "We never gave up," he said. "Even (when) falling down 9-4, I feel like there was no change, no falter there. Everyone was going in, trying to have a good at-bat."

The Tigers started the bottom of the 9th with consecutive hits by Wenceel Pérez, Justyn-Henry Malloy and Matt Vierling. Pérez and Malloy had back-to-back singles before Vierling delivered a two-run double to get the Tigers within 9-6. 

 Riley Greene grounded out and Jake Rogers struck out to put the Tigers down to their final out.

Carson Kelly kept them alive with an RBI single to make it 9-7 before 22-year-old rookie Keith ripped a first-pitch, up-and-in cutter to the right field seats to tie it at 9-9.

Keith also knocked in 3 runs in the 2nd inning when belting a double. He was 3-for-4 in his 4 RBI day at the plate to raise his batting average to .253 after a slow start this season. The homer was his 9th of the year.

Rookie Keith also shined in the field at second base when turning an inning-ending doubleplay to strand the bases loaded in the top of the 10th.

 Shohei Ohtani scored three times for the Dodgers and belted his 29th home run to become the first Japanese-born player in MLB history to reach the 200 plateau for his career.

He scored for the third time in the 8th inning on Freddie Freeman's RBI sacrifice fly to put the Dodgers ahead 9-4 after a lead-off walk. He stole second base (his 23rd steal of the year) and moved up to third on a single by Teoscar Hernandez.

Ohtani also had a single and a triple to come up .only a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

The Dodgers slipped to 7 games ahead of the San Diego Padres in the NL West standings.

 The Tigers improved their record to 46-50 with one more contest until the All-Star Game break. That one will come Sunday at 1 pm in the rubber game of the 3-game series with L.A. The game will be on Bally Sports TV and the radio broadcast will originate from 97.1 FM The Ticket. The 13 games behind the first-place Cleveland Guardians in the American League's Central Division.

The Tigers took 3-out-of-4 from Cleveland to start their homestand at Comerica Park after a 3-game sweep over the Reds in Cincinnati.

PHOTO CAPTION: Pictured above this story is Saturday's hero  Gio Urshela. His two-run homer won it for the Detroit Tigers in front of a sellout crowd Saturday at Comerica Park in walk-off fashion.

 ARLINGTON, TEXAS (CCN) — Cam Collier of the Cincinnati Reds' organization blasted a 409-foot home run to win the MVP award at the 25th annual MLB Futures Game as All-Star Week continued at Arlington's Globe Life Field which is the home of the Texas Rangers.

Collier led the National League prospects to a 6-1 victory over the American League prospects in the annual showcase of the top young players in minor league baseball.

The Detroit Tigers were represented by two of their top prospects in the minors — Single-A outfielder Max Clark and Double-A infielder Hao-Yu Lee. They were a combined 1-for-5 with Clark getting the lone hit on a line drive single.

Clark, who was the No. 3 overall pick in last year’s MLB draft.by the Tigers, is hitting .279 this season with the Lakeland Flying Tigers. He has 6 home runs and an impressive 25 stolen bases. 

The MLB Draft starts on Sunday, followed by the Home Run Derby on Monday and the All-Star Game on Tuesday.