With a 42-24 victory over the Carolina Panthers Sunday afternoon at jam-packed and raucous Ford Field, the Lions not only raised their record to 4-1 but also displayed how their extraordinary revival might lead the four local sports teams from a group recession into a group renaissance.
Can the Lions end Detroit’s decade of decay in pro sports by qualifying for the Super Bowl tournament for the first time since 2016 and win a post-season game for the first time since 1991?
Can the Tigers next summer reach the World Series tournament for the first time since 2014 and win a round for the first time since 2013?
Can the Red Wings — opening this week — reach the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time since 2016 and win a round for the first time since 2013?
And can the Pistons — worst team in the NBA last season and starting their exhibition schedule — reach the postseason for the first time since 2019 and win a round for the first time since 2008?
If one or two come through, it will help revive the spirit in a community that long has considered pro sports a major identifier with four bedrock franchises.
But no city with teams in the top four sports has suffered like Detroit, which has not had a post-season game in what have been so far the Snoring Twenties on the local sports scene.
The Lions are leading with quarterback Jared Goff, a lethal passer when he has time to read the coverage from the blocking pocket; with Sam LaPorta, a rookie tight end who caught one of his two touchdown passes Sunday on a brilliantly conceived trick play; and Aidan Hutchinson, the defensive end who added a one-handed pass interception to his quarterback sack portfolio.
His turnover was one of three by the Lions and also the key play of the day.
As for the other three teams:
- The Tigers finished strong, with first baseman Spencer Torkelson finding his power swing for 31 home runs. Riley Greene is an inspirational hitter and outfielder but suffered his third major injury in two seasons and needed more surgery. That’s a concern. In center, Parker Meadows is promising but unproven. The team seems to be under wise leadership with president Scott Harris, the current whiz kid in the baseball biz. And they might be ready to make a major move in a mediocre division. One worry: The expensive and enormous contract for shortstop Javier Baez — and his alarming decline — could become an albatross like that of Miguel Cabrera.
- The Red Wings are improving under general manager Steve Yzerman, who needs to make whatever moves are necessary to reach the playoffs. Even in Detroit, which loves him, and even under the Ilitches, who love him, Motor City patience isn’t infinite. This is Year Five of his era. Last season, Yzerman’s team played like a skilled bunch that could be roughed up when the going got tough. Mo Seider one day might win the Norris trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman.
- The Pistons have nowhere to go but up as the NBA’s (and Detroit’s) worst team. They say Cade Cunningham is healthy after missing most of last season. He’s the sort of player who makes others better. They will go as far as he takes them.
Sir Richard stars in a sweet Masonic night
Some years back in New York, I saw a one-man show off-Broadway about a bartender who voiced opinions on all things, including the Beatles.
“John Lennon,” he said. “Intellectual Beatle.”
“Paul McCartney,” he said. “Cute Beatle.”
“George Harrison,” he said. “Spiritual Beatle.”
“Ringo Starr,” he finally said. (Pause): “Best job ever!”
In that the singing drummer Sir Richard Starkey of Liverpool’s Dingle district is currently age 83 and is the second-greatest living Beatle, I felt it my Beatle-fan duty to purchase a ticket for his “Ringo Starr’s All-Starr Band” concert Saturday night at Masonic Auditorium.
Boy, am I glad I did. I expected maybe a C-minus oldies show with guys like Colin Bay of Men at Work and Toto’s Steve Lukather singing their old hits and helping Starr with his hits from both his Beatles’ days and his solo career.
Instead, I got a B-plus show of sweet nostalgia that ended with a medley of “A Little Help From My Friends” and “Give Peace a Chance.” Starr’s bandmates — senior stars in their own right — seemed cohesive and enthusiastic, loose in their stage presence, tight in their playing.
This bunch of old pros seemed to have as much fun as the audience, which filled about three-quarters of the 3,500-seat Masonic. One was Edgar Winter, who I’d seen, oh, a mere 50 years ago, at the old Eastown Theater. I’d forgotten how versatile and entertaining he was and still is.
Winter raised a few goose bumps with an energetic “Johnny B. Goode” in honor of his late brother, Johnny. Both were born albino and Winter joked to the audience that his bandmates tell him “Hey, Edgar, lighten up!”
Starr looked fit, trim and spry, having overcome many childhood illnesses and adult addictions, as he has discussed. His hair is dark and full, his face bears a mustache and short beard, his eyes with glasses that tint under light. Ringo looks like a hipster.
He wore black pants and a sparkly black T-shirt under a black jacket decorated with silver stars. The audience was heavily senior, although some younger adults brought children. A mother and a dad with two young kids danced down the center aisle with their children in their arms.
Of course, Starr delighted the sing-along audience with “Boys” and “Act Naturally” and “Yellow Submarine” and plenty more over two well-paced hours. But the highlight of the night came for me in “Octopus’s Garden,” and it had nothing to do with the music or the singing.
When the song ended, Starr walked toward the front of the stage, bent toward the audience and said to a young boy at the front “What’s your name, big guy?”
“Camden,” the boy replied, his name echoed by his parents.
“Camden, like the town?” Starr said.
Yes, it was confirmed.
Then Starr explained to the audience: “He was singing along all the way through that. Yeah! Good lad.”
The crowd cheered.
Next, Starr noticed something behind the boy.
“Go back to mummy now,” Starr said. “She’s crying.”
The last line drew warm laughter from the audience on a night for happy tears, sincere nostalgia, and some first-rate, senior-citizen rock ’n’ roll.
How far should gun guilt go?
The family name “Crumbley” evokes characters out of a Charles Dickens novel. But the Crumbleys of Oakland County are real people and their real issues are hardly fictional.
With any luck, the recent decision by the Michigan Supreme Court in the Crumbley murder matter might lead to significant gun-safety reform. In this good cause, at least, Michigan might lead.
You remember the Crumbleys from two years ago, when the mother, Jennifer, and the father, James, bought a gun toy for their boy, Ethan, who attended Oxford High School.
Young Crumbley — then 15 years old — took his hand-held murder machine to school and slaughtered four fellow students and wounded seven others, including a teacher. Demons made him do it, he said, although demons didn’t buy him, sell him, or make him the gun.
He has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and other charges and faces life imprisonment without parole. But his parents also face 15 years behind bars and this is more significant in one way.
When the high state court ruled last week that the parents can be tried for involuntary manslaughter for what their kid did, it was believed to be the first time that family members have been charged by extension in a mass school shooting.
Gun nuts who advocate “Second Amendment rights” should be concerned, with good reason, about this prosecution under the “slippery slope” theory. If parents can be found guilty for killings done by their son, why not extend the blame in the chain of custody to the gun store which sold the weapon?
And if a gun store can be found liable for what its customers do with its easily-obtained, over-the-counter products, why not sue or prosecute the manufacturer as well for making a mechanical device that, when used as intended, may result in death?
But don’t get too optimistic. No matter the result of the Crumbleys’ trial, a case like this could end up before the right-wing United States Supreme Court, which is now packed with religious fundamentalists and gun groomers thanks in large part to the cynical appointments of former President Donald Trump.
This problem can be quickly fixed only by expansion of the Supreme Court from nine seats to 11, 13, or 15. Absent a Democratic wave in 2024, this necessary progress is probably out of the question.
Tigers TV needs a fresh breeze
No tears here over the firing of Matt Shepard as the television play-by-play announcer for Tigers’ games on Bally Sports Detroit. But Shepard was hardly the only problem for a stale baseball production that badly needs refreshment both in the booth and on the screen.
One major problem is too many voices in the rotating “color commentary” role. Bally needs to settle on one person — Dan Petry? Craig Monroe? — as the primary analyst so that the new play-by-play person can find a rhythm and cadence with a regular partner.
Next, cut down on the gushing and cheerleading from the booth, from the studio and from the roving reporters. It’s OK to be an honest, clear-eyed, critical thinker and notice obvious mistakes. Besides, you can’t fool the fans.
An announcer, even a former player, can still support the local team without shouts of “C’mon, buddy!” as if still on the dugout bench. And we could do without all the yuk-yuk-yuk that forces itself during the yakity-yak on “Pick the Stick” predictions.
And, for goodness sakes, in the control room, try to get the name of the batter on screen before the second or third pitch. And if he hits the ball, please leave his name on the screen (perhaps blinking, like a “Don’t Walk” sign) until the end of the play.
As the Tigers improve and look promising for 2024, a bigger problem for their stay-at-home fans might be finding all the games. More of them in all sports are leaking away from channels like Bally over to “streams” like Peacock that cost extra money beyond a traditional cable package
Local fans will notice it painfully on Jan. 30 when Michigan plays at Michigan State in basketball televised exclusively on Peacock. Both teams will have four other games exclusively on Peacock. As for Red Wings’ hockey, 13 of their 82 regular-season games will be on channels (or streams) other than BSD.
All this assumes companies like Bally in Detroit will even stay in business. Its parent company has declared bankruptcy and is backing out of several long-term deals around the country. Customers without cable who have tried to buy Bally’s streaming app have reported many technical difficulties.
This industry is in flux. TV sports (especially its delivery systems) might be approaching the biggest upheaval since the cable revolution took hold in the 1980s. This ride will get bumpy and more expensive.
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