DTroppens

This should be their chance. They need to win the group. That makes everything easier.

The tourney starts at the end of this week. The expanded tourney will be interesting. If the US can win its group, it will make the trip to the quarterfinal much easier. It would be nice to see them get to that point. I'm not super hopeful that happens but their pool draw is about as reasonable as anyone could ever expect. With so many third place teams advancing, not making it to the round of 32 would be an embarrassment.

Pretty good. 🙂

I got this one with a bulk purchase that was probably less then 50 cents an issue. Didn't know it was in there. Not perfect shape, but I sis plan on reading it so who cares.

I have about 100 random Baseball Digests. I loved the letters to the editor that led to interesting trivial answers or graphics, loved the other random statistical graphics they had beyond the letter to the editor and the game I'll never forget feature. Beyond those things, a lot of the articles were very basic - even for then.

Okay, more than I thought. The CD games you can get at Baseball Direct on the internet. I'm sure that's where I got them. The others are on cassette, but may be available at Baseball Direct. I'm sure most of these games are somewhere on the internet now as well. If not now, they eventually will be. 1976 – June 28 Yankees at Tigers (CD) 5-1W Holtzman vs. Fidrych NBC TV: Bob Uecker 1976 - Aug 17 Tigers vs Angles 3-2W Tanana vs. Fidrych Harwell and Carey (CD) 1976 - Aug. 25 White Sox at Tigers 3-1W Johnson vs. Fidrych Harry Caray, Mercer 1977 – June 20 Yankees at Tigers 2-1W Gullett vs. Fidrych Rizzuto, White & Messer 1977 - June 25 Cleveland at Detroit (CD) 6-4W Fidrych Score, Tait 1978 - April 7 Toronto at Detroit (CD) 6-2W Fidrych vs. Harwell & Carey 1978 – April 12 Tigers at Rangers 3-2W Fidrych vs. Matlack Harwell & Carey 1978 - Apri 17 Chicago at Detroit (CD) 10-9W Fidrych vs. Harwell Carey Game Fidrych leaves hurt and the end of his season

I think there are four or five complete-broadcast games of Fidrych starts roaming out there. Way back in the late 1900s and early 2000s, I bought them from places that don't exist any more. Now, most of them are free on the internet. 🙂

One of the White Sox announcers is Lorn Brown. He became a stringer for me at the paper I worked at in Illinois (where I lived when I found out about Motownsports actually) writing prep basketball stories. It's funny who you will run into and work with during your lifetime.

That game was so nice, I watched the replay to make sure I didn't dream it the first time I watched it. 🙂

Whenever I walk a trail and I start seeing a great lake, especially if it is Lake Superior. Really doesn't matter what season it is. Here's one I took during a "what the heck let's go" May 15 to 17 trip to the Keweenaw Peninsula earlier this year. This is a photo in Copper Harbor at the peninsula point of Hunter's Point Trail. Just laid on the lava rock for 30 minutes listening to the slight waves and the animals that hit the area. The second was in Grand Marais I think March 2025. There was a small strip of shore line that was completely dry between Lake Superior's completely calm water and the ice shelf to the right of me. This wasn't the best photo my wife got of me, but it's the one I could find. I laid there in the sun (it was pretty warm and I did get a bit burned) for about 25 minutes. We will be making our next week-long trip to Houghton and the KP in less than two weeks. Bugs or not, we'll be there. It's our annual UP trip. And I typically get up there once a month even if it is just for a day or a leave one day and come back the next trip. Being near Lake Superior is so calming and good for your mental mindset.

Last night's game probably followed the same trend for most here as it did for me, but this is how it went. It went from excitement and relaxation to wondering if they could find a way to blow a 6-0 lead still early in the game. Then it went to tiny concern to "okay they are up five again" calmness. Then it went to absolute madness when it looked like they were going to blow the game only to see it end with me feeling more relieved than anything after the final out. I guess that's more entertaining than a comfortable win.

Two or three years ago I did a summer-long feature on Fidrych's 1976 season roughly trying to keep up with the date of the publication with the date of 1976. I had a blast doing it. People really enjoyed it. I did the same thing for the 1968 and 1984 Tigers and they got decent positive mentions, but "the Bird's" blew those two summer-long features out of the water. People kept talking to me about The Bird even after I was done with the feature. I have Fidrych's Topps rookie card (not great shape and in a screw down protector so we all know that is horrible) on my wall in clear view when I look at my office monitor (as I'm doing right now). I also did a 1976 Tiger season replay, and while the team did just about what they did for the actual season, Fidrych was horrible at the start. In fact, if my season was the actual season he wouldn't have been starting any All-Star Game. He would've been at Evansville. 🙂 But he did better the second half and even with him struggling for a good chunk of the season, it was a fun replay. In fact, it's one of the most done replays in the gaming world - the Mark Fidrych 1976 replay. Hardly any of them that are done are really Tiger fans. Some are, but not a lot of them. He still holds a lot of magic with not just Tiger fans, but MLB fans of all teams.

You know, if it happened in that order and we knew about the Verlander signing before Valdez, I probably would've laughed at the signing. Funny how the order change can make such a difference.

The JV thing was never a huge thing to me. I figured why not try. If it hits, that's great. If what is happening now, happens, that's okay as well. It was a pot luck thing that was only for the season. Really, it was worth the shot to see if it worked. Right now, it hasn't. Maybe in August he ends up a pretty solid arm in the rotation. But even if not, giving it a whirl was never a horrible option in my book.

Nice being able to enjoy a win, but maybe two more down. The craziness will never end.

Looks like the only person to get a vote on every ballot was Wembanyama.

I don't think you have to worry about that.

Yup.

They were the team that "wanted" it - no doubt.

The Pistons lost their identity in the first handful of mins with those paint hoops and never had any sense of control the entire game. Obviously, this was an embarrassing performance But I'm not going to tear the players too much tonight beyond that. I'll worry about it tomorrow. The Pistons stood pat at the deadline to learn about their team. A lot of lessons should've been learned. Let's see what the front office does this offseaon. Let's see if there was an actual method to that madness of a mindset. How the heck did Gilbert get that many tickets. Hate hearing the Cavs chant.

Could the Pistons nickname this year become the 7th game Pistons? One nice thing if Detroit does win game 7 is they don't have to travel for game #1 - a slightly overlooked thing because one doesn't expect a 1 seed to have back to back 7-game series. The Pistons certainly would like some more time off but being home does help. And maybe the Knicks will be rusty game 1 for the Pistons if Detroit wins this series.

And this is why while the Bad Boy era should clearly be my favorite era in Pistons' history, when I'm asked to pick one I enjoyed the most, its hard for me to answer that question. I saw almost every home Barry Sanders offensive play live. I think his rookie season was the only one we didn't go to every home game, but after that we saw a lot of Barry. But I still think watching Ben play defense was my "most fun" person to watch play in a Detroit uniform in any of the major 4 teams. But Ausar is a lot of fun to watch as well.

Amazing what losing some of your PT can do to a player. DUREN actually wasn't a complete black hole on both sides of the floor. Played reasonable.

What an outstanding game says Mr. Obvious. On to game 7!

Exactly. This is why I really don't worry about this stuff. Harrises and Jenkinses of the world aren't going to get the calls. And when you don't have the defense spaced like other teams, fouls are not going to get called as frequently. So much with fouls are visual when you are out in space. They are easier to see and call. It's harder to ignore out in space when a defensive team is scrambling to help. When teams are just sitting 15 feet away from the hoop and are more ready to collapse than run out to defend a trey, that helps the defense. I just get tired of Lions fans and other Detroit fans always complaining about everything officiating. This team was up 9 with about 2:30 to go. Win the game at home. And if you don't, you SHOULDN'T have won the game. You got the result you deserved. Complain about free throws all you want. You took what had to be somewhere about an 80 to 90% chance of a win and went into OT only because the Cavs didn't captialize on a chance to actually win the game. The Pistons were lucky to go to OT when they were up by 9 with about 2:30 left. And, man are they awful in the third quarter. I think we won one third quarter and beyond that this team has been awful coming out of the half. One of my favorite things to chart is the "subtle six-point run" out of the half the last five or six years - not only in the NBA but the prep games I cover. I'm not talking about a 10-0 run, although that can be that. However, quite frequently a team will just steadily win the first five or six minutes (using the NBA for this one) with a 12-6 run, or maybe a 14-8 run. You hardly notice it, but it completely changes the dynamic of the game. Last game that minor run meant the difference of being a two-point lead midway through the third or maybe a double-digit lead for the Pistons. Of course, the Cavs won it. These moments tell you who are making the adjustments and learning the first half. The Pistons haven't been the better team. In fact, as the series goes on, the Cavs are learning and really making the Pistons' offense as easily defensed as one would've expected a decent team would once you've played them three, four, five and now a sixth game. These are the themes that bother me. Fouls and free throws - yes it sucks, and looking at the numbers can easily make someone fall into the trap that says that's the series. It hasn't been the series. - The Pistons never seriously addressed the perimeter issue - especially after it was apparent Beasley wasn't coming back. It's biting them big time. - The Pistons are subpar to horrible in the third quarter. - The Pistons couldn't close out a nine-point lead with 2:30-something left in a home game. - Duren has been a complete no-show. And is it up to him to step up? Of course, but the playoffs are 12 games deep and if anything he's getting worse on both sides of the floor, minus the occasional nice dish on offense. - The Cavs had figured out how easy it is to defend the Pistons' no-perimeter offense. "Beat us from outside and we'll live with it, we just don't think you can, Pistons." I can't even get myself to worry about free throws. All this said, and they can still win this series. I wouldn't bet my life on it. But it's still reasonably possible.