Jimmy Howard looks ready for the Coyotes … are YOU?

Posted on by farlane

Detroit Red Wings Goalie Jimmy Howard
Detroit Red Wings Goalie Jimmy Howard, photo by radiospike photography

Canadian hockey broadcaster Bob McKenzie has said that perhaps playoff hockey should be renamed “goalie.” If that’s the case, then we better hope that the man above, Red Wings rookie goalie Jimmy Howard – named the NHL’s second star for March – is up for the task. Jimmy Howard finishes the season 4th in the NHL in save percentage and is considered a candidate for Rookie of the Year. ESPN says that beyond that, Howard is playing himself into the Hart Trophy debate:

With each passing day, it becomes crystal clear Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard isn’t just the obvious candidate for rookie of the year, but he has also played himself into consideration for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender.

…Now the storyline surrounding the Wings is whether Howard can become the first Red Wings netminder to capture rookie of the year honors since Roger Crozier in 1964-65, and how he will react to the pressures of being a playoff goalie in Detroit.

“He’s a guy that’s done a good job for us. He’s gotten us to the point we’re at. The test of time is what he’s got to survive,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “There’s been lots of goalies that have come into the league and some even won the rookie of the year and then you don’t keep it going. That’s up to him.

The Wings open the 2010 playoffs at Phoenix on Wednesday at 10 PM.

See this photo bigger in Spike’s Red Wings slideshow, stay tuned to his photostream through the playoffs for more shots and let’s go Wings!

Happy Ernie Harwell Day!

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Ernie Harwell & George Kell broadcasting for the Detroit Tigers
George Kell Ernie Harwell 1961, photo by doctor_gogol.

For, lo, the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone;
The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of the singing of birds is come,
and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land
~Ernie Harwell quoting the Song of Solomon (listen)

The Detroit Free Press notes that today is not just the Detroit Tigers home opener against the Cleveland Indians, but also that April 9 is now Ernie Harwell Day by decree of the Michigan Senate.

The Detroit News Rearview Mirror on Ernie Harwell writes that the Baseball Hall of Fame and longtime Detroit Tigers announcer was born on January 25, 1918 in Washington, Georgia, was so tongue-tied as a youngster that kids made fun of him and became the only broadcaster ever traded when the minor league Atlanta Crackers traded him to the Brooklyn Dodgers for farmhand Cliff Draper.

In 1950 Harwell was lured to the rival New York Giants, where one year later he broadcast the debut of Willie Mays. From 1954 to 1959, Harwell was the voice of the Baltimore Orioles.

George Kell was finishing his Hall of Fame career as a player with the Orioles, and one day Ernie invited him into the radio booth. Kell later landed a job with the Detroit Tigers and in 1960 the Detroit club signed Harwell to become Kell’s partner. “It’s the best move I ever made,” Ernie said. “I’ve been very happy in Detroit.”

…Baseball author Bruce Shlain reflects: “Somehow he brings the proper pitch and phrasing to a whole season, with a rhythm and pacing that only a select few have ever commanded. In many ways a Harwell broadcast is profoundly musical, as befits a man who has published 55 songs with composers such as Johnny Mercer. Many an announcer has aspired to sounding as if talking to a friend in his living room, but Harwell effortlessly establishes the same rapport on the air as he does in person.”

Be sure to check out this shot of Ernie & George Kell out bigger and see more in Doctor Gogol’s Stadium Workers set. In honor of Ernie and the home opener, I suggest you settle back and watch the Tiger Briggs Stadium Detroit slideshow.

Check out more Detroit Tiger features on Michigan in Pictures and play ball!

Play Ball! Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

have a seat in my time machine

have a seat in my time machine, photo by 1ManWithACamera.

The Detroit Tigers open the 2010 baseball season in Kansas City at 4:10 PM today. The Baseball Almanac says that since 1901, the Detroit Tigers are 58-50 on Opening Day. On April 26, 1992 when Larry took his nephew Aaron to his first Tiger game, the Bengals came up short to the Blue Jays, 2-4. Here’s hoping that the boxscore in 2010 looks more like the 15-2 crushdown that the Tigers laid on the Texas Rangers last year.

Over on Absolute Michigan we have our Detroit Tigers Opening Day 2010 Blog Roundup. More at absolutemichigan.com/Tigers and from Michigan in Pictures.

Check this out big as a ballpark and see more in Larry’s Detroit Tigers and their ballparks set (slideshow).

Sweet 16, 2010 with the Michigan State Spartans

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Gotcha!

Gotcha!, photo by m.villavicencio.

Wikipedia says that the Michigan State Spartans Men’s Basketball Team has been in the Sweet Sixteen 9 of the last 13 years. In all, Michigan State has won two NCAA Championships, appeared in seven Final Fours and made 23 NCAA Tournament appearances.

On Friday, the MSU Spartans take a 26-8 record into a game with the 2010 Cinderella, the Northern Iowa Panthers.

Be sure to check this out background bigilicious or in Miguel’s slideshow.

Be sure to also check out more posts about the MSU Spartans from Michigan in Pictures!

U.F.O

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

U.F.O

U.F.O, photo by GH Patriot.

We’re getting reports of Unidentified Flying Objects over the Grand Haven Ski Bowl.

Be sure to check it out bigger and in Kevin’s snowboarding slideshow, which features more of the same.

Brian was there too.

Previewing the Winter Olympics at Otsego Club

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

SNOWBOARD Training in Gaylord, Michigan

SNOWBOARD Training in Gaylord, Michigan, photo by MyWheelsareTurning.

If a trip to Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics (February 12-28) isn’t in your budget, consider the shorter jaunt to Gaylord next week.

Many of the world’s finest snowboarders are training for the Winter Games at Otsego Club in Gaylord, Michigan. The New York Times reports:

The Otsego Club, a private ski/golf club and resort founded in 1939, has been a good destination for snowboarders, with a terrain park of 45 trails and jumps to complement its 31 downhill runs. This season, it decided to take a chance and spend more than $100,000 to build the halfpipe…

The grounds were reshaped and prepared over the fall, and the architects of Planet Snow built the 500-foot-long, 22-foot-high halfpipe of ice and snow.

The club hoped adding the halfpipe could attract interest, but the general manager, Kris Klay, said the experiment had far exceeded expectations.

“Every day I am getting calls from coaches and athletes asking if they can come here too — do we have room?” Klay said. “We’re going to make the room. This has been an incredible experience for us to host them and for the community to be able to have exposure to this. We feel like we’re so lucky, we’re getting to see a preview of the Vancouver Olympics every day in our own backyard.”

They also have a nice feature on one of the biggest stars you can see there, Gold Medal hopeful Torah Bright. I’ve been told that even more of the top boarders will be in early next week, and my own resident snowboarding expert returned beaming from ear to ear at how he’d been able to board with Olympians, a chance that few get. I believe that the resort is closed to the public on the weekend, so be sure to call ahead!

You can see this photo of Japanese rider Shiho Nakashima larger in Gary’s Gaylord: Olympic Snowboard slideshow and check out his blog about
Walking, Biking, Getting Around in Northern Michigan & Beyond.

And Go

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

And Go

And Go, photo by rickrjw.

…and have a good weekend!

Check this out bigger, in Rick’s DN Central Races Boyne City, Michigan 01/15-1/17/2010 set and for lots more of Michigan’s best ice boating action, head over to elklakeiceboating.com.

Coach Tom Izzo, #1 for the MSU Spartans

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Final Four Homecoming #3

Final Four Homecoming #3, photo by Blackbeard Ben. © 2009 Red Cedar Log

Last weekend, Michigan State University Men’s Basketball coach Tom Izzo passed his predecessor and mentor Jud Heathcoate as the all time wins leader for the MSU Spartans. Check out Congratulations Coach Izzo! on Absolute Michigan for more about the Iron Mountain native, including video.

This photo is one of many in Ben’s Red Cedar Log Event Photos set ( slideshow).

Storm Chaser: Surfing in Grand Haven

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Storm Chaser

Storm Chaser, photo by johndykstraphotography.

Around the end of August, surf season really starts in earnest in Michigan and on the Great Lakes. As the winds and waves build through September and November, so does the level of the surfing. Grand Haven is one of Michigan’s best breaks (see Surf Grand Haven) and one of the locations featured in Vince Deur’s awesome film Unsalted. Here’s a cool preview of Unsalted from Absolute Michigan.

Be sure and check this out bigger and also check out the Michigan surfing slideshow in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr!

The Pontiac Silverdome

Posted on by Michigan in Pictures

Abandoned Pontiac Silverdome - Pontiac Mi

Abandoned Pontiac Silverdome – Pontiac Mi, photo by Derek Farr ( DetroitDerek ).

Crain’s Detroit reported yesterday afternoon that an as yet unnamed Canadian company has purchased the Pontiac Silverdome for $583,000.

Ballparks.com’s page on the Pontiac Silverdome notes that at 80,368, the massive Silverdome long had the largest seating capacity in the NFL. The air-supported and cable-restrained facility was the largest of its kind in the world and is the first successful example of a fiberglass fabric roof system. From Wikipedia’s entry on the Pontiac Silverdome, I found this site dedicated to Silverdome architect C. Don Davidson. The site explains:

After working in the south as a prominent architect for several government and city projects, Davidson returned home in 1965 to a city that was slowly dying and stated in his own words, *”It looked as if someone had dropped a bomb on the city”. In 1966 he was hired at the University of Detroit to teach architecture and urban planning.

It was then when Davidson and his U.of D. class embarked upon an urban renewal project for Pontiac under the direction of Bruno Leon, Dean of Architecture.

You’ll definitely want to click through for drawings, press clippings and more about the Pontiac Silverdome.

Curiously enough, Derek’s photo appears on that site! See it bigger in his Detroit Ruins (and other cities) slideshow.

If you’d like a video look, you can check out the auction preview video (go to about 1:20 to get past the auction promo). If you’d rather just see what it looks like with laser lights and a rave going on, how about this video of Project Hardcore @ Silverdome in 2009?