_MG_9071.JPG, photo by eric.mackinnon.
Eric has a great set of photos from the Spartans Final 4 Welcome Home event at the Breslin (slideshow).
You can get the latest MSU Spartans basketball on Flickr.
If you have a favorite picture of Izzo’s crew (and Merchant’s too!) please add a link to it in the comments below.
…and oh yeah, GO GREEN!
Comerica Park, photo by Mario.Q.
Tickets for the Detroit Tigers’ 2009 regular season home games at Comerica Park go on sale today (March 7) at 10 AM. Opening Day tickets are available – there’s a four ticket per person limit on Opening Day tickets. To get your tickets, head over to the Detroit Tigers web site. There’s a great Tiger highlight video there but I wonder why they’re saying “don’t miss Miguel Cabrera and company in action at Comerica Park” on the site. Placido? Magglio? Carlos? Did I miss something?
Check out Mario’s Detroit Tigers photos (slideshow) – like this one they’re all uploaded wallpapery delicious! Also have a look at the Tigers’ baseball show from the Absolute Michigan pool.
And oh yeah: GO TIGERS!
Jump, photo by jnhkrawczyk.
I saw this photo of Nikki jumping which reminded me of the photos last week of assorted maniacs jumping over Detroit and I realized that there’s a whole lot of jumping going on in the Absolute Michigan pool on Flickr.
The part of me that tries to relate everything to Michigan thinks that all this jumping could be a very essential skill for Michiganders in the days to come. By all accounts, our free-falling state economy is still falling, meaning that more cuts to schools and other public services could be coming this year and next. While Michigan’s auto manufacturers have been granted a temporary reprieve, I don’t think anyone expects them to return to the point where they can drive our economy as they once did.
I think we’re at the point as a state where we need to make our best guess as to where Michigan’s future is, gather our strength, and jump with all our might.
This photo is part of Jill’s Black & White set (slideshow). It was taken in front of the Fisher Building at the Motor City Am Jam at the Comerica Cityfest last summer and was in no way selected for this post to imply jumping OFF anything as a solution – rather to show how high and exuberantly we will need to jump!
DANGER–Wipeout Ahead, photo by taterfalls.
Tate says that this is what happens when you don’t steer enough. Be sure to check the photo out bigger.
The Muskegon Winter Sports Complex is located at Muskegon State Park. This amazing complex features over an acre of skating rinks (including a 700′ skating trail), 16k of groomed and lighted cross-country trail through woods and along Lake Michigan (he longest lighted trail system of its kind in the Midwest) and the luge track.
The Muskegon Luge is one of four luge tracks in the United States and is considered the most publicly accessible. Although much smaller than the Olympic tracks in New York and Salt Lake City, the Muskegon track was designed with the public in mind. The track was designed by three time Olympian Frank Masley. The track consists of six curves and two starting areas, the public start for recreational “learn to luge” sliders and the other from the top for more experienced sliders from the Muskegon Luge Club.
Click through to the Muskegon Luge page to see a cool video from Wild Weekend TV showing how accessible it is to the public.
Chris 360 Cross, photo by btwphotography.
Absolute Michigan has some cool resources for skiers from beginners that are summarized more or less neatly in today’s Michigan Skiapalooza Thursday which begins:
While Winter 2008 hasn’t been good for things like car makers, investments and national economies, it has presented us with some incredible conditions for skiing and snowboarding.
USA Today noticed that Midwest skiers have all kinds of options in Michigan where we have more downhill areas – 42 – than any state except New York with 200 chairlifts, 840 runs and 40 terrain parks!
There’s even a deal for beginning skiers for the whole month of January that you’ll definitely want to check out if you’re a novice without equipment!
You can see this photo (and many more) bigger and bolder in btw’s Nubs Portfolio slideshow (view set) or his Skiing – Nubs Nob slideshow.
Golden Journey…., photo by Doug Langham.
Doug has a great shot of a sport I’ve been itching to try. Wikipedia’s Stand Up Paddle Surfing entry says:
Stand Up Paddle, (SUP), is an emerging global sport with a Hawaiian heritage. It can be traced back to the early days of Polynesia. The sport is ancient form of surfing and began as a way for surfing instructors to manage their large groups of learner surfers as standing on the board gave them a higher view point increasing visibility of what was going on around them such as incoming swell….
Today SUP, or Stand-Up-Paddle, is gaining popularity as the demands for global-conscious green sports increase. Additionally the sport benefits athletes with a strong ‘core’ workout. SUP’ing is popular at warm coastal climates and resorts, and is gaining in popularity as celebrities are sampling the sport and cross-over athletes are training with SUP. SUPs have been spotted around the globe anywhere there is easy access to safe waters as well as in the surfing lineups of the world.
Like on the Great Lakes, for example. As the photo shows, the sport isn’t wave-dependent. However, as this video from Stand Up Paddle Surfing Magazine shows, it’s fun in the waves too!
1st hole Oakland Hills, photo by mandj98.
This photo is part of James’ 2008 90th PGA Championship set (slideshow).
The 90th Professional Golfers’ Association Championship takes place today through Sunday at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills. They explain that although the South Course of Oakland Hills was formally opened on July 13, 1918, the legendary reputation of the course came some 40 years later:
Although many tournaments have been held throughout the years at Oakland Hills, the one which gave the course its greatest reputation as “The Monster” was the 1951 Open. The result was a tournament in which only two subpar rounds were shot during the entire 72 hole affair. Ben Hogan won with a total of 287 by shooting a final round 67 after which he was quoted as saying “I am glad I brought this course, this monster, to its knees.” He also said that it was “the greatest test of golf I have ever played and the toughest course.” The late Clayton Heafner who had a final round of 69, the only other sub-par of the tournament, finished second two strokes back. There was some comment after the last round of the tournament of the effect that the tee markers had been moved so far forward that last day as to take some of the fairway traps out of play. In any event, the natural result of this extremely difficult Open was that from that point on the USGA no longer permitted the host Clubs to control the layout for an Open tournament.
You can read more about the history of the club through Wikipedia’s Oakland Hills Country Club entry and view more photos through the Oakland Hills CC course tours and a search of Oakland Hills Country Club photos at Flickr (slideshow). The PGA has a great photo gallery with pics of the course and from the tournament.
tiger stadium, photo by Rhonda_Marie
View bigger in Rhonda’s Tiger Stadium slideshow (view set). Demolition has begun on Tiger Stadium. You can follow the bouncing wrecking ball using any or all of the ways below:
Tiger Stadium Usher 2, circa 1999, photo by LAWRENCEcreative.
Greenberg, Kailine, Manush, Heilmann, Kell, Newhouser, Jennings, Harwell – the stadium may be gone, but the names live on. Brett writes:
These are pictures taken from the last season of Tiger Stadium. Rather than watching all of the the games, I would find myself wandering the hallways and aisleways trying to capture moments significant to this iconic place…
I hope these pics bring back some great memories as we all wait for the final brick to fall on this historic landmark.
View his Tiger Stadium, circa 1999 slideshow (photo set). Do it, for real. The scenes he captured of the daily life of this grand old ballpark are priceless.
Although a series of bids to save all or part of the ballpark over the last several years, the Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy has until August 1st to prove it can raise $12-15 million to preserve the diamond, dugouts, 3,000 seats and an area that would house Hall of Fame Tiger’s broadcaster Ernie Harwell’s collection of sports memorabilia. Detroit News story.
Here’s some more Tiger Stadium Stuff:
Michigan in Pictures 