The U.P. stand-off: Lions vs Packers

Posted on by farlane

The U.P. stand-off

The U.P. stand-off, photo by Ann Fisher

The Detroit Lions host the Green Bay Packers this Sunday at Ford Field for the first of two divisional meetings. Wikipedia notes that the longest continuously-running NFL rivalry is the Lions vs Packers. They first met in 1930 when the Lions were known as the Portsmouth Spartans (they were based in Portsmouth, Ohio until they moved to Detroit in 1934 season). They’ve been division rivals since 1933 and have always met at least twice a season since 1932, without any cancelled games.

As Ann notes, that rivalry is no contest in Marquette. Thought it may be in Michigan, the U.P. is Packers territory.

View her photo of lawn geese all dressed up for the season background big and see more in her 2014 U.P. slideshow.

Lots more Detroit Lions on Michigan in Pictures.

Farewell Mr. Big Shot: Chauncey Billups announces retirement

Posted on by farlane

Billups has the sweet shot

Billups has the sweet shot, photo by Andrew McFarlane

Mark Spears of Yahoo Sports broke the story that Pistons great Chauncey Billups is retiring:

Billups was best known for his first stay with the Pistons from 2002-08. He earned the nickname “Mr. Big Shot” for his clutch shooting when he led Detroit to the 2004 NBA championship and another Finals appearance in ’05. He was part of the Pistons’ star foursome that also included Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton and Rasheed Wallace.

Billups said the “best memories” of his career were with the Pistons.

“Before that, my career was in jeopardy in a few different stages,” Billups said. “I persevered, sustained and continued to work hard, and finally got my opportunity in Detroit, and I never turned back from that point. That’s what made it so sweet to me to win a championship after what I went through. I had to scrap and fight to get through it and to reach the pinnacle made it even sweeter.

“Winning the championship was the ultimate. I never set out to win the [Finals] MVP. Winning the championship was enough.”

…Billups averaged 15 points, 5.4 assists and made 38.7 percent of his 3-point attempts during his NBA career. He made the All-NBA second team twice, the All-NBA third team once and the All-Defense team twice. He finished with 15,802 points, ranks 39th all-time with 5,636 assists and sixth with 1,830 3-pointers made. He also had 1,051 steals in his career.

Read on for more, visit his NBA player page for stats & such, have a look at his top 10 Piston highlights from the NBA and definitely read this great feature on Chauncey Billups at Grantland by Jonathan Abrams.

I’m not sure if Billups will make the Hall of Fame, but he’s one of their all-time greats in my book! It’s rare when I use one of my own photos here – this one’s from a 2006 game at the Palace where I had a great time. View it bigger and see more in my Pistons v Grizzlies slideshow.

More Detroit Pistons on Michigan in Pictures!

As American as … Soccer

Posted on by farlane

Manchester United vs. Real Madrid

Manchester United vs. Real Madrid, photo by Chad Miles

The Independent reports that a US record 109,318 fans turned out at Michigan Stadium to watch a “friendly” pre-season match between Manchester United and Real Madrid on Saturday. Read more in their report on the match and also see this SB Nation article for more pics of the massive crowd.

View Chad’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his slideshow.

Michigan March Madness Tip-off Tonight!

Posted on by farlane

atUmich

atUmich, photo by Justin_Wan

Three Michigan teams take to the hardwood today for the NCAA Men’s Basketball tourney. It starts with theWestern Michigan Broncos facing Syracuse at 2:45 followed by the media darling Michigan State Spartans vs Delaware at 4:40 and #2 Midwest seed Michigan vs Wafford at 7:10!

Justin got this awesome action shot last year at Ann Arbor’s Crisler Arena for the State News. View his photo bigger and see more in his Winter Sports 2012-2013 slideshow!

More basketball on Michigan in Pictures.

Waters Tigers

Posted on by farlane

NE Cheboygan Waters MI RARE RPPC BASEBALL BEEN BERRY BERRY GOOD TO ME The Waters Tigers Photographer BLAIN & YEOMANS Lower Corner NBD bend1

The Waters Tigers (Photographer BLAIN & YEOMANS), photo by UpNorth Memories – Donald (Don) Harrison

According to this page, Water’s Tigers were the baseball team from Waters, Michigan.

In the course of figuring that out, I stumbled upon the saga of Ne-naw-bo-zhoo, legendary prophet, warrior and clown. In addition to water tigers, the story has sea serpents and an ark in it so you can be assured it’s quite a tale.

View Don’s photo background big and see more of his baseball photo right here.

Hot Stove League

Posted on by farlane

Comerica Park Winter - Detroit, MI

Comerica Park Winter – Detroit, MI, photo by memories_by_mike

The Freep has an interesting article with Detroit Tiger GM Dave Dombrowski discussing the teams offseason strategy.

View Mike’s photo background bigtacular and see more in his Detroit slideshow.

More Tigers on Michigan in Pictures.

Michigan State Spartans and the 100th Rose Bowl

Posted on by farlane

UPDATE: The top-rated Spartan D dug deep when it counted and stopped Stanford to seal a 24-20 victory in the 100th Rose Bowl and #3 or better ranking! View a photo gallery from the game via the Lansing State Journal’s Green & White section.

1954 Rose Bowl Game

1954 Rose Bowl Game, photo courtesy Michigan State University Archives

This afternoon at 5 PM the #4 Michigan State University Spartans will take the field against the #5 Stanford Cardinals to represent the Big Ten for the 100th Rose Bowl.

Wikipedia’s page on the Rose Bowl where you can see a pic from the very first Rose Bowl says (in part) that the game is usually played on New Year’s Day at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. It was first played in 1902, and has been played annually since 1916. As the oldest bowl game, it has earned the nickname “The Granddaddy of Them All”.

MSU has been to the Rose Bowl four times and has won three: the 1954 game pictured above, 1956 and their last appearance in 1988. MSU’s article on the Spartans and the 2014 Rose Bowl says (in part):

Big Ten Champion Michigan State (12-1, 8-0 Big Ten) will make its first-ever Bowl Championship Series appearance on Jan. 1, 2014, when the Spartans play Pac-12 Champion Stanford (11-2, 7-2 Pac-12). Winners of nine straight, Michigan State recorded its school-record 12th win of the 2013 season by defeating second-ranked Ohio State, 34-24, in the Big Ten Championship Game.

MSU ranked No. 4 in the final BCS Standings – its highest ranking ever. The Spartans are ranked No. 4 in the latest Associated Press and USA TODAY Polls. It marks MSU’s highest ranking in the AP Poll since Sept. 18, 1967.

The Spartans finished their Big Ten regular-season schedule with a perfect 8-0 record for the first time in school history and claimed their second Legends Division title in three seasons. Michigan State became the 14th Big Ten team to post an 8-0 mark in league play. The Spartans are the first Big Ten team to win all eight of its conference games by double-digit points since the league went to an eight-game schedule in 1971. In addition, MSU is the first undefeated Big Ten team to win all of its league games by double-figure points since Michigan in 1943 (6-0 record).

The 100th Rose Bowl Game marks the first time since the “Game of the Century” in 1966 (No. 1 Notre Dame vs. No. 2 Michigan State) in which MSU will play a top-five AP team while also being ranked in the top five. No. 5 Stanford is also the highest ranked opponent MSU has played in a bowl game since the 1966 Rose Bowl (UCLA finished the 1965 regular season ranked No. 4 in the final AP Poll).

Mike Downey put together 100 facts about the Rose Bowl. Most surprising to me was that 1925’s coaching matchup was Knute Rockne vs. Pop Warner.

The Michigan State University Archives says that the photograph above captures the action of the 1954 Rose Bowl game of Michigan State College versus UCLA in which the Spartans defeated the Bruins 28-20. View it bigger and check out some cool memorabilia in their Rose Bowl slideshow.

And oh yeah, Happy New Year & GO GREEN!

Goodbye, Sweet Prince.

Posted on by farlane

Prince Fielder

Prince Fielder, photo by Keith Allison

John Heyman of CBS Sports reports that the trade of Detroit Tiger superstar Prince Fielder for second baseman Ian Kinsler is official.

The Rangers and Tigers have agreed on a blockbuster deal to send Prince Fielder to Texas for Ian Kinsler, pending physicals and the approval of at least Fielder, CBSSports.com has learned.

There was no word yet of any other players being involved, so it may just be a one-for-one swap of stars. Fielder’s salary is much larger, and it is believed Texas will get money in the deal but it wasn’t certain how much. (note: $30 million is the reported figure)

…The Tigers would free up some money in the trade plus fill their second-base hole created by Omar Infante’s free agency. Detroit could use big prospect Nick Castellanos at third base, and move two-time defending A.L. MVP Miguel Cabrera to first base.

The Tigers had been floating Max Scherzer as a trade possibility. But a deal of Fielder could possibly free up extra cash to try to sign Scherzer, the 2013 Cy Young winner, long-term. The Tigers also will aim to lock up Cabrera this winter, and that will take a lot of money, as well.

Read on for more, see what the Tigers have to say and also check out the discussion over on Bless You Boys. Also see Roar of the Tigers take on the trade via the talented pen of Sam. Here’s a summary of Price Fielder’s career via Wikipedia.

Fielder, a first baseman, is the son of former Detroit Tiger first baseman Cecil Fielder. He was selected in the first round of the 2002 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002 out of Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, Florida. He spent the first seven years of his career with the Brewers before signing with the Detroit Tigers in January 2012. Fielder is a five-time All-Star and is the active iron man leader for consecutive games played. 

He holds the Brewers’ team record for home runs in a season,  is the league’s youngest player to hit 50 home runs in a season, and is one of only two players to win more than one derby. Fun fact: Prince and Cecil Fielder are the only father-son combination to each hit 50 MLB home runs in a season!

Keith has contributed some great shots to Michigan in Pictures. View this photo as big as Fielder and see more in his Detroit Tigers slideshow.

There’s more Detroit Tigers and also more portraits on Michigan in Pictures.

PS: My dad Al McFarlane used to always say “Goodnight, sweet Prince” when he would drop the hammer on me in a game. I love Prince’s play, hustle and heart but I think I would have tried to make this deal if I were Dombrowski.

Remembering Detroit Tigers Manager Jim Leyland

Posted on by farlane

James Richard Leyland

James Richard Leyland, photo by Buzz Click Photography

In 11 Reasons Baseball Is Going To Seriously Miss Jim Leyland Buzzfeed, Emily Orley & Matt Kiebus offer some really great reflection on the career of one of the great managers of the last two decades, concluding simply:

He was the last of his kind.

Jimmy Leyland never cared about being politically correct. He cared about his players, the fans, and winning baseball games. He rarely had a filter with the media and never met an umpire he wouldn’t give a piece of his mind. He was old-school in the greatest sense of the word, and he was beloved for it. He helped make Pittsburgh a baseball town, led the Marlins to a World Series, and embodied the city of Detroit. He enjoyed a cigarette and stiff drink, but most importantly he loved baseball, and baseball is going to miss him.

Definitely read the whole piece for some good thoughts (and video) about a Tiger legend. More about Leyland:

  • Jim Leyland on Wikipedia says that Leyland began his baseball career with the Tigers when they signed him as a catcher on September 21, 1963. A career .222 hitter, he managed the Montgomery Rebels. His last victory on Sept 26 was his 700th for the Tigers and clinched his 3rd straight Central title. He and Tony La Russa are the only managers who have led two different MLB franchises to three consecutive division titles.
  • Leyland’s entry at Baseball Reference details his career record. Leyland spent just over a decade managing in the Tigers minor league system before being taped as an assistant coach by Tony La Russa for the White Sox. He was named Pirates manager in 1986, moved to the Marlins in ’97 (when they won the Word Series), and spent a year with the Rockies in 1999. In 2006 after serving as a scout for 7 years, he returned to the  dugout for the Tigers. He compiled a 1769-1728 record in 3499 games over 22 seasons, winning 3 pennants and one World Series.
  • Here is Leyland’s press conference on retirement along with an article detailing his career from the Detroit Tigers. They note his 700 regular-season managerial wins are the third most in Tigers history, trailing only Sparky Anderson (1,331) and Hughie Jennings (1,131). His .540 winning percentage as Tigers manager ranks only behind Steve O’Neill (.551 from 1943-48) among managers with at least 500 wins.
  • Detroit writer Michael Rosenberg has a nice piece in Sports Illustrated that gives a little more in-depth look at the man from someone who covered him well.

About his photo from late September 2007, Spike says:

Now THIS is a rare shot: Jim Leyland smiling! The Tigers Manager usually shows no emotion but took this opportunity at the last 2007 home game to leave the umpires in stitches. Who knows what Leyland cracked before his audience on the mound but they quickly hid their grins as the opposing manager approached and scolded them.

Check it out on black and see more in great shots of Detroit moments in Spike’s sports slideshow.

Charging into the Post-season: Detroit Tigers Clinch Central

Posted on by farlane

Alex Avila

Alex Avila, photo by Keith Allison

On Wednesday night the Detroit Tigers clinched their 3rd straight American League Central crown on the strength of 7 shutout innings by presumptive AL Cy Young candidate Max Scherzer. It looks right now like the Tigers will open the playoffs in Oakland, facing the As once again.

Here’s 10 reasons why the Tigers are returning to the post-season!

Check Keith’s photo of Tiger catcher Alex Avila out bigger and see more in his Detroit Tigers slideshow.

Lots more Detroit Tigers on Michigan in Pictures!