The wrecking ball is coming to Detroit to finally take care of Tiger Stadium and it will be a sad day for every baseball fan in Detroit. I can’t believe they’re finally going to demolish it. Tiger Stadium has been one of the long-standing “hot topics” of sports talk radio in Detroit since I entered the fray in ‘96 with people like Bill Dow leading the charge to save the stadium and Mike Ilitch proposing Comerica Park to make it obsolete. Even after Comerica had been built and the Tigers settled in there was much discussion about what to do with the Tiger Stadium. Shopping centers, condos, museum plans, restaurants and a last ditch effort by Ernie Harwell to save the stadium were among the many ideas proposed by some group or another. The next coming weeks the book will finally close on the old ballpark and I anticipate we’ll do another show or two (or three) taking calls from people conjuring up shared memories of the majesty of Tiger Stadium. It’s going to feel like a wake.

Tiger Stadium reminds me of my grandfather and for reasons that have nothing to do with baseball. I was extremely close to my grandfather and loved him dearly. He starting having many ailments and physical problems as he crept up in years. The kind we’ll all get if we’re fortunate enough to live a long, full life. His knees gave out, he couldn’t walk very well without help, his kidneys were shot and he was having heart problems when he was hospitalized to see if there was some way modern medicine could save him. The last time I visited him it was painfully obvious to me that he wasn’t going to be able to recover and my hopes of sitting with him one more time on his front porch on a sunny day would never materialize. He died the next day.

While the funeral and wake for my grandfather was extremely difficult for me, I took solace in the wonderful memories that his friends and family had of him. I’ll never have another sunny day with my grandfather or another twi-night doubleheader at Tiger Stadium, but I’ll always have some cherished memories.

The Pistons are done, The Red Wings season is over and the Tigers are trying to claw their way into contention. Summer is here and the dog days of sports radio are upon us. We’ve been bombarded with a myriad of topics to discuss regarding the Pistons, Red Wings and Tigers since February. There has been nearly unprescedented interest in all three teams this year. Sure there have been major pockets where the Pistons were the topic of 2004 and the Red Wings owned sports radio (believe it or not) in the late nineties (yes, I go back that far).

Since I started in sports radio, whenever there has been a lull in sports, the Lions are naturally the goto topic. The NFL Empire currently is as far reaching and powerful as any sports entity has ever been in this country and I’ve spent many a summer’s PM Drive discussing pre training camp Lions roster moves or speculating on position battles heading into training camp.  We can’t find a Lions topic to save our lives and, frankly, I’m getting the impression that our listeners just don’t care if we talk about this team at all. This is the first time I’ve ever marched into the official dog days of summer sports radio season where I think our listeners have had it with the Lions. It’s getting harder and harder coming up with Lions conversation that doesn’t dissolve into a littany of “Trade Millen” or “they won’t be any good until Ford sells the team” phone calls. The biggest indictment against this team from the producer’s chair are all the calls begging us to talk about any other Detroit team but the Lions. I’ve never seen anything like it.

Sports radio listeners are one thing. I’m wondering if the apathy will show itself in terms of attendance if this team is as bad as many think they’re going to be.

I’m having a really hard time following this year’s NBA Finals for whatever reason.

Maybe it’s the ref scandal. It’s hard to crucify David Stern and the NBA for allegations from a crook but it’s hard to ignore Donaghy’s claims because he is merely repeating what we’ve all wondered about on sports radio for decades. A poll in New York Daily News claims that 91% of it’s readers thought that NBA games were fixed or influenced heavily by the league office. Maybe it’s hard to watch an NBA championship series knowing that the results could be about as pristine as a typical WWE  Summerslam.

I’m blaming John Madden. I’m in my 12th season of Franchise mode for Madden 2K8 and I’m entering training camp hoping my 99 rated RB with a 98 AGI and 92 BTK rating can rush for 2200 yards this season in the last year of his contract. Anyway, I know what occupied more of my time last night.

Did Boston really come back to win that game? Maybe I’ll tune in for Game 5. Or, pardon the Judy Blume reference, wait for it…… Then again, maybe I won’t.

Amidst the Stanley Cup hooplah, mass power outages, the Tigers continuing to defy cohesiveness and the Pistons upcoming off-season there have been some impressive national stories that have been hiding in the weeds. Ken Griffey hit his 600th career HR and Randy Johnson passed Roger Clemens on the All-Time Strikeout leader list. Both are incredible feats for their respective sports but what makes them more impressive is that these two have accomplished so much flying way below the pervasive steroid radar in sports today. 

It’s easy to see why Johnson has never been suspected. Just look at the guy. He probably has to run around in the shower to get wet. The sad part of the Griffey story is his injury history. We might be talking about 800 Home Runs for him if he was to remain remotely healthy.

Maybe they both deserve an asterisk in the record book for doing it drug free. I’m guessing in 20 years it will stick out more if they did.

I’m looking forward to today’s show to see if fans of the Wings are starting to sweat after last night’s OT thriller. I’m guessing only about a quarter of our callers are starting to show any real concern that the Wings may lose this series. I think it’s interesting how little faith our listeners have had in the Pistons for the past 3 years after a loss while the faith in the Red Wings has been unwavering and almost Michigan Football-like. Last night’s game, while it didn’t turn out as we had hoped, will be remembered as a classic in this town for decades to come. Hopefully we can look at last night’s loss as just a bump in the road on the way to an eventual victory parade.