| 06 October 2009
We turned extra combative last night on "The Knee Jerks", my weekly sports gabfest with Greg Eno, whose collected works from around the web can be found at the waystation for all things Eno, GregEno.com.
That's because our guest was none other than Marvin Hagler, Jr., son of the multiple world champion boxer.
Junior was on to discuss his upcoming professional boxing debut, set to take place on Saturday near Philadelphia. It's the headliner of a Celebrity Boxing card, but Marvin is no typical celebrity boxer. He's got that famous pedigree, and, at age 33, he's considering making this more than just a passing fling.
One bombshell was laid on us. It involves Marvin and his dad, and I guess you'll have to listen to the show to find out what it is!
I asked Marvin which of his father's fights was his favorite, and he selected the "Eight Minutes of Fury" bout against Thomas Hearns in 1985, which Hagler Sr. won by TKO in the third round.
"Sorry, Detroit," Junior said.
After Marvin, there was, as usual, a boatload of things to rant about.
We started with the ever-developing Miguel Cabrera saga. Eno and I spent over 30 minutes dissecting it, along with offering our opinions on how the Tigers as an organization handled things. (Hint: not very well).
Then it was on to today's one-game playoff in Minnesota.
We offered up who we thought needed to have a big game (care to take a guess), and why the Tigers got to this point to begin with.
We managed to squeeze a quick talk about the Red Wings, mostly about the struggles of backup goalie Jimmy Howard in Sweden. Out verdict on the young goalie? Not good. He'll be given a short rope to hang himself, and the Wings will be looking for another backup for Chis Osgood before Christmas!
There was some time left for the Lions and their 30-minute performance in Chicago on Sunday. This gave yours truly another glorious opportunity to my his two favorite words, "FIRE KWAN!!!," as in special teams coach Stan Kwan, whose unit was torched for one big kick return after the other, surrendering field position all afternoon.
By the time we got through all that, Michigan-Michigan State got left out in the cold! They were the guest on "The Tonight Show" that Johnny didn't have time for.
Don't forget to follow us on Twitter, for updates on scheduled guests, time changes, etc.
Next week's guest: A. Sherrod Blakely, Pistons' beat writer for MLive.com.
Upcoming guests:
Oct. 12 A. Sherrod Blakely
Oct. 19 Bob Page
Oct. 26 TBA
Nov. 2 Jose Canseco (yes, THE Jose Canseco!!)
Some highlights from last night:
Big Al
On Cabrera: "The Tigers were put in a tough situation but they exacerbated it. They were foolish to think they could keep something like this quiet."
On Cabrera II: "I was 26 years old once, and I did my share of drinking. But I wasn't being paid $120 million and asked to carry a team to the playoffs. The only good thing was that he wasn't driving. But if that's the only good thing you can say..."
On the Lions: "I've been calling for them to fire Kwan, but in all fairness he's coaching with one hand tied behind his back. He just doesn't have the talent."
On Matthew Stafford: "He missed some plays, but in a couple years he's not going to miss them and this offense is going to start to hum."
Eno
On Cabrera: "I hope the Tigers get him some help. This wasn't a case of a guy going out once, getting drunk once, and getting belligerent, once. These were the actions of someone with a problem. He needs to go into rehab between now and spring training and get cleaned up."
On Cabrera II: "His numbers were good but not great. He had 33 HR and 101 RBI, but he's capable of 40 and 120, easily. I don't care that he doesn't have much support in the lineup. Tough. That's what he's getting paid to do."
On the Lions: "They need to address the defensive line in next year's draft, big time. That's the crux of their problems on defense. No contain, no pressure on the quarterback, no plays for negative yardage."
On Matthew Stafford: "Yes, he missed some open receivers, but at least they were open. I like that the tight ends got involved, too. Stafford's mistakes are coachable, so that's a good thing."
To listen to the show, you have several options: You can click on the player in the right sidebar, subscribe via RSS, go to the show page for an on demand stream or download the MP3 version, or you can subscribe/download the show through the Zune Marketplace or iTunes, by searching for "The Knee Jerks" in the respective client!
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