Sports

Delmon Young remained on the Detroit Tigers’ restricted list as of Monday afternoon, but that could soon change. Young is expected to be suspended by Major League Baseball for his anti-Semitic rant and arrest early Saturday, two unnamed sources told The New York Post. More >

It’s the third straight year the Detroit Red Wingshave found themselves just one loss away from the season ending prematurely, only this time it’s in the Western Conference Quarterfinals. More >

When Todd Bertuzzi spied a couple of Nashville Predators Monday afternoon wanting to play table tennis using the tables that belong to the Detroit Red Wings, he told team security, who took care of the matter. The Wings figure it’s fair game, since the Predators don’t play nice with them, either. More >

The booing was so loud at the start of the game, you could tell the Joe Louis Arena crowd had a good five days of pent-up hate to spew in the direction of Predators defenseman Shea Weber. The memory of Weber slamming Henrik Zetterberg’s head into the glass in Nashville wasn’t fading away. And it reignited every time Weber touched the puck.

There was a sign in the crowd calling Weber a wanted man. There were chants coming from the cheap seats not suitable for print. There was a pregame radio show that asked if Weber was the biggest villain in Detroit sports.

Justin Verlander had one of the most impressive and efficient outings of his career through eight innings. But it fell apart in the ninth. Verlander allowed one hit through the first eight innings Wednesday but took the loss when the Tampa Bay Rays rallied for a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Tigers. More >

If you blinked, you may have missed John Kuester’s two years as head coach of the Detroit Pistons. If you paid attention, you’ll probably only recall the time his players referred to him as “Sean Penn” (as in, “a dead man walking”), or that one night that they laughed at him when he was ejected in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Following his dismissal at the end of 2010-11, Kuester gladly took on a gig as Mike Brown’s assistant coach (a role he played to much acclaim before Detroit hired him away from Cleveland in 2009) in Los Angeles.

Cliff Avril wanted to avoid it. Martin Mayhew, too. But with free agency approaching and a long-term deal still out of reach after negotiations through the weekend and this morning, the Detroit Lions placed the franchise tag on their most productive pass rusher today.

The Lions used the non-exclusive version of the tag, which guarantees Avril a one-year salary of about $10.6 million. He can negotiate with other teams when free agency opens March 13, but the Lions retain the right to match any offer or receive two first-round picks as compensation.

When Jim Leyland fills out his nightly lineup card this season he might use this very scientific method to decide who will be the Detroit Tigers designated hitter: Tape a team photo on the wall of his office, close his eyes, and throw a dart at it.

Chances are it will land on someone the Tigers are planning to use as DH. The Tigers won’t have one full time designated hitter in 2012. Realistically, there could be seven or eight candidates each night depending on how Leyland wants to tinker with the lineup.

The Detroit Red Wings’ current home winning streak is the league’s longest in nearly 36 years. They have a strong chance of continuing that run Wednesday night against an Edmonton Oilers team that has lost seven straight on the road.

Detroit hasn’t lost at Joe Louis Arena since a 4-1 defeat to Calgary on Nov. 3, outscoring opponents 72-24 while winning 17 straight for the fourth-longest home win streak in NHL history. The team is 20-2-1 on home ice after going 21-14-6 last season.

There’s a subplot to sports that I normally try to steer well clear of and that’s the money side of the game. The x’s and o’s of on the field/court is what draws me and the vast majority of fans and while we understand that these players need to be paid, the amounts are mostly white noise to us. That is, until something comes along that has even people like me saying a very loud and very resounding WTF!

Yesterdays breaking news that former Milwaukee slugger Prince Fielder had signed a 9 year, $214 million dollar contract with the Detroit Tigers was one of those moments.