by
It's Thanksgiving week all across the country. This special holiday allows us to spend time with family, eat an unhealthy amount of sweet potatoes, and express gratitude for the things we are most thankful for.
It’s no different in the Detroit sports scene. There are things that drive us crazy, but also a number of things we hold near and dear. We, the Michigan/Detroit sports fan, are thankful for these ten things...
• for the Red Wings. No matter how sideways some of the other franchises around town seem to be heading, we can always count on Hockeytown’s finest to still be skating when the playoffs begin. Remarkably, this could be their 25th consecutive season qualifying for the playoffs. The Lions are right on their heels, a scant 24 years behind.
Coach Mark Dantonio [Photo by MSU Athletic Communications]
• for Mark Dantonio. He’s the most underappreciated, underrated, under-everything coach in America, for any sport. Year after year, his Spartan teams defy the odds, win games they shouldn’t, and march right through to big postseason contests in December and January. There was a time when Michigan football dwarfed that of MSU, and when the MSU hoops squad hugely overshadowed those playing football. Neither is the case anymore, and if things fall right for Dantonio’s courageous group, they could be playing for the National Championship in a little over a month.
• for George Blaha. Nobody is more synonymous with the Pistons’ franchise than Blaha. Yes, he’s a tad on the homer-ish side of things, but does it in a way that’s not overly unfair or immature, like a Tommy Heinsohn (Celtics) or Ken Harrelson (White Sox). George is a pro’s pro, and despite this most recent run of ineptitude by the Stones for almost a decade now, he never seems to lose his zeal for the team and its players.
• for the Lodge freeway. You get us where we need to go, and allow us to find out who is and who isn’t a native Detroiter when someone refers to it as “M-10.”
• for Cameron Maybin, once a flashy Tigers’ prospect and now back on the team as a fringe starting outfielder trying to keep a foothold in the league. Mostly, we’re thankful for his once thought-to-be-limitless potential paving the way for the Tigers to net Miguel Cabrera in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history.
• for John Beilein. Sometimes we forget just how irrelevant Michigan basketball was prior to his arrival in Ann Arbor. There were the forgettable Brian Ellerbe years, the underwhelming Tommy Amaker era, and nary an NCAA Tournament appearance to speak of. That’s all changed now, and the Wolverines are more or less a March mainstay now. Beilein might not be the most polished in-game decision maker in the college ranks (see: 2013 title game when Louisville took out a Michigan team with five future NBA’ers in the starting lineup and he used the nation’s best player for 26 minutes), but his preparation is second to none and he’s built one of the premier hoops programs in the Big Ten, almost entirely from scratch.
Barry Sanders
• for somebody or something having to do with the Lions. I can’t really think of any specifics. Maybe Barry Sanders? For allowing us to witness such brilliance on the football field? Anybody to really pay homage to since then? I’m struggling here. Let’s continue.
• for that blazing start to the Pistons’ 2015-16 campaign. At least we got to have some of those warm, fuzzy feelings towards our basketball team that haven’t been experienced in some time. Sure, the euphoria has gone away in the blink of an eye and the team again looks flatter than a buttermilk pancake, but that week or two of quality hoops sure was fun!
• for that nameless dreadlocked guy that plays the bongos around every major sporting event in the state, and has been doing so as long as I can remember. He has an uncanny ability to see you walking by, and whether you’re wearing a red shirt, green pants, a backwards hat, anything...he is able to keep the rhythm going and come up with a semi-clever set of rhymes (directed at you) right then and there. I remember first seeing Bongo-Man as a kid walking to the famed Colorado-Michigan Kordell Stewart game, and that was in 1994. The man has been on the hustle for 20+ years, and as a collective Detroit sports viewing public, we’ll hopefully have him serenading us to and from stadiums for many more years to come.
Jim Harbaugh
• for Jim Harbaugh’s temper. Already in less than one full season, he’s shown more emotion than in Brady Hoke’s four years at the helm. And we’re especially thankful that Harbaugh chooses to be a head coach always tuned in to the game, as opposed to Hoke, who preferred to remain headset-less and “get fun little surprises!” as each play began. Michigan plays Ohio State this Saturday, and believe it or not, is the slightly favored side despite the Buckeyes having won 10 of the last 11 matchups. Such national respect is a testament to Harbaugh’s ability as a coach and just how far he has brought this Wolverines’ team in just a few months’ time.
