This Week in Tigers Baseball Roundtable

West coast start times for sporting events are kind of a killer for anyone on a regular daytime schedule, so if you're craving some Detroit Tigers talk around the time they'd be playing in the eastern time zone, a few Tigers bloggers might be able to help you out with that. Motor City Bengals will host a live roundtable discussion beginning at 7 p.m. EST tonight.

Panelists scheduled to join host Joe Dexter include J. Ellet from Eye of the Tigers, John from Tiger Geist, Greg from Where Have You Gone, Johnny Grubb and... me.

The show, called This Week in Tigers Baseball, can be heard through USTREAM. And if you can't listen to the live stream, a podcast will be available shortly thereafter. We'll be done in plenty of time before tonight's Tigers-A's game.

You can find the show here, and I believe you can submit questions and comments via Twitter through the podcast's main page. We hope you can tune in.

Talking Tigers on the Radio!

Yesterday, I appeared on WSGW (790 AM) in Saginaw to chat with our old friend Pat Johnston about the suddenly resurgent Detroit Tigers.  (You might remember Pat had me on his old sports talk show a couple of times during the winter.)

Of course, the Tigers' recent play is a timely story, but I'm betting Pat also wanted a break from the news of the day (yesterday morning, that was Gov. Mark Sanford's indiscretions). A winning local baseball team is like opening the window to bring in a breeze.

So just how are these Tigers winning these ballgames?  Who's been a surprise?  Who's been disappointing?  That's mostly what Pat and I talked about, along with discussing what improvements they could make in the weeks to come as they make what appears to be a solid playoff run.

Thanks again to Pat for inviting me onto the radio again.  I always enjoy talking to him.  (And I apologize for knocking him off balance with one of my comments during our conversation.

You can listen to an embedded audio clip below or download the file from the accompanying link.



WSGW_062509

Barack Obama, Insect Assassin

For those who haven't seen this, do not interrupt Barack Obama when he's talking. The President of the United States will swat you into oblivion, m'er-f'er.



Coooollld blooooooded!

I highly doubt CNBC's John Harwood dared attempt any tough follow-up questions after that display. Notice him trying to compliment the President and get on his good side, lest he also find himself crushed with a smack of the hand.

Here's The Daily Show's take on it, in which Jon Stewart wonders if Obama has one of those "Terminator targeting systems" in his eyes.

Talking Tigers on RBI Radio

I'm a few days late in posting this, but if you need something to listen to this afternoon or evening, and have about 24 minutes to kill, here's some audio from my appearance on RBI Radio last Thursday night.  Basically, we had a "State of the Detroit Tigers" discussion up to this point of the season.  No rants about Dontrelle Willis's eight-walk performance over the weekend, since we recorded before the Tigers-Pirates series.)

If you want to hear the whole show, you can listen via streaming audio at the RBI Radio home page or through TalkShoe.com.  Of course, you can also download the podcast from the link at the bottom of this post.  (Boy, I love listening to myself talk when "jogging" on the treadmill.)

Thanks to Joey H. for inviting me onto the show.  It's always fun talking to him. And check out RBI Radio when you get a chance.  (He's sick at the moment - which I'm pretty sure I had nothing to do with - so you can catch up on old shows for now.)

RBIradio_061109

Great Moments Are Born From Great Opportunity

I'm sure Mike Babcock's pre-game speech to his Detroit Red Wings before tonight's Game 7 with the Pittsburgh Penguins was pretty good. But I'm still hoping it went something like this:



GO WINGS! Keep the Cup in Detroit!

One Thing I Like About Getting Older...

When you're a kid, you never have time for the birthday cards that come with the presents.

Couldn't be less interested. Can't toss 'em aside fast enough. You read them because your parents reminded you to (or because you hope there's money in there).

But now that I'm older, I think I like the cards more.

(Don't get me wrong; a thoughtful present always hits the sweet spot. Or a really good meal.)

You know who you are. Thanks and love to each of you.

Familiarity in the Year 2009

Clearly, we live in a new day and age when conversations like the one I had earlier today at Borders can take place.

Bookseller: [looks at my credit card, looks at me, squints] Is your name familiar to me?

Me: Um... Ian Casselberry?

[Bookseller shakes her head slightly.]

Me: Do we know each other? [I have never seen this woman in my life.] I... really don't know how to respond to that.

Bookseller: [laughs] I'm sorry. That is a weird question.

Me: Yeah.

Bookseller: Are you Facebook friends with [former co-worker of mine]?

Me: Yes!

Bookseller: Okay.

And that was it, folks. Nowhere we could really go from there, apparently. Signed the credit card receipt, took my bag, headed out the door, and walked through the parking lot in a daze, pondering what this life and culture has become in a very short time.

Today's Photo - 06/03/09

I meant to post this earlier today, but a hilarious sidelight to last night's Tigers-Red Sox game was a wild squirrel chase. Unfortunately for Tigers fans, it was really the only entertainment of the evening.

The squirrel spent so much energy eluding the Comerica Park groundskeepers - running from one end of the outfield to the other, back to the infield, out to the bullpen - that the poor varmint eventually had to take a break. Here's a screen shot from the FOX Sports Detroit broadcast:


I'm not sure I've ever looked that relaxed in my life, though I've certainly tried.

You can read the whole story at BlessYouBoys.com, where we've also posted video of the chase.

Got to Get This into My Life

I'm not a gamer (mostly for my own good), though I occasionally feel pangs of interest for playing Rock Band. The intro for The Beatles Rock Band doesn't necessarily make me want to run out to Best Buy and pick up the whole package. But damn, it looks really cool.



Is there any chance this could be made into a full DVD someday? (Or how about an IMAX film?) Just produce animated films for every song in the Beatles catalog. That wouldn't be too gargantuan a task, would it?

There Will Be Blog... Soon

Thanks to those who have been stopping by to check for fresh content. I'm sure you've become tired of looking at a picture of my father for the past couple of weeks, regardless of its significance to me.

Those who know me - especially fellow bloggers - know I despise "Sorry for the lack of posts recently; life has gotten in the way" lameness, so I'm not going to subject you to that. And that wouldn't be true, anyway. Life hasn't gotten in the way. (Although perhaps I've gotten in my own way.)

But I am trying to figure out what I want to do with this blog next. With today being June 1, I was hoping to have some answers with a fresh page on the calendar, but this is taking longer than I thought it might. I'll get it together, though, because I take this stuff seriously. I haven't even written about Star Trek, for Spock's sake, and I loved that movie.

So I appreciate your patience, and intend to have something worth your time and attention up soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this commercial as much as I do:



That little girl cracks me up!