Terry Foster's Blog

The Brawl changed us forever

Today we celebrate the five year anniversary of "The Brawl" at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

It is a day that will live forever in Detroit sports lore. It was one of the most unfortunate incidents in sports history. Former Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest showed the world what a fool he is. Stephen Jackson showed his thuggish side and we saw that sports fans can be just as childish as some of the athletes we cover.

But there are two down sides to this that won't go away. The city of Detroit received another black eye from the national media. We all got looked down upon because one guy threw a cup at Artest and fans reacted the way fans will react when players run up into the stands.

Detroit got the blame but this was not a Detroit issue. It is a sports issue. I cannot imagine any arena or ball park acting civil if an athlete charges the stands. People forget that Artest lay across a scorer's table after being pushed around by Ben Wallace.

That is a no-no in sports after a crowd has been incited.

As bad as it got, it could have been worse if Rick Mahorn and Rasheed Wallace didn't step in to be peace makers.

I saw the whole thing, could not believe it and less than 12 hours later was on national television defending Detroit. We are a community folks love to poke at and I guess I was not in the mood to have our area ridiculed.

The other down side of this is the incident pulled athletes and fans further apart. You can still get warm and cozy with athletes but not like before. There is more security. Athletes are hustled by fans more and there is less mingling. That is a part of sports that may never go away.

Fans love their sports heroes and want to reach out and touch them, even if it is just once in their lives. The opportunities to do so diminished greatly.

The Brawl changed us forever. Sorry it had to happen.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494. You can follow me at twitter.com/bigscoop.

Lions don't help rookie Stafford

It was a small moment in the game but it spoke volumes about the Lions.

There were about five minutes remaining in Sunday's 27-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings when Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford got jacked up again by the Vikings. He was slightly off kilter and his shoulder pads were hanging out of his uniform.

Teammates stood around and waited for the play but nobody offered to fix Stafford's shoulder pads. The Lions might say it is no big deal. I say it is. If they were true teammates somebody would have tried to help the rookie out.

You see it is one thing to talk about being close. It is another thing to actually be close. It was typical of the afternoon. The Lions left the rookie out to dry all day.

You help a teammate when he is in trouble. You help him when his uniform is on backwards or the pads are hanging out. You see it all the time in the NFL.

I just get the feeling that some veterans are resentful of Stafford. They actually believe they can win but are being held back by the learning curve of Stafford. He is not playing great football but the Lions are losing because they don't have enough around him. Stafford cannot carry a team. He needs others to step up and make him look good.

That means linemen blocking and receivers catching balls. We don't see that yet. That is why the Lions (1-7) continue to lose and why Stafford looks a mess in more ways than one.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494. You can reach me at twitter.com/bigscoop. My blogs on my battle with diabetes and weight loss have moved to the health and fitness blog at detnews.com

Tigers in decline

There won't be much to cheer when the Tigers hit the field for the 2010 baseball season. That's what's left of them.

The team won't come right out and say it, but this team is in rebuilding mode. The latest sign of rebuild came when Foxsports.com reported that starting pitcher Edwin Jackson is on the trade block to save money. It makes sense because it appears as if the Tigers made their little three year run and are now trying to save dollars and cents.

I know Jackson was not great at the end but he is still a solid number three or four pitcher. He provides depth this team desperately needs.

Second baseman Placido Polanco won the gold glove for second basemen but will probably be celebrating with another team. Chances are closer Fernando Rodney and set up man Brandon Lyon could be gone also.

That means the Tigers roster will be filled with rookies, young players and players that underachieved last season. They will try to resurrect the careers of Jeremy Bonderman, Dontrelle Willis, Nate Robertson and Joel Zumaya.

Hey does anybody want to give Kenny Rogers a call?

We've had our fun at Comerica Park for a while. The Tigers were in the World Series a couple years ago and they came within one game of facing the New York Yankees in the American League playoffs. But now comes the decline.

The Tigers are paying for a bad economy in Detroit and for allowing outfielder Magglio Ordonez to get his incentives and get an $18 million contract extension. In turn they are going to allow some good players to walk.

It will still be fun to go to Comerica next summer but the pop corn, beer and people watching will be the main attractions.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494. You can follow me at twitter.com/bigscoop.

Football remains bad here

How much more of this can we take?

Our fall has been punctured by another miserable weekend of football. The Lions blew a 17-0 lead and were thrashed 32-20 by the Seattle Seahawks and Michigan melted down again and lost at home to Purdue 38-36. In both cases fans were counting their victories before they were hatched.

Michigan State beat Western Michigan to finally crawl to .500 but the Spartans beat up on a Mid American Conference team that is in a tail spin. Michigan and Michigan State are both 5-5 and struggling to get a win to qualify for a bowl and extra playing time.

The Lions are just plain bad at the half way point of the season. Combined our three teams are just 11-17. Last year they were 13-29. Now you see why people are thinking of taking fall vacations now.

They do not want to relive another bad season of football.

You can now read my blog on my battle with diabetes on the health and fitness blog at detnews.com.

Pistons should trade Prince for big man

My instincts tell me Pistons forward Tayshaun Prince is on the trading block. I have no inside information or anything like that, but the Pistons should look into trading him.

They need a big man desperately and their lack of talent and girth will show as the season progresses. Prince is the man who might be able to fetch that. The Pistons got away with their lack of size during an 85-80 victory Tuesday night against the Orlando Magic at The Palace.

Dwight Howard got into early foul trouble and wasn't even around when the game was decided. He finished with eight points and six rebounds before fouling out. The Pistons ran four guys at him for most of the night, but I believe it was more of a case that Howard played poorly rather than the Piston bigs contained him.

Prince might be able to fetch a decent big if the Pistons can swing a three-way trade.

Wouldn't Los Angeles Clippers center Chris Kamen look good in a Pistons uniform? Go Chips!

The Pistons said Prince is injured with a lower back strain and will miss at least three games. That sent a red flag up in my mind. During my dealings in the NBA, guys disappear when they are being talked about in a trade. I do not know if that is the case with Prince, but it got me thinking about a possible trade.

Maybe nothing will happen. But President Joe Dumars needs to make some phone calls. The Orlando game was a nice case of fool's gold. The Pistons need help up front and Prince is the guy who can fetch it.

Why not Rip Hamilton? I actually like it when Hamilton plays with Ben Gordon. Those guys give teams fits. Why not see if it can work a little longer? Prince does not fit the system as well as he did before. He can still play a little bit but he looks more like a spectator than a contributor.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494. You can follow me on twitter.com/bigscoop.

Misdirection play by Lions

Let's roll back to Sunday's frustrating 17-10 loss to the St. Louis Rams at Ford Field. The Lions trailed 10-2 with a few seconds left in the first half and the team called a Hail Mary to the end zone, hoping to pick up a lucky touchdown or maybe a pass interference penalty.

Coach Jim Schwartz told quarterback Matthew Stafford to throw the ball out of bounds if nothing was open. The Rams dropped five defensive backs back to protect the end zone. So Stafford threw the ball into the stands, which makes absolutely no sense.

If he can throw it in the stands, why can't he throw it in the end zone to perhaps create a lucky break?

Here is the first lesson about desperation Hail Mary passes: They are never open. You just sort of throw the ball up for grabs and hope for the best. But the Lions did not do that. Schwartz set Stafford up for ridicule and failure, which fans took full advantage of.

We were in the stands and a number of people screamed: "Hey Matthew! I was open." We all laughed because it was funny. In my four decades of attending football games or covering them I have never seen someone throw a Hail Mary into the stands."

I did not know this misguided pass was per instructions from the coach, and nobody in the stands did either.

Some fans screamed at Stafford about the play and Dominic Raiola went off on them. I applaud him for sticking up for his quarterback. But this was not the time or place.

Most people are not really that down on Stafford. They do not want to run him out of town. They simply wanted to know why he threw the pass into the stands. Now we have an explanation and the guy you should question is Schwartz, not Stafford. Stafford was following instructions.

Bad brew at Michigan

A few weeks ago I attended Michigan's near miss loss at Iowa. Afterwards I wrote a commentary saying that all did not seem right around the Michigan program. Something was wrong.

There seemed to be a lot of bickering and divide surrounding the program. Coaches were bickering. Players seemed confused and key people around the program are not in concert with the job coach Rich Rodriguez was doing. My gut said something and I wrote about it.

Quite naturally a lot of old blue took exception to the column and bombarded my email with unsavory comments, some calling me the biggest yellow journalist since the term was coined decades ago.

I tried to answer most of them but could not.

I wonder how they feel about their program now? The great Michigan divide has turned into the great Michigan slide.

Since that game Michigan has lost to Penn State and Illinois by a combined score of 73-23. And spare me the Delaware State blow out. That does not count.

There is something wrong with the brew in Ann Arbor that goes beyond having a youthful football team. It seems as if opponents have figured out quarterback Tate Forcier and Michigan's defense remains an embarrassment.

Meanwhile you had former quarterback Rick Leach rip former coach Lloyd Carr for sitting with Iowa people in the press box. Carr felt the need to finally give support to Rodriguez during a scripted radio interview.

And I forgot to mention that Rich Rod's sugar daddy Bill Martin is leaving as athletic director.

There will be more chills and spills surrounding Michigan as the Wolverines try to slip into a flea bag bowl somewhere. Like I said, something is wrong with the brew in Ann Arbor. Maybe even the biggest blue supporters can see it now.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494. You can follow me at twitter.com/bigscoop.

Black Sunday

If you are a Detroit sports fan you probably feel hung over and depressed today.

Welcome to black Sunday.

Saturday was a brutal day for area sports teams. The Michigan Wolverines were embarrassed for the second week in a row 38-13 to one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Michigan State took the first quarter off, got jobbed on a touchdown call and lost 42-34 to Minnesota. And a few hundred miles from that debacle the Pistons blew an 11-point lead and were throttled by the Milwaukee Bucks 96-85.

The Red Wings won 3-1 at Calgary but their season so far has been nothing to crow about. They are closer to last place than first.

Football is what drives us this time of year and this has been one of the worst seasons in recent memory. You know you are in trouble when your best chance at salvation is rooting for the sad sack Lions (1-5) who are coming off a bye week to take on the even worst St. Louis Rams (0-7) who come into Ford Field today with a 17-game losing streak.

My son Little B actually wants to go to the game saying it might be the only time he gets to see the Lions win. I am debating that right now. Do I take him to his first NFL game? Or does dad sit back and enjoy meaningful games on television?

But back to Saturday. The Spartans remain mentally week and vulnerable. You know they were still thinking about that stunning loss to Iowa the week before. Minnesota took advantage and jumped them early and MSU could never take command even though it led late. You do not give bad teams a chance and that is exactly what MSU did.

Michigan is just am embarrassment. I have never seen it so bad in Ann Arbor. I suppose coach Rich Rodriguez will turn it around at some point. That is what we keep hearing. But his team is mentally week and are still confused about this system. It appears as if people have game tape on quarterback Tate Forcier and they are able to shut him down.

The bottom line is this has been a brutal season for football and there is no rainbow of hope in sight.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494.

Central Michigan gunning for top 25

Today is a big day for Central Michigan football.

Check that. Today is a huge day for CMU football.

Today the Chippewas play at Boston College and if they can win that game the unimaginable will happen. CMU will crack the Top 25 for the first time in school history. How about that?

It would join smaller schools like Boise State, UTEP and Fresno State who have battled the big boys and won. A lot of the credit must go to that huge victory a few weeks ago at Michigan State.

CMU not only won that game but kept on winning in the Mid American Conference. The offense is explosive as usual, but the key has been a defense that has played better than anticipated. .

I will be watching college football today and am hopeful to see highlights of the Central game at BC. And I will have my fingers crossed. If I see CMU in the top 25 poll next week I might have to cut it out of the paper to have as a keepsake.

Go Chips!

Sticking up for Lion fans

Today it is time to stick up for Lion fans.

Sometimes they can be goofy. Sometimes they roll too much in the Lions butter and believe miracles are about to happen. And sometimes they are just too giddy when the smallest positive thing happens at Ford Field.

The other day I was talking to one of my boys who asked "what is wrong with Lion fans? How come they've had black outs in the last 10 games? Are they truly fans?

The answer is yes. Lion fans are doing what anybody else would do. If your NFL franchise quit on you then you are not obligated to attend games. The Lions (1-5) face the St. Louis Rams (0-7) Sunday in what must amount to one of the worst match ups this past decade.

The Rams have lost 17 games in a row and the Lions have dropped 28 of the last 30 games. Why should you feel an obligation to see that?

Lion fans are like anybody else. Show me signs of a pulse and they will show up. Tell me any other franchise that would sell out games if their team lost this many games. Maybe Green Bay fans because there is nothing else there. But do you think you would see sell outs in New York, Philadelphia or St. Louis for a product this bad?

Hardly.

I can be reached at Terry.Foster@detnews.com or 313-222-1494.