The Knee Jerks

On today's show: With the Red Wings starting training camp in Traverse City this week, we Knee Jerks thought it would be a great time to talk hockey. And who better to talk hockey than today’s guest. He is one of the Internet’s blogging pioneers, the man behind the Kukla’s Korner (http://KuklasKorner.com) blogging empire, the top web destination for any fan of the NHL, Michigan’s own Paul Kukla. In addition to Paul’s main KK blog, the Korner also hosts one of the best Red Wings blogs on the web, Abel to Yzerman, along with 10 other hockey blogs. While you can find most of his writing at KK, Paul also has a column which can be found at NHL.com (http://bit.ly/14rgO7). Paul’s an avowed fan of the Red Wings, so we’ll have an early preview their coming season. Expect plenty of NHL talk in general, as who wouldn’t want to vent their spleen over the worst run league in sports, and the NHL's controversial commissioner, Gary Bettman? We'll get Paul's thoughts on the state of the sports blogosphere as well! After speaking with the Godfather of hockey blogging, we'll move on to the hottest topics in Detroit sports, including: The past week of the Detroit Tigers, from their 5 game losing streak, to the sudden need for a 5th starter (it's going to be Eddie Bonine, but still...) due to injuries to Jarrod Washburn, Armando Galarraga and Nate Robertson.

Let's not forget football, both Wolverines and Lions style. We'll discuss Michigan's huge win over the evil empire known as Notre Dame, and the Lions suffering their 18th consecutive loss at the hands of Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints.

Along with Red Wings, Tigers, Lions and Wolverines talk, we'll also name our respective Jerk of the Week!

Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On tonight's show: It's a Detroit Lions/Michigan Wolverines talkfest with our very special guest, Jim Brandstatter!

As anyone listening to our show should already know, Brandstatter is a Michigan institution, spending the last few decades as the color analyst for both the Detroit Lions and Michigan Wolverines on their radio networks. Brandstatter, a former All-Big Ten lineman for the Bo Schembechler era Wolverines, is also the long-time host of the Michigan football coach's show, now known as "Inside Michigan Football," and of "The Rich Rodriguez Radio Show." He's written 2 books about the Wolverines and the Big House, "Tales from Michigan Stadium" and "Tales from Michigan Stadium: Volume II."

We'll preview with Brandstatter the upcoming Detroit Lions season and discuss the Michigan Wolverines Big Ten chances. We're sure Brandy will have plenty to say regarding the latest Rich Rodriguez controversy (or non-controversy, depending on the findings of an investigation) happening in the shadow of the Big House!

After our interview with the voice of the Lions and Wolverines, we'll cover the past week of the Detroit Tigers, including our thoughts as to the Tigers' playoff chances. We'll also talk more Lions, including our takes on Matthew Stafford being named the starter under center.

To close the show, we'll also name our respective Jerk of the Week!

Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On today's earlier than normal Jerks: The Knee Jerks go on a literary bent as we have our first author on the show! Our special guest is Marty Appel, author of a new Doubleday book about former Yankees catcher, 7 time All-Star and 1976 AL MVP Thurman Munson, "Munson: The Life and Death of a Yankee Captain." Marty was the Yankees Public Relations Director when Munson was starring for the team, and later went on to produce Emmy Award winning telecasts of their games. Appel also co-authored Munson's bestselling autobiography, along with 16 other books. Today he appears frequently on YES Network, ESPN, MLB and HBO. After we discuss the life and times of one of the best catchers of his era, we'll give our thoughts on the past week of the Detroit Tigers as they head into the final weeks of the pennant race. We'll also cover the latest news from Detroit Lions' Allen Park HQ, including rants regarding their 3rd exhibition game against the Colts. We'll touch on the latest from Red Wings at the Joe, or from the Palace, home of the Detroit Pistons. To close the show, we name our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On today's show: We have a Detroit Lions roundtable with a pair of The Bleacher Report's featured Lions columnists, Michael Schottey (Michael's bio: http://bit.ly/3MIUrN) and Dean Holden (Dean's bio: http://bit.ly/10OWY3). Michael also writes for the RoarReport.com and DraftTek.com, and is the Producer/Host of The Average Joe Sports Show (860AM KNUJ/KNUJ.net--6:05 PM EST each Sunday). Along with writing for The Bleacher Report, Dean is also the "Voice of the Lions" on NFLTouchdown.com (nfltouchdown.com/category/detroit-lions/). As you might guess, we'll be talking about the Lions' awful exhibition game loss to the Cleveland Browns, along with getting our guest's take on the overall state of the team. After our featured discussion on the Lions, we'll take on the past week of the still in 1st place Detroit Tigers. We'll touch on their tiresome Jekyll and Hyde act, playing like a playoff contender at home, and a pretender on the road. We'll talk Detroit Red Wings as well, sift through their free agency signings, including the Wings' inking the controversial winger Todd Burtuzzi to a 1 year deal. To close the show, as always, we'll name our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On today's show: The Knee Jerks talk hoops past and present with our latest "very special guest", former Detroit Pistons great, as both a player in the 60's and head coach from '72-'76, Ray Scott. Scott won the NBA Coach of the Year award in 1974 when he led the long downtrodden Pistons to the playoffs with 52-30 regular season record. Even though Scott was the most successful coach in Pistons' history to that point, he was fired by new owner Bill Davidson halfway through the '76 season. Scott then went on to be head coach of the Eastern Michigan (then known as the ) Hurons from '76 to '79. In 2008 Scott was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and selected to be a part of the Pistons' All-Time team, as one of the "30 All-Time Pistons." We're looking forward to talking old school NBA with Scott, who was the last coach hired by the Pistons founding owner, the eccentric Fred Zollner. We'll also touch base with Ray the on Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, and the serious financial issues it is now facing. After our interview with Ray Scott, we'll ponder the past week in Detroit sports, including the following...

Tigers: Is Aubrey Huff the solution to what ails the offense, the beanball fest, brawl & fallout in Boston, the struggle to hit with RISP, Justin Verlander's credentials as both an Ace and a Cy Young candidate, are role players placed in situations almost guaranteeing failure, how valuable is Brandon Inge, and the never-ending road woes.

Lions: The exhibition opener, a win over the Falcons, pick a QB, Culppeper or Stafford, the pluses and minuses we saw on-field & Charles Rogers admitting he was a Cheech & Chong level pothead.

Mike Vick: Does Vick have anything left after being in prison for nearly 2 years? If he’s lost a couple of steps, is Vick just a more infamous version of Mike McMahon?

We end the show by naming our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On today's show: Our guest tonight is blogger Joe Dexter of "Motor City Bengals" (MotorCityBengals.com), Fansided's Detroit Tigers blog. Joe's other online venture is his "This Week In Detroit Tigers Baseball" podcast, also found at "Motor City Bengals." We'll discuss with Joe...obviously...the Detroit Tigers! We'll also cover any breaking news out of the Detroit Lions' training camp as they prepare for their exhibition season opener, along with the latest from Red Wings at the Joe, or from the Palace, home of the Detroit Pistons. We'll also name our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On tonight's show: We have yet another "Very special guest. Who, you ask? The long-time WDFN (R.I.P.) morning man, former WRIF Mike in the Morning show regular, and current Detroit Free Press blogger, Jamie Samuelsen! We'll cover the gamut of the Detroit sports landscape with the opinionated Jamie, discussing his experiences blogging for Free Press and get his take on the Lions and Tigers. Hopefully, we can talk a little inside baseball in regard to the troubled terrestrial radio business. After we speak to Jamie Samuelsen, we'll move on to our usual format, bitching about Detroit sports!

We'll give our thoughts on the big news of past week, the Detroit Tigers trading for starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn at the trade deadline. Is adding only Washburn enough to win the mediocre Central? Do the Tigers still need a bat? Inquiring minds should listen! We then tackle the start of the Detroit Lions' training camp, the first of the Schwartz/Mayhew/Lewand era. Or should we call it the beginning of the Matthew Stafford era? From all accounts, the rookie QB is impressing the Lions' coaching staff during workouts. Not so impressive is the new free agent WR, Bryant Johnson, who will miss the first 2 weeks of workouts thanks to...road rash caused by a...wait for it...golf cart crash. If the Lions didn't have bad luck (or sign moronic receivers who wreck golf carts), they'd have no luck at all. We'll get on our soapbox in regard to the fate of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, which has amassed 6 figures worth of debt, despite having absolutely no overhead. The Hall is on the verge of auctioning off plaques of Detroit's greatest athletes to pay creditors, a stunning revelation. We'll also have a take on the state of Michigan losing 2 big time sporting events, the PGA's Buick Open and the IRL's Belle Isle Grand Prix. We'll also name our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

On today's show: We take a quick detour from Detroit sports to speak with Matt Riviera, a pro wrestler and actor who's on the way up. Matt will be one of 17 men trying to win a model's heart on the new reality series "Megan Wants a Millionaire", debuting on VH1 on Sunday, August 2. To learn more, Matt's site is MattRiviera.com. He's also on MySpace at myspace.com/therealmattriviera. You can go to VH1's show page (http://bit.ly/WYxUg)to learn more. After we talk wrestling, reality TV and women, we'll move on to Detroit sports, including the past week of the Detroit Tigers. We'll touch on Brandon Inge's damaged knee, and if he should continue to play thru the pain despite his declining production, the so far successful return of Carlos Guillen, and whether the Tigers should stand pat at the upcoming trade deadline, as several local columnist have opined, or make an aggressive move, as most fans seem to want...no, DEMAND. We'll also talk Detroit Lions, as camp starts this week. The team has yet to sign 6 of their draft picks...anyone having Russ Thomas flashbacks yet? The rumors are swirling around Detroit's rookie QB phenom, Matthew Stafford, as he may have the inside track on the starter's job over Daunte Culpepper! There's other big news in the NFL, as Mike Vick was partially reinstated by commissioner Roger Goodell, and Brett Favre is still stringing the Minnesota Vikings along...but claims to be on the verge of making a decision. (Sure, Brett, sure...) In college football news, it's Big Ten Media Days, with the big local story being Michigan State picked to finish 3rd in the league, while Michigan boots another player, Justin Feagin, off the team, due to rules violations. Finally, are the state's golf fans going to have to say goodbye to the PGA's long running Buick Open at Warrick Hills? We'll also name our respective Jerk of the Week! Be here at 11PM every Monday night for the latest and greatest in sports talk...sports talk with a Detroit attitude!

The excitement continues on The Knee Jerks, as our guest tonight is Paul Swaney, columnist at The Bleacher Report. Paul's personal website, StadiumJourney.com, will document his attempt to visit 122 pro sports stadiums in the span of one calendar year. In a test run earlier in 2009, Paul visited each of the Big Ten basketball arenas. Our guest has a traveling jones! If you are interested in helping to fund Paul's journey as a sponsor, you can reach him thru StadiumJourney.com. Eno and Big Al will also discuss the latest sports news from a Detroit perspective, including the Tigers getting swept in New york despite pitching good enough to win, Joel Zumaya blows out his shoulders and is on the DL...again, a Detroit News baseball columnist (Lynn Henning) infers in print that All-Star CF Curtis Granderson is not focusing enough on baseball, an MSN Money article claims the Tigers are an "at risk" team for moving or contraction, and in non baseball news, the Pistons sign a power forward, Chris Wilcox. Don't forget the Knee Jerks will name their respective Jerk of the Week. Be here every Monday at 11PM for the latest and greatest in Detroit sports talk!

We welcome a big time guest to another expanded edition of The Knee Jerks! Detroit and New York City TV and radio sports broadcasting legend Bob Page joins us for an interview. Also on today's show: Our thoughts on the past week of the Detroit Tigers. We'll discuss any breaking news out of the Detroit Lions' Allen Park HQ or from the Palace, home of the Detroit Pistons. We also play our most popular old bit, word association, and we'll name our respective Jerk of the Week!