Last Night on "The Knee Jerks": Pistons Paradise (?) with Dave Pemberton of the Oakland Press

We put the Pistons in our crosshairs last night on "The Knee Jerks," the weekly gabfest I co-host on Blog Talk Radio with Big Al Beaton, who's rapidly beginning his own Internet writing empire.

That's because our guest was beat writer Dave Pemberton of the Oakland Press, whose blog about the team can be found here.

Dave got us caught up on the latest news surrounding the possible sale of the team, went over his mid-season grades, and talked about the near and long term future of the REALLY Bad Boys. Chalk it up perhaps to his professionalism, but you'll hear that Dave didn't seem quite as visibly shaken as Al and I are about the Pistons' future.

After Dave's segment, Al and I plunged into the other hot topics around town---especially the Tigers, as their caravan makes its way around the state. We discussed their wild and wacky lineup, particularly who's going to bat leadoff and No. 2. We also speculated about who the No. 5 starter might be, and why the Tigers don't consider making someone (*cough* Carlos Guillen *cough*) a full-time DH. (Oh, and listen to Al's proposal as to who should be the No. 2 hitter---verrry intriguing).

Finally, we roasted Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi for the very incendiary remarks he made about the U-M hockey program, coach Red Berenson, and how they supposedly retarded the development of Kings star Jack Johnson.

Then, as usual, we closed with our "Jerks of the Week."

Some Highlights:

Big Al

On the Tigers: "You can't play Gerald Laird as much as you did last year. He played too much in 2009. He can hit better, but he has to catch less."

Also on the Tigers: "I like Ryan Raburn batting third. He has power and can maybe hit 25, 30 home runs."

On the Red Wings: They're getting players back. They're going to be one scary SOB come playoff time."



Eno

On the Tigers: "What in the world is wrong with having one guy being the full-time DH? Instead they're going to do it by committee again. Too many people moving around the field, moving around the batting order."

Also on the Tigers: "I'd like to see Nate Robertson seize that No. 5 spot in the rotation again. I like his bulldog mentality. For awhile, I thought his career might be over. But he seems healthy now."

On Dean Lombardi: "There's an unwritten rule that you don't trash a university's program. And he put his own player in an awkward situation as well. The only thing that keeps this from completely blowing up is that it's the Los Angeles Kings, and who cares about THEM?"


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You can listen to the episode by clicking below!