Author Archive

The NHL does have a sense of humor, after all. A cruel one, perhaps, but a sense of humor just the same. OK, so who’s the prankster who has left the San Jose Sharks, the greatest playoff chokers of the 21st Century, with this 3-0 lead over the mighty Detroit Red Wings? Surely this must be the work of one of those cut ups who slices ...

Fear Not, Detroit Red Wings Fans: It’s Still a Series

Posted: 4th May 2010 by Greg Eno in NHL
Which is the biggest game of any playoff series? Answer: the next one. The playoffs are like that old kids’ game, Kaboom. With each game the balloon gets pumped more and more with air—until you can only look at it with one eye opened, one eye closed and with a wince, wondering when it’s going to go KABOOM! It’s game three tonight for the Red ...
No one will ever know if the members of the Trenton Trojans boys hockey team would have completed the comeback that night. But momentum was on their side. A three-goal deficit had been erased. Their building was thumping with noise. Then, just like that, it became eerily quiet. “I knew I was in pain, like full body pain,” Kurt LaTarte said as he recalled the moment. “But no one knew how bad it ...

Game Seven: Why It’s the Greatest Moment in Pro Sports

Posted: 27th April 2010 by Greg Eno in NHL
It’s the Valhalla of pro sports. It’s the revered temple where you, at the same time, might find yourself both giddy and terrified to be. The Super Bowl is a nice little sporting event, perhaps even deserving of its Roman numerals on occasion. Other games, events and tournaments shine in their own way: the Final Four, the Kentucky Derby, the Indy 500, The Masters. You can have them all, and ...

Monday Morning Manager: My Weekly Take on the Detroit Tigers

Posted: 26th April 2010 by Greg Eno in MLB
Last Week: 3-4 This Week: at Tex (4/26); MIN (4/27-29); LAA (4/30-5/2)   So What Happened? Here’s what DIDN’T happen: significant innings from the Tigers’ starting pitchers. The bullpen was busier than Ben Roethlisberger’s PR team last week, having to pitch at least three innings and sometimes more in every game. It didn’t help that Dontrelle Willis had to skip his start on Saturday due to illness, pressing lefty Brad Thomas into ...

Playoff Hockey without Brendan Shanahan: Not the NHL Norm

Posted: 24th April 2010 by Greg Eno in NHL
Brendan Shanahan played 21 physical, angry seasons in the NHL yet he could walk into a Hollywood producer’s office tomorrow morning and be cast as the male lead. Shanahan, 41, still has his looks; most old hockey players have faces that are zippered on and are the texture of corduroy. Shanahan is still the best looking man in most rooms these days, plus among the smartest and most charming, and it’s enough ...
If they came out with a Comeback Player of the Series Award, Jimmy Howard would win it—hands down. Or, should I say, mask down. Howard, the Red Wings’ rookie goalie (in title only), has added to his burgeoning legend. It was vintage Chris Osgood: follow up a stinker by coming out smelling like a rose. Howard rebounded from a rocky Game Three, and was impenetrable in ...
It was, for my money, the gutsiest playoff decision I’d ever seen a coach make in Detroit. And I’ve been nosing around our teams since 1970. Mike Babcock took conventional wisdom and the safe path and he chucked them into the Detroit River. For all I know he ripped out the pages of the coaching manual that says you don’t do it and he ...

Monday Morning Manager: My Weekly Take on the Detroit Tigers

Posted: 19th April 2010 by Greg Eno in MLB
Last Week: 2-4 This Week: at LAA (4/19-22); at Tex (4/23-25) So what happened? The Tigers’ first butt-kicking of the season came on Friday night, when the Seattle Mariners had their way with Jeremy Bonderman. The pitching was uneven all week, the defense shaky at times, and it all added up to a 2-4 week that the Tigers deserved; in fact, they were perilously close to going 1-5, ...
Who does Austin Jackson think he is? I tell you, these kids nowadays. Someone should teach this rookie some manners. He’s played about a week and a half in the big leagues, and you’d think he owns the place. It all started on Opening Day, in Kansas City. The 23-year-old whippersnapper of a leadoff hitter and center fielder for the Tigers was in the box against Zack ...