Travis

Are not. And why does bobblehead Lidstrom have a chin strap?

There's also www.grnow.com and downtowngr.org for area events and activities. As was previously said, there are lots of bars and eateries downtown. There's a great art museum not far from the Van Andel and there are always cool things going on downtown. The arena itself is located in a section of downtown called the Arena District, you can check out the website here: http://www.arenadistrictgr.com/

It definitely is, and it's the largest lead any team has had in quite some time. The Yankees beat up on the White Sox to push them 5.5 back. Somewhat ironic that Benoit earns the victory when he nearly gave the game away, but what a gigantic home run by Boesch.

Sure it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it's nice to see positive things in the media about our Tigers. I'll happily read a post about how the Tigers are the 3rd best team in the AL after the trade deadline. 6 games probably sounds harsh, but it's the MLB's way of insuring he miss his next start. Article says he'll be appealing it - but I doubt they let him off without missing a start.

I don't think anyone's seen it in writing as having been said by Weber. Outside of the fact that it'd be terribly unprofessional, I'd imagine it would damage his standpoint in the arbitration hearings since his team could argue against him by claiming he's just inflating his asking price to leave. It seems to be the general consensus, though, that Weber wants out.

That initial raise of $14 would only increase after the completion of said arena, almost without a doubt. Additionally, if I'm thinking about myself alone, I wouldn't see anything but inflation from such an economic boost.

David Purcey has been designated for assignment. He's out of options, so a team can claim him if they want a terribly inconsistent left-handed reliever. Not sure if he plans to report to Toledo or walk.

$14 is obviously enough of a hike for those who aren't interested in a new arena. If Grand Rapids proposed a tax hike to build an arena for a new basketball team, I know I'd vote it down.

And since he is RFA, if the team likes what the arbitrator rules - he will be forced to re-sign?

If an arbitrator rules in favor of Weber, let's say, at a price that Nashville doesn't see fit - would they likely trade his rights? I'm not terribly familiar with matters of arbitration and the like. Does the arbitrator basically rule on a monetary number for yearly salary and leave the contract negotiations up to the player and team from there?

That was my fear. I don't have cable of any sort and was hoping to get GameCenter to watch the Wings - but was afraid they'd fall under blackout restrictions.

Indians knock off the Red Sox last night and take a half game on idle Detroit. ESPN is all about the Indians at the moment as if their 1 game post-deadline game indicates how their team will be going forward. ESPN did however reseed their playoff contenders in their SweetSpot blog. The Tigers jumped 3 spots to number 7, replacing the Milwaulkee Brewers. David Schoenfield had this to say: http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/14469/reseeding-the-playoff-contenders

That would be awesome! I'd love to give it a shot before I commit since it would really suck to buy it and find out all home games were blacked out. Were you able to find someone? Hopefully. I don't have the service at all at this point (hence the need for Game Center).

His career was so much more than that, though. Obviously, it's the first thing that everyone remembers - but he was easily one of the best 2B of the last 30 years.

Were you living in Grand Rapids at the time?

Per The Freep.

I've never had much luck with streams. Probably related to my internet connection. I plan on using GameCenter this season, though. Anyone have any experience - positive or negative - with it?

Yeah, I hadn't any idea of this either until it was mentioned in the Strader thread. I had DirecTV's basic package so I didn't get Versus, anyway, but I'll be watching all my games on GameCenter this season. That's irrelevant, though. I'm into this move. I never liked the name Versus, and changing it to NBC Sports Network immediately gives them more legitimacy - especially among peripheral sports fans.

JV coming out on top in this one. What's crazy is that this is nothing new for Verlander. This is regularity for JV this year. I didn't watch or listen to it, but saw that Weaver pitched a fit for Magglio making sure his homer was gonna get out. Good for Carlos for putting him over the edge.

Martinez was the biggest piece to this deal and he's expendable because of the play of Nick Castellanos at Single-A West Michigan. The Indians however, are countering. MLB Trade Rumors and the Denver Post reports that Ubaldo Jimenez will likely be traded to the Indians. We'll see what shakes loose, but everyone knows the Rockies are asking the farm from any team interested. This seems like a bad move for Cleveland long term since they will decimate their top-tier prospect core to get Jimenez.

Bless You Boys is reporting that the Tigers are also after a reliever, namely David Pauley. Apparently the deal is shaping up to look like Furbush, Casper Wells, and another - perhaps Duane Below since he's been pulled from today's start.

ESPN's Jerry Crasnick is reporting that the Tigers and Mariners are close to a deal that would send Doug Fister to Detroit. Additional, CBS Sports writer Danny Knobler said this: I like Furbush and could see him providing quality pitching in the future, but it is what it is. Also, like the quote says - Jacob Turner has been called up to make his debut with the big club today.

I found imagery of a prototype:

Wow! It's surprising to me that no one wanted to bring this guy in.