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T.Low

It might be Illich, not Holland

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Today I got to listen to a lot of Red Wings talk on Vancouver's team 1040

Doug McLean talked about his time in Detroit as assistant GM to Brian Murray. He said it was an amazing organization to be a part of. He said his first day on the job was the day after Fedorov defected. Amazing times for sure.

But he said two things of significance relevant to the way Holland does business.

McLean and Murray were called down to the Fox theater to see Mike Illitch. The security guard said to them, " you're going up to the 10th floor to see Mr. Ilitch. If you come back down, you will be a changed person for the rest of your life."

McLean said that he and Murray we're about to trade Jimmy Carson for Paul Coffey and Ilitch really grilled them about it. Illitch loved Carson and did not want to see him go.

The second thing he said was that Illitch fired Murray on a Friday afternoon, and Murray came out and told McLean he was fired also.

Monday morning 8 AM Illitch called McLean and said you were fired Friday afternoon. And McLean said yeah I know. Ilitch said you still have one year left on your deal. If you don't get another job by then, I'll give you another job.

Illitch is the problem. He treats these guys like family and hates to see any of them go!

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Guest DeGraa55

This has been a known issue for the tigers for awhile..but I'm not sure if he is as involved with the wings as he used to be.

I also have a hard time believing he wants franzen and Sammy around. But I could see him being attached to like cleary.

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Guest Crymson

First off, it's Ilitch, not Illitch. Second, you're referring to management rather than players; it is usual for owners to involve themselves with the former, but not the latter. Third, Ilitch is nearly 90 years old and is not nearly as involved with his sports teams as he was 20 years ago.

In other words, I think your theory holds no merit.

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Guest Playmaker

From all appearances, Mr. Ilitch is not physically or cognitively all there. It's pretty clear he does not run the day to day operations of either the Tigers or the Red Wings. Christopher Ilitch has been in that role for quite some time. That said, there is no way you can look at the Prince Fielder situation with the Tigers and not think that what Mike Ilitch wants, he gets. He may not be all there, but I don't think its out of the realm of possibility to believe he's still very strong willed and opinionated.

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Today I got to listen to a lot of Red Wings talk on Vancouver's team 1040

Doug McLean talked about his time in Detroit as assistant GM to Brian Murray. He said it was an amazing organization to be a part of. He said his first day on the job was the day after Fedorov defected. Amazing times for sure.

But he said two things of significance relevant to the way Holland does business.

McLean and Murray were called down to the Fox theater to see Mike Illitch. The security guard said to them, " you're going up to the 10th floor to see Mr. Ilitch. If you come back down, you will be a changed person for the rest of your life."

McLean said that he and Murray we're about to trade Jimmy Carson for Paul Coffey and Ilitch really grilled them about it. Illitch loved Carson and did not want to see him go.

The second thing he said was that Illitch fired Murray on a Friday afternoon, and Murray came out and told McLean he was fired also.

Monday morning 8 AM Illitch called McLean and said you were fired Friday afternoon. And McLean said yeah I know. Ilitch said you still have one year left on your deal. If you don't get another job by then, I'll give you another job.

Illitch is the problem. He treats these guys like family and hates to see any of them go!

My favorite part of this post. "IF you come back down you'll be changed...". Is there something going on I don't know about? Do people frequently NOT come back down? Returning from your meeting with the boss, changed or unchanged, shouldn't be something that's up in the air ya know?

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My favorite part of this post. "IF you come back down you'll be changed...". Is there something going on I don't know about? Do people frequently NOT come back down? Returning from your meeting with the boss, changed or unchanged, shouldn't be something that's up in the air ya know?

Maybe that's a hint to the fact that Mr. Ilitch is a vampire or something. "IF you come back down....mwaaaa haaaa haaaa..."

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From all appearances, Mr. Ilitch is not physically or cognitively all there. It's pretty clear he does not run the day to day operations of either the Tigers or the Red Wings. Christopher Ilitch has been in that role for quite some time. That said, there is no way you can look at the Prince Fielder situation with the Tigers and not think that what Mike Ilitch wants, he gets. He may not be all there, but I don't think its out of the realm of possibility to believe he's still very strong willed and opinionated.

Too bad Mr. I got his way with Prince. Sorry, still bitter about that contract. I agree though that his influence has diminished due to health. I think he's basically there as a blank check for the Tigers to win a World Series.

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My favorite part of this post. "IF you come back down you'll be changed...". Is there something going on I don't know about? Do people frequently NOT come back down? Returning from your meeting with the boss, changed or unchanged, shouldn't be something that's up in the air ya know?

Doug McLean gives good phone interviews. Dude is hilarious.

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