Denny McLain
Episode 204: Good-bye, 2020: UGH! Good-bye, ELI?

It’s hard to separate sports from reality.
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain and Bob Page.
- Happy New Year, everybody, as we ALL look ahead with hope for better days to come.
- Maybe COVID didn’t hit YOU or yours. Maybe YOU made big $$$ in the market. No matter, good riddance to 2020!
- It was a year that perhaps has triggered a major change in Eli’s very life as he’ll explain to you.
- Denny actually became LOOPY over Saturday’s Lions’ fiasco, a game SO ridiculous that one die-hard Lions fan even …!
- Then listen to Denny become MORE loopy when Eli reads him a quote from Tigers G.M. Al Avila.
- HOW many TD’s in ONE GAME?! Our producer Brandon McAfee relates a tale of woe from football’s fantasy leagues.
- Tom Gores takes heavy flak from Eli — again — as Denny reveals how HE suffered from Gore’s hand in PRISON!
- Remember the NFL’s CHICAGO Cardinals? Yes? The boys do, which means they — and likely YOU — are OLD!
- Still another baseball Hall of Famer has died. Denny recalls PHIL NIEKRO and Phil’s late brother Joe. He played with both.
- Those stories, Bob has another edition of YOUR mailbag — and much more right here!
Episode 203: When the Irish “Tied One for the Gipper!”

The Game of the Century!
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain and Bob Page.
- MSU’S CLINT JONES guests on playing in the storied 10-10 game, on being a black STAR in the turbulent 60’s and MORE!
- GOLF’S next black star? Eli will tell you all about him — and choke back his tears as he does.
- College football’s four-team playoffs are now set, but does Notre Dame really belong in them?
- One thing’s sure: no matter WHAT Denny predicted here, the Lions won’t be in ANY playoffs.
- And while wiping the egg off his face from that, is he taking his frustrations out unfairly on Matt Stafford?
- WHAT?! A plain mayonnaise sandwich? Denny: YUM! Eli: Have I got a mayonnaise for YOU!
- “Typhoid Rudy” signs a $200 million deal while Bob tells us what ONE dollar once meant to two great NBA centers.
- The NHL announces a January return with new divisions due to COVID. Will its players first have to be vaccinated?
- And they called Pete Rozelle “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas?” A LOT of “grinches” will steal THIS Christmas.
- Bob rips MSU basketball a new one — but then Tom Izzo does too! And, OMG, such STUPID BLACK uniforms!
- Those stories, a big loss for the Tigers, YOUR mailbag segment and MUCH more right here!
Episode 202: Ah, What COULD Have Been for Chuck Long!

He had everything going for him.
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain and Bob Page.
- One of the greatest QB’s in Big Ten history, CHUCK LONG, never lived up to that potential in Detroit. Chuck tells all!
- The Lions hire Chris Spielman, not to run the show, but only to assist in the hiring of a GM and coach. Bob: WTF?!
- If only ALL the Lions had the guts of center Frank Ragnow — playing an entire contest with a FRACTURED THROAT!
- The MNF matchup between the Browns and Ravens was a great game — but a COSTLY one for Denny and others.
- Jim Harbaugh says he’s IN. And what LOOKS like a good recruiting class just may keep him “in” — for a while.
- MSU’s Mel Tucker landed a couple quarterbacks on signing day, though the one he needs MIGHT already be in the fold.
- Congress continues to meddle in big-time college sports. Is this a good thing? Denny, Eli — and CHUCK debate.
- Miggy says he wants to play first base again. AJ Hinch: “Okay.” Denny: “Ridiculous!”
- In this P.C.-mad world MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred makes a controversial decision. Was it fair?
- Will MLB and the other pro sports REQUIRE all players take a COVID vaccine in order to play?
- Those stories, PLUS Bob rips the bogus Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, YOUR mailbag and MORE — right here.
Episode 200: Tom Seabron: A Winner at U-M AND in LIFE!

I would never start off in life to be number two.
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Bob Page, Denny McLain & Lary Sorensen in for Eli.
- WOW, our 200th show! We thank YOU listeners and our sponsors for all your great support.
- “Student-athletes” in big-time college sports? They DO exist. Wait’ll you hear our guest, U-M football’s TOM SEABRON.
- Amazing that there will be NO Michigan-Ohio State game this year as COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc.
- Yet Harbaugh’s U-M future — or lack of same — overshadowed “The Game.” Would he CHOOSE to leave as a failure?
- Could COVID stop the entire college basketball season? MSU-Virginia one of the latest big games called off.
- Will YOU get the vaccine as soon as it becomes available in the U.S.? The boys weigh in.
- Houston Rockets superstar James Harden now needs to pass SIX STRAIGHT COVID tests or the NBA won’t let him play!
- Harden seems somehow unhappy making $38 million a year. Denny and Lary, uh, made a little less in THEIR careers.
- Miami Heat star Tyler Herro isn’t worried about money, he’s worried teams are picking on him — cuz he’s WHITE!
- Some 90% of all college football head coaches are also white — is that FAIR in a game with a majority of black players?
- RIP Dick Allen. Denny STILL remembers MONSTER homers Allen hit off HIM! But should Dick be in the Hall of Fame?
- We’ve got those stories, Bob’s got YOUR mailbag and much more — right here!
Episode 199: “I Came to Hate Joe Paterno!”

He really didn’t like me very much.
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain & Bob Page.
- One of Penn State’s greatest players, ex-Detroit Lions star KEITH DORNEY, talks about his FASCINATING life.
- To paraphrase a famous song by The Clash, “Should he stay or should he go?” Harbaugh rumors are FLYING!
- It’s Michigan-Ohio State week and Bob says WHAT? “BFD?!” If you’re on the U-M side, MANY feel the same way.
- How DARE Denny’s beloved Chicago Bears blatantly rip off the Lions’ M.O.? Isn’t it copyrighted?
- Who IS this guy, Darrell Bevell? And who IS actually running the FOOTBALL side of the franchise these days?
- A famous football man says women don’t generally like or follow sports? Golly gee, shocking. So why apologize?
- The Sarah Silliness just won’t go away — and neither will Eli in slamming it!
- Not good enough to catch for the catcher-less Tigers — but good enough for one of MLB’s top teams?
- Do we have a new feature on the show? Eli declares the Nets’ Kyrie Irving his inaugural “Idiot of the Week!”
- On our “This Day in Sports” AND on this Pearl Harbor Day we recall an American sports star and hero of WWII.
- Those stories, Bob with YOUR mailbag and much more — right here!
Episode 198: Two-Sport Star — to Superstar COACH!

But we know him best as a running back for Bo.
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Bob Page, Denny McLain & Fred Heumann sitting in for Eli Zaret!
- One of the great athletes in Michigan high school history is now one of its great MENTORS: our guest, THOMAS WILCHER.
- OUTRAGEOUS! How DARE Herbie claim Harbaugh doesn’t want to play Ohio State! But, uh, DOES he? Really?
- A Wednesday afternoon NFL game? The boys agree: an abomination in damn near every sense.
- And now COVID-19 begins another reign of sports terror: the NBA says 48 players just got it!
- So you think nothing excites curmudgeonly Bob? Just ask him about Michigan State basketball this year.
- Denny’s excited about his beloved Bears’ “Polish kid” versus the Lions, then gets the word: Trubisky is NOT Polish.
- Dennis Dale McLain — JEWISH?! Oy, who knew?! He’s FULL of surprises today:
- Teddy Ballgame once said WHAT to him? Denny in a fistfight with a teammate in the Tigers’ locker room?
- A 27-year-old former World Series hero is on the open market “CHEAP.” Should the Tigers grab him?
- Fred knows whom HE wants to see the Tigers sign. Bob AND Denny: “Fuhgettaboutit!”
- Those stories, YOUR mailbag segment and much more — right here!
Episode 197: Blind Faith: Do Long-Suffering Lions Fans Have a CHOICE?

Welcome to No Filter Sports Podcast with “The Original Three:” Eli Zaret, Denny McLain and Bob Page!
- As a young Johnny Carson asked on his 1950’s TV show every week: “Who Do You Trust?” SURELY not Sheila and Rod?!
- Whom WILL the duo hire as new Lions general manager? Former star wideout Herman Moore pounds the table for an ex-teammate.
- Too late to make our show taping today: Michigan football “paused” due to COVID-19! Frankly, it couldn’t have come at a better time.
- While Penn State provided the LATEST embarrassment for U-M, MSU is riding high — at least until (gulp!) the Bucks hit town this week.
- And Ohio State NEEDS to play this game in the midst of a veritable SEA of nationwide COVID cancellations.
- Golf wackos Eli and Denny, of COURSE, watched the Phil/Steph/Peyton/Barkley extravaganza, but non-wacko Bob has a question about Sir Charles.
- WHAT “wackos” watched Saturday night’s Mike Tyson-Roy Jones abomination? WE’VE got TWO of ’em right here on the show!
- Tom Izzo and Coach K ready to rumble again! IF MSU is as AWESOME as it was against Notre Dame Saturday who can beat them?
- The Pistons make an announcement that would have been UNTHINKABLE anywhere in sports just a few years ago.
- Eli fears his “This Day in Sports” is hitting a wall. Bob has YOUR mailbag — and we’ve got much more right here!
Episode 196: From Motown to NATIONAL NFL Expert!

A Pro Football Hall of Fame writer!
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain & Bob Page!
- COVID even postponing the SUPER BOWL? Maybe, says one of America’s top NFL writers, guest RICK GOSSELIN.
- (yawn) Another Thanksgiving, another TURKEY from the Lions. Even Sheila Hamp Ford looked bored to tears!
- Ford Field may have been empty but the Dallas Cowboys did allow fans for their game later. Why’s that?
- What’s more, how do the woeful Lions and suddenly woeful Cowboys keep being awarded such a big showcase?
- Eli a RACIST?! If so, you’d better add Bob and Denny to that list over the boys’ agreement on an overblown NFL event.
- COVID SO ravaging sports now that one prominent SEC team has been driven to TOTAL desperation this weekend.
- And the biggest story now that college BASKETBALL is underway is already which teams AREN’T playing.
- Wins for both U-M and MSU to kick off the schedule but Bob’s much more impressed with #1 Gonzaga.
- If COVID can’t do it, here’s an event that SHOULD be canceled: Saturday night’s Tyson-Jones “pillow fight!”
- The WORLD may mourn Maradona but our AMERICAN boys mourn Paul Hornung with LOTSA good yarns!
- Those stories, Eli’s “This Day in Sports,” Bob with YOUR mailbag and much more right here.
Episode 195: T Mills: A Life in Basketball

What a business!
It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Bob Page, Denny McLain and Lary Sorensen filling in for Eli!
- “A MICHIGAN MAN will coach a Michigan team!” Yet ONE Michigan team was NOT happy to hear that as we learn from our guest, former U-M star TERRY MILLS.
- Neither Denny nor Lary’s been with us since MLB got its first woman general manager. Denny claims there was another woman “G.M.” before her!
- A “snoozer” for the Lions in their latest humiliation? Bob took that term literally and now has sage advice for SOME FL’s fans who still could use it.
- Lions-Texans? Cowboys-Washington? Thanksgiving has TWO turkeys before a great match-up Thursday night. Will the Steelers run the table this year?
- An exciting, dramatic game! A triple-overtime WIN on the road! So, is it fair that so many Michigan football fans STILL seem so unhappy?
- U-M grad Lary says all those injuries were no excuse for nearly losing to bleeping RUTGERS. Bob: Rutgers’ doormat days are DONE.
- COVID cancellations still wreaking havoc across college football but is that what really caused Clemson’s game to be called off at the last moment?
- For most people, the disastrous year 2020 should have been called off. Yet even with these new vaccines, will 2021 be much different?
- And what a wild week it was in the NBA with a plethora of trades. Are the Pistons really any better after their huge roster makeover?
- We’ve got those stories, YOUR mailbag segment and much more — right here!