Kirk Gibson

Episode 174: Doug English: a True LION on the Field

Doug English

One of the league’s true warriors.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • He didn’t win a Super Bowl. No Detroit Lion ever has (or will?), but guest DOUG ENGLISH remains one of the most popular players in team history.
  • It’s opening week in the NFL. Coaches upset over no fans at their home games, the threat of BLM and National Anthem protests. What a kerfuffle already!
  • Oh, and Bob wonders what the league will do if/WHEN a player tests positive for COVID-19. Would they panic and cancel a game on a Sunday morning?!
  • Few teams have the long tradition of the Detroit Tigers. So when they set a new low for futility at Milwaukee THAT was really saying something!
  • Now what to do with struggling Matthew Boyd? Denny: TRADE HIM. But why wouldn’t the Tigers call Denny —  or Lolich or Tanana — to at least pick their brains?
  • Eli says the quality of the NBA Playoffs has been stellar, but Bob is among the pissed-off millions who haven’t watched a single game yet.
  • As if the NBA needed MORE controversy, the Stephen A. Smiths of the world cry (surprise!) “WHITE PRIVILEGE” over Steve Nash’s hiring.
  • The NHL Playoffs have been excellent too — for those few outside Dallas and Las Vegas who find the Stars vs the Knights in summertime compelling.
  • Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob’s got YOUR mailbag segment — and much more right here!

Episode 172: Shep: LIVIN’ THE DREAM!

Matt Shepard

It’s a blast…every single day.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • So how do you get to be an MLB play-by-play announcer? Guest MATT SHEPARD had a VERY unusual path to the Tigers!
  • The sports world mourns the death of one of the greatest pitchers ever. The boys reminisce on Tom Terrific.
  • The Tigers’ win streak ended at six. With five games against the Twins now on tap, is this the season’s telling point?
  • Looks like Eli’s suddenly started to watch the NBA playoffs. He did NOT like what he saw from one game in particular.
  • Bob on the NHL Playoffs: Is the great Zdeno Chara finally finished at 43 — or just finished in Boston?
  • Get ready, gamblers! Denny has his pick on Saturday’s Kentucky Derby for you — NOT! 
  • Legal sports gambling rages on. Denny updates us on what the Cubs are doing — and WHAT’S that about MJ?!
  • Big Ten(14!) football after all? President Trump will want to take credit IF that occurs — but would he deserve to?
  • MSU’s Kirk Cousins raked over the coals by the media for his ideas about COVID-19! Denny and Eli to the rescue.
  • How much would YOU pay for a presence at FL’s games? “ZERO?” Producer Brandon McAfee sez $100 but he does have limits.
  • Eli with “This Day in Sports History,” Bob’s got YOUR mailbag segment and much more right here!

Episode 166: DICKIE V is BACK, Baybee: a TRUE “PTP-ah!”

Dick Vitale

Big fella, give us some hope!

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • DICK VITALE joins the boys again for A LOTTA laughs and memories. The REASON he’s back couldn’t be more serious.
  • As expected, The Big Ten (14!) has canceled its upcoming football season. Perhaps UNexpected? HUGE pushback!
  • U-M football star, NFL Pro Bowler, Hollywood actor! Now the amazing life of Dwight Hicks takes a different turn.
  • The Tigers are in playoff contention, or at least WERE before a spate of injuries. Is it time NOW to call up the kids?
  • Tigers pitcher Michael Fulmer has a strange match-up in the White Sox’ lineup. Think Denny versus Bill Freehan!
  • Astros hitting coach Alex Cintrón suspended twenty games(!) for his role in a big brawl. What did he say that was so BAD?
  • A SIX-HOUR NHL playoff game with a goalie making HOW MANY saves?! Tampa eventually beat Columbus.
  • But the NY Rangers had a much bigger win: the Alexis Lafrenière sweepstakes. OUTRAGE in hockey circles follows!
  • Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob’s got YOUR mailbag — and we’ve got much more right here!

Episode 165: Tigers Fan Fave Steve Kemp: What MIGHT Have Been.

Steve Kemp at bat

I was confident, but I wasn’t arrogant.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • Just ONE hit away from Cooperstown? Maybe. One ACCIDENTAL “hit” in the EYE! STEVE KEMP joins the boys.
  • The Tigers were rolling after a sweep of the Pirates — despite the struggling Matt Boyd. Denny breaks down his problems.
  • Did MLB even consider this: can a team still go the playoffs if COVID-19 cancels a BIG part of its short season?
  • By the time you hear this show, college football may be canceled — at least until next spring
  • And programs will be so cash-strapped they’re now begging season ticket holders to donate anyway.
  • Another week, another big-time recruit escapes from right under Jim Harbaugh’s nose.
  • NOW Jimmy’s also upset his top rival who vows ugly REVENGE whenever Michigan and Ohio State do play!
  • Collin Morikawa wins the PGA Championship at 23 and the golf world has its LATEST “New Tiger!” But Bob has a reminder.
  • Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob’s got YOUR Mailbag and — dig THIS: Denny invites ALL OF YOU over to his house!
  • Those stories and much more coming up right here!

Episode 158: SUPER-Sub Johnny Grubb!

Johnny Grubb batting

Everybody understood what our roles were.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • 1984 Tigers hero JOHNNY GRUBB joins the boys on his long MLB career, playing for Sparky AND Duke Snider — and more!
  • What’s NEXT in this wacko P.C. world? One of the great powers in college basketball forced to change ITS nickname too?!
  • Chase Elliott has won the NASCAR All-Star Race before 20,000 REAL fans! Bob asks why the major sports can’t have fans too?
  • Would it help your enjoyment if ALL sports teams used fake crowd noise and fan cut-out figures in the seats? You GOT it!  
  • Is playing on the PGA Tour without fans EASIER? Denny says NO. Everybody in golf seems to say YES!
  • Excited about phenom Casey Mize pitching for Detroit this year? Denny sees a BIG potential problem for him already!
  • The NBA’s “Bubble” apparently has a big hole in it now — but only if you’re a hot 20-something young woman.
  • Eli has This Day in Sports which includes one of the worst collisions ever seen in baseball.
  • Those stories, You-Know-Who on the Hammond Organ in YOUR mailbag segment and much more right here!

Episode 155: Dead Milkmen? Tinfoil WHAT? Ask Scott Lusader!

Scott Lusader at bat

He was a different cat, that’s for sure.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • What a pair Jim Walewander and SCOTT LUSADER made as young Detroit Tigers! Scott joins us with HIS Baseball Journey.
  • Bryson DeChambeau bullied the Detroit Golf Club AND his fellow pros over the weekend. Will he change golf itself?
  • The Indians and Redskins are considering changing their names with the P.C. mob all over them. The boys take it on.
  • Now Florida’s “Gator Bait” cheer has been banned as “racist!” Seriously.
  • Yes, Black Lives DO Matter! But to whom? And now Bob’s predictions about white racists pushing back is coming true.
  • Are sports REALLY going to resume with so many MLB, NBA and NHL players dropping out over COVID fears?
  • “YAY! I’m the biggest, most disgusting SLOB in the entire world!” Did ya catch my act on ESPN?
  • Eli caught something else on the all-sports network: a concert by the Eagles! THIS is what sports programming’s come to?!
  • Mr. Z has This Day in Sports, Bob reports what YOU have to say in the mailbag segment and much more!
  • Oh, and be SURE to tune in next show too - tell all yer pals! - when MSU basketball coach TOM IZZO will be with us.

Episode 153: NFL MUST Go On — but with Eric Hipple’s Solution?

Eric Hipple in Lions uniform holding a football

I’m going to be controversial. Quarantine and isolate. You don’t have to see your family during the season.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • QB ERIC HIPPLE had it bad enough just PLAYING for the Lions, but what he suffered after was MUCH worse. Eric guests!
  • Eli and Denny spent their weekends watching - what else? - GOLF. They seem okay with its current state. Bob’s NOT.
  • The NBA playing in empty arenas and now with P.C. social messages on the backs of unis?! Had enough of pro basketball yet?
  • The FANS, the FANS! Bob says there are no sports and no sports media without YOU — so why play ANY games this year?
  • Even as Bill Belichick pays up for cheating — AGAIN — he brilliantly delivers what COULD be a big blow to other teams.
  • What does M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E spell? “THE NHL!” The league’s idiotic draft set-up screws the Red Wings.
  • Johnny Manziel has put football behind him: “I just want to be happy for the rest of my life.” WE have a suggestion!
  • More CRAZINESS everywhere. Kansas State’s football team boycotts; says THEY will control who’s enrolled at the university.
  • Statues being illegally torn down or replaced. How far will it go? Two American ICONS may be next — for very different reasons.
  • Eli provides “This Day in Sports History,” Bob rolls out YOUR Mailbag and much more — right here!

Episode 148: How on EARTH Did Polo Do It?!

Dennis Polonich playing hockey for Detroit Red Wings

He had a huge heart.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • Was he, pound for pound, the best fighter in NHL history? Ex-Red Wings fan fave DENNIS POLONICH joins the boys!
  • Eli fesses up: as a New Yawk guy, he LIKES hockey but just didn’t grow up with it. He likes most hockey players even more. 
  • The Tigers take slugger Spencer Torkelson #1 overall in the MLB draft. Bob cautions about getting TOO geeked.
  • Commissioner Rob Manfred: baseball WILL be back in 2020. Where he got THAT info, who knows? But Denny agrees.
  • NBA players are beginning to balk about resuming their season in Orlando with no family, no friends allowed to visit.
  • NASCAR has made the decision to ban Confederate flags at race events. But how will they enforce it?!
  • Allen Iverson just turned 45 this week and you can always count on Eli for some GREAT stories about A.I.
  • The PGA Tour is BACK! No fans, of course — and already some of golf’s biggest names are complaining about that.
  • Those stories, YOUR weekly Mailbag and much more right here!

Episode 147: He’s Multitalented and Multifaceted! He’s John Smoltz!

John Smoltz

Maybe I would have been the next Lawrence Welk. Who knows?

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • Ah, what might have been for JOHN SMOLTZ and the Tigers! The MLB Hall of Famer from Lansing is our guest!
  • Smoltzie just wants to be doing TV baseball again, but politics and demonstrations have taken over the sports world instead.
  • Will the NFL now let its players stage protests during the national anthem?! Bob wonders where THAT might lead.
  • For all you Caucasians, are YOU now “embarrassed to be a white person?” Don’t laugh! An NBA coaching star says HE is!
  • During a demonstration, what would happen if you caught a punk destroying your car? Well, YOU might be arrested!
  • Producer Brandon McAfee and the boys take a vote: would they watch a big game with no fans to cheer?
  • Ultimate Fighting Champ Conor McGregor retires — again. Eli and Denny yawn: “he’ll be back.”
  • Golf IS back and now you can even use a special cart with a partner (GASP!) — if you’re really THAT worried about COVID-19.
  • Wimbledon? Canceled! The U.S. Open? Probably not, but would it be worth watching without “The Big Three?”
  • Those stories, a listener wants to ask Denny’s questions FOR him on YOUR mailbag segment and much more — right here!

Episode 145: The Remarkable Life of Trixie!

Dick Tracewski in a Tigers uniform

He wore the Tigers uniform fo 28 years…more than anyone in team history.

It’s the latest No Filter Sports Podcast with Eli Zaret, Denny McLain, and Bob Page!

  • The man who wore a Tigers uni longer than any? DICK TRACEWSKI — also Koufax’s roommate in L.A. — is our guest!
  • What NOW for MLB? Well, the post-season’s probably gonna be FRIGID! IF they DO play.
  • Minor League Baseball in a HEAP of trouble but one Florida club has a unique way of making money now anyway!
  • The NBA and NHL resuming? Eli asks how many even care about sports anymore, especially with all the trouble in the U.S.  
  • COVID-19 talk is everywhere and one of the NHL’s top young star’s career may be in jeopardy due to the pandemic.
  • No caddies allowed on the LPGA? MLS at war over when and if it can start playing soccer again? Yet the coast MAY be nearly clear.
  • For instance, Korean MLB could serve as a model for baseball to return. It’s had no outbreaks since resuming play.
  • LOOK! Denny is now ready for 1967 to begin — JUST in time for 2020 as he asks Eli for advice about (GASP!) marijuana!  
  • Detroiter Brad Keselowski has won his second straight NASCAR race. Denny recalls interviewing him when Brad was THREE!
  • How do you go through $44 million and wind up broke? Ask baseball’s Esteban Loaiza AND Mike Tyson among others!
  • Watching the Lance Armstrong doc on ESPN these days? Bob: He’s a lying SOB. NO! Eli to Bob: Aren’t you being a hypocrite?
  • A silly fan’s suggestion in YOUR Mailbag to (GULP!) get rid of BOB and hire — SERIOUSLY?!  Those stories and more right here!