Playoffs

Episode 178: Welcome, Lary! THIS is How We Roll!

Lary Sorensen

Good luck?!

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

  • Ex-MLB and U-M pitcher Lary Sorensen will have a role in many of our future shows. Did HE get an earful today as the boys fuss and FEUD! 
  • First — a fiery exchange over new Lions’ boss Sheila Ford Hamp. As usual, it’s Eli and Denny vs. Bob with “let’s give her a chance!” vs. “what a joke!” 
  • Then later, a REALLY “fiery exchange” between Denny and Bob over baseball!
  • Denny also continues to insist the FL’s will NOT fire Matt Patricia this year. Eli: hold the phone on that one with an 0-4 start looming.
  • The legendary Gale Sayers passed away this week at 77. Was he the first great BLACK halfback ever?
  • Sayers was arguably THE greatest running back PERIOD. So, who was MLB’s greatest starting pitcher? Bob says only that nobody’s ever been BETTER than de Grom.
  • With the Tigers’ season essentially over for some time, what to do about Miggy SUDDENLY looking like MIGGY again? 
  • A listener wonders where on EARTH Denny got his “scoop” that the Tigers would name Lance Parrish to replace Gardy?
  • Get ready for a whopping 16 teams in the MLB playoffs — permanently — or even more! Ya like that idea?
  • Since Denny has ZERO interest in hockey, that must mean none of YOU cares about hockey — right? Bob still pays tribute to two famous Michigan hockey products.
  • Eli has “This Day in Sports History” then wages another battle with Bob over YOUR Mailbag. WHEW! What a DAY! Those stories and more right here. Be ready!

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 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 97: Will Jeff Bezos Buy the Lions?!

Jeff Bezos

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

  • Will Jeff Bezos buy the Lions?! https://www.si.com/nfl/lions/news/rumor-jeff-bezos-has-visited-detroit-twice-to-talk-about-buying-lions/Bob tells why that might NOT happen.
  • He’s the proud owner of a USFL championship ring AND played in TWO Super Bowls: Ray Bentley is with us today!
  • Ray’s Michigan Panthers lead into old USFL stories and the VERY famous owner not ALLOWED to buy an NFL team.
  • Other NFL stories? Is the “R word” now a firing offense? And what’s wrong with “white women?!”
  • One NFL NON-story? The FL’s lose their seventh straight. But why count — other than the days til Matt’s gone?
  • Oregon conquers Ann Arbor and Bob didn’t like what he saw in Saturday’s game, particularly from Juwan. 
  • Is ONE reason MSU has been so disappointing the personal tragedy of its star player?
  • The Army-Navy game under fire for a televised “white supremacy” sign from two cadets. Or WAS it that?
  • LSU QB Joe Burrow has won the Heisman, a trophy Eli disdains. He’ll tell you why.
  • He also RAVAGES what USED to be Sports Illustrated. Those stories, YOUR mailbag and much more right here!

Episode 87: A Stroll Down Memory Lane with Alan Trammell!

Alan Trammell at bat

Father time is undefeated.

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

  • New HOF member Alan Trammell does a GREAT job with the boys! His life in baseball, the ’84 Tigers, Magnum P.I.: It’s all here, folks.
  • The latest HOF candidates and state of the HOF? A wild melee suddenly breaks out with Eli and Denny dumping on Bob — who dumps right back!
  • Computer umpiring in MLB was also part of that. Denny sticks to his guns — just as he surely would have about horseless carriages in 1906.
  • Is there ANYTHING interesting about the FL’s vs da Bears? YES! For whom will Denny root Sunday? “We” or his own hometown team?
  • Michigan’s off Saturday but the focus does NOT turn to Michigan State. Even Spartan fans may bail on MSU-Illinois. Alabama v LSU is at the same time!
  • Bob strolls over to Madison Square Garden two nights in a row and isn’t happy with what he sees: MSU goes down and the Wings ARE down — horribly.
  • U-M basketball? ANOTHER near nightmare in Ann Arbor against those big meanies from Appalachian State! Juwan’s got a lot to learn.
  • You’ll hear about Denny’s fascinating old side gig on our mailbag segment AND about an UNUSUAL biz plan he and Jim Northrup once concocted!
  • Eli answers Bob’s bemused question: “What the HELL does a chicken sandwich have to do with SPORTS?!” 
    Those stories and much more right here!

Episode 26: Non-Calls are the Worst Calls

Michigan State runs into a buzz saw.

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

  • Michigan State’s out — but should Virginia be IN? 
  • The boys’ take on that big no-call — and other blown calls in sports history.
  • With the NCAA title game Monday, should Duke have even been in the tourney? 
  • What did Coach K know and when did he know it?
  • Or should Zion Williamson’s mother have been paid anyway? Should Zion?
  • A friend of Eli’s thinks he has a workable plan to settle the issue — and end all the alleged cheating in college basketball.
  • The Tigers are in first place! But they still have to pass “The Eli Zaret Litmus Test.” Bob explains.
  • The Pistons are hanging on to a playoff spot by a thread. Better off missing the postseason and getting into the lottery?
  • And who was better, Aaron — or Willie Mays, the man Denny burned in the 1966 All Star Game?
  • Those stories and much more right here!