Michael Jordan

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 162: Former Pistons Star Makes REAL Good!

John Mengelt in Pistons uniform

I don’t want anybody to know what I’m doing!

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

  • “How to Succeed in Business WITH Really Trying?” What a life ex-Pistons star JOHN MENGELT has had! “Crash” joins the boys.
  • Eli comes up with an interesting stat: as of Thursday we were already 1/10th through the MLB season!
  • Fantastic start for the Tigers’ Jacoby Jones. Will he someday become a big star? Eli: Maybe  Denny: NO!  Bob: YES!
  • Miguel Cabrera is slow. Uh, HOW slow IS he? Pathetically slow - and perhaps washed up too!
  • Joe Kelly of the Dodgers was slapped with an eight-game suspension after headhunting the Astros. Fair?
  • Oh. You haven’t been watching MLB games? Had enough of COVID issues, eh? Don’t worry. It’s all FAKE — says one NBA player.
  • Racism, real or not, is cutting a swath through the U.S. Will one of the Big Ten’s best-known coaches be a victim?
  • MANY alleged victims file a lawsuit charging that Bo Schembechler WAS guilty in the U-M sex abuse scandal.
  • Those stories, Eli has “This Day in Sports History,” Bob has YOUR mailbag segment and much more right here!

Episode 154: GREAT boxer. Greater GENTLEMAN!

Boxer Hilmer Kenty

Detroit’s first champion since Joe Louis.

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

  • Ex-world champ HILMER KENTY joins us to discuss his career, Emanuel Steward, the Kronk, the current state of boxing and more!
  • A big 50th anniversary this week for Denny AND for Bob who reminisce about the night he came back from his MLB suspension.
  • And just to set the record straight, Mr. Giacalone, what did you DO to poor Denny to help end his career? Oh? REALLY?!
  • The Tigers have done WHAT? PARTNERED with a gambling sports book?! Denny: “I was SUSPENDED for doing the same thing!”  
  • Baseball, uh, “spring training” has resumed, but Eli says we STILL don’t know what the season sked looks like.
  • P.C. Madness: we now learn from The Lunatics that “Honest Abe” apparently WASN’T so “honest.” HIS statue must go too!
  • Tag! YER it — or maybe yer NOT! Conflicting COVID tests all over now allow one PGA tour player into this week’s Detroit stop.
  • Ya say it doesn’t matter? Ya say prep superstar Emoni Bates won’t ever actually PLAY for MSU? Bob explains why it DOES matter.
  • Our Detroit radio affiliate WDFN is gone, suddenly changed to another format. Denny and Bob: sorry to hear it. Eli: SCREW radio!
  • Mr. Z also has This Day in Sports and a SHOCKING statement about YOUR weekly mailbag segment. It’s all 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 146: Campy Russell: An American Success Story

Campy Russell

What a career!

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

  • The boys welcome ex-Michigan and NBA star CAMPY RUSSELL to the show, who says the NBA’S “show” MUST go on!
  • As if COVID-19 weren’t enough of an issue, society’s racial unrest is suddenly tearing apart the sports world.
  • The controversy’s also caused a long-time NBA announcer to lose his job while one NFL coach is trying to hang on to HIS.
  • And will a Florida State football star lose his spot on the team after publicly calling his head coach a — WHAT?!
  • The MLB season is in serious jeopardy over the usual millionaires vs billionaires squabble. DENNY sets a deadline!
  • The NBA and the NHL WILL return — but at this point, how many people even care anymore?
  • And how many brave souls would turn out in the brutal South Florida summer to watch Major League SOCCER?
  • Eli talks with former guest, attorney DAN WALLACH, then says Duke’s Zion scandal will NOT be a big problem. Bob’s not sure!
  • Denny asks why it seems like SO many sports figures are now dying.  Wes Unseld, Pat Dye and Johnny Majors just this week.
  • Lenny Dykstra has lost a defamation lawsuit against an ex-Mets teammate. Why? TRY to stifle your laughter.
  • And YOUR mailbag segment NOW has nearly sent Eli into apoplexy. Those stories 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!

Episode 142: BROOKIE’S Got a LOT to Say!

Tom Brookens

One of the great guys in baseball.

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

  • Small-town boy goes to Chicago — and steps right into Disco Demolition Night! Welcome to MLB, guest TOM BROOKENS! 
  • Eli jumps all over ESPN for televising Korean baseball and — huh? A CORNHOLE TOURNAMENT?!
  • “Now tell me to what room I go to get my reputation back!” The lawsuit against MSU’s Mark Dantonio & others DISMISSED!
  • There’s news out this week on college football recruiting. Michigan fans won’t like it either.  
  • Mike Trout’s rookie card just sold for $900,000! Denny says baseball cards are BACK — they MUST be!   
  • Eli and Denny tell stories of Mantle and Pepitone and why it’s JOE’S pic hanging in The Denny Den, NOT Mickey’s.
  • IF the NFL plays this season, one equipment manufacturer thinks it has a great idea for player safety.
  • Meanwhile, an NFL player is suing over sexual assault. What could a WOMAN have DONE to the macho man?
  • Sad news for we of the Baby Boom Generation? Eli: YES! Bob: NO! EDDIE HASKELL was a two-faced jerk!
  • •Those stories, Eli and Denny KILL the weekend Tiger/Phil foursome, YOUR mailbag and much more right here!

Episode 141: Jimmy Carson: NHL Star to Business Star!

Jimmy Carson playing hockey

“I get to help a lot of families.”

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

  • “Sorry, we just traded you — for Wayne Gretzky!” JIMMY CARSON, the only OTHER teen to score 50 in one season, is our guest! 
  • So Denny, tell us about, ya know, that OTHER time you were almost arrested — and you had your LIFE threatened?
  • It was a VERY busy weekend for Eli. His beloved golf is back — well, kinda — AND he broke a Michigan law!
  • But Eli’s on edge. So are a LOT of people in Michigan self-quarantining. Now the FAMILY DOG seems to be on edge too!
  • What’s MLB gonna do now? We’re all waiting, while a big college baseball program falls victim to COVID-19.
  • If MLB does play this year, we know who its highest-paid player will be. Trout? Max? JV? NO! Wait’ll you hear.
  • And whither college football? Bob has the SECOND-worst scenario next to NO game: U-M v MSU a controlled scrimmage!
  • The once-beautiful Phyllis George has passed away. Eli and Denny lament but BOB points a finger!
  • Denny STONED for the first time ever? He STILL thinks the Packers will trade Aaron Rodgers to his treasured Bears.
  • And what kind of show would this be if we didn’t run down the NFL’s weekend rap sheet for you?
  • Those stories, YOUR mailbag featuring a certain ex-organ player warbling plus much more right here!

Episode 140: The Greatest Legend in MLB HISTORY?!

Jim Abbott

The No-Hitter in Yankee Stadium was really special.

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

  • How did JIM ABBOTT do it?! Born without a right hand - yet became a star pitcher at U-M AND in MLB?! Jim joins the boys!
  • Sports are slowly coming back — but maybe not MLB. WAAYYY too many money issues, as we’ve reported previously.
  • So that begs the question: do people NEED sports or do MORE people HATE sports? Eli has some passionate thoughts on that.
  • But there’s plenty to do and watch without sports — as Denny found out during an impromptu stroll down Memory Lane!  
  • What about the NFL? Bob details a LOT of issues that may keep IT from opening too. No more TAILGATING?!
  • Not guilty! A judge has dismissed the charges from the Nassar Nightmare against former MSU President Lou Anna Simon.
  • Meanwhile, there’s surprising news about former Spartan star linebacker, the late Mike Labinjo.
  • Ohio State and Michigan SCARED of a football rival? MSU, Penn St and Wisconsin too? Not YET, at least, but maybe soon?
  • Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland (mercifully?) blown out of the Monday Night Football broadcast booth. NOW what?
  • Our producer Brand McAfee makes a SHOCKING confession about his childhood — and STILL can’t let go of it! 
  • YOUR Mailbag may now have a theme song! You, uh, might NOT want to hear it as warbled by DENNY McLAIN, though. 
  • Those stories and much more right here!

Episode 138: NOLAN and FRANK — Oh, MY!!!

Collage of Frank Tanana baseball cards

The best 1-2 punch since Spahn and Sain and pray for rain.

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

  • From booze and broads in L.A. to “rebirth” in his hometown, Detroit’s own FRANK TANANA is our guest!
  • As they used to say: VCR ALERT!!! A THREE-HOUR TV special JUST on the new NFL sked! (Yippee)
  • There ARE certain pro sports underway in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Desperate enough yet to watch them?
  • Michigan and Michigan State football: Who needs EITHER? — as one famous coach seems to be implying.
  • Eli has more on the sex abuse scandal at U-M. A listener asks, “How is a ‘retired’ sports reporter scooping the CURRENT media?!”
  • Pete Rose selfish and reckless for still signing at sport shows? Bob says “B.S.!” Pete corked his bats? DENNY says “BFD!”
  • Eli has a confession: he actually listens to local sports radio “guy-talk!” But he still makes fun of it.
  • NBA issues: WHEN it returns there may be a big drop-off in play AND is K.D. still paid $$$$ if his Nets are not ALLOWED to play?
  • Will ESPN’s “Last Dance” NEVER end?! NOW we go from EVERYONE hating on Isiah to Sir Charles and M.J. hating on each other.
  • Bob details how and why Giants quarterback Phil Simms said an emphatic “NO!” to playing golf with Michael.
  • Eli said “YES!” to HIS golf game with comedian Tim Allen. THOSE stories, YOUR mailbag and much more right here!