Wings, Red

In Walt Whitman’s ‘O Captain! My Captain!’, the fictional crew weathered the battle, and are mourning their captain who is lying dead on the ship. In the Red Wings scenario, we’re in the middle of the battle, with soldiers dying all around us, and our captain is attempting to abandon ship.

However, justice was enacted.

Reports have it that Larkin will attend training camp, but is no longer team captain. I had more conflicting feelings than I was expecting on this matter.

Look, he needed to be ousted as captain. I’m not mad at that. If you ‘lead’ the team and are now in the process of requesting a trade while your team is falling apart, you deserve to have that C stripped from your chest. 

Now, bias aside, Larkin is a good center. I’ve heard people say he is a first line caliber center, and I’ve heard people say he isn’t a first line caliber center. My opinion on the matter is that he absolutely has the talent to be a first line center, but I’m not sure his heart is in it anymore. And if a guy’s heart isn’t in it, then his skates don’t move as sharp. 

So, if our goal is to make the playoffs (which it should be), then it makes sense to have Larkin stick around. Whether or not you’re a fan of him, you can’t argue that our team is more competitive with Larks on the roster.

I’m a fan of us trying to make the playoffs, I’m a fan of Larkin being stripped of the C, but there’s something that still doesn’t sit right with me about the whole situation. 

There’s something melancholic about seeing Larkin without that C. It feels like an era is coming to an end. Which is good, that was a bad era of Wings hockey, but I can’t deny that I was a huge fan of Larkin. I loved watching him play and captain my team, and although it’s looking like he’ll stay a Wing, it’s going to be a different deal now. Did the Wings fail Larkin? Did Larkin fail the Wings? Who’s to say. But it does make me a little sad seeing the rift between Larks and Hockeytown. 

“Exult O shores and ring O bells! But I with mournful tread, walk the deck my Captain lies, fallen cold and dead.”

Los Lions

Week 1 is almost upon us, with only a few more days until we hear the sweet serenade of Scott Hanson’s voice on Sunday morning. The Lions are slated to face the Saints this next Sunday at 1pm to open things up at Ford Field. I gotta admit, I’m a little more weary of this than some other people, and although I think we get the win, it could be a lot different than what we’re expecting.

The Saints ended up going 6-11 last year under the first year of the Kellen Moore regime. Despite last place in the division, they still ended the season on a high note with rookie QB Tyler Shough standing out as a great young gun in the league. The Saints added Jordan Tyson at receiver in the draft, and look to be a scary group headed into the 2026 season.

I think it’ll take Shough a minute to get warmed up. My predication is that we blitz them in the first quarter, and then it’ll be a three point game by halftime. I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re down. I think we’re going to win, but it might turn into a shootout if the defense is as bad as I think.

I have low expectations for the defense in this one. In theory, it’s an inexperienced offense full of young guns who in theory are talented but haven’t had a ton of time in the spotlight. In other words, it should go our way. But knowing the lions, and given the circumstances, I’m just not sure. I have confidence in Sheppard to lead his flock, but I think we all forget how grim it got last year. My prediction is that we’ll be mediocre at best.

Offensively I think we’ll be good, not great. I’m not saying the offense won’t be great in the season, but it’s gonna take Petzing a few games to work out the kinks. One thing that killed us last year with Morton is that he made the exact same mistakes each game. We turned into an extremely predictive offense. Run up the middle, run up the middle, screen pass for a loss of two yards, then punt. That’s the summary of 99% of John Morton led drives last year.

If Petzing is to stay, and if he is the answer to some problems, then he has to learn how to adapt. Sometimes the egos on these guys lead to their downfall, their inability to show everyone they might be wrong. Maybe I’m just an English major, but Petzing has to learn to adapt with this offense.

Let’s just not let this be a Michigan – Western Michigan game. Please.

Motor City Kitties

When someone is forced to watch the 2026 Detroit Tigers bullpen try and hang onto a lead in the 7th, one can’t help but wonder if Billie Joe Armstrong was referring to the Tigers when he wrote “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Because that’s how I feel now. Just give me the playoffs. Let me stop watching this stupid team. 

But one thing I can’t help thinking about every time this squad takes the field is how good we’re going to be next year, or the next time baseball is played. Who is at the heart of that belief? None other than Kevin McGonigle. The guy is historically good, and is top 10 in WAR currently in the league. But the Rookie of the Year race is coming down to it. I think Kev is going to win, but it’s definitely going to be competitive. Here are all of The Professor’s threats to his RotY award.

Payton Tolle

I really like Payton Tolle. He’s funny, has a caterpillar mustache, and he rakes for the Red Sox on the mound. Payton is 6’6 and 250 pounds of pure power. His .199 opponent batting average ranks in the top 9% of the MLB, and he’s only a rookie. He’s got a hell of a fastball, and is one of the main reasons why the Red Sox rotation is still standing after all of those injuries. Sure, Sonny Gray might be having his best season since he almost won the Cy Young in Minnesota, but Tolle provides depth to a rotation that will probably be making a run this postseason. I don’t like the Red Sox, but I love Payton Tolle.

Munetaka Murakami

You’ve probably heard of the Southside Samurai before. When the White Sox signed Murakami, a 26 year old Japanese slugger who had never seen a wink of American baseball, to a two year deal that may have been a little overpriced this summer, most rolled their eyes. The White Sox were comically bad the last few years, but Murakami and others have turned that around. 

Obviously I’d love for the Tigers to win the central one of these years, but the White Sox are a great story in baseball. Things are better when the White Sox are good. Anyways, Murakami’s big push for RotY is his whopping 29 homers for the Sox. His .213 batting average could be better, along with his 157 strikeouts, but you’ve gotta give him a little more time to adjust to this brand of baseball. He’s gonna get his stuff in order. He’s got a good eye. He’s doing great for his first year, but he’s not the biggest threat to McGonigle.

Parker Messick 

I don’t hate a lot of things. I may dislike something, and really not have a super warm feeling towards it, but deep down, in my heart of hearts, I don’t hate it. Dislike, sure. But not hate.

With that being said, I absolutely hate the Cleveland Guardians. But I have to give credit where credit is due. The Guardians were expected to not be very good this year (where have we heard that before), but in came their shiny new toy in Parker Messick to pick up the slack. 

Messick has been unreal this year. He’s probably a top 3-5 pitcher in the American League, head of one of the better rotations in the league, and shoves on the mound. 11 wins, a 2.46 ERA, and 161 strikeouts make him the biggest threat to Magoo for the Rookie of the Year. His fastball isn’t the fastest, but it’s one of the best in the MLB. He might be the best pitcher in the Central this year. I don’t think he’ll overtake Kev, but he’s going to be a thorn in our side for a while.

I’m still giving it to Kev. It might be close, but nobody has the impact, toolset, and heart of Kevin McGonigle.

The ‘Stons

Okay, at this point, I don’t know what’s going on anymore. I’m waving the white flag with the Duren situation. Why the heck hasn’t he signed an extension yet.

The fact is, his poor playoff performance probably cost him a few million dollars, and I don’t think he wants to believe that narrative. Look, if he was good in the playoffs, we wouldn’t be having this conversation in the first place. We would have beat the Cavs, probably lost to the Knicks, and signed him to a supermax. But when he’s bad in the playoffs, you obviously don’t want to give him the most amount of money possible, because he’s no longer worth it. 

If you’re building a team to compete in this NBA landscape, playoff performance is probably the most important variable to consider. In Duren’s eyes, he’s an all-star center who made the all-nba third team at 22 years old. That in itself is a huge accomplishment. 99.9999% of NBA players don’t make an all-star team, let alone an all-nba team (don’t check my math please). But the fact that he turned into a pumpkin come playoff time cost him.

We are in the underlined timeline. Is Duren a good player? Yes. Is Duren a key part to this team? Yes. Is Duren worth a lot of money? Yes! But not a supermax! And the way this has played out confirms the Pistons know all of these things. Now there’s talks of a sign and trade with the Kings, and Sabonis on his way, and all this change, and that is what I’m not a fan of.

Duren, as stated above, is a key part to this team. He is a large part of why we were number one in the east last year. We need to keep him. I’m a firm believer in Duren staying with the team, but I’m starting to get frustrated and worried that it’s taking this long. We traded Beef Stew with the intent that Duren was going to stay. If he goes, and we don’t get a starting center, we’re in massive trouble.

Keep Duren. Figure it out.