Michael Curry As Head Coach Of The Pistons Continues To Concern Me

I’ve always admired Michael Curry because he came up the hard way to turn himself into a solid NBA player for a number of years with a few different teams. I think Curry is a good man, and one way or another he was going to be a head coach in the league (whether it was sooner or later). As it turns out, thanks to Pistons’ president Joe Dumars, it was sooner rather than later as Curry is now the head coach of the Pistons. But, I fear that it has been too much too soon for Curry who may be in just a little over his head right now as head coach of the Pistons. This Pistons are still a veteran team and needs an experienced guy on the bench leading the team and making the tough decisions that have to be made (like the one Curry was confronted with when he had to decide who to bring off the bench between Allen Iverson and Richard “Rip” Hamilton). I’m not sure Curry is maximizing this team the way we saw kicked-to-the-curb coaches like Larry Brown do for years. I think it would have been wiser to bring Curry along a little faster and wait until he had a little more seasoning and the team was truly committed to developing young guys likeRodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Amir Johnson, Jason Maxiell and others. That would have perahps been the right time to bring in Stuckey. Time will tell if Curry is a good or great coach, but right now it has been an early struggle for him. I hope he does well, but there are obviously going to be some growing pains while he makes the adjustment to coaching professional basketball at the NBA level with a team that was expected to worry teams at the top of the Eastern Conference and over in the Western Conference. Let us hope Curry’s on-the-job training progresses.

Glenn Beck Proves To Be Poorly Researched (In Addition To Bigoted As Always) At Fox News

Apparently the newest addition to the Fox News roster of “talent” either has not had his Internet access approved or is struggling to do a simple Google search. Glenn Beck, a known bigot, has had a fit because President Barack Obama’s second swearing in took place without a Bible. Beck then threw a tantrum as he insisted it was unprecedented for a president to be sworn in without a Bible. According to Beck, it simply has never been done before. As is far too often the case, Beck again proves poorly researched and just flat-out wrong. In fact, a simply Google search will reveal that Theodore Roosevelt was not sworn in with the Bible in 1901 when he took the oath. Beck may be a right winger, but clearly he is not right.

Brave New Films:
http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/?p=68534

WXYT VS. WDFN Was An Intriguing Battle For Top Sports Talk Radio Slot In Detroit

For many people in Detroit, in terms of fans of sports talk radio, you’re either fans of WDFN or you’re fans of WXYT. I, of course, bucked that trend and tended to listen to a little of both. I switched back and forth depending on the topic. I tended to listen to Doug Karsch and Scott Anderson more on WXYT than Sean Baligian on WDFN. But, there were times I preferred Sean over Karsch and Anderson. Again, a lot of times it only depended on the topics being discussed. In the afternoon, I tended to run more with Stoney and Wojo (Mike Stone and Bob Wojnowski) over (Mike) Valenti and (Terry) Foster. Stoney and Wojo is an institution and is mostly peerless. All things being equal, it was just a better show than Valenti and Foster (who later were aided in the ratings, I would assume, by a switch to a much, MUCH strongerFM signal). Why do I write this? I read this blog from Terry Foster (who also is a columnist and blogger for the Detroit News):

I work for the competition, but there is still no reason for me to celebrate the demise of WDFN 1130. Less competition means fewer voices for the sports fans of Detroit.

In addition to my duties with The Detroit News, I also work for 97.1 FM The Ticket, doing the afternoon drive-time shift with my partner, Mike Valenti. Our station has been locked in combat with WDFN for years. We won, but I do not celebrate today.

The loss of WDFN means more people are out of jobs in this rough economy. Maybe they’ll find other gigs here. Maybe they’ll move and try to find jobs in other cities. The problem is, there are more companies in radio laying off than hiring. Newspapers are changing every day. Radio is, as well.

This is, of course, an excerpt of what Foster wrote. And, to be fair, Terry was mostly kind to WDFN (his now former competition). But, I am not sure I would agree WXYT “won” against WDFN in the sense that WXYT had a better product (some of the shows were better on one station and some were better on the other). WXYT does not have a show that measures up to Stoney and Wojo … it just doesn’t. If WXYT was smart, it would figure out some way to get Stoney and Wojo in there or some other radio station will to put up the bucks could hit the jackpot with this duo.

Terry Foster’s blog:
http://forums.detnews.com/redesign/blogs/terryfosterblog/index.cfm