Cuttin' Time, College Week 1, & Larkin's Contract

Welcome to Detroit!

Where our slides hit harder than our linebackers.

REMINDER!

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So far the rewards are a GordieBarry sticker for your Nalgene bottle (throwback), a GordieBarry smokin' a stogey hat and finally, Detroit sports tickets of your choice (limited availability).

Yup, free tickets. Fall is coming so refer anyone with a pulse to earn cool stuff.

Forward.

The cuts are in!

By 4pm Tuesday, all NFL teams needed to trim their roster from ~80 to 53.

"You have no idea the physical emotional toll, that three vasectomies 27 roster cuts have on a person!"

Here are the notable cuts:

• WR Kalil Pimpleton

• TE Devin Funchess

• LB Jarrad Davis

• QB Tim Boyle

• OL Obinna Eze

• WR Tim Kennedy

• BREAKING: QB David Blough also cut.

Yes, pre-season warrior Tim Kennedy and Hard Knocks Hero Obinna Eze have both been put out to pasture. Moment of silence.

David Blough, despite his game-losing-pre-season-week-one-fumble, made the cut over Tim Boyle (TB12), but then was cut Wednesday morning. The Lions are expected to sign QB Nick Sudfeld from San Fran.

In addition, the Lions played their final pre-season game against the Steelers. Pretty big snooze fest.

Hard Knocks Episode Four Takeaways:

• It was pretty interesting to watch Campbell, Holmes and the coaching staff sit together and discuss the final cuts of the team

• That said, they didn't actually show the cuts on this episode. They teased it for next week

• Major focus was put on Blough, Reynolds and Pimpleton this episode

• Pimpleton's end zone drop as time expired in the second quarter was pretty heartbreaking, and was most likely the final dagger for him not making the roster

• Reynolds gets Icy Hot on his balls

Tigers Continue To March To Drum Of Mediocrity

I guess that headline is pretty harsh given the .500 week the boys had, but after a year where they currently sit 29 games under that same mark, fired their GM, and have dealt with personal issues and a laundry list of injuries, it's hard not to be frustrated.

The highlight of the week was the series win versus the almost-but-not-quite-as-bad Texas Rangers (58-70). The bats came alive. Detroit scored 6, 11, and 9 runs, respectively, off Ranger pitching over the three-game series in Arlington.

Saturday marked the first time the Tigers broke double digit runs since July 25th, snapping a streak of 29 straight with 9 runs or less (Via Freep).

Then, on Sunday, the Tigers jumped out to a 9-0 lead, which marked the first time the team scored six or more runs in four consecutive games. The proceeded to give 2 in the 6th, 3 in the 8th, and 3 more in the 9th, before Big Joe came in and closed the door for the save and series win.

Trouble In Paradise?

It's a slow time for news in the NHL, so I want everyone out there to read this section with a grain of salt. On Friday, Red Wings Twitter lost their collective minds over an article written by beat writer Ansar Khan of MLive in regards to Dylan Larkin and his contract negotiations with Detroit.

Currently, Larkin (26) is entering his final season of a five-year, 30.5 million dollar deal, and here is where what Ansar wrote gets "spicy".

No deal is done, so it’s safe to assume Larkin’s agent and Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman are far apart.

Larkin changed representation after the season, switching from KO Sports to CAA, represented by Matt Williams and Pat Brisson. Its client list includes Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Jack Eichel, Jack Hughes and Red Wings Jakub Vrana and Lucas Raymond.

Coming off his most productive season since 2018-19, picking up 31 goals and 69 points in 71 games, Larkin is due for a sizeable bump from the $6.1 million cap hit on his current contract.

Where does he slot in? That might not be sorted out until well into the season.

It wouldn’t be surprising if Larkin’s camp is seeking more than $9 million a year.

These few sentences sent Larkin fans on the internet into a tailspin, worried the captain could get dealt. It also did the same for Larkin non-believers, who believe he shouldn't be commanding anything close to $9 million a year.

Below are two clickable threads where you can review the internet donnybrook for yourself.

Personally, we believe what ever is best for the org, Yzerman will do. Trust the Yzerplan, baby!

Full MLive article, here.

Buzz & Excitement Precede This Year's 'Stones

The Detroit Pistons won 23 games last year, which seems to be a contradicting line to the follow up the header we decided to go with. But the 2022-23 season will mark year three of the hopeful rebuild GM Troy Weaver has put together.

Cade Cunningham & Saddiq Bey are the two foundational pieces that have proven they can score. It will be the effort of the role players, as Mike Curtis of The Detroit News points out, that makes the difference this year.

Marvin Bagley, re-signed to a three-year deal worth $37 million. The former number two overall pick in 2019 suffered a lot of injuries with his Sacramento. His inconsistencies led the Kings to deal him to Detroit at the deadline last year.

Bagley averaged 9.3 points and 7.2 rebounds in his final 30 games for the Kings. He upped his scoring average to 14.6 points and added 6.8 boards through 18 games with the Pistons.

If Bagley is playing at a high level inside the paint and attracts multiple defenders, it'll spread the floor and allow Detroit to get open looks from 3. The question that remains is whether those players will knock down those open looks, especially since the Pistons shot 32.6% from distance last season.

Curtis goes on to mention Hamidou Diallo and Isaiah Stewart, to read the whole article, click here.

College football is BACK this week. Most notably for most Mitten-Dwellers, we have MSU taking on Western Michigan Friday at home, and the Wolverines playing Colorado State in the Big House the next day.

Last year, both teams were wildly successful, playing in New Years Six bowl games, with Michigan reaching the college football playoff. So, after major departures from both programs (Aiden Hutchinson, Detroit Lions and Kenneth Walker III, Seattle Seahawks, just to name a couple) where do these two teams stand?

It should come as no surprise OSU is the clear favorite to win the Big Ten. Coming in at -300 odds to take the Big Ten East. Michigan and MSU sit at +600 and +1200 respectively.

Michigan's over/under win total is currently set at 9.5 wins (-125). They lost a lot of key players on D, but their schedule is not the most intimidating. They do have to play at Iowa week 5, but get Penn State, MSU and OSU at home.

MSU's over/under win total is at 7.5 (-140). The Spartans went 10-2 in the regular season last year, getting upset by Purdue and destroyed by Ohio State. Their marquee win came against the team down the road when they defeated Michigan in the Woodshed. Week 3 has Sparty traveling to Washington to take on the Huskies, then their brutal October begins- OSU (home), Wisconsin (home), and Michigan (road), all in a row.

God bless college football.