Central Michigan’s freshman lefthanded pitcher Jimmy McNamara delivers a pitch during the first inning of the baseball team’s 7-4 win against Oakland University at Theunissen Stadium on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. McNamara is 0-2 with a 3.09 ERA this season.

Central Michigan’s freshman lefthanded pitcher Jimmy McNamara delivers a pitch during the first inning of the baseball team’s 7-4 win against Oakland University at Theunissen Stadium on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. McNamara is 0-2 with a 3.09 ERA this season.

Actually getting photos is going to be the challenging part to all of this. I have to get in contact with someone in the group. I’ve emailed the RSO president and also a member who seems really into it via Facebook. His facebook name is his LARP name and his profile picture is him in costume so I think that is a good sign. 

I hope to get started on this project in the very near future, I’d like to have a couple photos by next week. 

Detroit Tigers pitcher Doug Fister returns from the 15-day disabled list Monday. The Tigers lost 3-2 (Steven Bisig/US Presswire)

The $507,500 contract shouldn’t be satisfying enough for Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Doug Fister next season.

Fister, who returned from the 15-day disabled list Monday, is making less money than a majority of the Tigers pitching staff.

He deserves better and should get it next season when his deal expires.

Maybe the ladies don’t think he’s as attractive as pitcher Rick Porcello, but from a baseball perspective, the earned run average is.

Porcello memorabilia scatters throughout Comerica Park every fifth day as he trots out to the mound, but the 4.91 ERA joins him.

Fister quietly provided the Tigers with a 1.79 ERA in 10 starts last season.

His numbers scream ace pitcher. In fact, they even challenge American League Most Valuable Player and CY Young winner Justin Verlander’s.

During last season, he had eight fewer earned runs and four fewer total allowed in his span with the Tigers.

I’m not saying Fister is the ace of the staff, but he could be one somewhere else. Verlander has special talent and won a league-high 24 games last season, but don’t underestimate the 8-1 record Fister earned.

If Fister is willing to be the No. 2 pitcher, which I think he would be, the Tigers have a chance to be successful for years, but his asking price might not be feasible to keep him in Detroit.

Tigers General Manager Dave Dombrowski made a brilliant move acquiring him for Charlie Furbush and Caspar Wells around last season’s trade deadline.

Instead of chasing after big names, Dombrowski found Fister, but at the end of this season, he will be a big name.

And with that comes big money, usually.

The Tigers are sixth in the MLB, hovering around the $120 million on team salary. First baseman Prince Fielder ($23 million per year), third baseman Miguel Cabrera ($21 million per year) and Verlander (20.1 million per year) rack up a lot of what Fister should demand.

He hasn’t given up a run in his two starts, one which was cut short from injury and he’s been consistent.

This season could be an important one and that’s in part because of what Fister brings to this organization.

One season would make fans happy, but without Fister, there’s a vacancy.

Fans should realize what they have because if Fister isn’t rewarded, he could be in another uniform in April.

Backup goalie Joey MacDonald relieved Jimmy Howard in Detroit's 2-1 loss to Chicago Sunday. Photo credit: Sports Overdose

The injury-plagued Red Wings called up three members of the Grand Rapids Griffins Monday after suffering another setback in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Forward Chris Connor, defenseman Doug Janik and goaltender Jordan Pearce will suit up to fill the gaps in the Wings lineup following recent injuries.

Starting netminder Jimmy Howard (lower-body) and defenseman Jakub Kindl (upper-body) both left early in the game Sunday and neither returned.

Coach Mike Babcock said Kindl was sore prior to the game and shouldn’t have played, though his injury should be day-to-day.

Following the 2-1 loss, Howard said he didn’t think his injury was too severe in an interview with the Detroit News.

“All I can tell you is it’s a lower-body injury and I’m day to day,” Howard said. “I don’t think it’s too serious. I’ll get it looked at tomorrow morning and go from there.”

Howard went to the locker room for the first intermission after saving four of five Blackhawks shots and backup Joey MacDonald replaced him to start the second.

The starting goaltender missed two weeks in February recovering from a broken finger and could potentially miss more time with his most recent injury.

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall said the team has been fortunate with injuries this season, though they can’t use injuries as an excuse for losing.

“Injuries are going to happen and we have to fight through it,” he said. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. Whatever guys have to do to get ready they have to do and we have to look forward to the next game.”

The Wings were already without center Pavel Datsyuk (knee), Jonathan Ericsson (wrist) and Nicklas Lidstrom (ankle) Sunday.

Detroit will hope to bounce back Tuesday with they take on the Philadelphia Flyers on the road at 7 p.m.

Michigan celebrates a win over Northwestern earlier this season and now celebrate a Big Ten Championship. Photo Credit Dylan Burkhardt

Step aside Michigan State and Ohio State the Michigan basketball team is joining you atop of the Big Ten Conference.

With the Wolverines (23-8, 13-5 Big Ten) 71-65 win over Penn State (12-19, 4-14 Big Ten) and the Buckeyes (25-6, 13-5 Big Ten) last second 72-70 win over the Spartans (24-7, 13-5 Big Ten) on Sunday the three teams all tied with the same Big Ten record giving them all a share of the title.

Now MSU did earn the No. 1 seed in this week’s Big Ten Tournament, with U of M getting the No. 2 seed and Ohio State getting the No. 3 seed, but Michigan fans will be quick to forget that fact when the banner goes up that says 2012 Big Ten Regular-Season Champions, the first since 1986.

“It’s really special to our guys, the staff and I know the University feels the same way,” said head coach John Beilein to umhoops.com

It was a weird feeling for Wolverine fans cheering for the Buckeyes and strange seeing the players watch the final six minutes when they arrived back in Ann Arbor from the game in University Park, Penn.

“It’s kind of surreal right now,” said senior guard Zack Novak to umhoops.com. “You know the saying ‘Those who stay (will be champions),’ I guess when you stick around long enough good things happen.”

But it has been memorable season for U of M and one it’ll never forget because it’ll have a reminder everyday hanging in Crisler Arena.

“It’s a will to win and it started last year at the end of the Big Ten season and has carried over,” said senior guard Stu Douglass to umhoops.com “The will to win and the culture change we’ve tried to establish here.”

The Wolverines season continues Friday at 6:30 p.m. when they take on the winner between No. 7 Northwestern and No. 10 Minnesota as they set their sights on a another banner to hang.

Grand Rapids Griffins defenseman Brendan Smith will have a chance to prove his worth after being called up for the Red Wings following the trade of Mike Commodore Monday. Photo by Dave Reginek/Getty Images

Mike Commodore’s trade-deadline departure will make room for rookie-defenseman Brendan Smith on the Detroit Red Wing depth chart.

Commodore was sent to the Tampa Bay Lightning Monday for a 2013 7th-round draft pick. He recorded two points in his  17 appearances with the Wings.

“I played 17 games, was a healthy scratch for 30 games, that’s not going to cut it,” Commodore said. “It would have been nice to see this thing through here. It’s a good team here, they got as good a chance to win as anybody else, but this is probably better for me. I get an opportunity. I never really got an opportunity here.”

With Jonathan Ericsson benched for a month with a wrist injury and defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Kyle Quincey suffering day-to-day injuries, Smith will get a chance to prove his worth.

The rookie recorded 10 goals and 22 assists in his 47 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins this season. Earlier in the season he appeared in three games in a Red Wings uniform, tallying three assists.

“I was in Grand Rapids a couple of times this week,” Holland said in a Freep story. “Brendan Smith was on the all-rookie team last year in the American league. He’s got 10 goals. Obviously a tremendous college career.”

Ian White, Brad Stuart, Niklas Kronwall, and Lidstrom have solidified positions on the Red Wing blue line.

Quincey has already contributed a goal in the two games since being traded from the Colorado Avalanche. In total, his 24 points make him a candidate for the fifth defensive spot.

That leaves Ericsson, Smith and Jakub Kindl to fight for the sixth defensive spot on roster with 19 regular season games remaining.

The Red Wings were in talks for a forward leading up to the deadline, but decided to stick to their current skaters, according to General Manager Ken Holland.

As the race for first place continues, Detroit (41-19-3) will take on Columbus Tuesday.

The now No. 5 Michigan State Spartans clobbered the undermanned Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday 62-34. Michigan State’s defense continues to dominate the opposition. The 34 points allowed is the fewest since Michigan State played Brown University when it opened up the 2006-2007 season. It was the least amount of points allowed in Big Ten play for the Spartans since the 1999-2000 championship season against when MSU played Northwestern. Finally for Nebraska, it was the lowest scoring effort since the shot clock was invented.

Senior forward Draymond Green joined an elite group of Spartans when he grabbed his 1,000 rebound of his career. Green joins Antonio Smith, Johnny Green, and Greg Kelser in the 1,000 rebound club, and has let Kelser know he is coming after his record of 1,092 rebounds.

The win over Nebraska improved Michigan State to 13-3 in Big Ten play. Coupled with the losses of Michigan against Purdue, and Ohio State against Wisconsin, the Spartans have clinched a share of the Big Ten title. Claiming at least a share this year makes it three out of the past four years for the Spartans in winning a Big Ten title in basketball. The only year the Spartans didn’t win it was last year, and the football team made up for that by winning a Big Ten title of their own.

If Michigan State can win one of their final two games at Indiana, or against Ohio State, they will claim the title all to themselves. The final two games however, are no easy task, with both teams looking to revenge early season losses to the Spartans.

Against Nebraska, Green was able to collect yet another double-double finishing the game with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Green leads the Big Ten in double-doubles and in rebounds. Green also shot 50% from beyond the arc connecting on 3/6.

Transfer Brandon Wood continued his recent trend of scoring off the bench. The senior scored seven points to help boost the Spartans during dry spells, and also collected four rebounds. The highlight of the night however belonged to center Derrick Nix. Nix who weighs between 260 and 275, stole the ball and had a one man fast break all to himself. The Detroit native slammed the ball with such force that it would of broken backboards in the ’80s and ’90s. Nix finished with five points, two steals, and a career high 5 assists.

Senior Austin Thornton finished second on the team in scoring with nine points. Thornton connected on 3/4 three pointers. It was good to see redshirt freshman Russell Byrd get some action in. After struggling with foot injuries most of his career at MSU the Indiana native and three point specialist scored six points from two three-pointers. Byrd could eventually fill some of Thornton’s minutes next year.

It’s been a tremendous year for the Spartans as they trying to lock down a number one seed, and Big Ten title again. The last two times the Spartans won Big Ten titles, MSU made it to the Final Four. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if the Spartans made it again this year with the way head coach Tom Izzo has this team playing.

Seniors Austin Thornton and Brandon Wood share a post game hug. (Photo Credit AP)

Senior Brandon Wood has been around a lot of colleges during his basketball career. His long journey has included playing for Southern Illinois, transferring to a division II school, transferring to Valparaiso University and finally ending it playing for the Michigan State Spartans.

While at Valparaiso Wood was the star and averaged over 17 points during his sophomore year, and 16 his junior year. Wood graduated and decided to test the NBA waters by putting his name in the draft, after hearing what scouts thought of him, he decided to polish them even more at MSU.

Wood has had a good season for MSU, he averages over 8 points a game, and while that’s less than he did at Valparaiso there is 10 times the talent on the MSU team, and Wood no longer needs to be the star. A few weeks ago Wood’s stepbrother was shot in the head. He survived but it was an emotional strain on Wood. A week later Wood faced more strain, coming in the form of a shoulder strain. Wood has since lost his starting spot, and is now equipped with a shoulder brace but that isn’t stopping him from becoming a force for the Spartans.

Under Tom Izzo,  and assistant coach Dane Fife, Wood has transformed into a defensive minded guard, something that the Valparaiso coaches would be shocked to see. Wood is rebounding well, and shutting down the opposition.

Last night the No. 6 Michigan State Spartans traveled to Minnesota in a key game with the Big Ten championship on the line. Down by as many as 9 points with under 10 minutes to play, Wood came off the bench and became the spark that the Spartan’s needed.

Wood timed a pass perfectly and stole it for a breakaway dunk. He later drove down the lane and put in a tear drop jumper that resembled Kalin Lucas against Kansas in the NCAA tournament a few years ago on the Spartan’s way to a National Championship appearance.

As for the rest of the team last night, they looked flat out lazy.

Draymond Green had some awful passes early on but the Spartan’s bounced back to give up only 5 turnovers on the night. A season low which pleased head coach Tom Izzo.

Green finished the game with 17 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4 steals. He was able to keep the Spartans calm when the team faced disaster with under 10 minutes left.

Sophomore guard Keith Appling had one roller coaster night. After getting a technical foul for hanging on the rim, and picking up two fouls in which Minnesota knocked down 5 free throws from them, the Detroit native bounced back to hit the game winning free throws with 30 seconds left to play and closed the game out by hitting 6/6 free throws. He also had a career best zero turnovers.

Centers Derrick Nix, and Adreian Payne both had off nights which was rare, and it almost cost MSU. Usually one of them is able to pick the other up and play well but neither could do much against Minnesota center Ralph Sampson III. Senior guard Austin Thorton went back to his shooting woes. The Cedar Springs native shot 0-5 including 0-4 from downtown.

Michigan State next plays Nebraska at the Breslin Center on Saturday.

Center Pavel Datsyuk leads the Red Wings with 59 points this season. Photo Credit: AP

The Red Wings will be without their leading scorer for a while.

Center Pavel Datsyuk underwent arthroscopic knee surgery Tuesday morning and Coach Mike Babcock said he expects he will be out two weeks.

“He had a fragment in his knee, an old thing that we wanted to clean up here, prior to playoff time,” Babcock said.

The center has recorded 59 points in as many games this season.

He is expected to be replaced by Dan Cleary Tuesday, who has been sidelined almost two weeks with a knee injury.

Datsyuk won’t be the only star held out of Tuesday’s matchup between the Wings and Chicago Blackhawks. Chicago captain Jonathan Toews is expected to miss the contest with an upper-body injury.

Conklin to Grand Rapids

Goaltender Ty Conklin wasn’t claimed Tuesday and has been sent down to the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL.

He will get the start immediately for a Grand Rapids team that has lost five of its last seven games.

The Wings made the decision to waive Conklin as Jimmy Howard reclaimed the starting spot in net and Joey MacDonald proved his worth as an NHL backup recently.

Howard is scheduled to start Tuesday night when the Red Wings travel to Chicago.