The Pressbox

They say that winning solves everything.

That certainly is the case with the television deal for the Detroit Tigers. Last year fans were upset that there were no games on free television and quite a few that were not televised at all.

That won’t be a problem this year. The team announced this week that 161 of the 162 regular-season games will be on television. Fox Sports Detroit will air 134 games and Channel 2 in Detroit will show another 17. Eight Tiger games have been selected for the Fox Saturday Game of the Week and two others will be shown on ESPN.

We will be able to sit back on our couches and watch nearly every Tiger game this summer. Doesn’t that sound nice on a cold, January day?

Can’t NBA fans do any better than voting Shaquille O’Neal as an All-Star starter? Are any of these people paying attention?

Shaq has played only a handful of games this season because of injuries.

He should step aside and let someone deserving play in the game.

How bad is it for the NHL these days?

The best the league could manage for is All-Star Game - which is supposed to be a showcase of all that is right with the game - was a midweek date on a second-rate cable network.

And the Red Wings, one of the NHL’s best teams located in one of its top markets, got only one representative in the game.

Something is not right.

College basketball is a funny game.

A week ago Michigan lost by 14 points to Purdue. Today, the Wolverines turned around and beat the same team by 16 points.

The big difference was that the first game was played at Purdue and today the two teams met in Crisler Arena. It’s amazing how much home-court advantage means in college basketball.

The win leaves Michigan at 4-1 in the league, a game back of Wisconsin. Are the Wolverines legitimate contenders? We might find out Wednesday when they take on the Badgers.

Uh-oh, that game will be played in Madison.

I love the addition of Chris Webber (see Evening News column on Jan. 18), but if the Detroit Pistons hope to contend for an NBA championship, they have to do something about their defense.

Time and time again Wednesday night, Utah got free for uncontested layups.

The Jazz have one of the best half-court offenses in the NBA, but the way they carved up the Pistons, especially during crucial stretches of the fourth quarter, was distressing.

I loved the hiring of Tommy Amaker as Michigan’s basketball coach six years ago. I thought he was the right man to get the Wolverines on track.

Amaker has done a nice job of cleaning up a troubled program, but hasn’t made the strides on the court that I expected. He has yet to lead Michigan to an NCAA Tournament berth the Wolverines remain frustratingly mediocre. They can’t seem to even stay competitive against quality teams and can’t win on the road.

The current crop of seniors - Dion Harris, Lester Abram, Courtney Sims and Brent Petway - has been a big disappointment. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what is wrong, but something is definitely missing.

It’s no surprise that the Pistons struggle without point guard Chancey Billups. They’re now 2-3 since his injury, and they looked lost at times in last night’s loss to Charlotte.

Flip Murray is a talented player, but he’s not an experienced point guard. And the Pistons have come to rely on Billups to control the tempo, get the ball to the right players at the right times, and to take charge when the game is on the line.

Without him, they suffered through an awful second quarter. But more important, when it was time to win the game at the end, the Pistons didn’t have it without Billups.

Thanfully, he’s expected back this weekend.

Let’s hope that even Matt Millen can see now that Brady Quinn is not the man the Detroit Lions should select with the No. 2 choice in the NFL draft.

Quinn’s 15-for-35 performance for 148 yards with two interceptions in Wednesday’s Sugar Bowl proves that he is just another product of the Notre Dame hype machine.

The smart thing for the Lions to do would be to trade down and try to snag two first-round choices in a draft that appears deep but may lack can’t-miss star power at the top. Failing that, my guess is coach Rod Marinelli would want to go with a lineman (Joe Thomas of Wisconsin on offense or Alan Branch of Michigan or Gaines Adams of Georgia Tech on defense).

But Millen likes flash. Quinn, Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson or Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson probably would be his choice.

The Detroit Red Wings have been a classy organization for many years. They reinforced that image Tuesday night with a wonderful jersey retirement ceremony for Steve Yzerman.

It was great to see all the Red Wing greats gathered to honor Yzerman. And Yzerman topped off the night with a terrific and typically humble speech.

Perhaps the only people in the building who weren’t happy were the Anaheim Ducks, who had to wait through the long ceremony for the game to start, then lost 2-1 to the Wings. It was fitting that the winning goal was scored off a perfect pass from Tomas Holmstrom that looked Yzerman-esque.