Hockey looks for new Grizzlies

Brittany Ochtinsky writes another Phenomenal piece in the Oakland Post about Oakland University Hockey Read More Here

Oakland Women's Basketball Announces 2007-2008 Schedule

“I’m looking forward to another challenging non-league schedule,” head coach Beckie Francis said. “We feel that last season’s games against schools like Connecticut, Florida State and West Virginia on the road really prepared us for postseason play. Now those teams (with the exception of Connecticut) will be playing at the O’Rena and it should be exciting for fans to see teams from the ACC, the Big East and the SEC coming to OU. “In addition, we’re playing Georgia on the road, a perennial top 25 team. This should give our young squad some vital experience for the Summit League season.” - ougrizzlies.com

Schedule in PDF File Read Here

Oakland Men's Basketball announces 2007-2008 schedule

Oakland University Basketball has released its 2007-2008 schedule: “We have a history of playing a difficult schedule and this falls into place with that,” remarked head coach Greg Kampe. “It is not quite as difficult as it has been in the last couple of years, but we will have a young team this season. It is a very competitive schedule and great home schedule for our fans. It is the most home games we have had in the Division I era and we are very excited about that. We are also excited about the opportunity to play Oregon at The Palace. It is the first of several games we are going to be playing there over the next several years.”

Oakland Men’s Basketball

2007-08 Schedule

Date Day Opponent Place Time

Nov. 5 Monday Windsor (Exhib.) ROCHESTER TBA

Nov. 9 Friday at Wisconsin-Green Bay Green Bay, Wis. TBA

Nov. 11 Sunday ADRIAN COLLEGE ROCHESTER 1:00 p.m.

Nov. 17 Saturday EASTERN MICHIGAN ROCHESTER 6:00 p.m.

Nov. 20 Tuesday DUQUESNE ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Nov. 24 Saturday at Michigan State East Lansing, Mich. 2:00 p.m.

Nov. 28 Wednesday at Xavier Cincinnati, Ohio TBA

Dec. 1 Saturday BOWLING GREEN ROCHESTER TBA

Dec. 6 Thursday UMKC* ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 8 Saturday SOUTHERN UTAH* ROCHESTER 6:00 p.m.

Dec. 12 Wednesday at Michigan Ann Arbor, Mich. TBA

Dec. 19 Wednesday ROCHESTER COLLEGE ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Dec. 22 Saturday OREGON# AUBURN HILLS 8:30 p.m.

Dec. 29 Saturday at Toledo Toledo, Ohio TBA

Jan. 3 Thursday at South Dakota State* Brookings, S.D. TBA

Jan. 5 Saturday at North Dakota State* Fargo, N.D. TBA

Jan. 10 Thursday CENTENARY * ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Jan. 12 Saturday ORAL ROBERTS* ROCHESTER TBA

Jan. 19 Saturday at IPFW* Fort Wayne, Ind. TBA

Jan. 24 Thursday at IUPUI* Indianapolis, Ind. TBA

Jan. 26 Saturday at Western Illinois* Macomb, Ill. TBA

Jan. 31 Thursday NORTH DAKOTA STATE* ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Feb. 2 Saturday SOUTH DAKOTA STATE* ROCHESTER 6:00 p.m.

Feb. 7 Thursday at Oral Roberts* Tulsa, Okla. TBA

Feb. 9 Saturday at Centenary* Shreveport, La. TBA

Feb. 16 Saturday IPFW* ROCHESTER 6:00 p.m.

Feb. 21 Thursday IUPUI* ROCHESTER 7:00 p.m.

Feb. 23 Saturday WESTERN ILLINOIS* ROCHESTER 6:00 p.m.

Feb. 28 Thursday at Southern Utah* Cedar City, Utah TBA

Mar. 1 Saturday at UMKC* Kansas City, Mo. TBA

Mar. 8-11 Sat.-Tues. at Summit League Tournament Tulsa, Okla.

* Summit League game

Home games in BOLD CAPS

# Played at The Palace of Auburn Hills

CL-Comcast Local; FSN-Fox Sports Detroit; all TV games are tentative and subject to change

All times Eastern and subject to change; () times are local to site

Todd Watson named Spirit Head Coach

"The Saginaw Spirit are pleased to welcome Todd Watson as the team’s new head coach. Watson comes to Saginaw after four highly successful seasons with the Plymouth Whalers, as the assistant general manager and associate head coach. He was a critical component of the Whalers romp through the Ontario Hockey League during the 2006-2007 season, where they clinched the league championship title and represented the OHL at the 2007 MasterCard Memorial Cup in Vancouver. During his tenure with the Whalers, the perennial West Division contenders compiled a regular season record of 146-95-18-13." Read More

Watson Photo from Saginaw Spirit

Plymouth Whalers Todd Watson Resigns

"Plymouth Whalers President, General Manager and Head Coach Mike Vellucci announced today that Whalers Assistant General Manager and Assistant Coach Todd Watson has resigned.:

Read More

Todd Watson Photo From Plymouthwhalers.com

More negatives than positives in a first place team?

By Kyle Bauer

What to be concerned about down the stretch.

As I’m typing this, the Tigers are currently tied 8 to 8 in the top of the 10th against the Kansas City Royals. Joakim Soria just fanned both Magglio and Monroe with 2 men on and as Monroe sliced under that wicked Soria curve for inning ending strike, the Tigers once again displayed one of my biggest fears regarding this team, they just don’t seem to have that late inning magic. So you're probably thinking, well that’s neither here or there, the Tigers have the best record in baseball, what does it matter that they have 3-7 record in extra innings? I think it matters plenty.
Going down the stretch you’re going to be in many close games with tough opponents with tons on the line. If the Tigers are going to win the division and win in the playoffs they’re going to need clutch hitting and that hasn’t come this year. Seemed like last year we were spoiled with "gum time," Craig Monroe hitting timely bombs, Maggs magically blasting a couple, maybe we would get lucky error here on there or sometimes a past ball. The Tigers were able to find a way to come from behind and pull out games when they needed too. It could be something I’m spoiled with from last year but there is validity to my concern.
In most cases come from behind victories are a matter of being clutch more so than a lucky error or weird play, that’s why A-Rod is despised and Jeter is revered. So why I see that the Tigers are...excuse me Brandon Inge just hit his second walk off homerun of the year...but I digress back into my point...ironic....The Tigers have struggled in clutch hitting situations which is tabulated as production when down by 3 runs or less with 1 out or more, or beyond the 6th inning. They’re 27th in average (.229), 26th in obp. (.305), 24th in slugging (.361), and 25th in ops. (.665). This is on top of having a bullpen that has blown 15 games and struggled all year with inflated era.'s.This is something that down the line could hurt this team and frustrate fans. Clutch hitting also factors into a teams confidence and can change the complection of a series. If the Tigers are going to get deep, they’re going to have to channel some of that magic from last season and come up big such as they have the past couple games and its going to have to come from someone else besides Inge.

In mine and most peoples opinions Verlander is the undeniable ace of this ball club and has unlimited potential, I think he has hall of fame potential. At this point I’m going a slightly concerned about his last 4 outings. You could chalk it up to him simply being in a slump but his control has been alarming of late. Though he has won 2 out of his last 4 starts, he did just enough to win and was having problems with his curve which he's been using to set up his change up and fastball. Nothing has been breaking for him, the change up is hanging, the curve isn’t always breaking on the corners and his fastball is getting away from him. He's still been good, getting more strikeouts but he seems like he’s being more aggressive, pushing a bit and showing some vulnerability that he wasn’t consistently showing in the first half. I’m worried that he maybe hitting a wall, similar to last season where he had to rest a couple starts down the stretch because of a tired arm. It wouldn’t make much sense to me seeing that this is his second full season but it is a possibility. Hopefully this is just a small slump, if you could even call it that, he has won 2 of his last 3 decisions, still there is cause for some concern.

The Tigers haven’t been good in the first game back from a long road trip going 2-4. These losses have come to some weak teams as well with losses coming from the Mets, Rangers, Twins and Royals. In all 4 losses there’s a common trend, low run production. In these games the Tigers haven’t scored more than 3 runs and have looked lethargic. I remember specifically a game against Texas fallowing a long interleague road trip from Atlanta. That night they faced Cameron Loe, a sub par pitcher who the Tigers lit up a few starts earlier. Tigers came to the plate and swung at many first pitches, put together many impatient at bats that lasted only 2 or 3 pitches before weakly grounding out or popping up. In the other 3 games it was a similar case except arguably against the Mets where Jorge Sosa pitched more of a gem than the Tigers having lazy bats.
Down the stretch the Tigers have 4 more long road trips and fallow up games against the White Sox (Aug. 3rd), Cleveland (Aug. 21st) which will be a huge game, the White Sox again (Sept 4th) and the Royals (Sept. 21st) which at that point the Tigers will likely be locked into a division race with the Indians and Twins or a Wildcard race with Seattle, Anaheim or even…the damn Yankees.
Hopefully this trend will not continue and the Tigers will return from these road trips alert, working counts, taking good swings at good pitches and not playing sloppy baseball. These games will likely be critical and the Tigers cannot take them off because they’re plane got in late.

Because I feel as though I’m being a bit too critical I’ll move onto the positives but not before mentioning one last worry of mine. WATCH OUT FOR THE SEATTLE MARINERS.


Positive trends that hope to be continued.


For all the worries I have about this teams inability to deliver in the clutch, well at least until this week, the Tigers always respond well the fallowing game. The Tigers are a respectable 8-7 after a blown game by the bullpen. Most teams tend to struggle after what would usually be something crippling but the Tigers in most cases have been able to respond the next day. Resiliency is a great sign of a teams character and a good counter to my earlier concern. I would rather the Tigers not blow games to begin with but more times than not this team seems to not let it get to them and you got to see that as a positive trait when this team is playing in a big series. I always look back to the infamous game in Cleveland when Jones gave up 5 runs in the bottom of the 9th in walk off Indians win. When that happened I believed it would be turning point for the Indians but the Tigers came right back and won the next 2 games of the series. That’s impressive and that’s why this team could be hard to beat in a 5 or 7 game series.

The Tigers still need bullpen help but Chad Durbin has filled one of many holes in the Tigers pen. Jason Grilli has been a gas can, Ledezma was struggling against lefties, with his control and wasn’t showing much consistency, McBride has been solid but wasn’t much of a solution outside of his numbers against lefties. This ball club needed a long reliever as much as they need a set up man and Durbin has settle back into the role he was originally set to fill. Since coming into the bullpen Durbins era has dropped 37 points and he has a 1.98 era as a reliever. He’s also down to a 1.36 whip.With 1 win, a save and 2 holds he’s made the biggest impact on this team in my opinion over the past month. He’s comfortable, his breaking balls have been nasty and he’s almost unhittable right now. Look and hope for this to continue for Durbin through out the remainder of the year.

The Tigers have the best offense in the mlb but that doesn’t mean they still cannot be susceptible to dominant pitching. They haven’t been intimidated though as the Tigers have a 10-8 record against all-star/ace starting pitchers this season which includes 3 huge wins against Santana other wins came against Sabathia, Colon, Beckett, Dice-K, Mesche, Smoltz. A team like the Tigers have shown that aside from say Haladay that no pitcher in major league baseball can fully shut them down, no matter the caliber, style or credentials. With how strong their offense is the Tigers might be a rare team that will be able to slug their way to a deep into the playoffs because it doesn’t seem as though one pitcher can stop them.The Tigers line up has smoked lefties as well hitting .299 with a .358 obp and impressive .506 slugging percentage. Many teams struggle more against lefties and the Tigers eat them for breakfast. Numbers like these make it very hard to manage a rotation and a bullpen against us because you don’t have too many your sleeve against a team that shows little vulnerability to any kind of pitching.


Overall the Tigers are in great shape and look to be a force. Though I’ve mentioned more bad in these past two blogs there’s certainly been more good. I have my worries but I cannot be too concerned about a team that is 21 games over .500, in first place, that’s has not shown too many signs of weakness or slowing down. I’m just looking at the whole picture and what COULD turn into problems down the line.


August is in some respect the most critical and telling month in baseball. Yes, playoff spots are determined in September and championships are won in October but playoff and championships caliber teams show what they’re made of in August. The contenders are weeded out from the pretenders in the dog days of August. We’ll learn a lot about this years Tigers and the teams around them in the next month and I’ll be here to fallow up on it.


You can hear more of my opinions every Tuesday 2 to 3 pm with Corey and Brad. Also occasionally on Wednesdays 5 to 6 pm with Corey , Brad and Kyle Horner

Will McMahon Discusses his Past and Future

Oakland's Rebecca Wyatt Thomas, has a nice piece about Will McMahon Read it here

OU baseball program has big potential

Pat Caputo from The Oakland Press has a very nice article about the OU Baseball team

Read Here

It's obvious, Tigers need another arm.

Hello, this is Kyle Bauer, new member and blogger of the WXOU sports department. Unlike Corey's fine blog which is centered around Oakland University athletics, my blog will be more oriented towards the Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and the Lions.

For the next week Im going to post a 2 part blog on what weaknesses can hinder the Tigers from making it back to the World Series and what they should do to curve them. I can't be all negative, in the second part of the blog which will come later this week, I will include some thoughts on what has impressed me with this team and why they're in first place and have the capability to stay there.


There isn’t too much to be concerned about at this point, riiiiight? Think about it. Currently tied for the A.L. Central division lead, only a couple games shy of Boston for the best record in all of baseball. Many members of the always fickle sports media declared Magglio Ordonez the first half A.L. mvp. Well how could you complain, hell, we should be begging for this after all the years of the Tigers being 20 games out at this point, shouldn’t be spoiled after last years dream season. Its inappropriate to say that any complaints directed towards this team is complacent or unwarranted because 2006 shouldn’t had been a "dream" season, but a reality and that's why there’s some serious concerns with this team that needs to be addressed soon if we want to see the Tigers repeat as Worl-...uh excuse me American League champions.

First concern is an obvious one that has every sportswriter and fan from Rob Parker to my girlfriend in a panic. The bullpen. It's easy to say we need a reliever to cure the Tigers of their woes that have already cost them 14 games this relatively young season. The real answers lie in two question; In what role and at what expense?

In what role?

From the time he graced Tiger Stadium with his presence to his second run in Comerica Park, Todd Jones has been the whipping boy of Tigers fan. Some criticism deserved but most unrealistic. His inflated era. occasional blown save and really every nail baiting outing (which rarely goes 1-2-3) has left Tigers fans crying that he is the reason for the bullpen trouble and that if the Tigers want to solidify their bullpen, we need him demoted and Eric Gangne in his place.

Reality check, Todd Jones is one of the most consistent closers in the game and his ability to get the ball down and over the plate is something you want to see out of a closer because he'll get ground balls and not give too many free passes. The argument to contest that has been that he’s walking many batters and giving up more homeruns and line drives. That is because Leyland not having a reliable set-up man is having to go to Jones more often when its a fact that Jones era. dramatically climbs and his pitch count exceeds 25. Once Jones, who is 39 and fat to begin with, gets tired he cant get his fastball down or his cutter to break, leaving him with a shotty curve that normally cant find the plate and if it does it will then find the seats.

That’s where the role needs to be filled, not with a closer to replace Jones but a set up man so Jones wont ever have to be used as an option for the 8th or have to go in on consecutive nights fallowing a high pitch count the previous appearance. Also Jones fallowed the heat of Zumaya and Rodney last season. This year its Bobby Seay, Tim Byrdak and occasionally McKay McBride or Cappelean. You weigh the difference...not that Rodney has been anything better this season. I believe Jones capitalized off of hitters making timing adjustments to the contrast of facing Rodney or Zumaya in the 7th who run it up in the high 90's to low 100's, then Jones puts it over 85 to 92 mph. Batters haven’t had to make such drastic adjustments to Jones style of pitching.

From the practical side, Zumaya may not come back 100% by September this year and with his injury I wouldn’t count on him to go every night and save this ball club. Also the Tigers have 6 losses in the 9th inning or later, 4 of those due to Jones hanging fastball but as I mentioned earlier the Tigers middle relief has cost this team an additional 7 games in between the 5th and 9th inning. So which would you rather improve upon, 4 losses or 10?

Everyone wants Eric Gange and I believe the Tigers should be looking at a different Texas Ranger. Set-up man, Akinori Otsuka should be topping our wish list. 2.51 era, 1.07 whip in 34 innings pitched would sound good to me right now. The problem with Otsuka is that he has similar stuff compared to Jones. He delivers an accurate but lower velocity fastball for strikes but offers one of the more late biting sliders in the game. His numbers speak for any concerns though. This would most likely be rented help though. He has a moderate high price at 3 million, also he is 35 and it is a valid question on whether it is worth giving up any youth such as Virgil Vaquez or Dallas Trehan.

A player out of the National League the Tigers may want to try to make a bid for is from the lowly St.Louis Cardinals who have had one diamond in the rough of their nightmare season. That diamond is Ryan Franklin who has a 1.20 era in 39 appearances with 13 holds and only 4 walks. A negative regarding him is a 32 /17 hit to strikeout ratio but he doesn’t give up walks which has been damning trait to this bullpen and a 1.20 era is a 1.20 era.

Those are just a couple pitchers that I hope the Tigers have their eye on as Leyland and Dombrowski have both stated that they need a set-up man. We'll see but I believe the Tigers have to make a move for a set-up man at the deadline but

At what expense?

As I previously mentioned would it be worth giving up any of the Tigers core of minor league talent to possibly rent a reliever that may put this team over the top. Would the teams minor league prospects even be enough? There’s a lot of possibilities to what constitutes trade bait with this ball club and it certainly depends on who they talk with. You have to figure a team like Texas would be looking for a starting pitcher who could come up as soon as next year such as the afore mentioned Vaquez or Trehan, maybe they would want some with a little more experience with versatility on a major league level like Miner or Durbin. Maybe they want a package deal that includes a prospect pitcher and Infante or Monroe. Either way its something to be thought about. The Tigers can afford to give away some young pitcher talent at this point certainly if it improves on their only true weakness. When you have 3 studs under 25 in Verlander, Bonderman and Miller who are all under contract, you can afford to take that risk right now. That’s another reason why I’m hoping the Tigers are in talks with Texas because they would be a team that’s easier to deal with, while most teams would want young gun outfielder Cameron Maybin who many believe is a potential 5 tool player and perennial all-star. I believe Maybin is a deal breaker (even though I love Granderson) and that most teams will be requesting him in trades for reliever.

In my mind Craig Monroe is expendable but I don’t believe you could get more than a bullpen catcher for Monroe at the moment. I’ve heard from so many sources that teams are interested in him but I just don’t buy that the Astros are willing to take him straight up for Brad Lidge. Monroe has the potential that I suppose is still there to be a above average player in this game but this was due to be his break out year and he’s shown nothing but lackadaisical out fielding and horrible mechanics, focus and discipline at the plate. If he goes, he'll be a small piece in a package deal.

Omar Infante is a player whose name is being throw around as the biggest non-prospect trade bait. In my opinion Omar is too valuable. Even for a reliever I would rather hold onto him because I see him as a pretty good insurance policy despite his recent struggles. If anything happens to Inge, Guillen or Polanco, those are 3 vital parts to this Tigers machine and he could fill all three of their roles adequately, at least to the point where their absence wont hurt as bad and we wont be seeing post steroids Neifi Perez in the line-up. There’s a chance that Omar may not get off the bench down the stretch but I’m so paranoid that one of our 3 big infielders might go down again that I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking the risk of not having a backup for them outside of Santiago, Perez or Rayburn.

Marcus Thames is this teams best non-prospect trade option right now. I love Marcus and have defended his hitting talents many times in the past because he’s always seemed to have been an underrated player when I think he’s a stockier more focused Craig Monroe. Right now he’s putting everything into the ball and it hasn’t made for the best average but he is showing his 25 to 30 homerun power potential and showing it better than Monroe. If I were a GM I would be looking at Thames to serve as a strong hitting outfield that could be a piece to building a ball club, he could also provide leadership as this is a man who has perservered in tough situations on and off the field. I would hate to lose him but I think he has some value and he’s more expendable than Infante because there is the sloth, Chris Shelton, who is patiently waiting for a roster spot. The question regarding Thames is, would you trade him and make Monroe you’re once again every day left fielder? Obviously I think you can trade Thames if the deal is right and hope Monroe gets his head on straight, catching fire for the stretch run such as he did last season. If Monroe continues to struggle, you always have the option of putting Sheffield back in the outfield which I don’t think it would be too hard of an adjustment to return out there every day.


Chad Durbin and Zach Miner names have been tossed around a little bit but I doubt that any teams would be that interested in them as starting pitchers. They both were just good enough to get the job done when they've been called upon to fill the fifth starter role but not overly impressive. Not only do I doubt any teams would really be interested in them but coming out of the bullpen they can be great for the Tigers. I think both Durbin and Miner feel more comfortable working long relief than starting and their numbers out of the bullpen show that. Long relief is one of the most under appreciated roles in baseball. A good long reliever can keep a team in the ball game and give them a chance to win. Durbin and Miner can both keep the Tigers in the game, certainly better than Grilli. We need to improve the bullpen and getting rid of either of them would not not resolve the problem just leave a questionable gap.


The Tigers do have some trade options that they should take because this team is in mine and many peoples opinion, just one arm away. The difference in my opinions are that it needs to be a set-up man not a closer, a team isn’t going to want Monroe straight up for anybody and that Maybin, Durbin and Infante are the only players that maybe considered trade bait, that I wouldn’t let go of.

Check back later this week for the second part where I give my thoughts on the Tigers inability to produce any late inning magic, such as they did so often last year and how it may come back to hurt them. Also how the Tigers resiliancy fallowing so many of their late inning losses is something to be noted.

You can hear more of my opinions every Tuesday 2 to 3 pm with Corey and Brad. Also occasionally on Wednesdays 5 to 6 pm with Corey , Brad and Kyle Horner.

07-08 Oakland Men's Basketball Preview

CHN is previewing 144 teams in 144 days and OU Basketball is the 144th team previewed

Read More Here

Scoring Void Provides Opportunity

Will MaMahon was a super player for the Oakland University Hockey team. This past season McMahon had 76 points where 47 of them were goals. That is a huge loss for the
Grizzlies but one thing that may have been overlooked is that more scoring was lost then one might think.

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McGillivray Sr. Leads The Way

Scott McGillivray Sr. recently named as the new Head Coach for Oakland University Hockey’s ACHA DIII team got a first look at who will be on his roster at the prospect camp last weekend. McGillivray Sr. brings a no non-sense winning attitude to this Grizzlies team looking to finally get a birth in the ACHA DIII National Tournament and make a serious run at a National Championship. “It’s an honor and I’m looking to have a great season here at Oakland” McGillivray Sr. told us about being named Head Coach.

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Hockey is Heating Up Summer Days at Oakland University

Try out camps started on Saturday for the 2007-2008 Oakland University Golden Grizzlies Hockey Team. Players were placed on four squads and played four scrimmage games throughout the day. The Blue team squared off against the Red team to start off the morning.

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The Case For Goalie Number 3

A little write-up of the case for the 3rd OU DI Hockey Goalie

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