EMU hires new top man for baseball

Eastern Michigan has hired Jay Alexander to run the resurgent EMU men's baseball program as former head man Jake Boss left for Michigan State after only a year. Mr. Alexander comes to Ypsilanti from Wayne State where he compiled a 161-148 record. He also took Wayne State to the NCAA Division II regional championship game, and a 34-19 record overall this past year.

Alexander was a standout player for Wayne State in the mid-90's. We wish him nothing but the best. EMU as you'll recall are riding a two year consecutive MAC tournament and MAC West regular season title win streak.

Late night open thread

That was quite an impressive opening ceremony for the Olympics tonight. Very appealing to the eyes.

Time for Ypsilanti, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA WITH ROSE ROYCE!

So just now Zoltron, intern Zoltron, pipes up and says "How about the next song that comes on the iTunes mix on the office PA is the last video tonight"

Address your commentary to Zoltron in the comments section

Rose Royce with 'Car Wash'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA WITH THE FOUR TOPS!

Johnny will be damned if Kwame Kilpatrick is gonna ruin his impression of a city he loves. How about a little something SO RIGHT about Detroit. Here are 'The Four Tops' with one of the bestest songs ever, 'Standing in the Shadows of Love' and a plea to remember this part of Detroit. Holland-Dozier-Holland will always be a greater representation of Detroit than a spoiled child mayor.

If you ever find it, the Barry White cover of this song is brilliant as well

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA WITH GRAHAM PARKER AND THE RUMOUR!

One time long ago, almost in dinosaur times, Johnny had a girlfriend in high school. She wanted to see Journey. Johnny didn't. Then he saw Graham Parker and the Rumour were the opening act. Johnny liked Graham Parker very much. He owned the fine album 'Squeezing Out Sparks' and played it often. Then it hit him--go watch and listen to Graham Parker and make out during Journey.

Thank you Graham Parker and the Rumour! Here they are with 'Local Girls'

Dearest Ypsilanti, don't plan on sleeping in tomorrow--It's THUNDER OVER MICHIGAN at Willow Run!

Gooooood Morning Ypsilanti, it's Saturday August 9th and those loud as hell aircraft overhead ARE staging a dogfight. Yep, a VERY ambitious Thunder Over Michigan will kick off tomorrow morning at Willow Run airport with a gazillion things to see and do. A World War II remembrance will be held with paratroop drops, tank battles and dozens of different planes from the era.

Now, 45,000 people are expected and some camper areas are filling up NOW, Friday. It's gonna be a beautiful weekend with a slight chance of showers later tomorrow afternoon so plan on heading out. To that end we have this info for you:

Admission
Tickets, available at Meijer stores, are $20 through Friday and $25 at the gate.
Parking is $5 through Friday and $10 at the gate. Admission to a special tent seating area are $25 through Friday and $40 at the gate.

Saturday:
10 to 10:30 a.m. - WWII ground battle re-enactment.
12:15 p.m. - F-18 demonstration and legacy flight.
12:40 p.m. - C-130H Hercules demonstration.
1:20 p.m. - WWI dogfight.
1:40 p.m. - C-47 paratrooper drop.
2 to 2:40 p.m. - WWII ground battle re-enactment.
2:40 p.m. - F-16 demonstration and heritage flight.
3:05 p.m. - Navy warbird flight.
3:25 p.m. - MiG-17
3:40 p.m. - B-17s and B-24s.

Or, for ALL the information, head on over to the website for the Yankee Air Museum

Late night open thread

Danville leads Bluefield 4-1 tonight in the Appalachian Rookie League. Chris Shehan has a home run for Danville. One day Chris will Google himself and wonder why the hell the Ypsi City Desk would mention him, or the Appalachian Rookie League for that matter. Chris is out of Strasburg, PA.

Chris you are our favorite player on the Danville team. They're paying you way too little. You should mention that to management on a night you hit a home run, like tonight.

Danville Braves, woo, go team

Time for Ypsilanti, After Dark

Michigan football MAY or MAY NOT have a steroids problem on it's hands

Former Michigan defensive end, Rondell Biggs, was recently pulled over near I-94 and State Street. We'll now cut to the chase; Biggs told police he was in town HELPING the Michigan football program with the 'training and conditioning' of the team. What MAY be troubling here is what Biggs was found with after being stopped. Police say they found 10 yellow pills in the center console of the vehicle in a bag that had a label indicating it contained 50 pills. Now, a Michigan rep said Biggs was merely an hourly employee back under Lloyd Carr's tenure and has no connection to the new coach, Rich Rodriguez. The pills in question came back as 'positive for stanozolol, a Schedule III prescribed synthetic anabolic steroid'.

Troubling yes, now whether we can determine Biggs' exact role with the team remains to be seen but if he's still having anything to do with the team in any official capacity, the NCAA will be all over this. If he's only working with FORMER U-M athletes, the heat would be off except for those stupid enough to use steroids to begin with.

Simple question--Who's got the best pizza in town?

We wanted to throw this open to the public today and see who around town has the tastiest pizza pies. We're not handing out any kind of award, we just wondered if some of the newer pizza houses were as good as the established Ypsi/Arbor pizza places...

Late night open thread

If today is your birthday, you share it with Lucille Ball, who was born in 1911.


Time for Ypsilanti, After Dark