Not unlike most media gatherings in Detroit announcing major sports news, the Prince Fielder press conference had enough storylines to make both Eric Bischoff and the writers of a Telemundo soap opera jealous.
 
From agent Scott Boras’s ridiculous suggestion that the Fielder free-agency courtship didn’t commence until ...after Prince and his wife Chanel renewed their wedding vows to Ryan Ermanni’s brain dead questions to “Kyla” at Channel 20’s inquiry about a baseball salary cap to Lynn Henning’s metamorphous from team propagandist to Sam Donaldson-esque pit-bull to  Jim Leyland’s thoughts on the 2012 lineup, this formal gathering of the Detroit media didn’t disappoint.
 
But after watching the entire 48-minute introductory session in its entirety online, there probably will be one indelible image that will stick in my head for years to come.
 
And that was the apparent frailty of 82-year old Tigers owner, Mike Ilitch.  I am no physician and I didn't even stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but the pizza baron didn’t look like he was in the best of health. 
 
Mr. I appeared incredibly thin, his facial structure almost looked like an implosion had taken place around his cheekbones and when Dave Dombrowski stood up to hand Prince his new Tigers jersey, Ilitch almost got taken out by his own microphone before nearly falling down.
 
I am not commenting on Ilitch’s physical appearance to be mean or critical, but if you want to know why the ex-Milwaukee slugger just signed a contract that was at least two years longer and for $50 million more than his next potential suitor, I don’t think you need to look much further than his new boss’s physical condition.
 
It is hard to believe the same man whose ownership decisions (Please See: The Continued Employment of Randy Smith) for over a decade made Detroit’s baseball franchise look like the Pittsburgh Pirates of the American League is the same guy who now employs THREE $20 million plus ballplayers.
 
It was just over eight years ago that this website organized a protest of Ilitch’s Tigers stewardship after his team suffered a historically awful 119-loss season.
 
If you would have told me that September evening in 2003 when I was acting as a pallbearer for a life-size Paws stuffed animal funeral outside of Comerica Park that Ilitch one day would sign a first baseman to a $214 million contract when he ALREADY had a first baseman in the middle of a $153.3 million deal, I would have told you that I had some bad Japanese bank loans to sell you.
 

 
But it would appear that Ilitch wants to win a World Series DESPERATELY before he croaks and will spare no expense when it comes to his children’s inheritance.  Any ill will I continued to hold for the Little Caesars owner treating the Tigers like a red-headed stepchild in comparison to the Wings during the early part of this century has totally dissipated and there is nothing more I’d like to see than his last wish fulfilled.
 
A Tigers World Series title.
 

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Even though this website prides itself on covering the Detroit sports media scene, I wasn’t planning on listening to the debut of new WDFN Program Director/Afternoon Drive host, Eric Chase, on Wednesday.
 
First off, I had a busy day at work and couldn’t listen to the entire “Howard Stern Show” so I was getting ready to catch up on the latest “Ass Napkin” Ed news as opposed to tuning into 1130’s latest horrid hire.
 
Secondly, I really had no interest in listening to a Top 40 disc jockey pontificating on the Prince Fielder signing.   If I wanted an in-depth breakdown on the possibility of Miguel Cabrera transitioning to third base, I tend to go national...with someone like Keith Law, Ryan Seacrest or Rick Dees.
 
 

But then I was informed by a Twitter follower of mine that outgoing DFN PD Mike McCoy was asking “Dance all Night” Chase some of the questions in my infamous email to McCoy from a couple weeks ago.
 
(You can read check out that email exchange by clicking here: http://bit.ly/wEoLIN)
 
 
So like a gawker driving up to a six-car accident on I-275, I had to tune in and rubberneck.  And while I wasn’t expecting much, even I couldn’t fathom the utter abomination I was about to hear.
 
I only caught the end of the questioning by McCoy, a man whose own management of the channel has left the once popular station in shambles.  Of course, McCoy was only a custodian for the gig after Rona Danziger and Til Levesque assassinated the former #1 sports talker in Detroit with their complete inaction.
 
Upon a return from a commercial break, Art Regner and Chase started discussing various sports topics.  In the half-hour in which I listened to the show, I heard Chase make the following comments:
 
1) He asked Regner if former Montreal Canadiens goalie, Ken Dryden, was “any good.”  Umm, okay.  I GUESS if you weren’t a huge hockey fan, you might not know that Dryden is in the HOCKEY HALL OF FAME. 
 
Call me bi-polar, but if I was hiring a new PROGRAM DIRECTOR at a SPORTS station, I’d probably want him to know if a five-time Vezina Trophy winner and six-time Stanley Cup champ was, like …. “ANY GOOD.”
 
(Mehmet to Eric Chase: The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender in the NHL every season.  The goalie is the guy who stands in front of the net with a bunch of extra equipment on his body and he also wears a mask.)