Looks like Jalen Rose didn’t forget about Detroit.

A few weeks ago, the Free Press did an update on Jalen and I was happy to see how involved he is with Detroit youth and what a great role model he has become. He lives in Detroit in the offseason, coaches a boys’ AAU basketball team and eleven years after leaving UM, he has earned his college degree. Additionally, Jalen awarded $50,000 in scholarships to five seniors from Detroit high schools. It’s wonderful to see professional athletes giving back to their communities, I hope it continues.

Off topic: I want to chime in — thanks to the Metroblogging community for your comments and support.

One of life’s little pleasures is finding money in the pocket of a coat you haven’t worn in a couple seasons. Maybe its the cynic in me, but the feeling of joy is muted by the realization that it has been there the whole time, and I just didn’t know it.

Many people, even in the city, don’t seem to realize that Detroit has one of the country’s top libraries; on Cass ave. across from Wayne State. As of May this year, it was ranked 16th nationally with 7,265,306 books in a national survey by the American Library Association. Located in the heart of the city; and accessible via both major bus lines (SMART, and DDOT) it is a beacon of opportunity for those that know about it and use it.

In addition to offering a ridiculous number of books, it sports one of only 3 “partnership libraries” that help people file patents, in the entire US, according to the homepage for the US patent office (that took some digging ;). A resource like this really should be thought of as “money in our pocket.” By the way, if you swing by, wish her happy birthday – she just turned 140!

We’ve only been part of the family for a few short days and already we have an opportunity to be the annoying younger sibling. Fuzzy, from Metroblogging Chicago , will be in Ann Arbor this Saturday as part of the Chicago Neutrino Project: The Instant Movie.
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Just a reminder the Detroit Institute of Art will be closing on Monday, August 1st for the rest of the summer, so that renovations can be kicked into high gear.

A cool treat is DIA Members can visit some of the neighboring museums for free during the closure.

Link

[review]

One of cool things at spending so much of my time in “the intellectual hub of Detroit” (the Wayne State slogan) is the truly cool people you meet when you keep your eyes open. I don’t mean “cool” in the ever elusive flavor-of-the-month sense of the word – rather I mean the type of person that you wouldn’t mind sitting next to on the plane for a couple hours.

I went to Bronx bar today after work. The place is a caricature of a dive bar – but in the most pleasant and intriguing of ways. The waitress/bartender/surrogate mother-type lady, that served as our burger broker, had honest stains on her shirt that made me feel like I had successfully ducked out of email-land and into a greasy paradise; complete with cheap beer.
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Columbia Star

This summer, I have found myself at the riverfront with my camera a few times. Whenever I am there, I have been lucky enough to catch some Great Lakes freighters steaming by. The size of the ships, combined with their grace in the water is amazing to me. Take for example this ship the Columbia Star. That ship is one thousand feet long. That is huge. The waterfront is one of my favorite things about the region, and over on my side of the River in Windsor, they have done a much better job with access, and public spaces than on the Detroit side, although that is changing.

I also want to say a big thank you to everyone one else making us feel so welcome to join the MB family.

Today was Wayne State University Press

With less than a week until Detroit’s mayoral primary election, I am confident that the majority of Detroit voters out there have already decided which candidate will receive their vote. After all, if you live in Detroit by choice, I am guessing that you have a vested interest in who will be running the city for the next four years. I know I do.

For all of you procrastinators out there: while I whole-heartedly commend you for your ability to operate in such an anxiety-provoking, last-minute fashion – which would most likely be the death of me – please consider the advice of a die-hard Detroiter when I politely point out that waiting to the last minute to decide which candidate to vote for may not be the best idea in this situation.

With a mere six days before the polls open, you better believe that the Detroit atmosphere is about to become inundated with campaign advertisements – complete with inflated promises and negative attacks. You know, the typical political race.

So, instead of falling prey to the emotional and psychological commercials and lawn signs that continually increase the week before the election, why not do the research now while you can still think straight?

Although it is extremely difficult to find unbiased information on the candidates, this link to the Politics page of the online edition of the Detroit Free Press is a good place to start. Here you’ll find straight-forward information on each of the candidate’s viewpoints on five city-related items; basic background information on the candidates; and, portions of individual Q&A sessions the Freep conducted with each. You may also want to check out this recent article on Crain’s Detroit, which is also an individual Q&A session with each candidate, but asks questions more focused on Detroit’s business leaders and entrepreneurs.

Good luck on your research and hope to see you at the polls!

First of all, thanks to Sean for the lovely front-page intro; we’re excited to be part of this in every way.

Sean also lamented the fact that our first string of comments did not include discussion of our beloved Detroit Red Wings of the league-formerly-known-as-the-NHL. This should not be seen as a diss of our boys, but rather as an indication that ice would survive less than 30 seconds, given our current local weather.

Regardless, there are some very happy hockey fans around here now. Maybe ‘relieved’ is more accurate; I know it is for me. Having played at (what I thought was) a high level of hockey until college, and being a fanatic of the sport, I’m pretty sure I had a good grasp on the labor situation that had dragged on for 13+ months until a new CBA was reached 2 weeks ago. Clearly, I was wrong.

Why? Because I didn’t realize how badly that players had lost this thing. They were shutout, to use a phrase. They got killed, mercilessly. The owners took them to the cleaners, and got everything they wanted. The players held out and held out, hoping to break the owners.

Well, duh.

That ain’t how it works in a sport with no real TV contract, no household names and a regional following. That kind of crap may have worked before, and maybe still could in other sports, but not here. Not this game.

So, the players are left with at best a 24% reduction in their salaries; at worst, they’re being let go because their contract is too hot for the new $39 Million cap. The Wings had to drop some key players today, including a Detroit institution: Darren McCarty.

Darren probably won’t be reading this, but just in case: not many athletes come along in this town and become both loved and respected. You, my man, are one of them.

People will talk about his Lemieux fight in ‘97, but to me, his goal in the 2nd period of Game 4 of the ‘97 Finals was the single greatest clutch goal I’ve ever seen. And in deference to the 125,000 people out there that claim they were there — I really was. Cried my eyes out.

Now, the big question is: will Stevie come back for another season? My gut tells me ‘yes’. No brainer. You don’t leave the greatest career in Detroit history bleeding from your eye socket. The man would never do it on purpose, but he deserves his ‘farewell tour’.

Much, much more about this later. I promise.

We, here at Metroblogging Detroit, would like to thank everyone for their warm welcomes as we joined the family today. All the kind words and warm wishes are appreciated.

Come visit us and we’ll buy you a drink (or at least I will)…