Sports Poets Society

by DETROIT PISTONS 2021 MEDIA GUIDE Mark Champion enters his 27th season with the Detroit Pistons as the radio voice in 2020-21.  Champion first joined the Pistons organization in 1992 sharing the airwaves with George Blaha until the end of the 1995-96 season. He rejoined the organization for the 2001-02 season in his new capacity.  A radio veteran who brings 40-plus years of sports broadcasting experience to the microphone, Champion served as the radio voice of the Detroit Lions, a post he held for 16 seasons . He has also served as the voice of Michigan State Men’s Basketball and has worked in three Winter Olympics Games.  In addition to his duties with the Pistons and Lions, Champion handled television play-by-play duties for the Detroit Fury of the Arena Football League (AFL). Most recognized among NFL announcing circles for his work with the Lions and earlier with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Champion serves as the voice for Disney asking the Super Bowl MVP “Where a...

by DETROIT PISTONS 2021 MEDIA GUIDE Greg Kelser joins George Blaha for his 24th season as television analyst on FS Detroit. Kelser has worked Pistons games on television and radio since 1988. He has established himself as a veteran NBA color commentator working the past 27 seasons for the Pistons ’ cable partners. In addition to his analytical duties, Kelser also lends his expertise during segments of the pre-game show.  Kelser worked six seasons with PASS Sports prior to his FS Detroit engagement. He served as the Pistons color commentator for WWJ radio during home games from 1988-93 and has also worked on collegiate television broadcasts in a variety of settings, including the NCAA tournament .  A former All-American and Academic All-American at Michigan State University , Kelser, along with Earvin “Magic” Johnson, captained the Spartans to the 1979 NCAA Championship . He was drafted by the Pis tons in 1979 and played in Detroit until he was traded to the Seattle Sup...

by DETROIT PISTONS 2021 MEDIA GUIDE A local broadcasting icon and one of the most recognizable personalities in Detroit and the NBA, George Blaha begins his 45th consecutive season as the television and radio play-by-play voice of the Detroit Pistons in 2020-21. The “ Voice of the Pistons ” is the longest tenured play-by-play announcer in the State of Michigan . Blaha brings a high-energy style to go with his extensive basketball knowledge and demonstrates a true passion for Pistons basketball. His trademark colloquialisms such as, “ two and twenty-two to play ”, “ a high glass gun that goes ” and “ count that baby and a foul ” have thrilled Pistons fans of all ages for over four decades.  Blaha, an inductee into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 , has been the recipient of many industry awards, including the Ty Tyson Award for broadcasting excellence by the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association in 2002 and Michigan Sports Broadcaster of the Year from the National Sports...

by DETROIT PISTONS 2021 MEDIA GUIDE Rick Mahorn begins his 19th season as a color analyst for the Pistons radio broadcast network . Mahorn brings his extensive NBA experience and joins George Blaha and Mark Champion to  deliver insightful commentary during all 82 regular-season games.  Following an 18-year NBA playing career , Mahorn served as head coach of the Rockford Lightning of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) for the 1999-00 season . He led the Lightning to a 15-7 overall record and the American Conference title, which earned them a No. 2 seed in the 2000 CBA Playoffs. Mahorn’s coaching excellence was recognized in two CBA Coach-of-the-Month Awards . He then joined the coaching staff of the Atlanta Hawks under Lon Kruger during the 2001-02 season.  In 2005, Mahorn joined the Detroit Shock coaching staff, helping take the team to a seventh straight playoff appearance and third WNBA Championship. In 2009, three games into the WNBA season, Mahorn took over...

MIKE ABDENOUR [DIRECTOR OF TEAM OPERATIONS] by DETROIT PISTONS 2021 MEDIA GUIDE Mike Abdenour is in his seventh season as director of team operations for the Detroit Pistons after 35 years as the team’s athletic trainer . This will also mark his 45th overall season in the NBA .  Abdenour’s name has been virtually synonymous with the Pistons since he first started as the team’s trainer in 1975 . He worked in Detroit for 17 seasons before joining the Philadelphia 76ers in 1992 . After a three-year stay in Philadelphia, he returned to the Pistons in 1995. The 2020-21 season marks Abdenour’s 25th in Detroit since his return.  Abdenour was always considered an integral part of Coach Chuck Daly’s staff on the Pistons’ championship teams of 1989 and 1990, leaving Detroit after the 1991-92 season to take the job in Philadelphia.  He originally joined the Pistons staff in 1975, making the jump to the professional level from Wayne State University . He has been a member of the NBA...

https://eu.freep.com/story/money/business/2016/10/05/today-marks-50-years-since-fermi-1-accident/91559686/ This is a copy of a photo of the the Fermi 1 that is a part of the Fermi 1 exhibit that is installed in the halls of the Career Technology Center on the campus of Monroe County Community College in Monroe.  Photographed Monday, Sept. 26, 2016.  FERMI HISTORICAL EXHIBIT JC REINDL | Detroit Free Press - October 5, 2016 It was 50 years ago today that Monroe County was the site of the worst nuclear accident at a U.S. commercial power plant, years before Three Mile Island captivated the nation. The incident occurred around 3 p.m. at the now-defunct Fermi 1 plant in Frenchtown Township near Monroe and involved the partial meltdown of nuclear fuel in the reactor's core. No one was hurt and no dangerous radiation released in the Oct. 5, 1966, mishap . However, the plant remained shut down for nearly four years. It reopened in July 1970 but then was permanently shut for econo...

https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/10/09/detroit-fermi-accident-nuclear-plant/91434816/ Before Fukushima, Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, there was Fermi 1. JC REINDL | Detroit Free Press - October 9, 2016 As Michigan and the nation's energy profiles are poised to change dramatically in the coming decade, the 50th anniversary last week of the Fermi 1 nuclear plant mishap in Monroe County — the genesis for the book and song "We Almost Lost Detroit" — is a stark reminder that decisions on how to meet the economy's energy needs are nearly always controversial and may bring unanticipated consequences. Fermi 1 was the worst nuclear accident at a U.S. commercial power plant in the years before Three Mile Island jolted the nation. There were no injuries or hazardous radiation released, but the incident provided an early argument against nuclear power as too dangerous, including speculation at the time that a crushed beer can in the works had caused t...

https://vault.si.com/vault/1987/05/04/the-master-of-midair CURRY KIRKPATRICK Sports Illustrated - MAY 4, 1987 ORIGINAL LAYOUT It was the Summer of '76. The dawning of the NBA-ABA merger, when a Mr. J. Smiley of Detroit appeared at the Cobo Hall ticket window, whipped out his $200 Ford Motor Company payroll check and mumbled something to the effect of: "Gimme all you got for the Doctah!" That's just about all anyone needs to know to understand the effect Erving had upon pro basketball. The uniform, the team, the city didn't matter. Come to think of it, the game wasn't much of a factor either: Erving was sold by the Nets to the 76ers the day before that '76-77 season opened and, knowing the Doctor would not appear, CBS canceled a national telecast of a Nets-Warriors game, in one fell swoop attesting to this still-mysterious athlete's drawing power while holding the entire sport up to miserable contempt. Paradoxically, because of Dr. J. pro basketball wou...

https://alemontosi.blogspot.com/2013/07/karen-silkwood-la-sindacalista-che.html La notte del 13 novembre 1974 Karen Gay Silkwood , una ventottenne operaia e sindacalista in una fabbrica dell’Oklahoma di materiale radioattivo per centrali nucleari , muore a causa di un incidente stradale .  Sulla sua auto si trova un’importante documentazione raccolta dalla donna all’interno dello stabilimento in cui lavora, che testimonia problemi, gravi rischi per la salute, strategie per aggirare norme di sicurezza e negligenza nella gestione dell’impianto nucleare da parte della potente compagnia Kerr-McGee . Karen sta viaggiando da sola per consegnare tutti i documenti a un giornalista del New York Times e a un sindacalista di Washington , ma lungo il tragitto si verifica l’incidente e, all’arrivo dei soccorsi, quella documentazione scompare. Si apre così il “caso” Silkwood, riferito a una donna accusata dalla società per cui lavorava, di aver volontariamente contaminato se stessa (condann...

https://radiopereira.it/2011/06/10/karen-silkwood-e-il-cancro-del-coraggio/ di Marta  -10 Giugno 2011 A volte l’energia nucleare può diventare mortale per il semplice fatto di parlarne pubblicamente. Karen Silkwood ha pagato le sue inchieste all’interno dell’impianto nucleare della compagnia Kerr-McGee con la sua stessa vita . Il caso Silkwood esce alla ribalta nel 1979, anno in cui il padre di Karen porta in tribunale la compagnia in cui la figlia lavorava, a 5 anni dalla sua morte avvenuta a causa di un misterioso incidente stradale . Ma chi era Karen Silkwood? Karen Silkwood nasce a Longview, Texas e fin da giovane dimostra una spiccata preferenza per la matematica e la chimica, dopo un breve matrimonio e 3 figli, che dovrà lasciare in affidamento all’ex marito in Texas, Karen si trasferisce in Oklahoma.   A Crescent viene assunta dalla compagnia Kerr-McGee che produce barre di plutonio per reattori nucleari. Ben presto però Karen si accorge che le cose all’interno dell’imp...

https://www.antiwarsongs.org/canzone.php?id=38642&lang=it Scritta da Gil Scott-Heron (primo aprile 1949 - 27 maggio 2011) nel 1977 - prima della sua partecipazione al “No Nukes Concert” a Manhattan - con riferimento in particolare a due episodi: l’incidente alla Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station, vicino Detroit, accaduto nel 1966 (la centrale è ancora oggi attiva), e la morte misteriosa della giovane Karen Silkwood , un tecnico chimico che nel 1974 aveva denunciato gravi pericoli per la salute dovuti alle irregolarità nelle procedure di trattamento del plutonio per centrali nucleari presso un impianto della Kerr-McGee Corporation in Oklahoma…  L’impianto chiuse nel 1975 perché le denunce di Silkwood si rivelarono fondate…  Quanto alla sua morte, nessuno è mai stato indagato. Fu archiviata come incidente , anche se nessuno spiegò mai perché fossero spariti i documenti che Karen aveva con sé e perché la sua vettura, schiantatasi frontalmente uscendo di strada, avesse d...