I had a chance to spend a little time with former Michigan State Spartan, Detroit Lion and now Seattle Seahawk running back T.J. Duckett this afternoon in Mattawan.  More importantly, I got to watch as T.J. treated eight young boys…. kids he previously did not know….each of whom have a parent battling, or who had battled cancer…. to a day of fun at local arcade and fun park. 

“I’ve been through the whole experience,” said Duckett, who lost his mother to cancer when he was a kid.  “I know what they’re going through.”

After meeting the kids and their parents at the West Michigan Cancer Center, Duckett surprised the group with limo transportation to the “Formula K” fun spot in Mattawan.  There, Duckett treated the kids to go-cart racing, bumper cars, air-hockey, arcade games, and host of other activities.  

“When my mother was sick, she really didn’t have the ability, the energy or the time to do things like this,” Duckett told me this afternoon.  “Being able to take kids out who are in the same situation I was in and give some relief to their parents… I think that’s half the battle.  When you’re sick you worry about how other people are doing, especially your children.”

Duckett also gave each of the kids his personal cell phone number, as he gets set to head to Seattle for training camp. 

“I don’t want these kids to feel like they are by themselves,” Duckett said.  “(I want to) give them a chance to call me, whatever it is, in any situation that comes up, when they feel alone or they feel they don’t have anyone to talk to.  If I can talk to them on the phone when they’re having a bad day, I can remind them of what we did out here today.”

A simple gesture by a good man… yet one these eight young men, will never forget.

The Detroit Lions will open a mandatory three day “mini camp” on Tuesday (June 23rd)… their last official team workouts until the opening of “training camp” in late July.   At the end of OTA’s (organized team activities) I had a chance to talk with Booth Newspapers Lions Beat Writer Tom Kowalski, about the team heading into mini camp.  Click here to see that interview: http://tinyurl.com/lr3nuz

I know these picks are late, but I got busy and I don’t get paid to do this but do get paid to do the other things I was doing. Thus, late picks.

31-16 on the season isn’t exactly where I wanted these picks to be, but I have to try to get better. Too bad for me, but Detroit is off this week and so I can’t pick against them to get a good guaranteed winner of a pick. Regardless, this is the week that I bounce back and return to my glory days. Here you go, go ahead and make some bets based on these picks and you won’t be sorry.

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Well, I was hoping that this would be a week where I went 15-1 or 14-2 in picking games just to get back to a decent record for picking these things. I did alright this week, but it’s nothing to write home about. Well, here is how they shaped up against the actual games.
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21-10 on the season for these picks is really not good. How not good? Well, any worse and I guess that I have to stop just writing a blog no one takes seriously and go host an AM sports radio show that no one takes seriously. So honestly, I have to start doing better. Well, on to this week’s picks. (more…)

After week 1 I am 11-5 which is terrible. This week helped none. I have no idea what is going on. Apparently there is some football god out there who has managed to take teams that I thought were going to be decent (Jacksonville) and made them terrible. Read on for the carnage.
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Alright, last week I was 11-5 making me 11-5 for the season.  Not a bad start, but really I should be doing better.  I am now hanging my head in shame this week.  I predict much better results this week.  So, here we go…… (more…)

Week 1 is over, the results are in.  Didn’t do too bad, but a few upsets made the week a little sub-par.  Well, I blame Indy and San Diego for my poor start to the season.  Here is how the picks shook out. (more…)

If any of you remember last year, you’ll remember that I was actually doing pretty good at predicting the winners of games.  So much so, that the server died.  Imagine that.  I picked NFL winners so well that the server actually had a melt down.  Sort of like how late ’80s hair metal bands could change the physical properties of things through the sheer power of their rocking.  (See any old Scorpions or Cinderella video)

Anyway, here are the Week 1 Sports By Joe picks….. (more…)

More importantly, to me at least, is that my fantasy football season also starts tonight.  I must admit that this season is a bit different in that I didn’t choose my team myself.  You see, the league that I am in has an actual offline draft usually on a Friday after work.  Well, our draft was last Friday and for the first time in the  5 years of this league I missed the draft.  However, I will say that I missed my draft for a good reason.  You see, I got married on Saturday and decided that I probably shouldn’t stay up late on the Friday before my wedding so that I could participate in a fantasy draft.  Well, the teams are chosen and here’s mine: (more…)