Wings' decade of excellence included two more Stanley Cups

The Red Wings won two Stanley Cups this decade with different coaches and goaltenders. They won without a salary cap -- with a bunch of future Hall of Fame players -- and they won with a cap and more of a grind-it-out team.

That shows the ingenuity of general manager Ken Holland and the commitment of Mike Ilitch. The Wings have become the barometer by which other NHL teams are measured. They've won four Stanley Cups in 13 seasons.

The 2002 championship team was a Who's Who of hockey. Goaltender Dominik Hasek was surrounded by big guns Brendan Shanahan, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios and Sergei Fedorov. Of course, they were led by The Captain, Steve Yzerman, who'd become gimpy with injuries but hung in there. Their coach was Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman.

Six years later, it was Mike Babcock's turn to hoist the Cup. He did it with an entirely different team. Nick Lidstrom was an important holdover from the 2002 team, but young players such as Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg played key roles. Chris Osgood took over for Hasek in goal and won his second Cup as the primary playoff goaltender.

In the 10-year period starting in 1999-00 and running through the 2008-09 season, the Wings never won fewer than 48 regular-season games, and they were the Central Division champs nine times.

Dumars knew Pistons would be champs

Pistons president Joe Dumars had a secret, and he shared it with only Bill Davidson, the late Pistons owner. In a week, the rest of the sports world would find out the news Dumars was hiding -- his team would win the 2004 NBA championship.

"The Lakers will be lucky if they win one game," Dumars told his boss.

It seemed highly unlikely. The Lakers had four future Hall-of-Famers on a mission. The Pistons' biggest star was their nomadic coach, Larry Brown.

Brown's team was begging for respect, but loved to be doubted.

In that sense, the 2004 NBA Finals was the perfect storm. It was expected to be a mere formality, a coronation of the great Lakers franchise.

What ensued was as unlikely as it was amazing for some to watch.

The Pistons crushed the Lakers, winning the series 4-1, challenging conventional wisdom and destroying a dysfunctional dynasty with suffocating defense and team play.

So, as Dumars sat outside the joyous Pistons locker room the night of June 14 with an unlit cigar, one thing was certain:

He already had planned his celebration.

Tigers reach first Series since 1984

What many fans forget about the Tigers' run to the 2006 World Series was that they lost their final five games of the regular season and were edged by the Twins for the American League Central Division title.

But all was forgiven when the Tigers beat the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs. A sweep of the A's in the AL Championship Series followed, and the Tigers were headed to their first World Series since 1984.

After the Tigers' disastrous 119-loss 2003 season, an embarrassed Mike Ilitch vowed to spend money on talent. The Tigers signed impact free agents Pudge Rodriguez and Magglio Ordonez, and got stellar pitching from Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones in 2006.

But the good times ended in the World Series.

The Cardinals beat the Tigers in five games as Detroit's offense turned cold and its pitchers failed to make routine plays on bunts and grounders.

Still, it was a great ride that revived baseball in Detroit, one of the American League's charter cities.

And for the first time in a long time, a younger generation of people became Tigers fans.

Fight night at The Palace

"Malice at The Palace" flipped the sports world around in November 2004, and made it a little more difficult for fans to get close to their favorite professional basketball players.

Extra security patrols every NBA arena, league officials have banned alcohol sales beyond the third quarter because a Pistons fan threw a cup of beer that landed on Pacers forward Ron Artest.

Moments earlier, Artest scuffled with Ben Wallace after fouling the Pistons center near the end of the game. Wallace shoved Artest, and mayhem ensued when Artest broke one of the unwritten rules of sports and charged the stands to fight fans.

As Artest attacked a fan, several other battles broke out in the stands. Pacers teammate Stephen Jackson followed Artest into the stands, and Pistons broadcaster Rick Mahorn and Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace acted as peacemakers, or it could have been worse.

Artest's suspension of 86 games was the longest in NBA history, and nine players overall were suspended.

Izzo sustains MSU's winning tradition

Michigan State reached the NCAA Tournament every season this decade, and the Spartans advanced to four Final Fours. They won a national title in 2000 with the Mateen Cleaves-led Flintstones.

Coach Tom Izzo has built the Michigan State into a national power by using mostly regional talent. He makes teams tougher and puts an emphasis on defense and rebounding.

One of Izzo's proudest moments -- in addition to winning the national title -- was taking Michigan State to last spring's Final Four at Ford Field.

It gave this town a spark at a time it badly needed one. A blowout loss to North Carolina stung, but couldn't spoil the moment.

Millen turns Lions into a national joke

One field goal. That's all it took to usher in the worst decade of football in NFL history.

After Bears kicker Paul Edinger booted a 53-yard field goal on the last play of the 2000 regular season to knock the Lions out of the playoffs, Detroit leadership turned to the television booth to find salvation. Instead, Matt Millen turned the Lions into a national joke. He ruined the franchise -- and was given a contract extension.

Millen was fired in September 2008 after he'd run through four coaches and wasted numerous draft picks. By the time the Lions finished that season, they were 31-97 with Millen's players.

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