Sports

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan's House Education committee chairwoman is calling on a state department to rescind its complaint over the use of American Indian mascots in schools.

Alto Republican Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons released a statement Monday criticizing the Michigan Department of Civil Rights for taking its complaint to the federal level.

A Michigan state house committee meeting this week is expected to draw dozens of Mixed Martial Arts fighters.

State Representative Harvey Santana says there are amateur Mixed Martial Arts events being staged in Michigan every weekend. And he says the way many bouts are staged puts fighters at serious risk.

Santana recalls recently watching an overmatched MMA fighter lose badly.

Super Bowl XLVII provided us with thrills, spills and record electric bills – plus a football game somewhere in there. 

Congratulations! 

You not only survived that annual orgy of conspicuous consumption called the Super Bowl, you also survived the two weeks of endless stories without news that lead up to the big day. 

And when the big game arrives, what is our reward?  On the one day we actually look forward to watching TV ads, they were so bland and boring and just plain bad, we had no choice but to turn our attention to the actual football game.

Michigan high school sports officials are trying to figure out how to implement a new federal rule that opens sports programs to students with disabilities.

More than 300,000 students take part in high school sports in Michigan.   

A small number are disabled.

But the number of disabled students playing high school sports will likely increase.

That's because the federal government has decreed that handicapped students must be given a fair shot to make traditional sports teams, or schools must create new programs for them.

With Ann Arbor’s own Harbaugh brothers about to square off in the Super Bowl, you’ll probably start to hear lots of stories from the folks who met them along the way. 

Well, count me in.

The Detroit News posted a cool video this morning of the transformation of Joe Louis Arena.

The Ford Motor Company unveiled their new trucks in the arena on January 15.

On January 17, the place was ready for Red Wings hockey. Here's how the transition happened.

From David Guralnick of the Detroit News: