We're baaaack!

It's a new year and a new slew of episodes of "The Knee Jerks"!!

We kick off 2013's slate of shows with our old friend and "Third Jerk" Adam Biggers, for another edition of "Adam Rants." Tonight Adam, who hasn't been on the show for quite some time, dishes on U-M football, U-M and MSU basketball, the BCS and tonight's National Title game between Notre Dame and Alabama.

Before and after Adam, who joins the Jerks about 45 minutes in, the boys break down the new NHL CBA and discuss who won and who lost in the negotiations (hint: the fans were DEFINITE losers).

Then it's time to talk Tigers and the Hall of Fame, specifically Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. There's also some spirited discussion by Eno on the Torii Hunter/homophobic comments that made the rounds in recent days.

And of course, what would the first show of 2013 be without a post-mortem on the Lions' awful 4-12 season? The Jerks touch on a little of that, but will have lots more to say about it next week.

It's also a return to "Whose Birthday Is It?" (a Roger Whittaker album set from K-Tel is at stake) and "Jerk of the Week"!

It all starts at 7:00pm ET HERE.

In case you missed it...

It may have gotten lost in the shuffle because it initially aired on Christmas Eve, so we'd like to remind you to catch our special December 24 edition, which features former Detroit and New York sportscaster Bob Page!

FOTKJ (Friend of the Knee Jerks) Page takes us through a litany of diatribes, ranging from U-M/MSU football to the Lions to the Pistons to the Tigers to...well, you get the idea.

It's a truncated episode; no Birthday Game, no Jerks of the Week. Just the guys and Bob for about 45 minutes!!

Check it out HERE.

No show tonight (December 17), but next week: Bob Page!

Big Al is still feeling punky, so we're taking one more week off so he can fully recuperate. But the payoff is that, next week, we will be joined by old Knee Jerks friend and former Detroit and New York broadcaster Bob Page (above)! Regular listeners of our show know that whenever Bob is on the show, candor is the name of the game!

We might also work Adam Biggers into the show as well for an edition of "Adam Rants," as Adam hasn't been with us since November.

Tonight: Takin' the week off

Big Al is under the weather, and with the Lions game Sunday happening during our recording time, we wouldn't have been able to talk about the game anyway. So we're taking the week off and we'll come back at ya hard and heavy next week!

Shameless Plug: Eno's Basketball Bones game released in print!

  It's HERE and ready to ship in time for Christmas!

Basketball Bones, the little basketball game that could, the one invented in my basement in the summer of 2008, is now available IN PRINT with dice, cards, charts, the whole shot! Check it out at the PT Games online store! Thanks again to Tim Plum for helping me realize this dream!! Complete game with 4 sample teams just $32, postage paid. 2011-12 season card set (over 500 players rated) just $55. Great Christmas gift! Ages 12 and up!

More on the game:

The basketball game is tied with less than 30 seconds to play. Just about everyone in the building expects the superstar scorer from the visiting team to get the ball in his hands to take the potential game-winning shot.  Everyone is standing—fans and players alike. Chants of “DEE-FENSE…DEE-FENSE” rock the arena. The clock ticks down. But the superstar doesn’t get the basketball. His teammates are unable to get it to him, thanks to great ball denial by the home team. The fans are relieved to see a secondary player from the visitors hoisting a jump shot as the clock ticks closer to 0:00. But that secondary player drains the 15-foot jumper, a dagger into the hearts of the home crowd. Down by two and the time almost gone, the home team takes a timeout and designs a buzzer-beating play. Will they go for the tie or try a desperation three-pointer to win the game and send the fans home deliriously happy? Could you picture the above scenario in your head? If you’re a follower of pro basketball, no doubt you did, because moments like those occur almost nightly in some arena, somewhere. It’s also a scenario that plays out in Basketball Bones, a brand new tabletop basketball game that uses four dice (“bones”) and individual player cards to re-create exciting pro basketball action that includes just about everything that happens on the hardwood! In most instances, the superstars will get the basketball in “crunch time,” because each player is rated for how often he is the focus of his team’s offense.  But the beauty of Basketball Bones is that, just like in real life, pro basketball is a player’s game, and sometimes the plays drawn out on the dry erase board break down. You get it all with Basketball Bones—rebounding beasts who dominate the boards; ball handling wizards who have that innate ability to find the open man for a high percentage shot; “money” free throw shooters who you don’t want to foul with the game on the line; three-point threats whose range extends to downtown; ball hawking defenders who are “pick pocket artists”; and even clumsy, ham-handed defenders who commit fouls quicker than you can blink an eye. In Basketball Bones, every player who suited up for that season gets an individual card rating him in every aspect of the pro game, from shooting frequency to field goal success to rebounding to defense, and more! The game is easy to set up and play. There are no laborious charts to constantly consult. Some possessions are resolved with one throw of the four Bones. The player cards are the integral parts of an engine designed to keep game play flowing like water from a spigot. But pro basketball isn’t just shooting and rebounding. Every game, every night, can include various elements which may affect the outcome: the home court advantage; momentum shifts; a bad night from a key player; a wayward referee’s whistle; and of course, that old bugaboo—injuries. They all can happen in Basketball Bones, too, thanks to the included Rare Play Boards, which bring those elements, and more, into your contests. Maybe a loose-lipped player says the “magic word” and gets slapped with an ill-timed technical foul. Maybe a wet spot on the floor causes your big man to slip and collapse to the floor like a house of cards, resulting in an injury. Maybe a brief spurt by the home team causes a change in momentum and leads to an even bigger and more damaging run. If you’ve seen it happen in the pro game, chances are it can happen in Basketball Bones. Basketball Bones ships in a sturdy box. Inside are player cards for a past pro season, the Rare Play Boards and Buzzer Beater Chart, an 11×17” display, and the Bones—three six sided dice (red, white and blue) and an eight-sided die, from which you will reproduce exciting pro basketball action. We know there are other basketball simulation games out there, and we know how popular some of them are. But Basketball Bones is unlike any other, because it combines simplicity with realism, making for a fun, fast, statistically-accurate pro basketball simulation. Take off your warm-ups and get on the court with Basketball Bones today! You’ve been called into the game! Basketball Bones---where every roll counts!

Hey! Eno created a basketball game!

Eno isn't just a bottom feeding blogger and ranting Jerk! You can add tabletop game designer to his resume.

Introducing Basketball Bones, a new tabletop simulation of the NBA created by Eno along with veteran game designer Tim Plum. With four dice and player cards that are rated based on actual NBA stats, you can re-create exciting pro basketball action on your tabletop!

Check it out! It will be released this week!

Tonight: Eno is a ranting fool (again)!!

With Adam Biggers taking the week off from his "Adam Rants" series (1st and 3rd Mondays of the month), that left more time for Eno to rant, and did he ever take advantage!

Eno went off on the Lions several times, in lengthy rants that afforded Big Al plenty of time to walk away, refill his drink, and catch up on local news.

The Jerks break down the Lions' latest catastrophe, and address off-field distractions like Titus Young and Ndamukong Suh. The boys wonder whether Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz are, indeed, the GM/coach tandem that can elevate the Lions to the next level.

After all things Lions, the Jerks touch briefly on the Tigers and their prospects of making moves at this week's Winter Meetings.

Of course, there's "Whose Birthday Is It?" (a Ronco Veg-a-Matic is at stake) and "Jerk of the Week"!!

It all starts at 7:00pm ET HERE!!