Harwell, 92, died Tuesday night at his home in Novi after a year-long bout with cancer.

Harwell, the Hall of Fame Tigers broadcaster, was more than just a great voice. He was a great man. Really.

Often in death, people paint the person who  has passed in glowing terms. Often, it’s not all true.

That’s not the case with Harwell. He was a true gentleman. He was such a nice person  — whether he knew you or not. He always had time for others and a kind word for friends.

Just a few weeks ago before I opened my sports bar in downtown Detroit, Harwell emailed me and wished me well in my new business. I was overwhelmed by his gesture. But that’s the kind of man he was.

When I first started doing sports-talk radio on WDFN in 1994, Harwell invite me and my parnter, Mike Stone, to lunch. What a thrill. A giant in broadcasting took the time to wish us well and give us some advice about the radio biz. I loved every minute of it.

The same goes when Harwell invited me to his house about a year and a half ago to have lunch with him and his wife, Lulu. We just ate, talked and shared some time together. I will always cherish my time I had with Ernie. 

For sure, Harwell will be missed by Motown and all the people he touched all over the country, especially me.

After a bad loss at The Joe Sunday afternoon, a 4-2 Phoenix victory, the Wings didn’t makes any excuses. They didn’t lose the game or get jobbed by the refs. They simply got beat by a better team on this day and were honest enough to say it.

“The second period, we didn’t play at all,” Henrik Zetterberg said to the media after the game. “We couldn’t get back from that.”

Many thought the Wings were in the driver’s seat after winning Game 2 to tie the series up and bringing it back to Hockeytown, but Coyotes are the real deal. They were headed to the postseason long before the Wings got in in the final month of the season.

Wings’ coach Mike Babcock said people have to stop dissing Phoenix. “They are a good team,” he said. “When I look at what my guys did, it wasn’t enough.”

Settle in. This won’t be easy for the Wings. Some thought it would be after that impressive victory Friday night. Nope.

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Many wanted to see Jimmy Howard finally in goal in the postseason. He’s going to have to play a lot better if the Wings are going to advance to the second round. Down 3-2, Howard gave up a soft goal. It was a backbreaker.

That’s obvious with all he has accomplished at MSU — a national championship and six trips to the Final Four.

But for all of those people out there who honestly believe he’s a great coach — perhaps the greatest coach in the state of Michigan ever — you couldn’t be more wrong.

Greatness is about multiple championships, doing a great feat again.

Anybody can win a championship. The lanscape is filled with guys who were in the right place at the right time. The stars can align and you get lucky. It doesn’t mean you’re great because you win once.

The Spartans’ terrible loss to Butler 52-50 in Indy Saturday night was as bad as it gets.

With so much handing in the balance, a second straight trip to the championship game, MSU basically let Oakland, which plays in the same league as Butler, stop them from playing for the title.

Nobody wants to hear about calls from the refs or injuries. It’s just a part of sports.

MSU got out MSUed. Izzo was supposed to be the master of winning close games this time of the year. It didn’t happen. Worse, the thing that killed them all year, poor free-throw shooting — they were last in the Big Ten — killed them in the biggest game of the year.

If you want to give Izzo and the Spartans a parade in E. Lansing, go right ahead. No one celebrates the losing team.

MSU lost. They didn’t win a thing by going to the Final Four. They get no extra credit regardless of what many want to believe.

In reality, Izzo hasn’t won in a decade. In his last five Final Four games, Izzo’s team is 1-4. Izzo is now 1-5 in Final Fours. That’s not a great stat. It’s still about winning.

It’s not good enough to get to the doorstep of the Playboy mansion, it’s about going in.

Until further notice, Izzo will remain a good coach who has had a hard time winning the big games recently. When — or if — Izzo wins his second championship, we’ll readdress that greatness talk. Until then, case closed.

He’s ready to play golf again after his embarrassing sex scandal. He will probably play the Masters.

So on Friday, Woods, who hasn’t spoken publicly since everything went down, will read a statement in front of from friends, including members of the media. There will be no questions allowed. What self-respecting reporter would go to such a farce. It’s basically Woods telling people what he wants to and him not having to explain his actions.

It’s a lame way to get back into the limelight.

The best way is to open up and answer as many questions as you can and get it over with. After you do that, you can honestly put this whole mess behind you. Instead, people will keep digging until they can get more info and keep bugging him for the big sitdown interview to get all the questions answered.

Woods is snart, but dumb.

He thinks he’s winning. That’s just in the short run. Long term he isn’t.

This is just another example of why people dislike him. He’s not real or honest. Everything about his shaddy past was scripted and fake, just like this so-called press conference.

I will not tune it. It will be a waste of time. Here’s hoping he doesn’t make the cut at the Masters, either.

Here were the Jets, a team with a rookie coach, quarterback and running back, trying to do what most didn’t think was possible — get to the Super Bowl.

But they jumped out to a 17-13 lead in Indy vs. the Colts at the half. There was a second half that had to be played before anybody was going to the Super Bowl for sure.

Still, the Jets’ move forward shows you that it doesn’t take a decade to make a big-time move in the NFL.

The Lions keep telling fans that it takes time to build a championship. Obviously, things can be turned around quickly when you make the right personnel decisions. That’s what the Jets have done, that’s why they had a shot. The Jets didn’t even make the playoffs a year ago and made changes everywhere with a new coach in place.

It’s an amazing story, but not impossible.

Hopefully, Lions owner William Clay Ford was watching as well. He should understand that there no way he should accept another season like we saw this past year.

Let’s be honest. They were two plays away from going 0-16 two seasons in a row, a near impossible feat in the parity-laden NFL.

“We’re exploring the possibility,” Davidson said to the media.

It came as no surprise. The word was out that Mrs. Davidson didn’t have the same passion for NBA basketball as did her late husband and former owner Bill Davidson.

Hence, it only makes sense for her to sell the team because her heart wouldn’t be into it.

A professional sports team owner’s goal should be to do whatever is possible to win a championship. That’s what he or she owes the fans who give their time and money to a franchise.

In this case, that wasn’t going to be that situation anymore. Over the years, the Pistons’ payroll has been about $70 million. This year, it’s around $55 million.

The goal in Auburn Hills is about saving, not winning, right now.

Again, give Mrs. Davidson credit for trying get out before becoming a bad and cheap owner. We’ve seen that act before and it isn’t pretty.

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In this economy and in this hard-hit region, it makes no sense to invest $10 million dollars into Joe Louis, especially since the Red Wings eventually want to bolt that place and build a new arena.

Plus, there’s no way the Wings will get anybody to help pay for a new arena now. No one has loot, especially not the city. Hence, the only logical idea is to move to Auburn Hills.

I know. I know. Hockey should be played in downtown Detroit. Where is your sense of tradition?

Let’s not forget that Tiger Stadium is gone. Times changes and so do venues.

In time, I believe that Wings will settle back down in the city. It just seems silly to have a beautiful arena not doing anything half the time.

All over the NHL and NBA, teams share the same arena. They do at the Garden in NYC. In LA, at the Staples Center, three teams share that builing and it works — Lakers, Clippers and the Kings.

Owner Mike Ilitch will build a new arena down where Tiger Stadium used to be. That time just isn’t now.

This is a clear case of two teams banning together and saving some money in tough times. The Pistons and Wings could help each other survive as ticket sales dry up and expenses continue to climb.

It’s not forever. The plan is a smart one for a few seasons. Get onboard.

Really.

Based on what?

It can’t be based on his one year at Tennessee. That was unimpressed. It can’t be based on the job he did with the Oakland Raiders. Owner Al Davis ran him away from his team after bad results.

Yet, there’s Kiffin getting another great gig he hasn’t earned. Yet, many want black coaches to go on fake interviews to get practice so that no one will hire them in the NFL Getting a college job is even more impossible for a black coach.

What a joke.

The only thing worse is that the NCAA punishes kids if they want to leave schools. But if a coach bolts, no sweat. It doesn’t matter that they made the kids they recruited commit to the program.

The NCAA should make coaches sit out a year if they they leave by breaking a contract. If they are a free agent, they are free to go. That’s fair.

At some point, the athletes have to ban together to stop the unfair treatment they receive by the NCAA.

The madness must be stopped. Black athletes and coaches, especially, have to stand up and fight for their rights.

Another NFL team has made a mockery of the Rooney Rule, which was put in place to make sure that at least one African American gets interviewed for every head-coaching opening.

But the Redskins are going to hire former Denver coach Mike Shanahan without a legit black coach getting an honest interview.

Last week, Washington owner Dan Snyder interviewed assistant coach Jerry Gray, one of fired coach Jim Zorn’s assistants.

Considering how poorly the Redskins played the last two seasons, there’s no way a Zorn assistant would be hired. This was just a dog and pony show.

How sad.

The NFL has to rethink this and make sure teams interview black assistants who honetly have a shot at the job. That just wasn’t the case here.

In a league that’s nearly 75 percent black, it’s a shame this rule even has to be in place. But since it is, it should be used correctly.

Hello, commissioner NFL Roger Goodell.

Still, there are a lot of interesting things in it.

So often, fans have talked about their dislike for the game because the officials had their hands in too many games, especially when it came to calling fouls on certain players when the game was on the line.

One tidbit that came from Donaghy in an interview  was that some refs hated former Pistons Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups because they complained too much and were an absolute nightmare for refs working a game.

For sure, Detroit fans always believed the Pistons got the short end of big calls in big games. It now makes if you wonder if fans weren’t so offbase on their claims.

The idea that there are or haven’t been other refs caught up in gambling is far-fetched. There’s too much money out there on sports gambling. There has to be more than just this one kat.

The NBA has an image problem that has to be cleaned up with it refs. NBA Commissioner David Stern has his work cut out for him.

For sure, the NBA is wounded. The league can paint it as a book filled with lies in an attempt to sell books and make money. Still, if Donaghy can get another one or two people to sign off on some of his claims, it will open up a bigger can of worms.

This story isn’t over yet. Stay tuned.

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