ML Elrick (@elrick), Marc Fellhauer (@MarcFell) and in the bunker, Shawn Windsor (@ShawnWindsor) is on the burner phone

STRAIGHT DOPE: Our weekly insights on the news and look behind the scenes starts with a look back in anger for some (Wolverines) and joy for others (Spartans) at Basketball Big Game I in Ann Arbor last Sunday. 
Then we stop cursing the darkness and shed some light on M.L.’s long-running effort to convert his manor on Detroit’s East Side to solar power, which somehow turns to a discussion of Ed Begley Jr.’s body of work before he was murdered by Nastassja Kinski while she was transformed into a panther, but not the same panther that sometimes was known as the artist known as Simon MacCorkindale. It doesn’t seem possible that all this fits together, but somehow it does. Just listen, dammit! 

M.L. shares his tip on how to save a fortune on a wedding ring, while Marc sings the praises of big, fake rocks.

Hookers, hash, Heineken. It’s all legal on the streets of Amsterdam. You might be shocked to hear what isn’t — and how M.L. found out. 
Marc asks M.L. how he feels about Johns making the news when sex trader workers get busted, leading to a look back at major sex trafficking busts in recent metro Detroit history. 
Marc wonders whether there’s any value to liars like Michael Cohen testifying before Congress and M.L. recites his axiom that “If you want to know what goes on in the whorehouse, you don’t ask the virgin (unless she’s the janitor).”

Marc asks what kind of book President Donald J. Trump might write? M.L. says — surprise! — it could be like “The Kwame Sutra.” (Available for $7.99 at select local booksellers!!!)
M.L. reviews sports pundits’ predictions on last Sunday’s MSU v U-M basketball game, with an assist from POTUS.

THE GREAT DEBATE: Detroit Free Press sports columnist Shawn Windsor dials in from Belleville High School – where the next LeBron James is playing – to discuss the NBA’s “One-and-done” rule and whether college athletes should be paid. A heated discussion ensues in which M.L. declares victory, even though Marc and Shawn disagree vigorously. 

GEEK OF THE WEEK: Robert Kraft. Why do all the bigshots on the New England Patriots ask low-level workers to deflate their balls?

ROOM 7609: M.L. asks for a moment of silence for Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis, who died at 64, while Marc reveals that his daughter has electronic drums – and an attitude.
This week’s selection “To Cut A Long Story Short” reveals that before Spandau Ballet gave the world every reason to consider them the softest band EVER with their hit tune “True,” they had an edgy, funky, dark side. M.L. also reveals that his mouth don’t work so good.

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