College basketball: Michigan State won its second exhibition 112-69 over Lake Superior State. Raymar Morgan had 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Spartans, and Durrell Summers followed his monster game againt Northern Michigan with another strong performance — 18 points in 19 minutes. Box score.

Also, Michigan opens the regular season tonight, hosting Michigan Tech in the “2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.” (Apparently these upper peninsula schools are the trendy choice for UM and MSU November games. What happened to Athletes in Action and Eastern European national teams?)

NFL: What do you know — Ikaika Alama-Francis and Cliff Avril get to start this Sunday (scroll down in the link for the reference). Apparently the Mitten is already influencing the decision-makers in Allen Park.

NHL: Interesting Wings game tonight, as former Penguin Marian Hossa welcomes his old mates to his new home at Joe Louis Arena. I can’t remember another player in any sport who played for a championship one season, then jumped the next season to the team he faced in the finals. (Antonio McDyess, don’t you get any ideas.) Penguins forward Max Talbot calls Hossa’s move “a blow to the heart” — so here’s guessing Hossa may have a blow or two aimed his way tonight.

MLB: The Detroit Tigers Weblog gave its endorsement to free agent catcher Josh Bard as a candidate to backstop the Tigers in 2009. I’ll second that thought, both because it makes sense for Detroit and because Josh is a friend — and it would be astonishingly cool if he played for the Tigers. Maybe the Mitten’s powers of persuasion will influence Dave Dombrowski . . .