• Rather than relax or cancel the final day of practice this week like some other teams, Jim Schwartz treated the final day of Lions minicamp as a "work day."
• According to Dave Birkett, Calvin Johnson "has been better than ever this spring." That seems hard to fathom considering how good of a 2011 season he had, but Nate Burleson said this week that Johnson is "stronger and faster." Look out, NFL defensive backs.
• Doug Hogue was sidelined from action earlier this month because he had to get 46 stitches in his arm after a mirror fell on him while he was helping his sister move. Ouch.
• Speaking of Hogue, he has grown an inch and put on 15 pounds this offseason.
  
• NFL.com's Daniel Jeremiah made an interesting comparison between the NBA and NFL by saying that the Lions are the NFL's version of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Considering the Thunder are currently in the NBA Finals, that works for me.
• Brandon Pettigrew had a couple of really nice catches in practice on Thursday.

  Lions TE Brandon Pettigrew with a diving touchdown to get the guys going.

  — Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) June 14, 2012

  Pettigrew with a one-handed catch with a defender draped all over him. Second great catch of the practice.

  — Tim Twentyman (@ttwentyman) June 14, 2012

• MLive's Justin Rogers put together a list of his observations from this week's minicamp.
• Matthew Stafford once struck out Detroit Tigers outfielder Austin Jackson in baseball when they were kids.

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