Tigers Mania
Last night was the first time playoff baseball has been played in Detroit since I was 13 years old. More than 43,000 fans showed up to see the first playoff game ever played at Comerica Park. I remember times when there couldn't have been more than a few hundred of us poor souls suffering through another humiliating loss at Tiger Satdium. (Hint: don't try to start the wave when entire sections of a huge stadium are completely empty).
Of course we couldn't get tickets last night. But Naj and I stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings (a huge, gaudy suburban sports bar with about a million giant TV screens) after we hit the mall for a few hours. What we saw was awesome. First, the place was packed and very loud; people watching baseball on TV at a bar and cheering even strikeouts. Hadn't seen anything like that before.
We saw a 41-year-old guy named Kenny Rogers pitch one of the best games I have seen pitched in a very long time. He threw pitch after pitch of simply unhittable balls and brought an intensity you seldom see in sports. It was a masterpiece. And we listened to 88-year-old legendary Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, long ago retired and a personal hero of mine, call an inning on ESPN as the amateurs sat back and watched.
You have to understand. I'm a sports fan, sure. I love Michigan (currently undefeated), the Pistons, Red Wings, etc. But the Tigers are different. Maybe that's because baseball is different. I'm not sure I can really explain it. Many of you reading this are nodding right now. For those who aren't, you really have to see it first hand to understand.
For me, last night was the feeling I've been waiting a very long time for. I hope the Tigers go on to finish the Yankees off later today, but if they don't I have to say last night was worth it. For a few moments, at a bar in Novi, my Tigers were playing baseball in October, Detroit was rocking and Kenny Rogers owned the New York Yankees. I won't soon forget it.
Of course we couldn't get tickets last night. But Naj and I stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings (a huge, gaudy suburban sports bar with about a million giant TV screens) after we hit the mall for a few hours. What we saw was awesome. First, the place was packed and very loud; people watching baseball on TV at a bar and cheering even strikeouts. Hadn't seen anything like that before.
We saw a 41-year-old guy named Kenny Rogers pitch one of the best games I have seen pitched in a very long time. He threw pitch after pitch of simply unhittable balls and brought an intensity you seldom see in sports. It was a masterpiece. And we listened to 88-year-old legendary Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell, long ago retired and a personal hero of mine, call an inning on ESPN as the amateurs sat back and watched.
You have to understand. I'm a sports fan, sure. I love Michigan (currently undefeated), the Pistons, Red Wings, etc. But the Tigers are different. Maybe that's because baseball is different. I'm not sure I can really explain it. Many of you reading this are nodding right now. For those who aren't, you really have to see it first hand to understand.
For me, last night was the feeling I've been waiting a very long time for. I hope the Tigers go on to finish the Yankees off later today, but if they don't I have to say last night was worth it. For a few moments, at a bar in Novi, my Tigers were playing baseball in October, Detroit was rocking and Kenny Rogers owned the New York Yankees. I won't soon forget it.
posted by Mookie at
12:03 PM
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