Yesterday was a holiday. I am a Detroit Tiger fan. Yesterday was the home opener, which I have been attending regularly since I was old enough to drive. Before I get the bandwagon comments, anybody who knows me knows that I was dumb enough to admit my fandom during all the miserable years that preceded last year's miracle in Motown.
Baseball is a relaxation exercise for me - big-time stress reducer too. The pace of the game is slow enough that you can leisurely explore other ideas, and even daydream a bit, without missing the action. NASCAR races are like that for me. At home, I rarely sit down and watch a race from start to finish. The race broadcast itself is usually background noise, to some extent, for the other things that need to be addressed on a Sunday afternoon. Hell, most of the action takes place during the commercials anyway, right? I hadn't realized this similarity, for me, until yesterday during one of my wandering mind periods, in about the fifth inning.
Our friend Matt Crossman has a baseball related lean in his blog about Martinsville and the bumping that goes, and went, on....
Here's what I think: There's nothing wrong with the way Gordon nudged Johnson in an attempt to get him out of the way. It's no different than throwing a pitch inside to move a hitter off the plate. The fear of getting hit makes a batter back off; the fear of getting wrecked makes a slower driver get out of the way. If the batter won't move without some encouragement, a pitch inside is fine. Same goes for a driver who delivers a bump.
Obviously, intentionally hitting a guy in the face is wrong (though plunking him in the ribs in certain situations would be OK), as is intentionally wrecking a guy, and pitchers and drivers have to deal with what happens if they intend to intimidate and instead end up wrecking the other guy. more...
Matt is a pretty regular guest ON PIT ROW and he is also a Tiger fan. I don't know if he made the game yesterday, but if he did, he probably noticed this. There were forty three thousand plus people at the game - and probably another twenty thousand or so who tailgated and skipped the game - and I didn't see one item of NASCAR clothing. Zero. Everyone, it seemed , had on Tiger stuff. Next time you go out, anywhere, see how long it takes to spot the NASCAR gear.
Opening day in Detroit is pretty special. I'll bet that in the years after the 100 loss seasons, there were more #3 Earnhart hats than there were #3 Trammel (or this year Sheffield) hats in attendance.
Being born and bred in Detroit last years WS brought back many memories of 1968 when the Cards and Tigers last met.
It also reminded my of how bad the Tigers have sucked since the pizza clan took over the club.
Prior to that they were rated in the top five all-time winning teams.
The same list probably has them "lounging" around the bottom half of the twenties after losing for so long.
Posted by: marc | April 04, 2007 at 04:56 AM
It's been a long, long time since they were any good Marc. Makes you appreciate the good seasons more. Still, for me, baseball is baseball and I just enjoy being at the ballpark - whether it is Comerica Park, Fifth Third Field in Toledo or one of my grandkids' games.
Posted by: charlie | April 04, 2007 at 09:19 AM
Yea... go Mud Hens!!!
Comerica Park? Yea it's nice but will never replace Al Kaline camped out under the short right field porch hopeing a high fly makes it as far as his glove.
Or The Bird on the mound.
Or Gates Brown pinch hitter extradinaire.
Posted by: marc | April 04, 2007 at 08:02 PM
I was at the last game in Tiger stadium. The last four in fact. All of those guys were there that day, in uniform. Brought tears to my eyes. And I couldn't agree more, it cannot be replaced. The Hen's home opener is a week from Friday by the way. I'm still angling for tickets.
Posted by: charlie | April 04, 2007 at 08:55 PM