The Roar Restored
Ten. That’s how old I was when the Tigers last won the World Series. Thirteen. That’s how old I was when the Tigers last played post-season baseball. Now, at 32, I’m on the bullet train to middle-age and finally the odometer on that second number gets reset. The Tigers, the Detroit –baseball- Tigers, are officially bound for the post-season, after 19 years with no October baseball in the motor city! It’s been over ten years since the Tigers last finished the season with a winning record. Travis Fryman was their third baseman back then. Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker were still turning double-plays. The only way to sum up the feeling of knowing that I’ll be watching the Old English D jerseys take the field in the post-season is to quote the most famous Tiger of them all. Take it away Tigger: Tigger: Bouncy! Bouncy! Bouncy! FunFunFunFunFun!!! Today I don’t even care that the Packers once again walked into Ford Field and embarrassed the Lions. It’s the Tigers’ day and nothing can ruin that for me. (Michigan’s win over Wisconsin doesn’t hurt my warm fuzzies, either.) Credit has to go, first and foremost to owner Mike Illitch. He failed miserably as the Tigers owner for a long, long time. But when he hired team president, Dave Dombrowski, five years ago, he sowed the seeds for this day. Dombrowski has really done the impossible, as the man most directly responsible for turning this team around. He broke down a roster of never-will-be’s in a balls out effort to rebuild a barren minor league system, resulting in a humiliating 119 loss disaster three years ago, and he rebuilt them into a team that (as of today) once again owns the best record in the major leagues. The turnaround truly is historic. Now, if the Tigers can just put the hammer down over these last six games, they can take the division crown as well. (They lead Minnesota by 1.5 games.) There’s only one guy I feel bad for today: Alan Trammell. He guided this team through the worst of this two decade long drought and while he may not have been the guy to see them through to the post-season, he deserves to take some satisfaction from this day. He helped build-up a lot of the players on this roster (including the risky move to turn Brandon “I Should be a Gold Glove” Inge into a 3rd baseman) and I hope whatever he’s doing today, that he was happy to see these players get to celebrate (and that goes for Gibby, Lance and the rest of the coaching staff from the last three years). I honestly wasn’t sure I’d ever get to say (or type) this, but it’s a great day to be a Tigers fan!
September 25th, 2006 at 10:36 am
I will give Michigan credit for playing a great game against the Badgers on Saturday. What I didn’t care for was when Lloyd Carr apparently turned over his play calling to a 15 year old who thought he was playing NCAA Football on Xbox Live with 1 minute to go.
For those of you that missed the game, here’s the situation.
Up by 14, 62 seconds left. Wisconsin has no timeouts remaining and Michigan has a 3rd down and 10 on their own 46. The smart coach runs the ball, takes the clock down to 20 or so seconds remaining… takes the delay of game and punts the ball away leaving so little time that the other team has really no option other than to take a knee.
Carr decides to go 4 wide and throw for a TD. Henne gets hammered as he makes the throw and it gets picked off and the game drags on for another few pointless minutes because of this.
Like I said before, Michigan played a great game… I just couldn’t stand a play call like that at that point.
September 25th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Carr is doing everything he can to make people in Michigan forget he’s not a great coach. If that means running up the score old-school, he’ll try it.
And he probably won’t be bashed for it. Just like Weiss wasn’t bashed for going for a first down on 4th late in a game which ND led by 20 earlier this year.
September 25th, 2006 at 11:39 am
I didn’t see anything particulary impressive(this just in… Manningham is good) in Michigan’s win, but the key word there is win. They got the job done and its a good sign for the team going forward. What I think M fans should be nervous about is Loyd Carr. He seems tired. His body language and his voice when he’s giving press conferences, he looks like he’s been without sleep for 72 hours. Maybe he’s just getting old, but I think Joa Pa could outrun him the locker room.
September 25th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
What I found impressive about the win was how Michigan destroyed the Badgers running game. They just could not get anything going, and before the year is done, I’m betting P.J. Hill will be a 1000-1200 yard back.
The most frustrating thing to see as a Badger fan was how many passes were dropped in that game. It seemed like every time that Stocco threw the ball, they couldn’t catch a pass that hit them in the hands.
September 25th, 2006 at 1:59 pm
I write an entire post about the Tigers with one Michigan comment, and I get four comments about the Wolverines. What’s up with the universe?
But yeah, the Wolverine run defense is incredible this year (so far). And with Branch and Woodley, they put an insane amount of pressure on opposing quarterbacks, that makes it easier for the rest of the D to do their jobs.
As far as that pass play. I choose not to care. I think it was an idiot call, just like everyone else, but I’m not going to take a big win (and for Michigan, at this time, it was a big win) and dwell on one play or one lackluster first half, in which Wisconsin made some great plays. That’s just football.
Michigan won a game where they could easily have had a let-down. I’m happy. That’s all that matters to me.
September 25th, 2006 at 2:39 pm
Since you made that nice comment about the Badgers, I’ll actually comment on the Tigers.
I’m happy to see that they and the Twins(should) will make it to the playoffs. I can only hope the Brewers will be joining them there at some point in the next few years.
It’s funny how I have such strong hatred of Michigan and Minnesota teams in all sports but baseball.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
“Since you made that nice comment about the Badgers, I’ll actually comment on the Tigers.”
LOL. Works for me, Glen.
September 25th, 2006 at 3:41 pm
Is Tigger talking ’bout baseball or Tomb Raider?
September 25th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
You know sometimes it’s just not an either/or situation.