Saturday, April 08, 2006
Let's Go, Red Pop!
Don't look now, but a Drinking Holiday is right around the corner. On Monday, April 10th, the Detroit Tigers have their home opener at the CoPa. While many people equate Opening Day with the start of spring and the chance for their favorite team to start fresh, we Detroiters have been conditioned differently. For us, Opening Day is the one chance out of the whole year to go to a game and have it feel like an actual Major League game. This is due to the fact that the Tigers have been shitty for nearly 20 years. Like really shitty.
So while fans of other teams view the home opener as the first step toward a great season, Detroit fans have already resigned themselves to another clunker of a year. There is good reason for that, though. The Tigers haven't had a winning multi-city trip to open the season since 1984. That's 22 years, to you and me. Because of this, Opening Day in the D has evolved from a day to go out and celebrate the return of a beloved sport and turned into an excuse to skip work and get drunk downtown. It should come as no surprise that Detroiters know how to do that. (R.I.P. Bubba Helms)
Bubba aside, that evolution wasn't such a bad thing. Opening Day became the one Drinking Holiday where you didn't have to deal with the Amateur Night crowd that could always be found en masse on St. Patty's Day or Thanksgiving Eve. The people who came down were still fans of the Tigers but they knew that they couldn't count on a Tigers victory to provide or add to their good time. So, like anyone would in that situation, they turned to alcohol. Bars were packed and everyone was happy. The Tigers would lose and everyone was pissed...until they went back to the bar. While that doesn't sound like the most ideal situation, people enjoyed themselves and took comfort in the fact that they were all in it together. And it still beat the hell out of going to work.
That was then, and the now is a brave new world. The Tigers are 4-0 and are on a tear. Chris "Red Pop" Shelton is leading the league in dingers and, Bless 'em, the Boys are leading their division and seem to have a renewed sense of purpose, teamwork, and life. For fans, the expectations of old may need to be revamped to include a little optimism. What kind of affect will that have on Opening Day? Surely, the bandwagon got a little bigger and it might be a bit harder to get a beer at the local watering hole. We might be a little more disappointed than usual if the Tigers lose, but we also may be cheering a lot louder if they win. I, for one, will be down there cheering them on no matter what and booing the Sox until my voice is sore or the beer runs out. As for pre-game activities, Nemos is definitely the place to be. All the power couples will be there; like me and Debbie Pinson.
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I'll vote for Red Pop, just cause I'm excited there's another High Life related person on Deadspin.
-highlifer
highlifer.blogspot.com
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-highlifer
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