Professional sports can be cruel to fans. For team owners and the pros themselves, winning is important but secondary to profit. I know, I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan…
The concept of “Fan” (a person) gets stranger the longer you consider it. Just for starters, how does a sports team get to be “us” just because I’m wearing their logo? I suspect that there’s tribalism in our genes and if we don’t have a real tribe, that tendency will find a way to express itself. It would be really really good if we could focus that tendency on the whole world, but I suspect it needs, among other things, a way to “know” everybody in the tribe: Kids can name all the starters on “their” ball team, right? (and there goes another twist: The Tigers and this kid are “us” but the kid in another school who has the same relationship with the Tigers doesn’t have it with this kid: Those two aren’t “us”… unless they meet while both wearing their hats…)
There’s a whole container ship full of stuff I don’t understand about professional sports, and a bunch of those bins pertain specifically to professional sports teams and fans from Detroit. If I’m reading the sports pages correctly (is “skimming at Mach 2” considered correct reading?), fans get pretty disappointed pretty quickly when the Red Wings, the Pistons or the Tigers fall from the upper playoff stratosphere. Attendance goes down, you don’t see as many hats and jerseys walking around, and the team-insignia tattoos fade (this last one might just have more to do with where the fan got the tattoo and how much he paid for it). But the Lions haven’t won a playoff game since the last mass extinction event, and you see people wearing Lions swag all over the place. And the stadium seems to fill right up on Sundays. I guess it’s true what they say about consistency.
KenTheCoffinDweller about 5 years ago
Don’t think that has been ever since the decision was made to get rid of “The Voice of The Tigers”, Ernie Harwell.
Bilan about 5 years ago
It could be worse,um, … er … maybe not.
tonedeafdog about 5 years ago
Try an Orioles hat!
jpayne4040 about 5 years ago
BURN!
Ralph Newbill about 5 years ago
It’s been a tough year, but a loyal fan does not abandon the Old English D! Go Tigers!
fszakaly about 5 years ago
Why was it that we got rid of Verlander? So we could get something while he was still worth something? The no-hitter kind of screws that logic.
ajr58 about 5 years ago
Rockies
sandpiper about 5 years ago
Frazz’s tee logo?
TheWizardTim Premium Member about 5 years ago
Wait ‘til next year.
Travis Harden about 5 years ago
Being a fan of any Detroit sports team is a faith based occupation. Trust me.
pony21 Premium Member about 5 years ago
Laughed out loud at this one!!
BluBuddha about 5 years ago
it’s been 35 years since it’s been a good summer for a Tigers hat ….
cervelo about 5 years ago
Professional sports can be cruel to fans. For team owners and the pros themselves, winning is important but secondary to profit. I know, I’m a Montreal Canadiens fan…
micromos about 5 years ago
Or the next 5 years.
rlaker22j about 5 years ago
tiger fan forever even though I live now in Georgia, drive down to Lakeland every spring or at least one game
gcarlson about 5 years ago
Was hearing about that from a classmate who’d moved to Michigan, at our 40th anniversary reunion Saturday night.
wvmacleod about 5 years ago
Again
Concretionist about 5 years ago
The concept of “Fan” (a person) gets stranger the longer you consider it. Just for starters, how does a sports team get to be “us” just because I’m wearing their logo? I suspect that there’s tribalism in our genes and if we don’t have a real tribe, that tendency will find a way to express itself. It would be really really good if we could focus that tendency on the whole world, but I suspect it needs, among other things, a way to “know” everybody in the tribe: Kids can name all the starters on “their” ball team, right? (and there goes another twist: The Tigers and this kid are “us” but the kid in another school who has the same relationship with the Tigers doesn’t have it with this kid: Those two aren’t “us”… unless they meet while both wearing their hats…)
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] about 5 years ago
Blog PostsFrazz15 hrs ·
There’s a whole container ship full of stuff I don’t understand about professional sports, and a bunch of those bins pertain specifically to professional sports teams and fans from Detroit. If I’m reading the sports pages correctly (is “skimming at Mach 2” considered correct reading?), fans get pretty disappointed pretty quickly when the Red Wings, the Pistons or the Tigers fall from the upper playoff stratosphere. Attendance goes down, you don’t see as many hats and jerseys walking around, and the team-insignia tattoos fade (this last one might just have more to do with where the fan got the tattoo and how much he paid for it). But the Lions haven’t won a playoff game since the last mass extinction event, and you see people wearing Lions swag all over the place. And the stadium seems to fill right up on Sundays. I guess it’s true what they say about consistency.