40 Years a Tigers Fan!

 

40 years as a Tigers fan! 

[2026 Marks 50 Years!]

Originally posted April 3, 2016

Kirk Harold Gibson. Chet Lemon in the background. At the Corner. This must have been in 1985. 

It was the summer of '76. The year of "the Bird." I didn't know much about baseball because I was only four years old but the way that Mark Fidrych took Michigan by storm, I couldn't help but notice. I lived in Clarkston, Mich., at the time and the Bird was the Word. It was an amazing year, for sure. One I wouldn't understand for many, many years, but I became a die–hard Tiger fan that summer. And I've been a Tigers fan forever.

I've seen great seasons (1984), bad seasons (1989), even worse seasons (2003). I've watched Tram and Lou, Gibby, Jack Morris, Willie Hernandez. I've seen Brandon Inge, David Wells, and Gibby's return. The Bird tried to comeback for several years and became a Red Sox. So many memories of the Tigers. Lance Parrish was a great Tiger and when he left for the Phillies it was a sad day; it turned out to be a bad move for everyone involved. Gibby left for the West Coast and LA glamour a year later, then Morris "went home" for a year and moved to Canada after that. As great as the '80s were for the Tigers, the '90s were a struggle as were the first five years of the 21st Century. The last decade has been solid.  

Cecil Fielder arrived in 1990: an import from Japan. And in that one summer, Cecil Fielder became THE MAN. The Big Daddy. His boy even played for the Tigers for a season, too. Many memories, some good, some bad, some great, some incredible. But it all goes back to the Spirit of '76. The year of Mark "The Bird" Fidrych. I don't remember Ralph Houk managing the Tigers, but I recall Les Moss, Sparky Anderson, Buddy Bell, Larry Parrish, Phil Garner, Luis Pujols, Alan Trammell, Jim Leyland, and Brad Ausmus.

I've been able to watch two future Hall of Famers for several years, Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera. During the baseball season, I am amazed every day that the greatest player plays for my favorite team. I've listened to great men announce the Tigers games, but no one has ever been better than Ernie Harwell.

Ernie Harwell. 

Annual rite of spring. 

I've gone to many Opening Days. Most, since the early '90s. I've gone to playoff games, World Series games. I've cheered for solid Tigers teams and the '03 team. The surprise of 2006 started with a trip to Kansas City to begin the season. And this year I'll be starting off in Miami. There is nothing like Opening Day in Detroit; it truly is a holiday. It's an amazing day. Every team has a chance at this point to go to the World Series. It's the beginning of six months of the greatest sport.

Open Day in KC, 2006. Lott, Thering, and Kreiner. 

The Corner of Michigan & Trumbull, 2008. 

I've watched the greatest baseball stadium be tore down for 10 years. I've sat through games in Comerica Park and never thought it had any tradition until 2006 when the Tigers somehow upset the Yankees, then the Athletics, and went to the World Series. Suddenly, the CoPa had tradition of its own. 

Just after the Tigers won the Division Series in 2006. 

It all started 40 years ago with Mark Fidrych. I wonder if I would have become a Tigers fan, or even a baseball fan, if Fid had stayed in the minor leagues all season …

Opening Day is all about friends and family. 

And you never know who will be an Opening Day hero. 

The Anatomy of a School Closing [From January 2014]

 The Anatomy of a School Closing [Originally posted in January 2014]

Decisions, decisions …

We haven't had a day of school since last Thursday. It's like a whole new winter vacation. The snow hasn't stopped but neither has the cold. It's a bit warmer today (just a dozen degrees below zero, according the wind chill) but the roads are impassable.

Monday and Tuesday were no brainers. Today, really, was a no brainer, as well. The reason it was a tough decision is that it would become the fourth day in a row with no school. Superintendents talk and share thoughts about many things. We have had many discussions this week about the weather. We watch the news and weather reports. We always try to err on the side of caution. The idea of safety is one we take seriously. 

After hearing from many students and teachers last night, I knew that the roads were in bad shape. I had driven some roads yesterday and knew that if the wind continued we would have some roads in bad shape. 

Panic Sets In

Lori woke me up at about 4:55 this morning and said, "Looks like we're having school." 

I said, "I guess so. What time is it?" 

She said, "Almost five." 

I had a moment of panic: "I better check my phone to see if I missed any calls."

Nope. 

As I sat my phone back down, it rang. 

Tim, my road checker, said it was bad. "Not a good morning in Buckley," he said. 

I called some other superintendents and texted some others. Everyone was hearing the same thing. Roads bad. Impassable at places. Windy. Cold. We went back and fourth and discussed the reasons for closing or staying open. We knew the right thing to do …

If we hadn't been closed for three days already — today would be a no brainer. 

So, we closed school for the fourth day in a row — six if you count the week–end! 

Be safe. Stay warm. 

What did we do before cable? [Originally posted 1.3.08]

What did we do before cable?

[This post originally appeared in January 2008]

It was Clarkston, Michigan, about 30 years ago. Channel 20 out of Detroit showed the best TV in syndication every afternoon. I would walk home from school and plop down in front of the television and watch Batman, Ultraman or Johnny Sacco and His Flying Robot, The Brady Bunch, Superman, Emergency, etc. I don't remember what else I would watch, but that was a good two hours of TV.

Later, great shows (at the time not yet in syndication) on prime time television included:

CHiPs
The Dukes of Hazzard
Hulk
Miami Vice
Family Ties
The Greatest American Hero

And on Sunday mornings when we would visit Grandma and Grandpa Morgan after we moved up to Kingsley: The Hardy Boys.

Great Saturday afternoon TV when you had to subscribe to The Sporting News, Baseball Digest, and read The Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, and Traverse City Record–Eagle to keep up on the Tigers: TWIB.

And just for fun, you can drink a Pepsi Light.

Time flies. Fast. What's your favorite old TV show? Is it?

Originally posted on Rick's Writing Again on January 24, 2007

Billy Joel Live in Concert

Did I ever tell you about the Billy Joel concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills in November 1998?

We had two nosebleed tickets for the show. No one was opening for Billy ... he was headlining this tour by himself.

We left Vestaburg and headed down to the show on Nov. 18. I had recently purchased my first cellular telephone, so on the way down, I called Ticketmaster. I just wanted to see if there were any better tickets available.

"Hi! I'm wondering if you have any tickets available for tonight's Billy Joel concert?"

"Sir, that concert has been sold out for weeks. But I will check for you. Oh, oh. Uh-huh."

"I take it you may have found some tickets?"

"Yes, sir. I located some."

"Where would they be?"

"How does Row 1 sound?"

"Seriously, front row? For tonight!"

"Yes."

So, suddenly, we had four tickets to a sold-out show. In no certain order, I called everyone I could think of. No one was able to head to Auburn Hills on the spur of the moment to see Billy Joel. One person said, "Maybe." So, I put the tickets behind the little door that leads to the gas tank. No one took me up on the offer.

It was a great night. This guy, presumably a roadie, walked in front of us. So, outlandish me, "Hey, are you a roadie?"

"Well, buddy," he said. "Actually roadies don't like to be called roadies. They are crew members."

"So, ah, you're not a crew member, eh?"

"No, you see that microphone right over there? Yeah, that's where I'll be. Singing back-up."

We talked to Michael for about a half-hour. We talked about Billy Joel, life on the road, rock 'n' roll, and about anything else we thought of. He offered to take my tour program backstage and get it signed. Everyone in the band signed it. Billy signed the cover.

The show was great. Toward the end, they were jamming "Big Shot." From reading several interviews, articles, and books about Billy and his band over the years, I knew that Liberty DeVito, his drummer, could read lips. I mouthed, "Liberty, throw me a drum stick, dude!" He mouthed back, "You better catch it" and suddenly a "Big Shot" drum stick came flying my way. I caught it.

There is nothing like standing in the front row!

Tim Hortons Makes Coffee [Repost from 2014]

Tim Hortons Coffee

[This is a repost that originally appeared in 2014. I like the content of the blog and it contains one of my favorite photos. It's unedited, and while my opinion has mostly changed, it's a nice nostalgia dip.]

Woman Goin' Crazy on Caroline Street (March 2024)

In the spring of 2024, storms caused a change in Old Dominion's concert schedule in Key West. The band played an afternoon show on Sunday. One of the highlights was a cover of a classic by Jimmy Buffett. 

Woman Goin' Crazy on Caroline Street

Pearl Doggy: Grand Rapids Intermezzo

Pearl Doggy: Grant Rapids Intermezzo 

I originally wrote down my thoughts on this special show in January 1995. I wrote a draft about 20 years ago on this blog. I've been experimenting with AI, so I put this post into Google Gemini and asked it to write this in another writer's style. So, here goes ... 

January in Michigan. You get rain, you get ice, you get snow. You get anything. Today, it was rain, like Florida in July. But this was Grand Rapids. This was January. This was Pearl Doggy.

We stood in line, me and Don, John, Paul, and Marc. Four hours early. A thousand-seat club. Pearl Doggy"s first time. A rare thing.

"Major act, thousand-seat club," I said. "Doesn"t happen."

Don agreed. "Incredible."

The line grew. Pearl Doggy fans. Whatever that meant.

"Pearl Doggy rocks," Don said, Beavis-style.

"Cool," I said, Butt-head-style.

The class reunion came up. A weasel for a president. Don didn"t want to go. Neither did I. A deal.

A guy with a sign. "Hundred bucks." Tickets. I had an extra. Thought about it. Briefly.

A green mini-van. "That"s him!" I yelled.

Don, sarcastic. "Mellencamp, driving."

I left the line. Ten people followed. Back doors. Autograph.

"John, autograph?"

"What the **** is this?"

"Fan club thing."

He signed. Scrawled. Illegible. But signed.

Back to the line. The autograph. Showed it off.

"Wow. Mellencamp"s autograph."

They touched it. Like it was some relic. It wasn"t. Just a scribble.

"Can"t read it," I said. "He was in a hurry."

They didn"t care. They saw the name. Pearl Doggy. Grand Rapids. January. A brief intermezzo.