Waking Up And Being In Detroit
May 5, 2010 – While the journalists point fingers and prophetize about how bad it is in Detroit, few people understand what it means to have the blood of Motown coarse through their veins. Waking up today was a good example….Ernie Harwell died at 92, the Red Wings lost 4-3 in overtime at home, the Tigers lost 4-3 in Minnesota, the Lions learned that may have lost out on “Pac Man” Jones (this may qualify as the day’s only good news) and ESPN stated that the Pistons rebuild may start with Brendan Haywood. You don’t have to be Time, Inc. and buy a burn-out house in the ghetto to house a news bureau, to detect that there’s a funk floating over Detroit today.
We all knew that Ernie was on his way. You can’t say a bad word about this guy, whose voice crackled over the airwaves for 42 years calling the Tigers. It’s sad that none of his replacements can compare. There’s no worshiped broadcaster in Detroit today. That’s okay, because Ernie rates as one of the greatest in the game, and gave Detroit the distinction of having maybe the best broadcaster that there was. Van Patrick was very good and George Kell was no slouch. Dave Diles and Bill Fleming made national broadcasts from Detroit affiliates. Dick Enberg grew up in nearby Romeo, which later produced Bob Ritchie, aka Kid Rock, and Gus Johnson and John Saunders started in Michigan, although you’d hardly know it.
The Red Wings have been making their faithful twitch all season. First losing the Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh in a fight to the end, then losing Marian Hossa to the highest bidder. The Wings were beset by injuries for most of the season but began a comeback a couple of weeks ago that gave hope until losing three straight 4-3 games to the number one seeded San Jose Sharks, who seemingly are now playing to their potential. The Wings are handcuffed by NHL rules, the salary cap specifically, and GM Ken Holland is now challenged to make desperate moves, slash payroll, and hope everyone else hasn’t caught up to his European talent pipeline.
The Tigers don’t seem to be much of a road team and they can’t seem to handle the Twins, which spells doom for their playoff chances. They managed to get younger and in the months ahead, they’ll realize tens of millions in payroll savings. They play with a third of their batting order (Laird, Everett and pick one- Sizemore, Rayburn) as a gimme, hoping six guys who can hit can compete with Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel, Thome, Span and so on.
But the Tigers chances ace the best laid plans of Joe Dumars who is trying to put the Pistons back on the map, even though Bill Davidson is gone and the whole organization seems to be on the same footing as the auto industry. The Pistons lack front court talent, so Brendan Haywood is the answer? Rip Hamilton is now overpaid and untradeable. Having a veteran defender like Tayshaun Prince is now a luxury. The infusion of youth – Rodney Stuckey, Austin Daye, Jonas Jerebko, Ben Gordon, Jason Maxiell and Charlie Villanueva isn’t enough to compete with playoff teams. Dumars’ only hope is to upset the lottery odds and get a shot at John Wall as his point guard. Or fleece the new ownership of the Hornets for Chris Paul or find a diamond of a big man in the draft at the spot they will likely draft at (somewhere around #7). Otherwise, 2010-11 will be another cloudy funk, and as Detroiters know today, that’s what we’re up against, and we will prevail as always.
