11-07-2005 22:51									#1
	In praise of Detroit Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page...whitlock/050711

quote: By Jason Whitlock Special to Page 2 Beginning this week during the Major League Baseball All-Star festivities, the city of Detroit will be brutalized by sportswriters from across the country. The maiming and name-calling and dissing won't stop until the completion of Super Bowl XL. By the time it's over, the victims will include Kid Rock, Eminem, Madonna, Coleman Young's unborn great-grandchildren and Flint's Michael Moore. Why shouldn't the All-Star game be held at Comerica Park? Detroit's the best sports town around. Beating up on Detroit is easy. As the center of the free-falling automotive industry, known chiefly for crime, high unemployment and urban blight, Detroit is an easy target. Motown's 30-something mayor wears an earring, zoot suits and, if you believe the whispers, throws a house party that would make Snoop blush. Yeah, making fun of Detroit is about as trouble-free as cracking a fat joke on Kirstie Alley. I've done both. It's really nothing to brag about. But the truth is, especially when it comes to sports, Detroit is as good as it gets. Yes, if we're buried under 10 inches of snow during Super Bowl XL, Paul Tagliabue should be forced to stand outside Ford Field butt naked apologizing to every fan as he/she enters the stadium. In fact, instead of looking to pass steroid legislation, Congress should pass a law tying the Super Bowl to three cities. One: San Diego: Best weather in the world. Two: New Orleans: Best food in the world. Three: Tampa Bay: Only Mons Venus in the world. But I digress. The fact that Detroit has lured sports' biggest showcase twice, while New York and Chicago have yet to host a Super Bowl, says all you need to know about Motown as a sports town. Laugh all you want, but the Motor City gets the job done. Detroit is the old high school sweetheart who landed the boy who went on to win the Heisman Trophy and put together a Hall of Fame career. Yes, she lost her hourglass figure three kids ago, and suffered through some painful public infidelity. But now, in her 40s, she's still on the arm of the man of most women's dreams, controls most of his money, and has the freedom, emotional leverage and confidence to come and go as she pleases. It's a good life. A very, very good life. Let's see … in June, Detroit hosted three games of the NBA Finals. This week it will host baseball's All-Star game. And in February, the world will descend on Detroit for the Super Bowl. Want to make fun of Detroit? Go right ahead. But what's so funny? The Pistons won a championship last year, and should've repeated this year. The Red Wings have won three Stanley Cups since 1998. Yes, the Lions and the Tigers stink. But the Lions and the Tigers play downtown in brand-new, state-of-the-art stadiums that sit within blocks of each other. The Pistons play in a 17-year-old Palace that still looks and feels new. And Joe Louis Arena, home of the Red Wings, is part of the reason Detroit is called "Hockey Town." Detroit is the best sports town in America. It blows away New York, Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia. With the car industry dying and Motown dead, sports is all Detroit's got. And it's got sports stories in abundance, so much so that Detroit scribe Mitch Albom carved out a reputation as the nation's best sports columnist long before he earned worldwide fame with "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet In Heaven." Heck, Mitch's sportswriting peers/rivals, Bob Wojnowski and Drew Sharp, have become Detroit celebrities. Wojnowski, a columnist for the Detroit News, has a wildly popular radio talk show. And Sharp, Mitch's colleague at the Free Press, has developed a rep as the city's tough-talking contrarian. When sportswriters start dissing Detroit, keep that in mind. They're jealous. We all wish we had the Pistons, Red Wings, Tigers, Lions, Wolverines and Spartans to cover. In the last decade, Michigan football has won a national championship, and Michigan State basketball has won a national title as well. In the 20 years Albom has owned Detroit, he's had Barry Sanders, Isiah Thomas, Thomas Hearns, the Fab Five, The Flint Stones, Steve Yzerman, Dennis Rodman, Desmond Howard, Charles Woodson, Jud Heathcote, Cecil Fielder, Scotty Bowman and Sparky Anderson to write about. And I haven't even mentioned Detroit's high school basketball scene. Now I grew up in Indiana. There's nothing better than Hoosier high school basketball. The teams and the coaches are incredible. But the individuals, the stars, and the unbelievable stories make Detroit prep basketball second to none. Detroit is the only city in the world that could produce Antoine "The Judge" Joubert, the greatest prep basketball player of all time. Detroit is the only city that would legalize for athletic competition the Jheri curl The Judge sported. Detroit has style, a swagger, a confidence that belies its condition. Detroit is the big, sweaty woman squeezed into a size-10 dress, daring anybody to suggest her body ain't booming. When I was playing college ball, you could always tell the difference between an athlete from Detroit and everybody else. Detroiters had an attitude. When I was at Ball State in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we had three basketball players from Detroit -- Paris McCurdy, Curtis Kidd and Scott Nichols -- and they damn near willed our team to a Sweet Sixteen victory over Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony's UNLV championship team. We were the only team to play the Rebels close that year. Our best football player was from Detroit, too, an undersized linebacker named Timmy "Shoe" Walton. Detroit has a spirit, an energy that's infectious. It's an awesome place to take in the sports world. You have the whole package -- great teams, bad teams, terrific talent, wonderful characters, championships, two newspapers, two all-sports radio stations, good facilities, passionate fans. There's nothing funny about Detroit when it comes to sports.

So, in conclusion, suck it dry, Detroit haters.

Damn yeah.

	11-07-2005 22:54									#2
	Suffering from ads?

Detroit is still a cess pool.

	11-07-2005 23:07									#3
	Got spare money?

But it has character.

More than I can say for Toronto...

	11-07-2005 23:07									#4
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quote: Originally posted by JimmyCracksCorn But it has character. More than I can say for Toronto...

I'm with you, Toronto is also a cess pool. It's the city most like Detroit in Canada.

	11-07-2005 23:23									#5
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quote: Originally posted by Asher I'm with you, Toronto is also a cess pool. It's the city most like Detroit in Canada.

I agree. Although Detroit has some minor redeeming qualities likes Motown and the Blues.

But yeah, they both suck.

	11-07-2005 23:51									#6
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quote: Originally posted by Asher Detroit is still a cess pool.

Screw you. And how much time have you spent around here? That's what I figured...

The town has it's problems like everywhere else, and the mayor's gone after one term. But I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I'm blocks away from the best music scene in the country, and the people are the friendliest around (yes, really). The food, the summer festivals...

	11-07-2005 23:53									#7
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I spent one night in Detroit and I was absolutely terrified.

Once you actually live somewhere that's actually nice, you can see Detroit in a more realistic light.

	11-07-2005 23:58									#8
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Not that I enjoy defending Toronto.... but I would take TO in a second over Detroit. Hell, I feel dirty getting as close as Windsor...

	12-07-2005 00:01									#9
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I still stand in saying that for all of Detroit's problems it has character.

	12-07-2005 00:14									#10
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Detroit is the worst city in North America.

	12-07-2005 00:16									#11
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General Ludd is clearly a person who has never visited Flint. Or Gary.

	12-07-2005 06:47									#12
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I wouldn't mention Mitch Albom in any positive article. At least for a few years. Decent writer, but has issues with integrity. Then again, this is Jason whitlock. Why he continues to get air and print time is a mystery.

	12-07-2005 07:16									#13
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What is your objection to Jason Whitlock?

	12-07-2005 07:49									#14
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Detroit

Good article.

	12-07-2005 07:49									#15
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As for Detroit being best sports town, it depends on whether you consider New York's metropolitan area as part of the "NYC sports town".

	12-07-2005 08:27									#16
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I thought you were talking about his article:

quote: Finally, Detroit gets a big night out By Mike Lopresti USA TODAY 7/10/2005 11:59:00 PM To commemorate Tuesday's All-Star Game here in one of major league baseball's most venerable cities, let us relive some recent Detroit Tigers highlights. Hmmm ... uh ... sigh ... OK, then. How about great moments in the history of Comerica Park. Well ... uh ... Or maybe the top five reasons to spend an evening in downtown Detroit. Ahem … uh … We'll have to get back to you. No wonder Detroit is so excited about its big night out. Or, actually, two of them. It has been so long since the Tigers were on baseball's radar screen, the last World Series they won had day games. This is the place that hasn't had a winning season in 12 years. Or a playoff berth since 1987. Or taken a postseason series since 1984. This is the place that thought it hit bottom with 106 losses in 2002. Then lost 119 in 2003. This is the place that hoped for a baseball rebirth with a new ballpark. But since Comerica Park opened in 2000, the Tigers have finished a combined 147 games out of first place. This is the place that in 104 years as a card-carrying member of the American League, has lost more than 90 games only 12 times. But six of those have come in the past nine seasons. That's not a slump. That's the dark ages. As dark as old Tiger Stadium, a deserted relic that still stands on the edge of downtown, slowly crumbling in silence as the years go by. Part Roman Colosseum, part ghost town. But at least Tiger Stadium had memories. Tiger Stadium had world champions. Tiger Stadium had Ty Cobb and Hank Greenberg and Al Kaline and Cecil Fielder. Comerica Park? Comerica Park has a carousel behind the first base box seats and a water fountain in center field. A playland that has tried to offer everything except what works best - good baseball. Maybe that's slowly changing. The Tigers improved to 72-90 last season - though not many teams can use the words "improve" and 72-90" in the same sentence. They'll take a 42-44 record into this All-Star break. Undeniable signs of life. And since the All-Star Game is supposed to bring in upwards of $50 million, Detroit can smile about that, too. As the city looks at the books and wonders what to do about a $300 million deficit. They even closed the aquarium. How bad is it when you can't even afford goldfish? So Detroit can use a good party. And this particular All-Star Game is not only brightly adorned, but has its quirky sides, from an unusual first half of a season. How else to describe it, when a public vote decides the last American League All-Star, and Yankee captain Derek Jeter loses to ... Scott Podsednik? Or when the home run contest is changed to eight hitters representing eight nations, and America's hopes ride with ... Mark Teixeira? But then, baseball is different. The Yankees are not in first place, but the Washington Nationals are. John Smoltz is starting and Curt Schilling is coming out of the bullpen. Some of the big-name fireworks have gone quiet - Bonds, Sosa, etc. But Andruw Jones, Derrek Lee and Teixeira are lighting the skies. Baseball now pauses from all the plotlines to play its All-Star Game. Detroit will only have the minimum one participant - catcher Ivan Rodriguez - as the forlorn Tigers have done 10 of the past 11 years. But who's counting? If Detroit has forgotten what it was like to cheer for a contender, it at least now will have a home run derby.

ACK!

	12-07-2005 08:46									#17
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I was just in Detroit a few weeks ago. Just passing through on my way to a car race at the Michigan International Speedway.
What I found wild about the part of Detroit that I passed through had all these huge tall abandoned buildings that looked rundown, with windows missing etc. It kind of reminded of me of some movie where civilization was destroyed and the buildings are falling apart after a few years. It was surreal.

Another thing I noticed was construction everywhere on the highways but the infrastructure still looked dumpy. The one thing I did notice that was new and shiny was some casino.

a lot of rock and roll came out of Detroit.

	12-07-2005 08:47									#18
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Thanks Guy, you inspired a blog entry from me:

http://www.oneandfour.org/archives/...yes_on_det.html

	12-07-2005 08:54									#19
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Detroit ****ing sucks, if only because of the Red Wings and their pompous jackasses and fairweather fans.

	12-07-2005 08:55									#20
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I believe the phrase I'm looking for is...

Suck my balls.

	12-07-2005 08:58									#21
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Asking a person like Asher to suck your balls might not have the effect you might expect.

	12-07-2005 09:00									#22
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Fair point.

	12-07-2005 09:06									#23
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Can anybody name the rock groups that came out of Detroit.

I can name some. I think i have these right.

Kiss
White Stripes
MC5
Ted Nugent

	12-07-2005 09:07									#24
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Kid Rock is rock (instead of the rock-rap stuff he used to be).

	12-07-2005 09:09									#25
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Don't forget Insane Clown Posse....

	12-07-2005 09:39									#26
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I can only imagine how badly Detroit sucks from whatever people tell me. Haven't been there.

Actually, most American big cities are just recovering from varying degrees of extreme suckitude, so Detroit's probably no worse than your average Philadelphia or Baltimore.

	12-07-2005 14:21									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Max Webster Can anybody name the rock groups that came out of Detroit. I can name some. I think i have these right. Kiss White Stripes MC5 Ted Nugent

Stevie Wonder (though not exactly a rocker or a group, he nonetheless had a large presence on rock radio for a couple of decades)

Bob Seeger

Iggy Pop / The Stooges

Frost

Brownsville Station

Glenn Frey

	12-07-2005 14:45									#28
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quote: In the last decade, Michigan football has won a national championship

They didn't win a real national championship...

	12-07-2005 19:17									#29
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quote: Originally posted by Sikander Stevie Wonder (though not exactly a rocker or a group, he nonetheless had a large presence on rock radio for a couple of decades) Bob Seeger Iggy Pop / The Stooges Frost Brownsville Station Glenn Frey

Of course much of the rest of Motown and Madonna.

My mom actually saw Bob Seeger at some house party back in college before he hit it big. She went to Michigan State.

	12-07-2005 19:28									#30
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quote: [Or maybe the top five reasons to spend an evening in downtown Detroit. Ahem … uh …

Greektown
MexicanTown
Casinos
Fox Theatre
Second City
Institute of Arts
Top-notch restaurants in just about every genre you can ask for...

I love it when people take two steps out of their hotel and pass a summary judgement on a place...

quote: Or when the home run contest is changed to eight hitters representing eight nations, and America's hopes ride with ... Mark Teixeira? Some of the big-name fireworks have gone quiet - Bonds, Sosa, etc. But Andruw Jones, Derrek Lee and Teixeira are lighting the skies.

I guess Bobby Abreu's record-shattering performance wasn't that special, eh?

Bonehead..