Watching the Tigers is starting to feel like Watching the Lions

I have not posted as much Detroit Tigers material as I thought since I started blogging, mostly due to my inability to watch most games (being on Alaskan Standard Time, its generally 9:30-10 on the east coast by the time I get home from work). Also, there are many Tigers bloggers who do a much better job than I could, both due to their dedication and their ability to catch more games than I. Off the top of my head, Billfer at the Detroit Tigers Weblog, Samara at Roar of the Tigers, Kurt atMack Avenue Tigers , Ian atBless You Boys , Lee at Detroit Tiger Tales, Jerkwheat and crew at The Big Tilde, Andy at Mickey Tettleton's Memorial Overpass, Big Al at the Wayne Fontes Experience, and Blake at the Spot Starters generally do a more comprehensive and better job than anything I could do. (I am going to try and become an actual responsible blogger and post and have a blogroll and stuff, all of you who have come here once because I randomly commented on your blogs, I promise)

That having been said, I was posting a comment over at Mack Avenue Tigers after watching the last 3 innings of the latest debacle (Thank you, Big Tilde, for your patience in seeing ONE whole pitch before grounding into a double play with two on and none out in the eight, it took so much longer than just declaring to the ump that you were out) when I realized something.

For a while, mostly the second half of 2006, following the Tigers returned to the magical thing it was in my childhood, when I would watch the games on the couch next to my grandfathers big leather recliner in his basement or listening to the dulcet tones of Ernie Harwell over the radio. Following the Tigers was like following the Red Wings or the Pistons, like a team where you expected to win and if something bad happened, you knew that there was a comeback in play. Not that it always worked (see: tonights loss to the Stars), but it was not crazy to think that a comeback was possible.

This was blessed after craptacularity that 1997 (when tram, as bald as woody, had said goodbye and I lost interest as the completion of high school, my first love, and my freshman year at the University of Michigan and all it brought drew me away) to 2002 was. In 2003, I began law school and quickly made friends with Jason, a classmate who was as avid a Mets Fan as I a Tigers fan (he was also a Wisconsin grad, which is a whole different can of worms). As Jason can attest, my mantra beginning in 2003 was "Tigers in '08". I repeated this over and over as the Tigers soared to a historically bad season. Jason, as a good friend and fellow sports fanatic would do, stuck with me throughout the season, ribbing me when it wasn't too painful and not saying anything when it got to bad (at least he did through August, when the Mets season implosion was too much for him to bear and he swore off baseball for the year). All though the season, I got through the Mike Maroth and Steve Sparks starts by telling myself "Tigers in 08" "Tigers in 08". I even made it to three games at Yankee Stadium, including a very moving game on 9/11/03 (two quick tangential points: 1) this was in a streak of games in which the Tigers went 0-17 at games I attended between the last game I went to before my grandfather died and the unreal down 4-1 with none on and two out game against the Blue Jays and Halladay last fall which was my mom's first Tigers game and my sister's first major league baseball game ever and 2) there is a level of fandom even more depressing than bad, namely "irrelevant", which I first experienced in 2003 at Yankee Stadium when the Yankees didn't even bother to boo the team or cheer when the Yankees did anything, because it was given that they were going to win and the Tigers were not worth the time it took to boo or cheer. I'll take hated over indifferent any day).

2004 and 2005 showed signs of promise, as the team slowly and carefully started to improve, with some gambles that seemed iffy (Maggs signing was borderline at the time), but I stuck to my mantra, telling Jason "Tigers in 08, Tigers in '08" at every opportunity, touting Bondo as the next Rocket, and telling him that Illich was going to give the Pirates $5 million and 3 Little Caesar's franchises for Oliver Perez.

I finished law school and moved to Alaska at the beginning of 2006. I did not see as much of the Tigers, but I was excited for what I did see. The Tigers were good, we might have a shot good (as opposed to we might not lose 100 games good) and my email correspondence with various folks reflected this. I remember going through the Playoffs, getting taunting calls from all my Yankee fan friends and not being worried. Much like the Wings and Pistons, I expected the team to win, particularly when they steamrolled the A's (I was at the bar next to my office, jumping up and down in the middle of the afternoon when Maggs went deep to end the series).

2007 was disappointing in the sense that it did not end in a championship, but it was different than many seasons in the sense that the Tigers Mattered. In the "in the hunt till late in the summer" sense. No, we did not win it all, or make the playoffs, but there was progress. I was eager for the 2008 season. Then the trades happened. DD and the Pizza Man made it clear that they wanted to win NOW.

And now is now, and the Tigers have turned into the Lions. Miguel Cabrerra is here, playing the part of Shaun Rogers, more interested in where he will find the next rack of ribs than in using his immense talent to crush the souls of his opponents. Willis, playing the part of Kevin Jones, injured and ineffective, yet unwilling to adjust his style. Leyland, inexplicably making odd coaching moves, like pulling Nate earlier this week, or the weird Rapada-Dolsi sequence tonight. Now I expect them to lose. I expect things to go wrong. I could have called the Maggs dp, just like I could call any number of Joey-McMahon-Kitna interception, watching the team blow leads like the Lions D giving up Fareverrererrrvvvvvvree touchdowns.

So is this it? Has this Tigers team gone the way of the Lions and not the Wings and the Pistons? Can we expect to keep losing, keep blowing games, keep scoring 2 runs when the opposition scores 3, 3 when they score 4, and none when they score 1? I hope not. I have never been one to get too down due to sports (save bowl games and football games against OSU), but the Tigers are in danger of being horribly depressing. How long does Leyland have before making changes? Can Illich eat $80 million if Robertson/Bonderman/Willis continue to stink? Is this it? One great season, then overpaid disappointment? Have the Tigers really become the Lions?