Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

In praise of Detroit

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • In praise of Detroit

    Why do people continue to make fun of Detroit? It's the best sports town in America, says Jason Whitlock.



    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.
    "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
    "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

  • #2
    Detroit is still a cess pool.
    "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
    Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

    Comment


    • #3
      But it has character.

      More than I can say for Toronto...

      Comment


      • #4
        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.
        "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
        Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

        Comment


        • #5
          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.

          Comment


          • #6
            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...
            "Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us." --MLK Jr.

            Comment


            • #7
              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.
              "The issue is there are still many people out there that use religion as a crutch for bigotry and hate. Like Ben."
              Ben Kenobi: "That means I'm doing something right. "

              Comment


              • #8
                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...
                "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow
                "I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it." - Mark Twain

                Comment


                • #9
                  I still stand in saying that for all of Detroit's problems it has character.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Detroit is the worst city in North America.
                    Rethink Refuse Reduce Reuse

                    Do It Ourselves

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      General Ludd is clearly a person who has never visited Flint. Or Gary.
                      "My nation is the world, and my religion is to do good." --Thomas Paine
                      "The subject of onanism is inexhaustable." --Sigmund Freud

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        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.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          What is your objection to Jason Whitlock?
                          Visit The Frontier for all your geopolitical, historical, sci-fi, and fantasy forum gaming needs.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Detroit

                            Good article.
                            Captain of Team Apolyton - ISDG 2012

                            When I was younger I thought curfews were silly, but now as the daughter of a young woman, I appreciate them. - Rah

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              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".
                              “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
                              - John 13:34-35 (NRSV)

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X