Friday Favorites: The Big D

I've missed a few weeks, but after losing a whole heck of a lot of sleep this week, I have the perfect favorite thing to share this time around.....my love for the Detroit Tigers.

Any baseball fan will tell you, few things are better than an exciting game from your favorite team, especially when those games are played in the post season. And the last week of games from the Tigers as they battle the Texas Rangers in the ALCS have been (mostly) exciting.

I don't remember becoming a Detroit Tigers fan. I've just always been one. The televised games were constantly on at our house and when a television wasn't near by the AM broadcast could be heard in the background of summer afternoons.

When I was 12, my dad took my brother and me to Tigers Stadium for our first game. I will never forget that afternoon while we sat in our seats and watched the Tigers play a game against the Angles secretly hoping to snag a foul ball. I don't remember who won (I'm sure I have the program with the score tucked away somewhere) but I do remember grinning from ear to ear through the entire game. It was an amazing experience that I will never forget and it was all that it took to cemented my love for the team.

Over the years, my dad and I have traveled from our sleepy little town in norther Michigan to Detroit to watch the Tigers play. We been to some pretty great moments in Tigers history--the last game played at Tigers Stadium, Alan Trammell's last game as a player and his first game as a manager and some not so great moments, most notably the ridiculously awful 2003 season where they went 43-119. We traveled first to Tiger Stadium and then to Comerica Park and even traveled to other cities to watch them as the visiting team. But through it all, when others were abandoning the team for better players, better teams and better seasons, my dad and I stuck with the Tigers, a team (which for me) exemplifies the meaning of working hard and refusing to buckle under pressure.

Now, nearly twenty years later, to see the Tigers forcing game 6 in the ALCS, is almost like a dream (no, I have forgotten about their trip to the World Series in 2006). After seeing so many losing seasons it's a place you hoped they'd eventually be and here they are and I couldn't be more excited about it. I can't wait to see how the boys of summer play this weekend and will hopefully be able to celebrate their trip to this years World Series.