I am home.
It was a bittersweet trip as all of you Tiger fans can understand.
Bitter was a team that could not execute the easiest of plays.
Sweet was going to the World Series with friends and family and seeing my hometown in a frenzy unlike I had never seen.
Tons of pictures coming in the next couple of days.
10,000 Tickets to each game. Hundreds of thousands of people trying all the same time to buy them. Millions of computer clicks and phone calls from around the world!
The result?
I got tickets.
4 Standing Room tickets to Game 1 of the WORLD SERIES on Saturday.
I DO believe that I deserve them as I will probably win the "who came the furthest" contest in any bar.
So the dilemna began. And my brother Chip put it best saying, "let the battle between friends and family begin". One was a no brainer, one of the men I shared season tickets with during the ridiculous 119 loss 2003 season, Jason Boss.
What to do with the other two? Should I hold onto them with the hope of trading to another game? Should I bring some buddies and score infinite free booze? Should I bring one of my siblings? How could I pick two out of five? The answer then cleared up for me. Who would Jason and I most appreciate there above all else. Who would have made sure that WE would have had tickets if those Tigers of old had made a World Series since we could both remember?
Our Dads
So Bob Rankin, Chet Boss, Jason and I will be at the game on Saturday.
Anyone got 'em for game 2?
From the mouth of Eric Chavez (Oakland A 3rd Baseman):
"If they play to their potential and play perfect baseball and if we play to our potential and play perfect baseball, it's still going to be a challenge for us," Chavez said. "That's just the way it is right now."
The Detroit Tigers are 27 outs away from the 2006 World Series.
That may be the most beautiful sentence that has ever been written.
Shakespeare be damned.
Will I have the only Tiger hat on the flight next Friday?
No team that has won the first two games on the road in the League Championship Series has ever failed to make the World Series
On top of all this, I got some of the best news EVER yesterday. I am being sent home to the US for work next Friday. That's right, the baseball Gods are shning upon the man that held a season ticket package during the 119 loss 2003 season. It's as if Dave Dombrowski called my boss and asked for me to be sent home. I will be home for THE ENTIRE WORLD SERIES!
Anyone got a ticket?
Funny side story, I just bought the song "How to Save a Life" by The Fray off Itunes and after listening to it for the first time, the Itunes player played the next song in my library which was "Da Dip" by Freaknasty. I laughed.
"I put my hand up on your hip, when you dip I dip we dip!"
1. The Tigers took down Oakland in Game 1 last night! I set the trusty alarm clock for two AM and watched the whole thing. Kelli and I were ships passing in the night as I headed to bed and she was getting up for work at 6 AM. I get to do it all over again tonight.
2. The Spartans Football Season is officially over as the first run in with the police annually siginifies the point where my nausea overtakes my ability to pay attention any more. Click on the link.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/SPORTS07/610110394
3. The Spartan BASKETBALL season has officially begun. The first preview article has appearred and Midnight Madness is Friday night! Click the Link.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061011/SPORTS07/610110393
Hate to say it Bonnie, but I think she looks like her Dad.Finally a long holiday weekend returned and we headed to Hamburg last weekend with our friends Tony and Jenny. Hamburg is Germany's second largest city with it's largest port. It ended up being a nice little surprise with a mix of modern and old. Kind of reminded us of Amsterdam a bit due to the canals and some of the architecture. It is the city that the Beatles got a good start, so we hit the the area of Reeperbahn to check out the pubs, nightlife, etc. and found that they have a large red light district. During the day we took a boat cruise which was a bit tiring as it was a over two hours and ALL in German. We did enjoy touring the Nikolaikirche which has the third tallest tower in Germany. The church itself was destroyed in WWII but the tower offered some nice pictures of the port. Hamburg had bagels! We have only been able to find bagels in Amsterdam and now Hamburg which is a real treat...
Hard to even begin to describe the goosebumps right now.
It's 5 in the morning and there is NO way I could be heading to sleep as Joel Zumaya enters the game in the 8th.
I am watching the place that I spent so many nights cursing the fortunes of my baseball religion. The Tigers have broken my heart much more often than not since longer than I can remember.
And now they have this 200 million dollar team of All-Stars reeling. I can't help but feel that the love, passion and momentum of a city scorned is behind every swing, every ball headed towards the foul pole, and every leg straining for the next base.
Go Tigers
I don't have time for the full write up yet - as a matter of fact, I may leave that to Mr. John Mauck. I am off to Finland for a few days for work.
We had a(nother) blast and hit Stockholm, Copenhagen, Berlin and then iced it with Oktoberfest the sequel. Too many stories, too many laughs, never enough memories....
Enjoy
