If Sports Are An Escape…Can We Escape The Tigers?

Sports are supposed to be our escape.  You don’t like what is happening in reality, retreat to sports.  Bad day at the office?  Ehh, just go home and watch some baseball, it will all be better.  Have chores around the house you need to do? They will be there tomorrow, there is a baseball game on tonight.  That is how it is supposed to work.  Unfortunately for fans of 2012 Tigers, the reverse is becoming true.  After ending the 2011 season at the hands of the Texas Rangers in the ALCS and then riding the roller-coaster of off-season news, 2012 was supposed to be a year of fun and frivolity for fans.  Right now, I wish we could go back to February and March and start all over again.

The emotional escape that is the Tigers have become too emotionally burdensome for many.  Mow the lawn or watch the Tigers….mow the lawn.  I need to run to the grocery store, we need some milk and I have to get charcoal for the weekend.  But the Tigers game is about to start….ehh, I guess I will go to the store.  I had to work late, I will only miss the first inning, still plenty of game left…turns on the game, sees we are down 5-0, turns game off.  Lately, even when the Tigers are up, it seems a large portion of the fan-base is just waiting for the other shoe to drop (as it almost did on Saturday).  Even when they are trying to claw their way back after digging a hole in the early innings, you can’t call it a comeback as that usually encompasses a win…not, it’s just another way of falling short yet again this season.

There is no magic bullet for this team.  For those of us who scour the systems of the other 29 MLB clubs and say “if we could get this guy and this guy, then things could turn around”.  Websites, including this one, will tell you how to “fix the Tigers”.  Right now, there isn’t a fix.  Right now, this team is not clicking at all.  They are not fun to watch.  “There is no joy on Mudville…”.  The only fix for this Tigers team is for a whole bunch of guys to start playing better baseball.  The simplest of ideas is probably the hardest to execute.

I am sure a lot of people will read this and say I am jumping off the bandwagon, or some crap like that.  That is doubtful though.  I am a Tigers fan…just not a fan of the 2012 version that lacks all understanding of fundamental baseball.  I know everyone talks about last year’s record and … blah blah blah.  Well, last year’s team seemed enjoyable, even when they didn’t win.  Right now, the Tigers don’t seem enjoyable even when the DO win.  Half the time it’s almost a “Thank God that is over” feeling.

Given how emo this post is I feel like I should be 14, hating my parents with died black hair and pasty white skin.  Sorry to disappoint.  Hey, perhaps I should be thanking this team for making me the opposite.  Thanks to the 2012 Detroit Tigers it looks like I will spend more time watching movies with my family, doing yard-work, and going to bed at a reasonable hour.