A Letter To Detroit Tigers Fans after Game 3

Dear Detroit Tigers Fans,

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Let me start off first by saying I love the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Tigers fans, I really do. These fans pack Comerica Park on a nightly basis during the regular season when it is really easy to get complacent with the team. Really bad weather in April kept the Tigers for having 3 million fans for the 4^th straight year. Tigers’ players and announcers all say the Tigers have the best fans in all of baseball.

All of that being said, I am absolutely disgusted with the Detroit Tigers fans at Game 3 of the ALDS. I was at both the Detroit Lions and the Detroit Tigers games on Sunday. Ford field was raucous and with the crowd into every single play. The unofficial scoreboard sound monitor had the sound levels in Ford Field peaking at 108 decibels. Take that with a grain of salt because I’m not sure how they measured it, but Ford Field was rocking even though the Detroit Lions and Buffalo Bills played a brutal game.

After watching the Lions blow a late lead, I entered Comerica Park late which is something I never do and it pained me to do it. I was stunned when I walked in during the 2^nd inning and Comerica Park was dead. If David Price farted on the mound, everyone would have been able to hear it because it was that quiet.

I chalked it up to being early in the game and a lot of people being disgusted about the Lions game. David Price then retired the side in the 3^rd and then a save of golf claps echoed through the park. Towels waved, but there were no loud cheers that echoed through Comerica Park.

I entered incredible seats right behind home plate which I was unbelievably lucky to get. I hoped that the fans behind home plate would at least be a little rowdy, but they were stunningly quiet. On multiple occasions I was the only one cheering in my section. I was on my feet screaming at fans to cheer and I have the hoarse voice now to prove it. Nothing I could do would get these fans excited to cheer. Most laughed at me and mocked me as a poured my heart out for my team. I was mocked for cheering for my team during the playoffs.

The most support I received were from the Orioles fans in my section which is pathetic. The Orioles fans told me that I was the kind of fan that lit up their park which was rocking throughout Games 1 and 2. The Orioles fans started to cheer out of pity as Tigers fans sat in silence. This was before Nelson Cruz hit his home run.

The game was still 0-0 with David Price battling on the mound. Every time the count got to 2 strikes, I got on my feet and started clapping and yelling for Price. My section sat and did nothing. It wasn’t only my section: it was almost EVERY SECTION. How pathetic. The season was on the line and the crowd could care less what was happening on the field. They were more into their drinks and their phones than they were the game. This doesn’t go for all Tigers fans, but the effort Tigers fans put forth in Game 3 was pitiful. The most excited the fans got before the 9^th inning was when they tried to do the wave in the 4^th and 8^th innings multiple times. I won’t go into a rant about the wave, but you can guess how I feel.

Instead of cheering, my section laughed as they watched me lose my voice which was already strained after the Lions game. I had multiple Orioles fans tell me that I could trade in my blue for black and become one of them. They told me I was welcome at Orioles Park at any time. They were classy fans and treated me well, even though I was rooting fervently against their team so I would like to thank them.

I am so frustrated because I know Tigers fans are some of the best fans in the game and they could do so much better than they did on Sunday. Detroit fans deserved better than they got on Sunday, but the Tigers deserved better than what their fans gave them. I still believe that Detroit has some of the best fans in the nation. If Tigers fans showed half of the energy Lions fans showed (and most of them were the exact same people), Comerica Park would have been a hostile, lively park.

To the Detroit Tigers and Tigers fans, I still love you, but I really wished Sunday’s atmosphere was better. Thanks for the ride. I will see you all at Comerica next season.

Sincerely,

Tom Zahari – A Disappointed Tigers Fan

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