I have had almost 3 weeks to process the content of this post.\u00c2\u00a0 I hesitated writing it on this format as it doesn’t really pertain to baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 But being that Detroit is Baseball and\u00c2\u00a0Tigers baseball\u00c2\u00a0is what I love, I decided this may be the perfect format.<\/p>\n
For years, I have sang the praises of Detroit.\u00c2\u00a0 When my out of town friends put Detroit down I corrected them adamantly.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit to me was a city on the come back trail.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit had potential.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit had history.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit had grit and determination. \u00c2\u00a0Mass media articles and TV shows about the slow death of Detroit angered me to the point of screams. Friends and family not in the area didn’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 I was sick of them getting second hand, trumped up media news that was only partially factual.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit had love and passion and I had love and passion for Detroit.\u00c2\u00a0 I was Detroit’s own personal cheerleader singing her praises from the outskirts of the city limits.\u00c2\u00a0 Suburbanite friends and coworkers\u00c2\u00a0constantly\u00c2\u00a0stressing about me going downtown to ball games alone – day or night. \u00c2\u00a0“Something is going to happen to you and then you will regret it” and variations of that phrase were heard regularly from my friends and family.\u00c2\u00a0 I had no worries though, Detroit was my city and I knew how to handle it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, my love fest for Detroit has ended, and it ended abruptly.\u00c2\u00a0 Having grown up listening to Ernie Harwell, attending his final game speech last September at Comerica Park and saying my goodbyes at his internment earlier this month, it was only fitting that I attend the Ernie celebration game on Monday May 10th.\u00c2\u00a0 How could I not – complete the cycle of mourning and watch the Tigers play the Yankees at home in the only series that the evil empire would be here all year.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a no brainer.\u00c2\u00a0 Or as my mother told me via text as\u00c2\u00a0I looked for justification to buy a $30 ticket\u00c2\u00a0– “I don’t know why your asking me, you know your going to go.”\u00c2\u00a0 She was right, I was going to go (she’s always right…).<\/p>\n
I was so excited when I parked my\u00c2\u00a0Jeep along my usual stretch of busy Woodward Ave about 3 blocks from the park.\u00c2\u00a0 I had parked at these metered spaces hundreds of times before (I’m not paying $20 to park in a vacant lot so the so-called “attendant” can watch his friends\u00c2\u00a0help themselves to the contents of my Jeep).\u00c2\u00a0 I grabbed my baseball bag, locked up and bounded off to the park.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a beautiful clear spring night.\u00c2\u00a0 The flag dedication ceremony was touching, the video tribute was amazing and the Tigers managed to beat the yankees that night and I saw it all from my favorite seats in the house.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Yes,\u00c2\u00a0I had 9 innings staring at\u00c2\u00a0my favorite\u00c2\u00a0right fielder of all time – Mr. Magglio Ordonez :-)\u00c2\u00a0.\u00c2\u00a0 Things couldn’t have been more perfect.\u00c2\u00a0 It was one of those nights you were happy to be where you were and you would never forget it.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately I would never forget it for another reason.\u00c2\u00a0 As I walked back down Woodward Ave. to retrieve my\u00c2\u00a0Jeep only to realize at 11:30 at night that\u00c2\u00a0it was no longer where I left it.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes – someone stole a 13 yr old Jeep Cherokee from a parking meeter on\u00c2\u00a0a busy stretch of main road in downtown Detroit during a Baseball game.\u00c2\u00a0 Police reports were filed, phone calls were made, insurance claims and paperwork filed, affidavits processed and once again I was rescued from a police station at 1am by the best friends a person can have.<\/p>\n
This experience has been a nightmare.\u00c2\u00a0 I would not wish it on my worst enemy.\u00c2\u00a0 Being single and having no significant other, it makes the process all the harder.\u00c2\u00a0 Borrowing cars from friends, taking\u00c2\u00a0time off of work, filling out paperwork, then more paper work,\u00c2\u00a0remembering all the non\u00c2\u00a0Jeep items that were also taken (like my favorite baseball hat), insurance companies jacking you around with paperwork, saying one thing, then another, than yet another\u00c2\u00a0– the waiting is the hardest part…\u00c2\u00a0 30 days till settlement and I don’t even know what I can afford to look at so there is no use in looking \u00c2\u00a0just yet.\u00c2\u00a0 I loved my\u00c2\u00a0Jeep like a child – I had a deep personal attachment to my Jeep.\u00c2\u00a0 In my world its just me, the cat and the\u00c2\u00a0Jeep – and part of me wishes they would have taken the cat instead of the Jeep!<\/p>\n
In the days that followed, I ran the gamete of emotions.\u00c2\u00a0 I was sad, then frustrated, then stressed, then depressed and finally I settled on anger and that is where I have stayed.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00c2\u00a0am so furious that someone would do that to me.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00c2\u00a0am confused as to why they had to take my Jeep.\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00c2\u00a0am so sad that something of such importance is gone from my life.\u00c2\u00a0 But above all – I\u00c2\u00a0am pissed off.\u00c2\u00a0 I am pissed at myself because for the first time in my mind\u00c2\u00a0– my friends and family were right.\u00c2\u00a0 All those years that I dismissed their opinions and worries about Detroit finally came back to\u00c2\u00a0bite me.\u00c2\u00a0 They were right and I was wrong.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s a tough pill to swallow when you have believed in something as wholeheartedly as I believed in the re-birth of Detroit.<\/p>\n
So I have taken off my rose colored glasses and I have done some deep soul searching and reflecting over the last 3 weeks or so.\u00c2\u00a0 And as a recovering Detroit cheerleader – let me be the first to tell you straight from the\u00c2\u00a0bandwagon exit – \u00c2\u00a0yes it is that bad.\u00c2\u00a0 Detroit has become a cesspool of crime, theft, decay and desperation.\u00c2\u00a0 I used to look around and see beautiful old architecture with endless potential for repair and beautification. I saw empty store fronts and thought to myself\u00c2\u00a0 “wouldn’t my flower shop go great in that store front?”.\u00c2\u00a0 I saw the small things that were starting to turn down town into the type of down town you wanted to hang out in.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0New restaurants, bars, shopping, stadiums and\u00c2\u00a0theaters.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Boy was I jaded.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, I don’t really care – tear the crumbling crap down.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the headlines this week on the local paper was that “violent crime was down 2% but murder is up 11%.”\u00c2\u00a0 Cops are being shot by suspects, cops are “accidentally” shooting 7 year old children while searching for\u00c2\u00a0suspects being sought for other murders.\u00c2\u00a0 Drive by shooting are as common on the nightly news as the weather and traffic update.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Students are failing standardized tests at record rates (like the worst in the nation)in both reading and math.\u00c2\u00a0 The family structure has gone straight out the window (why is your 14 yr old daughter working at a strip club?\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t you know where your 14 yr old daughter is at midnight on a Tuesday?!).\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t even get me started on the corruption of city leaders and payouts and scandals.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s another blog post for another day.<\/p>\n
I think the hardest\u00c2\u00a0part for me to accept is that something that I look forward to so much for half the year is now taken from me.\u00c2\u00a0 I enjoy going to the ball game more than some people enjoy going to the beach or the pool.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a part of who I am and what I do.\u00c2\u00a0 A little 4 hour vacation from\u00c2\u00a0my life.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0The ballpark for me was always a place of rest and relaxation.\u00c2\u00a0 It was like home – no place I would rather be.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a tradition and a reflection of my future.\u00c2\u00a0 I have many children (none are mine thank the good Lord) \u00c2\u00a0in my life that I have been dying to take to their first Tigers\u00c2\u00a0game.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, I’m afraid that isn’t going to happen any time soon.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe we will make their first game the Mud Hens or the White\u00c2\u00a0Caps or the Oakland County Cruisers instead.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Someone didn’t just steal my Jeep.\u00c2\u00a0 They stole my way of life, they stole my security and\u00c2\u00a0a true source\u00c2\u00a0happiness from me.\u00c2\u00a0 No insurance policy can replace that.<\/p>\n
Unless there is a dramatic and rapid turn around for the entire city of Detroit, I’m going to cancel my future plans of not only owning a house and property\u00c2\u00a0in the city, but a business as well.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s too risky.\u00c2\u00a0 For now, \u00c2\u00a0I’m going to just sit here in the comfort of my couch and watch Tigers games on TV.\u00c2\u00a0 When I do get around to buying a new used\u00c2\u00a0Jeep in the next few weeks, I am not going to risk parking it anywhere near the city of Detroit for a long, long time.\u00c2\u00a0 For someone who attends on average of 25-30 home baseball games at Comerica Park per year – that’s a lot of revenue lost for not only the team but for the city of Detroit itself.\u00c2\u00a0 Its really hard to fill a stadium that holds 42,000 people if those people are afraid to park their cars to attend the game not knowing what they will return to when its over.\u00c2\u00a0 If any of the Brass of the Tigers organization is reading – that’s something to think about for the future of your franchise and it’s fans.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So long Detroit – I didn’t want it to end this way but you have left me no other options…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have had almost 3 weeks to process the content of this post.\u00c2\u00a0 I hesitated writing it on this format as it doesn’t really pertain to baseball.\u00c2\u00a0 But being that Detroit is Baseball and\u00c2\u00a0Tigers baseball\u00c2\u00a0is what I love, I decided this may be the perfect format.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":352,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}