IT’S UNANIMOUUUSSSSSSSSS!!!!

8 Mile movie reference? Anyone?


Anyways, after paying something around $30, the promise of my first born son and my left arm (below the elbow) in tolls, I finally made it out of Canada and into Detroit. Before we get to the Tigers game though, I have to tell a story. After the Celts beat the Cavs in game 7 of the semifinals I popped on the computer to check the schedule of the eastern semis. “Game 3, in Detroit, May 24…huh…I don’t see the Tigers until the next afternoon…huh…” Well, I think we all know where this is going. I checked out stub hub and got two tickets to the Saturday night game for $34 each!! What the hell?? I had them shipped overnight priority (which cost an extra $20) and was all set to see the Pistons/Celtics in Detroit. Nice little bonus though, eh? To top it off, Steve was going to be in Ohio for work until Friday and after a little coaxing decided to drive up to meet me for the game!

This was weird...during the afternoon of the game I popped online and checked out ticket prices on the Pistons website. I could have bought two tickets, for the same section we sat in, at only $24 each. So even though the face value of my tickets was $75 per, my little “deal” wasn’t all I thought it was. I guess the Pistons can lay claim to that great sell-out streak because they keep dropping prices until the place is filled?

Moving on...After the whole “Melee at the Palace” or whatever it was I was a little nervous that we’d lose our lives in the upper deck but it was actually a pretty tame atmosphere. Steve and I were openly rooting for the Celtics and weren’t hassled once. The Pistons, like many other playoff venues, decided to give out tee shirts for all the fans to put on. We didn't. We were rebels. The effect was pretty cool though.

Of course, I had to get the obligatory victory shot in there after it was all said and done.

We also stuck around to watch the Sportscenter guys do their thing. Stu Scott, Mike Wilbon and John Barry.

Detroit had quite a night while we were there. The Tigers were playing and ended up scoring NINETEEN RUNS, the Red Wings opened up the Stanley Cup Finals with a win against Pittsburgh, the Pistons and Celtics were playing game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals and as the fans around us at the game were quick to proudly point out: THE LIONS DIDN’T LOSE!! Hats off to Detroit for a great day :-)

The next day I headed down to Detroit (the Palace of Auburn Hills, where the Pistons play, is about 33 miles north of the downtown area) and passed B-Rabbit’s hood! I didn’t stop to check it out though.

I’ve only been to Detroit once before and that was for the coolest deal I worked on at my old law firm. I got to go with one attorney who represented the bank helping to refinance the lease on Comerica Park (aka, where the Tigers play). We spent about 2 days straight in a conference room, hardly slept, ate decent food and got the Tigers their money. It was a blast though, I like baseball!!

Game Notes:

The game was on a Sunday so I had no trouble parking at a meter downtown. I was shocked at how many “downtown” buildings were empty or in disrepair though. Maybe the place looks different during the middle of a week day but this place was an absolute ghost town in some spots when I was walking over to the stadium. The first thing I noticed, even from far away, was the facade at Comerica Park. Everything is very Tigers oriented and they all look fierce. [Time out, funny story. I write these blog posts in Microsoft Word and then copy and paste them to the website. Well, when I just wrote facade the program put a funky little thing under the “c” because it’s French – it did it again! Facade. Haha! So anyway, I bet you won’t be able to see anything different about the word because Blogspot isn’t that high-tech but this is funny for me!]

At most stadiums they try to make the entrance gates unique. They’ll put “Third Base” above it or have the name of the stadium or name a gate after a famous player or something like that. Usually that’s to let fans know where they are in relation to the inside of the park. Well, Comerica’s entrances have been the best. They have scary cat, sorry, tiger statues all over and they also play up the baseball theme as well (obviously). There are giant bats and balls and Tigers paraphernalia everywhere. I thought the entrance on the right was cute with the big Red Wings jersey.

I could tell almost immediately after I entered the park that Comerica was going to get some high marks. I’ve really been interested in what sets a stadium apart; what is unique and special about it. It wasn’t on par with San Diego but Detroit, like San Francisco, was able to do a lot with roughly the same building structure as many of the newer parks. I noticed the “Tigers Den” seats first. This section is on the field level and wraps roughly from first base to third base. I sat in these seats for the 9th inning and it almost feels like you’re lounging at a summer BBQ enjoying a game. The seats are really comfortable, you can put your feet up, you get a private table for food/drinks and each pair of seats feels really separate from the next. And like I said, these things wrapped around most of the infield so a lot of people get to take in a game this way.

I’ve been getting to every stadium pretty much right after they open the gates so I’ve seen my share of BP. Here’s another picture but you should also note Ford Field in the background. This is where the Lions (who also didn’t lose on Sunday!) play. The stadiums are right next to each other. I wonder how parking is for duel Sunday September games? Also worth mentioning is my seat for this game. If you travel up the foul pole and then look just left, in the corner of the very top row is where I watched this game from. The ticket I purchased had me down in the bleachers where I would have fried so I retreated to the shade but there were 42,000+ people at this game and empty seats were hard to come by.

I took a lap around the concessions and the Tigers scored some points here. They are the first team I’ve seen trying to make a profit on game used material. If I still had a job and was offered the chance to buy a game used base for $100 would I do it? I sure as hell would think about it a lot longer than I did! They also sold bats, balls and other such game used items for decent prices. They have full size amusement rides for kids and some cool stuff for adults too. There was a carousel and a Ferris wheel and also a beer hall and BBQ area.

Continuing on I found these decade themed stanchions. The Tigers have been around a really long time and it was really cool to see all the history and team photos and stories each of these poles contained. There really was a lot of information on each one.

I settled in to watch some batting practice and for a while and wouldn’t you know it? They shrunk Magglio Ordonez!

OK, that’s not true but I’d be willing to wager any amount of money that the kid on the left of this picture is Odonez’ son. There were 3 of them out there shagging fly balls during the Twins’ BP. That’s really cool for those kids. The fans were getting a kick out of them flopping around out there too. People went nuts when any of them would make the most routine catch. Of course, they didn’t make anything look routine and definitely made their share of errors. The rest of my day, though, was pretty much error free.

[“Ooooh, nice transition, Matt!”]

High Points:

-Food. Who doesn’t like food? The prices were a bit lower than I expected; $3.25 for a pretzel, $3.50 for a hot dog. Totally reasonable! I stayed away from those things but had to try a $5.00 Chicago dog. Side note – I’ve had two “Chicago dogs” now and I haven’t yet BEEN to Chicago! Anyways, it was pretty good. Comerica's take on it came with jalepenos, relish, onions, tomato slices, a whole pickle spear and it was served on a poppy seed bun.

-The last two games I’ve been pretty lucky in terms of starting pitchers. I got to see Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay as well as the ace of the Tigers’ staff, Justin Verlander. Here’s a picture of Mr. Verlander warming up in the bullpen before the game. I also have to mention these bullpens were stellar. Spacious, well kept and with a great angle and private entrance/dugout for the pitchers to watch the game. The fences were low enough though that fans got a great vantage to watch them warm up.

-The Tigers mascot is a Tiger named “Paws.” Alright! Two in a row!!

-I walked to every area of Comerica Park in which the common fan was allowed. There are a LOT of cool places to stand and catch the game. There are various deck levels and a few bridges between sections and even standing behind the seats down in the lower bowl you still have a good angle to see the action.

-I thought this was a cool way to honor the retired Tigers players. They each had their number, like at most stadiums, but they also had a statue and plaque which talked about their accomplishments. My question is where are they going to put the next guy??

-Instead of a foam finger signifying “we’re number 1” the Tigers offer a very intimidating foam paw complete with claws! Roaarrrrrr!!!!

-This may have been a function of the amount of people in the stands (I think I touched on this earlier in relation to Fenway) but I was not once hassled by an usher or even asked to see my ticket. The stadium was packed though and I’m sure for the most part folks police themselves and ask an usher for assistance where necessary.

-The sight lines at Comerica Park were really nice. Also, the city backdrop was pretty cool. One of those buildings is where I worked on the refinancing deal!

Low Points:

-Something you can see in the last picture above is the center field wall. It is ivy covered and below is a better picture but this needs to be touched on. It’s really a large area that, in my opinion, is wasted. When you walk behind it you can’t see any of the game. I know the batters need a black space behind the pitcher to pick up the ball but I think they could have done something different here. My initial reaction was to put a bridge up over the wall but then (after a home run) I found out they have a gigantic water fountain display that puts on a show to celebrate the home run. What about a draw bridge that could be raised and lowered? I don’t know, I just felt like they could have done better.

Before we move on, if you’re a fan of the TV show “The Office” you need to click to enlarge this picture and look at the bottom right corner. Is that not Kevin?! Even when I zoom in on the picture further on my computer it still looks just like him. Wild stuff, huh?

-There was trickeration afoot! I loves me some spicy mustard and I’ve learned to consider it a boon when I find some at a park. Well, the Tigers offer some “fancy” concessions where you can get a chicken caesar salad, sushi, wine and other such non-standard ballpark fare. Well, in their condiment basket I spied the classic gold and maroon Goulden’s mustard pack! Sweet deal, right? Wrong. I got back to my seat and it was in the spicy mustard package but it was plain yellow stuff. Don’t play with the emotions like that, ya know? If you’re only going to have boring mustard, fine, but don’t try to trick the people!

-I’m not sure where I stand on the placement of the scoreboard. The city backdrop was nice but it was set far off in left field and that eliminated thousands of of fans from being able to see it.

-This isn’t a knock on Comerica specifically but I haven’t noticed any vendors throwing anything to customers. I think that’s AWESOME at Fenway and I haven’t yet seen it anywhere else.

-The fact that I drove to this game and wasn’t with other people didn’t allow me to take advantage of the special at a bar right where I parked. A pitcher and 4 shots for $14.

-The ushers at Comerica didn’t hassle me but they’re also terrible photographers. I took 3 pictures with me in them and this piece of trash is the best one.

Overall Grade: A-

Game Stats:

Teams: Tigers vs. Twins
Final Score: 6-1 Twins
WP: Glen Perkins
LP: Francisco Cruceta
Time: 2:42
Announced Attendance: 42,413
Ticket Price: $15.00
Parking Price: N/A

Trip Stats:

Home team record: 9-6
Best Anthem: Tropicana Field
Miles Driven: 5994
States Visited: 13
Countries Visited: 2
Beds slept in: 20
Highest Gas PPG: $4.19 [$4.81 if you count Canada]
Next Stop: Cleveland Indians
Favorite Park: Petco Park (Padres)

Stadium Grades:
Marlins: D
Rays: B
Braves: B-
Rockies: B+
Mariners: B
Giants: A-
Athletics: C
Angels: B-
Dodgers: B+
Padres: A
Diamondbacks: B
Rangers: B-
Astros: B-
Blue Jays: C
Tigers: A-