Tigers

Where are you from?

My siblings and I had a discussion of that seemingly straightforward but oddly confusing question when we were together for my Mom's birthday two weeks ago. In our family, anyway, it's confusing, since we all grew up in a couple of different times and places, depending on birth order and the vagaries of adolescence and 'upward mobility'.

Anna Banana was almost 16 and in high school when we left LaCrosse, so she really grew up in Minnesota and Wisconsin. After graduating from high school in Michigan, she went to college at Winona (Minnesota) State, where Mom and Dad had met, so that part of the country is where she is from.

Jeanie Beanie was 14, almost grown up and in junior high school, when we moved from LaCrosse to Detroit. She went to college at Northern Illinois and Iowa State, still has ties to Chicago, and still roots for the Huskies and Cyclones.

Jo Jo was barely 13 at the time, a little less established in the social network of LaCrosse and therefore slightly more influenced by the culture of Detroit. She went to Michigan. Go Blue!

Do we see a pattern?

Like most patterns that try to discern meaning in other people's lives based on selected bits of information seen through a narrow lens, this one exists largely in my imagination. But I stand by it, figment or not.

Little Sven was just nine, less formed as an individual with fewer roots in ancestral soil, when transplanted to Garden City, Michigan, outside Detroit. I was 15 when we moved again, this time uptown to Birmingham, so I went to high school in Birmingham, although I was was from Garden City. Am I splitting hairs? After all, we were all from the Detroit area, Michigan, the Midwest, USA, Earth, etc. You can emphasize the sameness or the differences.

My brother Rock, the youngest, was born and raised in Michigan, so there's no doubt where he is from. He was four years old when we moved uptown and went K-12 through Birmingham schools. He went to college in Detroit and married a girl from Birmingham. Solid. Or maybe it just seems simpler from the distance of a few years in age, as my situation might have seemed simpler from the viewpoint of my sisters.

But what I want to talk about is baseball.

How about them Tigers! Has Jim Leyland done a remarkable job of managing a bunch of decent players, mostly no-names (Brandon Inge, et al) plus a couple of stars (Ivan Rodriguez) who are well past their prime? Have their pitchers developed into a strong rotation at just the right time? Are the fans filling Comerica Park with that rustbelt spirit, just as they filled Tiger Stadium in 1984 and 1968, when the team had bona fide stars like Al freaking Kaline - who lived down the street from a guy I knew in Birmingham - and Bill "go ahead and hit me" Freehan - who lived down the street from me? Was Henry Ford a genius? Was Walter Reuther a saint? Could Gordie Howe skate?

All I know for sure is that it does my heart good to see the Tigers kick the Yankees' large-market asses on TV, then move on and do the same thing to the A's. Bring on the Cardinals - just like in '68 with Gibson, Brock, et al - or the Mets, whoever that other league throws out there. They haven't got a chance, because the Tigers are a team of density!*

*with apologies to George McFly