Detroit Guy

10-6-09 Apex, NC

Don't be confused by the location above. I am a Detroit Guy. If you know me you know I grew up in the Motor City. Persistence, passion, hope, loyalty, optimism, success, and hard work are learned aspects of who and what Detroiters are. And for me, I learned them through the Detroit sports teams and my years in the car business!

My Detroit Tigers lost last night in the most bizarre indoor setting and with the craziest result that I have ever seen in baseball. If the ump was wearing my glasses he would have noticed Inge got hit by the baseball and we would have gone ahead. Again. Lost balls, umpire fiascoes, the entire roster playing, and spectacular plays ended the twenty three week Tiger reign in First Place, ended their quest for their very first American League Central Division title and put them in coach for the LONG short flight home. It is the off season now. And nobody in town is believing it. You think I was doing a telethon with the tweets(@salestherapist), the calls and the voice messages I received during and after the game. You see, I take my Tigers very, very seriously.

Believing success this season is one thing; predicting it is another. I never said it out loud but the tiny word "choke" was in the back of my head for 163 games. Maybe it was the sweep at home by Boston in June or maybe it was the Royals home sweep in September, but it did get you thinking. This 2009 Bengal version can lose with relish. I love Leyland and the guys. They play hard and bring their lunch box to the mound and plate. But 1968 and 1984 happen too infrequently. In 1961, the Tigers won 101 ball games and finished second to NY. Those winning-losing seasons happen too often in Motown. I was not here in 1907, 1908, 1909, 1934, 1935, 1940 and 1945.

In football, we have been waiting since 1957 for the Lions to win another championship. Now all of us hope they get to the Super Bowl before we die. The Wings, awesome in the regular season most years, can fall over too. Check where the Stanley Cup is right about now. And my Pistons, with relatively few exceptions since they played in Fort Wayne, are the Pistons.

The best teams are in history. Bobby Hebert and the USFL Michigan Panthers, and the AFL Detroit Drive, exist as champions in our Detroit memories. Who can forget the Silverdome rocking with cheap beer and a full house as Anthony Carter or Kenny Lacy make huge play after play. They are still Champions down Motown Memory Lane.

Lately, you can buy a house in the City of Detroit for 11,000 dollars and there is a 20% plus unemployment rate. But you cannot find a finer community that has suffered so much over the past century. It is a resilient community. Just like the Tigers, they never give up, even in the search for success. History will be kind to Detroit. Greektown, Buddy's Pizza, the Henry Ford, the Riverfront, and beautiful well-manicured suburbs typify what Detroit is all about.

The car business is cyclical and will be back. Quite frankly, Detroit will always be the Arsenal Of Democracy that helped win World War II. The birthplace of mass production is unique and all American.This is Detroit!

But we learn life from sports and we learned a big lesson in the bottom of the 12th last night. Ahh, but there is hope.

"We will win in 2010!!"