Mount Virtus

Baseball season is over. Time to move on to other things.

Have I been disappointed thus far by my Detroit Tigers‘ performance in the World Series? Yes. Now that they’re down 3-1 to St. Louis, have I given them up for dead? Certainly not.

This team has been counted out before, and it makes my day to see ESPN’s Gene Wojciechowski not only write off the Tigers’ chances as dead and buried but also spit on the fresh grave. Of course, Cardinals’ fans should be indignant, too, as his East Coast disdain for us flyover hicks shines through (nobody’s watching, because who could care without any teams from New York or Boston in the Fall Classic?):

To the tens of baseball fans who are watching the lowest-rated World Series in history, hang in there. It’s almost over.

Only nine innings and one more victory separate the St. Louis Cardinals from their first World Series championship since 1982 … and the Detroit Tigers from a long, painful offseason of watching Tom Emanski instructional fielding videos. And if the expected downpours take a breather, that championship could come as early as Friday evening.

Forget Polanco’s struggles. Forget “dirtgate.” Forget four fielding errors by pitchers. Forget playing Eckstein too shallow, or serving up a fat pitch to Albert Pujols. Forget the first four games.

Thanks for the bulletin board material, Mr. Wojciechowski. We’ll put it right next to the clips about the 1968 Tigers’ World Series comeback against the Cardinals.

We’ve got a long way to go, but the Series ain’t over yet.

Enough with Fox and ESPN’s contrived controversy about dirt on Kenny Rogers’ hand. He pitched a good game. Get over it, St. Louis. Bring on Game 3.

In the spirit of a Detroit Tigers team returning to the World Series for the first time since it was “Morning Again in America” and Stevie Wonder topped the charts, I just had to link back to this bit of childhood nostalgia. It’s 1984 all over again and time to “Bless You Boys.”

Restore the Roar once more. Wow!

Not often do I write about my Detroit Tigers‘ ongoing special season, one that has far more than revived the franchise from a decade-plus of the doldrums. But last night’s 10-4 victory over Tampa Bay hit so many milestones that it’s impossible to ignore:

Go get ‘em, Tigers!

As a lifelong Detroit Tigers fan who has lived through many years of painful mediocrity and worse, I am really enjoying this season’s developments. At about the midway point of the 2006 campaign, it seemed like another good time to pause and reflect on a few pertinent facts:

1. The Detroit Tigers not only lead the American League Central division, they have the best record in the American League and all of Major League Baseball - and have been in that position for many weeks now.
2. Detroit (56-26) is 2.5 games ahead of the world champion Chicago White Sox, 4.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox, 7.5 games ahead of the National League’s best New York Mets, 8.5 games ahead of the New York Yankees, 10 games ahead of the very hot Minnesota Twins, 13.5 games ahead of the AL West-leading Oakland Athletics, and 18 games ahead of the Cleveland Indians.
3. The Tigers are tied with the 82-game pace of the 1984 “Bless You Boys” world championship team and two games behind the franchise-record pace of Ty Cobb’s 1911 squad.
4. The Tigers not only lead the majors in team Earned Run Average (3.52), they lead it by a mile. The next closest is the San Diego Padres (3.92), and the second-place American League squad is the Oakland Athletics (4.17). Don’t get me started why there is only one Tiger pitcher on the All-Star team (maybe two, if you select Justin Verlander in Final Vote).
5. The Tigers have been improving month-by-month, with a 16-9 record in April, 19-9 record in May, and 20-7 record in June.

Aaahhh. It sure feels good. But there’s a lot of baseball left to play, and here’s to the Old English D’s chances in fighting hard to the finish to make the playoffs for the first time since 1987 and head to the World Series for the first time since 1984.

Go get ‘em, Tigers!

From an April 2006 online forum to publicize his new book Painting the Map Red:

Cleveland, Ohio: Who has a better chance of winning in 2006, the Republicans or the Cleveland Indians?

Hugh Hewitt: I am not even sure why we are playing the 2006 season given the Tribe’s overwhelming talent. Perhaps it is just for the joy of embarrassing the Yankees and Red Sox.

Mr. Hewitt’s baseball braggadocio certainly has abated in the past two months, both on air and on the blog. While I have no love lost for the AL East powerhouses, perhaps it’s time to compare how the Indians are faring thus far with their division rivals, the Detroit Tigers. Tiger fans like myself have long awaited a season such as the way this one has unfolded so far, coming into tonight:

Record

DETROIT: 47-24 (.662), 1st place, - GB
CLEVELAND: 31-38 (.449), 4th place, 15.0 GB

Head-to-Head

DETROIT: 5 WINS
CLEVELAND: 2 WINS

Hitting Team Stats

DETROIT: .272 AVG, 97 HR, 360 RUNS, 1121 TOTAL BASES
CLEVELAND: .283 AVG, 88 HR, 385 RUNS, 1114 TOTAL BASES

Pitching Team Stats

DETROIT: 3.56 ERA, 9 SHUTOUTS, 27 SAVES, 438 K, 576 HITS ALLOWED
CLEVELAND: 4.98 ERA, 6 SHUTOUTS, 9 SAVES, 409 K, 657 HITS ALLOWED

Fielding Team Stats

DETROIT: .986 PCT., 71 DBL PLAYS, 16 SBs ALLOWED in 30 ATTEMPTS
CLEVELAND: .980 PCT., 59 DBL PLAYS, 59 SBs ALLOWED in 68 ATTEMPTS

Further proof of the value of good pitching and good defense. And clear evidence why Mr. Hewitt has conveniently steered away from discussing the Boys of Summer.

The Indians? Hey, at least they’ve got the Royals, Devil Rays, Pirates, and Cubs licked. (Except the Cubs beat them last night.)

Next time Mr. Hewitt is faced with the question as presented above, a much better and much safer answer would be: “The Republicans.”

Editor’s Note: This post is officially certified to be free of any spelling errors.

Spelling geeks of the world, unite! Our event is now officially a phenomenon. The 79th Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee finals takes over the primetime airwaves tonight on ABC (8-10 PM Eastern, 7-9 PM Central & Mountain). Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined the event achieving such status and acclaim.

Yesterday’s rounds whittled down the record-size field of 275 to fewer than 100 as 4th-round action picks up live on ESPN at Noon Eastern (10 AM Mountain). Colorado’s Kayla Hudson is still in the mix. For the primetime finals, 10 to 15 competitors should be left standing. The question is: how many Americans will be watching? No, really … how many?

I always had the feeling that very few people cared. At least three times I was in the Michigan Association of Christian Schools state spelling bee finals. Three times I won. I hardly remember any spectators other than a few parents representing some of the competitors. C’est la vie. Of course, our spelling bee lacked the high stakes and high drama. And, of course, the words in our event were not quite on par with the fodder thrown at the young verbal whizzes on the Scripps Howard stage.

I can only imagine the tiny pangs of anxiety I felt there magnified many times to face the cameras recording tonight’s actions for a national television audience. Or maybe it pumps up these kids’ competitive adrenaline and adds to the viewing excitement.

To me, the challenge is trying to spell at home with the finalists. Just to see how many hours of studying the unabridged Oxford English Dictionary I would need to stand on the same platform as these 12- and 13-year-old spelling geniuses. Yes, I’m a spelling geek: I fully confess and embrace the fact. And yes, I’ll be tuned into ABC this evening for the 79th Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee.

Full spelling bee coverage, including live Internet-updated results, can be found at SpellingBee.com.

ESPN looks at the event’s “primetime pressure” and handicaps the favorites to win.

Meanwhile, Throwing Things is your one-stop live-blogging shop for National Spelling Bee happenings and other related inside scoops (HT: Instapundit).

Happy Spelling!

If April is any indication, 2006 figures to be a happier baseball season at Mount Virtus than in the dismal climes of the Northern Alliance or the deluded braggadocio of Hugh Hewitt. Here are the American League Central standings as the regular season’s first month has come to a close:

Chi White Sox 17-7 (-)
Detroit 16-9 (1.5 GB)
Cleveland 13-12 (4.5 GB)
Minnesota 9-15 (8.0 GB)
Kansas City 5-17 (11.0 GB)

Prognosticators and pundits may start to get a little uneasy, though a lot of baseball remains to be played. My Detroit Tigers, however, have given every evidence of finally turning it around this season with new manager Jim Leyland at the helm. After their best April since the historic 1984 championship season, the team continues to excel on the field and act as if it’s business as usual. Great starting pitching, a reliable bullpen, power at the key spots in the lineup, clutch hitting throughout the order, solid defense, and contributions from the bench. Remarkably, Detroit is 11-4 on the road and 5-5 at home.

It’s way too early to gloat, but it sure is nice to see Cleveland three games back in the standings. Yet it’s much harder to contain the emotion after the Tigers turned the tables this past weekend on their Minnesota rivals - typically a big roadblock for Detroit baseball - in impressive fashion. The three-game sweep saw the Tigs outscore the Twins by a total of 33-1, including a Comerica Park-record-setting 18-1 Saturday performance.

I can’t blame Major League Baseball’s devotees for holding back in skepticism. It’s been a long time since the Old English D has made a real dent. But this Tigers fan is feeling his biggest dose of optimism in a LONG time, and doesn’t mind one bit doing it at the expense of the Twins and the Indians.

If you love a good college football game, I believe you saw one of the best last night… though for awhile it seemed like it would never end. Penn State’s 26-23 triple overtime victory over the courageous Florida State Seminoles (after a combined 5 missed kicks) was one for the ages - literally.

The Nittany Lions’ 79-year-old coaching legend Joe Paterno - after a couple of truly abominable campaigns - won redemption with a Big Ten title, an 11-1 record, and the Orange Bowl crown, by defeating 76-year-old Bobby Bowden’s squad. The two men have combined for 713 coaching victories (more than some Division I-A programs have earned in their entire history), but determining who would win No. 713 was in great suspense throughout as the Lions and ‘Noles battled intensely for field position & first downs.

PSU’s freshman kicker Kevin Kelly also won redemption after missing potential game-winning kicks in regulation and the first extra session. When he narrowly slid the 29-yard field goal through the uprights in triple overtime, the exhilaration that the game was over (at last) and that Penn State had won brought a big smile to my face.

A PSU alum (where I earned my masters degree) & State College resident for 2 years, I know just how much the life of that area revolves around Paterno and Penn State football. Hope springs eternal in Happy Valley, and today after a long and excruciating contest, all true fans raise their voices and sing:

Hail to the Lion, loyal and true,
Hail Alma Mater, with your white and blue,
Penn State forever, molder of men,
Fight for her honor, fight, and victory again!

Congrats to both sides for a well-fought struggle and to JoePa, senior QB Michael Robinson, injured All-American LB Paul Posluszny, and all the Nittany Lions for enduring to emerge victorious.

But for most fans, it’s just the prelude to tonight’s long-awaited BCS National Championship game.

It’s finally come to this: an organized fan protest of the Detroit Lions and general manager Matt Millen. As a native of southeastern Michigan, I can sympathize with their plight. While there certainly are much worthier causes to march for - if marching is in your blood - you know the Lions franchise has lingered in the depths for too long.

When you read this account from the Detroit Free Press, however, you realize just how pathetic an attempt the fan protest was. All you can say is… wow. It’s embarrassing to think that Super Bowl XL comes to Ford Field in seven weeks. One might suggest the timing could hardly be worse.

On this day before the ultimate rivalry in sports, many thanks to Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News for for his sociological analysis of Buckeye fans. All true sons of Michigan could read such passages as the following with a mixture of pride, delight, and amusement:

I’m here to study the Buckeyes, not denigrate them. Remember, this whole Michigan-Ohio battle started way back in 1835 when the states actually fought over Toledo, true story. Ohio won but took Toledo anyhow. In exchange, Michigan got the Upper Peninsula, Charles Woodson, Desmond Howard and four free passes to Cedar Point.

It’s really not surprising that so many Ohio youngsters, such as Heisman Trophy winners Woodson and Howard, dream of coming to Michigan. This year’s Michigan roster lists 11 kids who escaped Ohio, while Ohio State has one from Michigan. We won’t mention his name in case his family doesn’t know.

To be fair, when the Buckeyes got sick of losing, they did turn to quarterback Craig Krenzel, from Michigan’s Utica Ford High, to lead them to that completely untainted national title. See, we can help each other, once we understand each other. That’s why I’m here, to educate.

For instance, in case Ohioans didn’t know, these are the three biggest industries in Michigan:

• Making automobiles.

• Pretending to fix the roads.

• Repossessing automobiles.

In case Michiganians didn’t know, these are the three biggest industries in Ohio:

• Giving out speeding tickets to Michigan drivers.

• Recycling tobacco tins.

• Fixin’ their trucks.

There. Doesn’t it feel like we’re getting along better already?

I hope that all my friends who hail from “south of the [Toledo-Monroe] border” - including a certain nationally-syndicated talk show host of certain misguided athletic allegiances - can see it that way, too, and really begin to prepare themselves for a heavy dose of Big Blue and “Hail to the Victors” tomorrow.

As Major League Baseball’s 76th All-Star Game makes its appearance at Detroit’s Comerica Park tomorrow evening, the spotlight turns on a city still haunted by the echoes of urban decay. Motown’s battle for a fairer perception opens a new chapter. For many old enough to remember it, the words “Detroit” and “baseball” together conjure up a glorious 1984 World Series victory overshadowed by deplorable behavior - vandalism, fires, destruction.

How far has Detroit come since then? Progress has been made, for sure, but not a lot. Michigan’s largest city, the once-thriving world capital of automotive production, has a lot to prove. The Tigers, the wearers of the proud Olde English D, have a lot to prove as well. No World Series since 1984. No playoff appearance since 1987. No winning season since 1993.

Now there’s a chance to forge a new era in the history of Detroit and of Detroit baseball. This native Michigander says it can’t come too soon. The 2005 Tigers have shown flashes of brilliance but have struggled with inconsistency. Now 42-44 at the All-Star break with a resurgent offense that has overcome bouts of injuries, hopes are as high as they have been for this team in years.

All eyes are on the All Star Game at Comerica Park and the surrounding festivities. To read the finest example of resilience among Detroiters and their sports fans, take a gander at Mitch Albom’s “Meet the Real Detroit” in today’s Free Press (with the telling subtitle of “All Star guests, listen up: We’re good folks and we love our baseball”. Amen.

In a startling development that may have had something to do with one malodorous world leader’s derogatory comments about a neighboring country’s cuisine, London edges out Paris for the 2012 Summer Olympics bid, in spite of a failed grassroots protest. Joyful Brits take to Trafalgar Square to celebrate the city’s first Olympic Games since 1948. How ’bout some fish’n'chips and a toast to Mr. Chirac?

Excited by the prospect of an early Friday game likely to end by sundown, Joshua was planning to be at Coors Field this afternoon for the game between the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies. Knowing my deep dedication as a Tigers fan, he invited me along to today’s game. I was thankful he thought of me but am tied up at work and have a 5:30 appointment besides, so I had to decline.

Besides, I have tickets to attend the Saturday (with my friend Steve) and Sunday (with the lovely Mrs. Virtus) games.

But the skies had opened and the rains had come earlier today, pushing back the starting time from 3:05 to 4:00. I hope Joshua found another companion to go to the game with - and if he did, I hope the contest speeds along enough so he can arrive home safely and timely for Shabat.

But maybe he decided to stay high and dry instead. We’ll have to wait for his report.

Oh yeah… go Tigers!

Memo to Hugh and other Cleveland Indians fans: it looks like my Detroit Tigers are calling out your team for a little mano e mano:

“Forget the other teams,” [Tigers designated hitter Dmitri] Young said to the strains of “Cripple Creek,” “it’s going to come down to us and Cleveland. No disrespect to the Twins and White Sox, I just feel that club, the doggone Indians, is going to be the thorn in our side.

“That’s our rival,” he said. “There are a lot of parallels between us. We’ve progressed the same.”

I’m not sure I’m ready yet to subscribe to Dmitri’s assessment: the conventional wisdom has me leaning towards believing that the Minnesota Twins are the team to beat in the American League Central. But the long baseball season has scarcely begun, and the outspoken Tiger hitter may prove correct after all.

And hey, I like the idea of a two-team contest for the division title between my boys in blue and the latest incarnation of “The Mistake on the Lake.” Such a pennant race could bring out the best - and the worst - in this baseball fan.

Yes, Detroit lost the first 2005 installment of the rivalry, sandwiching a dominant 11-1 victory performance between heartbreaking 4-3 and 7-6 losses during the past weekend’s series.

And, yes, it is true the Tigers may have lived in Cleveland’s shadow for a long decade-plus stint, but I have one question for Mr. Hewitt, two decades my senior: which of us can remember our respective team winning a World Series crown in our lifetime? (Unless Hugh wants to claim childhood remembrances of the famous “Dewey Defeats Truman” headline - 1948 was Cleveland’s last world championship - I think we all know the answer.)

A heated pennant race between my Detroit Tigers and those pesky Cleveland Indians this year? In the words of Vietnam veteran John Kerry, who also is a United States Senator: “Bring it on!”

It’s days like this I miss being a sports editor. Without the broadsheet pages on which to print my thoughts, I hope you will kindly forbear as I indulge in a bit of nostalgia.

We Detroit Tigers’ fans have been in the doghouse for more than a decade. It’s been a long, dry, painful spell for those loyal to the Olde English D - especially long to someone like me who was a junior in high school the last time the Tigs finished a season with more wins than losses, a prepubescent 5th grader the last time they went to the playoffs, and a mere 7 years old during that magical 1984 World Series run that seems like ancient history now.

In 2002, hope that a true turnaround was coming started to take shape as Detroit hired Dave Dombrowski as general manager, then brought my childhood baseball hero Alan Trammell on board to take the helm in the dugout. After the 2003 debacle, when the franchise appeared to hit rock-bottom (an embarrassing 43 victory total), Tigers owner Mike Ilitch made a serious pledge to open up his pocketbook and build a winning team again.

Fan optimism took a giant step forward with a revitalized offensive lineup stepping up in 2004. And now with an improved bullpen and maturing pitching rotation in 2005, Tigertown is believing what not long ago seemed like a distant delusional dream: our boys in blue have a serious chance not only to break .500 but also to play for a pennant. Sure, the Tigers aren’t the favorites in the American League Central (give that justly, but grudgingly, to the Minnesota Twins), but a highly plausible case at last can be made that meaningful late September baseball games could be played this year in Motown.

The Detroit Tigers kicked off the 2005 season this afternoon with a convincing and confident statement: we are for real again, and we are ready to pull this storied franchise out of its pathetic malaise. Sure, it was the lowly Kansas City Royals they defeated. But the Tigers beat them in resounding fashion, 11-2, showing that they aren’t in the Royals’ lowly class any more. Twenty-two year old phenom Jeremy Bonderman looked every bit like the ace and Cy Young contender he will soon become, with seven dominant innings; and Dmitri Young slapped around Royals pitchers, going 4-for-4 with three home runs and five RBIs.

The record Comerica Park crowd was on Cloud 9 today. The baseball season is long, and there will be ups and downs. But that old feeling has started to return: enthusiasm is soaring, and the voices of cynics are lightly regarded.

This could be the most enjoyable summer in The Motor City in many years.

This may be way off topic for most readers of my blog, but I thought I’d throw in this quick tidbit.

Former Indiana University basketball star and current assistant Dane Fife, 25, was just named the youngest NCAA Division I head coach when he was hired yesterday by Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne (IPFW). Serious basketball fans will remember Dane from the 2002 NCAA Final Four when he was one of the key contributors to a scrappy underdog Hoosier team that shocked Duke and Oklahoma to make it all the way to the finals against Maryland.

Why do I make note of Fife’s hiring? Because we both share the same hometown of Clarkston, Michigan. He’s the youngest of three sons to Clarkston High School basketball coaching legend Dan Fife - his oldest brother Dugan played at Michigan, his other brother Jeremy played at DII Grand Valley State. But Dane excelled them all and won the state’s Mr. Basketball award in 1998 before shocking many with his announcement that he was heading to Bloomington to play for Bobby Knight.

May this be the beginning of a successful head coaching career for the pride of Clarkston. Congratulations, Dane.

(Hat tip to my sports writer friend Elden.)

Was it really 25 years ago today that a once ragtag band of amateur US hockey players coached by Herb Brooks turned the international sports world on its ear with an amazing 4-3 medal round victory over the invincible Soviet machine?

You can almost hear the echo of Al Michael’s voice: “Do you believe in miracles??? YES!” For a brief while in February 1980, the United States most certainly did believe in miracles. 25 years ago….