Tigers have become the hunted
The Major League Baseball season has begun, and I don't know how to react.
For the first time in my life, my favorite team, the Detroit Tigers, has a target on its back.
Sometimes I sit back and think about the season they had last year: 95 victories, a 3-1 beatdown of the Yankees (my least favorite team), and a World Series appearance.
Then I think about the 12 that preceded 2006: numerous 100-loss seasons, the second-worst season in the history of the sport in 2003, and the demolition of their storied ballpark, Tiger Stadium.
So it's easy to see why Tiger fans hope 2006 has nothing to do with the 2003 Kansas City Royals. You know, the year they started 9-0, led the division by seven games at the all-star break, and finished above .500 for the first time since, well, forever, it seemed. And then followed it up with three straight 100-loss seasons.
ESPN.com picked the Tigers to win the World Series this year. What? It's hard for me to imagine. My favorite sports team of all sports picked to win the Series. Ever since I can remember I have rooted for the Tigers, and up until last year they were the laughingstock of the league. So pardon me if I'm a little giddy right now — and maybe for the rest of the season.
I'll try not to write about them too much, considering I'm probably one of two Detroit fans in all of Marion. But the truth is, the Tigers winning makes me feel like a kid again. Back before the 12 consecutive losing seasons, when I wasn't old enough to realize that even before spring training they had no shot. How can I hold that in?
Last summer I wrote a column about how well they were doing, and prayed it wouldn't jinx the season. Since they ended up in the World Series, I figured it was OK to write about them again.
Getting to the Series was a nice cute story for the scrappy Tigers, but this fan sure hopes it doesn't end there.
I don't want them to turn into the hated Yankees, but a few World Series championships would be nice.
Especially if their quest to win includes a trip to New York. And I'm not talking about visiting the Statue of Liberty.
