There is Still A Little Boy Under All this Gray!

There is still a little boy lurking under all my gray hair. I discovered him on Saturday when Maggilo Ordonez hit a three run homer in the bottom of the ninth sending the Detroit Tigers to the World Series for the first time since 1984.

What is amazing about the Tiger's victory is that sent me running and screaming all around the house something I had not done since I was a wee little lad in 1968 when the Tigers won the Pennant. All the joy I had in 1968 came flooding back to me as I tried to hold back the tears.

I am not a bandwagon fan. When the Tigers won the last game of season to avoid their 120th loss in 2003, During the long dry spell, my parched soul never gave up and I remember the days I went to Tiger Stadium in April and froze my behind off cheering those fellas and I remember the days I went to Comerica Park and cheered my lovable Tigers.

Yes I am a grown man, married and the father of two adult children and yes I still LOVE the Tigers and I always will. Why? Because the Tigers are a bright shining memory of my youth, the days when I would take the bus to the Saturday games at the stadium still stand out as my first moments of being independent.

Plus the Tigers are a lot like me for many years they were okay, not phenomenonal but adequate, then they were spectacular and then they were pretty bad and then they were really bad but summer kept coming and they never stopped playing. That's like life at least my life. I've been good and adequate and I've had some down periods and some way down periods but like Langston Hughes wrote But I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,And turnin' corners,And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.

So the 2006 Tigers have reminded me that when nobody else believes in you, when everybody is waiting for you to fall down and fall out, don't give up on the you that you are, keep on playing and sooner or later your change will come.

Not to mention that I know what Juan Encarnacion and Jeff Weaver have in common besides being members of the Cardinals. Do you. This is easy.