Negotiating Giant Obstacles

There was a sublime moment in San Francisco last night when the Giants who had rallied from the brink of elimination twice (or six times depending how you look at it) and were on the field with just three outs to go in a massive downpour. Credit Fox for providing cinematic pictures of a triumphant celebration in the rain.

It was the ultimate victory over adversity. The Giants had lost Second Baseman Freddy Sanchez and Closer Brian Wilson with season-ending injuries before their years had even started. They lost MVP candidate Melky Cabrera with two months to go, suspended for PEDs. Their Ace Starter of previous years, Tim Lincecum, wasn't even a shadow of His Freakishness. They watched their main rival in LA pick up a handful of household names from the Red Sox in a late-season trade.

With everything thrown at the Giants, it only seemed to make them stronger. And ultimately, for the last hurdle, they only had to outlast the elements.

Now the Giants battle Detroit in what should be a great World Series. It should also be cosmetically pleasing, with the second and third best uniform combos in baseball (they climbed up the ladder since the Expos moved to Washington).

Now the Giants find themselves in a disadvantageous position again. The Tigers come off a sweep of the Yankees and their pitching is set up. They also have the toughest out (Miguel Cabrera) and the best pitcher (Justin Verlander) in the game. But if the Giants show the type of spirit and team unity of 2010, and they have thus far, you'd be a fool to write them off.

When It All Crumbled: The 2012 Tipping Point

It was shortly after Midnight, Sunday morning October 14th. A freak play in the 12th inning cost the Yankees their shortstop, leadoff hitter, and captain. More importantly they lost their rudder - and their soul.

The Yankees bats were barely alive before Derek Jeter went down, and flatlined after. Hiroki Kuroda pitched his ass off the next day, but he was playing alongside The Walking Dead, in a sneak preview of the season premiere later Sunday evening.

Joe Girardi didn't have any answers. All the magic moves he made all season suddenly collapsed. And where was the on-field leadership going to come from?

Robinson Cano? Too nonchalant.

Mark Teixeira? Too humble.

Ichiro Suzuki? Claims he doesn't speak English. And if he did...

Alex Rodriguez? Marginalized.

People talking without speaking. People hearing without listening... And no one dared disturb the sounds of silence.

Because they all took their silent cues from one man.

If Jeter had been lost like Mariano Rivera, in May, the team could have (and ultimately would have) found their way. Leaders would have been born after the shock wore off. But on October 14th the Yankees went into shock, and by October 18th they weren't yet out of it. Which of course meant they were out of it.

Do you think, do you really think the Alex Rodriguez circus would have taken off like this if Jeter was physically there to counsel Girardi in Detroit? No way.

And let's give some credit to the Tigers as well. There wasn't just a team that got swept away, there was an excellent team that did the sweeping.

A-Rod, The Lightning Rod

"Now this looks like a job for me so everybody just follow me, 'cause we need a little controversy 'cause it feels so empty without me."

I could not let the 40th birthday of Eminem slide without injecting his brilliant words into the events that played out that day, especially in the hometown of the Detroit icon.

I had a number of things to tackle all afternoon in the house yesterday, and I had no interest in any more Hofstra debate post-mortem. So I made the mistake of turning on Mike Francesa - not because it wasn't compelling - but because it was. The feeding frenzy around Alex Rodriguez has reached epic proportions, as pictured above.

They Yankees are down and nearly out. Trailing 0-3 to the very legitimate Detroit Tigers isn't the story. The Yankees' exceptional pitching isn't the story. The anemic Yankee bats are. But Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, and Russell Martin didn't have the media swarmed on them. Only Alex.

Let me try to explain how a lightning rod works.

The building stands in the path of an oncoming electrical storm. 

In order to deflect attention from the vulnerable foundation, the lightning rod is there to attract the storm's blast and channel it away from the larger structure as a whole.

Sound familiar?

The lightning rod has no say in the matter. It's sole purpose is to stand idly and get struck by a bolt of lightning.

And while A-Rod seems often like an automaton who has no humanity or feelings, he shouldn't stand alone to take a strike.

Although Rodriguez isn't alone among Yankees experiencing offensive woes, he is the most visible. And none of this would be an issue if he were producing. He has been his own worst enemy, going 0-for-18 vs RH pitching in the playoffs.

A-Rod stood and faced the media storm yesterday. He was introspective, calm, and outwardly remained confident in both his ability to hit, and ability to contribute to the team. He dropped an "I don't give a shit" at one point, but it was his only real defiance. He was as professional as anyone could possibly be in that circumstance.

So the airwaves are clogged with A-Rod talk now. Was there a pickup attempted of an Australian model during an LCS game? Have the Yankees already discussed trading him to the Marlins? Will he ever see game action in a Yankee uniform again?

GM Brian Cashman met the media yesterday and called A-Rod's benching a "baseball decision" because of the splits versus right-handed pitching, inferring that he'd be in there against a lefty. The Tigers have no left-handed starters, and the Yankees are one game away from the 2012 season being over. And don't expect the storm to pass in the off-season.

Getting Off The Mat

Another night watching two things at once. And believe me, I much rather would've had a picture of the resurgent New York Yankees to lead today's weblog. But no such picture exists as the Yankees now face elimination, trailing Detroit 3-0 in the ALCS. More on that in a bit.

But in the meantime, our President showed some resiliency and some fight after a comatose doppelganger had apparently usurped his body in Denver 12 nights earlier.

I can't remember a debate of any kind affecting me so much. The first 40 minutes were so full of testy exchanges and personal space invasions, it made my heart race.

Certainly Romney had good moments and bad moments, and I felt he didn't lose so much as President Obama was a total badass.

My initial prediction that in a setting with average members of the electorate, Romney was bound to say something unrehearsed that would underscore his being out of touch. And that turned out to be true, on the issue of women in the workplace. Not that I think the "binders full of women" comment that everyone has run with was so bad. But more the context of women in the workplace, and talking about flexible hours so they can get home and make dinner, etc.

It reminds us that Mitt grew up, and subsequently raised his family in Pleasantville. Where breakfast and dinner were always on the table for Mr. Breadwinner. He is just now trying to re-adapt his thinking that things might be different, but he's too old to change. Except his position on abortion, and guns, and health care.

This is something the President gets. They aren't "women's issues," they are family issues and pocketbook issues.

And on this night, when Romney tried to make his own rules of the debate format, he couldn't just steamroll the moderator and the sitting President like they were long-haired hippies at Cranbrook. He was stood up to and put in his place.

When Mr. Romney did have a good comeback, asking the President to check his own overseas investments in his pension, Mr. Obama one-upped him, saying his pension wasn't as big so it wouldn't take as long to read.

And on Libya, the President adhered to The Art Of War axiom (or maybe it was from a comic book): "Never get in the way of your enemy when he is trying to destroy himself."

Hence: Please proceed, Governor. Or as those on Twitter pointed out in real time "The new fuck you."

Former GOP strategist Steve Schmidt remarked that Romney had a good debate on jobs, the economy and on energy. But he was blunt about where Mr. Romney had mis-stepped into fact-check hell:

"Romney's weakest moment was clearly on Libya. He stuck his chin out and got walloped."

Who really won and who lost the night, much like Denver, could be summed up in a wife's facial expression.

Here was the forced grin after watching your soulmate go through the meat grinder, far from the unbridled joy immediately after the first debate.

Meanwhile in Detroit, things continued along their projected path. Despite the much-needed insertion of Eduardo Nunez into the lineup, as he was the only one who could touch Justin Verlander with a solo HR in the 9th. And he turned out to be a difference maker instead of a liability at shortstop as well.

Both Nunez and Eric Chavez (starting for a benched A-Rod) made brilliant defensive plays to keep the game at 2-0 to set the stage for the 9th inning rally. But Jim Leyland and the Tigers smartly went to ex-Yank Phil Coke rather than the super-combustible Jose Valverde to close it.

Now the Yankees face the near-impossible task of winning 4 straight to get to the World Series. It makes me remember 2004 and the curse I placed on my own team when the Yanks took a 3-0 ALCS lead over Boston.

We were in Toledo for a football game, and the Yankees had just won Game 3 going away, 19-8. I put my arm around Bubba, a lifelong Sox fan, and out of pure placation I uttered the following words:

"Just because it hasn't been done, doesn't mean it can't be done."

The Red Sox tied the game in the 9th against Mariano Rivera in Game 4, ultimately winning in 12; and then they won Game 5 in 14 innings.

Game 6 was the Curt Schilling/bloody sock game, and I didn't see it though I listened to every pitch as I drove my family through the night from Omaha to Kalamazoo. We were moving!

The apartment in Kalamazoo was cable-ready, so my first night in my new home was going to be Game 7 of the ALCS. But there was no celebration for my guys, and there was no drama. Kevin Brown got lit up by Johnny Damon and shut down Derek Lowe (both later found their way to the Yankees) and the long Michigan winter was upon us.

But it was in my 3 years in Michigan that I fell in love (sort of) with another team, the Detroit Tigers. During my time there, they went from doormats to league champions. Day-in, day-out, I watched an all-out CF who could actually hit and tear up the bases named Curtis Granderson, and a rookie pitching  sensation named Justin Verlander.

I will cheer like hell for the Tigers should they advance. But first there's CC Sabathia tonight to get the Yankees off the mat, and we'll take it one at a time from there.

Jets In The Greene, Yankees Singing The Blues

In Week 6, the Jets finally found their identity in a 35-9 win over the Colts. All you need to do is read Shonn Greene's stat line: 32 carries, 161 yards, 3 TD. I don't know if it was his season wakeup call that was late, or his offensive line's, but it's hard to argue with the results. What have you done for me lately? Quite a bit, thank you.

The Jets combined for 252 rush yards including a 61-yard "jet" by Joe McKnight, who injured his ankle on the play, and now Jets nation sweats another Monday MRI.

The run game set up the pass game, which is the way it's supposed to work. Mark Sanchez's totals were way down, but he had a couple of nice TD strikes to the Hill boys. And Tim Tebow completed a brilliantly-designed 23-yard pass out of punt formation on 4th and 11.

So despite the Jets' bipolar start, they are an even 3-3 along with the rest of the AFC East.

While one New York team was finding its way, another just two crossed rivers away, looked completely lost.

The Yankees can't hit, and they really haven't the entire postseason. They scored 5 runs in the 9th inning of ALDS Game 1 vs Baltimore and 4 runs in the 9th inning of ALCS Game 1 vs Detroit. In the other 70 innings they've played this postseason, the Yankees have 11 runs.

While A-Rod is the lightning rod, at least he's occasionally hit the ball hard.

It's Robinson Cano who has disappeared from the face of the earth. In the season's last 9 games, he  was absolutely flammable at 24-39 (.615). In the playoffs, he's hitless in his last 26 AB. You just can not figure out baseball, Suzyn.

After another brilliant pitching performance, Hiroki Kuroda could only shake his head at the outcome.

Now the Yankees head 0-2 to Motown without Derek Jeter, and are in desperate need of some run support. They can't count on the level of pitching they've gotten, and it's time for the bats to pick them up.

I think they need to slide Eduardo Nunez right in at the leadoff spot. His bat is live and he's a terror on the bases. Even though he's a butcher in the field at shortstop, it has to be worth the risk at this point.

Game 3 is Tuesday night, Hughes vs Verlander. Haven't we met somewhere before? Oh yes, June 3rd. It was Hughes's only complete game of the year in a 5-1 Yankees win and A-Rod took Verlander (very) deep.

Then there's the more recent August 6th game when Verlander struck out 14 and the Tigers dominated. So there's always that to look forward to.

Traveling Through The Quad

For the second straight weekday, the MLB Division Series provided 4 games strung in a row. With the constant tension, looming elimination, close finishes, and overlapping action it was reminiscent of March Madness.

I couldn't just sit in front of the TV as I had to travel today so I caught bits and pieces in the afternoon. When I pulled up at the Savannah airport, the Giants and Reds were scoreless in the 3rd in their Game 5.

When I landed in Atlanta I had an hour to kill in Terminal D - not a lot of options, but hit Atlanta City Blues for some BBQ nachos. I couldn't stay for the end, but I did see Angel Pagan's game-sealing diving catch in the 8th.

I had to board the plane for Shreveport but the 2010 champion Giants sealed the deal, winning 3 straight on the road in Cincinnati and advancing to the NLCS.

It reminded me of what Rudy Tomjanovich said in 1995, when his Houston Rockets won their second straight NBA title as the #6 seed in the West.

"Never underestimate the heart of a champion."

I mean seriously. They lost closer Brian Wilson for the year. They lost top hitter Melky Cabrera to suspension. Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum wasn't even near the shadow of himself (until they needed him the most in relief in Game 4). They dug deep and found the team unity and resiliency of two years ago.

I checked the phone when I landed in Shreveport and saw the Giants result, and the Cardinals and Nationals were tied 1-1 in the 8th. I hopped in the rental car, drove a mile to the hotel, checked in, and dashed up to the room - just in time to see Jayson Werth circling the bases after a walk-off home run.

So Game 5 in Washington Friday night, and it's a great pitching matchup: 21-game winner Gio Gonzalez for the Nats, and Adam Wainwright and his 0.77 career postseason ERA dealing for the Cards.

So double down that Rudy T quote for the defending champs from St. Louis. And what of the 2009 champion Yankees? Well, you gotta score runs to win.

Since erupting for 5 runs in the 9th inning of Game 1, the Bronx Bombers have bombed. In Games 2-4, they have 6 runs total in 34 innings. They've batted .192 as a team in those 3 games.

And while much has been made of A-Rod's struggles at the plate, and granted he's been terrible in key spots, but at least he's hit a few line drives. Robinson Cano is 2-for-18 (.111) and Curtis Granderson is damn-near an automatic out at 1-for-16 (.063) with 9 Ks.

On this night, the Yankees stranded runners in scoring position in the 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th before eventually succumbing due to non-support in the 13th.

Now they'll have to lace 'em up and ride CC Sabathia just 17 hours later. And he'll have to go the whole way after Rafael Soriano and David Robertson each pitched multiple innings two days in a row.

But this is why you have to win the division in a 162-game season. The Yankees didn't have to go through the Wild Card - they have one game at home with their top pitcher on the hill. It's a decided advantage that they earned, but anything is possible.

Due to the length of the Yankee debacle, I missed most of the nightcap between the Tigers and the A's. But unlike the Oakland Athletics' season, it was anticlimactic. They had the unfortunate assignment of going against this guy.

Justin Verlander's postseason resume is fairly undistinguished (4-3, 4.96 coming into the game), but seriously who would you rather put out there in one game with the season on the line? And he of course delivered in spectacular fashion with a complete game, 4-hit shutout and 11 Ks.

I didn't watch a second of the NFL game, but I understand there was some Matt Hasselbeck magic and the Titans upset the Steelers. I also didn't watch Arizona State roll Colorado, which was expected. I did stream the VP debate through the laptop, and that was about what I expected.

Now it's time for the Yankees to do the unexpected on Friday... score some runs.

Danger Starts With A Big "D"

Whatever you think of the revamped MLB Postseason format (and I don't know anyone who is 100% comfortable with it), it is what it is. And the Tigers are up 2-0 over the once-sizzling Athletics in the ALDS, hours before the Yankees and O's ever saw a first pitch.

Detroit slept-walked through the first half, just 44-42 at the All-Star Break. But they had a ton of experience in a weak division and it didn't hurt to take 8 of the last 9 from the White Sox, who had led the division practically the whole season.

The Cabrera-Fielder, 3-4, right-left combo in the middle of the order is one of the most fearsome in recent memory. Only Manny-Papi and Bonds-Kent come to mind.

Miguel Cabrera of course won the first Triple Crown in 45 years. And it's nice to have the protection of Prince Fielder, at .313, 30, 108, hitting behind you. Fielder hit .337 from August 1 when the Tigers needed him most. And the above photo really does symbolize their relationship and the attitude they radiate through the team. Baseball is a game, and their infectious enthusiasm for it makes every Tiger game fun to watch.

Cabrera has been knocked for his defense, but he moved from 1st to the much tougher 3rd Base to make way for Fielder's arrival. At 29 years old, he may have the maturity and leadership to carry Detroit to their first World Series since 1984.

And there's another 29 year-old that's quite possibly the best in the game as well.

After collecting a Cy Young and MVP award in 2011, Justin Verlander also finished huge in 2012 with a 5-1 September. He leads a strong young rotation, with a seasoned (albeit inconsistent) bullpen that has Manager Jim Leyland's enduring confidence.

And there's a certain mystique to Leyland. When Tony LaRussa or Buck Showalter, or even Joe Girardi micromanages a game, you want to throw things at the TV. But with Leyland it always seems like some old-school, home-spun wisdom.

As a Yankee fan, I might already be psyched out remembering 2006 and 2011 eliminations very clearly. But as a baseball fan I tend to get hunches about this sort of thing.

Yankees & Jets: Separate Worlds As Usual

They are two parts of me, my two sports teams. (The above symbol fits my two children as well, but that's another post for another site.)

They are the sun and the moon, order and chaos, heaven and hell. The New York Yankees and The New York Jets. They don't even really belong together. Most metro New Yorkers are either Yankees/Giants or Mets/Jets.

The New York Yankees are the gold standard. They don't always win, but it's hard to be disappointed with the results: 5 World Series titles in my adult life, and they've made the playoffs every year except one since 1995. But more than that, they make a great team to follow night in night out, year after year.

People talk about the Yankees being rich and buying their way to titles. It's partially true. But throwing money at players doesn't guarantee success. Ask Dan Snyder and the dynasty he's built in Washington.

The Yankees had the foresight to grow Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, and Robinson Cano through their system (as well as Yankee modern legends Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada). It is a top-notch organization in every sense.

Then there's the New York Jets. They last appeared in a Super Bowl a month before my birth. Yes they've had some good years, great players, and some memorable playoff upsets, but they always ultimately implode and break your heart.

Today they were both on at the same time, so I put them on two separate TVs and shuttled between rooms. While I logged miles back and forth, each team's character was revealed.

The Yankees looked like they were done. They weren't playing that poorly but weren't hitting. Was it possible that this was the weekend the Blue Jays decided to be good? Toronto showed slick infield defense, good pitching, and enough hitting. They certainly appeared headed for 3-out-of-4, and looked to be shredding the Yankees' hopes of an AL East title.

The Yankees trailed 5-1 and were giving away the division lead while Baltimore was cruising against Boston Sunday. But the Pinstripes chipped away, scoring in the 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th. They sweated through a shaky Rafael Soriano appearance and gutted out a 9-6 win behind an extremely hot Cano (15 for last 24).

The Jets were a disaster. They got destroyed at home by the 49ers 34-0 in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicated. The defense showed a lot of heart to keep it 10-0 until 18 minutes to go. But ultimately Mark Sanchez and the offense were inept, totaling just 145 yards of offense - 100 less than San Francisco rushed for.

And in the ultimate adding injury to insult, Santonio Holmes crumbled down and gave up the ball in the process of grabbing his leg. Carlos Rogers raced the other way for 51 yards and a score.

The margin and the performance were staggering, but beating the 49ers was a dicey proposition to begin with. It's only one loss and the Jets are 2-2, but look well on their way to 8-8. There's nothing good to take away from the drubbing.

The Yankees finish their season with 3 at home against the Red Sox while the O's have to travel to Tampa, so that looks promising. But winning the division may get them a date with these guys:

The Detroit Tigers have all but wrapped up the AL Central with a magic number of 1 over the spiraling White Sox. They've got a huge 1-2 punch in the lineup with Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder (who launched a clutch 8th inning HR today).

Detroit has been a nemesis for the Yankees, knocking them out of the postseason in 2006 and 2011 in the divisional round.

And things don't get any easier for the Jets with the 4-0 Texans coming to town next Monday night. At least they'll have an extra day to figure things out. And if the Jets don't and unravel on national TV, maybe the gods of karma will be kind and the Yankees will be on at the same time.

When The Men In Blue Don't Have A Clue

Being a Major League umpire is a pretty thankless job - nobody disputes that. But there are occasions like Wednesday's Tigers/Yankees game, when Home Plate ump and crew chief Eric Cooper brought it upon himself.

Let's rewind for a second to Monday night, when the Tigers turned a dramatic game-ending DP to take the series opener at Yankee Stadium. The Tigers completed the play despite a vicious takeout slide by the Yankees Brett Gardner, that landed Tigers 2B Carlos Guillen on the disabled list.

Now I am a Yankee fan, but not a Yankee apologist. Gardner's slide, with the game on the line, was a bit overzealous (I refrain from using the "d" word). Yankee broadcaster Michael Kay called it a clean slide live, though you could hear him biting his tongue on the replays.

I recognized right away that with 3 more games in the series, that this situation wasn't resolved. I even tweeted as such at the time. The Tigers, managed by old-school Jim Leyland, sat out the situation on Tuesday as not to involve their ace starter Justin Verlander.

But on Wednesday with Brett Gardner leading off the bottom of the 1st, Tiger starter Jeremy Bonderman returned fire on the very first pitch of the game.

But Bonderman didn't put one in Gardner's ear. He went for the legs of a guy who makes his living with them (34 Stolen Bases), since Gardner injured Guillen's knee.

Gardner didn't charge the mound, he took his base. The Yankee dugout didn't empty. This was the type of baseball justice that's been going on since the game began. You could almost see Joe Girardi tipping his cap to Jim Leyland that the matter was resolved. Except Umpire Eric Cooper injected himself into the situation by warning both benches.

So now fast forward to the 8th inning, with the Yankees holding a 9-4 lead. AL MVP candidate Miguel Cabrera, who already homered twice in the game stepped in and was plunked in the back by Yankee reliever Chad Gaudin.

Whether Gaudin intended to hit Cabrera or not, the scenario plus the warning made it a no-brainer. Eric Cooper had to eject Chad Gaudin and his manager, Joe Girardi. But he did nothing.

Was Cooper intimidated by the pinstripes? Or the Yankees crowd? Either way, he proved to be a chump for not following through on his own warning. Jim Leyland rode Cooper relentlessly, until Cooper had no choice but to eject him. And Leyland was still pointing the finger, quite righteously, as he took his walk.

So the situation continued to take on a life of its own, and the umpires had lost control of the game. So in the bottom of the 8th, Tigers reliever Enrique Gonzalez threw behind Yankees captain Derek Jeter.

And the Yankees had to sit there and take it, just like the Tigers did in the previous frame. So despite an early warning, the umpires didn't follow through.

Now the Yankees and Tigers play for the final time in 2010 at 1 PM today. Has the bad blood continued to elevate, or is the matter put to bed? Either way, the umpires, the policemen of the game, were invisible as it played out.

Why Armando Galarraga Can't Be Awarded A Perfect Game

Yes, Detroit Tiger RHP Armando Galarraga pitched a perfect game. Yes, his performance deserves to go down in history next to the 20 other such outings in the 134-year history of Major League Baseball.

But here's the problem if Umpire Jim Joyce's brain-dead call were overturned: it would take apart the very fabric of baseball.

And I'm not talking about "the human element," that umpires represent. I could care less if the umps existed or not, or if every call was dictated by video. I don't care how long baseball games take (though you could see that this one was 1:44).

What I do care about is the integrity of the scorecard. Unlike any other sport, each at-bat is framed for posterity inside the scorekeeper's grid - whether that scorecard is filled out by the official scorer, a writer in the press box, a broadcaster, or a 7-year old kid in the stands.

When you look at the box score, Indians' leadoff batter Trevor Crowe was 0-for-4. That means that 28 batters took a turn at-bat, not 27. If Galarraga were awarded a perfect game, how could you explain the extra batter? It's like a player going from first base to third base with no explanation. Baseball is linear. Each event affects the next. Period.

Now could the hit be turned into an error, and the no-hitter still stand? Yes, that's possible. Except Joyce thought the runner beat the throw, he wasn't swayed by the snow cone catch Galarraga made covering first. So no to that too.

If we could fix all the fallacies that affect history, then Al Gore would have won the 2000 Presidential election, and who knows what would have happened from there. Now Gore is getting divorced, and as a clever friend of mine posted on Facebook, "Who gets custody of the internet?" Each event affects the next.

What may get lost in the history of Wednesday night's events is the catch made by Tigers CF Austin Jackson (former Yankee prospect), which may well have gone down as one of the greatest in history.

But on the scorecard, it's just an F8. The first out of the 9th inning of a Complete Game, 1-hit shutout on June 2nd, 2010 in front of 17,738 in Detroit.

The Demise of Detroit Sports?

I was a strange kid. Even though I loved sports and music, my obsession was with numbers. I was the only 6th grader dying for the 1980 census to come out.


When I downloaded the information to my then full complement of brain cells, I learned that only six US cities boasted a population of one million or more: New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Houston, and Detroit.

But even then, when the American auto industry was still rolling and when Motown was still printing some serious vinyl, Detroit was a punchline.

"It was a rough place - the seediest dive on the wharf. Populated with every reject and cutthroat from Bombay to Calcutta. It's worse than Detroit." - Ted Striker, Airplane!

Now the Final Four descends upon Ford Field in Detroit and the perception of The Motor City goes way beyond the butt of jokes, even if it came as a dirty text message from the former mayor himself. I mean, didn't The President just effectively fire GM's CEO?

But Detroit has always thrived as a sports town:

Ernie Harwell called Tiger games at "the corner" of Michigan and Trumbull.

The Pistons' "Bad Boys" were the last juggernaut before Michael.

"Hockey Town" is the preeminent US hockey town.

Joe Louis called it home. Thomas the "Hit Man" Hearns came up through the Kronk.

And where football is king, those loser Lions might be the favorite of them all.

I personally have worked 4 Motor City Bowls and they always drew - including 60,000+ for the epic Central Michigan-Purdue battle in 2007. (Purdue won a thriller 51-48)

In recent years, Detroit has hosted the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NBA Finals, and now the Final Four. It currently owns the Stanley Cup. But can it survive as a major league town if its fans can't show up in this woeful economy?

Tigers' spring training in Lakeland is already a soap opera with Dontrelle Willis going on the DL with an "anxiety disorder"...now wait til' they break north and start playing in front of 18,000 at Comerica Park.

If the fan's hard money isn't coming in, then ownership will have to cut payroll. If they have to trade away their best players, the product suffers, and attendance dwindles even more. The public interest in the team may well go the way of Detroit Free Press home delivery.

Then repeat the cycle for Detroit's other major sports. They can hang on for a while, but the wait for a Tigers, Lions, or Pistons championship may be longer than the wait for Eminem's next album. Let's hope the teams can hang on long enough to find out. And defy the numbers.