Behind Enemy Lines: An Outsider's Perspective

First of all, I would like to thank Tamaz for inviting me onto your "staff" of bloggers. This blog is great, and I'm glad to be a part of it. But since all of you don't know who I am, I shall intoduce myself. I am Patrick Kennedy, a 14 year old (today!) bloggers, who has been the driving force of several baseball blogs. I am currently in the process of trying to start another one up, with Jacob Larsen of RaysBaseball. I am a huge Devil Rays fan, and live in St. Petersburg, Florida. With that being said, I shall move on to my first post.

As someone who lives far, far from Detroit, let me just say that I do not know too much about the area. I have been to Motown once, and that was four years ago. As an avid sports fan, I say I know a a fair amount about Detroit sports teams, and that is why I am here. To give you an outsider's perspective on the Detroit pro sports teams.

When I was last in Detroit, in June of 2001, it was only for an evening. Myself and my traveling companion had driven up from Cleveland to watch the Royals play Detroit in what was then Comerica Park's second season. Ford Field was still being constructed next door, the Wings were about to embark on their Stanley Cup-winning season, and the Pistons were gearing up for their first in many playoff seasons.

I will not lie to any of you. I left Detroit under the impression that this is the worst city I have ever been to. It is a city full of decrepit buildings boarded up with bums sleeping outside of them. What has happened to Tiger Stadium truly has disgusted me, and reminds me so much of Shibe Park in its later daysthat I can't even bear to go on. That's not to say Motown doesn't have its bright spots. It does have the Fox Theatre, which I enjoyed very much, it is a great and historic sports town, and the suburbs are very nice. But as for the actual town, feh.

With that out of the way, let me say that I know a fair more about sports than the casual fan, especially baseball, so my opinion might be a little out of a casual fan's league. I have already mentioned my disdain for the decrepit state of Tiger Stadium.

As for the actual teams, my impression of the Tigers is as follows. After Dombrowski made that rash of signings in the 2002-03 offseason, I was convinced it was the wrong move (I.E giving $10 million to an old catcher....). But it turns out all of those signings worked out fo the best, except for the Fernando Vina deal. That, coupled with an strong farm system, make the Tigers a good team for the future as a threat to win the Central as long as they keep the team intact. And when I say "a strong farm system", let me explain. When I went to the FSL All-Star Game in my hometown of Clearwater, I was amazed at how many L-Tigers were on the West roster. It seemed like all position players were L-Tigers, and they had a fair amount of pitchers too, the most high-profile being, of course, someone who wasn't there, Justin Verlander. Hell, Brett Clevlen won the Home Run Derby. So the Tigers, in my mind, are good now, but are going to be great later.

The Lions are viewed as a national joke, and maybe that is because the closest Detroit has ever been to the Super Bowl was when they hosted it at the Silverdome. But with a good young crop of recievers to go along with the free agent signing of Marcus Pollard, the Lions could make some noise in the North this year. The key to the offense will be whether QB Joey Harrington can do a good job and hold his job, or whehter the Lions will have to turn to backup Jeff Garcia. After all, someone has to get the ball to the recievers. Also, the Lions shouldn't expect to do much on the ground with Jamel White and Kevin Jones, two mediocre backs. The D projects as strong on the line and at the corners, but the safties and linebackers are pretty weak, except for Boss Bailey. Overall though, if things on the fence fall their way, the Lions could make the playoffs.

As for your two-time defending East champion Pistons? Well, they have all the tools in place. It is very simple, they are one of the most complete teams in the NBA. The question is, whether the chemistry will suffer without Larry Brown to keep guys like Rasheed Wallace in check. Larry is a great coach, don't get me wrong, but you guys shouldn't have dumped Carlisle for that carpetbagger. But Flip Saunders is a very good coach, nowhere near the level of Brown, but the best the market had to offer at that point. As long as the Pistons play like they can, they can win the East. But their challenge will once again be Miami, who with their recent acquisition of Antoine Walker, are going to go all out this year. But the Pistons should give them a run for their money.

As for the Red Wings, I cannot make an assesment. With the new CBA in place, and teams shedding salaries like a dog in summer, free agency is just one big expansion draft. With a new coach, a lot of new players, and a new economoic system, I really don't know how the Wings will fare. Most likely the cap will hurt them since they were always a team who could go out and throw money at any problem they might have, but now they are limited to spending "only" about $39 million. But I will evaluate Detroit a little later on after the mess that is the NHL offseason is completed. One thing is for sure though, Detroit is glad to have hockey back!

So there you have it. I am just an outsider, but that is my two cents on the Detroit sports scene. In my future articles, you can look at this as a reference for my general impressions of the "Fab Four" in Detroit. I'm glad to be here, and I look forward to providing you with my best.