I just finished taking a look at some players on the Tigers’ team who I thought were viewed as unknown quantities by most fans heading into the season. A couple arguments I made over the offseason, whether it was soothing Granderson fans or talking on the radio, were that a) it’s fun not to know what to expect from your team heading into the season, and b) having players who are unknown quantities works both ways. You may not know if they’re going to be passable big leaguers, but you also don’t know whether they’re going to establish themselves as future stars.

This argument occurred to me again when I was doing my posts about the Tigers’ newbies and it got me to thinking of fandom as a whole. What I realized is how remarkably difficult it is to be kept happy as a fan. The two happiest seasons of my life as a sports fan were when the Tigers made their run in 2006 and when the Pistons shocked everybody by beating the Pacers and the Lakers in 2004.

But think of what each of those seasons brought about. Let’s start with the Tigers. The media marveled at the Tigers’ young arms in that 2006 season and couldn’t believe they were adding another by getting the sixth pick in the draft. More good fortune came their way when Andrew Miller, believed by many at the time to be the best talent in that draft, fell to them. He would be throwing fireballs from the left side to go alongside the other fantastic talents.

Even after the Tigers lost the World Series, heartbreaking as it was, there was a sense of excitement as they would try to reboot and do it all again. They added a big bat in Sheffield and made another go. Cleveland had the better team, though, and that September was miserable as the Tigers had multiple stunning losses to the very team they were chasing. Poor pitching from just about everybody besides Verlander doomed the team and historic seasons from Maggs and Granderson almost seemed wasted.

In 2008, they decided they weren’t scoring enough runs. So they shipped off more young talent to pick up Edgar Renteria and even more during the winter meetings to add Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. They were mentioned as World Series contenders and sometimes even favorites as the press and fans overlooked shortcomings on the mound, on defense and overestimated their offensive prowess. The team never got much past .500 and was a colossal flop.

This club that had been one of the league’s punching bags for almost twenty years was now acting like contenders and spending a lot of money to look like contenders. Some decisions went bad and fans and writers who were hoisting Dombrowski on their shoulders a couple years ago were wondering how much time 2006 bought him.

With so much money tied up in the 2007 and 2008 squads that had not generated playoff revenue, the Tigers pulled back the reins a bit in 2009. There were still major questions about the rotation and bullpen and instead of making a big splash during the offseason they signed or traded for guys like Adam Everett and Gerald Laird. Defense was the way to go we were told, but since that is the least understood aspect of the game, the Tigers weren’t viewed as serious contenders alongside Chicago and Minnesota. Yet, with lowered expectations, the Tigers once again made a push for the playoffs and literally came as close as a team can come without actually making it. Yes, literally. They had the lead in extra innings of Game 163, for God’s sake. Can you come any closer?

Anyway, think about the varying fan experiences during that time. You had your die-hards who went from skeptics, to defenders of this upstart team, to bitter critics when they blew the division, to raving maniacs when they beat the Yankees and A’s in the postseason. For people who had to suffer through their beloved team serving as league doormats for nearly 20 years, it’s difficult to imagine a more satisfying season. Yes, beating the Cardinals would have been great but I think most people remember that season fondly as a whole.

The next couple years, though, showed that as a fan, that type of season isn’t repeatable. You can’t play the plucky upstarts after going to the World Series. You are the favorites and the only thing left that’s progress is to win the whole thing. As we found out pretty harshly, that is a road to disappointment most of the time.

So with the last four or five years of Tiger baseball, we have covered most of the spectrum of sports fandom. We’ve loved the team that we knew sucked and didn’t “disappoint”. We’ve loved the team that was better than expected and almost won the whole damn thing. We’ve loved the disappointing favorites.

All have ended in disappointment ultimately, but I’d imagine a good half of the league’s fans envy Detroit fans. After all, the owner is obviously committed. They roll the dice every year and they’ve been competitive most years as a result. Does that bring into stark relief the precarious happiness of a sports fan?

If not, let’s talk about the Pistons. Their 2004 season wasn’t really a parallel to the Tigers’ 2006 season. They were expected to compete and were generally considered a contender to win the “weaker” Eastern Conference. The other difference was in the postseason, the Pacers had them beat. They were down, Reggie Miller stole the ball and went for a layup to ice the series when Tayshaun Prince came out of nowhere to block the shot and Indiana’s road to the Finals. It was incredible and the Pistons took full advantage of the opportunity, winning the series.

Of course, it was generally viewed as just a stay of execution since they now had to beat Kobe and Shaq’s Lakers in the Finals. How much were the Lakers favored in that series? I was in Las Vegas at an off-the-strip casino before Game 4 and noticed that the Pistons - with a 2-1 series lead - were paying 9-to-2 odds to win the series. That was more than they were paying for the Lakers and mind you, this wasn’t to win Game 4. This was to win the series.

Obviously, the Pistons won and as the underdogs, it was fantastic. They had won “the right way”. This was a different kind of team from the two superstar model we had grown used to in the NBA. Maybe this team was changing the model for success. Dreams of back to back started early and fans were heavily vested in following as the team went for it. That sounds great and all, but it made a very successful regular season seem like too many previews at a highly anticipated movie. Yes, yes, all these wins were fine but let’s get on with it. All this time was just opportunity for things to go wrong. In the end, they made it to the Finals and came tantalizingly close to the goal. I remember after that final loss to the Spurs thinking that all that time invested seemed like a waste. High expectations didn’t really allow me to enjoy it and there wasn’t the payoff at the end. I haven’t followed a Pistons season that closely again.

I bring this up because I think it’s the one level of fandom the Tigers haven’t reallly achieved. The Pistons were dynasty chasers and for a few years, a general positive feeling about any season was impossible without winning it all. For all their success and appearances in all those Conference Finals, they only achieved it once. Even with this team, the overwhelming grand picture experience was disappointment.

Can it be possible that the only truly happy fans are those of once-in-a-lifetime dynasties? The Yankee fans from 1996 to 2000? Bulls fans from the 90s or Lakers fans around the turn of the century. I guess even Detroit fans have had a taste of that with the Wings. Hell, when they won in 1997 I was running through the streets of Detroit drunk off my butt with a cigar in my mouth forcing cars full of complete strangers to roll down their windows so I could high five all the stunned inhabitants. If you were in Pizzapapalis that night wondering who that guy was holding an empty pitcher up in the air chanting, “Need more beer!” to the tune of “Let’s go RED Wings!”, sorry about that.

All these memories and disappointments bring me back to wondering, is sustained fan happiness even possible? Even dynasties have to be broken up, so is the only truly happy fan a bandwagon fan? Somebody who just sheds the team like a winter coat once the anxiety comes knocking? Let me say, I don’t really blame fair-weather fans. I’m certainly one now for the Wings and Pistons. I invest so much time in the Tigers I decided a number of years ago those teams would have to settle for my playoff attention. Even that comes only once the Tigers games are over. So if one of those teams win it all, I’ll be the idiot next to you in the bar jumping up and down saying, “I don’t even know who scored that goal, but we won! Woooo!”

I’ll bring this full circle by explaining how I’ve come to be a happy Tiger fan. I was a happy fan in 2006 and I was a relatively happy fan in 2008. I was able to shed the disappointment of Game 163 fairly quickly - though I’ll never watch it again. What am I, a masochist? How have I done it? This probably sounds idiotic or cliche, but I think I’ve learned to focus on the hope of fandom. I don’t know if it’s my immersion in the farm system or what, but the end of the season pretty much just brings on the next one.

Right after they shut off the lights in Comerica, every day has the anticipation of that next move. Will they sign that free agent? Can they pull off that trade at the winter meetings? Can that prospect step up? I guess you can’t be upset at how the season turned out when the season never really ends.

There you have it. Your choices for being a happy fan are apparently to a) latch on to a dynasty and act like you’re as happy as that team’s real fans, b) be a bandwagon fan when it looks like the team you sort of like sometimes looks like this might be the year, or c) go all in for your team to such an extent that it’s drown in the misery or grow gills so you forget it’s even there. In other words, God help you if you’re a sports fan.

Comments (2)

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

Add Comment