As most of the world knows, the Detroit Tigers (my Tigers!!) are in the World Series, which is currently tied at one game apiece (the NL team is the St. Louis Cardinals). FOX has the Series, and the able bodied Joe Buck is doing the games with Tim McCarver, who can be annoying but who also has a deep knowledge of the game (I prefer Joe Morgan and Bob Costas, but I don't negotiate the coverage contracts).

At any rate, if you've been paying attention, you'll have made the same observation I have made, regarding the "entertainment" choices during the 7th inning stretch (which has been calling for the singing of "God Bless America"). Who has been signing this cherished national treasure? This anthem of togetherness? Famous legends from the worlds of Motown and Jazz, you might ask? Not quite. As it turns out, FOX, which broadcasts a little show called "American Idol," has been promoting itself by recycling a series of rejected contestants (they can't even get the winners, apparently), dragging these sad sacks out as if they were people we were meant to care about.

Ah, the poetry of cross promotion--we all pay the price for their bad taste.

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As a born and bred Detroiter, I take great pride in the sports teams that reprsent the Motor City (and its suburbs). And so it is with a sense of boyish excitement that I watch as the Detroit Tigers play the moneyed, machine-like Yankees. It's been a good long while since I've had a team I actually care about in the playoffs, and it's great to have butterflies in October.

I'm not going to prattle on about the poetry of baseball or it place in the American canon. But I will say this: It beats not being in the post-season. And to see the Yankees lose to my team, well, it doesn't get much better.

Bless You Boys!! Let's see if we can restore the roar of '84.

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