Just A Dream

As you all know I leave tomorrow for Vegas. What you don't know is that I don't want to go now. What? You say. Yes, that's right. I really don't want to go. A trip I've been planning since freaking January. Why? You ask. Because yesterday I got a phone call from GtG saying, "I have tickets to Saturday's game, right at 3rd base." My head literally hit my desk! OUCH! Double ouch! Yes, it's supposed to be 80 in Vegas and I'm going to see my Little Brother, but to be at the game where the Tigers could possibly clinch their first trip to the World Series since 1984? As those credit card commercials say, PRICELESS! You have no idea how bummed I am. I could be sitting at Tiger Stadium (yes, I know it's not called Tiger Stadium, but in my book that's where the Tigers play, not some stupidly corporately named ballpark) freezing to death, but watching my boys, the boys I've watched be diabolically bad for the past five or so years (yes, it's been longer than that, but I was living in the Bay Area before that, although I did go to a few A's games when the Tigers came to town) show the rest of the city that they're worthy of our love. I remember sitting at one of the last games of the season last year with GtG and him asking me what I'd change on the team to make it better. We went position by position and there wasn't a single person I wanted to change. We had Magglio in right field (love him and his curls), Curtis (my favorite Swede – or not – in center), Craig in left, Chris Shelton at first (I'm so sad he tanked so badly after his outrageous hitting start), Placido at 2nd (I love everything about him, from his bald head to insane playmaking and out-getting, to say nothing of his hitting), Carlos Guillen at shortstop (I can't even tell you how much I love him and what he does for this team), my Brandon at 3rd, of course. Others might want to dump My Brandon, but we all know I won't ever be on that bandwagon. Then we have Pudge behind the plate with Vance Wilson backing him up. Poor Vance doesn't get to play in the postseason, probably, unless Pudge gets hurt and we certainly don't want that. He's been calling some absolutely stellar games. And our pitching? I wanted to see them all come back and show that they could do it. We picked up Kenny Rogers in the postseason and I have to admit I was skeptical due to his age and our experience with Troy Percival. Thankfully that pick-up worked out really well.

Being a Detroiter, I was willing to give Alan Trammell the last year on his contract and when they fired him the day after the season ended and then announced that they hired Jim Leyland, I said, "He better have this team winning big-time or people will not be happy about the firing of Alan Trammel." And look at that, nobody even thinks about poor #3 anymore, at least, not as a manager.

So, instead of being at Game 4 on Saturday, I'll be in Vegas in some SportsBook watching the game with my brother (not a bad thing, by any stretch of the imagination) and his Bay area friends (one of whom is a HUGE A's fan) and wishing like hell I were there and straining to see if I can find GtG in the crowd and see who lucked into my ticket because I'm a dumbass and planned a trip in mid-October. Damn me! I so suck.