A Tiger in the Tank

I've been following the Detroit Tigers all season. Unbelievable start for a team that lost 119 games just a few years ago. Here they were 10 games up at the beginning of August and looked like a sure bet to make it to the playoffs, most likey with home field advantage. Then before we know it they start looking like the 1969 Chicago Cubs. They went from winning at almost a .700 clip to dropping 2 out of every 3 games.

I have been watching the games over the internet and I don't think I've seen a victory in a month of games that I have been able to watch. What happened? Is it the pressure of playing in a pennant race among a group of young players who are short on experience? Is it that the pitchers aren't used to pitching that many innings, even though Justin Verlander, the phenomenal rookie, has been the team's best pitcher since the swoon started? Maybe it is that the novelty of Jim Leyland has worn off? Or perhaps the Twins are really the better team?

Of course, it doesn't help that as I watch the game, write for this site for the first time in more than a month, and turn to see that the Lions have lost on a last second field goal...yech! Oh well, they are only games. No life and death situations, but the third triple hit today by the Twins definitely hurt.

It is hard to believe that tomorrow is the 5th anniversary of 9/11. I wonder what we have learned as a nation. Do we feel any safer? or have we gone back to our complacency of worrying about the more mundane things in our lives? It is hard to imagine that five years ago today how much our lives would change within the next 24 hours of September 10, 2001. There was no indication to the general public that we would not be able to look at the world in the same way, travel freely, look at other cultures the same, or consider what the future holds for our children without some sense of dread. May tomorrow be remembered for the innocent lives that were taken on that day, for the families that were personally affected and for a nation that must now keep a constant vigil of its borders from both sides.