Tigers Fans: A Win Is A Win

By: Eric Thomas

No one came out of game 2 of the Mariners series feeling good. The Mariners lost. The Tigers got to ride the Jose Valverde ride again, and that's a ride that always makes you feel nauseated. Of course, Tigers fans can't be blamed. They are adjusting to the shell shock that Octavio Dotel gave you. Side note, how funny is it that no one blamed Dotel for Monday night's loss? He was the guy 99% responsible for the loss, and Tigers fans passed over him as the goat in the Tuesday analysis. Did they think he was euthanized after the game? That's of course, ridiculous. He was clouted away by federal protection.

Valverde managed to load the bases last night, further challenging the definition of the word "save". Twitter rolled like a refinery for a solid hour after midnight. The word "again" kept being repeated. But that's not true because Valverde takes longer to walk the bases loaded. Dotel worked with amazing speed at blowing that game. If you went to refill your drink, which I suspect that many did, you probably missed the Dotel meltdown. Dotel's march of death was special and let's makes sure that achievement isn't folded into Papa Grande.

I will raise my hand among those who don't care how Grande gets it done. To me it means nothing. As long as the Tigers leave with the win, I don't care how exciting it is. Tigers fans seem to want a closer who is perfect 100% of the time and you are being unreasonable. Even Rivera blows saves.

Tigers nation has been tapping their foot lately. I think its fine to expect excellence out of your team, especially with this payroll, but it seems kind of odd how much you are expecting these days. Valverde case in point, why is it that the Tigers demand perfection, and anything less is grounds for release? Tigers fans are slowly becoming Yankee fans and this is not going to help anybody.

Yankee fans are awful. Players know it and its one of the very well known downside to the pinstripes. The Yanks also have a garish payroll and colossal expectations every year from their fans. Yankees fans are known for setting par at the World Series. The only way the team can get a birdie is if they beat the Sox on the way. It's an eagle if they sweep them.

St. Louis fans are not like that. They are supportive of everything and anything. They will cheer for the stupid Cardinals, come what may. There will never be a player that is driven out of town. That does not happen in St. Louis. They are one of the more violent and downtrodden cities in America but they are good to their baseball team. What does that get you? Two World Series since 2006.

So... why are Tigers fans so eager to wrap themselves in this blanket? Why are Tiger fans emulating a fan base that drives players away and boos them until they quit? If you turn into an angry fan base you will only get players who hate you. If you support the team the team supports you and that both backs get scratched.

Fine, I will write this. This brings me to Brandon Inge. He managed to clap a walk off grand slam already in his career with the A's. I don't know how this information struck most people but it caused me to want to slam my head into a wall. I wanted to say something about this but I don't want to reignite the Inge garbage. There is no reason that Tigers fans should ever rue the day that Ingey walked out the door. But there is something larger here and it's a teaching moment for all of you Tigers fans.

I wrote a blog during the public flogging that was the end of the Brandon Inge story and I said that the people who were booing Brandon Inge from the stands were just not helping the cause. This is exactly what I meant. If you boo the guy, it hurts his confidence. It's basically like being an army general but not allowing your own side to have guns. The reason why there is a home field advantage is that they will cheer you on. So Inge goes somewhere else, gets confidence and starts getting it done. I understand that you want to scream and criticize. Lucky for you, you live in 2012. There are ways of doing so and doing so in a manner that will get you heard. There is 24 hour a day sports radio, blogs and social media. If you want to just be a radiant ball of neutrons, go for it! Then knock it off when you get to the stadium.

But the people who boo are not going to stop on their own. I lay this at the feet of the casual observer who does not go after these nerds. If you don't they will never stop. Ignoring them only empowers them. The fan who wants this team to do well needs to crush the haters. It needs to be pointed out that if you hate everything about a team, YOU ARE NOT A FAN ANYMORE. You don't have to like everything, but if you hate everything, it takes you out of the fan column. Remind the haters about that and maybe we might make some progress.

Will Tiger fans learn this lesson or boo Valverde out of town? I don't know. But at least I have said my piece.