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For one glorious afternoon and evening, all was right with the Motor City.
There were no Joe Nathan tantrums. No Matthew Stafford back-foot interceptions. No Jim Johnson or Dan Orlovsky sightings of any kind.
A baseball game and a football game, back-to-back in downtown Detroit, each resulting in a resounding victory for the home team.
It was as if the sports gods wanted to apologize for the misery brought on by the events of Saturday, when the Tigers dropped a squeaker, Michigan and Michigan State both fell apart on the road, and Eastern Michigan lost to Florida by a healthy 65 points.
And it wasn’t just fun or unique because these teams happened to record wins on the same day in the same two block radius. These victories were critical.
The Tigers muscled their way back to within one game of the Royals, which sounds a whole lot more comforting than a deficit of three that would have come with a loss.
Cabrera Got the Memo
When the calendar flipped from August to September, and the heat of the season’s home stretch was elevated to the max, it was on the team’s best players to lead the charge. It’s safe to say Miguel Cabrera got the memo.
Take a gander at these superhuman numbers from the hobbled slugger this month.
Cabrera: 8 games, 17 hits, 5 home runs, 10 RBIs, .486 BA
This coming after a dreadful August when Miggy went deep just once, looking the part of a broken-down horse with nothing left to give. Suddenly, all that changed and it couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time.
The Lions were merely playing their opener, and clearly no game in the first week is considered “make or break” as far as the rest of the season is concerned. But to play such a rotten team, at Ford Field, with a vocal, well-inebriated crowd in full support on Monday Night Football, it was practically a must-win situation.
And that’s exactly what they did.
Not Typical Lions
This isn’t how the Lions typically handle inferior opponents. Generally, they let the lesser opposition hang around, fail to properly put them away, and then finally give the game away for good with a blunder in the waning seconds.
They did just that against this very same Giants squad last December. Stafford and the boys needed a simple home victory to hold on to their perch atop the NFC North. Instead, they choked the game, and eventually their season away, with an overtime loss.
But last night was different. The team looked sharp, refreshed, maybe even a bit cocky, but this time, deservedly so.
Perhaps 2014 will breed a new version of Lion -- one that attacks unforgivingly, emerging with confidence and pride, unwilling to succumb to the shackles of a polluted history.
Of course, the collective euphoria could disappear in the blink of an eye.
The Tigers will joust twice more with the Royals tonight and tomorrow, tasked with trying to solve K.C.’s two best hurlers (Jason Vargas, James Shields).
The Lions will take to the road on Sunday against the rugged Carolina Panthers. The following week brings a visit from Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, a rival that the Lions seem to defeat once every decade or so.
But for now, it’s pure bliss -- a day where the Tigers belted out 15 hits, a night where Calvin Johnson looked like the NFL MVP, and a morning sports page where you aren’t forced to avert your eyes at the league standings.
The saying goes, “Yesterday is history...tomorrow’s a mystery.”
For once, history was on our side. And so today, we can smile.
