Motor City Veedy

Hey yaars,

Yes folks, that is me behind the Tigers dugout at Comerica Park. After much planning I managed to saunter down to the Dirty D last Thursday to see the Tigers face the Jays. It was an amazingly fun day with quite a few surprises.

The ignominy of waking up at 5:30 AM was horrible for starters. The adrenaline rush of crossing the border for only my third time ever got me out of bed fresh as a daisy though! Within the hour I was heading out to J-Roc's where our chariot (the 2007 Dodge Charger) awaited us.

On our way we made a pit stop in a town called Strathroy (I think I wrote it right) where I kid you not, I had the best Tim Horton's food EVER! Now I know why their donuts and coffee are a Canadian institution - not because they're cheap, but because when properly prepared they're f'n delicious. The chocolate dip and dutch apple donuts I had were the fresh, large, and gangsta delicious! And no, it's not because I went their in the morning as I've gone to PLENTY of Toronto Tim Horton's only to be further dissappointed each time I go (Toronto Dutch Apple's just don't kick it in comparison!).

Whilst on our way to Sarnia to pick up Scott (our friendly superior at the Blue Jays who managed to swing some ticket arrangements for us) I jumped the shark in making the typical Naveed "naive but funny" remark. Having grown up in a city atomsphere my whole life I was taken aback at seeing a herd of about 30 cows about 10 feet away from the highway just grazing. My cry of "Oh shit look at those cows" amused Jamie and Jeff to no end for the whole day.

After picking up Scotty Hext we soon managed to cross the border and head into Detroit. Let's just say the radio signals from London to Michigan got progessively more urban on our way. Which is definitely a good thing, until of course I saw the exit sign for a semi-famous road...

(If only I had my DVD to get signed by Slim Shady :P )

We finally arrived in Detroit at about noon hour at which point I saw decrepit run-down buildings in the middle of the city, interlaced with some brand spanking new condos. It was a humourous sight seeing a Starbucks on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (you KNOW what they say about MLKJ's in the States!). Meshed with all the beautifual graffiti, used mattresses on the street, and burnt out tires, I just knew this would be a wonderful experience !

Here's us waiting at the will call line for our tickets while the national anthem is being played:



Once in the stadium, we just had to gawk at how amazing the seats and stadium were. And in recognition of such a great hook-up, I was proud to be the first to reward Scotty for his effort with a cold one (there has got to be some irony with regards to the writing on the cup) :



To put things in perspective, here's a view from our seats:



If you can believe it, the actual view feels even closer. It made those Rogers Centre seats seem even more archaic than they already are :P

Believe it or not the Jays actually whupped the Tigers for the first 7 innings and AJ Burnett was pitching like the 2nd starter he should be. Surprisingly there was a large Blue Jays contingent there who were very vociferous (something that's lacking in our own park!). And after he was pulled in the 7th, us Jays fans gave him a standing ovation to which he actually tippped his cap, in an opposing park! Here's the semi-proof (I missed it by a half second!) :




The Jays managed to squeak out an 8-6 victory. I was still in awe of the park and maanged to take a few more snaps. I'll post more in the coming weeks, but seeing as Scott's seemingly branded me a Tigers fan for the playoffs, here's a picture of me in front of the park with the Tiger statue that's making a hand/'paw' gesture that's should make a few people chuckling!



One monkeypaw reference later and I think I've peaked. I'll leave it at that and talk with y'all some more soon!