What Happened to Gum Time??

So do we like not do Gum Time anymore in Detroit? Has the magic of 2006 already left us to pine for the days of Gum Time? I've been to three games at the CoPa this season, and there has never been even a mention of the ritual that singlehandedly won the Tigers the AL Pennant. In all three of those games, the Tigers were trailing late, one of which was a win (the comeback against the Twins) and exactly zero pouches of Big League Chew were seen.

Have Tiger's fans just expected things to happen now that we have such a "dangerous" lineup? We as fans can't just rely on the bats alone late in games. The mojo of Gum Time must be brought back. Most of the greater Detroit area's general happiness relies on it.

Now that I've gone on my rant of the day, the Tigers are beating the much hated New York Yankees in the urinal that is Yankee Stadium with an early 2 run lead. And apparently there are no more Baby Ruths in the Yankee clubhouse as ordered by new manager Joe Girardi. This leads to a nice 45 second discussion with Rod and Mario about how much they love candy. The Tigers on FSN is the best TV out there. We have arguably the best and most entertaining broadcast team in the league. Jacque throws his bat down the first baseline, unfortunately no New Yorkers were hurt. I like New York people almost as little as I like the people that live in America's toilet bowl (also known as Ohio).

Robinson Cano strolls to the plate to the sounds of that Apple Bottom Jeans song and promptly hits a home run to tie the game in the bottom of the second. The homer is not what I'm talking about here though. What song would you listen to for your walk up music? I would probably go with Kriss Kross' "Jump," John Denver's "Thank God I'm a Country Boy," or Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." Otter would go with Bon Jovi's "Dead or Alive," or anything New Kids on the Block. Feel free to let me know, I'm very interested.

Meanwhile, the Tigers score in the top of the third but we missed it because Otter pulled a, "Patterson," and turned the channel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith which is borderline excusable due to the hotness factor of Angelina Jolie. Polanco hits a rope down the line to left and some idiot from New York reached down and grabbed, then dropped the ball for a ground rule double. Enjoy the rest of the game in the Bronx jail buddy. Sheffield hits a BLAST into the left field stands to give the Tigers a 5-2 lead and his uncle Dwight "Doc" Gooden something to clap about. Maybe Sheff read my letter to him ("If I Could Write a Letter To..." is going to be an every Monday post in case you were wondering).

I attended the Tigers game on Sunday with Dad which was a debacle of a game. Late in the game though, some entertainment appeared by way of the infield box seats down the first base line. Two drunk college aged chicks decided to run onto the field and spend the rest of the night in jail. This prompted a semi-drunken conversation with a friendly Comerica Park security officer about what would happen to those two very sober ladies. Apparently, if you rush the field at Comerica, you are going to jail for the night and then the Illitch family will prosecute you to the furthest extent of the law. This usually results in a $500 fine and a WEEK in jail. That is seven full days and nights in a Detroit City jail cell. John McCain spent something like 20 years in a Vietnamese prison camp and I'm pretty sure even he wouldn't want to go to Detroit City jail for a week.

Somehow the conversation in the booth turned to the ballboys at Yankee Stadium. "He's a handsome young man," Rod Allen says, "He'll be fightin the girls off soon." Mario replies with, "If he's not already." That is probably as random (and creepy) as it gets. If we were playing the Rod Allen Drinking game right now, that would probably fall into the category of "Bong the rest of available beer and go sob quietly into your pillow." Please guys, stick to ogling the attractive ladies in the crowd, not the prepubescent ballboys.

I swear to God if they mention this is the last year for Yankee Stadium again I am going to pull my freaking eyelids off. We get it, they are moving to a one BILLION (hold pinky to mouth and say it like Dr. Evil) dollar ballpark across the street. You can't polish the turd that is the Bronx, I've been there, it sucks.

We are now about 40 minutes away from the Wings game in Denver. The Tigers are leading 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. I'll touch on the rest of the game later on as I need to go get ready for the Wings game. By that I mean walk down to the liquor store and buy a tin of Grizzly.