Thursday, May 1, 2008

Still a long time fan???

I was born in 1967. I was born a Detroit Tigers Fan. Both my mother and father (Donald and Anita Potrzuski) were devoted Tiger fans and it rubbed off on all five of their kids. I was 4th of 5. My Dad would tell me stories about the great old Tiger players that he saw play the game at Tiger Stadium. Kaline, Gahringer, Greenberg, Cochrane, Newhouser just to name a few. And those were just some of his Tiger favorites. I have a feeling my old man went to a lot of games in his youth. He never owned season tickets and he told me that he never went to an opening day. He passed away to the Great Diamond in the Sky in December of 2005. Almost exactly one year after his loving bride. My then wife and three kids took Dad to a game in July of 2005. It was supposed to be for Father’s Day and my older brother and kid sister were gonna bring their families and make an event out of it. That never happened so I took him. I am glad I did. I had always dreamed of taking my Dad to a Opening Day. I know that would have been special to him. You see, I learned a lot from my soft-spoken father. He didn’t say a lot but when he did, it was worth listening (in retrospect, I wish I had realized this at a younger age, but what are you gonna do?). I also got my love of the game from him and Mom.
Last year around the end of April, I started seeing this wonderful gal named Laura. She is the biggest female baseball fan I have ever met. She had season tickets last year and we went to a few games together. Well, things are really great between us and we have been living together for about 9 months. She was able to get a hold of 2 tickets to the 2008 Detroit Tiger Opening Day at Comerica Park. I really Love this woman!!! So we go, it is rainy and cold, the seats are good, we are surrounded by people that had a bit too much to drink, and the Tigers lost. I felt my Dad’s presence watching the home team loose to Kansas City. Dad was with me at the ballpark. Dad made it to an Opening Day!!!