I will tell you from the start, I can't be torn apart from my team: Game 17 of 22+

Summary:
Score: Baltimore 12 Detroit 8
Temperature: 74 o
Attendance: 37,464
Winner of the Dunkin' Donuts Race: Biggie Bagel (or, rather, "And Biggie Bagel toasts 'em!")

I'm a bit behind on my blog for Sunday's game but I've been keeping notes on what I wanted to write and have been mulling it all over. I'm still a little confused about what I'm feeling. When we woke up this morning, the Tigers lead over Minnesota was down to half a game. Oddly, this makes me love the team even more. It's easy enough to cheer for a team when they're winning; something happens when you're cheering for a team with huge ups and deep downs. On Sunday, we got to the park quite early, watched batting practice and read the local paper. It was free batting helmet day (for those under 14) and I watched little kids paste white numbers to the shiny blue surface . Some kids were really meticulous and very carefully attached their favourite player's number. Others put their numbers on upside down or decorated the surface randomly chosen numbers. There were a lot of Pudge's, Ordonez's and Inge's and a lot of random numbers too (I don't recall there being a player with the number 659519 but I could see how tempting it would be to fill the blue hat with those white numbers.) I thought kids with #28 showed great taste. As the crowd filled in, I was watching the kids with their helmets and looking at kids and adults with names on their t-shirts or jerseys. I had my Granderson shirt on and I was wondering how it is that someone goes about choosing a favourite player. What makes a 12 year old boy buy a Verlander shirt? Or a 30 year old man buy a Brandon Inge shirt? Or, frankly, me buy a Granderson shirt? Amidst this musing, I was reading a rather long article about Craig Monroe. I was really moved by this article (and the article I referred to in an earlier posting) and I realize I cheer louder for him now because I've read about what motivates him. On Sunday, rather than buying my usual scorecard, I succumbed to buying a program because of a feature article about the Beloved Centerfielder. Perhaps I've been delaying writing this entry because I'm still confused about why I found these articles so impressive and so moving. Further, I'm still confused about how all of this has happened to me this season. I've become very attached to some of these players; I find I'm no longer root root rooting for the home team, I'm cheering for a team of some really cool players. I'm cheering for Craig and Curtis to name only two. I think I bought a Granderson shirt not because of the runs he scored earlier in the season but because he had a rough August and he still keeps heading to the plate. As we were filing out of the park, a few people were grumbling about the Tigers' loss. I was smiling because the Motown song they played as we all filed out summed up all that I could not articulate about my feelings for this team:

I'm stickin to my guy like a stamp to a letter
Like birds of a feather
We..... stick together
I will tell you from the start
I can't be torn apart from my guy