Check out sports "writer" Drew Sharp's article from today's Free Press ripping the Tigers apart.
Sure, the post I put up here last night ripped the Tigers too, but I didn't say "This isn't a good team." No, actually I think this is a good team, but for whatever reason they've gotten off to a slow start. It's irritating, certainly, but by no means is this turning into what Sharp describes as "... a season crashing in flames before it has even begun." Crashing in flames? Really? Sharp qualifies his "analysis" by stating "They won't panic just six games into the season and nobody's suggesting they should. But they don't grasp the distinction between panic and urgency." What the fuck does that even mean?
What do you want them to do, start breaking their bats over their heads after every strikeout, punching themselves in the face after ever error in the field, Jim Leyland giving each pitcher twenty lashes with the wet noodle after every earned run? (Actually, that last one might work... I'm looking at you, Jason Grilli.) How does a baseball team play with urgency? Swing at every first pitch? Only throw strikes? Cheat by rubbing pine tar on their pitching hands... um, bad example. Still, I'm sure the players are doing the best they can. The truth is they were soundly beaten by two teams playing at the very top of their abilities. It's disappointing, certainly, but for Sharp to say "nobody's suggesting they should [panic]" and then a few paragraphs later say their season is "crashing in flames" is ridiculous, plain and simple.
Let's put things in perspective: The Tigers losing their first six games is roughly the equivalent of the Lions losing the first half of their first game of the year, or the Pistons losing their first three games. So every time the Pistons were on a three-game losing streak this year did Sharp post a column talking about how their season was "crashing in flames"? No sane person would jump to that conclusion. And if the Lions were a real NFL franchise and actually were competitive in some crazy bizzaro universe, if they were down at halftime of their first game anybody saying they "weren't very good" and lacked urgency after ONE HALF would be branded a shrill reactionary, which is exactly what Sharp is.
I will admit I have a bigger problem with Sharp in general and the lazy, cliche-ridden contrarian sports columns he shits out on a regular basis.
Check out the pre-season puff pieces he did on Curtis Granderson being "a perfect fit for the Tigers", or raving about Miguel Cabrera's "booming bat". Sharp was as optimistic as anyone to start the season, but after six games he's ready to jump ship? Bullshit. Either he didn't feel that way to start (thus making his US Weekly-ish spring training pieces that much more embarrassing), or he is the one filled with panic now. Sharp isn't the only one- Jay Mariotti, Skip Bayless, Woody Paige, et. all fall into this category. They're like the equivalent of Sean Hannity (theoretically) going on Fox News and saying "hey, the city of Denver had a record low temperature today, so where's your global warming now, you tree-hugging hippies?" It's trash, and not even worthy of the ghetto that is opinion-based journalism. None of them take the time to research the topic, put it into a larger context, and come to a reasonable conclusion based on any type of logic or reality. No, since the Tigers lost their first six games, they're not playing with urgency and their season is crashing in flames. I'm willing to bet that "article" took Sharp less than fifteen minutes to write. Sharp calls the Tigers "pampered fat cats", but I wonder how much money he makes to drool out this crap (answer: way, way, way too much). I can picture Sharp distractedly banging this out on his laptop on his way from his day-time radio gig en-route to one of his book signings (just to reinforce what a cliche-monger Sharp is, the title of one of his books is "Razor Sharp". Seriously. That's the best title he could come up with). Talk about mailing it in.
I honestly feel the Tigers will bounce back. Not sure if they'll make the playoffs, but by the end of the year they should be back on track and at least in the picture. Unlike some sportswriters, I can enjoy sports for what they are, and not turn them into a life-or-death, black-or-white epic battle for all of humanity against Losing and Failure and Terrorism (made that last one up). It must kind of suck to be that dispassionate about something so fun.
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