The Tigers
“I have a heartbroken team for all the right reasons. I mean, we left everything we could on the field against a really good team, and we didn’t want the season to end as abruptly as it did. So, I thanked them. You know, I thanked them for everything that they’re about in that room. I’m really proud to be the manager and represent them so many days in front of the camera, in front of the media, get to run the team on the field because of who they are and what they’re about.” Tiger Manager A.J. Hinch telling the media what he said to the team following Saturday’s loss to the Guardians in game five of the ALDS.
Then there is this from Johnny Kane of Bally Sports who posted this on Instagram following the end of the Tigers’ season. A wonderful description of baseball. Thank you, Mike, for sharing this.
There’s a quote from former MLB commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti that has always stayed with me. “[Baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall all alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
And with any element of heartbreak comes perspective. What a special ride. What a special team. I didn’t know how my life would play out when I moved to Detroit in 2015. Ten seasons covering Detroit Tigers baseball. It’s been a dream. I’m eternally grateful for the friendships and for the memories that will stay with me a lifetime.
Aiden Hutchinson Injury
“Aidan Hutchinson underwent successful surgery to repair a fractured tibia and fibula at Baylor White Medical Center in Irving, Texas last night,” the Lions said in a statement Monday morning. “Hutchinson will return to Detroit this week and is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timeline for his return to play at this time.”
As a sports official, I have seen some gruesome injuries over the years. Some of the injuries could have been life altering. When the injuries occur during an athletic event, winning and losing becomes secondary. The safety and well-being of the injured athlete, or official, becomes the primary concern.
For those watching the Lions/Dallas game yesterday, Aiden Hutchinson broke his left tibia and fibula, when his leg hit his teammate’s leg, while Hutchinson was sacking Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott. The injury was so gruesome that Fox Broadcasting refused to show it on their telecast, which was an excellent decision.
When an injury of this magnitude occurs, it has a transformative impact on everyone on the field at the time. Suddenly, the game becomes secondary. The players are no longer opponents. They are teammates and fellow athletes, who are concerned about the health and well-being of one of their own, even if they are wearing a different color jersey.
The injury is a reminder of the risk they face every play. In the blink of an eye, their life can change. Their season could come to a sudden end, and they are faced with surgery and rehab. Their career could come to a sudden end. After surgery and rehab, they are faced with the reality of their career and dreams coming to an end and then having to find a new career that they were not ready to begin. In some cases, they are faced with life altering injuries that not only end their career but change the rest of their lives.
As we think about Aiden Hutchinson and his injury, our thoughts should not be about how soon he will be able to suit up again with the Lions. They should be about praying that he fully recovers from his injury and that he can live a happy and healthy life. Playing for the Lions again should be secondary in our minds at this point in time.
General Mark Milley, former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
From Joyce Vance today.
In his new book, Bob Woodward writes that in March of 2023, General Mark Milley, whom Trump had appointed to be head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told him, “I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He’s now the most dangerous person to this country. A fascist to the core.” Milley also said of Trump that “no one has ever been as dangerous to this country” and asked, “Do you realize, do you see what this man is?”
Of course, it wasn’t just to Woodward. At his retirement in September of 2023, Milley surprised people by making comments that obviously referred to Trump, even though he didn’t mention him by name. “We don’t take an oath to a king or queen or a tyrant or dictator. We don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution,” he said during the ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall.
Authoritarianism 101
From Heather Cox Richarson, Letters from an American.
Myah Ward of Politico noted on October 12 that Trump’s speeches have escalated to the point that he now promises that he alone can save the country from those people he calls “animals,” “stone cold killers,” the “worst people,” and the “enemy from within.” He falsely claims Vice President Kamala Harris “has imported an army of illegal alien gang members and migrant criminals from the dungeons of the third world…from prisons and jails and insane asylums and mental institutions, and she has had them resettled beautifully into your community to prey upon innocent American citizens.”
Trump’s behavior is Authoritarianism 101. In a 1951 book called The True Believer, political philosopher Eric Hoffer noted that demagogues appeal to a disaffected population whose members feel they have lost the power they previously held, that they have been displaced either religiously, economically, culturally, or politically. Such people are willing to follow a leader who promises to return them to their former positions of prominence and thus to make the nation great again.
But to cement their loyalty, the leader has to give them someone to hate. Who that is doesn’t really matter: the group simply has to be blamed for all the troubles the leader’s supporters are suffering. Trump has kept his base firmly behind him by demonizing immigrants, the media, and, increasingly, Democrats, deflecting his own shortcomings by blaming these groups for undermining him.
According to Hoffer, there’s a psychological trick to the way this rhetoric works that makes loyalty to such a leader get stronger as that leader’s behavior deteriorates. People who sign on to the idea that they are standing with their leader against an enemy begin to attack their opponents, and in order to justify their attacks, they have to convince themselves that that enemy is not good-intentioned, as they are, but evil. And the worse they behave, the more they have to believe their enemies deserve to be treated badly.
According to Hoffer, so long as they are unified against an enemy, true believers will support their leader no matter how outrageous his behavior gets.
Northern Michigan at this time of year.
During this time of year, we are watching God’s artwork at its finest. He produces pictures that change by the minute, hour, day and week. He uses colors that were not in my crayon box. It is breathtaking, mindboggling, exciting, peaceful, and energizing. It makes you want to drive a little longer and take one more road because you know the picture you see will be unlike any other.
Today Leah and I walked across the Sky Bridge at Boyne Mountain. It was the third time we have walked the bridge and the second time we have done it during the peak of the fall color season.
The Sky Bridge is not for everyone. It is the longest wooden suspension bridge in the country. It is 1,200 feet long and 118 feet high. It bounces and sways with the wind. You can see straight down through the grated floor. In the middle of the bridge there is a 25-foot-long glass floor that gives you a bird’s eye view of the 118-foot distance to the ground. It is amazing how people hesitate to walk on the glass floor.
Taking pictures of the tremendous view from the Sky Bridge is a challenge on good days. On windy days, it takes willpower and a willingness to be bounced around hoping you can be still just enough to snap a picture.
Boyne has done a great job of making the process so much easier and efficient from the first time we walked the Bridge. They now have one ski lift dedicated to taking you up to the bridge and another to take you down. They have added a shuttle to take you back to the cars.
It is worth the trip. See my Image of the Day.
Feel free to share my blog with others. To receive the blog in your email, please use the sign-up button which is located at the bottom of the blog below the Video of the Day or send an email to me at thomasdbiggs@gmail.com and I will start the process for you.
Quote of the Day: “A.J. said it best — we’re going to use this as a floor for what we’re capable of next year” Tiger rookie outfielder Parker Meadows.
Orchid of the Day: The Detroit Lions. I couldn’t have said it better than Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News.
“Whatever word you want to use to describe the Detroit Lions’ victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington on Sunday, it probably doesn’t fully describe the destruction that took place. Not only was the 47-9 victory the Cowboys’ worst loss at AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009, it was the worst home loss under the ownership of NFL icon Jerry Jones, who bought the team in 1989. Making matters even sweeter for Lions fans — who’d seen their team lose six straight games to the Cowboys entering Sunday, dating back to the controversial 2014 Wild-Card round loss — it was Jones’ 82nd birthday.”
Onion of the Day: Political ads on my phone. They are getting annoying.
Question of the Day: How are you feeling about the Tigers know that their season has come to an end?
Images of the Day: