Belated congratulations to the Detroit Tigers, who closed the baseball season with a heroic 5-1 run, finishing with a 43-119 record to avoid matching the record for most losses in a season set by the 1962 Mets, who went 40-120.

I emailed Mike Solomon, a known Tigers fan now living in Chicago, back on September 25, (when Detroit had 118 losses), to find out if he was rooting for the Tigers to break the record. I theorized that even though nobody wants their team to be lousy, as long as they are lousy anyway, wouldn't you want them to be historically lousy? At least the Tigers were playing for something at the end of the season and getting features on SportsCenter, which is more than I can say for my kinda-sorta lousy Colorado Rockies.

Anyway, here's Mike's reply:

Being a lifelong Tigers fan, I can honestly say I would want nothing more than for them to take the record from the Mets. And just in speaking with family and friends, I don't think anyone from the D would disagree with me. In Detroit, we embrace anything that brings attention to our worndown city, be it good or bad.

For example, I can't tell you how many people had "Murder Capital of the World" t-shirts and cursed the Big 3 when I was a kid, when in fact, those were only reasons our Dads had jobs and Detroit was known for anything at all in the 80s.

Hey, like they always say, there's no such thing as bad press. And there is no doubt in my mind the Tigers will take one for team, or the city, for that matter, on this one.

Spoken like a real fan, Mike. And remember, the Amazin' 1969 Mets won the World Series. Tigers in 2010!

+posted by Lawrence @ 10/03/2003 11:01:00 AM