Reflections on Opening Day

By John Kennett
Journalism 312
The atmosphere was electric and anticipation filled the stadium as the Detroit Tigers opened their season Monday at Comerica Park.

But, for one newspaper reporter from Midland, the day was a struggle. It was a day that forced me to face those things in life that irritate me, like long lines and crowds.

With arguably the most potent line-up in Major League baseball, and solid starting pitching, the Tigers are picked by many to win this year’s World Series.

Being an efficiency freak, standing in lines is a waste of time. Everywhere I looked there were lines.

Lines to enter the park. Lines to eat. Lines to enter retail stores. Lines to go to the restroom. On and on it went.

At one point during the top of the fourth inning, the line of men waiting to get into the men’s restroom snaked around for 100 yards. In all my 50 plus years of attending sporting events that is the first time I’ve ever seen a line outside the men’s restroom.

The only place I didn’t see a line was at the Big Boy Ice Cream concession. I could have walked right up and purchase an ice cream cone.

It was tempting to buy a cone, even though the temperature was a balmy 57 degrees, just so I wouldn’t have to stand in line. But, spending $4.50 for an ice cream cone made my decision an easy one.

The capacity crowd of 44, 934 was excited to finally get the baseball season underway after a long winter of snow. Comerica Park was chaos due to the single-game record crowd on hand. The corridors were wall-to-wall people.

To me, it seemed like a mass of humanity stuffed into a bottle with me at the center. Being a first born, I love my space and enjoy being alone.

Everywhere I went Monday, there were tons of people, whether the press box, corridors where I had to sneak through lines, or the locker room where 25 people crowded around Miguel Cabrera waiting for an interview.

Even before I entered the park, I saw packed into Hockeytown Café like sardines. The café, right across the street from Comerica Park, had a waiting line approximately 20 yards long to enter. Its rooftop and patio were packed full of people.

While at the ballpark, it seemed easy for fans to escape the struggles the City of Detroit is currently experiencing. One could easily get lost in the party-like atmosphere and not worry about the ailing economic, or a mayor facing perjury charges.

But after the game, driving through the neighborhoods of Detroit and Highland Park quickly brought me back to reality. As I’m sure it did many of the fans.

Observing homes that were boarded up, empty 10-story buildings and storefronts with gates on the front was depressing.

Having grown up in Midland, a town that is 94 percent white with a household median income of $48,444, it’s impossible for me to imagine what those residents of Detroit are experiencing. My heart went out to those people. It was a saddening end to an already frustrating day.

Edited by Ben Evers