With four months and counting since the last live sporting event from the NCAA or any of the United States' five major professional leagues, fans across the country have been made to look at the past rather than the next day's game.
My early years of fandom may lead some to believe that I'm a “fair-weather” fan. Personally, I prefer to be called a good luck charm.
As a native of the Detroit area, 2004 was probably the most opportune time to fall in love with the NBA. I remember darting into the kitchen each morning to find a VHS tape that read “for Hunter" and popping it into our counter top television set to watch the previous night’s rendition of Detroit Pistons basketball. Growing accustomed to this tradition, I began to understand two things: one, 90 points is usually enough to win an NBA game, and two, my favorite team is supposed to win. Like, a lot.
After the Pistons picked up Rasheed Wallace at the trade deadline in 2004, the team went from good to almost unstoppable. Dominating a slow, rugged era of the Association, the team marched its way through the playoffs, beating the Lakers to win the title. A few weeks later, my parents gave me a championship T-shirt, and I believed that I could count on such gifts for years to come.
Two years later, my love for basketball was joined by a new adoration for baseball.
In the opening week of the 2006 season, the Detroit Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 start and I became a baseball nut. The team, which three years earlier lost 119 games, managed to make the World Series.
Both teams remained competitive for the next several years. The Pistons lost in the Finals in 2005 (I still have tears, Manu Ginóbili), and reached the conference finals in each year through 2008. The Tigers were often in contention throughout the next decade, and the franchise made it back to the World Series in 2012. This success usually ended in defeat, as after each heartbreaking postseason loss, I would sit in my room stunned, wondering why these teams couldn’t get back to the pinnacle of their respective leagues.
Unfortunately, I found out my previous expectation of Detroit hosting annual championship parades was a tad unrealistic.
Today, these memories are all wonders of the past, and Detroit sports are in an unprecedented slump. The Pistons finished this season 20-46, the fifth worst record in the NBA. The Tigers were even worse, ending the 2019 season at 47-114, by far the worst in the league. Although I’ve never been much of a hockey guy, the Red Wings are currently in the basement of the NHL. As for the Detroit Lions, well, there hasn't been much success to go around.
