I have lived in the state of Michigan all of my life, and no matter where I live I have always lived within a 30-minute radius of the city of Detroit. Being a die-hard Detroit sports fan, this city has seen some of the best athletes and people that have ever played sports professionally. Players like Steve Yzerman, Isiah Thomas, Al Kaline, and Barry Sanders, but lately the motor city may be in trouble with their professional sports teams.
Every professional team has slumps; some teams do not make it to their respected postseason occasionally; some, it is a constant reminder of what they cannot do. This year may be the first year that I have ever seen all four of my favorite Detroit sports teams not make their postseason. This city used to be a proud sports city with championships won almost every other year and fans being proud to say they were a fan, but now the teams that used to be on top are falling down a lonely path. Without including the Detroit Lions because they have never reached the Super Bowl and just had another losing season making the future not look bright for them, the other three impressive sports teams may disappoint the season.
The Detroit Red Wings are on a postseason streak of 25 straight seasons making it to the NHL playoffs. The Wings have made it to the Stanley Cup finals a total of 24 times and winning an impressive 11 Stanley Cups. The last one was in 2008 and the Wings have yet to make a Stanley cup appearance since 2009 where they lost the series to new age rival the Pittsburg Penguins. If the NHL playoffs were to start today the Red Wings would currently be out of the playoffs for the first time since Bush Sr. was the president. The young team lead by first year coach Jeff Blashill may disappoint the city of Detroit and fail the legends that helped make this city “Hockeytown.”
The Detroit Pistons have won a career three NBA championships including a back-to-back demolishing two season where the “bad boys” beat the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989 and the Portland Trail Blazers in 1990 to be basketballs world champions for two years straight. Their last NBA championship appearance was in 2005 losing to the San Antonio Spurs starting a sad ten years for Pistons basketball. The Pistons have had over five years of losing seasons without attending the NBA playoffs. They have improved with players like Andre Drummond and Reggie Jackson, but sadly that may not be enough to reach the postseason as the pistons are currently ninth in the Eastern Conference.
The Detroit Tigers have been a contending team for recent years, but this last season took a metaphorical shot in the foot by having their worst season in ten years. They have won four World Series the most recent being in 1984 where their manager was the late-great Sparky Anderson. The Tigers are now known for having players with large salaries without the talent to back them up. The Tigers have not done as well after getting rid of CY young award pitcher Max Scherzer and all-star first basemen Prince Fielder. There is a hope that the Tigers can reach the postseason this season after the terrible season they had last year.
Being a person who lives in Detroit is hard: the city declared bankruptcy, the winter time makes driving and happiness almost unreachable and now the one hope the city has is about to let Detroit down. The city needs to fix what happened to their sports teams or Detroit will become a championship less city without any more die-hard fans.
