Remember when Phil Garner was hired as Tigers manager, back in 1999, and most of the reporters on hand (Joe Falls, in particular) went after Mike Ilitch because they wanted some answers? Garner seemed genuinely surprised, and tried to break the tension by laughingly acknowledging the obvious: "We got a little hostility here, huh? A little hostility."
So maybe that's what happened a little bit in the comments to our last post. Lil' bit. We're all frustrated. We all want to see the Tigers play better, especially against other playoff contenders. We want to see some players who aren't performing up to their reputations justify the expectations placed upon them. We want to see a first-place team look like a first-place team. And when those things don't happen, we get ticked off.
I'm kind of hoping we got most of it out of our systems in the last post. (I know I did, in expressing my thoughts on Dontrelle Willis.) And while maybe this doesn't need to be said, I'd like to remind people not to make things personal. Differing opinions can be expressed without attacking one another. And let's not take ourselves so seriously that we can't take a joke, either. I realize everyone knows that, and nothing bad has really happened, but I think it's worth addressing just to put out the match.
I'd like to think we're all friends here, and this has become an enjoyable place to meet up and commiserate about our favorite baseball team. The fact that a tight community has developed here is really gratifying. Have fun, and enjoy yourself.
As wepri31 suggested, maybe we need an Open Thread for therapy. A place where we can vent. There's not a lot of news about the Tigers right now, so much as suggestions and speculation as to what can be done. And there are a lot of changes that could - and probably will - soon be made. So maybe we can talk about that stuff in the few hours before the next game is played and we can get on to enjoying some Tigers baseball again this evening.
One suggestion I have for the Open Thread, because it's something I think we do need to make a call on before we can chat about another game: Do we have a Rally Squirrel or has that furry varmint cursed this ballclub?