Opening Day

Have you ever heard of the saying "Ain't no party like a Detroit party 'cause the Detroit party don't stop?" Well, for the majority of Detroiters, Opening Day is THE Detroit Party. I was up at 7 AM this morning with my girlfriend, who went tailgating with her friends downtown. The game started at 1 PM, but parties started around 7-8 AM. For this special day, the majority of us event staff were required to show up at 9:30 AM, and so I arrived at my normal parking spot around 9 AM. I park in what's called the Michigan Building, which is an amazing building that's withstood the tests of time, much like Detroit itself. It started life as the home of the Ford Motor Company, and was turned into a theater after Ford moved to River Rouge, and now is an office building with the strangest parking garage. The ceilings still have the elaborate decorations that were commonplace in the 30's-40's, but they're decayed, like a lot of other things in Detroit. It definitely gives off that urban explor-porn vibe, and it's my favorite place to park downtown. I also like the exclusivity; only ushers and office workers in that building can park there, so I know I'll always have a spot.

I then take a 10-15 minute walk from my car to Comerica Park, which winds through Grand Circus Park, passes the Fox and Fillmore Theaters, and side-skirts Cheli's Chili Bar (not necessarily in that order) before entering the stadium. While I walked today, I took it all in, because last year I was too nervous to really enjoy the moment. Blocks that normally are deserted were vibrant, full of life and sound and feeling. People were strolling through the streets, the waves of navy blue and white and orange ebbing and flowing to the thumping bass from the nearby stages. That's right, we had techno concerts and polka performances and hip hop and rock concerts for our opening day. It was truly impressive to see so many people get so excited about something I'm a part of, if not really that big of a part.

I made my way through the sea of tailgaters to the stadium, gathering the occasional look and hearing people exclaim "Wow, he works for the Tigers... that's cool." I don't hide the fact that I work where I work, I take pride in it, and it's the exact same pride that everyone else has. It's the same pride that makes us all sad when the Tigers fail, and the same pride that gets us all on our feet when Prince Fielder hits a no-doubt, uppercut moon shot that falls halfway up the bleachers in right field. It's unlike anything else I've ever felt.

Once I made it downstairs, I was greeted by a nice long line to clock in, which I felt was ridiculous. Thankfully people remembered that there are now 3 time clocks downstairs instead of just the old one, and the line started to move quickly. I clocked in, and headed a few steps away to the men's locker room, stashed my headphones and keys, and headed back upstairs to my meeting place. I found out today that the head supervisor of the lower bowl seating area specifically asked for me to be assigned to his area throughout the year, which was a surprise. Most ushers have to fight to be assigned to an area or a section, and you normally have to have at least 10 years of seniority, so for me to already have supervisors requesting me for their areas does make me feel good about the work I do on a daily basis.

We met up and found out which sections we'd be handling throughout the day, and I was assigned 136-137, which is a thru-aisle that runs right next to the Tigers dugout. It's a high-profile area with a lot of foul balls hit there, and sure enough, right from the get-go, the first and second foul balls came right at my area, which requires us to hustle down to the area where the ball entered the crowd, check for any injuries, and report them or report an all-okay to the supervisors and paramedics that are constantly moving around to assist guests. Thankfully, no one was injured. One guy did have the ball bounce off his head, but he said he was fine. I would've said the same if I were in his place... no one would want to miss Opening Day.

Through the innings, I'm required to go down to field level and survey the crowd, checking for anyone who might be causing trouble or maybe has had too much to drink. On a day like today, that's easily possible. Detroiters LOVE to pre-game and can easily be tanked by the time they enter the stadium. Part of my job is to make sure that they don't over-indulge and can get home safely, so we do these checks to get ahead of the game and spot problems before they happen. We also go down to the bottom to prevent people from getting onto the field and going after the athletes. So far, we've been 99% successful in that regard, the one recent mess-up being a guy who got on the field and went after one of the Yankees last year. We put him in Comerica Jail until the cops put him in Detroit Jail, which isn't nearly as nice. So we're pretty good at what we do.

I was able to do a lot more talking with the fans, and on the whole, they feel great about the Tigers, they love Comerica, they love us as workers, and they were delighted to see the power hitting on display today. Everyone left the stadium with a smile on their face. Well, except housekeeping... those poor guys have a lot of cleaning to do before tomorrow.