Opening Day is less than a week away. It always has special meaning to me, but, I must admit, even more so this season. It’s kind of like baseball is back in town. I didn’t rediscover baseball last year when the Tigers won the American League pennant after having their first winning season in 13 years. The game never went away from me. It never will. But I did rediscover the joy the game brings to so many people who aren’t obsessed with the game the way I am. Before last season, being in the Detroit area, when I would bring up the thought that an argument could be made that baseball is just as popular as football, I would get the strangest looks. I would point out how baseball is easily the No. 1 sport in New York - and probably Boston. Same can be said, I think, in Chicago - although the Bears now have a stronghold because they are winning. Los Angeles doesn’t even have an NFL franchise. In the Bay Area, the Giants and A’s pretty much equal the Raiders and 49ers. Those are most of the nation’s largest cities. I truly enjoy the NFL and football, but I think sometimes baseball was overlooked just because the Tigers were awful for so long. I do believe what the Tigers did last summer was even bigger than the titles won by the Red Wings and Pistons in recent years. If the Lions win the Super Bowl, it would be massive, but I am not sure it would be bigger than if the Tigers won the World Series. What I love about baseball, as much as anything else, is that it is an every day event. There are no breaks. There are continuous episodes. It sucks you in that way. There is nothing like the day-to-day drama of a pennant race. The Tigers could push three million in attendance this season. That’s a lot of tickets being sold. A lot of enjoyment of the game. And honestly, it can’t begin soon enough for me.

Random Thoughts

- I know it’s a rough game, which naturally lends itself to tough characters, but the off-the-field incidents involving NFL players has hit epidemic proportions. It should be the NTL - the National Thug League. The league is so paranoid about everything, but doesn’t levy enough suspensions for criminal behavior. Pac Man Jones is becoming the poster child for all that is wrong with the league. Great athlete. Troubled person.

- Do people believe in Todd Jones? He has put together two solid seasons in a row, but if he doesn’t get off to a fast start, the fans undoubtedly will be clamoring for Joel Zumaya to close games. That doesn’t seem fair to Jones given his track record.

- I am surprised Marshall Faulk has retired. I thought Mike Martz would bring him to Detroit to join the Rams North. But give Martz time - Dane Looker could be wearing a Lions uniform any day now.