Motor City Meandering - Part 3

[Tannerman]

Sunday rolled around and we headed off to church with Eric and Kelli. Of course, it was rainy and cold. Let's just summarize the weather for the weekend now: unfun. We grabbed lunch at Bellacinos, home of oven-baked grinder sandwiches. Yummy stuff.


Grinders: WWII-era men who ground rivets off warships
Finally, it was off to The Palace of Auburn Hills, home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons, the WNBA's Detroit Shock, and of course, Arena Football's Detroit Fury. We got there quite early because we had general admission seats, meaning nothing was assigned. It turns out we really didn't need to worry about it, attendance was light.


Get your Pistons vs. Nets tickets today!
I remember hating The Palace in the late-1980s/early-1990s, at the peak of the Bulls/Pistons basketball rivalry and that whole "Jordan Rules" thing. Built in 1988, the stadium is still surprisingly modern for a facility that is 16-years-old. Kudos to those who keep renovating it.


See that building back there? That's The Palace!
The Fury are one of the fortunate teams in the AFL to have an ownership group affiliated with the NFL (and big pockets). In Detroit's case, that minor owner is William Clay Ford, Jr., who is also Vice Chairman of the NFL's Detroit Lions. You just had to know that an automaker owns teams in Detroit, right? Surprisingly, however, what Amy and I experienced at The Palace seemed rather low-budget.


This is your pre-game show?
For example, the pre-game show featured nothing more than inflatable streamer characters and some lights, along with a poorly-edited video on the big display board. Throw in a mascot and that's about it. I can see how people aren't excited about the product on the field. It was also interesting to note that the team had many advertising locations empty with a lack of sponsors. I wonder how well the Fury are doing financially. I always thought the pre-game at our home Allstate Arena could be improved, but compared to what we saw in Detroit, we've got it nice in Chicago.


Only 9,804 people showed up for the game
Eric mentioned that because the Red Wings and Pistons are so hot, people just don't care much about the Fury. Throw into the pot the fact that The Palace is often booked with concerts and other events, which provide the Fury odd dates for games, which lead to poor attendance. It's almost as if the 4-year-old team is dead. Could it be true that no one cares about Arena Football in Motor City?


The best AFL team ever?
Ironically, that hadn't always been the case. In fact, Detroit was home to the most successful AFL team in history, the Detroit Drive (1988-1993). The Drive made a trip to the title game in each of the six years of their existence, capturing four ArenaBowl titles in the process. The team was owned by Little Caesar's founder Mike Illich, who also owned the NHL Detroit Red Wings.


Pizza! Pizza! -- plus baseball and hockey
Prior to the 1994 season, owner Mike Illich purchased another sports team, baseball's Detroit Tigers. Shortly thereafter, he sold the Drive, fearing the two franchises would compete for fans. The Drive moved to Worcester, MA and were renamed the Massachusetts Marauders for the 1994 season - then they folded. Ironically, Illich may have been right, as the popular Drive would no doubt have outdrawn the hapless Tigers. Despite Illich's killing of a winning AFL team, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame in 2002 for his work as an owner.


Go Rush!
But back to the game at hand. During the previous week, the Chicago Rush had lost their starting quarterback, thus the backup would be playing against the Detroit Fury. This had Amy and I worried, because frankly, our backup stinks. But in the end, mistakes make by Detroit along with general luck on Chicago's part gave us the win, with the final score being 57-40. It was fun being in another stadium, rooting for the opposite team, getting the home fans mad at you. I enjoyed it when we traveled to Indy for a game and I enjoyed it in Detroit.


Automatic paper towel dispensers
Before we left the stadium, however, I had to take a photo in the bathroom. Since I've gotten so much hype over the ImpressionAire hand dryer photos taken on Easter and two weeks later, I wanted to see what The Palace used to dry their fans' hands (hey, that rhymes!). It looks like the folks in Detroit have to deal with a different type of product, Georgia Pacific's enMotion Automated Towel Dispensing System. These are regular paper towel dispensers, however in order to get the towel, you wave your hand under the sensor and paper shoots out. A lot of people seemed to have problems with this during my observations, voting instead to wipe their hands on their pants. You decide which is better!


Eric, Kelli, Amy, & Steve
We departed from Eric and Kelli's after the game, as we had a long drive ahead of us. It was great to spend time with them and catch up. It also continued our tradition of bringing friends to AFL games to introduce them to the sport. However, in the end, people still think we are crazy.


Mr. T: "I pity the foo!"
At least we don't live near a Foo Center. That would scare me.


If you're handicapped, you can park in front!
On the drive out of town, Amy and I stopped for a little snack at Tim Hortons. What is this place, you ask? Well, it's a chain of coffee and baked goods shops very big in Canada, and only slowly migrating into the United States.


Wendy's + Tim Hortons = Yum!
Tim Hortons is owned by Wendy's (often bundled with them), and I was introduced to this place by Chris Mach, a member of the TannerWorld Junction Discussion Forums. Via his website, 55YardLine.net, I followed the Canadian Football League (CFL) last season.


CFL game featuring Tim Hortons field ad
Unfortunately, CFL games can't be watched in the U.S., so Chris graciously mailed me videotapes of the playoffs so I could experience them for myself. The CFL, like the AFL, allows on-field advertising and every game I watched featured a large "Tim Hortons" logo on the playing surface. I asked about it and discovered that this chain was super-huge in Canada (Starbucks, eat your heart out!).


Amy waits for her coffee
For reference, there are 2,300 stores in Canada and only 180 in the United States. They don't only serve coffee (thank goodness!), but also feature donuts, muffins, coffee cakes, pies, croissants, tarts, cookies, soups, and sandwiches.


The reason we invented the "Fazoli's Exemption"
I know what you are going to say... "But Steve, Tim Hortons is a chain! You broke your NO FASTFOOD CHAINS rule by eating there!" Sure, you might say that, but you need to read the fine print on that rule. Doing so, you'll find what Amy and I like to call the Fazoli's Exemption, which states that we can eat at a chain if said restaurant cannot be found in or around Chicago. Thus it becomes a case of exploring the culture of other regions... or something like that. We've used this exemption to eat at Krystal on our Nashville trip, at Fazoli's on our Smoky Mountains trip, and now at Tim Hortons. It's our rule, we make it up as we go along! Amy bought a coffee, while I got some hot cider and a muffin. Frankly, everything we had there was awesome! Very tasty.


Guess what beverage is in the cup!
Ironically, while we got closer to home, we did stop off for dinner... at a Fazoli's! When Amy and I went to college in Indiana, we loved eating at Fazoli's. Unfortunately, the nearest one to Chicago is about an hour away, so whenever we get the chance to drop by this quick Italian chain, we jump at it. However, I must say, upon my last few visits, I think the quality of the food and atmosphere is lacking. It feels like they are cutting corners in service (like the happy "breadstick lady") as well as presentation. Oh well, it still beats McDonald's!


You can't get gas for that price anymore
We gassed up the car one more time and then finished our trip home. We made great time on the return trip... only took us like 4.5 hours! Must have been the speedy V6 in the rental car (or Amy's lead foot).

It was a fun weekend visiting Detroit for the first time. Got to see old friends, got to see the Chicago Rush win, and got to eat some good food. You can't beat that!

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[Tannerman]

Just a followup to the whole situation of Detroit's AFL team. The Chicago Rush held a blood drive on Saturday at their front office. Various players and dancers were in attendance. Amy and I dropped by because you got free tickets if you gave blood.

(Before I continue, it should be pointed out that Amy was the one who wanted to give blood. There was NO WAY I was going to do that. Keep those needles away from me.)

We got there right when it started, thus, it was pretty low key. Some dancers were there, and eventually some players showed up (Frank Moore, Chad Salisbury, Levelle Brown, Riley Kleinhesselink).

One of the LifeSource guys was talking to Chad (our backup quarterback who played the game in Detroit) about the game, and Chad stated that he probably wouldn't be back with the Rush as his contract is expiring this year. Then the blood guy asked how many teams were in the league... Chad responded 19. But then he said that we may lose Detroit and gain 2 others. Interesting, not that he should be considered an authority on such things. Given how empty The Palace was when we took a road trip there, it's believable that the Fury would die.

On that note, the Fury only attracted 5,700 people to their weekend game - not exactly stellar numbers. There was speculation in Detroit Free Press that they might not be back next year:

Fury future up in air as it tries to end 5-game skid

May 15, 2004

Tom Wilson, president of Palace Sports and Entertainment, said the future of the arena football franchise would be determined after the season. Attendance has declined in recent years.

Wilson said Palace Entertainment must decide whether it thinks the franchise can become profitable long-term.

"You've got to get people talking about you, and I'm not sure you do that being 7-7 or 8-8, and I know you don't do that being 5-11," Wilson said.

The Fury is 4-9 after five straight losses.

The Palace could make more money hosting concerts instead of Fury games, Wilson acknowledged, but the same could have been said when the Detroit Shock was struggling to fill seats two years ago.

The Shock won the WNBA championship last season.

"We sort of proved something good is going to happen, and we've seen the fruits of it," Wilson said of the Shock. "We'll go into the season way, way ahead of where we were last year. That's what we need from the Fury. Something to excite the fans.

"We haven't made any decisions on anything. Just try to get through the year."

Wilson said he has been disappointed by the Fury, which reached the second round of the playoffs last season.

"We had great hopes that we would be very good this year," he said. "We've been good, bad, good, bad."