Topic: You'll never catch me in Detroit

[shemps#1]

Is there something toxic in the Michigan water? I know you're not a sports fan Rob, and I'm not a basketball fan anymore, but you had to see that riot at the Pistons game. Those fans had no business throwing beer at the players, or being on the court. They should be jailed for creating a potentially deadly situation. Alot of pundits are claiming it's a black eye on the NBA; I disagree. It's actually a black eye on the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. Disgusting.

[Pilsner Panther]

Is there something toxic in the Michigan water? I know you're not a sports fan Rob, and I'm not a basketball fan anymore, but you had to see that riot at the Pistons game. Those fans had no business throwing beer at the players, or being on the court. They should be jailed for creating a potentially deadly situation. Alot of pundits are claiming it's a black eye on the NBA; I disagree. It's actually a black eye on the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan. Disgusting.

Maybe it has something to do with the general condition of the city? I'd sure as hell be angry, frustrated, and depressed if I lived in a place that looked like this:

http://detroityes.com/home.htm

Yecchhh!!

Oh, and here's a link to the news story, for anyone who might not know what you're referring to, Jim:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=sportsNews&storyID=6873531

Out here in (supposedly) insane northern California, we had our yearly Big Game in college football today: an old and very fierce rivalry, Stanford vs. Cal Berkeley. The Cal Bears whupped Stanford's tail— the score wasn't even close— but there were no riots either inside the stadium or out.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/11/20/BIGGAME20.TMP

What's the matter with us, anyway? We are too laid back! Jeez, do I have to go out there and instigate all the riots myself?

 

[Dunrobin]

Hey, what can I say?  I was smart enough to move quite a distance away from good ol' metro Detroit.  (The initial impetus was when I got robbed at gunpoint in front of my own home in Detroit, and the cops couldn't be bothered to come.  We moved out of the city two weeks later, and then over 60 miles away a year after that.)

Back when I did live in Detroit, I had a couple of tee-shirts that were pretty typical of the attitude.  One read "DETROIT - Where The Weak are Killed and Eaten!"; the other was a big yellow Smiley face with three bleeding bullet-holes in the forehead, and the caption "Have a New Day - In Detroit!"

 

[Pilsner Panther]

Follow-up on the already legendary Detroit fracas:

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=02O3OR3S0GNIECRBAELCFEY?type=topNews&storyID=6878899

The NBA had better do something about this situation, or there won't be anyone in the stands at their games except maybe Spike Lee and Woody Allen...

Odd thought, though, one I just had: could this be Canadian hockey craziness spreading south? Or, in the case of Detroit, north? (Windsor, Ontario, is geographically south of Detroit, for those of you who don't know... the only Canadian city that is south of an American one).

Maybe Pro basketball should adopt hockey-type rules: a penalty box for players who get into fistfights with each other (or with the fans), and thick plexiglass screens in front of the ringside seats!

 

[Watts Dee Matter]

I lived in Detroit for a couple a months, I have to say I thought it was quite a place

[Lola-Lou]

I don't get why everyone made such a big deal of that basketball fight.

[Watts Dee Matter]

haha me neither

[Honey Bear]

I don't get why everyone made such a big deal of that basketball fight.

I agree. I feel it was just humans behaving badly. It happens. We might be the most intelligent species on the planet but we certainly aren't the nicest. At least, thank goodness, nobody was killed.

Although, all that was needed was some cream pies. 

[shemps#1]

Sure nobody got killed...this time. Is that what it will take in order for you to see how awful that whole mess was? That was no ordinary fight, it was a small riot that could have blown up further.

[Honey Bear]

Sure nobody got killed...this time. Is that what it will take in order for you to see how awful that whole mess was? That was no ordinary fight, it was a small riot that could have blown up further.

But it didn't.... IMHO, the media's affected righteous indignation sold the melee like it was WWIII.

Sadly, anytime there's a huge gathering of people, something can go horribly wrong. That melee wasn't the first in history and it's certainly not the last. It maybe sound like a terrible thing to say but it's the honest truth.*

AFAIK, [mostly] everyone involved got punished for contributing to the melee. So hopefully [mostly] everyone has learned their lessons this time around and that's the end of that overblown mess.


*Unfortunately, I'm jaded when it comes to public gatherings because I've been in both melees and stampedes. IMHO, stampedes are far scarier and deadlier. I feel that it's easier to escape/avoid the path of and survive a melee than a stampede.

[sickdrjoe]

Whosoever defends Detroit should be sentenced to live there.

[Honey Bear]

Whosoever defends Detroit should be sentenced to live there.

You're a cruel person.

[Pilsner Panther]

Whosoever defends Detroit should be sentenced to live there.

You're a cruel person.

sdj isn't a cruel person, he's just honest.

Which, come to think of it, might amount to the same thing.

 

[Watts Dee Matter]

What is everyones problem with Detroit, I didn't think it was a bad place to live, in fact i thought it was great, although i dont live there anymore

[Dunrobin]

What is everyones problem with Detroit, I didn't think it was a bad place to live, in fact i thought it was great, although i dont live there anymore

How long ago did you live there?  Detroit became "Hell on Earth" decades ago, under the incompetent and corrupt mayor Coleman Young.  (One of the biggest scandels during his long reign was the revelation that he used city funds to purchase South African krugerrands.  This was long before the fall of the Apartheid system, and I've never understood how he got away with that.) 

Personally, I got the hell out of the city in the beginning of 1991, after I got robbed at gunpoint in front of my own home, and the damned cops refused to come.  To be fair, not every part of Detroit is bad, but the vast majority of the city is a dangerous place to live.

[Watts Dee Matter]

haha, what part of Detroit did you live in?

[Dunrobin]

haha, what part of Detroit did you live in?

Schoenherr Road, about 1/2 mile south of 7 Mile, on the east side of Detroit.

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[Watts Dee Matter]

oh...well...yeah, thats a bad area