The Positive Auras and Vibes Surrounding Detroit Area Sports

The end to the NFL lockout earlier this week allowed team owners all over the country to take a deep sigh of relief knowing that football was back on. Yes, those owners who bargained with the players for nearly two hundred days, but also the fantasy owners who can labor over their computer debating whether or not a wide receiver or running back should play their flex position in Week 1. However, the start of the NFL season is just another positive to add to the list of topics that has sports fans all over Metro Detroit area rejoicing. The current state of Detroit area sports is at an all time high and the positivity can be focused around teams known by their animal mascots and heroic civilization logos.

Detroit can first thank the Tigers for sheltering them away from the fights over a nine billion revenue split and rookie wage scales. The NFL Lockout showed only glimpses of hope at times, but the Tigers have seemed to keep positive light surrounding the area’s sports all summer. Currently in first place in the AL Central, the Tigers look like a real playoff contender. Trade possibilities from fans and sports writers are flying around like birds in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Come September, Tigers fans may be able to remember Comerica Park for a deep playoff run and not a star-studded concert like last fall.

Detroit can also thank Mike Hart's little brother right now for the positive vibes. No not his literal brother, but the school he referred to as beating up on in a 2007 press conference. Michigan State returns this year following up a 10-3 record in 2010 and with a potent offense composed of returning starters. Kirk Cousins and Edwin Baker have the Red Cedar and the rest of Detroit saying, "Go Green, Go White" in the first year of the B1G Ten's Legends Division.

There's also that team "Up North" as Woody Hayes would say. The school in Ann Arbor brought in a "Michigan Man" this time and all the fans that jumped ship in the Rich Rodriguez era seem to be flocking back like pairs of animals to Noah's Ark. Brady Hoke has the B1G Ten’s Offensive Player of the Year back from 2010 in Denard Robinson and the rest of an offense that seemed to score at will last season. “Go Blue” hasn't been shouted this loud lately in Metro Detroit for a few years now and there doesn't seem any reason for Detroit to stop praising the “Leaders and the Best.”

And lastly there’s the team that late night comedians have had a field day with for what seems the last fifty years. The Lions enter the post lockout NFL with an all time buzz and aura that sounds playoff worthy. Detroit is not the only area of the country that has taken notice either. Vegas has seen the odds for the Lions drop like the temperatures in January and ESPN no longer needs Detroit as a punch line, but instead sees their defensive line as a real punch in the NFC North. The positivity is at an all time as fans want free agents to run to Allen Park and hotel reservations for February in Indianapolis no longer seem impossible to some.

Lockouts, pension talks, and a week of record setting heat seem to be put on the back burner lately in the Metro Detroit area. The Tigers, Spartans, Wolverines, and Lions have created a buzz in this city that use to only come around on St. Patrick's Day. Positive vibes are at all a time high right now because of the teams in Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Allen Park. Fantasy owners can reschedule their drafts once again, tailgaters can dust off their grills and lawn chairs for the fall, and lovers of America’s past time can follow the race in the AL Central like Lance Armstrong in the Tour de France. Sports fans can forget about republicanism, socialism, or racism for a little while because the hot topic describing Detroit right now is optimism.