r/Detroit • u/MrManager17 • 2d ago
Sports All the things I hate about Detroit Tigers' Opening Day, 2025 edition | Opinion
https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/columnists/nancy-kaffer/2025/04/04/detroit-tigers-opening-day-litter-traffic-fans/82545046007/Should be titled: My name is Nancy Kaffer. WHAT IS MY DEAL?
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u/no-snoots-unbooped 2d ago
While I enjoy opening day, she has some points, particularly about litter. I don’t love that people don’t pick up after themselves and trash the city.
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u/uprightsalmon 2d ago
Detroit in general is terrible about littering. I live on the east side and people throw trash out their window like it’s just a normal thing to do
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u/Philosophy_Dad_313 2d ago
Just because it is “normal” doesn’t make it right. We can still be wanting people to change this behavior.
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u/uprightsalmon 1d ago
I wish
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u/Philosophy_Dad_313 1d ago
Stop wishing and start picking up trash and nicely reminding people to pick theirs up as well. Report illegal dumping with the Detroit app thing (name escaping me).
:)
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u/cruisin894 2d ago
As someone who has braved heading into the office on opening day, I share some of the writer's sentiment.
I once left early to find a man walking through the Jefferson tunnel on the shoulder. Crazy dangerous. My hunch is that he was so intoxicated that he chose not to drive (or forgot where he parked) and just decided to walk home. The freeway being the only route he knew.
I wouldn't say I hate it, but I definitely don't go downtown on opening day if I can avoid it. The same could be said about most major events downtown during working hours.
Great for the city, everyone have fun. But I'll be working from home today.
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u/heftybalzac 2d ago
Is this the same lady who wrote the "we need to forget Boblo and bury our MoTown records" diatribe? If so I cancelled my Free Press subscription after that and specifically told them she was the reason.
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u/tweenalibi 2d ago edited 2d ago
Incredible they let this piece be published. If I was trying to mock a theoretical Detroit hipster purist I don’t think I could ever top this.
I straight up 100% do not believe this person’s car has been humped in some sort of pattern like this article implies.
“I like Detroit better when there’s nothing going on and I’m not subjected to the behavior of other people”
So many white people like Nancy want Detroit to be their little secret hidden gem so bad that they spazz out when “normies” do things here. Shit is pathetic.
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u/allbsallthetime 2d ago
I've been to opening day quite a bit, I enjoy the good clean fun everyone is having rain or snow or gorgeous spring day.
I do agree about public funding. That should never happen but if it does I've always believed that every game should have a select number of tickets so neighborhood kids, who could never afford an opening day or even a weekday game, could walk to the stadium and see a game.
And, MLB can bite me, with the exception of today's game, and very few others, I can't watch any of the games live.
An MLB subscription, that claims I can watch all my favorite team's games is a great big liar liar pants on fire situation.
Tigers games are blacked out if you're in market which is my living room.
Regular folks can't even watch baseball on TV anymore.
Rant over, enjoy the game, and go Tigers.
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u/StifffDick 2d ago
You must obviously not have the FanDuel Sports Network which allows you to watch all Tigers, Pistons and Wings games at $19.99/mo
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u/allbsallthetime 2d ago
I've looked into it but another 20 bucks is silly and I still have a bad taste in my mouth for falling for MLB tv.
I'm also only interested in baseball so I would cancel at the end of the season.
There's also their whole couch rights thingy.
We spend weekends camping around the state it's unclear if I'd be able to watch the games when out of my home territory.
Something about 30 days.
Then there's the whole streaming, screencast, app data usage thingy when on the road.
And having to open a separate app without being able to flip back and forth.
More research and a 7 day trial once the season gets going.
The point remains, MLB has overcomplicated watching local baseball. I remember the good old days of just aiming the antenna and turning on Channel 4.
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u/giddycat50 2d ago edited 2d ago
I didn't used mind her until she shit all over my home town, she just a miserable person.
Also with everything being so shitty now days, its a nice escape. Why did the freep even run this opinion piece. SMH.
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u/WorldWalker5587 Grosse Pointe 2d ago
which town?
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u/giddycat50 2d ago
Check out this story from Detroit Free Press: Lansing is a sad little town – and shouldn’t be Michigan’s capital
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u/WorldWalker5587 Grosse Pointe 2d ago
Oooof yeah. The Opening Day one at least was a contrarian post that could curb some people's kind of bad behavior and let them know some residents think it is meh. That one is just mean spirited and very city snobby.
I did like that she at least added this at the end to point at her own pettiness:
"For what it's worth, I ran this idea past Whitmer at last spring’s Mackinac Policy Conference. She looked at me like I was crazy, quickly shot me down, and wisely declined to further engage with the question."
Thanks for sharing.5
u/SpartansBear 2d ago
Oh god, it's the same author? Double fruck her then. I'm sad I even gave her clicks on those articles. Find another profession.
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u/StygianPlatypus 2d ago
There is a lot of valid points in here though. As someone who has attended Opening Day festivities almost 10 times, far too many people treat it as an opportunity to be completely feral with no regard at all for others. I usually bring trash bags and walk around picking up after tailgaters who leave behind piles of garbage because they simply can’t be bothered to clean up after themselves. It’s maddening. Of course it can be a very fun time as well but I can only pick up or ignore so much of other people’s trash before I just can’t stomach the whole thing anymore.
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u/tweenalibi 2d ago
Literally anytime there’s a big event downtown there’s obnoxious people around and trash. Playoff games, Movement, NFL drafts etc
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u/Grouchy_Enthusiasm92 2d ago
Any big event, anywhere. Complaining that small businesses will suffer because they are not a bar or involved in "Opening Day" is comical. Also the author doesn't understand the concept of home games.
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u/EMU_Emus 2d ago
Who gave this the green light to publish? Another reminder of how sad it is to see the fall of the American newspaper. The free press has never been pulitzer quality or anything but this slop is a new low.
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u/youngbloodoldsoul 2d ago
They have 10 Pulitzers lol
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u/DrapersSmellyGlove 2d ago
I was just thinking the same thing. 😂 They used to be an amazing publisher of really good newsworthy articles. World renowned in fact.
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u/Electrical-Ad-7852 2d ago
I say this as someone who has been a downtown resident for many years and has seen many Opening Days and other large crowd events. I think the litter problem is super overblown. I never feel like the city is trashed after these events. And I don't think suburbanites and out of towners are being disrespectful to our city at all during these events.
And I also think it's important to note that almost no one is littering on purpose. I think just an inevitable consequence of hosting a large scale event that some trash/debris gets away.
As an aside, downtown is a cultural hub for our region and our state, and it belongs to everyone, no matter where they’re from, who wants to enjoy it.
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u/Rrrrandle 2d ago
Detroit's litter problem is far worse outside of downtown. Downtown has trash cans every few feet on nearly every block and people that pick it up regularly. But large events can still cause the trash cans to overflow.
Outside of downtown only the business districts have trash cans that the city regularly picks up. The neighborhoods and freeways are a free for all of litter though.
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u/booyahbooyah9271 2d ago
"I hate the guy — and there is one every year — who stops while ambling drunkenly across the street to air hump in the general direction of my car. Sir, what are you about? Has this gambit worked for you in the past? Would you please stop doing it?"
Make no mistake about it. If you proceed to see this woman in public, air hump in her general direction.
These are your marching orders.
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u/Organic_Spend9995 2d ago
Had anyone else here ever had their cars air-humped? Cuz I sure haven’t but am now feeling a little left out lol
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u/daveygoboom 2d ago
Counterpoint: It's an opinion piece to discuss the agreements and disagreements of the article, which is sorely lacking in all the echo chambers of society.
Then again, most people read the headline and immediately get pissed.
The one I will agree with is the parking lots and public subsidies.
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u/EMU_Emus 2d ago
I'm less annoyed about the opinion itself, its the meandering, unstructured list of grievances written in a style I'd expect from a 16-year-old who just discovered they can have contrarian opinions.
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u/Rrrrandle 2d ago
meandering, unstructured list of grievances written in a style I'd expect from a 16-year-old
That's pretty much every article she writes.
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u/ConeyDogs_420 2d ago
I read the whole article and got pissed. Sure she had valid points about the parking lots and public subsidies but everything else came off as smug and arrogant. Thinking she owns the city and anyone who visits from the suburbs is a toxic drain on the city. I’ll poke fun of suburbanites who come to the city and flee to back home the second the game is over but they have every right to visit our city.
Her first paragraph ruined any chance I would take her opinion seriously. She sounds like a truly miserable person.
“I hate crowds. I hate litter. I hate drunk people who saunter slowly across the street I’m trying to drive on to work, sure that I’ll cheerfully slow to a crawl as they take what seems like hours to cross a three-lane road. I hate the Detroit double bind: That some visitors to our city on Opening Day will judge Detroit’s cleanliness and efficiency and tolerance for roaming drunk people by Opening Day crowds, but that most of the folks in the crowd aren’t Detroiters.”
God forbid people enjoy themselves and it takes you an extra 5 mins to get to work. The “most folks aren’t Detroiters” is just so god damn smug, especially assuming that Nancy probably isn’t a native detroiter and is most likely from the suburbs too.
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u/WhoIs_DankeyKang 2d ago
Not sure what she expects living in a major metropolitan area that has 4 popular major sports teams?? Hey Nancy if you hate crowds, litter, drunk people, and having to drive slowly in a congested downtown area maybe like... Don't live in a city???
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u/WorldWalker5587 Grosse Pointe 2d ago
Agreed. I do not agree with the author except where you do but I think it is important for news to have "hot takes" to prove not everybody thinks or feels the same way about a popular thing.
GO TIGERS
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u/carmenslowsky 2d ago
I love baseball but I also hate opening day. Go ahead and downvote me, I already know I’m a killjoy.
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u/NotHannibalBurress 2d ago
I love that people enjoy going down and making a party of opening day. It’s not my thing either…I would rather just go to a game in May and just enjoy a day of baseball, but I’m not one to yuck someone else’s yum. If people want an excuse to party, so be it.
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u/Grouchy_Enthusiasm92 2d ago
They should move the stadium to Auburn Hills to avoid these kinds of inconveniences.
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u/Economy-Custard5493 2d ago
This coming from the Opinion Editor of the Free Press is kind of shocking. Tigers Opening day is one of the few yearly events that brings the entire metro Detroit area together on hopefully a beautiful spring day to celebrate one of most storied Detroit institution, the Tigers. I guess Karen’s sometimes come in the form of Nancy’s.
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u/Remote_Preference 2d ago
Is this rage bait for clicks?
Even if I had strong negative opinions about opening day, I can't imagine sharing them at work since everyone would hate me. I especially can't imagine publishing it in the Detroit Free Press lol
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u/AbeVigoda76 2d ago
There’s something unappealing about a reporter from Mobile, AL shitting on opening day like she’s the voice of Detroit.
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u/Mister_Squirrels 2d ago
I probably agree with many of her gripes, but she needs to fuck all the way off with this bullshit.
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u/Dramatic-Nerve2292 2d ago
So, judging from these comments, I picture most of these people sit on the porch and scream "YOU KIDS GET OF OFF MY LAWN!! " 🤣
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u/Any_Insect6061 1d ago
Definitely a damn Karen. Like Opening Day is tradition. Holidays must be amazing with her. If she hates it so much, she needs to move up North.
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u/TheeRumHam 2d ago
The only thing I agree with is the bit about non-Detroiters passing judgement on the city while only attending during litter-filled and drunken events like opening day.
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u/Cheetawolf Grosse Pointe 2d ago
The traffic.
Took me 15 minutes to make two turns coming home from work.
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u/dennisoa 2d ago
Don’t care much for the sport of Baseball. So therefore I’ve never bothered attending Opening Day. I do appreciate all the people that essentially make it a holiday because my workday is much slower.
So, have at it!