Words speaks volume!
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...13354/1?csp=hf
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/...13354/1?csp=hf
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Ehh, the article is really scraping the bottle of the barrel. There have been some positive things going on downtown, but the city is still in decline and many areas of the city look worse than ever.
I'm also wary of putting so much dependence on professional sports teams.
Overall I think this is an unoriginal, predictable, and poorly written article. Not even a mention of the expanding DMC facility?
I get so tired of the "can [[fill in the team) save Detroit?" articles. Detroit has been blessed with amazing, elite-level teams and and cursed with some lousy teams, even within just the last decade. We've even had some consistently elite teams [[Red Wings come to mind) Sports are nice, but I hate reading cliches, and, no, they don't save a city; they don't even get close.
BTW, are we really this needy and insecure that we have to post everytime some national publications says something "nice" or "good" about Detroit? The only thing I want from the media is for them to be fair, and the cherry on top is when they try to be original. Detroit's been left for dead by the greater society of this nation for decades; the city doesn't need their validation to do anything.
You get the feeling the editor told the "journalist" to write a positive story on Detroit, and he went "hee, hee, I'll just pull out that one from 2006, 2001, etc. and change a couple of teams and companies.
If it were possible to base an entire regional economy on professional sports, you'd think some sort of magic would have at least begun around 15 years ago, when the Red Wings started winning the Stanley Cup again.
But, there's always opportunity for doing the same stupid shit over and over and hoping that some way, some how, it magically works out different.
I like how they mention that "Hollywood has taken notice", but they don't mention they only took notice because of Tax credits that were offered at the time, and how they no longer exist.
And take a look at this blockbuster quote from our very own Verlander:
"I think it's fantastic," Verlander says. "The more you win, the more fans come. Bringing people to downtown Detroit helps the economy tremendously."
Not knocking Verlander, but really? Something like this makes the article?
I loved the banner "Detroit Rising". It had such a great message with the sports teams and current positive changes in the city.
And yes, most neighborhoods are not improving and crime still is terrible and the after effect of the Kilpatrick family F-ups are not over, etc.
but seeing "Detroit Rising" in USA Today was an inspiration.
Why should I kill myself, Doma? Because I don't believe the conventional wisdom that sucking Mike Ilitch's cock is going to rain fairy dust on Detroit???
There are plenty of attractive places to live that don't have ANY professional sports teams. Yet we're supposed to believe that professional sports will magically cause some sort of economic revival in the Motor City.
You can't support a region of 4.5 million by selling $8 beers to each other. The math just doesn't work.
Here's a more balanced article that doesn't try to glam up Detroit.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slu...ears_mnf101011
And not just USA Today, sports writers are giving the Lions and Detroit some thumbs up:
http://www.freep.com/article/2011101...text|FRONTPAGE