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What: #77 See the Tigers play at Spring Training

When: March 5th
Where: Lakeland, FL
Why: Professional sports are not really my thing. I love college football for the spirit and spectacle, and I love olde timey baseball, but I think I always felt that the sheer enjoyment of the game was lacking in pro sports. As a girl, I collected Topps baseball cards with my brother, we followed the stats of the players and watched games on summer evenings with my dad and my grandpa. The 1984 World Series...I can still name almost every player on that team, and have autographs from three or four of them. Something changed after that - most people blame the baseball strike, so maybe that was it

Then, I started following the Tigers again, attending more and more games, and fell back in love with America's past-time. The players are all familiar to me again, and the atmosphere at the ballpark is always humming with excitement. And this year, I just couldn't wait until Opening Day, so we headed to Lakeland to see Spring Training!

We arrived at breakfast in our hotel that morning to find out that the entire place was filled with Michiganders who had escaped our frigid winter for a few days to enjoy some sunshine and baseball. After a quick bite to eat - and grabbing an orange for the road - we headed to catch batting practice. It was great fun to watch the warm-ups, see the sluggers knock ball after ball out of the park, and to be that close to the action.

Brad Ausmus pitching?!?

Miggy and JD at the batting cage!

 After grabbing a bite to eat, we headed to our seats for the game. The whereabouts of these seats had remained a surprise to me...and quite a wonderful surprise - right behind the dugout!

It was so fun to see all the players up close, to watch them goofing off and to hear their banter and strategies. Oh, and to see this pair have a little conversation:

Jack White and Alan Trammell...yes please!!

Our seats were really amazing, and I took advantage of the view of a few of my favorite players at the plate!

The outcome wasn't a win, but the whole day was a blast, and it was a wonderful sneak peek at our team and a great way to get pumped for the new season! Go Tigers!!