Startling reality of Detroit sports: Lions our best hope for title

I walked through the doorway, into a crowd of people, and it was like being taken on a trip with the ghost of Christmas past.

Back when this city was filled with winners.

Back when the games meant something.

Former Tigers manager Jim Leyland stood by a table, looking relaxed and healthy and content on Thursday night at a reception for the latest members of the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame.

"Whenever somebody presents you with this kind of honor, it’s because somebody gave you an opportunity," Leyland said, giving credit to former owner Mike Ilitch, former president Dave Dombrowski and current general manager Al Avila.

Leyland guided the Tigers to two World Series and the Tigers won 93 games in 2013, and still, people wanted to get rid of him.

Ninety-three wins? I have a feeling you would take that right now.

In the back of the room, Jon Jansen stood behind a table of appetizers. Jansen was on the Michigan football team that won the 1997 national championship. "This is a tremendous honor," he said. "I've got two moments in my life where I have been honored like this, and this is one of them. The other one was being elected captain of Michigan by my teammates."

In the middle of the room, Oakland basketball coach Greg Kampe was posing for a picture. He has won 558 games at Oakland, the fourth most for any current Division I coach at a single institution. "I'm embracing every moment of it," Kampe said. "How very lucky I am for this to happen. It’s hard to put into words."

Up on the video screen, there was a list of the other members of the latest class, who will be officially inducted at a ceremony today at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. And that list was like a Who’s Who of champions or people who spent a lot of lifetime around them.

Dennis Rodman, one of the Bad Boys.

Jalen Rose, a member of the Fab Five.

Dean Look, an NFL ref who officiated three Super Bowls. (He'll officially be inducted in 2018 because of a family commitment).

Flint’s Andre Rison, who won a Super Bowl championship with the Green Bay Packers in 1996.

And finally, up on that screen, there was a picture of Mitch Albom, my colleague, the acclaimed Free Press columnist who hit town in 1985 and spent most of his career chronicling all kinds of titles from the Red Wings, the Pistons and the Michigan Wolverines.

While looking at that list, while thinking about all the success all those teams had in the past, the current condition of this city became all too clear.

It’s a horrible, depressing time for sports fans.

And this place is in a serious funk.

On Thursday afternoon, the Tigers lost 17-7 to the Chicago White Sox, their 86th loss of the season.

Last season, the Pistons finished 37-45 and missed the playoffs.

The once mighty Red Wings missed the playoffs for the first time in 25 years.

Michigan State football is coming off a 3-9 season.

Ohio State has defeated Michigan in football for five straight seasons. And even though there is all kinds of buzz around Jim Harbaugh, he wasn’t won anything.

Which brings me to the stunner.

You wanna know the best hope, at least for our professional sports? The one team coming off the playoffs?

The freakin’ Lions, a team that hasn’t won a championship in 60 seasons.

Sure, they opened with a victory over the Arizona Cardinals.

But they still have 15 more games to play.

Fifteen more chances to blow it.

Not that I’m getting jaded or anything.

More on Freep.com:

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Mitch Albom, Jalen Rose, Dennis Rodman, Jim Leyland to join Michigan sports hall of fame

Jim Leyland knows Detroit Tigers' relationship with fans on thin ice

Stop, smell the roses

While talking to Kampe, I realized something else.

We probably don’t appreciate things, in the moment.

“When you are in the heat of it, you can never appreciate what has happened,” Kampe said. “For me, what this honor has done, it makes me appreciate how good the players have been. How good my staff has been. I feel this is more of an award for Oakland than me. This is a WE thing. We did this at Oakland.”

Now, for some good news.

A ray of hope, if you will.

Kampe just might have his best team.

“If we are healthy and they play to their potential, it’s a team that could have a very talented season,” he said. “If we don’t, you can hold me accountable.”

And Leyland has heard nothing but good things about several of the young players the Tigers have acquired in their grand sell-off.

“I think Al (Avila) did a terrific job,” Leyland said. “I’ve seen some of the players they got, very impressed. I talked to three general managers and they brought up how much their scouts loved the Perez kid (Franklin Perez acquired from Houston in the Justin Verlander trade). They love the (Jeimer) Candelario kid. And Tony La Russa loves the shortstop, (Sergio) Alcantara. He says, ‘I’ll stake my reputation. He’s going to play shortstop in the big leagues.’

“I think Al did a great job.”

So there’s that.

A slight glimmer of hope in the darkness.

But still, it seems far off, at least for the Tigers.

Wait. Tom Izzo. MSU basketball. The Spartans could be really good, right?

And that Michigan defense looks fantastic.

And if the Lions can keep this going.

And if those young Tigers can develop…

Maybe. Someday. If only. We won’t take it for granted this time, right?

Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel/

Michigan Sports Hall of Fame 2017 induction

When: Today

Where: The Max M. Fisher Music Center, 3711 Woodward Avenue, Detroit.

Starting at $25

Tickets at www.mshof.org.