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Lapointe: Reflections on Opening Day

Could all four Detroit teams get good at the same time?

Michigan’s obsession with disposable vapes is creating a toxic waste crisis

Cheap, single-use vape pens are flooding the market with hazardous trash that’s nearly impossible to recycle

‘Death of a Unicorn’ and the death of subtlety

Satire can still be broad and “dumb” while being hilarious and thought-provoking
On Opening Day, your parking space can cost more than your game ticket.

Lapointe: Reflections on Opening Day

April 2, 2025

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Image: Thousands protest Trump in Detroit as part of nationwide ‘Hands Off!’ rallies [PHOTOS]
By Lee DeVito
The group Citizens for a Safe & Clean Lake Superior launched a pilot program to collect discarded nicotine vapes.
By Steve Neavling
Image: Planned Parenthood of Michigan to close clinics, cut staff amid funding threats
By Steve Neavling

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The Great Lakes provide drinking water for more than 30 million people across both sides of the U.S.-Canada border.
By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, WBEZ and Izzy Ross, Interlochen Public Radio
Protesters gathered at Wayne State University in August 2023 to call on the school to stop inhumane experiments on dogs.
By Steve Neavling
Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow is running for a seat on the U.S. Senate.
By Steve Neavling
Image: Detroit Tigers opening day marks 25th baseball season at Comerica Park
By Josh Cohen
Curtis Chin wrote the memoir, "Everything I Learned, I learned in a Chinese Restaurant."
By Steve Neavling
Image: Detroit Opera offers $25 tickets for city residents
By Lee DeVito
The cast of Death of a Unicorn do some heavy lifting.
By Jared Rasic, Last Word Features
Image: Grey Ghost’s ‘Little Ghost’ to open this summer in Ferndale
By Lee DeVito
Image: Eli Tea Bar to close Birmingham location after 10 years
By Steve Neavling
Image: New Faygo flavor is based on Superman ice cream
By Lee DeVito
Image: Detroit’s Moondog Café announces grand opening
By Lee DeVito
From left to right: Zekkereya El-Magharbel (trombone), Erinn Alexis (baritone saxophone), Jonathan Muir-Cotton (bass), Marcus Elliot (saxophone / bandleader), and Dwight Adams (trumpet).
By Ryan Patrick Hooper
Trombley, left, and Zacharias spin at Macho City.
By Lee DeVito
Image: DJ House Shoes to be celebrated with 50th birthday bash in Detroit
By Lee DeVito
Pre-rolls are a popular way to consume cannabis in Michigan.
By Steve Neavling
“There’s not a lot of great ideas coming from the Democrats” Michigan Republican House Speaker Matt Hall said of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s controversial plan to fix roads by raising cannabis taxes.
By Steve Neavling
Marijuana buds under a magnifying glass.
By Steve Neavling
Dijon Tyree was charged with several counts related to a burglary of a Warren cannabis business.
By Steve Neavling
Image: Everything we saw at Astronomicon 8 in Ypsi [PHOTOS]
By Josh Justice
Image: All the Detroit Tigers fans we saw on opening day 2025 [PHOTO]
By Mike Pfeiffer and Joe Maroon
Image: Estate sale of Noir Leather founder Keith Howarth expands with more erotic artifacts [PHOTOS]
By Lee DeVito
11. Wunderkind Scott Harris When Tigers owner Christopher Ilitch in September 2022 tabbed 35-year-old San Francisco GM Scott Harris to lead his disappointing club into the future, he was going against the grain of Detroit history. The Tigers have been one of the most successful American League franchises in their 125-year existence, but they have mostly hewed to the conservative side when making major decisions. Therefore, hiring a young executive who had never led an MLB front office — Harris served underneath a president of baseball operations with the Giants, just as Tigers GM Jeff Greenberg now serves under Harris — was the kind of risk that Detroit ownership would normally pass over. Detroit’s previous general manager, Al Avila, was 57 when he succeeded Dave Dombrowski late in 2015. As evident now, the risk was well worth it, and it was a master stroke on Ilitch’s part to hire someone who looks, sounds, and acts like a certified genius. Not only has Harris revived the flagging fortunes of the tortuously slow rebuilding process, but the attractive young squad the Tigers put on the field has also revived badly flagging enthusiasm in Detroit’s loyal but recently skeptical fanbase. Perhaps it was the bitter memory of the last time Detroit took a flier on a rising young executive that led ownership to go for an experienced executive in Dombrowski in 2002, and for a safe but uninspired internal hire in 2015. Harris is the Tigers’ first young general manager since ill-fated 29-year-old Randy Smith was brought in from San Diego in 1996 — but Smith was merely a legacy who had risen to his level of incompetence. (Smith’s father, Tal Smith, was a longtime executive with the Yankees and Astros.) Smith quickly earned a good reputation with the Padres by carrying out a fire sale of expensive veterans after he took over in 1993, acquiring a pile of young prospects in return. After taking over the Tigers, he followed a similar blueprint in preparation for the opening of Comerica Park in 2000. Stocking the larder with prospects acquired via trades and the premium draft picks Detroit’s lowly finishes bestowed on him, Smith was named AL Executive of the Year for 1997 by Baseball America, which simultaneously named the Tigers Organization of the Year. Stockpiling largely untested talent for the future is not the same as winning in the major leagues, as Smith — like many other GMs who quite easily could dump veteran salaries for inexpensive youngsters — would soon find out. None of the prospects Smith acquired would prove to be stars of the first order, and few could be considered stars of the second order. Smith cemented his doom by gambling on the acquisition of two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez to lead the Tigers in the inaugural season at their new home. It was a bad gamble that turned into a disaster. Gonzalez was a slow-footed slugger who had already peaked before he was traded. His brief tenure in Tigertown was marked by surliness, injury, and underperformance. Tigers fans were only too happy to watch him spurn an insanely generous long-term contract offer from Smith in order to test free agency after 2000. While Gonzo rebounded nicely in Cleveland in 2001, it proved to be his last good season. Proof that everyone else in baseball understood that Smith was an abject failure in Detroit can be found in the fact that he was never given another chance to lead an MLB club after being fired six games into the 2002 season. Dombrowski, at 31, became the youngest GM ever in AL/NL history when he was appointed to lead the Montreal Expos in midseason 1988. When he arrived to Detroit in 2002, he was only 45, yet he already had 14 years of experience running MLB organizations.
By Gary Gillette
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