Every American knows that Opening Day of the professional baseball season on home field is an unofficial official national holiday. The day honors a sport that does as much for beer and hot dog sales as it does to breed silly metaphors and obsessive personalities. A single homer has been known to uplift the whole city for months. Pro baseball even has its disadvantages, but we'll be damned if we can think of any. 

Be that as it may, old-timers might recall how great that day was at grand old Tiger Stadium down on Michigan Avenue, but Comerica Park, with its perfect sightlines, is the modernized way to watch a ballgame — a sweet thing 'cause if the Tigers are to do better than last season, they'll likely go, as Old Blue Eyes would say, as Ohio's Eric Carmen would say, all the way.

Detroit's community of musicians has within it many a baseball fan, and some of the very best were only too happy to share a tale or two. We couldn't get Coop to sing about too many beers and make fun of silly metaphors ... he did that years ago.