First of all, the weather sucks here. The Super Bowl is meant to be in a warm area. The city of Detroit is dead. Their is little to nothing to see down there. They don't have space for all the parties so they are having them in abandoned warehouses. The money the city is wasting for nothing. I doubt many people are going to come back to visit Detroit for a vacation. Finally when the media arrives in a couple days we are going to hear this classic on the radio

"Jon Doe of the Oklahoma Herald wrote Detroit is a shithole, lets bombard him with emails and tell him he's wrong" but multiply this by 50. When we all know Detroit looks like a warzone.

Anyway, my point is that the Super Bowl should be in places like Miami, Tampa, New Orleans (Obviously not this year), Atlanta, Phoenix, LA, San Diego, Jacksonville, Houston, etc... Next week is a disaster waiting to happen.

Now that I'm on my rant, someone needs to tell channel 4 to STFU with super bowl parties. Unless you're rich, you can't get into these parties and who wants to go anyway? So I'll look like an idiot trying to hang out with millionaires. And how many people in the area are actually going to the Super Bowl with their $1000 tickets? Fuck the Super Bowl. I'm going to watch my Pistons championship dvd that night and I'm praying for 1 ft of snow next Sunday morning.

Fuck the Super Bowl. I'm going to watch my Pistons championship dvd that night and I'm praying for 1 ft of snow next Sunday morning. [smilie=rofl.gif]

you act as if this hasnt happened before. Ford Field is by far a better place than the previous domes that hosted the super bowl (pontiac silverdome and the superdome in N.O.) only dome even close to it was Atlanta's dome.

Not even a legit complaint. It's been in nothing to do ass pontiac. Why not have one in Detroit? Is this a "i didn't get invited to Hugh Hefner's playboy party" bitterness? If so, nevermind i'd be mad about that too.


Next thing you know it'll be a crime to have Car Show out here. [smilie=artist.gif]

Havent there been a bunch of shops downtown along with resturants and shit? Too bad most will leave after the game, but still.

First of all, the weather sucks here. The Super Bowl is meant to be in a warm area. The city of Detroit is dead. Their is little to nothing to see down there. They don't have space for all the parties so they are having them in abandoned warehouses. The money the city is wasting for nothing. I doubt many people are going to come back to visit Detroit for a vacation. Finally when the media arrives in a couple days we are going to hear this classic on the radio

"Jon Doe of the Oklahoma Herald wrote Detroit is a shithole, lets bombard him with emails and tell him he's wrong" but multiply this by 50. When we all know Detroit looks like a warzone.

Anyway, my point is that the Super Bowl should be in places like Miami, Tampa, New Orleans (Obviously not this year), Atlanta, Phoenix, LA, San Diego, Jacksonville, Houston, etc... Next week is a disaster waiting to happen.

Now that I'm on my rant, someone needs to tell channel 4 to STFU with super bowl parties. Unless you're rich, you can't get into these parties and who wants to go anyway? So I'll look like an idiot trying to hang out with millionaires. And how many people in the area are actually going to the Super Bowl with their $1000 tickets? Fuck the Super Bowl. I'm going to watch my Pistons championship dvd that night and I'm praying for 1 ft of snow next Sunday morning.

I'm sure there are other valid points in there, but I stopped reading at the bolded. Jacksonville was known as the worst superbowl in yearsand the media ripped it a new asshole for having nothing to do, nowhere to eat, impossible traffic, and a average at best stadium. (They ripped Houston too...actually you can probably still find Bill Simmons article) If they say anything about one of the fattest cities (Detroit) in country, it certainly won't be that we didn't even have good food or a good stadium.

Rors-

I agree 100% on the facilities, and I'll take it a step further- it's the best dome in the NFL. After living in ATL for a few years I've gone to the dome a couple times...Ford Field KILLS it.(albeit the GA Dome is older)

You guys aren't grabbing the gist of my argument. Its not about domes. Its about city and location. Its too fucking cold and depressing to have a Super Bowl here. Atlanta has quite a nite scene from what I've heard. Detroit is going to be jacksonville + cold weather.

You guys aren't grabbing the gist of my argument. Its not about domes. Its about city and location. Its too fucking cold and depressing to have a Super Bowl here. Atlanta has quite a nite scene from what I've heard. Detroit is going to be jacksonville + cold weather.

I see your point, but the only way that the city is ever going make any sort of a comeback is to keep getting these events- if you haven't noticed, with every all star game, super bowl, whatever else- More and more positive stuff happens. Be it knocking down ugly shit, renovating abandoned warehouses (even if for a club purposes, it's utilizing waste- like Snoop and Tiger stadium) or building new things. I love that the public spotlight is on us and I hope it stays there- shit is finally getting done. So why hate on the city getting better by saying we should never get shit? Most articles I read about the baseball all star game were positive..so apparently SOMEONE found something down there to do.

The city is never going to make a comeback. That was an old bit back in the mid 90's when Archer was elected. Only the people that live there can stop the violence, arson, and clean up their neighborhoods. The Super Bowl is the equivalent of painting a 150 year old house with a rotting foundation. Its funny how they put up new street lights, cleaned downtown, planted shit for these events. Maybe they should do this on a regular basis and we would never have gotten to Detroit looking like Kabul.

What does the weather have to do with anything? Does it disrupt the signal being broadcast? Do you think the NFL gives a rats fuck how some journalist feels about not being able to play 18 holes before the match? It was nothing but bargaining chip the NFL used to get a new stadium here in Detroit. The game will sell out whatever they charge, people will tune in to watch regardless of location, it was strictly a financial decision and the bad press will only hurt the city not the league.

Detroit is getting the super bowl for the same reason we got the all star game-- build a shiny new stadium and the league will throw you a bone.

Detroit is getting the super bowl for the same reason we got the all star game-- build a shiny new stadium and the league will throw you a bone.
and why shouldnt they? its not an unprecedented thing. state of the art stadiums and arenas get the big games. Ford Field is possibly the best indoor football stadium ever. And i say that as a non-pussycat fan. [smilie=amish.gif]

I say MOLA1 should just give his snoop tickets to UC and fuck up his plans to humbug the whole thing.

I'd love to go but their isn't any free food there.

Why shouldn't the Super Bowl be in Detroit?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/01/30/detroit.super.bowl.ap/index.html

it should be in cold weather cities too, IMO. Detroit just happens to be the only one with a nice new dome (the Metrodome isn't that nice). If Chicago had a dome, they'd have one long before us. Their city would be a great host. Why should the superbowl always be in a warm place? If people are too big of pussies to wear something warm they shouldn't be going to an event based around a manly sport like football.

good posts varsity (and article).

naysayers: have you spent time down town lately?

bars have opened up. its become cosmetically beautiful (if only because of the superbowl). its nice.

i've been as down on detroit as anyone, and still think its grossly mismanaged.

but as a detroiter, how can you say the superbowl shouldnt be here?

i guarantee detroit will have glowing reviews by the end of the week, and from there...?

what detroit needs more than anything else is a spark. thats what this superbowl could mean. maybe we get another superbowl in 10 years. maybe, if only in metro detroit, or the midwest, people say 'i'd like to go visit detroit'. if downtown comes back, detroit comes back. whatever. it didnt take much for cleveland.

some of you act like detroit aint shit. im not old, but i know detroit was once one of the top cities in the US. we have alot going for us (cars, music, diversity).

i dont know. im rambling. its just i see alot of good things happening, and i think some of you have a real bullshit attitude.

Here's the real story.

http://www.metrotimes.com/editorial/story.asp?id=8818

So Diddy, when are you going to move to Detroit? Its nice to get on 75, head south, go to the Wings game, and get the hell out of there. I don't see anyone moving in. Just more hot air.

This guy is the biggest douchebag in the fucking world. (http://www.suntimes.com/output/telander/cst-spt-rick01.html)

i don't get the negativity here.

even if the Super Bowl points Detroit in the right direction for revitalization, why the heck not?

i was listening to jim rome yesterday and jay stewart, the comedian, was absolutely gushing about how nice Detroit was. he was ragging on jacksonville and he said he was having a tremendous time. of course, that's the view of only one person, but that's a start.

i plan on living in michigan for a while and i'd love it if Detroit became a downtown area to be proud of. i have gone downtown (detroit institute of arts, detroit science center, tigers games, etc) and my parents have owned businesses in detroit. i think the super bowl in detroit's a fantastic thing.

This guy is the biggest douchebag in the fucking world. (http://www.suntimes.com/output/telander/cst-spt-rick01.html)

That's just an writer trying to get some attention. I'm sure he'll get blasted for writing this, in hopes that he'll become infamous in Detroit and therefore get attention.

actually if drew sharp, perry farrell, and terry foster were all shipped to florida. that would be the shit. its unfortunate that those 3 negative crybabies are black to me(just for me anyways).

Sharp is gonna be in full bash mode for a month straight i see.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006602030326

I never viewed Foster as negative. He's one of my favorites on the radio. Now Sharp. FUCK HIM. I hope he dies in a plane crash.

Just curious.....

Who here actually lives in Detroit?

PS Don't give me any Metro Detroit mumbo jumbo.

I never viewed Foster as negative. He's one of my favorites on the radio. Now Sharp. FUCK HIM. I hope he dies in a plane crash.
Foster tries to hide it a lil more than sharp. and i've noticed that he has a few people who enjoy his writing. but he is just as whiny negative as the rest. it comes out more when he's on the late night sports shows.

Does Foster even write columns anymore? I heard he got demoted last year and he hardly wrote.

Does Foster even write columns anymore? I heard he got demoted last year and he hardly wrote.
im not sure. only heard of his blog as of late. If he did get demoted i dont have a violin to mourn his fall off.

WTF@Foster being demoted

Foster is fucking sweet. That dude is a straight up G. A real sports fan.

He lost his newspaper column a few months ago and now just does his blog and his Sports Inferno website stuff.

WTF@Foster being demoted

Foster is fucking sweet. That dude is a straight up G. A real sports fan.
he comes across as a whiner to me. but i've heard he has a fan base. im just not part of it. especially following the tyson chandler trade bs he bit on~lol~

So Diddy, when are you going to move to Detroit? Its nice to get on 75, head south, go to the Wings game, and get the hell out of there. I don't see anyone moving in. Just more hot air.

My job may relocate me to our downtown office, I've been looking into those new condos that they're building. Half of them are already sold...so someone is definitely moving in. I guess the question is how long that lasts...

Good pictures from Bangpow...

http://www.consolesports.net/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=323&mode=&order=0&thold=0

I went to the NFL experience last night...hopefully I can upload some of the cobo area pictures as well. At any rate, it looks great down there.

Just curious.....

Who here actually lives in Detroit?

PS Don't give me any Metro Detroit mumbo jumbo.

i live a block out of detroit, but spend ~40 hrs a week downtown (often closer to 100 though) and plan on moving down there next year when i have some money.

living in certain parts of downtown detroit is pretty expensive actually. not as simpleton bs garbage as a couple here have suggested.


Actually there are rich people trying to get into some of the homes in the historical district on Voston, Chicago, and arden park blvd.

my grandmother lives on arden park and they've offered as much as 1 million to buy her out of her home.

LOL@the people with the "I might move there next year".

Brace yourself for this one...

(note that it is written by two chicks, both named "Amy", how cute)

http://www.slate.com/id/2135422/


The Host With the Least, Detroit fails to capitalize on the Super Bowl.

By Amy Hetletvedt and Amy Sullivan
Posted Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, at 12:41 PM ET

When Detroit hosted the Republican National Convention in 1980, the city was a little nervous. An exodus of whites after the riots of the 1960s had left Detroit a shell too big for its contents—it lost half its population during the 10 years that preceded the convention. Businesses pulled out of the city, crime rose, and abandoned buildings dotted downtown.

Faced with the challenge of making the city look populated, then-Mayor Coleman Young gave orders to spruce up some of the vacant buildings around the convention center. One of these was the Statler Hotel, a grand Italian Renaissance-style building that anchored the once-posh shopping district at Michigan Avenue and Grand Circus Park. Built in 1914, the 1,000-room hotel had steadily lost business before closing in 1975. To mask its neglected facade, the city hung bright red awnings over the now-empty hotel's massive street-level windows. Instead of fooling passers-by, the giant awnings became a symbol of Detroit's inability to deal with its endemic problems.

Twenty-five years later, Detroit, now the site of Super Bowl XL, doesn't have to worry about awnings. Last summer, the city tore down the still-empty Statler Hotel.

The Super Bowl has always held the promise of positive economic impact and word of mouth for the host city. Recently, that benefit has been made fairly explicit, as the NFL has promised future Super Bowls to cities that build and finance new stadiums, like Detroit has done with Ford Field. The understanding is that a city can recoup some of its stadium costs with the tourism dollars that accompany the week of events surrounding the game.

A city's biggest potential revenue stream during a mega-event comes from accommodations. Detroit has virtually none. A lucky few will stay at the Renaissance on the river, but the vast majority of Super Bowl visitors will stay in the suburbs, rent cars in the suburbs, and drive them into the city only for the big event.

In 2001, when Detroit was picked to host, there were plans for several major hotel projects to be finished in time for the Super Bowl. The city's three casinos were steaming ahead with plans for the construction of permanent facilities, including Vegas-style hotel towers. The Book-Cadillac, an elegant, historic downtown hotel, had a reputable development team ready to begin restoration. Fast-forward five years later: The casino hotels have been stalled by litigation, and the Book-Cadillac remains shuttered and moldy. The Madison-Lenox, another historic hotel a block and a half from Ford Field, was demolished in 2005 to make way for a parking garage despite the best efforts of preservationists and developers.

Parking is at a premium, of course, because everyone is driving in from their suburban hotels. Another sacrifice to the parking gods: the old headquarters of Motown Records. What was once supposed to become a museum was knocked down last month so it could be used for a parking lot during the game.

A tremendous amount of development has taken place during the last few years. Lofts are going up downtown and young suburban professionals are tiptoeing back into the city. But most of the urban planning decisions surrounding the Super Bowl have placed short-term gain over long-term planning. These quick fixes are necessary in part because Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spent much of the last few years distracted by scandals involving his use of public funds for, among other things, spa treatments and leasing an SUV for his family. But the main explanation for these missteps is Detroit's perennial problem: Suburbanites don't need the city. The resources that most cities offer—high-end restaurants, movie theaters, retail, museums, hotels—are located in the suburbs instead of the city core. While the suburbs have no compelling self-interest to support the city financially, Detroiters are just trying to get by. In an illustration of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the city is too busy trying to maintain police coverage and keep its schools open to worry about remaking its image from the top down.

The city needs hotels to draw future conventions and events to the downtown, not parking lots to accommodate visitors who have no choice but to stay in the suburbs. It needs attractions that can entertain people, not just events like the Super Bowl that come with their own attractions. And it needs to make the most of a resource that other cities would kill for—an abundance of stunning, historic architecture that sits empty, waiting for restoration and redevelopment.

Some creative Detroiters, trying to make the most of the city's grim reputation, have promoted their town as embodying shabby chic, much like the grunge era, pre-tech boom Seattle did. The movie 8 Mile and a recent Chevy Impala commercial both featured the empty Michigan Theater, the interior of which has been turned into—no surprise here—a parking garage. Graffiti artists have also transformed the windows of the abandoned United Artists building into stained-glass paintings that were recently featured on the cover of Preservation magazine. In December, however, the paintings were removed as part of an effort to relieve blight. Super Bowl attendees who pass the building will now see just another empty structure.

As Detroit enters center stage again, Coleman Young's much-ridiculed strategy of simulating vibrancy is being revived. Ford Field is located off a stretch of the business district that features new developments interspersed with abandoned storefronts. Local architects have set up displays in seven abandoned buildings and more than 20 eye-level store windows near Ford Field so that passers-by won't be greeted by gated or boarded-up shops. In addition, the city has spent money to turn some vacant buildings in the area into temporary memorabilia shops. They will most likely return to their previous state once visitors—and Super Bowl retailers—have left town following the game.

they had two writers to make sure it was as negative as can be,

By Amy Hetletvedt and Amy Sullivan

well, if you can tell me where i'll be going to school next fall, then i'll move down there now (even if it means taking another loan out).

i dont particularly care to live at home, and downtown is definitly more fun than where i live.

ps that amys article sucked. was that supposed to be investigative reporting? maybe i'll write an investigative report how those girls are ugly with their makeup off.

some people, its like you give them 10 bucks and they ask why you couldnt have given them 20.

ps that amys article sucked. was that supposed to be investigative reporting? maybe i'll write an investigative report how those girls are ugly with their makeup off.


[smilie=rofl.gif]

That article is just wrong. I worked downtown for several years until 98 when my job moved and I followed it out to the burbs. Now when I go back downtown there is so much new development down there it's silly. You know it's biased towards the negative when GM or Compuware and the cool shit that has sprung up around both hq's is rolled up under the rubric of "professionals tiptoeing back in" but the michigan theater and UA buildings get called out and highlighted.

Fuck the Super Bowl. I'm going to watch my Pistons championship dvd that night and I'm praying for 1 ft of snow next Sunday morning. [smilie=rofl.gif]

Thank you Jesus! [smilie=angel.gif]

LOL

It's hopeless, it's their smarmy way to cover the weekend.
At least one reporter does better coverage.

Super Bowl City on the Brink
By Dave Zirin
February 3, 2006


"A celebration of concentrated wealth." That's what Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser called the National Football League's two-week long pre-Super Bowl party binge. Every Super Bowl Sunday, corporate executives and politicians exchange besotted, sodden backslaps, amidst an atmosphere that would shame Jack Abramoff. Only this year the bacchanalia -- complete with ice sculptures peeing Grey Goose vodka and two tons of frozen lobster flown directly to the stadium -- is happening in the United States' most impoverished, ravaged city: Detroit.

Detroit's power elites in government and the auto industry are rolling out the red carpet while many of its people shiver in fraying rags. This contrast between the party atmosphere and abject urban suffering has been so stark, so shocking and so utterly revealing that news coverage on the city's plight has appeared in the sports pages of the New York Times and Detroit Free Press, among others.

Only a Bush speechwriter couldn't notice the gritty backdrop while limos clog the streets and escort services are flying in female reinforcements like so much shellfish. Detroit -- and there is no soft way to put this -- is a city on the edge of the abyss. Its 2005 unemployment rate was 14.1 percent, more than two and a half times the national level. Its population has plummeted since the 1950s from over two million to fewer than 900,000, and more than one-third of its residents live under the poverty line, the highest rate in the nation. In addition, the city has in the past year axed hundreds of municipal employees, cut bus and garbage services, and boarded up nine recreation centers.

As the Associated Press wrote, "Much of the rest of Detroit is a landscape dotted with burned-out buildings, where liquor stores abound but supermarkets are hard to come by, and where drugs, violence and unemployment are everyday realities."

Ryan Anderson of Detroit, wrote me a chilling email saying, "The mood is one of Orwellian-flavored siege: dire warnings of a 30-day police speeding ticket bonanza, designed to raise $1 million for the construction of a damn bridge welcoming out-of-towners to the Motor City; the mayor, the governor, and every other notable on the radio urging us all to 'show 'em what we got' [read: Don't further sully our already bad reputation]; and the homeless being taken to a three-day 'Superbowl Party,' where they'll get the actual food and shelter they need until the big game's over, after which they'll be kicked back out on the streets. Welcome to the Poorest City in America, sponsored and enabled by lily-white Oakland County."

Anita Cerf, a teacher in Detroit also wrote to me, "I am appalled by the living conditions of its residents as contrasted with the hype for the Super Bowl and the fancying up of downtown for all the rich out-of-town guests. I live on the East Side, which probably has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, and I teach high school dropouts on the Southwest Side. My students have horrific problems, many of which stem from these economic and social conditions. It's disgusting."

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press described the shelter, called the Detroit Rescue Mission, throwing the "three day party" to cleanse homeless people from the city's landscape. As Albom wrote, "Lines formed before sunset, dozens of men in dirty sweatshirts, old coats, worn-out shoes. They had to line up in an alley, because, [the shelter's director says], the city doesn't want lines of homeless folks visible from the street. Even at a shelter, they have to go in the back door."

But these days Detroit is dealing with more than normal tough times. While the Super Bowl is played at Ford Field, the Ford family announced last week that it would eliminate up to 30,000 jobs and close 14 plants in the next six years. The cuts mean it's the unemployment line, and maybe Albom's shelter, for about a third of the 87,000 Ford workers who are members of the United Auto Workers (UAW).

For a city that built a stable "middle class" out of union struggle and the auto plants, this is injury added to insult. But have no fear. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, will be flying sorties over Ford Field to protect everyone from terrorist missile attacks. There is no NORAD however on the streets of Detroit to protect people from Operation Enduring Class War otherwise known as the Super Bowl.

(If instead of betting on the big game, you want to give to the Detroit Rescue Mission, call 313-993-4700 or send a check to Detroit Rescue Mission, 150 Stimson, Detroit, MI 48201.)

Dave Zirin is the author of "What's My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States." Read more of his work at Edgeofsports.com.


Cold hard truth. The Super Bowl is a party for rich people and downtown Detroit was turned into one huge party for the rich while everyone that lives in the neighborhoods is suffering.

It's hopeless, it's their smarmy way to cover the weekend.
At least one reporter does better coverage.

Super Bowl City on the Brink
By Dave Zirin
February 3, 2006


"A celebration of concentrated wealth." That's what Washington Post sportswriter Tony Kornheiser called the National Football League's two-week long pre-Super Bowl party binge. Every Super Bowl Sunday, corporate executives and politicians exchange besotted, sodden backslaps, amidst an atmosphere that would shame Jack Abramoff. Only this year the bacchanalia -- complete with ice sculptures peeing Grey Goose vodka and two tons of frozen lobster flown directly to the stadium -- is happening in the United States' most impoverished, ravaged city: Detroit.

Detroit's power elites in government and the auto industry are rolling out the red carpet while many of its people shiver in fraying rags. This contrast between the party atmosphere and abject urban suffering has been so stark, so shocking and so utterly revealing that news coverage on the city's plight has appeared in the sports pages of the New York Times and Detroit Free Press, among others.

Only a Bush speechwriter couldn't notice the gritty backdrop while limos clog the streets and escort services are flying in female reinforcements like so much shellfish. Detroit -- and there is no soft way to put this -- is a city on the edge of the abyss. Its 2005 unemployment rate was 14.1 percent, more than two and a half times the national level. Its population has plummeted since the 1950s from over two million to fewer than 900,000, and more than one-third of its residents live under the poverty line, the highest rate in the nation. In addition, the city has in the past year axed hundreds of municipal employees, cut bus and garbage services, and boarded up nine recreation centers.

As the Associated Press wrote, "Much of the rest of Detroit is a landscape dotted with burned-out buildings, where liquor stores abound but supermarkets are hard to come by, and where drugs, violence and unemployment are everyday realities."

Ryan Anderson of Detroit, wrote me a chilling email saying, "The mood is one of Orwellian-flavored siege: dire warnings of a 30-day police speeding ticket bonanza, designed to raise $1 million for the construction of a damn bridge welcoming out-of-towners to the Motor City; the mayor, the governor, and every other notable on the radio urging us all to 'show 'em what we got' [read: Don't further sully our already bad reputation]; and the homeless being taken to a three-day 'Superbowl Party,' where they'll get the actual food and shelter they need until the big game's over, after which they'll be kicked back out on the streets. Welcome to the Poorest City in America, sponsored and enabled by lily-white Oakland County."

Anita Cerf, a teacher in Detroit also wrote to me, "I am appalled by the living conditions of its residents as contrasted with the hype for the Super Bowl and the fancying up of downtown for all the rich out-of-town guests. I live on the East Side, which probably has one of the highest poverty rates in the country, and I teach high school dropouts on the Southwest Side. My students have horrific problems, many of which stem from these economic and social conditions. It's disgusting."

Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press described the shelter, called the Detroit Rescue Mission, throwing the "three day party" to cleanse homeless people from the city's landscape. As Albom wrote, "Lines formed before sunset, dozens of men in dirty sweatshirts, old coats, worn-out shoes. They had to line up in an alley, because, [the shelter's director says], the city doesn't want lines of homeless folks visible from the street. Even at a shelter, they have to go in the back door."

But these days Detroit is dealing with more than normal tough times. While the Super Bowl is played at Ford Field, the Ford family announced last week that it would eliminate up to 30,000 jobs and close 14 plants in the next six years. The cuts mean it's the unemployment line, and maybe Albom's shelter, for about a third of the 87,000 Ford workers who are members of the United Auto Workers (UAW).

For a city that built a stable "middle class" out of union struggle and the auto plants, this is injury added to insult. But have no fear. NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, will be flying sorties over Ford Field to protect everyone from terrorist missile attacks. There is no NORAD however on the streets of Detroit to protect people from Operation Enduring Class War otherwise known as the Super Bowl.

(If instead of betting on the big game, you want to give to the Detroit Rescue Mission, call 313-993-4700 or send a check to Detroit Rescue Mission, 150 Stimson, Detroit, MI 48201.)

Dave Zirin is the author of "What's My Name Fool? Sports and Resistance in the United States." Read more of his work at Edgeofsports.com.


Cold hard truth. The Super Bowl is a party for rich people and downtown Detroit was turned into one huge party for the rich while everyone that lives in the neighborhoods is suffering.
colder harder truth Clifford. this is how every super bowl set up is.

LOL@the idea that they throw parties for the suffering folks of jacksonville, san diego, miami(have you ever seen their ghetto?), and jacksonville.

Its a can't win with you. unless they bring the peace core and sprinkle magic pixie dust over all the poor and unfortunate. You're gonna feel like you have a reason to gripe. The fact is they are going to improve, enhance, and evolve the downtown area and other areas similar to it first and foremost.

Have you ever been to another city? [smilie=anxious.gif] . Or just the nicer parts of there too. I've been to Boston, vegas, Kansas City, Atlanta, Denver, Miami, memphis, baltimore, Washingon DC, Cleveland, Chicago, new York, and and a few others. In ther end they all have less fortunate areas and they all dont give a shit. The only difference is that their nice areas have been nicer than detroits nice areas. Thats what the city is gonna work on mostly and thats gonna be the priority. The Super Bowl isnt a charity event. it brings the city money. not its unfortunate people.

The downtown area has been solid and theres been plenty to do for people rich and not rich. Yet somehow its a jip because you gotta pay 500 dollars or have an invite to get into an upscale party at night? The old"Everything sucks because i can't go clubbing with Jessica Alba" angle is a little reachy.

And to the article, before i wake these damn kids up to head down to that evil coporate conglomerate place. Boo fucking Hoo, why don't that fucker help out and start some charities or house some homeless people. Otherwise save your whining grudge for the fords, the government policy thats killed the economy here, and whatever else direct problems are going on. theres no such thing as a SB=the problem equation IMO. ok im out.

right rorscharch, hiding the bums is nothing unique to detroit.

14% poverty rate is horrible. so what? what does that have to do with the super bowl?

all these negative articles your digging up just suck.

no one has claimed detroit is a perfect city. yet your finding articles that wouldnt have even been insightful ten years ago, let alone today.

why dont you just give it up, already? the superbowl has been a very positive thing for detroit, and its been a complete success.

San Frans hood <<< Detroits

Difference is Detroit has nothing to fall back on because everyone feels sorry for themselves.


Detroit should have been fully revitalized 5 years ago at least


but i am happy that this was a success...it feels good seeing downtown look like that from a western prospective...i dont give a damn if its for a week or not


the reputation is slowly dying

it also feels good saying you're from detroit and people not being scared.