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Thread: Why is the Super Bowl in Detroit?

  1. #41

    Re: Why is the Super Bowl in Detroit?

    Quote Originally Posted by Mikey
    Quote Originally Posted by UncleCliffy
    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.
    Thank you Jesus!

  2. #42

  3. #43
    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.

  4. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by UncleCliffy
    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? . 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.
    ^
    Stalked by a Mod who gives 1 percent credence.

  5. #45
    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.

  6. #46
    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.

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