SPORTSBEAT by Peter Jakey:In search of the best tickets at Comerica

Tomorrow will be my first visit to Comerica Park in a couple of seasons as the Tigers try to find a way to defeat the Minnesota Twins. It’s been interesting looking for tickets on the Internet. The Tigers’ official website has an excellent program for looking for the best possible seats. I found tickets available just to the left of home plate, only 20 rows from the field.

There’s a diagram of Comerica Park, so it’s easy to see where the seats are going to be. The only thing not on the Internet is a picture of the actual chair, but who knows, maybe that will be an option to click on in the future. I remember the days of going to Tiger Stadium and purchasing tickets from the agents in the booths at the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. If the ticket agent gave us bad seats, we would just try another agent the next time. We always suspected they had their best available seats up their sleeve, waiting for a little extra green to loosen their grip. The only problem I have with purchasing the tickets on the Internet is the extra fees.

In looking at a $35 ticket, which is far and above the most money I have ever thought of paying for one ticket, there was a convenience fee of almost $5 and another service fee of $4, pushing the ticket well above $40. In thinking about the days when bleacher seats cost only 50 cents, $40 seemed a little steep, but it is a long way to travel for a ball game, and it might be my only trip to downtown Detroit this season. I decided against the Internet purchase and was willing to take my chances at the park.

I’ll tell you how it all comes out next week. Part of the trip downstate includes a stop at my brother’s cottage in Gladwin Saturday for an NFL draft party. My family has been planning it for months and will have a lot of excited Detroit Lions fans all gathered together to see who Detroit picks 10th overall. My brother’s friend from Philadelphia, a season ticket holder at Ford Field, is flying in to watch the draft on ESPN. For the first time in years, the Lions have no glaring holes to fill with their number one pick. Detroit strengthened its club with some excellent free agent acquisitions.

It has been a productive off-season, and I sincerely believe the regular season will be equally productive. That’s not always been the case in years past, as ragged Lion fans like myself and countless others can attest.

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April 29 is a date circled on my calendar as a couple of ranked softball teams from right here in Presque Isle County, with a combined record of 11-2 in the early weeks of the season, will square off for a doubleheader. Rogers City, which is ranked number one in Division IV, visits honorable mention Posen, a very tough place to play for opponents the last two seasons, as the Vikings have not lost on the home diamond since 2003. This is a rematch of last year’s pre-district contest between the two schools.

Considering all the runs these two squads scored in the 2004 season, the game between Rogers City and Posen came down to one run, and it was the Hurons gouging out the lone tally in the district tournament. It was a bitter loss for the Vikings, who were coming off a quarterfinal appearance the year before and were looking for a chance to go one game farther in the tournament and play at Bailey Park in Battle Creek. Instead, it was the newcomer to Division IV, Rogers City, defeating Posen, in the first of a series of very close wins. The Hurons were labeled the “Cardiac Kids” for the exciting games the

y played in. Their victories took them all the way to the championship game, where they lost to Our Lady of the Lakes.

The roles for the teams are somewhat different this season. With nearly every player back from last year’s state runner-up run, Rogers City is the team to beat. Posen lost Michelle Bednarski and Shannon Ciarkowski to graduation, two players who brought solid pitching to the mound and a load of hits. In the early going, a young Viking squad, with a handful of seasoned veterans, has not missed a beat in winning all of its games. Both teams will be tested with tougher opponents next week.

Posen has an upcoming Au Gres team on tap, while Rogers City takes on Marquette and Petoskey in the next week. It should be some great action, and some great reasons to get out to the ball diamond.