Detroit, Michigan, is the home to six professional sports teams
and is also one of several cities in the United States to
have teams from the four major North American sports. Detroit
is a premier destination for regional, national and international amateur sporting events.

All but two of the area's teams compete within the city of Detroit.
There are three active major sports venues within the city: 41,070 seat Comerica Park ,home of the baseball team Detroit Tigers, 65,000-seat Ford Field, home of the football team Detroit Lions, and 19,983-seat Joe Louis Arena, home of the ice hockey team Detroit Red Wings.Detroit is known for its avid hockey fans. Interest in the sport has given the city the moniker of "Hockeytown."

The Detroit Tigers suffered from injuries in the 2007 season,
especially totheir pitching staff. Kenny Rogers did not start until
late June because of a blood-clot removal in his throwing arm.

On June 12, Justin Verlander pitched a no-hitter against the Milwaukee Brewers. It was the first Tiger no-hitter since Jack Morris in 1984 against the Chicago White Sox on the year the Tigers won the 1984 World Series. It was also the first in Comerica Park history.

The Detroit Tigers would draw 3,047,133 customers over the entire season, the third-highest attendance in the American League for 2007. The Tigers were officially eliminated from playoff competition on September 26, 2007 when the New York Yankees clinched a playoff berth for the 13th consecutive year in a row.

Expectations for the Tigers were high going into the 2008 season, with the franchise having traded for prominent talent in Edgar Rentería (from the Atlanta Braves) and Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis (from the Florida Marlins).

On March 22, 2008 Cabrera reached an agreement with the Tigers
on an eight-year, $153.3 million contract extension, the fourth-
largest contract in baseball history, behind those signed by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, and Manny Ramirez.[11] The deal is also the largest in Tigers history, surpassing the five-year, $75 million contract signed by Magglio Ordóñez in 2005. Cabrera will earn $11.3 million in 2008, and then an average of $19 million per year through 2015.

Cabrera made his Tigers debut on March 31 in a home game against the Kansas City Royals. In his third at-bat, he hit a solo home run off Royals pitcher Gil Meche. Cabrera was named the AL Player of the Month for July after batting .330 with 8 home runs and 31 RBI.

However, the Tigers (who now boasted the second-highest team payroll in the majors at over $138 million began the regular season by losing seven straight games. After a slow start, the Tigers climbed back and halfway through the regular season, they were 41-40. On July 30, 2008 Tigers traded 13 time all star Ivan Rodriguez to New York Yankees for relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth.

The area's other major venue is the Palace of Auburn Hills, in suburban Auburn Hills. This 22,076-seat arena is home to the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Shock of men's and women's
professional basketball, respectively.

Allan Iversons Joins the Detroit Pistons

At the start of the 2008 season, Rasheed Wallace became the
Pistons' new center. Upon entering his third season as Pistons coach, Flip Saunders became the longest-tenured Pistons coach since Chuck Daly's nine-year tenure (1983–92). Detroit finished the season 59–23, with the second-best record in the league. The Boston Celtics held the first seed, and many speculated that Boston was their main competition in the Eastern Conference.

In the 2008 NBA Playoffs, the Detroit Pistons started out poorly with a Game 1 loss to the seventh-seeded Philadelphia 76ers and found themselves in a 2-games-to-1 deficit. But the Pistons rallied to defeat the Sixers in six games.

Detroit advanced to the NBA Conference Finals for the sixth straight
season, squaring off against the Boston Celtics. They lost game one 79–88, but won in game two on the road, 103–97, marking Boston's first home court loss in the post-season. Immediately following that, the Celtics won their first road playoff game of the post-season, 94–80, in game three. Game four saw the Pistons win 94–75. In the pivotal fifth game, they lost 106–102, despite rallying from 18 points down late in the game. In Game 6, the Pistons entered the fourth quarter leading 70–60, but a lack of focus, a poor game from Rasheed Wallace, and a rally-killing turnover by Tayshaun Prince ultimately lead to their demise; the Pistons ended their season with an 89–81 loss. With that, the Celtics went on to win the 2008 NBA Finals.

On June 3, 2008, the Pistons announced that head coach Flip Saunders will not return as head coach for the 2008–09 regular season. On June 10, 2008 the Pistons named first year assistant coach and former players union representative Michael Curry as their new head coach for the 2008–09 season. On July 30, 2008, the Pistons signed guard Will Bynum and forward/center Kwame Brown.

The Lions have won four pre-Super Bowl NFL Championships, the
last in 1957, but have yet to qualify for the modern day Super Bowl.
Trying to end their 2006 season on a high note, the Lions played their last game of the year at Texas Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys, where Detroit won 39-31. Jon Kitna threw 4 touchdown passes. The Lions finished 3-13 on the season, finishing ahead of only the Oakland Raiders, who finished 2-14, and will receive the
2nd overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. Georgia Tech wide receiver Calvin Johnson, selected No. 2 by the Detroit Lions.

In 2007, the Lions started 6-2. However, they finished the season by going 1-7, their final record being 7-9

The Detroit Red Wings are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club is one of the Original Six teams of the NHL. The Red Wings are one of the most popular sports franchises in North America, so much that Detroit is nicknamed "Hockeytown." The Red Wings have won the most Stanley Cup championships (10) of any NHL franchise based in the United States, and are third overall in total championships behind the Montreal Canadiens (24) and Toronto Maple Leafs (13). They currently play in Joe Louis Arena after having spent over 40 years in Olympia Stadium.

The Red Wings advanced to the third round of the 2007 Stanley
Cup Playoffs after defeating the Calgary Flames and San Jose
Sharks both in six games, coming back three straight after the Sharks' 2-1 series lead. Game 1 of the opening round saw the Red Wings' 452-game home sellout streak (dating back to December 10, 1996) come to end with an announced crowd of 19,204. The Red Wings lost to the eventual Stanley Cup winning team - the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference Finals four games to two. In
doing so, the 2007 Playoffs marked the most successful run for Detroit since their 2002 Stanley Cup Championship, finishing two games away from a birth in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The Red Wings won their eleventh Stanley Cup on June 4, 2008 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game Six of the Stanley Cup Finals by a score of 3-2. This was their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years, between 1997-2008. Henrik Zetterberg scored the Stanley Cup winning goal and was also named the winner of the
Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs.

In college sports, the University of Detroit Mercy has a NCAA Division I program, and Wayne State University has both NCAA Division I and II programs. The NCAA football Motor City Bowl is held at Ford Field each December. In addition, the sports teams of the University of Michigan are located in Ann Arbor, within an hour's drive of much
of the metropolitan area.

NASCAR races at Michigan International Speedway. MIS is a two
-mile , moderate banked, tri-oval superspeedway located off U.S. Highway 12 on more than 1,200 acres near Brooklyn, in the
scenic Irish Hills area of southeastern Michigan.

The Buick Open PGA golf tournament is held yearly at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club in Grand Blanc,Michigan since 1958.

Since 1916, the city has been home to an American Power
Boat Association Unlimited hydroplane boat race, held
annually (with exceptions) on the Detroit River near Belle Isle.
Often, the race is for the APBA Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the Gold Cup (first awarded in 1904, created by Tiffany) which is the oldest active motorsport trophy in the world.

The Detroit area has a long, successful history of hosting a
variety of tournaments and events including USA, NCAA, AAU and USSSA events. Metro Detroit is also the chosen location for:

2005 MLB All Star Game
2006 Super Bowl
2007 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
2008 AAU Junior Olympic Games
2009 NCAA Men’s Final Four
2010 NCAA Men's Frozen Four

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Detroit Tigers

Detroit Lions

Detroit Pistons

Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Shock

Motor City Bowl

MIS ( NASCAR )

Grand Prix

Buick Open