It was a tough night for Mike Ilitch and his sports empire.
Despite the Tigers now being considered one of the major players in
the baseball free agent market, the team has struggled this year.
Even the hosts of ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption" lumped the Tigers
in with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox when it comes to
paying for good players.
But the Tigers' under-performance could have been forgiven, even
given a pass of a year, if the Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup.
With just over 30 seconds left in the game, a half minute away from
winning its third championship since the team's rebirth, the
Penguins struck and sent the game into overtime.
Instead of a late night victory at home and after-hours celebration
with the fabled trophy, the Red Wings were sent to their locker room
with only a 3-2 series lead and a trip to Pittsburgh.
About the same time, the Tigers were letting yet another game slip
away, falling to eight games under .500 and six games out of first
place.
A Stanley Cup melt down will not help the architects of the Tigers
organization.