I think part of the reason for my renewed passion is because I joined the US ARMY. Baseball is America’s game. I know that people are more passionate about football in this day and age but every boy dreams of one day becoming a professional baseball player. Playing in front of everybody you love, signing baseballs, winning the World Series with a walk off homer in the bottom of the 9th of game 7, and being the hero. Just as every American boy dreams of someday being in the army. Fighting in a war, defending the country you love, being the hero. Once I returned home from Basic Training I was a new man. I’m not sure what exactly happened but I had a new zest for life. Suddenly the things that were important to me before, no longer were. The things that had slipped through the cracks over the years were once again important. In 2008 I went to as many Tigers games as I possibly could from the very start of the season. I had gone to 10-12 games by the time I had received the call in early May that I would be deploying to Iraq. Only a few days notice and one thing I was upset about was the fact that I was going to have to get rid of my Tigers tickets. One cool thing that happened just before we had left the State of Michigan is that the Detroit Tigers sent us a few boxes of signed hats that had been worn by Tigers players during Spring Training. I kept my hat with me for the entire year that I was away from home. My year in Iraq really made me miss baseball. It was not only the longest time spent away from home, but it was also the first time away from the United States. That year, I found out that the Tigers had gotten rid of Pudge. I was shocked that they would give him up. I followed the Tigers the best that I could that year. Being a world away often made keeping up difficult, but it made me follow that much closer once I returned home.