Auctioning the Detroit Tigers. Going, going....

No, the Tigers aren't "on the block", but in a way they're going to be "gone" shortly -- at least in the minds of many sports fans -- at least for a while. That's because they're about to run into superior competition.

Ironically, it has nothing to do with the Tigers slugging it out with the Chisox for the American League central division championship in the last month of the regular season, nor even potentially making the playoffs as a wild card team. Actually, it's totally unrelated to baseball altogether.

It's not just the Tigers -- all of major league baseball is about to take a serious popularity hit due to two other very powerful forces that will shortly come on the sports scene.

In another week, NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series, those loveable boys (and occasional girl) that keep the sheet metal recycling business humming, burn up more bucks in tires, per racer, per event, than the average citizen will in their entire lifetimes, and turn left a lot, will start their own playoffs, commonly known as the "chase". This is a big deal. NASCAR has become infinitely more popular amongst the American public than major league baseball. Baseball will get shunted aside by their legions of fans. The Chase has begun. Boogety, boogety, boogety.

And of course, there's the Godzilla, T-Rex, King Kong, and even Chris Christie of professional sports, all rolled into one, about to once again come out of it's slumber to totally dominate North America. Once the NFL tees it up, all but the baseball purists start paying attention. (Hank Williams Jr. Are you ready for some football?) 

Even in Detroit, sports fans face a paradox. The Tigers will likely be in a dogfight for the last month of their season to hopefully make the playoffs. But the Lions, so bad for so long, have suddenly not only become competitive, but appear to be legitimate contenders for glory unheard of in the last half century. (Paul Simon. We turn our lonely eyes to you.)

Yes, the Detroit Red Wings have won a few Stanley Cups in the last 15 years or so, and the Pistons were world champs less than a decade ago. There were parades and many kudos to them for what they accomplished. The Tigers haven't won since 1984, almost three decades, but if they did this year, the celebration would likely dwarf what the skaters and hoopsters ever experienced. In the Detroit area, baseball seems to trump basketball and hockey for whatever reasons.

While giving all due respect to NASCAR, their fans, and how that sport has exploded in popularity over the last couple decades or so, there can be little doubt the NFL still rules -- by a wide margin.

Walk into any sports bar on a Sunday, and look around at what's showing on all those big screen TVs. It could be a Lions game, a Chase race, and a Tigers game are all happening at the same time. Chances are, one would be able to view whichever they preferred.

The litmus test? Look around at the crowd, what sports gear they're wearing, and who are the most fanatical fans. One will likely see a lot of Honolulu blue and silver paraphernalia making a bunch of noise over every play.

The really true litmus test? If the bartender clicked off the Tigers, even a playoff game, some would likely quietly complain. If he/she clicked off a NASCAR chase race with only a few laps to go, a few might very well loudly raise their voices in protest. But if a Lions game got zapped -- well -- I don't know what might happen, but hopefully the owner of the bar was current on his/her insurance premiums -- because that could get ugly in a hurry.

Down deep yours truly thinks it's always been that way. Though Lions' fans have witnessed so much failure, incompetence, and seeing their team being the butt of jokes for so many years, in their heart of hearts they've always remained loyal. While the Lions have never even played a game for the opportunity to get INTO the Super Bowl, let alone go on and win it, as Ernie Harwell used to say, hope springs eternal.

But Ernie, God bless his soul, was a baseball guy. At that, I suspect he would have begrudgingly admitted that if the Tigers were playing a World Series game at the same time the Lions were playing even a regular season Monday night game, both on national TV of course, that many more folks in the Detroit area would have tuned into the football game.

And this is where I came in. Here's wishing the Tigers well, but c'mon. As I write this, the US Tennis Open is getting down to the nitty gritty, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are slugging it out again atop the leader board in another golf tournament, and believe it or not, there's other things in life that warrant one's attention besides sports.

The Tigers aren't all that anyway. Two good pitchers, two good hitters, a grouchy manager, and the rest is a crap shoot. As I write this, they're just a little bit better than average when it comes to the entire major leagues. Nothing special. It's easy to tune them out.