Detroit, MI
Metro Detroit must look forward, not back. Maybe it’s time to let our icons go. | Opinion
Remembering Boblo Island: A historic amusement park
Join us on a journey to Boblo Island, a historic amusement park located in the Detroit River. Learn about its iconic rides, scenic ferryboats, and why it holds a special place in the hearts of many.
A friend forwarded an email a while back, the daily come-and-click pitch from the other newspaper in town, touting a front-page feature on one of the two Boblo boats, the Ste. Claire, losing its National Historic Landmark designation.
“SINK THE BOBLO BOAT,” he wrote, adding a knife emoji so I wouldn’t miss his point.
I didn’t. He’s a millennial and I’m a boomer, but we’re in agreement on this one. Sink the Boblo boat. Drive the last muscle cars off a cliff. Stop playing Motown everywhere, all the time. Tear Detroit’s eyes away from the rearview mirror, and try looking through the windshield.
Nostalgia is a poison, and we need a good detox.
Our Maurice salads are killing us
It’s a Rust Belt thing, not confined to Detroit, but I’d argue we have the worst case of nostalgia poisoning I’ve yet seen. It’s understandable, given the city’s last 70 years of history, but that doesn’t make it right. There’s honoring history, and being mired by it. Sometimes a sharp break with the past is absolutely what the doctor ordered. Our Maurice salads, literal and figurative, are killing us.
Looking back, and not forward, leads to laughable episodes like 2023’s Growing Michigan Together Council, tasked with finding strategies to reverse the state’s abysmal rate of population growth (49th in the nation) and attract more Gen Z residents. The council’s co-chairs were both septuagenarians. When Gov. Gretchen Whitmer added three youngsters in midsummer, it dropped the council’s average age to … 52.
Beyond the comedy of those numbers, imagine what it says to those few young people who might be considering settling here, to hear over and over that the good ol’ days are gone for good, that you shoulda been here when the Tigers played at Michigan and Trumbull, when you could see Jack White at the Gold Dollar for five bucks.
Like most people in Metro Detroit, I live in the suburbs, where you can find people who once lived in Detroit, moved away during the middle-class diaspora, but can’t stop complaining about it. They drive back to the old neighborhoods to scowl and disapprove and mutter, as though merely sneering will somehow shame the city into pulling up its socks and fixing itself.
Miss Havisham is a character in Charles Dickens’ “Great Expectations.” Jilted at the altar, she spends the rest of her life lurking in her dark mansion in her wedding gown, the cake uneaten and moldering on its table.
She’s a tragic figure; don’t we understand that?
Sometimes ‘classic’ just means ‘old’
I’m also convinced much of the rancor aimed at boomers is due to our generation’s coining of the term “classic rock,” which kept the genre mired in yesterday, replaying Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones for decades. I like oldies as much as the next girl, but damn, when I was a teenager my parents weren’t constantly playing Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters in the house and car, as many of us subjected our own kids to.
Nostalgia poisoning kept Tiger Stadium standing years past when it should have been imploded to rubble. Other teams manage to move to new fields and not look back; why was Detroit so fixated on an ugly, crumbling pile that grew uglier and crumblier by the year? But-but-but, Ty Cobb! Ernie Harwell! Mark Fidrych! I used to go there with Grampy! The limb had long ago turned gangrenous, but still we resisted amputation.
I was at the North American International Auto Show the year GM announced it was resuscitating the Chevy Camaro. The concept rolled onto the Cobo floor at the end of a parade of classics from the model’s golden era in the ’60s and ’70s, while a screaming crowd swooned.
A friend, not a Detroiter and unexcited by this news, told me about the last Camaro he owned, a car that didn’t so much wear out as decompose, shedding parts at a standstill in his driveway. It was, he said, a car defeated by gravity. When the roof liner fell gently onto his head one morning, he put it up for sale.
I thought a lot about what he said, and about the gearheads who lined up to drool over the concept Camaro at the auto show, every one of them at or past AARP’s automatic-membership threshold. Three years later, the Camaro landed in showrooms, a gorgeous car, but I never saw anyone under 50 driving one, if you don’t count Shia LeBoeuf in “Transformers.”
These days, I’m interested in the future
At this point I have to stop and reassure angry readers that of course I respect history. No one’s advocating we tear down the Penobscot Building. I mourn the lovely old buildings cleared for more parking lots in the central city. If someone offered me a ride in their ‘69 Camaro, I’d say thanks, and get in. Saving Michigan Central Station? A triumph.
But I’m done with the Dream Cruise. If you insist on playing Motown, it better be deep cuts, or we’re gonna have words. Hudson’s isn’t just gone, department stores in general are on their last legs. The future arrives every day, right on schedule, and that’s what interests me these days.
And yes, it’s time to give up the Boblo dream. The park’s been closed for 30 years, and that boat isn’t worth saving. Tow it to Lake Erie, push it over Niagara Falls. Then let’s all move on.
Nancy Derringer is a mostly retired journalist living in Grosse Pointe Woods. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
Detroit, MI
5 things to watch: Lions at Commanders
The Detroit Lions are looking to get back to their winning ways today in Washington against the Commanders. Detroit has won their last 12 games coming off a loss and haven’t dropped back-to-back contests since October of 2022.
Here are five things to watch out for in today’s matchup:
Quarterback Jared Goff was sacked a season-high five times last week in a loss to Minnesota and he was hit 11 times total as the Vikings were credited with 26 total pressures in that contest.
Minnesota took advantage of some protection breakdowns and mismatches and to their credit schemed up some nice pressure packages Detroit didn’t handle well. Detroit rushed for just 65 yards and Minnesota also racked up 10 tackles for loss.
“Sunday wasn’t up to our standard at all,” All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell said this week “One of our worst performances and we just have to be better in terms of throughout the week communications-wise and game-plan-wise and we have to come together at the end of the day and be on the same page.”
Washington ranks 12th in the NFL with 22 sacks but their leading sacker, Dorance Armstrong Jr. (5.5), was recently placed on injured reserve. Edge rusher Jacob Martin has 3.5 sacks on the year.
Detroit, MI
Here’s the snow forecast for Metro Detroit heading into next week
We only need about a tenth of an inch of snow to officially mark our first accumulating snowfall of the season, and it looks like we’ll reach that threshold, especially by Monday.
Late Sunday night, any lingering rain and snow showers will transition fully to snow showers across the entire region.
This change is driven by a northwest wind flow kicking in, which is typical for lake-effect snow events in this area.
These snow showers are expected to continue through Monday, bringing that first real taste of winter.
This lake-effect snow event won’t just bring snow — it will also usher in a reinforcing shot of colder air to start the week.
After highs in the mid to upper 40s on Friday, temperatures will drop into the upper 30s by Sunday and continue falling into the mid-30s by Monday.
This will be well below average for this time of year, signaling a chilly start to the week.
As we move into Tuesday and Wednesday, the forecast calls for some lingering cloud cover, but temperatures will begin to rebound.
Highs are expected to climb back to around 40 degrees on Tuesday and then into the upper 40s by Wednesday, bringing a bit of a warm-up after the cold snap.
By Thursday, another weather system will bring a chance of rain showers to the region.
High temperatures are forecast to remain in the mid-40s, keeping things relatively mild despite the chance of rain.
Looking ahead to the end of the week, drier weather and some sunshine are expected to return by Friday.
Temperatures should hold steady in the mid-40s, providing a more comfortable finish to the week.
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Detroit, MI
‘Overwhelmed’ family man Sergei Fedorov relishing celebrating Detroit Red Wings history
Sergei Fedorov & Nicklas Lidström on Red Wings careers: ‘Overwhelming’
Former Detroit Red Wings superstars Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidström, Nov. 7, 2025 in Detroit.
Sergei Fedorov, cutting a trim, fit figure that makes him look like he could still suit up and play, tried to explain what it’s like for him to be in Detroit this weekend as part of a Red Wings celebration of franchise history.
“It’s tough, to be honest with you,” he said. “As soon as I landed, a lot of thoughts came, a lot of memories came, and it’s still overwhelming.
“I’m trying to control myself, but it’s great to see you guys. I follow Red Wings from Moscow from time to time.”
Fedorov, the dynamic, extraordinary talent the Wings plucked from the fourth round of the 1989 NHL draft, back when the Iron Curtain still hung like a figurative wall around the Soviet Union, was at Little Caesars Arena on Friday, Nov. 7, as part of the team’s centennial celebration fan fest. It was his second visit to the Wings’ new home; he spent his playing years, from 1990 to 2003, at Joe Louis Arena, where he played a crucial role in the Wings winning the Stanley Cup in 1997, 1998 and 2002.
He’ll be back again on Jan. 12, when the Wings retire his No. 91. Fedorov called it a tremendous honor.
“Thoughts are very simple,” he said. “I got lucky to play with the greatest players in the game, coaches, staff. And I cannot thank enough ownership that gave me a chance to send a plane to Portland, Oregon, to get me. Mr. Ilitch’s family did a great job. I’m glad we won. Finally, we won.”
Fedorov sat next to fellow 1989 draftee Nicklas Lidström in an interview with reporters Friday evening. The Wings asked the budding superstar defenseman from Sweden to stay home from the draft so as not to tip off any teams, enabling them to grab him in the third round.
When the Wings drafted Fedorov at No. 74, there were snickers from competing teams because he might never be able to come to the NHL. But taking a page worthy of a John Le Carré novel, the Wings got their man during an exhibition game in Portland in the lead-up to the Goodwill Games. A hotel key was slipped under a door. A team employee collected Fedorov’s belongings while he was at the game. Another employee waiting in the lobby, a signal for Fedorov to follow him to a taxi that idled nearby (the driver had been tipped $100 to not ask questions). Mike Ilitch’s private plane, ready for takeoff.
Fedorov made his NHL debut that fall and it didn’t take long to show why the Wings chanced a pick on him. In 1993-94 he became the first Russian to win the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player. Three years later, he hoisted the Cup.
“Sergei had a tremendous career,” Lidström said. “When I came to the Wings, I think he came the year before I came, Sergei was already a star when I joined the team. A couple of years later, he was a superstar in the NHL. Hart Trophy winner, Stanley Cup winner. He won everything, so it’s well-deserved to see his jersey go up in the rafters, too.”
The Wings retired Lidström’s No. 5 soon after he retired in 2012. Fedorov’s departure as a free agent in 2003 caused a rift that didn’t heal until he (together with Lidström) was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
Now, it’s the memories that matter – from the disappointment of the playoffs in the early to mid 1990s to relief – that linger.
“We had a few disappointing seasons, but we never thought we cannot have done it,” Fedorov said. “The fans drove us, supported us, win or lose, bad or good. It was an amazing platform for us to continue this hard working process until eventually to get that precious trophy to the city, to the state, to the fans.
“Those parades, over one million people. I think it was a sea of people. It was a tremendous honor to be on that stage and speak to all those people who really want us to succeed. And really thank God we did it. This kind of winning attitude, winning manner helped one another.”
Fedorov, 55, returned to Russia in 2009 having played 1,248 NHL games. After playing in the KHL, he turned to coaching CSKA Moscow, last doing so in 2023-24. Fedorov still resides in Moscow with his wife and two children, and after a lifetime of being on the road and answering the grueling demands of professional hockey, he’s enjoying a low profile.
” I want to stay with the family and grow together with my kids and be around,” Fedorov said.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her books: “The Franchise: Detroit Red Wings, A Curated History of Hockeytown,” and “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” and “The Big 50: The Men and Moments that made the Detroit Red Wings” are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
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