Detroit Tigers Belt Out Hank Williams Jr.’s “Dinosaur” After Win Over The Cleveland Guardians In The AL Wild Card Round

Think I’ve found my team for the World Series.

I’ll admit, I’m not much of a baseball guy. I can’t remember the last time I sat down and watched a full game, and I don’t have a team that I follow regularly.

Maybe it’s a product of not having a professional team here in Nashville to cheer for (although it seems like every year we hear rumors that one’s coming soon) or maybe it’s just a product of my short attention span (there’s not enough tackling or horsepower in baseball for me), but I just don’t really get into baseball all that much…although I do like going to Nashville Sounds games and throwing back a few beers.

But now I’ve apparently got to root for the Detroit Tigers.

The MLB postseason kicked off this week, with the Tigers taking on the Cleveland Guardians in the AL Wild Card round. Detroit won the opening game 2-1 thanks to ace pitcher Tarik Skubal, but the Guardians managed to tie the best-of-3 series in game 2 in resounding fashion, winning a 6-1 matchup to force a game 3.

Well yesterday at Progressive Field in Cleveland, the Tigers bats finally woke up, and Detroit took home a 6-3 win to clinch the Wild Card round and move on to the ALDS. And after the game, the team celebrated in the clubhouse by belting out the Hank Williams Jr. classic, “Dinosaur.”

Of course, it’s funny to me that they’re celebrating their win over a team that changed their name from the “Cleveland Indians” because it was too offensive by singing a song that likely wouldn’t get played on radio today…for being too offensive.

The song from Hank Williams Jr.’s 1980 album Habits Old and New bemoans the loss of classic “country, rhythm and blues” in a time when disco was taking over, replacing dive bars with dance clubs. But one verse in particular always seems to draw the ire of critics, who claim the song is homophobic:

“You’re singin’ a song about makin’ love to your drummer
Well gay guitar-pickers don’t turn me on
And we don’t all get into Donna Summer
Do you happen to know any old Hank Williams songs?”

A review of a Bocephus show from the Dallas Observer in 2014 blasted the song, saying:

“If that wasn’t enough, there was the homophobia too. The show didn’t really start to go down that road until it was about two-thirds over, when Williams played “Dinosaur.”

But while it was never a single for Hank Jr., “Dinosaur” remains one of his top-played songs on Spotify, and one that’s still covered by quite a few modern (actual) country artists…as well as myself at karaoke, and apparently, the Detroit Tigers.

The Tigers will take on the Seattle Mariners in the ALDS, with game one kicking off tomorrow night at T-Mobile Park in Washington. And who knows, maybe I’ll actually tune in to watch this series. Because any team that supports Hank Williams Jr. is a team that deserves my support.

Detroit Tigers. World Series champions. Cash it now.The post Detroit Tigers Belt Out Hank Williams Jr.’s “Dinosaur” After Win Over The Cleveland Guardians In The AL Wild Card Round first appeared on Whiskey Riff.