By Alex Trickett BBC Sport Online

The teams:

Baseball: Tigers
American Football: Lions
Basketball: Pistons
Ice Hockey: Red Wings

Michigan shares borders and sporting passions with its northern neighbour Canada.

It boasts a bigger ice hockey following than most US states, buoyed by the success of Detroit's Red Wings, ten-times winners of the Stanley Cup.

Rodman: Bad boy of basketball

The city's other teams have been less consistent.

Its Tigers - recently relocated to Comerica Park - won the World Series in impressive fashion in 1984, but have not looked anything like as fierce since.

In American football, the toothless Lions improved during the 1990s with Barry Sanders at the helm, but have slumped since his departure.

Detroit enjoyed brief basketball success when Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas helped the Pistons to consecutive NBA titles in 1989 and 1990.

The venue:

Named for Detroit's favourite son, the Joe Louis Arena has hosted Frank Sinatra, Luciano Pavarotti and Disney on ice, since first opening its doors in 1979.

Primarily though, it has been an important sporting venue and home to the Red Wings.

"Mr Hockey": Detroit legend

In 1997, a packed crowd celebrated wildly as their hockey team won the Stanley Cup on home ice.

Steve Yzerman, captain and inspiration that year, carried on the traditions set by past winners like Gordie Howe - America's "Mr Hockey" and Detroit's finest ever player.

True to its name, "the Joe" has got involved in boxing.

It witnessed a world title bout between Prince Naseem Hamed and Cesar Soto in 2000, during which Hamed tried a variety of illegal wrestling moves en route to points victory.

The legend:

Long before Louis landed his first punch or Howe scored his maiden goal, Ty Cobb became Detroit's first sporting legend.

Brutally competitive on the baseball field, the "Georgia Peach" was not to everyone's taste.

Cobb was a ruthless competitor

He courted controversy throughout his career, sliding spikes first at opponents and famously beating up a heckling fan during a game.

"When I began playing the game, baseball was bout as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch," Cobb once said.

For all his obvious failings, this fiery Tiger was a magnificent player.

He was lightning fast around the bases, posted the best ever career average at.366, and guided Detroit to consecutive World Series wins between 1907 and 1909.

Cobb's legend endures.

"No-one even comes close to him as the greatest all-time ballplayer. That guy was superhuman," testified legendary coach Casey Stengel in 1975.

Man about town:

Red Wings' goaltender Dominik Hasek has a reputation comparable to that of Danish soccer ace Peter Schmeichel.

The "Dominator" celebrates Olympic gold

He has the respect of fellow professionals and, in one-on-one situations, can be relied on to intimidate opposition forwards, often pulling off game-saving stops.

The "Dominator" only arrived in Detroit in 2001, but local fans expected him to bring immediate Stanley Cup success.

He obliged in style, adding the NHL's top prize to two league MVP awards - garnered at Buffalo - and an Olympic gold medal.

During Nagano 1998, he showed impregnable form, denying Wayne Gretzky's Canada in a semi-final, before leading his Czech Republic team to victory over Russia.