By DAN FENNER

Sports Editor

In all honesty, I actually commute from neighboring West Bloomfield, but once I’ve backed my car out of the driveway, I’m only a stone’s throw away from a sign welcoming me to Waterford Township. It’s the place where I grew up, attended grade school, and have come to identify myself with most.

My morning drive to campus is quite simplistic. A couple of lefts and a couple of rights and I’ve made my way to M-59, the always busy pipeline that leads to Squirrel Road, the resting place for the institution of higher learning that is Oakland University.

Waterford is home to a unique hodgepodge of individuals. As a whole, Waterford could be classified as a middle-class suburban community. But within the confines of its borders, there is growing diversity among the population of close to 75,000 people.

Among the notable names to hail from Waterford are Detroit Tigers great Kirk Gibson and hockey legend Pat LaFontaine.

Waterford School District is home to two high schools, Mott and Kettering, whose biggest similarity may, in fact, be the seemingly endless plight of their beloved football teams. It may not be a sight to behold for football aficionados seeking sound fundamentals, but the annual showdown between these two rivals undoubtedly makes for an entertaining couple of hours.

When I’m not rushing off to campus for class, I often just kill time by hanging out at one of Waterford’s fine local eateries. My personal favorite is Bryan’s Neighborhood Coney, where I can relax to the tune of organized chaos ensuing in the background as I read my newspaper, talk and eat pancakes. It’s a busy place but the food is well worth the visit.

The worst thing about Waterford, you ask? It has to be the traffic and the masses of bad drivers. On more than one occasion, my out-of-town relatives have been surprised to see how scarce is a road that follows a straight bearing on the compass. It seems like every road in the area winds around the edge of a lake.

The irony of Waterford is that while everyone love to complain that there’s nothing exciting to do in town, no one ever leaves.