I saw this guy on my drive home from work the other day, wearing a Red Wings jersey and hockey gloves. This is definitely “Hockeytown”.
I’m Looking forward to an exciting Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals tonight, hoping we get to see Bettman hand the Cup to Lidstrom at center ice, sometime around 11pm.
I’m not an avid fan of any particular sport. I watch some college and pro football, and I catch the occasional Detroit Tigers game on TV or at Comerica Park when my schedule permits. About the only sporting event I have to tune in to, is the NHL playoffs. Growing up in metro-Detroit, my family always watched hockey growing up: we even subscribed to PASS (does anyone remember PASS network???) back in the lat 1980s or early 1990s.
In those days, the Red Wings weren’t the dominating force that they’ve become over the past decade. During the first 42 years of my father’s life, the Wings didn’t win a single Cup, and in many years they were a lousy hockey club. The last 15 years or so have been quite a ride, and I’m hoping it goes on a little bit longer.
One more day, for starters.
I am worried about the "Hossa Factor". You know, turning down millions in Pittsburgh to come to the team most likely to win the Stanley Cup. And now, in this first year since switching teams, he plays in finals against the very same team he left.
It will be a great news story no matter the result. Did he guess right or did he guess wrong? Either way, he left millions of dollars on the table. But will he hoist the Stanley Cup tonight?
I hope he does. But only time will tell.
Because of that little dynamic, Hossa probably has more motivation to win a championship than any athlete, in any sport, in all of history. It's should be a great game.
It's not like he's the first player ever to do that. You also have to consider that the Pens made it last year so he had to consider that they would make it again this year. Very rarely are the Stanley Cup finalist not consider a strong contendor the next year.
An interesting fact I heard on Mike & Mike in the morning. The last 18 game 7's for all sports, the home team has won. The last visiting team to win game 7 was the Pitts. Pirates in 1979.
I loved PASS Sports. The announcers were so biased for the Tigers and Wings.
What is weird is that the Wings are playing the Pens here tonight and the Tigers are playing the Pirates in Pittsburgh tonight.
Hossa better do something rad tonight like score a goal, block a shot, assist on a goal, etc., because he has not done that much so far.
My favorite Game 7 moment of all time. Hopefully we will not need double OT to ice this MFer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJTAnyLn_RI
I remember PASS. Never watched it, but I remember it.
Go Wings!
I feel really bad for Marian Hossa. But I do have mixed feelings about his jump from Pittsburgh to Detroit. On the one hand, it's refreshing to see an athlete take a pay cut to play for a team that had a better chance of winning a championship (and, possibly in this case, was a better organization to play for, though I think the Pens have a great organization too). On the other hand, he was disloyal to his former team and cared more about winning a championship now than staying with his team and building a championship club–which they obviously had anyway.
I have basically jumped on the Red Wings bandwagon here at the beginning of my fifth year in Michigan. But I think, kind of how one of the items on the web page Stuff White People like is "the idea of soccer," I like the idea of being a hockey fan more than I actually like hockey. I always enjoy it when I watch it, and I root for the Red Wings, and I want to learn the ins and outs of the game, but I just don't want to badly enough to be a real fan. Ah, well…