Let me begin this post by proclaiming my love for the game of hockey and the Detroit Red Wings. This goes back as long as I can remember, which is about 1978, give or take a year or two. Even when they were so pathetic they couldn't get into the NHL playoffs when sixteen of seventeen teams made the post season, the Wings had their charms. Helmetless characters with colorful names like Rogie Vachon and Václav Nedomanský (though those two did wear a face mask and helmet respectively) let you know that management at least looked far and wide for their mediocre squad.
Now of course the Red Wings are a Grade A ass kicking NHL franchise. It's been sixteen straight seasons of playoff hockey and three Hockeytown Stanley Cap Champions. No team except for maybe the New Jersey Devils have had a good a run as we have in those years and since the Devils play the most boring, plodding style of hockey imaginable, I'll saw we Wings fan are plenty lucky.
But as usual I digress. I'd like to talk about the clowns who run the NHL and how I view them as bad as any cellar dwelling professonal hockey club. I live in the New York metro area with three professonial hockey teams within 25 miles of my door. And this year I have found out the Wings will not play any of them at home. Which means since I am a pretty much a Detroit homer when it comes to sports, I will not see any professional hockey in New York City (or New Jersey or Long Island) this season. Which is kind of a shame because New Jersey has a brand new arena I'd like to check out.
The Wings will play teams like the Columbus Blue Bonnets and the Nashville Easy Prey (k, Nashville not that bad) eight times this season. What a fucking waste of a legendary franchise. If I was the owner of the Red Wings, I'd threaten to leave the league and maybe hook up with a European or Russian League. I am serious, that's how bad I view this. And this summer a guy wanted to buy the Nashville club and move them to London or Kitchener Ontario which I thought was a great idea. That would set up a rivalry with the Wings straight away but those clowns want to keep the team in Nashville, hoping it catches on with the Deliverance crowd even though they don't draw fans for shit and never will.
On the other hand, with the glass half full, I like the fact that the Anahiem no longer Mighty just Ducks are potential new rivals. I'm still smarting from that playoff loss the Wings suffered to the Ducks and how they raided our roster for a couple of veterans (good riddens, let's give the youngsters a shot.) I can't wait to really give it to those goons, Eddie Shore Toe Blake old time hockey style. Make Reg Dunlap proud.
I am so ready for the WIngs season, although because they play on Versus I won't see them because half the bars in New York City don't have it and the other half could give a shit about hockey. Nice going NHL Management. I blame you. And no I am not going to go out and buy satellite because you don't know how to distribute let alone market your product.
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