Mister Puck

That's funny. You basically described a Wingtard to a tee. In all fairness, most Wings fans that I know aren't like that. They wear rose-colored glasses, but can also recognize good hockey when they see it. But on an internet forum, you can find plenty of Wingtards. Nevertheless, nearly all Wings fans do think the Red Wings are far superior to any other team. In any of the other six games, I could have gone to the bar in my Pens gear and just received a little friendly razzing, mostly due to the fact that everyone was just so confident that the Wings would roll right over the Pens. The last few days have been a little different. I'll be watching from my home tonight, because I sense that if I go out somewhere, it would get ugly.

You're wrong, yooper. After the lockout, teams around the NHL dropped their ticket prices to bring fans back. All except for Ilitch. Ticket prices have stayed relatively flat the last few years, but they have not gone down. The team payroll, however, has gone down. So has the average wage earned by metro Detroiters. It's not just limited to the Wings franchise. This past winter, during the worst economic period in SE Michigan, Ilitch raised the prices for Tigers tickets across the board. Five years ago, I could sit in the outfield bleachers for $5. Now, those same tickets cost $19. Don't believe me? The Detroit news papers comment on this trend all the time. Michael Rosenberg of the Free Press had this to say, a couple years back: "I don't blame people for staying home. People can spend their money however they'd like. It is just too bad that Mike Ilitch has chosen to alienate his fan base like this, by acting like the economy is still thriving and the Wings are still the only winner in town. In the last few years, we have seen the state unemployment rate rise, the Pistons become one of the best franchises in sports, the Tigers make the World Series, Steve Yzerman retire and the Wings payroll drop from almost $78 million in 2004 to $44 million this year. Yet the Wings expect fans to open the checkbook as they did in 2002. Playoff ticket prices have dropped 10% from their peak, but they remain too high. The Wings have clearly misjudged the market. And it's sad, because - all kidding aside - I think a lot of people would jump on this bandwagon if the prices were reasonable." Mike Ilitch is listed as being worth $1.6 billion. He wants to win, alright...but not for any of the reasons listed in this thread.

This thread does a good job of separating the actual hockey fans from the Wingtards. Living in metro Detroit, I know plenty of both. The fact that the Wings have been so good for so long seems to breed more and more Wingtards that can't see anything past the red sweaters.

I think what you describe is a real possibility, and I think that says something about some of the fans here in Detroit. If that happens, and all of North America gets to see it on TV, what do you suppose people will think of Wings fans? Sore losers.

You're kidding right? I know a good bit of unemployed people around here, and the last thing they were scraping up money for was one of Illitch's over-priced tickets. Seriously, that's a pretty ridiculous statement right there. If the Red Wings organization gave a damn about the people of Detroit, they would have lowered ticket prices in light of Michigan's economy, and maybe they would have given away some tickets to all those "unemployed fans". They didn't do either.

When the Pens win tomorrow, I am going to go down to Hockeytown with my video camera and get some footage of all the drunk, depressed Wings fans exiting the bar.

A bottle of Pepto and a box of Kleenex should be all you'll need. Prozac might help out, as well. I'm joking. I had to.

Actually, they won three games. Three of the last four games, in fact. But, I don't think you need a Pens fan to point that out. Do you?

True. But, I would counter that the Penguins have dominated in the three games they won.

e_prime nailed that one on the head. Only being a Flyers fan is worse than being a Rangers fan. Thankfully, neither one of those teams are going anywhere.

I did that once. It didn't go over too well.

I see your two points, but I don't agree with them. First of all, Hossa is not "Benedict Arnold". He's a professional athlete. I don't remember him claiming any loyalty to the city of Pittsburgh in the three months he played there. Do you think everybody in Slovakia is all pissed off that he left to play in the US? Somehow I doubt it. He wanted to win a Cup and thought Detroit was the place to do it. Hey, that's a pretty fair assessment, and many hockey players have made that exact same decision over the past ten years. Hossa hasn't even really been much of a factor in this series, so I don't really know what the crap-throwing is about anyways. And as for your second point, I'm pretty sure that winning the Cup to show up Hossa is the last thing on any of the Penguins' minds right now.

No, no. You're generalizing here...Wings fans this, Pens fans that. Retarded fans exist on both sides. Liking and following a sports team doesn't classify you as anything. And in regards to Federov, he was booed every time he touched the puck after he left. It wasn't until it became clear that he had lost a step and played for a far inferior team that most fans gave him a break. Booing former players happens everywhere in just about every sport.

I think it goes both ways here. Neither team has played well on the road, and the home team has capitalized on that respectively. I think this is going to 7 because of both teams skill and will. I think, while these two teams are different in many ways, they are pretty evenly matched on the ice.

I've been watching the Wings ever since I moved here from Pittsburgh in '92. In my opinion, the biggest star of the Red Wings is Ken Holland. From the mid-90's on, he has put an exceptional team on the ice every single year. It amazes me how he is able to do it. When the cap was put in place, I thought the Wings would surely suffer the most, but somehow he still found a way to put a deep team on the ice. And that's really the biggest strength of the Wings...depth. There really aren't any teams in the league that can run four solid lines out there like they do. It's easy to single out the key players for the Pens. But with the Wings, the big plays can come from anyone at anytime. I think it says a lot about the young Pens to take this series to 7 games against a team like Detroit. There's no question in my mind that we are getting to see the two best NHL teams battle it out right now.

I don't feel that you can put much stock in those trends. Different time, different teams, and even different rules. But, recent history is on Detroit's side Friday. They've only lost one game at home in the playoffs this year. The Pens have been dominated in just about all of the 9 periods played here in the SCF. And then there are the goalies...Osgood clearly favors playing in the Joe, at least his stats indicate this. Fleury is iffy on the road anywhere. He's also very hot/cold. You can almost tell which it's going to be by watching the first couple shots he faces. Bottom line: The Pens have crapped the bed in all three games here. They most certainly have their work cut out for them. If they can come here and play like they did last night, then maybe they will have a chance. But even then, the Wings have proved that they can handle that kind of play. I don't know, but it will be a fun game to watch either way.

On-Topic: As a Pens fan, I'm just glad the Wings weren't skating around on Pitt ice last night...Again. I'm also glad the Pens are playing well and giving the Wings a tough challenge. It's good to see them grow and improve. I'm excited to watch these Pens for years to come. I don't know what to expect on Friday. Anything can surely happen, but the Pens haven't done anything at all in Detroit yet, so this one will be tough. Regardless of what happens on Friday night, there is no shame in getting to Game 7 of the SCF. Off-Topic: Flintstone, you sound a bit ignorant on this forum. If you were over in The Pens Forum running your mouth like that, you'd be banned quickly, regardless of what team you like. But you say you don't go to Pens forums, and that's probably because you have nothing intelligent to contribute. Why don't you go back to the kiddie table, and let the grown-ups in here talk?