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Chaldean

Non-Michigan fans: How did you become a Wings fan?

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Alot of Ohio fans it seems. :D Nothing changed for you guys when Columbus got a team?

That sounds like something a fan of a certain team in our division would do. I have been a Browns fan for years, so I am used to pulling for a team that hasn't done anything in 20 years. You don't jump ship on your team no matter how bad they get. I despise band wagon fans.

I asked myself for about 2 nanoseconds what I would do if the Wings tanked badly for a few years, and I realized that my answer would be that hopefully ticket prices would go down and I could actually afford to drive up to Detroit and see a few games.

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I live and always have in Montreal.

When I was about 7-8 I went to a game at the Montreal forum with my dad who was a big Canadiens fan. I had been to other games already and Montreal usually beat everyone at that time. But anyways here come the Redwings in and they were losing, with just a coouple of minutes left they turned around an won, and not only did they beat them on the score sheet, they pounded on them all night. I couldn't beleive it. When I went home that night I had the image of the winged wheel burned into my brain.

The burn remains.

5 years later there was Stevie....WOW

In 87 my best friend bought me an Yzerman Jersey. Once you put it on you never want to take it off.

GO WINGS!

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It was back in 1995, my parents bought me EA NHL 96 for the PC, as I had just started getting into hockey. At the time, the Wings were top of the league the year before, and just lost in the '95 finals. Stevie Y was on the front cover, and the game had a lot of team info.

I like flying, so a Wing was good. Plus I was a big Beverly Hills Cop fan at the time, and Axel Foley was from Detroit. Putting it all together I became a Wings' fan, and haven't turned back since!

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I grew up in Toledo...only an hour away from Detroit and fell in love with Hockey after attending my first Toledo Goaldiggers game back in the early 80's. We have always been fans of the Tigers, Lions and Pistons in my house...my Dad would have it no other way. As the youngest and a girl with 5 older brothers, we were a huge sports family but I was the only one into Hockey. Detroit's pro teams is where the allegiance to anything north of the Ohio line ends....we bleed Scarlett and Gray otherwise.

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I live in Milan, Italy. I started following US sports as soon as our private networks started covering them, in the late 80s. In 1993-94 they began showing a lot of NHL, and I absolutely fell in love with that Detroit team (I actually broke a finger punching the wall after that horrible first-round exit against the Sharks...). My adoration for the Wings has been growing stronger ever since, and I do everything I can to see the games - I actually got up at 1 am to watch game-1 last night....

GO WINGS!!!! :clap:

:siren: That is wonderful. Fans such as yourself is such a rarity. The Wings are so lucky as a sports team to have such a great fan base and we as a hockey community a very lucky to have all of you. This post and many of the stories that I have read have been great. Go Wings!!

Edited by Doctor G

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I grew up in Upper Michigan, we didn't really see the Wings on TV, but I remember sometime in the 80s they had either their conditioning camp or some exhibition games in Soo, MI that we got to see in person. I have followed them all my life. Living in Wisconsin the past 19 years, my boys have grown up with nothing but the Wings!

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I live and always have in Montreal.

When I was about 7-8 I went to a game at the Montreal forum with my dad who was a big Canadiens fan. I had been to other games already and Montreal usually beat everyone at that time. But anyways here come the Redwings in and they were losing, with just a coouple of minutes left they turned around an won, and not only did they beat them on the score sheet, they pounded on them all night. I couldn't beleive it. When I went home that night I had the image of the winged wheel burned into my brain.

The burn remains.

5 years later there was Stevie....WOW

In 87 my best friend bought me an Yzerman Jersey. Once you put it on you never want to take it off.

GO WINGS!

This. This is a Red Wings fan.

aloha

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No NHL in my area. When I was a kid, I loved fire engines (still do) and when I saw a picture of Gordie Howe wearing the winged wheel, dressed all in red, I thought he looked liked a fire truck, roaring down the ice. The image of the winged wheel on his chest stuck in my brain, and I've been a Wings' fan ever since. Corny tale. I know. Heh.

Edited by MotorCityRed

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I was young....late 80's. Me and a friend here in sweden had just bought our first ever hockey sticker albums and i was looking through all of the soon to be filled up slots. And one name just caught my attention. "Steve Yzerman"!

I remember thinking that I thought it was a really cool sounding name so i decided that this was my team from now on, and it has been for close to 20 years now.

That guy Yzerman turned out to be a pretty good player too, wasn't just a cool name... :cool:

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I grew up about a mile south of the Michigan border in BFE Northwest Ohio. I was a Detroit fan for everything else, so it made sense to cheer for the Wings.

We didnt have satellite until 97 so it was hard to follow the Wings much. I used to go to my brother's house to watch games...he was a huge Wings fan and got me and my dad into. Loved the Wings since 94...before that, didnt know who Steve Yzerman was.

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Growing up in germany i did not know much about hockey in teh us or canada. i suddenly changed with the release of ea´s nhl hockey series. in the first two years i played the penguins, mainly because of lemieux and jagr. then a friend of mine advised me of the red wings and a player called Steve Yzerman. i took a closer look... and it was like "ove at first sight". i think it was the time of the scf against the devils. i hoped that thewings could win it, but...! so the love grew stronger.

the next playoffs came and i hoped even more that the wings and steve will win it. i remeber like it was yesterday the night of game 7 against st. louis. i could hardly sleep and when i slept i dreamed crazy stuff related to the game. i was quite relieved when i read the headline at cnn videotext: "yzerman scores game winner in 2 ot"

the came the series against the colorado with the hit against draper an d another loss for the wings and stevie. and the love grew even more stronger.

with the beginning of the 96/97 season we got an internet access at home and since then i read every day the freep and detnews coverage. during the wcsf and the scf finals some friends and me listened to the wings games. we were so happy for stevie that he finally hoisted the cup.

during my university time i could watch nhl games with pay tv and every time they showed the wings i stayed up late to watch the game live.

in 2000/01 i reached the culmination of being a wings fan. making a trip to detroit and watch the wings an of course stevie play at the joe. it was an unbelievable experience getting in contact with so many wings fans. i remember chatting for an hour or so with the guys from "the goalie´s den" and buying my authentic #19 jersey.

now it´s 2007 i stil cover the wings almost every especially come playoff time. and i think it will never stop!!

i hope i didn´t bother you to much with my little essay, but i had to be said!! :D

Go Wings! Win it all again!

Edited by TobiWanKenobi

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I live in Houston...always have...Fell in love with the sport of hockey through video games (1991 - Sega Genesis). Used Detroit lots so I learned the names. Then started watching on TV (ESPN seemed to broadcast The Wings pretty often then. Texas didn't have The Stars yet so I needed a team to pull for). THEN...after seeing a few games, fell in love with Steve Yzerman and to a lesser extent, Sergei Fedorov. Drove to Dallas in 1993 to see the Wings...I've been hooked ever since. Now I love every player who wears the winged wheel. I guess I'm a fan for life now!!! Now, even if Houston got an NHL team, I'd still be a wingnut! Hopefully the Wings would be in our division...but I know...I'm dreamin'!

Edited by ronsolo3

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I'm from Germany. When I got into US sports I was just a football fan. I began watching the NFL regularly during the 96 season. For the 97 season I got pay tv which also showed MLB and NHL. So shortly after I also started watching baseball. But it took until the 98/99 NHL season until I also got interested in hockey. At first I didn't have a favorite team. But the longer I watched the more I began liking the Red Wings.

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I live in Sweden. This was during the 97-98 season. I was at this particular night visiting my parents and my dad just got these new sportchannels. That night they showed Red wings vs Chicago. At that point I had never watched NHL at all. I was stunned.... Detroit played as I´ve always wanted my domestic team to play. I ended up watching the entire game and just kept smiling. :)

Things didn´t get worse when I saw that the wheel in the red wings logo looked exactly the same as the spare rims for my newly purchased camaro. :lol:

Unfortunately the first playoffs I could follow in its entirety was the -02 season. If the games weren´t televised I used NHL-radio. because of time zones, games here in Europe (usually) are broadcasted after midnight so I was in constant insomnia during the playoffs... It was definitely worth it! :yowza:

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When my Dad and His Brother were Young, Back in the late 50's they would sneak out of their room at night to Listern to Hockey games on the Radio. One Night Toronto is Playing Detroit and My dad's Brother Pipes up and says he is cheering for the Make me Laughs. Being they they were ultra competitive, My dad decided to cheer for the Wings.

So when i was Younger and Starting to watch Hockey, in like 1983 I asked my Dad what team he cheered for and i Have been screaming every since.

I grew up in Newfoundland.

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I am proud to say that I became a Wings fan when I was only 7 or 8 years old in Langley, British Columbia. It was the 88-89 season when Yzerman put up that fantastic 65 goal, 155 point season. I was just getting into hockey and of course, I had to pick a team. I still don't know why i didn't just make the easy decision and cheer for the hometown Canucks, and to this day i've never rooted for them EVER. I don't remember the exact instance or anything, but one of my dad's good friends is Yzerman's cousin. He even gave me an autographed 1984 Canada Cup program. There isn't much more to it than that. Stevie was one of the best players in the league and my old man knew his cousin, reason enough for an 8 year old me! I got a what is now a tiny Red Wings jersey that christmas and the rest is history.

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ok, here is mine:

I am from Switzerland but went to college in Michigan (Hillsdale). when i started my first semester in 87, my dads boss (hq in MI) picked me up and had me stay at his house before driving me to the school. the night I arrived he took me to a game...back then the Wings were fairly horrible. They played the Winnipeg Jets (january game). however, thats not what made me a wings fan...it was the fact that before the game we were at a restaurtant and my dads boss almost lost it because Gordie Howe showed up for dinner next to our table...only problem was, I had no idea who Gordie Howe was at the time. We all chatted and I was amazed that a man of 50 years would be going gaga over an old hockey player ( i know better now).

So thats how I became a wings fan. It helps that my room mate was a complete wingnut and watched every game on tv.

Edited by Spongewingredpants

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I grew up in a samll town of about 4000 named Melville, Saskatchewan. It was back in the mid to late 80's (don't remember exactly) when my parents first got cable television. All of our American affiliates (NBC, CBS, ABC, etc) were from Detroit, so naturally I was exposed to coverage of the Red Wings and Tigers, which was a nice break from all Leafs all the time on CBC. With no professional team anywhere near Melville (the closest would have been the Winnipeg Jets, about 500km (300 miles) away) it was easy to latch on to the Wings and the Tigers. Especially after getting a chance to watch Stevie Y play. And I remain a huge fan of both teams to this day.

Plus Tim Cheveldae was born and raised in Melville, too..... :P

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Nice thread :D I grew up with a bunch of New Yorkers, so most of my family are Rangers fans. My teams are usually the opposite of my dads in pretty much every sport, and hockey is no different. Growing up, Shanny and Yzerman were my hockey idols, so the Wings became my favorite team. I also loved Vladimir Konstantinov, and I've always hated the Avs. I grew up in south carolina, and now I live in virginia, so hockey's not that big down here, but I'm a wings fan through and through.

buuuuuut... I might be the only Puerto Rican Red Wings fan. Let me know if you meet any others! :lol:

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because of time zones, games here in Europe (usually) are broadcasted after midnight so I was in constant insomnia during the playoffs... It was definitely worth it! :yowza:

3am start for game three tonight here in London, guess that means a 4am start for those on mainland Europe :huh:

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From Chalmette (New Orleans), LA

As kids, we all had to have a favorite team in every sport, even if we knew nothing about em. In hockey I chose the Wings cause of my favorite color, red! lol. That was in maybe 1992. Bout a year later i played an NHL game on sega, and loved 19 and 91 skating past everyone. It grew on me, big time. Bought me a pair of roller blades and learned the game, and been in a hockey league ever since, until i recently took a long break due to various things. The strike and huricane katrina really took me out of hockey some, but as of this season, i decidied to get back into it like i used to. Playoff beard, good luck charms, and all the nervousness that i go through on the day of a playoff game. First game i went to was an exhibition game in Houston in sept. 1996 vs Penguins, won 5-2 or something, Feds had 2 goals. Was my only game until this year i made it for my first reg. season game in Nashville (3-2 loss in OT on 2/24).

One day i hope to make it to the Joe for a game.... Go Wings!

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Share your story with us :)

Living in Detroit, its pretty easy to be a fan :D So I'd like to hear from residence outside of Michigan.

I was born in Alberta, I'm 33... and most hockey talk before 1991 (birth of the Sharks) involved the Wings. After even... except for that playoff win in 1994, which incidentally was followed by a wings sweep the next year.

While I'm not a die hard, I'm a fan of their system. They've always been about skating and passing and pretty goals. Federovs drop pass... you name it. Playoff hockey is too good to not have a team to root for, and I'm always curious when fans of expansion teams like myself go beyond the friendly hatred to outright disrespect... and wonder who they were rooting for before their team was born. I hate to see it, but I always see beating the WIngs as an amazing game... regardless of who is more "worthy" these days.

While the number of Wings fans in San Jose is unreal (their chants can get quite loud during the regular season) there are a lot of Sharks fans that respect the team. ENough that a lot of fans specifically go to see WIngs hockey... those are always busy, sell out nights. Of course it's all about the Sharks win, but it's great seeing WIngs hockey. There's a certain magic seeing an original six team in the building, and with these new schedules, we won't be seeing much of Toronto, Piitsburgh, etc.

Then there's always these hosers...

IPB Image

you guys have alot of history and a lot of great stories.

Konstantinov and Aurie are missing... must be hung somewhere else, no?

Edited by Defenseman13

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I`m, 22, from Germany so Detroit is not close to me :angry: I read an article about the Wings in 1997 or 1998 when they won the cup and started to follow the NHL and specially the Wings. I think, that was also the time when we got internet at home and so i was able to get more information about the wings and since that time i am a wings fan. So, i started begging for pay-tv to watch games and finally my dad bougth it... :D my nhl-highlight was to win a trip to a nhl game in new york but unfortunately there was no chance to see the wings so i watched ranger-flyers. But that was also very exciting for me ..but i really hope i will watch at least one wings-games in my life.....

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