Don cherry on HNIC

[Chairman Maouth 97]

There are other factors, and I think some of the fans have lost some interest. The loss of the stars who fans associated with the Cup teams is a big one.

But hey, at the end of the day, the playoff games are back to sellouts. I think things are on the uptick, personally.

Lol... go watch the game BM. You don't wanna be talking to me right now.

[Jwo 7]

This discussion is about Cherry's comments and has been expanded on by others about why there are empty seats at the Joe. I'm engaging in that conversation. If you're saying it's okay for people who live here to speculate about why attendance is suffering, but someone from out of town (Cherry's from out of town too, isn't he?) cannot, then this forum is selective about who can comment about what based on geography. If you think that's right, then this forum isn't as good as i thought it was.

My point has been that surely you can find a couple of thousand people out of 6 million who can afford Wings tickets. To suggest that these people don't exist in Detroit is ludicrous. Why don't you argue that instead.

Out of towner's like you and Don Cherry who do not read the news to know the problems that are in the area or have never spent a year living in the area can not comment on the situation. If you think this forum isn't as good as you thought it was, then you should not visit any other forums due to they will be the same.

You are living in a fantasy world where you think there are 6 million people in the area and they are all rich from working in the U.S. Automotive Industry. That is the only point you are making here.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Jwo

[BlueMonk 102]

The fans at the Joe answered the bell tonight! The place was packed and loud. As the CBC crew pointed out, it was standing room only. Well done, fans!

[hallelujahlogic 1]

After reading that last post, I think a possible reason that attendance is down is because quite a few Wings fans are so dumb that they keep paying for a beer with a 100 dollar bill and forget to ask for change.

I'm not sure whether the ascending font size was intentional on your part or a sign of increasing dementia though.

hahahaha!

funniest thing i've read on here all day!

[Jwo 7]

After reading that last post, I think a possible reason that attendance is down is because Me and Don Cherry are so dumb that we keep paying for a beer with a 100 dollar bill and forget to ask for change.

LMAO great joke. You are totally right on how dumb you are.

[Chairman Maouth 97]

LMAO great joke. You are totally right on how dumb you are.

Hey hey how witty is that. You edited my post as if I really wrote that or sumthin'.

Tell me, when you see yourself in the mirror do you get confused and look to see who's standing behind you?

Edited May 11, 2008 by One of the Few

[hallelujahlogic 1]

[auxlepli 17]

YouTube link of the original redneck statement.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=YfD02ZBd9jY

[Seedless 0]

Don Cherry was lovin' the Wings last night. In fact, he said "there's no way Dallas wins this series."

Same ol' Grapes!

[SaCkaveli20 275]

LoL at Don.

No retalition means more PP's. In which..we...are...the..best.

Stupid hockey?? I think it's brilliant hockey.

Bring on the 5-4's.

What a moron...

It's not our fault they've only been televising our practices lmao hahaha

[Kira 451]

All I can say is, I've seen cheap upholstery that looks better than his wardrobe. And his IQ sometimes matches that of cheap upholstery as well.

[motorcitykid 42]

This discussion is all fine until people who aren't even here to experience the Michigan economy start proselytizing about how metro-Detroiters should spend their income.

QFT.

It's laughable that the same guy who speaks so condescending about not worrying about Don Cherry and what he says or does on his shows, since we're not Canadians, is chirping on and on about what's going on down here. It does speaks volumes that he would even try to defend Cherry and his well-known borderline racist remarks, by saying "he's so entertaining ..." and "it's a Canadian thing".

GTFOH.

It's not our fault they've only been televising our practices lmao hahaha

Nice. Edited May 11, 2008 by motorcitykid

[Chairman Maouth 97]

QFT.

It's laughable that the same guy who speaks so condescending about not worrying about Don Cherry and what he says or does on his shows, since we're not Canadians, is chirping on and on about what's going on down here. It does speaks volumes that he would even try to defend Cherry and his well-known borderline racist remarks, by saying "he's so entertaining ..." and "it's a Canadian thing".

We are discussing hockey here. You're a hockey fan. I'm a hockey fan. We are united by that common interest. YOU chose to bring up Cherry's comments about Canadian soldiers and that is something that pushes the boundaries of this section of this forum. You and I as Americans and Canadians may also be united in our war in Afghanistan, but I assure you that we as Canadians are not united with your sentiments about how Don Cherry feels about our soldiers. Drop it.

Edited May 11, 2008 by One of the Few

[uk_redwing 495]

What the f*** is everyones problem with this? Everyones acting like hes sat there and listed 10 reasons on why he hates the wings.

He said absolutely nothing anti-detroit apart from the fact that we play a passionless style of hockey, which he believes is part of the reason why there are so many empty seats, and I agree with him.

Nothing pisses me off more watching the wings then watching us not retaliate. And I dont care about ******* "we get a PP not retaliating". Id rather see someone pay for the s*** they give us then watch us score ANOTHER boring 5 on 4 goal.

If Don Cherry isnt right in any sense, why was there so much hype when McCarty was re-signed? Why is Aaron Downey such a fan favourite? Why did everyone stop hating Lilja towards the end of last season when he started fighting?

Rant over.

[Jwo 7]

What the f*** is everyones problem with this? Everyones acting like hes sat there and listed 10 reasons on why he hates the wings.

He said absolutely nothing anti-detroit apart from the fact that we play a passionless style of hockey, which he believes is part of the reason why there are so many empty seats, and I agree with him.

Nothing pisses me off more watching the wings then watching us not retaliate. And I dont care about ******* "we get a PP not retaliating". Id rather see someone pay for the s*** they give us then watch us score ANOTHER boring 5 on 4 goal.

If Don Cherry isnt right in any sense, why was there so much hype when McCarty was re-signed? Why is Aaron Downey such a fan favourite? Why did everyone stop hating Lilja towards the end of last season when he started fighting?

Rant over.

What about the people who stop hatting Pavel Datsyuk when he started scoring playoff goals or the much hype when Henrik Zetterberg extended his contract and when Johan Franzen became a fan favorite this year?

Heck, Canadians love and die for Sid the Kid and he has no traits of "rock and sock them" in his blood.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Jwo

[uk_redwing 495]

What about the people who stop hatting Pavel Datsyuk when he started scoring playoff goals or the much hype when Henrik Zetterberg extended his contract and when Johan Franzen became a fan favorite this year?

Heck, Canadians love and die for Sid the Kid and he has no traits of "rock and sock them" in his blood.

You just proved people love the physical hockey as much as the scoring. Well done.

[Graybeard 0]

For the most part, Don Cherry is just an idiot with a runaway mouth but every once in a while he has a moment.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not happy when I see a guy get punched in the face and turn away," Cherry said. "... That's not the Red Wings I remember, and that's what I meant."

It sounds like some on here should go watch basketball or some other womans sport. This crap about not retaliating so we don't get penalties is just that, crap. The talented play by our guys in recent years is truelly a sight to behold and makes for some exciting games. This does not however mean we should forget what game this is and start letting other teams treat us like their *******. Maybe I misspoke earlier, because even the guys on a basketball team would be kicking someones ass if the other team was throwing punches at them the way Ott and Turco have been this whole series.

Remember, this is RED WINGS HOCKEY, and if you have some doubts just ask yourself what the man himself Gordie Howe would do in this situation. I gaurandamteeyou there would have been blood on the ice already.

[Jwo 7]

You just proved people love the physical hockey as much as the scoring. Well done.

And proved that Don Cherry was wrong with his comment on how Detroit only likes to see players hitting other players.

*Late Edit*

We have always had a combination of both since I have been alive and we fans enjoy watching it. Thanks for the well done and thumps up.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Jwo

[T.Low 1,011]

Well get over yourself already.

Empty seats are an issue, whether you want it to be brought up or not. You can stick your head in the sand all day if you want but people have every right to bring the issue up. Whether his reasoning suits you or not you can't disprove his theories. Last time I checked the jury is out on whether any specific thing can be pointed to as the cause for the empty seats.

I live in Ohio so I don't get to go to the games but I notice the empty seats on TV. As long as we win I don't care if nobody goes to the game. But that's me personally. I just don't care about that kind of stuff. But that doesn't mean somebody else can't make an issue of it.

I totally agree. I notice the empty seats on TV. WHen I watch the Canuckleheads or the FLames, those places are rocking with every little PK clear, every little save, they don't let a thing go by without going nuts and its really fun to watch.

At the same time, though, I'd probably rather watch the game on my big screen with surround sound, eating pizza in my comfy chair, then get back to working on my 4x4, instead of dropping hundreds and spending 5 hours ( when I used to live in Clarkston) to actually go to more than two games a year. Hell, I don't even want my friends over if they are not big hockey fans. I won't answer the door or the phone or go to a party if the Wings game is on. I do not want to be disturbed or distracted from the game.

And as for the earlier post that mentioned the Kronner hit; yeah I saw that and loved how the crowd responded. But later in the game, many hits were not getting much of a response. While I wish the crowd was still as excited at that point, I'm not complaining, its just an observation.

MY THEORY is simple.

Lets face it, there are many, many factors that contribute to the less than stellar crowds at the Joe. While I do wish that Red Wing fans would go nuts over the little things too, the difference is that while other teams cheer every little thing their team does, its because that may be all they get to cheer about. Their team may be done playing real soon. WE ARE NOT SATISFIED UNTIL THE DETROIT RED WINGS WIN THE STANLEY CUP!

16 consecutive years of playoffs, the janitors at The Joe complain that they have no storage space for their mops and buckets because all the frikkin President's Trophies stuffed into the Janitor closets. Lidstrom didn't even pick up the President's trophy (and rightly so) because that is not our goal. He left it sitting on the table, just did his duty for the NHL front office and smiled while they took his picture with the trophy still sitting on the table. Sure, it's cool to win the Prsident's, but that is not the focus of this organization. We do not get excited about that. WE WANT THE CUP. AND NOTHING ELSE WILL DO. ANYTHING LESS IS FAILURE.

Its like dating women. If you usually date 5's or 6's, then you get really excited about a 7.

But when you usually date 9's, nothing less than a 9.5 or 10 will get your attention.

[TrueBlueblood 0]

There's a reason nobody listens to grapes, mainly because its impossible to hear him over his clothes

[CloudConnected 0]

What the f*** is everyones problem with this? Everyones acting like hes sat there and listed 10 reasons on why he hates the wings.

He said absolutely nothing anti-detroit apart from the fact that we play a passionless style of hockey, which he believes is part of the reason why there are so many empty seats, and I agree with him.

Nothing pisses me off more watching the wings then watching us not retaliate. And I dont care about ******* "we get a PP not retaliating". Id rather see someone pay for the s*** they give us then watch us score ANOTHER boring 5 on 4 goal.

If Don Cherry isnt right in any sense, why was there so much hype when McCarty was re-signed? Why is Aaron Downey such a fan favourite? Why did everyone stop hating Lilja towards the end of last season when he started fighting?

Rant over.

While I agree that Don doesn't hate Detroit and that he likes the 70s game more than today's game, I don't agree with your assessment on the empty seats at the Joe. And it's ok that you think that way, you live in the UK. You don't see what's going on around here. Businesses are closing or moving, eight of the top 20 unemployed cities in the US are in Michigan, there's a for sale sign on houses on every street block and the cost of living is skyrocketing while wages are staying stagnant. I'm sorry if I can't run out and grab a Ninety dollar seat just like that. And don't give me the crap about the Tigers attendance either, because I can buy 15 SRO seats at Comerica for the price of two at the Joe. Plus it's outside during the summer. Lions play eight games a year, scarcity of opportunity and a new facility brings people there. For the Pistons, there are 6 options for tickets that are cheaper than the cheapest Wings ticket, starting at $18 dollars.

I'm not buying the fact that people don't love these Red Wings. Go to a bar to watch the game in Metro Detroit and you see more people cheering on the Wings than the Pistons and Tigers combined. Cheers and high fives for goals, the buzz created by a Kronwall or Drake hit, and laughter at Pavel deking his way through a crowd of defenders are all commonplace around town. It's not that people don't love the way the Wings play, because we do play tough. Everyone on our team hits, finishes checks. We are the toughest team to play against in the league.

Mac created hype because he shored up that toughness that everyone was asking for. Downey is a fan favorite because the fighter always is if he's doing well at his job, but do you honestly think that anyone likes him more than Hank, Pavel, Homer, Franzen, Lidstrom or Rafalski? The skill guys are really our fan favorites, but we love Downey for how he handles himself in his aspect of the game. And Lilja became less of a scapegoat last year when he started throwing body checks last season, not when he was losing fights. Most people here made fun of him for losing. "The Pain Train" contains a little sarcasm.

[Kp-Wings 3]

What the f*** is everyones problem with this? Everyones acting like hes sat there and listed 10 reasons on why he hates the wings.

He said absolutely nothing anti-detroit apart from the fact that we play a passionless style of hockey, which he believes is part of the reason why there are so many empty seats, and I agree with him.

Nothing pisses me off more watching the wings then watching us not retaliate. And I dont care about ******* "we get a PP not retaliating". Id rather see someone pay for the s*** they give us then watch us score ANOTHER boring 5 on 4 goal.

If Don Cherry isnt right in any sense, why was there so much hype when McCarty was re-signed? Why is Aaron Downey such a fan favourite? Why did everyone stop hating Lilja towards the end of last season when he started fighting?

Rant over.

Post of the year. Spot on, my friend.

The last points I especially agree with you on. McCarty wasn't brought in here to score goals, nor was Downey. I think that's obvious for even the blindest bat to see. But the fans love those guys, because they play a tough, in your face style of hockey, and don't take s*** from other players. You could make that case for Drake as well (in these playoffs especially).

That's also a reason why guys like, off the top of my head, Samuelsson are hated so much. Well, that's the main reason why I hate Samuelsson so much anyways, because he's such a *****. It'll always go back to the year 2005, when he struck Brenden Morrow in the face with his stick. Now, Morrow is a pretty tough guy, but Samuelsson has a significant size advantage, for one thing. Plus, I feel, that if you're going to hit a guy in the head with your stick, you should face the music and fight if that time comes, which it did. Samuelsson, instead, bitched out like a little girl. That's when I lost all respect for him.

Another guy that comes to mind for that is Lebda. Lebda may be small, but that doesn't stop guys like Tootoo or Darcy Tucker from running guys over. If you want to go back to the past, I can also bring up guys like Dino Ciccarelli and Steve Webb into that catagory of guys that, despite being small, were some of the most physical and feared players in the game. Being small should not be an excuse to be a total wimp. Case and point: he was challanged by DOUG WEIGHT of all guys to a fight, yet bitched out like a little girl. This is not a heavyweight fighter we're talking about; it's ******* DOUG WEIGHT. A guy who probably has about 3 total fights in his entire career. I don't care if Lebda doesn't fight; if you're getting challanged to a fight from another small fish like Weight, you except that challange; not back off like a little *****.

All that ranting aside, the Wings are finally playing with some passion in this postseason, and it's starting to show, since the crowds are finally starting to look decent at the Joe again (with the exception of Thursday's game. That was bad, guys, really bad. Especially since about half the people in the building left with 10 minutes still left in the game. 4-1 lead or not, you still stay until the end like a real fan, not walk out and leave just to beat traffic. Ugh). Guys like Drake, McCarty, and Helm are playing with the passion that Wings fans such as myself have been hammering for all season long. It's nice to see, and if it keeps up, I guarantee you the fan support continues to be as good, no, make that even better than it has been.

Edited May 11, 2008 by Kp-Wings

[Graybeard 0]

Post of the year. Spot on, my friend.

The last points I especially agree with you on. McCarty wasn't brought in here to score goals, nor was Downey. I think that's obvious for even the blindest bat to see. But the fans love those guys, because they play a tough, in your face style of hockey, and don't take s*** from other players. You could make that case for Drake as well (in these playoffs especially).

That's also a reason why guys like, off the top of my head, Samuelsson are hated so much. Well, that's the main reason why I hate Samuelsson so much anyways, because he's such a *****. It'll always go back to the year 2005, when he struck Brenden Morrow in the face with his stick. Now, Morrow is a pretty tough guy, but Samuelsson has a significant size advantage, for one thing. Plus, I feel, that if you're going to hit a guy in the head with your stick, you should face the music and fight if that time comes, which it did. Samuelsson, instead, bitched out like a little girl. That's when I lost all respect for him.

Another guy that comes to mind for that is Lebda. Lebda may be small, but that doesn't stop guys like Tootoo or Darcy Tucker from running guys over. If you want to go back to the past, I can also bring up guys like Dino Ciccarelli and Steve Webb into that catagory of guys that, despite being small, were some of the most physical and feared players in the game. Being small should not be an excuse to be a total wimp. Case and point: he was challanged by DOUG WEIGHT of all guys to a fight, yet bitched out like a little girl. This is not a heavyweight fighter we're talking about; it's ******* DOUG WEIGHT. A guy who probably has about 3 total fights in his entire career. I don't care if Lebda doesn't fight; if you're getting challanged to a fight from another small fish like Weight, you except that challange; not back off like a little *****.

All that ranting aside, the Wings are finally playing with some passion in this postseason, and it's starting to show, since the crowds are finally starting to look decent at the Joe again (with the exception of Thursday's game. That was bad, guys, really bad. Especially since about half the people in the building left with 10 minutes still left in the game. 4-1 lead or not, you still stay until the end like a real fan, not walk out and leave just to beat traffic. Ugh). Guys like Drake, McCarty, and Helm are playing with the passion that Wings fans such as myself have been hammering for all season long. It's nice to see, and if it keeps up, I guarantee you the fan support continues to be as good, no, make that even better than it has been.

Amen brother. So many posters on here act like it has to be one or the other. There is no reason why we can't play the skilled game we do and still kick someones ass when they take cheap shots at our stars. You think Gretsky would have the numbers he did if other teams didn't know they were going to be handed their ass if the screwed with him? I'm not saying we should dress some no skilled thug just for dirty play like most teams did in the old days, but we have enough toughness in our roster to do what needs to be done and stop letting them treat us like their little *******. To hell with not retaliating for fear of penalties. It's not like we'd have to go to the box a thousand times. Our opposition would get the message soon enough and the rabbit punches, slashing, and going after our guys after the whistle would mostly be a thing of the past.

[Chairman Maouth 97]

Kp-Wings, Graybeard, I have to add my agreement to you guys.

Recently, I don't believe the Wings are a boring team to watch though. They got it all going on, with the possible exception of being a little too restrained when someone takes a cheap shot at them. In my opinion, the Wings are the best team in the NHL and are going to walk their way to another Stanley Cup and lose no more than 2 or 3 games in the remaining 2 series.

As for Don Cherry, I think he's a very knowledgable hockey mind, highly entertaining, an unmitigated Canadian patriot, but at the same time I think he can be a flaming bigot. Those people here who say he's racist need to learn the difference between bigotry and racisim.

To sum up, in my opinion, the Wings currently are fantastic to watch, (I'm a Vancouver fan first and foremost but I've loved the Wings since I was a kid) and while Don Cherry has a legitimate beef about the passion of Wings fans, I think the lack of support has more to do with them folding up in the playoffs in recent years than it does with the economics of the Detroit area. A couple of other factors are also in play, but I sincerely hope that the apparent recent increase in fan support carries on for many years to come.

[hallelujahlogic 1]

What the f*** is everyones problem with this? Everyones acting like hes sat there and listed 10 reasons on why he hates the wings.

He said absolutely nothing anti-detroit apart from the fact that we play a passionless style of hockey, which he believes is part of the reason why there are so many empty seats, and I agree with him.

Nothing pisses me off more watching the wings then watching us not retaliate. And I dont care about ******* "we get a PP not retaliating". Id rather see someone pay for the s*** they give us then watch us score ANOTHER boring 5 on 4 goal.

If Don Cherry isnt right in any sense, why was there so much hype when McCarty was re-signed? Why is Aaron Downey such a fan favourite? Why did everyone stop hating Lilja towards the end of last season when he started fighting?

Rant over.

yes! excellent post, sir.