By way of Puck Daddy, yet another FBFU*...
And there's this about that:
So. The playoffs begin tonight with three games on tap. I'll likely watch the Flightless Birds play Columbus (and root for the BJs) followed by the Anaheim - Dallas game. The REAL action begins tomorrow and there's this about that:
*FBFU: Facebook F*ck Up.
And there's this about that:
All that said, this map may not be that accurate. Lots of fans may like their NHL team without "Liking" their NHL team. Which would mean Facebook's information is woefully incomplete. It could be that there's just one NHL fan in New Mexico, and he bleeds burgundy and steel blue, for instance.Nope. Not even. I know for a freakin' FACT that there are a lot o' New Mexicans who bleed red. "Burgundy and steel blue?" Not around HERE, Gentle Reader, not around here. We see more than a few Wings jerseys in our travels around THPoNM, most especially out at Cannon Airplane Patch. Do we see Avs jerseys? Well, mebbe... it's possible, I suppose... but we ignore the unpleasant things in life most of the time.
So. The playoffs begin tonight with three games on tap. I'll likely watch the Flightless Birds play Columbus (and root for the BJs) followed by the Anaheim - Dallas game. The REAL action begins tomorrow and there's this about that:
Not every team that succeeds in the playoffs is the favorite, right? These three teams stand the best chance of being this year's dark horse.That would be Scott Burnside, writing at ESPN. Most of the "experts" are predicting a short series with Boston quickly eliminating the Beloved Wings. Those experts said the same sorts of things about the Wings last year, who eliminated Anaheim (the West's Number Two seed) in the first round and took the (ultimate) Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks to OT in a game seven before falling. I'm not predicting the same sort of thing this year, mind you. But it WOULD be nice.
...
Detroit Red Wings
When was the last time you heard "Detroit Red Wings" and "dark horse" in the same breath? Still, that's what they are, as they will face the NHL's top regular-season team, the Boston Bruins, in the first round. This has been a difficult season for the Red Wings, who have gone long stretches without top players Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen and Jimmy Howard. But a new generation of Red Wings has emerged, led by scoring sensation Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar, Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan, which has more than picked up the slack. With Datsyuk back in the lineup and Howard back to form after a rocky season, the Wings don't look like a wild-card team. And they're not. The culture of winning is strong, and coach Mike Babcock is as good a tactician as there is in the game when it comes to making adjustments on the fly and planning for the rigors of a playoff series. Throw in the experience of guys such as Daniel Alfredsson (who's still searching for his first championship) and the under-appreciated Niklas Kronwall and would it surprise anyone to see the Red Wings make a run? The almost universal answer across the hockey world is a resounding "No."
*FBFU: Facebook F*ck Up.
Funny how my Hawks seem to have your Wings shut out of the central Mid-West. (Gloat) but also funny about the popularity of the Wings in the South in States which don't have a team--demonstrating, I guess, the Wings national following. In a way, perhaps they could be called the NY Yankees of hockey. I WILL confirm their popularity in both Louisiana and Kentucky from a first-hand basis. And my poor lonesome Blues! loved by only their own State! (The "Blues got the Blues" loyalty affection-wise...:) )
ReplyDeleteFunny how my Hawks seem to have your Wings shut out of the central Mid-West. (Gloat)
DeleteSimple explanation: bandwagon fans. And Fuckin'Facebook. I know for a fact the Wings have a national fan base... go look at my hockey posts from St. Louis (yeah, THAT St. Louis). Wings fans galore!
I'm going to stay away from the current, "who's going to take the cup"... because I have no idea, I've lost interest some years ago at the serious level, then only was interested when a select few teams were playing, then, well, now. uff.
ReplyDeleteI have an opinion on a couple of things though, which may not surprise you:
Trying to explain a couple of things that occurred awhile ago, like for instance, prairie interest in how the Red Wings were doing. Gordie Howe was from the area just north of my home town and for a long time could do no wrong. As well, when cable Tv came to towns across the prairies it was from the Detroit old school Tv channels and perhaps we just grew accustomed to seeing them play. My parents in Regina, Sask. had Detroit cable for +20 years before the American feed switched to Spokane, WA. I cannot explain the Penguins popularity here aside from maybe the prairie connection to Bryan Trottier playing 2 ? years there, who still holds the record for most points in 1 period. (6). Most of his career was with the NY Islanders and there's a stronger connection via Clarke Gilles who was from Regina and played for NY Islanders.
While I was growing up in Regina, there were 2 Canadian teams, Toronto and Montreal. My dad was a Toronto fan, so I had to choose the Habs or else watching the game on a saturday night just didn't have the grip of competition.
I suspect there's a lot of us that grew up with similar feelings there. Virgil X above... I played hockey often enough with Garth Butcher who played with the St. Louis Blues, really good guy, down to earth type.
There's a lot of Vancouver folks here in Calgary, this may be their second most popular market for their team not just because of proximity, those folks are looking for work and you know when you move around the country it's good to hold onto some of your roots. I own an Canucks T-shirt. There, I said it. The Facebook? I have no idea where they get thier info from. They may be counting "likes" and often enough I'll "like" something with the hope that I'll be able to watch those sorry bastards sink into the deep blue.
;)
Winnipeg didn't even take their own province? There's a lot of Winnipeg shirts walking around here, possible reasons include the economy of the area sucked for so long those folks have long departed for greener pastures, and their uniforms look amazing.
You're an airman, you've got to admit that one...
I don't know if you know the back story on that gem so...
Originally the Winnipeg Jets were named after the "golden jet" Bobby Hull. The team moved on, and after they returned, they kept the name "Jets" and choose the jet symbol as... long ago, about 1982? Canada had bought the F/A 18 for its front line fighter jet in our air force, then a division of the "Canadian Armed Forces", now renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force. The maintenance contract was supposed to go to Winnipeg as they on paper had everything requested by the military. The contract was then given to Montreal, the Prime Minister of the day was from the province of Quebec, and the uproar never really subsided. It's still mentioned often enough as reason #2 for us westerners despising those from Queer-bec. The jet on the Winnipeg uniform shows that those in the west did eventually get their jets...
And, the country again needs new jets after years of military cutbacks.. those F/A 18's have been ridden hard..
I own an Canucks T-shirt. There, I said it.
DeleteYou've mentioned that before... both here and at The Mayor's place (when I asked).
You're an airman, you've got to admit that one...
See here. Heh.
Nice comment overall, marc. I never knew half of that.
Serious english errors, wow.
ReplyDeleteI don't care but I'm glad you do. ;-)
Delete09.17 am? am?
DeleteIs your house on fire?
Heh. We get up early, sometimes. Well, OK... rarely.
DeleteWhat a pantload......the Habs are Candada's team? Certainly not in my family. I call Shenanigans!
ReplyDeleteI'm staying away from Cup predictions too. I'll just say it is gonna be fun watching the Wings win it.....again.
Yeah... I'm bettin' you couldn't find enough Habs fans in Ontario to have a pinochle game. As for the Wings, again... We're burnin' a LOT more incense of late.
Deleteand...those Blooz fans scare me. Alot.
ReplyDeletehttp://rumbear.blogspot.com/2014/03/playoff-bound.html
I went to a game at Scottrade; the Wings won and the locals were pretty good about it. It was GREAT drinkin' free beer in the Blue Note Lounge!
DeleteI saw that map and chuckled at our misfortunes. You can clearly see my state of Washington has some serious problems.
ReplyDeleteSeattle needs a hockey team.
Delete