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You may remember the Detroit Red Wings from when they fled the Chicago Blackhawks' division for the Eastern Conference, and we beat them 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs. Yeah, it was pretty cool. Anyways, they've had some recent success and some recent...not-so-much-success. You may remember them from that time that Nicholas Linsdrom won what felt like his 7000th Norris trophy when Chara was the better player. But that's not Detroit's fault. It's lazy trophy voters. But I digress...
Love: Jimmy Howard
For one, he's American. For another, he's from America. For a third, he let in enough goals against Boston to let us win 4 straight on our way to the second round. He also had a life-size bobblehead once. Then the bobblehead bandits pulled off the crime of the century.
Oh, and one time he agreed to wear a helmet cam during the 2012 All-Star Game Skills Competition:
Hate: Detroit Exceptionalism
"We've got the best fans," they'll say in attempt to be more obnoxious than St. Louis Cardinals fans. "We travel well," as Detroits mass exodus has led to a diaspora of Red Wings fans across the globe. "The octopus is a grand tradition," they say, as if stuffing seafood down your pants makes you special.
Let's face it, Red Wings fans are about as entitled as the average Canadian fan when it comes to rooting for a team wearing red and white and that didn't win much between the 50s and the recent past. "They've got a playoff streak!" Let me know when they break our record. "They won more home games in a row than anyone!" Ticketsellers must have loved getting 10,000 whole people in the door to see that record broken.
In 2011-12, my season ticket rep had just come from being a rep in Detroit. She said she had a hard time selling first round tickets, and people actually said things like "Eh, I'll go in the conference finals." What a place.
OH!
And one more thing!
Hockeytown, USA? It's in Saugus. Right across from Kowloon. Step off, Michigan.