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Mailing It In

by IwoCPO on 12/21/06 at 07:46 AM ET
Comments (8)

Yes, the Wings won last night.  Yes, Dan Cleary’s a remarkable story.  And, yes, Dominik Hasek was brilliant.

But you knew he would be.  You knew he’d get the start and you knew he’d be even more motivated than usual.

Everyone knew that right?

Ansar Khan(!)/MLive, 20 December

Chris Osgood, who stopped 14-of-15 shots over the final two periods in relief of Dominik Hasek Monday, is likely to make his first start in goal tonight since Nov. 2, when the Blue Jackets visit the Wings.

An elite goalie with an NBA-sized ego, pulled from his last game, the same opponent coming to town two days later?

I have no idea who Ansar’s sources are, but he sure went with ‘em.  It’s so bad in Detroit, the beat writers are so apathetic, that it seems as if they’re just filling space, staring at the ceiling and whistling as they randomly tap their fingers on their keyboards. 

Hasek practiced on the team’s off-day. He called in Matt Ellis, who gladly fired pucks at him Tuesday morning.  Public knowledge, Ansar...and a sign that Hasek was mightily pissed and pumped for Wednesday’s game. 

It’s almost offensive that a beat writer can be so out of touch.

Luckily, the Detroit News’ Ted Kulfan picks up the slack.  Now, Ted?  He’s on the ball.

Ted Kulfan/Detroit News

You want to know how bad things are for the Wings when it comes to the All-Star Game?

Nicklas Lidstrom , one of the greatest defensemen in history, is third. Not bad, right?

Well …

Lidstrom, with 427,364 votes, trails a write-in candidate—Canucks defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick (428,832).

Ted...it’s a gimmick.  Do a news search for “rory fitzpatrick”. Find the hundreds of articles pointing out exactly how and why this is happening.  All-star fan voting is a joke in any league.  Whether the voteforrory.com phenomena intended to or not, this thing has only confirmed that.  But, Kulfan sees it as a “lack of respect” for Lidstrom. 

These guys act as if they’re burned out.  They’re mailing it in.  We’ve seen it for years and it keeps getting worse.  Khan keeps getting rolled by Mike Babcock then whines about it in the weblog he usually forgets he has. Helene St. James shows flashes of quality stuff, but floats in and out of Wing coverage as she shares the job with George Sipple. 

The best damn writer following the Wings is Bruce MacLeod of the Macomb Daily Tribune, and I usually forget the guy’s even out there.

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Comments

The most offensive thing about the Kulfan article is that any fan watching the game at home could have written it from their couch.  All of his Ellis quotes were lifted off the FSN-Detroit 1st intermission interview.
Ted: you have a press pass - feel free to use it!  Go get yourself some unique filler for your ‘morning after column’.  If you’re not going to use it, give it up to someone who will actually interview someone.  I know, old school journalism - it sounds too much like work…
Perhaps it’s time to go with 3 Alternates and remove the ceremonial ‘C’ altogether in absence of a worthy candidate?

Posted by Hoser on 12/21/06 at 09:11 AM ET

Gotta agree on Bruce MacLeod.  He also regularly posts tidbits from practice over at Red Wings Central on the message boards.  He does a great job covering the Red Wings.

Posted by Dave on 12/21/06 at 09:25 AM ET

I’ve never heard of Bruce, nor have I read his stuff, but your comments motivated me to seek it out. 

I couldn’t finish the article! I’m definitely not an english major or a grammar expert, however his writing style drove me insane.  7 out of the first 15 opening stanzas open with “cleary, who...”, “Hasek, who...”, “The Wings, which...”.  It drove me insane!!!

Posted by Tuba Guy from Royal Oak, MI on 12/21/06 at 10:00 AM ET

a link to Bruce’s article.
http://www.macombdaily.com/stories/122106/spo_wings001.shtml

Posted by Tuba Guy from Royal Oak, MI on 12/21/06 at 10:04 AM ET

This is what the Wings get for years of benign neglect of their fan base.  No one appears very interested, nor are they very excited, for years this team’s marketing plan was to spend and do whatever necessary to keep the core together, the fans would come, but now that the core is slowly leaving, they’re stuck.  As a result, most of the press is apathetic also.  I stopped calling this town “Hocketown” years ago, because the press coverage, media coverage and team access is pathetic.  Nashville does a better job

Posted by Bababooey on 12/21/06 at 10:51 AM ET

Detroit media will never get it right because of the huge Advertising budget controlled by the Illitch empire.  Sports writers assigned to cover the wings and tigers just go thru the motions, careful not to offend the machine.

Posted by Gramps from Hockeytown on 12/21/06 at 01:05 PM ET

Maybe the Wings control access so much that the writers just give up trying.

Posted by w2j2 from Alpena, Michigan on 12/21/06 at 02:31 PM ET

It’s hard to write anything original when The PR Nazi himself (aka John Hahn) is the gatekeeper, but the beat writers are still just...sad. 

They have no enthusiasm for their coverage, and yet they’re shocked when the fans return the favour.

Did the lockout do more damage than we thought it did, even in Hockeytown?  Uh huh...Does the Wings’ crappy PR department make things worse?  Youbetcha.  Add in beat writers who need No-Doz…

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 12/22/06 at 07:15 AM ET

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