Abel to Yzerman
Next entry: Phil Who?
Previous entry: Live Blogging Detroit Sports Radio Ignoring The Wings
Third Try To Tie Some Loose Ends
by IwoCPO on 12/29/07 at 04:29 PM ET
Comments (14)
I’m in a bit of a rut. I can’t finish this damn post. I’ve started it three times now and it’s turned into a term paper at 2300 on a Sunday night. I have opinions I believe you and your families need to read, but for the frigging sake of sweet baby Jesus I can’t get my fingers to type them. Topics we need to close the loop on: the remaining holiday wishes for the best team in hockey, my final observations on the sports radio situation and perhaps a closing thought on A2Y’s two-year anniversary.
First: thanks to all for the compliments regarding the A2Y Christmas card. Didn’t know how easy it would be to find a ready-made family on Ebay, but that evolution turned out to be successful, especially considering it was just a rental situation for the sake of the picture. They insisted on keeping the Wing jerseys too.
You may not remember this because it’s been like a month, but we started a Holiday Wish List for the Wings. Made it through the defensemen and five of the forwards before I passed out. Let’s wrap it up now.
Henrik Zetterberg: Of course health is the first wish of the season for our future captain. This back thing pissed us all off long enough and would have ruined my Christmas had it not been for the stunning play (and that’s the first time in A2Y history we’ve used the term “stunning") of non-circus participants. It’s to the point now where, like last March and April, there is absolutely no hurry in bringing him back because strange things are happening in his absence. An October prediction of 25 goals for Filppula was looking downright idiotic a month ago. Now? Someone’s looking like a genius and from time to time that someone goes by the name of Duke. But Hank? What to wish for? In this order: a healthy playoff, a Conn Smythe, and a 7-year, 50 million dollar contract to stay in Hockeytown. As Michael Scott would say, that’s a win-win-win.
Pavel Datsyuk: Mike Babcock said it this morning. Or he could have said it last week and Khan(!) just elected to use it today.
“I read somewhere the other day where someone said Pavel isn’t the best player in the game right now,” Babcock said. “Well, that’s because they haven’t been to enough games. ... To me, he’s just magic right now.”
Another digger said something else today too, and I can’t remember which one but who really cares because they all spew the same spoon-fed “news” every day anyway. Datsyuk is generally considered a brilliant stick handler, a shootout master. Ok. Got it. That’s Melrose-like in its shallowness. From this day forward, here’s how you can tell if an MSM hockey “expert” knows his stuff. If they’re referring to Datsyuk in those pigeon-holed terms, they’re a dumbass. My wish for Datsyuk is the recognition he deserves as one of the top five best all-around players in the game. You saw Ovechkin recently. Does he backcheck the way Datsyuk does? Does he hustle every shift? I can tell you from seeing him in person that he absolutely does not. He’ll float. Not a lot and don’t get me wrong, he’s a great player. But Datsyuk’s better. And guess what? He’s better than Crosby too. Woops. Guess that makes him, yep, the best player in hockey? Could be.
Tomas Holmstrom: The opportunity to walk into the NHL league office with a stack of tape and show them how he’s being shafted around the crease. The only redeeming thing about his “deep knee bruise” is that I don’t have to yell at my fake family every time a bogus penalty is called on him. Look. We know Homer takes his liberties with goalies and anyone around the crease. He pushes the edge of the rules envelope and deserves some of the penalties he gets. But my frigging god, the agenda the refs are operating under is obvious even by Gary’s standards. Does Smyth get whistle-raped like Holmstrom does? He pretty much avoided the crease when Detroit kicked their asses the other night so it was hard to tell.
Aaron Downey: A goal and a spot for the rest of the year, including the playoffs. I don’t care if he plays every night, or every two or three games. He’s a character guy who by all accounts is thought highly of by his teammates because he froths at the mouth any time the opposition targets one of his pals. He’s an honorable fighter and a respected player, a kid who deserves the opportunity to stay with this team.
Kris Draper: Nothing at all. Nothing more than he already has. Three Cups, the alternate captaincy on the league’s best team, and league-wide respect as one of the hardest workers in hockey. He excels in areas that require more effort than talent: faceoffs, defense, backchecking, forechecking, penalty killing. If you want to wish for something, you’re tempted for more offense but that’s not Draper. It’s not his game and that’s cool. He’s the heart of Hockeytown and anyone who asks for more than that is dumber than a Blues fan.
Johan Franzen: A few lessons, more than a few, with Joey Kocur. That “fight” with Walker the other night should have had Ken Holland on the phone to Kocur before the last blow landed on the back of Franzen’s head. No matter how awkward it may have been, he got wasted. Franzen’s got the build and the attitude to be a fairly frequent fighter. His size and strength would make him a good one. Combine a little pugilistic acumen (fighting ability...sorry Blues fans) and you have a player who would be literally feared. Franzen’s a life-long Wing. You see that in him. Now it’s just a matter of refining his offensive abilities and adding a little ass kicking to his resume.
Kirk Maltby: He got his gift last spring when Holland handed him a three-year deal. I didn’t agree with it then, and I definitely don’t now. The only thing his back injury has done is proven that, sorry, his time as a Wing has come and gone. He’ll hang on and his penalty killing ability will be valuable in the post season. But, if his stint on the IR lasts even longer than expected; this team won’t miss a beat.
Tomas Kopecky: More...ice...time. Easier said than done, but only Matt Ellis and Downey average less TOI than he does. Unlike Downey, Kopecky has a scorer’s touch and a thirst for the corners. Unfortunately, it’s hard for him to earn more time when Hudler, Filppula and Cleary are playing well enough to populate most team’s first lines. His gift will come eventually, but--short of injuries--not any time real soon.
Matt Ellis and Mark Hartigan: You’ve got your gifts boys, the experience of being around one of the most complete teams the Wings have iced in twenty years. Learn from it.
Finally: Mike Babcock. We have a strained, strange relationship with Uncle Mike here at A2Y. Not a week goes by that we don’t mention the fact that he lies to the media, stumbles his way through some pretty basic sentences and can be a pretty goofy fella. But, let’s not overlook one little thing: he’s the best coach in hockey and he’s proving it by a long shot this year. Choose your evidence: the way he’s brought along Filppula, Hudler and Cleary. Winning in spite of injuries to Zetterberg and Holmstrom. The deft way he’s handled the goalie situation. All of that just this year. Take it a step further and examine this team, the way they play, the cohesive grit. Add that abrasiveness, new to Detroit with the arrival of Babcock, to the manner in which he’s maintained the Wing-specific tradition of puck control. It’s brilliant. The guy needs a Cup, more than any of us. Only a Cup can prove to everyone just how good he truly is.
-------
Sports radio and the Detroit MSM in general. Yesterday we took a four-hour look at the WDFN and WXYT. Out of those four hours, ten minutes of discussion was devoted to the Wings. That, my friends is an absolute disgrace. A few of you, Gramps and HockeyinHD in particular, pointed out--each very effectively--that I may be making a bit much of this. Some of you may agree. A few of you have mentioned that my consistent bashing of the diggers, the columnists, the radio idiots is a bit overboard. Noted.
Two years ago today I started this blog out of absolute frustration with the Detroit media. Right in their laps, right in their front yard, they have the best team this state has ever known. The most consistently successful sports entity (college or pro) that Michigan has ever seen. And they absolutely ignore it. As a Wing fan, nothing pisses me off more. And I mean that...to this day. I can scoff at it, and joke about it. But listening to that garbage yesterday...the incessant, redundant, monotonous re-hashing of the Lions problems--when the Wings are far and away the best team in the NHL, and defeated the Dive of all teams less than 24 hours before--made me as mad as I’ve been since we started this project.
Should I care that much about this particular subject, the fact that the total of sports columns in the News and Freep that have not touched on the Wings has now run to 123 straight? Am I being deprived of quality information I wouldn’t find anywhere else? Absolutely not. What this is about with me is 100 percent principle. Who the hell does Bob Wojnowski think he is to pen a column on the Wings in April, when he’s ignored them for 7 consecutive months? How many UM columns is he going to write before he realizes that Henrik Zetterberg is playing in Detroit?
And here’s something else. Michael Rosenberg, Mitch Albom, Bob Wojnowski. No city in American has a trio of better sports columnists than Detroit does. I think that’s a fact. While I bash them every chance I get for the reasons above, it’s also more than a little disappointing that we aren’t allowed to read their views on this dynasty. And if you think that doesn’t contribute to the state-wide apathy where the Wings are concerned, you’re blind. A lot of you have said you don’t need the papers, or the sports radio, to get your Wing news. You get it here, or at any of the other great Wing blogs out there.
You’ve resigned yourselves to that. Gramps spoke of the players’ privacy. I’m not talking about invading privacy. I’m talking about letting people of our state see a side of the Detroit Red Wings that a blogger can’t give you because we don’t have the access (or, admittedly in my case, the ability) and the Diggers can’t because they don’t have the time. You don’t think a Wojo or Albom column on the Swedes would be interesting? How about Rosenberg’s opinion on the goalie situation? Speaking of which, Chris Osgood is having the season of his career.
Not one damned column about it. My blood temperature is rising just typing that. Going overboard? Maybe. But you deserve better and you are absolutely not getting it.
-----
You may have missed the mention above (in the rant about the Detroit MSM) that today is Abel To Yzerman’s two-year anniversary. There is a lot I could say about that: how much I’ve enjoyed it, how the site has evolved, the three iterations, our place within the Empire. But, really, the bottom line is this: I’ve enjoyed it and kept at it because I like writing about the Wings and I like to make my friends laugh. All 19 of you definitely fall in that category. Thanks for reading.
Filed in: | Abel to Yzerman | Permalink
Comments
Congrats on two years, you’ve done more than I have in eleven. I blame laziness on my part. 
Gotta disagree with D-man about MSM coverage of hockey. While we might not care about it (I don’t read the Freep or the News ‘cause I already know what they’re going to tell me), it puts hockey in front of the casual fan or the non-fan, and the League should want that.
We don’t need to be concerned but the Red Wings and the NHL do. They want the non-fan who’s flipping through the sports section to see a piece on how much the Wings kick ass. Maybe that guy (or gal) is flipping through the channels later and sees the game on, decides to watch. By the time the end of the season comes down, they’re hooked. Good deal for the team, too bad they don’t do more to make it happen.
Posted by Clark on 12/29/07 at 08:41 PM ET
Thrown in to the void only the best will thrive...2 years!! Hats off to you Chief!!
Posted by Rumbear from Sandy Eggo on 12/29/07 at 08:44 PM ET
Struggling as I am – from my deathbed – I will only say this: Happy Anniversary, Chief. Hope A2Y is around for many more years to come.
Too bad I won’t be around to see it.
(The wife says it’s just the flu...but I’m pretty sure it’s a rare disease that only looks like the flu, while in reality is a super icky death bug that’s slowly killing me simply for the pleasure of watching me die...)
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 12/29/07 at 08:50 PM ET
I’ve enjoyed it and kept at it because I like writing about the Wings and I like to make my friends laugh.
Well, Chief, you’ve done that...in spades. Here are my favorite bellybuster laughs from today’s “rant”.
“Does Smyth get whistle-raped like Holmstrom does?”
“...anyone who asks for more than that is dumber than a Blues fan.”
“Not a week goes by that we don’t mention the fact that he lies to the media, stumbles his way through some pretty basic sentences and can be a pretty goofy fella.”
But then you go and spoil it all with a dose of reality at the end. Sigh! Okay, I have to admit you’re right (and righteous) in your indignation. But, come on, we’re all members of your “fake family” and we wanna laugh, man.
So, let the anger go, Chief. The MSM will never appreciate the Wings the way you (and we) do. I don’t know why. Maybe they’re “as dumb as Blues fans”. Whatever! Just take heart in knowing that folks like you (and Paul and George and Bruce) make life tolerable for fans like me.
And when you really get exasperated, just remember this: “We love ya man!” And we need to laugh...every day. So stop feeling like you’ve been “whistle-raped” by the MSM and just keep on keepin’ on.
And here’s looing forward to a third year of A2Y bellybustin’ fun.
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 12/29/07 at 09:06 PM ET
@ Gabriel--
It might be a death bug. Look up some deadly diseases and see how many start with “flu-like symptoms” - plus, of course, the fact that the flu killed better than 20 million people in the 1918 pandemic (although 50 million might be a better estimate).
I’m sure it’s nothing so serious, though. Plenty of rest, stay warm, and a lot of fluids and you’ll be feeling better in a few days.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 12/29/07 at 09:09 PM ET
Happy 2 Year Anniversary! Thanks for giving us all a great place to hang out and rant/rave and laugh a whole heck of a lot.
Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 12/30/07 at 04:18 AM ET
Squid—er—Chief: Two years of rants and laffs, and some pretty insightful hockey talk too. Congratulations on that! Heres to many, many more!!! KK and A2Y have become the first page I check everyday for hockey news. notes, and most importantly—laffs. Cudos to your twisted sense of humor (which must clearly mean that I too have a twisted mind to appreciate said humor)!!!!!
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 12/30/07 at 08:33 AM ET
2 years, 19 friends and how many coffee spewing laughs? You’re a class act and we look forward to many more. Thanks Chief. You’ve entertained us for a couple years and don’t, for one minute think that we don’t appreciate it.
Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 12/30/07 at 10:39 AM ET
Thanks all. Hockeychic: please forward that document to my home address. It was lost in the shuffle in my work email. I plan to review the Dive experience today and would like to use it. Please send to:
Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 12/30/07 at 11:00 AM ET
I think we need a few more comments posted just to prove to the masses that you do, in fact, have 19 readers.
Please examine the contradiction that is the above sentence…
Seriously though, we appreciate you. Keep it up.
Posted by Nathan on 12/30/07 at 08:54 PM ET
Spoken like a true blankety-blank blanking blank CPO.
Congrats on the Second Anniversary. As Mike Ilitch once said to Bud Lynch, “Keep at it. You need more practice.”
Keep giving ‘em hell, Chief.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 12/31/07 at 12:31 AM ET
Thanks, Chief, for all the time and effort you put in to make A2Y what it is. Your wit and sarcasm are rare finds, precious gems, and as long as you keep at the writing end of things, I’ll be here at the reading end.
Thanks to everyone else, too. You all make this a great place to visit every day. Happy New Year to all!!! (And be safe tonight.)
Posted by BobTheZee on 12/31/07 at 02:15 PM ET
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Create Your Own Headline For The Wings/Habs Live Blog
Mellow Is The Man Who Hosts About 120 Live Blogs Per Year
“Faux”…Interesting. Do You Use “Faux”?
Detroit Media: Zero Outrage. Fedorov? Plenty
Well Gary? Your League Is A Joke
Gambling In Havana? Hiding In Honduras? Dad? Get Me To A Live Blog…STAT
About Abel to Yzerman
Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977. No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y. Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation. There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature. Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome:
A2Y Stuff
-----------------------------
Wanna Feel Smart?
Does confusion make you sad? When you read words like "enigma" and phrases like "Thanks Gary. Ass", do you wonder why mean people speak in languages you don't understand? Fret no longer friend! The A2Y Glossary will bring you great joy and enlightenment.
-----------------------------
How Others View The A2Y 19
"Hell, I guarantee the content co-opters at Abel to Yzerman were about to link this article under the heading “Bitter Blues Fans” again right up until they just read that last half-sentance. Thanks but no thanks, you Kukla hangers-on."
--St. Louis Game Time
"I realize it’s the slow summer season, but can this guy tone down the tough-guy histrionics? His posts are fatiguing on an otherwise excellent site."
--A2Y Fan, Eternal_Fields
"I constantly marvel at how Bill (IwoCPO) and his disciples at Abel To Yzerman can be so pompous and full of themselves throughout every regular season, but come playoff time they collapse into wavering puddles of stress and nervousness as they anxiously await the impending and unavoidable collapse of the Red Wings in the post-season."
--Mile High Hockey
"I hate them because they are better than us. Of all the frigging teams…"
--In The Cheap Seats
"It's just a shame that the most classless, uneducated, lowbrow fanbase in the league gets this sweep. Red Wing fans don't deserve their team."
--Thhom
"I really don’t care what fans or bloggers think."
--Drew Sharp
"Why is it you Detroit fans are still so classless when you have such a classy hockey team, with such a professional GM and gentlemen players? I understand that the author of this blog is a manner-less cad, but the rest of you should be better."
--A2Y Fan, Jeff Beaumont
"Have you ever *read* A2Y? Its the most opinionated, juvenile stuff i've read."
--Paul Nicholson
"I actually like the Detroit team and have a sh&% load of respect for them, but their fans are the biggest douches next to Canadians."
--KStewy, PensBlog Commenter
"Just when it looks like we have bottomed out, the 19 hit a new low."
-A2Y legend, Hockeytown Todd
"And for the record, I don't hate the Red Wings, I hate their fans."
--Douche Bag at Puck Daddy who isn't Wyshynski
"You’re nothing but a douchebag ****, c3po. Go f**k yourself, and learn something about hockey in the process. Nothing ruins my day more than seeing your byline on the kk page."
--Hector, A2Y fan, statesman, Pittsburgh Chapter of Jonas Brothers Fan Club President
"I can just imagine the kindergarten teacher’s reaction when the tyke blurts out 'Mommy says Gary Bettman is a f*cking f*ckface! He wants to give ‘Rosby the bad touch.' ”
--Bella, of the 19
"A2Y is what other blog sites aspire to be when they fail to grow up: intelligent immaturity for the juvenile genius set”
--Captain Dennis Polonich, of the 19
Head to Hockeytown
Blogs the Chief Likes
Wow, has it been 2 years already? Congrats, Chief!
I honestly don’t care if the MSM doesn’t write about hockey or talk radio doesn’t talk about it. I and a lot of other people around here get their information elsewhere. I also don’t care if tv ratings are low. The Wings games are on tv (well for those of us in Michigan). And finally, I don’t care if Americans couldn’t care less about hockey. I do and there are enough places to go and discuss it and get my fix.
The way I look at it is that us hockey fans are part of great little community. It isn’t just a game. Fans share a bond that I haven’t seen with other sports. I think that with widespread media coverage and people jumping on hockeys bandwagon, that bond wouldn’t be there anymore and I’m not sure that hockey would hold that same truly special quality.
Those people who don’t watch or don’t like hockey, they don’t get it and they never will. I like that hockey doesn’t have a great overall appeal to Americans. Let them continue to think that NASCAR is exciting and that 16 regular season games of football is enough. I’ll take 82 games to see Dats and Hank make opposing defenses look downright awful. Those people don’t know what they’re missing. But I do and that’s fine with me.
Posted by Defenseman from Grand Rapids on 12/29/07 at 07:51 PM ET