Friday, May 8th, 2009...6:45 am
Winners Never Quit
One of the easiest things to do in life is to say ‘fuck it’ and walk away. Things ain’t happening. You get the short end of the stick. You keep shooting and nothing goes in. It goes in and then it doesn’t count. You show up on time and the bus breaks down. Do a good job and get a pink slip. Sometimes a middle finger and a retreat seems like the obvious move.
It’s easy. It’s an appropriate response, even. Sure some people would be disappointed, but they wouldn’t really blame you. And even if they do, you’ve got plenty of reasons why you did it. A lot of them are perfectly understandable.
Things don’t break our way, so we walk away. A lot of us do it, in small and in what we think are meaningless ways, all the time. Hell, sometimes, it takes a concerted effort not to fold your tent. So it’s inspiring when a bunch of guys shut their mouths in the face of less-than-perfect circumstances and go to fucking work.
The way the Wings chased Jonas Hiller from the nets, played their own brand of hockey and refused to give a single inch after being outplayed, outmuscled and outreffereed in Game 4 is the stuff, plain and simple, of men who understand what it is to look in the eye of something ugly, nasty and possibly futile and say, ‘Yeah, I’m down for whatever.’
This series might not end with a Detroit victory. It might, and then it might end next round. This is one of the more phenomenal collections of talent I’ve seen in 15 years of watching professional sports, but they ain’t guaranteed shit except a sixth game in Anaheim. And that doesn’t matter.
They’re demonstrating that they won’t lose. They’ll have to be well and truly beaten. Isn’t that all we can ask of the teams that we cheer for?
For all the bullshit involved with being a sports fan … for all the idiocy and stigmas and targeted marketing and network television ratings and steroids and arenas that have different names than they used to … at least we get those occasional moments when you understand why you bother.
When the collection of millionaires that have you really have no business being emotionally invested in can demonstrate what it means to stare down failure and refuse to even think about taking the easy way out … well, I don’t feel so bad for dropping $15 on a hat and sacrificing a some Saturday nights.
I can't take credit for this. Thank fark.com.
I wrote a piece after the Cup win last year about how this team meant more to me than the others, because they’re the ones I watched from the very beginning. It’s rarely more true than when the line that leads them to victory is Hossa-Franzen-Valtteri Filppula, while Lidstrom and Chris-fucking-Chelios patrol the blueline. It’s a strange thing to watch the past, present and future come together like that.
Kudos to the Ducks — excepting Chris Pronger, of course — for being a more than worthy opponent. When Perry scored and then Bobby Ryan ran over Hossa, you guys must have thought you’d finally beaten these foreigners down. I can’t engage in vicious trash talk (aside from pointing out that Chris Pronger looks like a severely retarded kid who grew up down the street from me) but I will say this:
These Red Wings are NOT the San Jose Sharks, motherfuckers. Do not get that twisted for one damn second.
20 Comments
May 8th, 2009 at 7:23 am
phenominal post. I have nothing to add. And I’m reading it again.
May 8th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
“aside from pointing out that Chris Pronger looks like a severely retarded kid who grew up down the street from me”
Horrible. And classic. Thank you.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
the motherfucker is you and ur fucking ur sister also..idiot..u call yourself a writer…ur an idiot..u dont have respect for sports and for other teams and fans..u are a fucking idiot
May 8th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
the motherfucker is you and ur fucking ur sister also..idiot..u call yourself a writer…ur an idiot..u dont have respect for sports and for other teams and fans..u are a fucking idiot
May 8th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Wow, “get up and play”. You certainly used your own journalistic brilliance there. You might want to use terms like “you” and “your”, instead of “u” and “ur”. What’s the point of even calling someone an idiot when you can’t even form a cohesive sentence. Dumbass. I guess you didn’t notice that this was not a slam on the Ducks (just one Duck. Pronger is a douche, and I’d call him a douche if he played for the Wings, i.e., Bertuzzi). You’re one of those assholes who stay in the left lane while on the cell thinking “This is how I roll”, I’m sure. Your rock called, he misses you underneath him.
Regardless, this is a nicely written piece. Keep it up.
May 8th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Symo..the only idiots are u (”you”) and ur (your) fucking players who elbow when the other players are hit….
is it good enough for you..your fucking majesty…
May 8th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Symo..the only idiots are u (”you”) and ur (your) fucking players who elbow when the other players are hit….
is it good enough for you..your fucking majesty…
May 8th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
This is one of the suckiest blog that i ever saw in my life…and who ever wrote it is a fucking litle bitch
May 9th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
These Red Wings are NOT the San Jose Sharks, motherfuckers. Do not get that twisted for one damn second.
AMEN!
May 9th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
If ya don’t like it the LEAVE.
Asshole.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
A fan of the DIRTIEST MOTHERFUCKING TEAM in the entire NHL talking about elbows?
Oh my god! You just lost every argument regarding hockey that you’ll make for the next 15 years on that principle alone.
I’ve seen some stupid shit written about hockey teams in the last 20 years but that one takes the cake.
What a tool you are to even try to talk about elbows when the Skunks are the worst offending team, have the most PM’s have the most goons on their bench and basically have the throy if you can’t skate with them, take ‘em out.
YOU SUCK.
May 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
“Get Up And Play” should be “Sit Down and Shut Up”
Loser, ass, tool, jerk, dicksucker.
May 10th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
all wings fans are idiots..and this post poves it
May 11th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Wow. You really put us in our places. It is nice to see that you have the cognitive ability to learn that you’re an illiterate ass. Calling anybody on the Wings cheap for an elbow? I guess you don’t actually WATCH Pronger play. Unless of course, he’s trying to permanently disable someone by stepping on them with a skate.
And thank you for calling me royalty, because certainly, you are a peasant who knows not what he speaketh.
So I suppose we cheated yesterday too? Aww, whassamatta, “get up and play”, are your one-getzlaf-ducks not able to keep up? At least I can spell “you” and “your” the FIRST time. Ass.
May 12th, 2009 at 4:39 am
symo..u suck man..ur the royalty of sucking dicks with your ass
May 12th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Woot! You almost used capital letters that time genius! I bet your mom was so proud when you brought home D’s instead of F’s. Does your girlfriend snicker when she picks you up from work at McDonalds? Oh, that’s right, they won’t employ felons or child molesters… that must be a big double whammy for you. And my ass could probably suck a million of your dicks at once, being so small and all. What a stupid insult.
May 12th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
i know that ur ass can get a lot of dicks because they brooke it when u went to jail for fucking ur mom….atleast you admit that ur a fucking bitch and you will always be one…behind mcdonalds , in those trash bins where you get your food usualy i left a big dildo for u..u can suck on it…it shit flavour..ur favourite
May 15th, 2009 at 3:30 am
i want to congratulate you for your team’s victory…Detroit is a good team and i think the Ducks did really good..is was a good series..i know u guys thought is gonna be easier for you but ducks proved again that they are a strong team…
all the best for you and your newspaper
May 15th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Thanks alin.
I’ll have a post up tomorrow, but I have to say, despite all the hype about Crosby/Ovechkin this was the second-round series with the highest level of skilled hockey in it. The Wings were a big part of that, but the Ducks brought their A-game and it was a battle every step of the way.
Who knows what’ll happen, but I can’t imagine a team testing the Wings the way the Ducks did. That was incredible. Pushed to the absolute limit.
May 19th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
I can’t bring myself to care about hockey. But I am considering putting those first three paragraphs on my wall.
But then, sports ain’t life.
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