If wishes were horses, beggars would ride. If effort was
money, Red Wings would beg.
But to
beg would be to desire a result, to be concerned about a result, and so perhaps
Red Wings would not beg. Perhaps Red Wings would lay down and die, as they have
most nights this season. Some games they lay down and die less than the other
team, but across the board our Wings have not produced above an 85% effort in a
game (excepting perhaps Vancouver) I can attest to, and have averaged a 60%
effort. That’s if we’re being generous.
Want to know what’s funniest about
this? I couldn’t even catch the game tonight. I was working, a concept the
Wings seem positively allergic to. But I didn’t need to watch to know what
probably happened:
I’ll bet the Red Wings came out with a 40%
effort. I’ll bet they came out with all the fight and urgency of a fat cat on a
sunny day.
I’ll
bet the Red Wings didn’t bother to crash the net and force rebounds. That’s not
a good idea when the entirety of your hockey strategy seems to revolve around
firing a puck through three or more solid human bodies.
I’ll
bet the Red Wings still wouldn’t know what a good pass looked like if it appeared
on their stick with a wide open shooting lane beckoning to them.
I’ll
bet we looked like bored toddlers. I’ll bet we looked the same way we have all
season. I’ll bet we still don’t get what’s on the line. I’ll bet we won’t wake up
until it’s too late. If we haven’t woken up yet, there’s absolutely no
indication we will soon.
And if
disappointment were music, Hockeytown would sing. We do sing. Night after
night, we wax lyrical and un-lyrical about the shortcomings of a team that just
doesn’t care. We sing of excuses, none of which explain away the fact that a
professional hockey team doesn’t seem to feel like playing hockey. I sure wish
I could be paid hundreds of thousands not to show up at my job. The worst
excuse of them all? That we have a “garbage roster.” Here’s some truth: I’ve
seen worse rosters do better things and I have seen better rosters do worse
things. But I have never seen THIS roster, this Red and White, Winged Wheeled
Sweatered Roster, do less things. I find myself disgusted. After all, it’s the
size of the fight in the dog. And this pup’s got no fight. This pup’s got no
urgency. This pup’s got no ambition. This pup’s not going anywhere, not at this
rate.
So what
do we, the fans who actually play our hearts out on the message board and
twitter rinks of hockey each night, do? We waited half a season for hockey and
have been treated for another half a season to effort akin to a 9th
grade girls gym class. So what now? What do we do now as our beloved team
stands on the precipice of a virtual unknown frontier? The one I dare not speak
the name of. The place without *deep breath* P-L-A-Y-O-F----I can’t finish.
What do we do?
We don’t
give up. We continue to play our hearts out, because this is Hockeytown. We
stand up and cheer for a team who has brought us what fans of many other teams
will never see in their lives: four championships, over two decades straight of
playoffs, a long list of HoFers. Sure, this year has been one hell of a
disappointment. But damn it, we aren’t out of it yet. If it can hurt this bad
to lose it must be because we have something special on the line. If there isn’t
a single person in that Red Wings’ locker room who feels the need to stand up,
rally that team and kick into their heads the idea of giving it your all, maybe
we can. We signed up for this fan thing, for better or for worse. It hurts
tonight, but that’s sports and that’s love. Let’s ride out the season behind
our guys, show them what effort really is. Who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us
and turn the afterburners on just in time. We aren’t out of this yet. We are
not out of this yet. If you don’t want our guys to quit on the season just yet,
set an example. There’s not a damn bit
of good giving up will do us. So stick your heart back on your sleeve,
Hockeytown, and get ready for the next one. If wishes are second chances, maybe we’ll get
one. Again.
