Nashville 3-1 Red Wings

Yesterday was my first in-person Wings game at the Joe. My first JLA trip was documented here, in case you were reading something relevant that day. Here are some random notes:

- The atmosphere is a wee bit different when you're sitting by senior citizens. After the lone Wings goal, only like half the people around us stood up to cheer, I couldn't believe it. I was nearly compelled to grab one of the old men sitting next to me with a double fisted collar-clinch and scream "WHY DO THEY LET YOU PEOPLE IN!!!" until he died in my arms.

- I don't know how it looked on TV, but my god, Samuellson looked atrocious.

- It was funny how there was a collective groan in the crowd every time Filppula carried the puck into the Nashville zone. There was an amusing amount of people yelling "SHOOOOOT!!!!" and "PAAASS!!!" and "COME ON!!!!" and "I HATE YOU!!!!" (That last one belonged to me.)

- From what I saw, the Darren McCarty jersey was the most popular amongst the fans. And the "What The Fuck" Memorabilia Award went to a dude I saw wearing a Dino Ciccarelli Minnesota North Stars jersey -- that's the most random one I've seen in a long time. Final ranking:

1) Darren McCarty
2) Steve Yzerman
3) Zetterberg
4) Datsyuk
5) Brendan Shanahan

I have no idea what the use for this information is.

- After watching the quality of play yesterday, I'm beginning to think that the Red Wings and the Pistons are competing with one another to see who can play down to weaker opponents more shamelessly. While the Pistons put up a shit-fest against the 76ers this past week (and then just beat the Hornets by 20????), the Wings looked out of it from the start. They looked slow getting out of their own zone, simple passes were bouncing off sticks one after the other, and there was little if any traffic in front of the Nashville net. Aside from the Kronwall goal and some chances on the 4 minute power play, there wasn't too much to get excited about.

- I got my picture taken in front of a case full of historical Wings memorabilia. My favorite random item? Mike Vernon's helmet that he wore during the 1995 Finals.