Emotions on the Red Wings

It's too bad the Red Wings were eliminated, but you know what I feel more than anything else?

Relief.

At least it's over.

Don't get me wrong --  I was somewhat disappointed to see them lose -- though Chicago's a lot cooler town than Detroit and, in my opinion, the Black Hawks' jerseys are the best in all of sports -- for whatever that counts.

Thing is, the hype was getting to be too much. Over and over Red Wings' fans were told....

1) The LA Kings barely snuck into the playoffs last year too, but won the Stanley Cup. Anything can happen when a team gets on a roll.
2) Down 3 games to 2, the Red Wings came back to beat the favored Anaheim Ducks, the 7th and deciding game being played in Disneyland land.
3) As the Wings stretched their series lead to 3-1 over Chicago, the cliches came out. Jimmy Howard, their goaltender was "standing on his head". Personally, I've never seen a goaltender do that before, but it would be interesting. "Unsung heroes" were making their presence known. I know they skate really well -- but they sing too? Or maybe we're supposed to break out in a song about them. I dunno.
4) The Red Wings weren't supposed to get this far anyway. They're playing on house money.
5) As the Black Hawks slowly climbed back into the series, from down 3-1, to 3-2, to 3-3, the tension mounted. Could the Wings pull off yet another improbable game 7 victory on the road against a supposed superior team?

As it turned out -- nah. The best team won. And in a way I'm glad. Why?

Because the talking heads and scribes had the Red Wing faithful so worked up into a lather, like this was the Super Bowl or the 7th game of the World Series. And it was only the quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup tournament.

Had they moved on into the semis against LA, the winged-wheel fans would have got wound up even tighter yet by the media.

Hey, it's important in it's own way, but playoff hockey isn't exactly nuclear war, or worse, divorce court. Is it asking too much to at least wait until one's team is in the Finals before driving people to power-drink, pop pills, and stand outside on ledges of tall buildings contemplating their mortality if things don't work out?

So yeah, I'm kind of glad it's over. Because even had the Red Wings defeated the Black Hawks -- it was only the half-way point to Lord Stanley's Cup.

Sure, the players would be OK, but I'm not at all sure the Motown fans could stand another couple of series' with even MORE media induced pressure. Everybody has their breaking point, and Detroit's in bad enough shape as it is.

The last thing Motown needs is a few thousand hockey-crazed lunatics running amok to make matters worse.

After all, they've already got that problem. In fact, they've had it for a long time.

Something about the fans of a team that wears Honolulu blue and silver.

One's enough.

And let's get real. The Red Wings were a mediocre team going into the playoffs, compiled a mediocre 7-7 record while there, and are still a mediocre team after it's all over.

Ain't nothing to get worked up about....