It's all relative

That didn't take long. Just one good game. After the Red Wings beat the Black Hawks in Game 2 of their playoff series, the local pundits are once again bragging up the honor and the prestige that comes with wearing a Red Wings jersey. It's like the "winged wheel" is somehow special in the sports world.

If you believe that, then it stands to reason you've also believed the Dallas Cowboys are truly "America's team", and Armageddon would quickly be upon us if the Lakers hadn't made the playoffs.

Personally, I'm not buying into ANY of that nonsense. They're pro sports teams. They win -- they lose. They go up -- they go down. For the most part, it's a bunch of players in stick and ball sports making millions that likely couldn't pass a fairly administered 9th grade proficiency test. And we, the fans, pick up the tab. So who's the real dummies?

It's pretty much the same thing with the Olde English D on Detroit Tigers uniforms or the NY Yankee pinstripes. Somehow this is supposed to be special. It is and it isn't.

Yes, it's special because any player that wears such a uniform is special himself. I've long said you can take the last player on the bench, from the last place team in whatever pro league you want to talk about -- and whoever that is -- that guy's REALLY good. Criticize him if you wish, but he beat out thousands of others just to get there.

But no, just because he plays for a certain team doesn't make him -- or them --  any more special than any other team and it's players.

Do you really think for a second the Cowboys' jersey is special in any other NFL town with its own rabid home fans? I doubt it. It's just hype. You can buy into it -- or not. I don't.

Same thing with the Red Wings. They might have a few fans that follow them on the road, but their winged wheel doesn't mean squat in any other NHL city. They're just another team. Detroit is a member of the original 6 in the NHL? How much do you think that matters to fans in such places as Columbus, Nashville, San Jose, etc?

For that matter, yours truly has never understood just what a "red wing" is, at least in hockey. I have a few old timer biker friends that sport red wings on their vests -- but that was for doing something that I absolutely can't discuss in this forum. If you want to know -- go ask a biker.

On another note, earlier today my boss, the sports editor, actually paid me a compliment, but also said he didn't want to make my head any bigger than it already was.

Considering how many people would no doubt swear under oath that yours truly was, is and always will be a pinhead -- I'm not quite sure what to make of all that.

I guess it's all relative.

And I think that's where I came in.