How sad is this? The Detroit Red Wings—currently on a franchise-high nine-playoff-game winning streak, in their 17th consecutive playoffs (best streak in pro sports) and one win away from their fourth trip to the Stanley Cup finals in 11 years (having won the Cup in all three previous finals trips)—is having trouble selling out the Joe Louis Arena. Last year’s playoffs saw an end to a 425-game streak of home sellouts that went back to 1996.
What’s the deal? The Detroit economy must really be tanking. Or if you get too good people stop caring.
Whatever. I had to move to Minnesota to see the Red Wings in person. I’d love to go to a home game, and I’d really love to go to a playoff game. If you live in the Detroit area, do me a favor and go see some hockey. I may live in the State of Hockey, but Detroit will always be Hockeytown. Just don’t let me down now.
Want to take a road trip?
If only it were that easy to drop $200 plus on a playoff game. Things in Detroit are actually that bad I think. We’re primarily a bedroom metropolis. There is no public transit, so the gas prices definitely hurt the economy. There are so many blue-collar workers losing their jobs. And Wayne County had the highest foreclosure rate in the country in 2007. If you really want to see what people who live in Detroit think about “Hockeytown”, try reading through the comments on this story by Mitch Albom: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080509/SPORTS05/805090431/1082/col01
Ouch…