Yes, as silly as it is for a locality to claim it is somehow better than another at professional sports...this was a great day for Detroit.
- The Tigs swept the Yankees @ the Stadium for the first time since 1966
- The Pistons crushed the Sixers to advance in the NBA Playoffs
- Least...but not if you were around in the 90s...the Red Wings CRUSHED the Avs, 8-2, to complete a Stanley Cup Playoff sweep
I don't give two rips about hockey these days (I was a modest fan even at my heights). But there's no team I like to see beaten more than the Avs. For a quick refresher course (or for those newbies, a short course) watch the following few minutes of YouTubes. For the one with the Filter song, I apologize as it is a bit overwraught...but if you were watching back from the D in the late-90s, you'll probably still get chills from the 1997 Easter Massacre footage as CL gets beaten, Darren McCarty seals his status as local hero, Patrick Roy and Mike Vernon...goalies...square off, and pints and pints of Colorado's finest are collected on the Ice of Joe Louis. (And the Wings pinched 'em later that year in the Playoffs 4-2...hee hee!)
Motown!
Why Detroit Hates the Avs (:30 to 1:25)
Lemieux, a known cheap-shot artist, nearly kills Kris Draper by blind-siding him into the sill of his bench...earning him a suspension
The Full, Uncut 7 Minutes (if you really like the nuance)
Some 300 days later, the Wings had waited until the Avs were on their home ice to exact revenge upon Lemieux & Co. Claude gets knocked nearly unconscious by Darren McCarty and requires assistance off the ice. The goalies end up fighting along with Shanny, Malts and nearly everyone else.
The "Easter Massacre" of '97...to Music (So Best! 1:38 to 2:20 stand up there with any championship moment in most Detroiters minds)
Same thing, but showing that the Red Wings fans are metal nerds. I still like watching it, tho. You get to see McCarty also take down Adam Deadmarsh...and then score the winning goal in OT on Roy. Oh baby!
3 comments:
Most know that I am all Tigers (and some Spartans), but that said, when McCarty had Claude Balls' face in the ice AND THEN SHANNY CLOSE LINES ROY so Darren can knock Balls unconscious to me ranks right up there with Gibson's homer off Gossage in game 5 of the '84 series.
i could watch that all day. i really can't express how much the entire STATE wanted that EXACT THING to happen. From the time Draper gave that interview in '96 all cut up and barely able to speak...the Avs and Lemieux were Public Enemy #1 (we hated him to begin with, mind you for the NJ Devils series and countless cheapies.) To start '97, the Wings did nothing! I think they met once or twice in Colo. before this game...no big fights, no big deal. All fans were shocked. But then...come late March, the Wings planned it out like a mob hit, taking care of all family business @ home. I didn't dare dream Lemieux and Co would get it this bad. I was jumping around my house. I bought the paper the next day. And we won the game. And we won the Cup.
Does my heart good to see you guys remember the greatest moment in D sports history. By the way, he really did write the book "I Got A Tiger By The Tail" by Clawed Balls.
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