Seven days ago tonite, I sat at this desk and wondered, with tickets in hand, whether the Detroit Red Wings would win the Stanley Cup on Monday nite. Too many Detroit teams had flamed out in my own history to be so confident as to not doubt. That was borne out the next evening.
I've never been to a sporting event that had so much emotion as last Monday's game. The crowd was full of electricity, anticipating a fourth Cup in eleven years that nite. The noise was deafening...until the Wings came out flat and fell behind 2-0. They pulled within one early in the second period, and then tied and went ahead in the third. The go-ahead goal was followed by noise off the scale. As the clock ticked down, the fans grew wilder and wilder, until there was but a minute to go. 'One minute left!', I muttered to myself. Then, with 34 seconds remaining, Pittsburgh scored with an extra man to tie it up. Still, the Wings were not going to be denied. They threw the puck at the net in the remaining time and then tilted the ice the next two overtimes, dominating play and only narrowly failing to end it gloriously. After five periods of hockey, we were drained and compelled to leave. I handed my stubs to a couple young men outside Joe Louis, hoping they'd be able to watch a victory celebration. On the car radio going home, with the volume just high enough to hear if a goal was scored, we learned that Pittsburgh had won. We were home in bed at 1:44 am, a lot earlier than everyone else who stayed to the disappointing end.
It took the better part of two days to recoup. On Wednesday, in Lansing for an MHC meeting, and then driving to Chicago in the evening for a couple days of business and pleasure, arriving in the Windy City very late, I was too tired to check the score--and too conscious of the possibility of an unhappy outcome. I believed, with two chances to do it, that the Wings would win. I didn't have enough confidence to prove it to anyone, however, least of all myself.
Thursday morning greeted me with the great news of a stirring win. I felt a bit silly, getting all worked up over sports, but I guess that proves how it is an escape from real life. Perhaps, though, it's more.
For what the Wings accomplished, despite a salary cap world, despite a number of really bad calls by refs, despite an historic heart-breaking triple overtime loss, is instructive to those of us in the Great Lake State. A team full of players who want to be in Detroit most of all, some of whom have taken reduced pay to make it possible to bring in other talent, who battled through a first round challege and then found themselves the un-favorite of many media in the Finals (cue the Sydney Crosby video), who hail from Russia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Canada, US, as old as 46 and as young as 21, came together and achieved their ultimate goal, succeeding through the ordeal that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. Why important here?
One sportswriter said this: "This Stanley Cup was for the people. This was for the unemployed auto workers, the people between jobs and the people who are worried about losing their homes. This is for the man and woman who want so badly to go to every Red Wings game but cannot afford to do so. The problems this community faces do not go away. People are still unemployed. More business will continue to shut their doors and more of our great talent will move out of state. However, the Wings ease the pain somewhat. This town really needed this celebration." (Terry Foster, Detroit News)
There's a huge lesson here for every Michigander: a group of diverse individuals, who are described as 'family' thanks in large part to that brand of leadership at the top, worked determinedly together in pursuit of a common goal, put team ahead of individual accolade, and achieved their mission, despite the lack of confidence of others...like yours truly. Oh me of little faith.
A week later, I've learned my lesson.
