Going on the road for a big game can be a lot of fun, whether you’re a player, a fan, or even just a member of the visiting teams media… that is, as long as, you can take a little good natured ribbing. I can, and did, both this year and last year, during the Stanley Cup Finals.
Granted it was a little more fun last June, when the Wings put an end to the taunts by winning the Stanley Cup at the Igloo… but this year was fun too… it really was… I really like Pittsburgh… great city
I find Penguin fans to be a lot like Red Wing fans…. passionate, knowledgeable, extremely loyal to their team, and for the most part, good natured (although there are exceptions to the latter, obviously, amongst both.)
A few examples of our fan exchanges in the Burgh:
MICHIGAN? NEVER HEARD OF IT: Upon arriving at a toll booth to get on the Pennsylvania Turnpike heading into Pittsburgh, a very “Lerch” like, large man leaned down from high above the window and said, “WOOD-TV 8? Where’s that?”
“In Grand Rapids, Michigan”, I responded.
“What state’s THAT in,” he asked.
“AH…. Michigan,” I said.
“Never heard of it,” he replied, as he handed us our receipt and then slammed the window shut.
IT’S GONNA BE A LONG F$%#?@# RIDE: Upon stopping at a toll booth on the Pennsylvania Turnpike heading out of Pittsburgh today, a middle-aged male in a car on the other side of the booth screamed at us, as he pulled away… “It’s going to be a long f$%#?&@ ride back to Detroit!”
Yep, seven hours I thought… that is, to Grand Rapids.
RED WING TAX: While making a purchase at a Pennsylvania Gas Station, the Manager, who was talking to the clerk, about the “Pens great game six win” last night, noticed our marked Satellite Truck and asked us, “where you from?”
“Grand Rapids, Michigan,” I said.
“Michigan!,” he alarmingly responded. He then turned to the clerk and said, “Put a Red Wings tax on everything he purchases.”
RED WINGS SUCK: Within seconds of stopping at a red light in downtown Pittsburgh in 2008, numerous men and women, many in suits and other business attire, saw the unfamiliar station number and name on our truck and started pointing at us, chatting “Red Wings Suck! Red Wings Suck!” As we pulled away, they seemed to go right back to their business at hand.
Must be members of the Chamber of Commerce I thought.
TIME TO DROP THE GLOVES: Doing a live shot right outside Mellon Arena as a member of the so called “Red Wing” media, with 17,000 Penguin fans strolling out of the building can be… well… shall we say… interesting. Again, 90 percent of the fans were great… even those throwing taunts our way… and that was a good percentage of them…. were good natured about…. all in fun. Again, I have absolutely no problem with that. Actually I kind of enjoy it. There were however, a few who obviously had a few too many Labatt Blue’s or Iron City Beers.
Just before hitting the air at 11:01 last night, we had one guy slamming his fist on our satellite truck, screaming “Red Wings Suck! Red Wings Suck!” I ignored him at first, until he tried to get in INTO the Sat truck, when I had to softly, yet literally push him away. At that point I thought I was going to have to drop the gloves, perhaps on live television (which made me a bit nervous considering I’m no Darren McCarty, especially not in my mid-40’s), but he walked away muttering something else about how “Detroit sucks”.
At the advise of my very “cool, calm and collected” partner Evan Linnert, I just ignored his chants… for a while.
Then from the backseat of his friends car (fortunately he wasn’t driving) he started yelling out the window at an elderly couple the car in front of him, with Michigan plates, trying to get out of the same parking lot.
“Come on grandpa, move your ass, go back to Detroit,” he screamed. “The Red Wings are nothing, you guys got nothing.”
I couldn’t help myself. Albeit in a very unaggressive tone, I simply said, “they’ve got nothing?”
“The Red Wings got nothing!” he yelled back.
“Well,, they’ve got four Stanley Cups in the past 11 seasons,” I said .
“Yeah, well,” he said, as he paused for moment.
“General Motors is bankrupt!”
Puzzled, I simply said, “enjoy the win sir… and the hangover.”
AT LEAST I DIDN’T GET DOUSED IN BEER THIS YEAR… more on that later.
June 12th, 2009 at 1:31 pm by Larry Figurski under Sports
