Back when the world was normal and the Red Wings were in the playoffs, you know, for like 25 straight years? Back then the most honest thing I'd say in the months of April (the last four years), May (most years before Ken Holland destroyed this team) and June (those years when baby Jesus made sound decisions about hockey), was, "I hate the gosh darn playoffs (edited)."
I did. There was no stress like playoff stress. Nothing hurt more than a playoff loss, especially an OT loss.
Rocking. Thumb sucking. Muttering. Avoidance. Anticipation. Hope. Pessimism. Despair. Joy followed by blackness. All in one playoff shift, it seemed.
Now, though? Now, as the Team That Holland Built golfs?
Different. My routine the last 25 years (more like 20, I'd guess) went like this:
Wings play an early game (we used to be in the Western Conference because the midget commissioner needed us there to keep interest in the sport west of Chicago), and win? I'll watch more hockey. More hockey that night. More hockey the next day. Hockey galore until the Wings played again in two days (because NHL players don't need four days between hockey games). I'd blog and blog and blog, write and write. Read everything. If the Wings won.
Wings lose? Oh, hell no. No games until our next one. No reading. No writing. Barely any conversation. Absolute, abject avoidance of everything and anyone who wanted to discuss hockey (or idiotically choose that time to twist a knife).
It was that simple. Huge mood swings. A 180 degree difference between me as a winning Wing fan or me as a Wing fan who can't bear to think for one second about the last loss.
It's no way to live, but live like that I (and we) did for more than two decades.
Now? Weird. I've watched more hockey the last four days than I ever have. Stress-free hockey. Overtime hockey. Four games went to OT last night? Holy. Shit. What sport could possibly compete with that? If the rest of the country (the US) actually took a chance and watched any of those games last night? They'd be converted.
You watch hockey differently when the games don't matter. You root differently.
I'd like Toronto to beat Washington and then I'd like Toronto to beat whoever they play next, and then next. I'd like them to win it all. I like that team. Not the way Ken Holland "likes our team". I like the youth and the idea of it. I love the passion in that city for hockey and I always have. I know that irritates many people. I'll survive. I also like Mike Babcock.
I like the fact that Chicago is getting swept. I don't think that requires any explanation at all.
I don't like that the Blues are going to beat Minnesota because I believe Blues fans are a disgusting group and I don't like it when they're happy.
But...I don't want Minnesota fans to be happy either because the Ingalls sisters chose them over us. It's a quandary.
I don't care about the Calgary/Anaheim series and I don't think I care about Montreal and NY.
I'd like Pittsburgh to lose. However, unlike St. Louis, I happen to like Pens fans. I want Pittsburgh to lose because I don't want anyone repeating until we do it again. I have a bad feeling, though, that with Chicago losing and the Caps most likely choking again...
I truly do not care about Ottawa and Boston. I think of that series and my mind goes blank and milky. I have no emotions about it at all. I'm very calm right now, very serene, thinking about that series and how little I care about it.
I do not appreciate a playoff-free spring, as a Wing fan. It's not my preference.
But it's not as bad as I thought it would be.
I'd like Kenny Holland to be fired this afternoon, if possible. That, in itself, would not guarantee a return to the playoff stress I love/hate. But it would make me feel warmer, safer and happier.
I'll watch hockey tonight. Maybe. After the Tiger game, or maybe during if I don't feel like suffering through another bullpen meltdown.
No stress. Emotion-free viewing. Weird.
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