Nothing is the same anymore, except for the uniforms. The Avalanche-Red Wings rivalry, once the best in the land of any sport, is now just a distant memory, though we have plenty of documentation about it. Someone wrote a book on it once, and there is a great ESPN documentary about it.
So, watching today’s game in Detroit, the nostalgia wasn’t too big for me, even though Steve Yzerman is the GM of the Wings and Joe Sakic is still the team president of the Avs.
But I will reflect some, on some memories that didn’t maybe make my book or the ESPN doc:
I guess one of the memories that first comes to mind is just how much Little Caesars pizza there was at Wings game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Mike Ilitch, Wings owner, started Little Caesars. There was always an enormous amount of it available before games and during games. I think the media meal charge was $5 and you got all the Little Caesars you could eat for that price, along with some other regular food. I know I gained a few pounds in the heat of those rivalry years.
At the Joe, there was only one elevator to the press box (and it didn’t even go that high) and so most of us walked up about 10 flights of stairs to get up there. Man, it was a workout.
There was a hotel bar at the downtown Courtyard Marriott in Detroit, where we sometimes stayed. Me, Terry Frei and Woody Paige most definitely kept the bartender busy after many a game there. One of them was named Sam, and he was great. A big Wings fan, of course, but he treated the “enemy” reporters well.
Woody told a lot of stories. Lots of stories. Most of them lasted about 15 minutes too. He loved to tell stories about his life and career. A LOT of them.
I used to read all the stories of how dangerous Detroit was and feel a little nervous walking around in the early days. In about 28 years of traveling there pretty regularly, I never once had anything of untoward nature happen to me there, walking all over the city. I loved Detroit. Always liked being there.
I remember seeing - and smelling - the octopuses that were thrown on the ice all the time there. My god, a dead octopus does not smell good.
I always loved walking through Cobo Hall on the way to the Joe. For longtime Kiss fans like me, Cobo Hall was where most of “Kiss Alive” was recorded, and where the famous photo on the back of the album was taken.
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