I used to love Jeremy Piven.  Mainly for the awesome job he does as Ari Goldman on Entourage.  Then I saw the following video, one that's not very nice and makes me want to put him back in a dumpster.   I don't think I'll ever be able to watch his movies and Entourage in the same positive light again.

I'm giving Piven a mulligan, though.  A redo. I made a remix clip that I think expresses what Jeremy Piven REALLY wanted to say in the first clip.  And no, he's not saying "Blackhawk." 

Check them out and GO WINGS!

(Thanks to our promotions guy, Nick for pointing out the first video to us and inspiring me to make the "redo")

Detroit, Michigan

Chicago, Illinois

The defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings held off a pesky Anaheim squad in game 7 of their Western Conference Semi-final series Thursday night in Detroit, needing a goal by Dan Cleary with 3 minutes left to eliminate the Ducks with a 4-3 win.  In doing so, the Wings advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they will face a familiar foe: the Chicago Blackhawks, who beat the Vancouver Canucks in the second round to advance to their first Western Conference Final since 1995, when they were defeated by the Red Wings in 5 games.

Detroit and Chicago are separated by about 280 miles.  The two cities have teams in the same respective divisions in all four major sports, and the sports fans in the midwestern towns share a mutual hatred for each other's teams.  This incredible dislike is fostered by playing one another multiple times each season.  Yet, the playoff history between the two cities is surprisingly sparse.

The Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears battle twice a year in the NFC North, or NFC "Norris" as Chris Berman calls it, referring to the old division the Wings and Hawks played in together.  Despite 75 years together in the NFL, the Lions, owners of 4 NFL championships, and the Bears, winners of 6 NFL championships and Super Bowl XX, have incredibly NEVER met in the NFL playoffs.  Even more amazing is that the Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox have played in the American League together for 108 seasons, with the Tigers winning 4 World Series and the Sox 3, yet also have NEVER ran into each other in post-season play.

The Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls of the NBA have met 5 times in the playoffs, with the Pistons holding a 3-2 series advantage.  The Pistons, holders of 3 NBA titles, and the Bulls, who won the title 6 times in the 1990's, met 4 consecutive years between 1988-1991, with the winner of the series going on to claim the NBA title in the last 3 meetings.

Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL have a more extensive playoff history.  They are both Original Six charter members of the NHL along with the New York Rangers, the Boston Bruins, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Montreal Canadiens.  They have battled since the Detroit Falcons became the Detroit Red Wings in 1932 after James D. Norris bought the team, adopted the Winged Wheel logo and changed the team name.  And while the Red Wings have had much more post-season success, holding a decided advantage in Stanley Cups with 11 against Chicago's 3, the Blackhawks play their best when facing the Wings, and actually have an 8-6 edge head-to-head in playoff series all-time.

So this series should be special.  Both squads have a lot of young talent and experienced goaltenders with playoff success under their belts.  And the two cities have been waiting to meet up with each other since the last playoff battle in 1995.  As Steve Mazzagatti would say, "Let's get it on!"

The Wings came away with a great victory last night due to a late goal by Dan Cleary with 3 minutes left in the game. They held two separate 2 goal leads but the feisty Ducks were able to come back and tie it at 3 with 12 minutes left in the 3rd period. The game winning goal was set up by Zetterberg who tossed the puck into the crease where Dan Cleary was able to stick it past Jonas Hiller.

The rest is history and the city of Detroit, including me, began its celebration. That's why I sit at work with an extreme hangover, but you know what, it was all worth it. Hockey playoffs come but once a year and when the Wings are able to seal a series, I like to celebrate with some fava beans and a nice bottle of chianti.

So I'm gonna go drink my ice cold water (I prefer Poland spring obviously, since I'm Polish) and take some much needed tylenol and rest up for the series opener against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday at 3 p.m. EST.

Hopefully I don't puke at work.

Go Wings!

The Detroit Red Wings play the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks tonight at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, 7pm EST, in Game 7 of their Western Conference Semi-final series.  An astute reader commented that in my previous post on Wings' Game 7's of the modern era, I cut off the retrospective piece at 1994-1995, which was the season that followed consecutive Game 7 losses to Toronto (1993) and San Jose (1994).  This is a necessary reminder that Game 7's can have TWO outcomes, one which turns you into a grinning idiot for roughly 72 hours, but also a second which has serious side effects that can last for days to weeks:  irritability, difficulty sleeping, loss of appetite, and general malaise.  Wings fans are indeed experienced with both scenarios as the aforementioned reader pointed out.

With this in mind, I am steering clear of all trash cans and garbage receptacles until after the game tonight.  This may seem bizarre to some, but there is a method behind my madness.  You see, Mike Foligno, with his twisted nose that makes Owen Wilson's look delicate in comparison, has become the poster child for Wings playoff failures of the past.  There have been plenty, as is inevitable for any franchise:  Surprising first round exits at the hands of L.A. (2001), Anaheim (2003), and Edmonton (2006), and series losses to arch-nemesis Colorado in 1996, 1999, and 2000.  But the most painful may have been the devastating 7 game loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the last season of the former Campbell Conference in 1992-1993.  The Wings led the series 2-0 before dropping games 3 and 4.  Nonetheless, the pivotal game 5 was in hand, as the Wings stormed to a 4-1 lead.  Alas, they blew the lead and the game went into overtime, and two minutes into the extra period, the former #3 overall draft pick (1979) of the Detroit Red Wings, Mike Foligno, scored for Toronto to give them a 3-2 series lead.  Detroit would win game 6, but lose game 7 to be eliminated from the playoffs.  Many Detroiters felt at the time that that was the year the Wings would break their Cup drought and win it all.  And ever since that game 5, I have seen Foligno's horrendous trash can helmet in my nightmares, and I have associated all playoff disappointments with his ugly mug:

So Wings fans, please join me today in avoiding all garbage cans as a show of unity heading into tonight's game.  Allow garbage to collect on your desks, on your kitchen counters, and in your cars.  You can dispose of everything tomorrow, along with the haunting memories of playoff failures past. 

Go Wings!!

Game 7's are special, whether it's basketball, baseball, or whiffle ball in the backyard against your brother and your Dad with 75 foot fences and wadded-up t-shirts for bases. But there is something particularly special about a Game 7 in a NHL playoff series, an extra bit of electricity that you feel in the crowd or on the television as you sit and watch at home in your boxers, eating a large pizza from Little Caesars and an enormous bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream 'cause leave me alone, I went to the gym three days ago and the Red Wings are on, I'll run an extra quarter mile tomorrow. The players come out flying, every check is finished, the fans stand on their feet and rattle the boards, the tension mounts. It's a beautiful thing.

So after the Ducks held off a late rally to win 2-1 in game 6, I sat back to think about past Game 7's the Red Wings have played in in recent history.  I was surprised when I could only think of two. So I looked it up, and sure enough, the current series against Anaheim is the Wings' 37th playoff series since 1995, yet it's only their third Game 7 in that stretch. This is pretty amazing when you think about it.  The two previous Wings game 7's did not disappoint, however.  In fact, I could argue that despite the fact that neither were in a Stanley Cup Final and the Wings have played in 5 Finals since 1995, these two Game 7's were the most memorable playoff games in the Mike Illitch era. Let's take a trip down memory lane:

May 19, 1996:  St. Louis Blues at Detroit Red Wings, Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals

The Red Wings had won the President's trophy in 1995-1996 with 62 wins after being swept in the Stanley Cup Finals the year before by the New Jersey Devils. They were feeling the pressure of being considered playoff chokers after losing games 3, 4, and 5 of the Western Conference Semi-finals against the St. Louis Blues to fall behind 3 games to 2 in the series. They had not won a Cup in 41 years, the longest streak in the NHL at the time.  After winning game 6, game 7 at Joe Louis Arena went into double OT, scoreless at 0-0.  After Wayne Gretzky coughed the puck up, captain Steve Yzerman skated down the right wing and fired a slapshot from just inside the blue line that somehow got past Jon Casey.  The usually reserved Yzerman pumped his fist several times and slammed himself into the boards before being mobbed by teammates in a memorable celebration. The Wings would lose to the Colorado Avalanche in 6 games in the conference finals, but would win the Stanley Cup the following two years.  This Game 7 was particularly memorable because ironically I watched it with a guy named Herbie Gelman who claimed he was the only Jewish guy in St. Louis growing up (this was never confirmed by epidemiologists.)  We watched the game in old room 2 in Ann Arbor that I shared with loyal Detroiters and HUGE Wings fans Mike Versaci and Dave Pedraza.  (Incidentally, Mike's father Tony coached Dearborn Divine Child's football team to the state championship and was later on the University of Colorado football team staff.  Those of you living in metro Detroit should stop by one of Mike's Burger King restaurants for the best burritos and quesadillas around.)  Detroit and St. Louis came together after the game as a goy and a Jewish guy named Herbie went out and got schnockered together.  Check out Stevie Y's goal:

May 31, 2002:  Colorado Avalanche at Detroit Red Wings, Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals

This was the culmination of a heated rivalry that had spanned well over half a decade.  The series had the usual bad blood. The teams split the first 6 games, but in what was anticipated to be a highly contested Game 7, the Wings scored twice in the opening minutes and chased Patty Roy in the second period, spanking the Avs 7-0.  It was reminiscent of December 2, 1995, when the Red Wings put the puck behind Roy 9 times in 17 shots, sending him to the bench in the second period in a game they won 11-1 against his Montreal Canadiens.  As Roy exited the ice, he stormed past coach Mario Tremblay and told team President Ronald Corey, "This is my last game in Montreal."  Roy believed Tremblay had left him in the game after 5 early goals to humiliate him.  He was traded to the Avs with Mike Keane three days later.  The night of that game, I was ironically at Maple Leaf Gardens watching the Leafs play the Anaheim Mighty Ducks with some buddies from college sans 4 teeth after having a full bottle of Labatt's Blue busted over my mouth by a skinhead in a leather jacket the night before, but I digress.

The Red Wings play the Anaheim Ducks in Game 7 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals tomorrow night at 7pm EST at the Joe Louis Arena.  I'll be wearing Depends so I don't have an accident out of excitement, and also so I don't have to take any bathroom breaks.

Go Wings!!

The Wings may have lost 2-1 last night to the Ducks but I believe they will head into game 7 strong with some extra fire in their belly after the skirmish that concluded game 6. Also, the pretty goal by Franzen late making it a 2-1 game may provide a confidence boost for the high powered Wings offense that didn't show up Tuesday until late in the 3rd and seemed to be just a hair off on every pass. So maybe now in game 7 they will come out and put up one of their better offensive performances and make Jonas Hiller look like Goldberg (Goldberg at the tail end of his career of course, when he was beat out by a girl, totally unrealistic by the way but that is neither here nor there).

But after the Wings lost last night, I took a look in the mirror and said "By golly, I sure am handsome with a beard".  Now that the Wings are going to a game 7, I am hoping and praying that they win (not just because I want them to) but because I don't want to shave this beautiful beard. Nor do I want this guy, or this guy, or this guy, to shave their extravagent beards. So hopefully the beard is here to stay. But now if i were like Sydney Crosby and only had a few pubes on my face to go along with a dirty sanchez mustache then I wouldn't mind shaving it off and would actually prefer to. But of course I am nothing like Crosby (except for the hockey skills...I hold two records in midget hockey out of Birmingham--1. most penalty minutes...just cuz I didn't know how to stop so I used the opponent to do so and 2. the only guy to ever take off his skate and try to stab somebody).

So Thursday night will be extra important, not only because it is a do or die game for the Wings, but also because it is a do or die game for my rugged good looks.

Check out SI.com here for some other great hockey playoff beards.

Go Wings!