Zawaski: It's Still Time To Retire 'Detroit Sucks'
Editor's Note: This column was published in December of 2011. We are republishing in anticipation of the Blackhawks playoff matchup with the Red Wings.
By Jay Zawaski-
I've been meaning to write this blog for a couple of years now, and I've never done it. Maybe it's because I participated, in earnest, so many times. Maybe it's because when I see the Winged Wheel on the Detroit sweaters, I just want to blurt it out. Well, not anymore.
It's time to retire "Detroit Sucks."
I know this will be met with a lot of resistance, but hear me out.
The "Detroit Sucks" chant, to me, has always been a chant based in jealousy. The Wings have been elite for the better part of two decades, and it was torturous to watch as a Blackhawk fan. As competitive as the Hawks were in the 90s, the 2000s were, for the most part, brutal.
The Wings kept winning. Then they started winning with Chris Chelios. Then Chelios would bring the Cup to Chicago and rub it in our faces. All the while, Bill Wirtz was selling huge blocks of tickets to Detroit area travel agencies, so the United Center would be 60 percent Detroit fans. It hurt enough to lose all those games, but to hear "Let's Go Red Wings (clap, clap, clapclapclap) in your own building made it agonizing. The only defense we had as fans was "Detroit Sucks."
