Dr J
- Joined: Nov 8, 2011
- Last Login: Feb 1, 2015, 11:09pm EST
- Posts: 11
- Comments: 1,560
A little known fact about the State of Nebraska- if you're raised there, you cannot leave without pledging lifelong allegiance to the Big Red. The only clause out of this rule is that if you choose to fly another team's flag, your first born must attend UNL. I had grown up a Raiders fan (10 years sober of that mess) thanks in large part to my boyhood sports idol, Bo Jackson, but when I left for Australia in 2004 I took a 3 year hiatus to become a rugby league fan. When I returned in 2007 to find a sissified NFL, I was fed up with the ineptness of the Silver and Black. Besides, all hope of getting Chuckie back was gone. The Lions got my attention by drafting Suh, and I became a Lions fan when my worlds collided with 2 other team captains (Raiola & Vanden Bosch) being former Huskers. Mine was one of the first few hockey families in Nebraska. I grew up thinking having your Grandparents host Junior A players was just something everyone did when they got old, and watched my parents valiantly attempt to start a team of our own. I was a fan of all the Midwestern NHL teams- Blackhawks, Blues, Northstars; and as a young sports fan read an SI article on rookie sensation Sergei Federov that got me interested in the Red Wings. Eventually the Stars moved to Dallas, the Hawks traded away my favorite players, and the Wings stepped up to give me a team I could consistently cheer for. I helped my sister land a job in their Marketing department by devouring the media guide they'd sent her and quizzing her on the way to her interview, and in 2001 she repaid me by giving me the peak sporting experience a fan could have ever wanted: Hanging with the future Stanley Cup winning team in the training room as a sports chiropractic intern, breathing the same golden air as a roster that included Dominik Hasek, Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, Chris Chelios, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Pavel Datsyuk in his rookie season (who couldn't speak a lick of English), Tomas Holmstrom, Darren McCarty, Kirk Maltby, Uwe Krupp and legendary coach Scotty Bowman in his final year behind the Red Wings' bench. The first person I saw in the locker room was Chelios, whose number I wore growing up. He offered his hand and said "Hi, my name is Chris." Mind-blowing about sums it up.