For those of you who think Detroit is no longer Hockeytown because the Joe is not packed out any more, I give you this: Brazilian Wings fans. This is not news if you’ve been reading OtW for a few years, as you may remember that we have a history of association with fans from Brazil, though contact has fallen off over the past year or so. For the rest of you, let me introduce you to Humberto Fernandes (Humbertuzzi) and his friends, purveyors of TheSlot.com.br, an online Brazilian hockey magazine.
Humberto and Flávio de Moura are now running Red Wings Brasil, “O Blog oficial dos torcedores brasileiros do Detroit Red Wings (the official blog of the Brazilian fans of the Detroit Red Wings).” It’s a great-looking new site ( they started it in April) and I recommend you check it out, even if you can’t read Portuguese.
Hockeytown is bigger than southeastern Michigan, my friends, and bigger than Michigan as a whole. Anyone who’s been to a Red Wings game in another city knows that fair numbers of their fans show up all over the NHL. A Hockeytown in dispersion, if you will. Don’t measure one of the largest fanbases in hockey by game attendence in Detroit (unless you want to remind yourself of the team’s 11-year/452-game sellout streak) and discount the thousands of us elsewhere.
Hi there Matt and WingNuts all over the world.
This is Flávio, one of the Red Wings Brasil members, and here to thank you for the words and support.
We are pretty glad for that and hoping that we got a lot to come on this quest for the Cup to fill people with infos.
Thanks a lot, again.
Best regards to you and all.
Flávio.
GO Wings!
Hey Matt!
Thank you very much for this topic.
“On the Wings” is the best blog ever about the Red Wings and your job has been a example for us.
“TheSlot.com.br” exists since April 2002, so we’ll publish the 157th edition this week.
“Red Wings Brasil” was Flavio’s idea and I liked it. It’s very difficult to stay interested and writting every day (or so), but it’s nice to read the comments from other fans.
Matt, in our Red Wings Brasil (the team, not the blog) community (Orkut), we have 430 fans! Think of it. Many of them never saw Red Wings playing, others don’t read english.
That put, I believe the Red Wings aren’t just a hockey team, they are a symbol of superiority.
Sorry for any english mistakes and hasta la vista
Humberto Fernandes
Exactly! There are also many of us transplants, originally from Detroit, living in other areas of the country now. I don’t get back to Detroit very often, but when I do, I try to see a game if I can. Otherwise, I’m stuck driving 2 hours up to Columbus to catch a game. It’s fun going to Columbus to see the Wings though. It’s like going to a home game because there’s always so many Wings fans there.