This is the kind of drivel we’re going to get this series:
Stay away, Red Wings fans.
I get that sentiment. I don’t want Phoenix fans in the Joe, either. I’d much prefer each and every seat be sold to a died-in-the-wool Wings fan that will contribute to thunderous cheers and the general playoff atmosphere of the building. It makes sense for folks in Phoenix with loyalties just to the Coyotes would want that, too.
But this. This pisses me off:
If you are a transplant from Michigan, hockey is in your DNA. But you live in Arizona, and chances are, you’ve grown to love what the Valley has to offer. Well, part of the landscape is a hockey team struggling for survival. So do the right thing. Keep the Red Wings sweater in the closet, and cheer for the home team. Just this once.
Let me explain why this bothers me so much: I’m a Michigan man, and I don’t just mean I cheer for the University of Michigan. Michigan is my home and where my loyalties lie. I’ll cheer for any Michigan team over any other team any day. That includes Michigan State. Michigan First.
And I have the privilege of living here. I will fight to stay here. If for some reason, Megan and I have to leave to find work or make a life elsewhere, the fact that I’m a Michigan man will not change. I’ll remain a die-hard Wings, Tigers, Lions, Wolverines and the rest fan wherever we might end up. The same goes for Megan.
Now, it may come to pass that in a hypothetical Salers Move scenario, I might bond with my new area and develop a reasonable affinity with the local teams. Always subordinate to my love for my home state’s teams, of course, but still: I could see myself buying tickets to the local hockey team to get a hockey fix. Call it engaging the community, whatever.
But I, like so many actual transplants, would shed that engagement in a second to demonstrate the higher loyalty to my homestate team. It’s part of being a Citizen of Hockeytown. The Wings chose “Hockeytown, No Limits” as their slogan this year for a reason. It’s part of the peculiar situation Michigan finds itself in as a leader in economic depression: more and more people having to leave the state leads to more and more fans in diaspora and more and more fans filling road arenas. That’s the culture of Wings fanship as it stands today.
I have a certain distaste for people who lose sight of their roots and abandon their former home’s teams. It’s a betrayal. I feel that strongly about the state of Michigan because I know so many people were forced to leave because of the economy, not because they wanted to. I don’t know if it’s common with folks from other states, but you get a sense that this rings true for most transplants: Once a Michigander, always a Michigander. You may come to like your new area, but I know if I were living elsewhere, I’d feel a tug to go back.
People of Phoenix, that goes for former Michigan residents in your arid city, too. That’s why the last quote above is offensive. You’re asking people who bleed red and white to betray their roots.
I get that you don’t like their duality (only applicable in some cases: many folks don’t even invest in the local team because they’re so loyal to the Wings). It may bother you, the loyalist Coyotes fan, to see your arena filled with fans of the other team when you want to see it filled with others like yourself. I get it. And truly, I feel for you: I can’t imagine being a full Coyotes fan and having to face the uncertainty around the team.
But imagine if you were someday forced to leave Arizona and move to Michigan. If you know anything about water supply and the issues with it coming down the pipe, that’s not a scenario that’s too far outside the realm of possibility. You say “never!” now, but talk to me in 5-10 years when drought could have Great Lakes water sparking a boom in the upper Mid West. And say by that point, the Coyotes haven’t been moved, so you still have a team to be loyal to. Would you remain a fan of the Coyotes? Would you go to their games in Detroit and be excited that you can see them in person while in exile?
If you answer no, then you should reevaluate your status as a fan of the Phoenix Coyotes. If you answer yes, then shut up about Wings fans filling Jobing.com Arena.