More on the Red Wings victory parade
It was over 90 degrees as we made our way back to the car after the Friday parade. We spent more than 3.5 hours out in that heat — my husband wearing a long-sleeved polyester Yzerman jersey, no less — surrounded by over a million other fans. Is it any surprise that I was disgusted the Detroit Free Press had a sports writer blogging the parade from his living room? No, really. With his thermostat set at 66 degrees (I’m hoping he got a drubbing about energy savings from someone). How fucking jaded must Shawn Windsor be to not go down to the parade? If the idea was to liveblog it, he should have bought a Sprint card. Posted via SMS. Dictated to a colleague on the other end of a cell phone connection. There just isn’t any excuse.
To make his post less impressive, the TV coverage was horrible. We TiVo’d it to watch when we got home, hoping that someone would identify the people who preceded the players. Nope. Heck, Fox didn’t even show the whole team!
While I’m frustrated with putting my videos online*, I’ll pause and say a bit more about the parade. Originally, we had intended to go into the city around 10:30 and find standing room somewhere, but I had nervous visions of hunting for a parking spot and hiking miles in the heat. So, we got up early, ate breakfast at National, and passed the Hockeytown Cafe a little after 8:30. We paid $5 to park in a lot next to Comerica Park, which was a lucky find; we saw lots charging $10 and $20 much further away.
We grabbed a backpack (water, sunscreen, books, snacks, cameras) and two folding chairs and started walking. We decided to head down Woodward toward the water and a few minutes later we saw our cherry spot: near the intersection of John R, on the south side of the street, on the curb in front of a fenced piece of landscaping, in the middle of the block. Perfect. It only would have been better if we had found something similar on the north side, which was shaded by nearby buildings almost an hour longer than our side. No one could stand directly in front or behind us in that location, though, which made it ideal for watching.
At 9:00, we were hardly the only ones there. A continuous line of blankets and chairs stretched along the sidewalk on both sides of the road as far as we could see, with a second row of standers filling in. The kids beside me complained about the heat, but their parents were prepared with a cooler full of ice and water, snacks, and extra sunscreen. Jerseys and Red Wings t-shirts were the most common attire. (I have to confess that I wore neither — I’m a Sabres fan first, though Detroit is winning me over, and I don’t have any Red Wings gear. I could have put on my Ryan Miller shirt and hoped that no one came close enough to see that the print didn’t say “Osgood”, because they both wear #30. Instead, I got crafty, decorated a plain headband with red crochet, and wired together a bracelet out of red and white buttons. Close enough.)
We cheered when the players’ buses passed to take them from the Joe to Hockeytown Cafe. We hooted when the Zambonis went by to get in line. We watched as a big banner reading “Congratulations from Compuware and the Carolina Hurricanes” was unfurled down the side of a building. A ripple of applause passed through the crowd as two Marines in full dress uniform walked by; they were recruiters, yet fans were still willing to show their appreciation for those who serve. Contrast that with the way Marine recruiters are treated elsewhere.
How much of that did you experience from your living room, Shawn?
The parade itself was great. The band from Martin Luther King, Jr High School had so much attitude and joy, they were infectious. I cheered as loudly as anyone when Scotty Bowman rode by; he was coach and/or general manager of the Sabres in the years when I was a hockey-obsessed teenager. The crowd warmly applauded everyone: staff, unknown politicians, team members who barely had any ice time. They saved their biggest screams for Coach Babcock and the most familiar names, especially the final few. Dallas Drake with the Campbell Bowl. Pavel Datsyuk with the Presidents’ Trophy. Chris Osgood with the Jennings Trophy. Henrik Zetterberg with the Conn Smythe Trophy. And of course, Nik Lidstom with the Stanley Cup.
After the parade passed, it seemed that half the fans followed them down to Hart Plaza. We didn’t join in the migration; we weren’t in the mood to listen to speeches in the heat. The parade was a lot of fun and much less hassle than I had expected, and I’ll gladly go to the next one, whether it’s in Detroit or Buffalo. (A girl can hope, can’t she?)
* I’m so pissed off about my parade videos. I have nice footage of the players mentioned above and more. I encoded them as WMV and they’re very clear, but when I uploaded them to YouTube, their compression turned the clips blocky and almost unrecognizable. I tried uploading a higher resolution MP4 and it was just as bad. This is particularly annoying because my last full-time job was managing video products at an online company, so I know what’s involved in automatic transcoding and I should be able to work the system. I tried uploading to Revver to see if the quality might be better; I’m waiting for the results now. (Update: got my Zetterberg video uploaded there and it’s cleaner than YouTube, but still not great.) Tomorrow when I’m less frustrated with this, I’ll re-encode a few clips and try various sites until I can get a decent result to share.
Another Update: 9 of my video clips from the parade are now available on YouTube. If you can, watch the high res versions; they’re so much cleaner.
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
November 5th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
November 10th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
[…] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]… …
November 11th, 2011 at 6:47 pm
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
November 23rd, 2011 at 8:53 am
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
[…]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[…]……
November 27th, 2011 at 6:05 pm
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
[…]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[…]……
November 28th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
[…] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]… …
December 9th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
[…]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[…]……
December 11th, 2011 at 7:58 am
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
December 12th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
December 17th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
December 19th, 2011 at 9:09 pm
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
December 22nd, 2011 at 3:15 pm
Sites we Like……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]……
December 24th, 2011 at 8:04 am
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
December 24th, 2011 at 9:38 am
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
December 26th, 2011 at 8:44 am
Reviewer…
Hello!, I have gone ahead and bookmarked your page on Stumble so my friends can see it too. I just used your blog title as the title in my bookmark, as I figured if it is good enough for you to title your blog post that, then you probably would like to…
December 27th, 2011 at 7:32 pm
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
December 30th, 2011 at 9:21 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
December 31st, 2011 at 11:20 am
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
January 1st, 2012 at 2:01 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 5th, 2012 at 2:26 am
[…] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]… …
January 5th, 2012 at 6:36 am
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
[…]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[…]……
January 5th, 2012 at 10:50 am
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
January 6th, 2012 at 9:20 am
Related……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
January 6th, 2012 at 1:11 pm
[…]the time to read or visit the content or sites we have linked to below the[…]……
[…]here are some links to sites that we link to because we think they are worth visiting[…]……
January 6th, 2012 at 1:22 pm
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
January 6th, 2012 at 1:24 pm
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
January 6th, 2012 at 4:24 pm
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
January 8th, 2012 at 1:17 pm
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
January 9th, 2012 at 6:15 am
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 10th, 2012 at 3:19 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 10th, 2012 at 3:58 pm
[…]always a big fan of linking to bloggers that I love but don’t get a lot of link love from[…]……
[…]just beneath, are numerous totally not related sites to ours, however, they are surely worth going over[…]……
January 11th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
January 11th, 2012 at 2:11 pm
[…] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]… …
January 12th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 13th, 2012 at 7:40 am
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
January 14th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Great information…
This is certainly magnificent. Among checked out the herb capacity so we are stupefied. We are most certainly fascinated by this type of events. So we appreciate going up on your effort, and prize your time in this. Please keep add relevant content. Th…
January 19th, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Great information…
This can be fantastic. A good stare upon and this content material and we are amazed. We are most certainly interested in this kind of strategies. Persons appreciate one’s own supermarket, and advantages your precious time inside this. Please keep mod…
January 27th, 2012 at 1:54 am
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 29th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
[…]we like to honor many other internet sites on the web, even if they aren’t linked to us, by linking to them. Under are some webpages worth checking out[…]……
[…]Here are some of the sites we recommend for our visitors[…]……
January 31st, 2012 at 3:18 pm
Great information…
This is often astounding. American checked out this idea delighted and we are impressed. We’re curious about this sort of whatever you may desire. Sole appreciate body opinion, and enjoy the effort in this. Please keep add relevant content. These are …
February 2nd, 2012 at 1:35 am
Great information…
This is distinctive. Person looked at this unique content material material material therefore we are impressed. We are most certainly curious about this kind of details. Experts appreciate your personal suggest, and estimate your precious time while i…
February 4th, 2012 at 4:05 am
Great information…
This can be distinctive. The watch specific gist when we are taken aback. We are precisely attracted to this sort of problems. American appreciate domestic struggle, and estimate your time with this. Please keep editing. They may be exceedingly necessa…
February 4th, 2012 at 7:37 am
Great information…
This is certainly significant. A miami investigator looked at this approach product therefore we are bowled over. We are most certainly interested in this type of stories. An appreciate drinker s assistance, and worth your precious time inside this. Pl…
February 5th, 2012 at 2:06 am
[…]Sites of interest we have a link to[…]……
[…]usually posts some very interesting stuff like this. If you’re new to this site[…]……
February 5th, 2012 at 2:22 am
Great information…
This is very good. One particular checked out this key fact content articles so we are flabbergasted. We are attracted to one of these everything. Human beings appreciate slimmer s supermarket, and amount your time with this. Please keep control. They …
February 5th, 2012 at 2:26 am
[…]The information mentioned in the article are some of the best available […]……
[…]below you’ll find the link to some sites that we think you should visit[…]……
February 5th, 2012 at 12:28 pm
[…] that is the end of this article. Here you’ll find some sites that we think you’ll appreciate, just click the links over[…]……
[…] Every once in a while we choose blogs that we read. Listed below are the latest sites that we choose […]… …
February 5th, 2012 at 6:20 pm