To Mitch Albom:

I’m Joe Hass. Let me declare my biases in advance.

I hate you. I can’t stand you. I think you’re a fraud. You’re writing is hackneyed, using the same formula you’ve been using for 20 years. You should’ve been fired after the incident with the fake dateline article with Michigan State. You’re a sports columnist in name only.

But today’s column (on the home page of freep.com, ahead of the game story) takes that to a new depth.

You’re going to complain about Red Wings fans not showing up for the conference finals? Have you seen what the cost of the tickets are? Do you have any grasp on the reality of the economies of this area? $75 for a ticket is the lowest price on the board.

You have the unmitigated gall to then take a back-handed swipe at Lions fans. Let me help you with the math here: The most expensive non-club Lions ticket for a non-season ticket holder is $120. $120 gets you the middle of the upper bowl this round. In the Stanley Cup Finals, that gets you in the top of the upper bowl.

Let me help you out here: most people in this region do not have $300 burning a hole in their pocket to go see a game.

I watched that game. The crowd was into it when it was in dispute. By the third, when it was obvious that Dallas had no chance, they were quiet. What exactly do you want, Mitch? Seat belts and ushers who force the fans to remain in their seats (a la Yankee Stadium?)

Maybe the fans would like to watch the game on TV. Oh, yeah…I forgot…that big check from Versus that locks out fans who don’t have Comcast or don’t have the money to pay for digital cable! And let’s give the usual big round of applause to Olympia, whose quest for the almighty dollar has led them to the decision to have absolutely no over-the-air broadcaster.

Here’s a fact you didn’t mention in your column, Mitch: the Chicago Blackhawks next year will have more over-the-air broadcasts than the Detroit Red Wings. Seriously! 20 games on WGN! The team that was a laughingstock of the league for their 1960s view of TV rights have seen the light. If you’re a Wings fan, you better hope they play a lot of Canadian teams on Saturdays in 2008-9.

The bottom line is this: Olympia has taken the fans for granted for far, far too long. From the arrogance of the ticket office to the clinging of the Hockeytown tag line long after it’s grown stale, to the in game presentation that hasn’t been revised since the mid 90s to the fact that the Wings have done absolutely nothing to improve Joe Louis Arena (Lions fans remember this from the later years of the Silverdome). Here’s another wacky stat: the shot boards at the ends of the rink? Those are the originals from 1979! How bout the out-of-town scoreboards on the side of the rink that no longer work? The concourses are crammed, but they sure don’t have a problem slapping a big Little Caesars stand in the middle of them, making it painful to go through after the game!

So knock off your phony lectures from the mount towards the fans, Mitch, and go find another dying professor you can exploit after he dies.

Yours,

Joe Hass
(Not Christy)

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Posted in: 2008 Playoffs, Guest Posts | | May 2008

2 Responses to “To Mitch Albom:”

  1. RANGERLAND.NET Says:
    May 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am

    […] at the Joe, check out board member Detroit Hockey’s take at his very excellent site, or this slightly less polite take over at Behind the Jersey. A little rough, perhaps, but any time someone wants to rip Mitch […]

  2. Joe Says:
    May 10th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

    Amen, don’t know why he still has a job after Michigan State article.

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