To 22D, A True American Hero

Courage. To some it means putting others ahead of one’s self in the quest to do what’s right. Showing strength in the face of insurmountable odds. Risking life and limb for no other reason than to protect the ones you love.

To one person, it meant not letting anyone stand in the way of getting somewhere.

22D was the self-proclaimed in-flight hero of United Airlines flight #6676. Capable of relentless hacking whether on the ground or at 22,000 feet.

22D may not have been born a hero. Who is, really? It’s a badge one only displays when called upon. And on this night he was weak and tired, with an untreated upper respiratory infection. Yet, as he boarded his flight at Chicagos O’Hare Airport last Saturday night, he boldly cast any thoughts of his illness aside and showed everyone within breathing distance why he’s as indispensible as he believes himself to be.

Before the cabin doors could even close, he powered through a series of uncontrollable bacterial projections, hurling each burst of toxins skyward. Cough after nauseating cough he perservered for the entirety of the flight, following each with a loud snort as he drew the flegm and mucous back in from his nostrils, using all the strength he could muster. They just don’t make people like 22D every day.

In the watery eyes of 22D, cough drops are for the meek, oral suppressives the vices of quitters. The mere mention of the term Z-pack would land a cold, dead stare in return, as if you said tracheotomy.

Sensing the stares of those around him unfamiliar with his plight, he followed a similar flurry with a shrug and a modest excuse. “I had to run to get here.” That wasn’t just running, soldier. Yes, our gate was changed at the last minute from F19 to F1. But while I covered those same 18 gates in a dead run, with asthma and bone spurs in both heels, I was but a meaningless passenger sitting quietly in seat 21C.

Clearly this is a man who understands fortitude, perseverance, and several other fourth-grade level words. Valor? He’s read of it, surely. He must have.

Notes before Team 136 begins 2015

Some interesting points to ponder before Michigan's football team kicks off the 2015 college football season:

o Michigan opens the season in Salt Lake City on a Thursday. The last regular-season game the Wolverines played on a Thursday, they lost 2-0. 110 years ago, on November 30, 1905. To the University of Chicago, who no longer has a football program. Those two points were the only points allowed by Fielding Yost's 1905 team, who went into the game outscoring their previous 12 opponents by a margin of 495-0.

o The 2-0 contest was the last of 19 straight Thanksgiving Day games Michigan played between 1885 and 1905. Historians have referred to the Michigan-Chicago turkey day clashes as "the beginning of Thanksgiving football", as the last occurred 29 years before the Detroit Lions first started the annual tradition. The Lions have hosted a pro football game on Thanksgiving each year since 1945.

o Seven of the 12 games on Michigan's schedule represent opportunities to avenge defeats from the last time the schools played. Six of the teams beat the Wolverines in 2014 (Utah, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Rutgers and Ohio State). The seventh is BYU, who defeated Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl in their only previous meeting (see pic at right).

o Michigan's opening game against the Utah Utes in Salt Lake City will be the first the school has ever played in the state of Utah. The Wolverines have played football in 28 states as well as Ontario, Canada. Now that Michigan has agreed to a home-and-home series against both Oklahoma and Arkansas, the number will grow to at least 30 states by 2025. Maybe more, should the Wolverines land a bowl bid in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Nevada or New Mexico along the way.

o Oregon's two biggest schools play back-to-back games in the state of Michigan on September 12. At noon the Wolverines host Oregon State in Jim Harbaugh's home debut as Michigan coach. Then at 8pm, Michigan State welcomes the University of Oregon in a battle of top-ten teams at Spartan Stadium.

o The Wolverines' meeting with Oregon State is a rematch of the 1965 Rose Bowl, which the Wolverines won over the Beavers, 35-6 (see pic at left).

o Due to a scheduling quirk, this is the first season since 1967 that Michigan plays both Michigan State and Ohio State at home.

o Going back to Benny Oosterbaan's national championship rookie season of 1948, Michigan's last six coaches lost to Michigan State in their first season on the sidelines. One of those losses was a home loss as the nation's #1 team and a 28-point favorite.

o Michigan State has not beaten Michigan in Ann Arbor in five years, since 2010 to be exact. Mostly because they've only played once in Ann Arbor since then. But it was in 2012, and the Wolverines won 12-10 on a last-second field goal.

o Since Harry Kipke in the 1930s, seven of the last eight Michigan coaches have beaten Ohio State in their first season in Ann Arbor. The only coach to have been unsuccessful during that span is Rich Rodriguez in 2008, losing to Sparty at the Big House, 35-14.

o The last three times Ohio State won the national championship, they lost to Michigan the following season. (In 1969, 1971, and 2003). The Wolverines' game with the defending national champion Buckeyes is November 28, 2015.

o In 2015 Michigan will be wearing all white road uniforms for the first time since 2011, when they wore an alternate all-white road version of the Adidas "Under The Lights" uniforms they wore against Notre Dame earlier that season as a third uniform in their game at Michigan State (see pic above). The last time Michigan used an all-white regular road uniform was during the 1975 season; the team donned the all-white duds from 1973-75.

o The Wolverines have a record of 12-3 when wearing all white. However they currently have a two-game losing streak, falling 14-6 to Oklahoma in the 1976 Orange Bowl and 28-14 to Michigan State in 2011.

Bring on the football season. Hail, Hail!

The Harbaugh Effect: 1986

How do you follow up a year where you led your team to a #2 final ranking and led the nation in passing efficiency? By giving your coach the two things he loves most: a victory over Ohio State and a vacation to Pasadena. This is the last of a three-part series that looks back at each of Harbaugh’s three seasons as starting quarterback for the Wolverines.

It’s easy to exceed expectations when there are none. Raising them is one thing, living up to them is quite another.

Such was the case for the Michigan Wolverines entering the 1986 college football season. There would be no sneaking up on anyone this time around. The cages had opened, and suddenly they were the hunted.

After riding the high of an impressive finish last season, the team arrived at fall practice to the news that they would start 1986 with the same #2 ranking they ended 1985. Weapons were everywhere on either side of the ball. Jim Harbaugh was listed by many as a Heisman Trophy candidate and one the nation’s top quarterbacks. On top of that, he was Sport magazine’s cover boy as his Wolverines were the publication’s pick to win the national championship.

No one playing for Bo Schembechler would ever be allowed to believe this nonsense, of course. The schedule was just as challenging as last year’s, as any that started in South Bend and ended in Columbus would be. In fact, this year the regular season didn’t even end with Ohio State. For the first time in a half century Michigan would play a non-bowl game after their bitter rivals, a good 2,000 miles away in Hawaii.

Notre Dame was first to take their shot at the Wolverines, led by first-year coach Lou Holtz. Holtz was hardly new to Michigan. He was on Woody Hayes’ staff during the Wolverines’ historic 24-12 upset of the #1 Buckeyes in 1969. He was also head coach at Minnesota when Michigan beat them convincingly in Minneapolis last season. But Minnesota is not Notre Dame. After five years of Gerry Faust, a guy like Lou was just what the Irish ordered.

In 1985 Michigan was the unranked nobody. This year, the “no expectations” label had switched sides. No Wolverine team had ever faced an unranked Irish team before. And being that Bo was 1-for-3 playing under Touchdown Jesus, this had all the trappings for a trap game.

The teams took turns engineering long drives, and Michigan ended the half trailing 14-10. Revisiting some of the previous year’s second-half magic, Harbaugh opened the third quarter by marching the Wolverines 78 yards to the lead, aided by a 27-yard dart to split end Paul Jokisch. Tailback Jamie Morris capped off the drive with a one-yard run. The ensuing kickoff sailed high and not very far, landing between waves of Notre Dame’s kick return unit, and Doug Mallory pounced on the pigskin at the Irish 27. With Notre Dame still reeling, Harbaugh chose to strike quick. On the first play he floated a pass under Morris in the left corner of the end zone and Morris grabbed it, carrying two Irish defenders into the end zone with him. 24-10 Blue.

Michigan held on with dear life the rest of the way and, when John Carney’s 45-yarder sailed left in the final seconds, left town with a slim 24-23 victory. Notre Dame’s new power wishbone offense tattooed the Wolverine defense for 27 first downs and 455 yards, setting the tone for a season where Schembechler could no longer rely on a shut-down defense when his offense sputtered. While last year’s team allowed an average of just over eight points per game, only twice in 13 games would Michigan hold anyone under 10.

The defense would have its moments though. When Neon Deion Sanders and the rest of Bobby Bowden’s 20th-ranked Florida State team visited Ann Arbor, the fired up Wolverines forced three interceptions and a fumble while holding the Seminoles to 285 yards of offense. In the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy, they kept Michigan State’s Lorenzo White, Andre Rison and Mark Ingram out of the end zone, limiting the Spartans to two field goals in a 27-6 rout.

But make no mistake, the driving force of the 1986 Wolverines was their field general. In what had become the decade’s biggest conference matchup, Harbaugh fought and clawed his way through the Iowa defense in the final frantic minute to set up Mike Gilette’s game-winning field goal. Two weeks later the senior blew up the scoreboard—and the Fighting Illini—for nine touchdowns in a 69-13 onslaught.

Michigan’s perfect season and #2 ranking were lost in the biggest upset of 1986, as the Wolverines lost the Little Brown Jug and a whole lot more to unranked Minnesota, 20-17. After which Harbaugh delivered his now-famous guarantee that Michigan would go to Columbus and beat the Buckeyes for the Big Ten championship, which they did.

Since I wrote all about his promise in this article you can read from GBMWolverine.com, I’ll avoid repeating the details here, except for one: my first-ever trip to the Rose Bowl was riding on the game. When Ohio State’s last-minute field goal sailed wide, preserving Michigan’s 26-24 victory, I firmed up my plans and headed west. No one forgets their first glimpse inside the Rose Bowl. Mine was spectacular and I’ve included it here, along with a photo of Harbaugh during pre-game warmups.

After taking care of Hawaii in the final regular season game, the Wolverines focused on taking on Pac-10 champ Arizona State in Pasadena. Jim Harbaugh was heading to Pasadena for the first time, in his last game wearing a Wolverine uniform.

He and his Michigan teammates came out on fire. Harbaugh hit freshman Greg McMurtry for 24 yards on the second play from scrimmage, and Morris capped the opening drive on an electrifying 18-yard run. With the Sun Devils still scratching their heads, Schembechler called a swinging-gate fake PAT, with Gillette taking a direct snap and firing to Gerald White in the end zone for an 8-0 lead. In the second quarter Harbaugh called his own number from two yards out and Michigan led 15-3.

The fun ended there. Arizona State outgained the Wolverines 381 yards to 225 (188 to 59 on the ground) on their way to 19 unanswered points and a 22-15 win. Harbaugh finished with 13-of-23 passing for 172 yards, respectable numbers despite the loss. But he did deliver Bo his 11th Big Ten championship and the 32nd in University of Michigan football history, finishing third in the Heisman Trophy balloting and earning Big Ten MVP honors.

In just 29 complete games at Michigan, Harbaugh set a new all-time record for passing yards with 5,449. His record was a sterling 24-4-1, including 2-0 against Ohio State. He also gained a degree in communications and a love of school that led him to spurn lucrative offers to stay in the NFL and head back to his alma mater, determined to lead the Wolverines back to college football glory.

The Harbaugh Effect: 1985

Turning a football team around after a dismal season is nothing new to Jim Harbaugh. Heck, he did it in his junior year at Michigan. This is the second in a three-part series that looks back at each of Harbaugh’s three seasons as starting quarterback for the Wolverines.

If you think Michigan football is in a state of uncertainty now, you must not remember 1985.

Bo Schembechler had just experienced his first non-winning season since arriving in Ann Arbor 16 years ago. The Wolverines suffered their worst three-year stretch since the Lyndon Johnson administration, and things weren’t looking any brighter as the new season approached. After an unheard-of seven straight weeks out of the AP and UPI polls, Schembechler entered the fall unranked for the first time since 1969.

To make matters worse, Michigan’s non-conference schedule was as formidable as any in recent memory. The Wolverines opened against three straight top-20 teams. In all, they would face six ranked opponents in 12 games. Six quarterbacks that would play in the NFL. Students, alums and fans weren’t calling for Bo’s head, but they weren’t giving him a vote of confidence either.

#13 Notre Dame came to Ann Arbor as decided favorites to start the 1985 season. A hot and sunny Big House afternoon greeted a subdued and skeptical crowd, the weather providing a necessary distraction from a field-goal filled first half. Three times the Irish drove for points on their way to a 9-3 halftime lead. The Michigan offense looked shaky and indecisive, with Harbaugh missing his targets all over the field. I was an impressionable college kid at the time, enjoying one too many refreshments, but even in my state I could sense the immediate concern among the maize and blue faithful.

All would change soon enough. The second half kickoff floated high and deep, into and out of the arms of Alonzo Jefferson. The Notre Dame return man was hit by onrushing Wolverines and safety Deter Heren pounced on the loose ball at the Irish 14. Two Jamie Morris runs gained little, so on third and six Harbaugh called his own number on a quarterback draw. The defense was caught flat-footed as the junior dove into the end zone for the lead.

Notre Dame recaptured the lead on John Carney’s fourth field goal, but Harbaugh would not be denied. Suddenly every ball he tossed into the air found a blue jersey. A long drive ended with a Gerald White touchdown run, and the Wolverines pulled off the upset, 20-12.

Back in the rankings at #19, Michigan headed for Columbia to play a South Carolina team fresh off a 10-win season. Williams-Brice Stadium had been sold out for months, and Gamecock fans were as rabid as any outside of Columbus. They fed their team’s momentum for as long as they could, until Harbaugh’s methodical offense smothered the life out of them.

On third and one at the Michigan 43 halfway through the first quarter, Harbaugh went play action from I-formation, slinging the ball on a rope and hitting split end Paul Jokisch in stride at the South Carolina 16. Two plays later the junior ran triple option right to perfection, tucking the ball in and diving into the end zone. The Wolverines wouldn’t look back. The day ended with Harbaugh leading the Michigan offense to four touchdowns and passing for 164 yards in a 34-3 rout.

Next up was Bobby Ross’s #17 Maryland Terrapins. The Wolverines were hostile hosts, shutting out quarterback Stan Gelbaugh’s offense 20-0. Wisconsin fell the following week, 33-6. Michigan State was next, getting decimated 31-0 on their own field. By this point it was clear this wasn’t merely a different Michigan team than the year before, but one destined for something special.

Two dominating aspects began to emerge. First, the defense. Gary Moeller’s troops were aggressive and wildly opportunistic, with 15 interceptions in the five wins. In the end they would allow a measley five touchdowns over the entire regular season, their 8.2 points allowed ranking tops in the nation. And second, Harbaugh. The epitome of a do-whatever-it-takes athlete, he threw just 227 passes in 1985 but completed 145 for 1,976 yards, leading the NCAA in passing efficiency.

Harbaugh spread the ball equitably among his receivers, his two favorite targets being a freshman (split end John Kolesar) and a senior (tight end Eric Kattus). Kattus led the receiving corps with 38 receptions for 582 yards and 8 touchdowns. Kolesar came on late but proved electrifying when the team needed it most.

Case in point, the renewal of a certain bitter rivalry on the last day of the regular season. A Wolverine defense that had allowed only three touchdowns in 10 games had just given up its second touchdown in a little over three quarters. Buckeye quarterback Jim Karasatos heaved a fourth-and-10 prayer toward all-American Cris Carter, who leaped and made an acrobatic catch across the goal line. As night fell, Ohio State had momentum and enough time to make up a meager 20-17 deficit. Michigan had a long field in front of them. And a quarterback who was money.

After a three yard gain, Harbaugh heaved a rocket toward his fleeting freshman. Kolesar got cornerback William White to bite on a post pattern, then let fly. Jimmy’s dart hit him in stride and 77 yards later, the Buckeyes were crushed.

The Wolverines had one heroic second-half comeback left in the tank for New Year’s Day, erasing a 14-3 Nebraska lead with 24 third-quarter points and holding on for a 27-23 Fiesta Bowl victory. When the dust settled Michigan sat at 10-1-1 and #2 in both polls, behind 11-1 Oklahoma. Only a last-second Rob Houghtlin field goal in a 12-10 loss at then-#1 Iowa, and a sloppy 3-3 stalemate in Champaign—preserved when Illinois’ last-second game-winning field goal hit the crossbar—kept Michigan from a perfect season and a national championship.

A far cry from 6-6 last season. With the most noticeable difference being The Harbaugh Effect.

The Harbaugh Effect: 1984

Nobody knows just how big an impact Jim Harbaugh will have on Michigan’s football fortunes this season. But if the impact he had during his playing career in Ann Arbor is any indication, we should be in for quite a ride. This is the first in a three-part series that looks back at each of Harbaugh’s three seasons as starting quarterback for the Wolverines.

In the fall of 1983, an apple-cheeked freshman from Palo Alto by the name of Jimmy Harbaugh joined the varsity football team at Michigan.

The program was in the midst of a lackluster stretch by Schembechlerian standards. The previous year’s squad won the conference, technically speaking, but held the distinction of being the first Wolverine team to travel to Pasadena after losing to Ohio State. They lost their two big non-conference games, dropping the first night game ever played at Notre Dame and blowing a 21-point lead in a home defeat to UCLA. They fell in the Rose Bowl to the same Bruins team, making Terry Donahue the first coach outside of the Big Ten to beat the Wolverines twice in the same season.

The 1983 edition of Michigan football fared pretty much the same, with a slightly better 9-3 record and a second-place finish in the conference. They defeated the Buckeyes yet lost their only significant non-conference game, by a point to Don James’ Washington Huskies in Seattle. They also experienced a stinging bowl defeat, falling 9-7 to Auburn in the Sugar Bowl after keeping Bo Jackson and the high-powered Tiger offense out of the end zone all evening.

Harbaugh was on clipboard detail his freshman year, backing up three-year starter Steve Smith—at once the most electrifyingly fast and mind-bogglingly inconsistent quarterback the school had seen. The senior from Grand Blanc started all 11 games in 1983, leaving #4 to wait until the following season for a shot to be the starting signal-caller.

When that opportunity came, the kid who once played on the Michigan Stadium sidelines while his father coached defense (see above black-and-white photo of a young Harbaugh congratulating Rick Leach for a touchdown in 1977) didn’t disappoint. In August Bo awarded Harbaugh the starting job for the #14 Wolverines’ first game of 1984. And what a first game it was.

Not only had the Miami Hurricanes won the 1983 national championship; the team that returned was just as loaded if not more. A retiring Howard Schnellenberger turned the reins over to former Oklahoma State head coach Jimmy Johnson. The offense was led by a pimply, frizzy-haired senior named Bernie Kosar. His backup, sophomore Vinny Testaverde, would eventually win the Heisman Trophy in 1986. The backfield featured Melvin Bratton and Alonzo Highsmith, the tandem that led the Canes to an 11-1 record and historic upset of top-ranked Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. Stanley Shakespeare and first-team All-American Eddie Brown were the wideouts, with future All-America Willie Smith at tight end.

To make matters worse, the Canes hit Ann Arbor with two games already under their belt: an impressive 20-18 win over preseason #1 Auburn in East Rutherford, NJ, and a dramatic 32-20 victory over the #17 Florida Gators in Tampa Bay. The wins were enough to vault the Hurricanes to #1 in both AP and UPI polls. As such, they were everyone’s pick to make short work of their third ranked opponent in as many weeks. Teams from the south seldom travelled above the Mason-Dixon line to play football. But Miami realized that the road to being a bonafide top-tier program passed through the Ann Arbors and Columbuses and South Bends.

I still remember the buzz around Michigan Stadium that morning, an unprecedented level of excitement for early September. When the Wolverines took the field, legendary PA announcer Howard King’s voice vanished under a sea of 105,000 screams. The sound of “The Victors” was nearly drowned out as well. Miami couldn’t help but feel that they’d have their hands full.
The Canes’ first possession ended with Rodney Lyles stripping the ball from tailback Darryl Oliver at midfield. The Wolverines took over, and out trotted #4. Fans were familiar with the Harbaugh pedigree from Jack’s days on Schembechler’s staff. They would soon discover the impact that name would have on the Michigan offense.

Harbaugh’s first pass found split end Vince Bean for a first down on the right sideline. His second crossed the tartan turf, hitting flanker Steve Johnson at the Miami 10. Two plays later fullback Bob Perryman blasted through the thinly spread Hurricane defense for a Wolverine touchdown. The stadium exploded in a euphoric roar.

Michigan’s inspired defense hit, harassed and confused Kosar all afternoon, picking off six of his passes (with Lyles grabbing three) and recovering two fumbles as the maize and blue pulled off the major upset of top-ranked Miami. While Perryman scored three touchdowns on the day, the true hero was the young general at the helm. In his first start for the Wolverines, Harbaugh completed 11 of 21 passes for 163 yards as Michigan controlled the ball for over 35 minutes. After 60 minutes, Bo had found himself a leader.

As satisfying as this was, it would be Harbaugh’s lone highlight of the season, as a broken arm suffered while trying to recover a fumble against Michigan State (see pic at right) ended his 1984 campaign. The void he left was undeniable. Michigan limped to a 6-5 record—punctuated by their first shutout loss in seven years, 26-0 in Iowa City—yet managed to land a berth in the Holiday Bowl against #1 Brigham Young. Back in those days, top-ranked schools could play 6-5 schools in their bowl games. In fact, the 1984 Wolverines are one of the few schools in history who started and ended their season against the nation’s #1.

Quarterback Robbie Bosco led the Cougars to a last-minute, come-from-behind 24-17 win that earned BYU the national championship. The Wolverines finished 6-6, Bo’s first and only non-winning season at Michigan. But for one incredible September afternoon, maize and blue fans everywhere got their first glimpse of the Harbaugh effect.

And the longest tenured coach in Detroit is… whoo boy

Buckle up your seat belts, Detroit sports fans. Especially if you're under 40. You're about to enter some unfamiliar territory.

Not since the horric decade of the 1970s has a four-sport city seen a less seasoned stable of pro sports coaches. We geezers didn't merely live through those days. We wept openly during those days.

Of the four coaches of Detroit's four major professional sports teams, the most seasoned is... The Brad.

Ausmus was hired by Tiger president Dave Dombrowski seemingly minutes after future Hall of Fame manager Jim Leyland called it quits in the fall of 2013. Barely a year and a half ago.

Yet in those short 18 months, the Lions let go of Jim Schwartz (aka Gym Shorts) and landed former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Caldwell; the Pistons replaced interm coach John Loyer with Stan Van Gundy; and the Red Wings parted ways with Mike Babcock, and said hello to former Grand Rapids Griffin coach Jeff Blashill.

As hard as it is to believe, especially given the experience and success Caldwell and Van Gundy have experienced during their careers, a man with no prior professional coaching experience would be the senior member of the Detroit coaching brethren. But stay tuned. Now that Dombrowski, Ausmus's number one fan, was sent packing, and the Tigers have been listless in the dugout and armless in the bullpen, all that is likely to change at season's end.

Maybe more Cup-worthy than you think

Was 2009 really six years ago?

Not playing for a Cup for that long can turn Hockeytown into a hostile place. It doesn't seem that far away that the Detroit Red Wings and Penguins went at it, toe to toe in consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, each winning on the other team's ice. Detroit was a game 7 slapper off the post from possibly winning back-to-back Cups.

Or the years when hockey's biggest rivalry, the Red Wings versus the hated Colorado Avalanche, produced five Stanley Cup champions in a span of seven years. The last of which, Detroit's 2002 NHL championship, I was lucky enough to experience first-hand (see my panoramic photo above). Boy those were the days huh?

Crash zoom to today. The dream is dead, the team is over the hill, let coach Mike Babcock sign with another team, it's time for the big overhaul, local fans decry. Yet even though it's been more than half a decade since they've played in a conference championship (in either conference), the winged wheels aren't the train wreck some people in town have made them out to be.

In fact, they've been good enough to win Stanley Cups in two of the last three seasons.

Nothing suggests this more than tonight's events. The Tampa Bay Lightning just knocked off the top seeded Montreal Canadiens, in a relatively easy six-game series, and now move on to the Eastern Conference Finals. Why is this significant? Because last month, the Bolts were being matched volt for volt by the tenacious Red Wings. Sitting in their locker room during the second intermission of game 7, they were scoreless, and had as much of a chance to survive and advance as their supposedly superior opponents.

Playoff hockey being what it is, one of the teams had to score, and that goal would likely determine the series. And if history is any indication it would likely be of the junk variety, not pretty but effective nonetheless. Tampa Bay's Braydon Coburn lit the lamp, then the Lightning added an empty netter in the final minute that officially disposed of Detroit. And now that same Tampa Bay team is two opponents away from hoisting the 35-pound chalise.

It's no fluke that Detroit played this Cup favorite so close. Because it also happened two years ago.

Remember the Chicago Blackhawks? The 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup champs who may well lay claim to "Team Of The Decade" status once all is said and done. The Red Wings were an overtime goal away from denying them second of those two Cups.

Babcock's boys had already eliminated the second-seeded Anaheim Ducks in an epic seven-game slugfest (four of which went into overtime) and had taken a commanding three-games-to-one lead over top-seeded Chicago. After a blow-out loss in game 5, they had taken a 3-2 lead after two periods in front of a raucous Joe Louis crowd. Even after their inexcusable game 6 defeat, Henrik Zetterberg (see below) netted a last-minute goal that sent game 7 to OT. At that point, the series was essentially a dead heat.

So what are we to make of this, or rather, what should we? The team hasn't held hockey sticks in the month of June since 2009. They've limped into the playoffs in recent years, transforming late-season contests from season-ticket-holder freebie gifts into full-blown nail-biters. They literally needed a four-game win streak just to sneak into the 2013 playoffs.

But maybe this is not the most accurate way to judge this team. Given the ascent of the Lightning this postseason, the Blackhawks' success in 2013, and the recent runs of the Los Angeles Kings—who won Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014 as seventh and sixth seeds, respectively—Red Wing fans may well have been two goals away from an altogether different scenario.

A scenario that involved celebrating their city's 12th and 13th Stanley Cups.