I've got 4 reasons to be a homer....

And no I don't mean a Tomas Holmstrom. Turning into a slightly angry Swede who resembles a rabid chipmunk especially when dreaming on a nightly basis of punching both Scotty Bowman and Mike Babcock in the balls it a bit too ambitious of a task for a Wednesday morning. What I mean is a Red Wings homer. A fan who plays pin the tail on the Gary donkey at birthday parties even if it makes the other, non hockey fan adults, question your sanity and remind their kids not to talk to strangers. Apparently last night Darren McCarty said something along these lines. Anyway I think he did. I turned the game off immediately, I couldn't bare to watch the "analysis" but everyones twitters were twatting this...so in some context something was said. And if not, well it still applies. I have about 24 years worth of reasons to be a Wings fan. Since I can remember, my ENTIRE family grew up watching the team. When my parents would go to the games and my poor, poor grandparents were left to watch me, they would sit my little 3 year old hyperactive ass down in front of the game and tell me to see if I can find my parents in the crowd....or maybe there will be a fight...either way, I turned into some crazed fan. A passionate, life long Wings fan.

But with that said, the passion for the Wings seems to have completely dissipated. They were slow, lethargic, and had I not known better, I would have assumed they had played the night before, not St. Louis. Quite frankly, they are damn lucky to walk away with a point. Jimmy deserves a round of drinks and whatever else makes that goofy little bastard happy because he kept them in the game. It easily could have been 6-0, 7-0, or worse. Yes I said zero because the goals the Wings received were flukes, lucky. And good luck hasn't been something they've run into a lot this year. Personally, I think the hockey gods felt bad. They only meant to fuck with the Wings. You know, the old bra in the freezer trick. But instead they broke them. They took their dreams and rubbed their grubby little hands all over.

Below are a few random and quick thoughts about the game:

• First and foremost, the Mule looked good in his return. Both on the ice and off. He threw a good hit in the first, made some plays (for fucks sake he was the only person taking the puck off the boards and driving through the slot in the middle), and had some solid scoring opportunities. He kept up with play (although at the pace the rest of his teammates was playing there was no way he couldn't keep up). But the highlight would be his newly developed mustache. The only way it could have been better was if it had handle bars. Pure awesomeness. I'm convinced that after his ACL surgery he repeatedly watched Boogie Nights and now fancies himself some sort of American gigolo. Either way, great to have him back.
• Bertuzzi somehow took a penalty in the first 2 minutes. Fuck you Bert.
• Johnny Ericsson had a better night. He cleared some rebounds in front of his own net and had an assist on the Draper clusterfuck of a goal. Seriously, how the hell did that go in?
• According to the Versus announcers, young James is a pitchback. Do they think before they speak, and why do I have the humor of an 11 year old boy.
• On the Draper goal, Helm apparently was a little quick out of the gate and according to the 10 minutes dedicated to the subject by Versus, he cheated. Draper has taught the young grasshopper well.
• The Wings were awful the first two periods. Painful to watch. So Versus cut to Datsyuk on the bench dangling his boogers. Nice double snot rocket. Guess he didn't feel like a little dangle dangle on the ice during the first 2 , but boogers, well that he felt like.
• Howard faced 20 shots in the first. At this point, that probably bored him.
• On the Wings first pp in the first period, they didn't have a shot on goal...just a fun little fact...
• It was only a matter of time that the lack of defensive effort came and bit the Wings in their collectively slow ass. 3-1 Blues was hard to see, but the only surprising part, it wasn't worse...
• Now obviously I'm not a professional athlete, so this next point will probably not be popular. There has been a great deal of talk regarding the teams motivation and how that is probably Babcocks fault. I disagree. These guys are PROFESSIONAL athletes. Sure they don't make as much money as basketball or football players but they still make obscene amounts of cash compared to the average person. Plus they have a job, where they get to play a game they love. Often a childhood dream achieved. And if that's not enough, wouldn't performing your fucking job be all the motivation you need? They aren't peewee players, or even college or junior players. They are in the NHL. Motivation may not be able to be maintained for 82 games a year. Let's face it, no one has their A game on everyday at work. But this seems unacceptable....Alright, stepping off soap box...
• Somehow the Wings fought back with a little bit of help from lady luck and tied the game up to earn a point in overtime. A point we're happy to take but they didn't deserve.
• Datsyuk showed up for the latter part of the game. Would have been great to have him for 3 whole periods.
• I don't know about you, but I would be ok not seeing Zetterberg in any more shootouts. That was painful.

Next game is Thursday. Who honestly knows what team we will see on the ice. There is no way of telling. Either way it's time for the leaders in the dressing room to step up and demand more from themselves and from their team. The talent level is there, the time to make the playoffs is still there....now the players just need to jump on board.

What we do know for sure, Uncle Mike says young James is starting. I'd be interested to know the last Wings goaltender that faced this many shots per game. Just imagine what his save percentage would be with a little solid defense in front of him.