Dropped into my RSS reader:
Be a part of the action on Wednesday, March 18 as the Wings ante up for charity in this Texas Hold’em format poker tournament.
For a $250 donation to the Detroit Red Wings Foundation, fans can test their skills going head-to-head with members of the 2008-09 Red Wings.
First, it's not a donation. It's an entry fee. I can deduct a donation on my taxes. I can't deduct this. Call a spade a spade.
I've discussed previously how out of touch the Red Wings front office has been when it comes to allowing the "common folk" a chance to interact with the Red Wings. Nice to see the complete lack of sense continues for them. Because, of course, we all have an extra $250 floating around in the cushions. It's worth noting that this is the second $200+ "charity event" they've thrown in the past three weeks (Taste Of Hockeytown is the other).
I've simply come to the conclusion that the Red Wings aren't interested in you unless you're a corporation.
I meant to share this when it happened last fall, but this story brings it back to the front burner:
Twice I had an opportunity to be near the Stanley Cup. Once was through the Red Wings (a friend who has season tickets was invited to the season ticket holder pre-season party and offered me the tickets), the other was through the University of Michigan (where I have hockey club-level season tickets).
For the U-M event, they had the Cup out in a tent in front of Yost. People (any one; this wasn't even restricted to ticketholders) were allowed to take their picture with the Cup, and a lot did. You were allowed to pose next to it, and my wife and I took advantage. They had a professional photographer, but had someone there to use your camera as well. It was superbly organized and well done. Our one beef: no Phil Pritchard, but you can't win them all.
Contrast that to the Red Wings. They put the Cup up on a four-foot riser, then put up barricades so no fan could come within 10 feet of it! Seriously! But that wasn't the capper: people were trying to get their picture taken so the Cup could somehow be in the background. When people took more than one or two photos, some aggressive crowd control guy would tell them to keep moving. The catch was that there was no line! People could still move along. There was no need to shout at people.
But the Red Wings don't know any other way to deal with the plebes.