We don’t touch on sports as much as I might like around here, but that’s cause things are already lacking any sort of laser focus. But this story gives us a fun crossover that involves The Walking Dead‘s Steven Yeun, and the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers…
Now Yeun grew up in the Metro Detroit area, much like I did. And we were both born in 1983 (the same year the Detroit Red Wings drafted my favorite player of all time – Steve Yzerman), and that means he was around for one of the most impressive runs of any pro sports team in the last 30 or 40 years. Through his teens, the Red Wings won 3 Stanley Cups, set the regular season records for Most Wins and Most Points in a season, and marched a slew of Hall of Fame players through town. The talent, the winning, the rivalry with the Colorado Avalanche – it was enough to make fanatics out of most of Southeast Michigan.
Now the Red Wings aren’t the powerhouse they were in the 90s and early 2000s, but they’re still competitive. One of the current records they are in possession of is longest active playoff streak in the NHL (and 4th longest all time) at 24 seasons. Next best is Boston with 10. That means Mr. Yeun and myself were still early in our elementary school careers last time the Winged Wheel wasn’t in the NHL postseason. This season that could change. They are on the cusp of missing the playoffs, and are in competition with the Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers for the last 2 spots in the Eastern Conference. Tonight, the Red Wings have an all-important showdown with the aforementioned Flyers. So like any good Wings fan with over 1.2 million followers on twitter, he showed some support
– POSSIBLE TWD SPOILERS TO FOLLOW –
And in a move, that as a fan of both the Red Wings and The Walking Dead, I absolutely love, the Philadelphia Flyers responded;
It’s stuff like this that makes being a sports fan fun. Now for those who don’t understand the reference, Lucille is the name of the barbed wire bat that Negan carries on TWD, and that he just used to kill one of the characters in the show’s most recent season finale. Which character, we don’t know yet.
– MAJOR COMIC BOOK SPOILERS TO FOLLOW –
Now for those who have read the comics, they will all remember the brutal 100th issue, on which the season 6 finale was at least partly based.
Now in this issue, much like on the show, Negan lines up our favorite characters, and just like on the show, he uses Lucille to brain one of them. The person he chooses in the books; Glenn.
Personally, I think the show is going to go another direction, they’ve certainly veered away from the books in situations like this before, so while Daryl is the obvious choice, I’m predicting Michonne is going to be the unlucky one.
This isn’t the first time that a Red Wings game has attracted some celeb attention lately either. Kevin Spacey showed up in Florida last month for a game between the Red Wings and Panthers to quite the fan reaction.
That Red Wings-Flyers game starts at 8pm eastern tonight – Let’s Go Red Wings!
Images: AMC, NHL, Image Comics, Twitter
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