Unsorted Thoughts From Last Night's Detroit/Calgary Hockey Game

• Joe Louis Arena (hereafter referred to as "The Joe") is old. It is so old that they didn't build a sound system into the arena, they just have a bunch of speakers hanging from the ceiling over the jumbotron. It looked like when you walk into a church that was built in the '60s and then they had to jury-rig some contraption to hang speakers when they realized that sound systems were useful inventions.
• The jumbotron hanging over center ice couldn't be any newer than 1985. I've seen college rinks with nicer jumbotrons. The video screens had obviously been redone at some point, but the rest of it screamed "old school."
• The Wings have over 50 banners hanging from the rafters, including eleven Stanley Cup champion banners. The Wings have been around for about twice as long as the St. Louis Blues, and they have 11 Stanley Cup banners (very roughly, one championship ever eight years), while we have bupkis. Depressing.
• It had been a number of years since I sat in a seat near the top of the upper bowl, and had forgotten the unintentional hilarity of sitting near guys who obviously started pounding their alcohol at least two hours before they even opened the doors to the arena.
• The attendees at last night's game had obviously not gotten over the US/Canada Olympic gold medal game, no matter which side of the Detroit River they hailed from. I heard more than one random "&#*% Crosby!" at completely inappropriate points, followed by cackling from the Canucks in the building.
• The most obnoxious Flames fan in my section was wearing a San Jose Sharks Joe Thornton jersey, so it was hard to figure out why he was rooting for the Flames. Maybe he just roots for all Canadian teams?
• The Joe looks smaller than the Scottrade Center, but I don't think there is a bad seat in the entire place. I could almost touch the ceiling I was so high up, but I had a good view of the action. Well, except when those jerks started walking down the stairs and then stopped and stood right in my line of sight while Calgary scored their final goal, but the only cure for stupidity is pretty permanent and not legal in most civilized countries, so I refrained.
• Inside The Joe you can get Tim Horton's vanilla dip donuts with red and white sprinkles. I was sorely tempted to get one.