Did you guys know this? I am just finding this out. I think maybe once kinda I sort of might have heard that the Wings had a weird short lived bird mascot back in the day, but I never knew what he looked like, his name, or what he stood for. My dad educated me well on Winged Wheeled history, but he never really filled me in on the Detroit Red Wings mascot situation regarding “The Winger”. For good reason too, my dad is a man who grew up with Lindsay, Howe, and gritty ole-tyme-no-mask-wearin‘ hockey and didn’t pussy-foot around with things like mascots.

Well, according to the most reliable history source on the internet, Wikipedia…

 In the 1980s the Detroit Red Wings also briefly had a mascot named The Winger. The Detroit Red Wings mascot “The Winger” appeared when Mike Ilitch bought the team in 1982 and continued mascoting until the end of the 1987 season.

Gordie and (fuck it) Winger muckin it up

What kinda bums me out is that his name isn’t just “Winger”. It’s more relatable and it’s like he’s your buddy. The Winger makes him sound like some sort of deity that haunts the stadium every year if the boys don’t make the playoffs.

But who cares. The Wings don’t go for cute cuddly buddy-up mascots. We don’t need some asshole covered in felt to make us proud or excited to root for our team. We just huck dead octopi on the ice then tell people unaware of the tradition that you used to have to win 8 games to win the Cup. That’s good enough justification for hurling the dead carcass of an aquatic beast on the ice every time we take a one goal lead in a playoff game. Remember when PETA tried to get us to stop doing that? And incentivized it with a shitty squish puss?

Whatever. I digress. I am happy we have Al, but also not mad that The Winger/Winger happened. Looks like the bird could skate too. I hope everyone learned something today. #lgrw 🍾

– Frank

PS all hail Al.