You may be witnessing the greatest "punking" in sports history.

Think about it:
San Jose has a reputation for choking in the playoffs. You know, killer regular season followed by horrible playoff performances. We've come to expect it.

Suddenly, in round 2 of this year's playoffs, the New York Yankees of hockey---the Red Wings---are on the ropes. San Jose has a 3-0 stranglehold on the series. So, San Jose has broken the post season curse!

Not so fast.....

Mike Babcock must have a great sense of humor. Tell me the stage isn't now set perfectly for a GRAND CHOKE. Detroit just has to turn on those hockey-pedigree jets and dust San Jose in 7.

What's that? Impossible, you say? Really?

Well, I have 2 words for you:

S A N.

J O S E.

That tool Ashton Kutcher would be more than proud.

As much as I've grown to be a fan of the Big Pavelski, I can absolutely still see this happening. My gut tells me otherwise (the Red Wings either get swept or lose 4-1), but I don't doubt in my mind that this can happen.

If it does, it'd be the biggest rope-a-dope in recent history.

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mechaphil

It can't happen. I'll even go as far as saying that it is impossible. The last team to erase a 3-0 series deficit to come back and win was the New York Islanders, and that happened 35 years ago back in 1975. That Isles team was much better than this Red Wings team too, not to mention that Detroit has played a lot of hockey in the past few years and is looking worn down, so the chances of this actually coming to fruition are ~ 0%.

Well, if there's any team to choke away from a 3-game series lead, it's San Jose. And if there's any team that can climb back from a 3-game deficit, it's Detroit.

With that said, I highly doubt it's going to happen. I can see San Jose winning this series in 5 games.

But if it were to happen, then San Jose fans need to stop being little bitches when people joke about their team being choke artists in the playoffs. They don't have much of a sense of humor when it comes to that I've found...

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

Because they spend the time saying how wonderful their team is. But then in the playoffs their team chokes.

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"Counting all the assholes in the room, I'm definitely not alone!" ~ Michael Poulsen, Volbeat, Still Standing.

Fans and writers just LOVE to be able to call certain players or teams "chokers". If a talented team has a rough time with a supposedly weaker team and loses to them, they automatically must be weak mentally, and therefore chokers. This has got to be the most shallow line of thinking in sports, but it sells stories better, and then it makes it easy for people to categorize teams and players exactly how they want to.

Every playoff game or series in any sport brings a different set of circumstances, players and coaches involved, etc. On top of that compare the up and down swings that teams go through in the course of a season (and how long they can last) to the relatively short span of a playoff series. We already know that some better teams just have a hard time with certain lesser teams, and then we have a 4-7 game sample that we just so badly want to define a player or team with. Even expanding that to several playoff series, it's just not logical or accurate to do so.

I picked San Jose to beat Detroit without a second thought. They are the better team, and probably more motivated considering the "choker" BS they've had to put up with. Past failures don't predict future ones, no matter how badly some fans and writers want to sound so smart about themselves to say so.

If Detroit can pull it off then wow, is it likely, not really, but it can still happen.

I just want to see Detroit win the next two games to make it a series again.

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That's all well and good, but what is YOUR definition of choking?

Or are we now so PC that NOBODY chokes anymore!

Put a player in a single play scenario that he always succeeds in, but under the pressure of a big time playoff/championship game, and he misses/drops/etc...that is probably a choke.

Buckner wasn't a choke because he was never a good fielder. Norwood wasn't a choke because he wasn't reliable past 40 yds, and he was worse on real grass. Gary Anderson was probably a choke when he blew the winning FG in the NFC title game against Atlanta - it was at home, in a dome, and he hadn't missed all season. Karl Malone probably choked when he blew a couple free throws that would have secured game one or two at Chicago in the 1997 or 1998 NBA finals.

Multiple players, and teams don't all choke at the same time and do it over and over. Like I said, teams change coaches and personnel, the opponent is different, circumstances change. One thing stays the same though - some fans and most writers like to blow stuff out of proportion so that it fits their views or sells a story. Boring, tired, used up cliches are a waste of time. That's why I never read Jerry Sullivan.

buckner? buckner wouldnt have made the play anyways. no one was covering first, and mookie wilson was too fast. buckner wouldnt have gotten to first had he fielded it cleanly. game 6 was not buckners fault.

oh, and buckner was a fantastic fielder. he played 1,555 regular season games and made only 128 errors in 13,901 chances.

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Irony, I said Buckner didn't choke, right? He was a good fielder in his prime, so I should correct myself on that. In 1985 his knees had been shot for a while and he was a defensive liability. He shouldn't have been on the field.

ankles were shot. but he had good speed still, and his bat was almost hall of fame worthy. i read alot about the 86 mets, which of course covered buckner. "the bad guys WON!" FANTASTIC read.

the guy just doesnt deserve the shit he gets, the deck was stacked against him anyways.

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I wonder how much different it would be if he got the ball but couldn't get the out at 1... I'm not too familiar with the game, would they have still lost?

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

dunno. ray knight would have held at third, and with two outs, its possible the next batter flys out. the ball rolling out to shallow right field allowed knight to score, yes, where he wouldnt have if buckner kept the ball in front of him.

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That's why you know the situation and know you absolutely HAVE to stop a ball even if it means dangling your sack in front of it.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

still cant blame him. why on earth they left that rookie reliever in so long, ill never know.

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Judging by the 7-1 final, maybe San Jose really IS being punk'd!

If Franzen gets another 4 goals in period #1 in game 5, you'll have your answer.

We've talked about this before, and I still disagree that he had no chance to make the out at first. If would have been a close play for sure, but with is momentum taking him towards the bag, he had a shot.

Regardless, the relievers that couldn't bring a 2 run lead home are the ones that have to shoulder the blame. I'm glad Buckner got the ovation he did in 08 throwing that first pitch out.

Egh try being Buffalo and cheering Norwood the minute he steps off the plane, instead of 20+ years after the fact with a ring or two on your fingers

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

his momentum was taking him towards foul ground, i think. thats just how i feel. regardless, at least buckner didnt end up like donnie moore. hendersons home run haunted him till the day he finally pulled the trigger.

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