More Red Wings Lurve!

Generally I cannot abide Jay Leno -- I find his brand of sophomoric, homophobic "humor" utterly intolerable.* (See here fore more info.) And yet, I couldn't help but smile at this clip that's been making its way around the interwebs of Chris Osgood and Nicklas Lidstrom's cameo appearance on The Tonight Show last night:




Pretty smooth, eh? Obviously the guy who asked the original question was a plant** to set up the bit, but I think the Wings fans in the crowd were legit and that Leno's inviting them onstage was spontaneous. And yay for Ozzy and Nick -- two of the classiest guys in professional sports. (Although, if they really wanted to bring sexyback, they would've had Yzerman up there with them. I'm just sayin'.)

P.S. A few years ago Bryan and I saw Lidstrom at the Panera in Novi. He was two people behind us in line, and I swear we were the only ones in the whole place who recognized him. I was so curious as to whether he was going to use a pseudonym when the cashier asked him for a name to go with his order, but nope -- he just said, "Nick". (Although it's not like I was expecting him to say, "Assistant Captain Nicklas Lidstrom, #5, Conn Symthe and Norris Trophy Winner".) Of course we didn't approach him -- the guy just wanted to eat in peace, after all -- but it was pretty cool nonetheless. This brings to about ten the number of Detroit sports stars Bryan and I have seen out and about at various establishments: Steve Yzerman and Chris Chelios at Starbucks (on separate occasions), Justin Verlander Nate Robertson and Sean Casey at a bar in Plymouth, Joey Kocur at a Bay Harbor restaurant, Alan Trammel outside the Westin hotel in Chicago, etc. etc.

*Note the offhand "no making out" comment in the clip. That's exactly what I mean. Ugh.

**"A plant? I thought men like you were usually called a fruit."