Still looking northward

About a month ago a Motown journalist said Detroit wasn't a Red Wings town, which national sportswriter Rick Reilly proclaimed. The Detroiter was of the opinion it was more of a Lions and Tigers town.

This is football town, first and foremost. There is not another city in the world that can put almost 200,000 people in football stadiums on Saturday and another 65,000 on Sunday.
...
When the Tigers are terrible, fans are apathetic. Same for the Pistons. Same for the Red Wings. But when the Lions are terrible, people go nuts. Part of that is the fact that the NFL is king. But most of it is because this is a football town.

He's right.
In the regular season there's only 16 games, and only eight a season ticket holder has to attend. It's easier to be an American football fan. So as badly as the Lions play, that's why they might so popular.
Baseball is a little trickier to explain. The easy answer is that major league baseball has been around since the 1800s. So it's a little more ingrained into the national culture.
The Red Wings have won the most championships for the Motor City. Yet that doesn't seem to matter.
Every time I visit, the sports talk stations are buzzing with American football chatter. If not that, then baseball or basketball. If this happens inHockeytown, U.S.A., then it happens in every other U.S. city. It literally depresses me at times.
On a Red Wings message boards, Wings fans have said that Detroit is an American football town. It's not just me and Jamie Samuelsen.
Even Red Wing Darren McCarty pretty much said the same thing.

As much as Detroit is a hockey town, if the Lions ever do anything -- if they ever do anything -- you'll see exactly how sick this place can be.

Last week while I was in Detroit, the Red Wings flagship station WXYT held a live pre-game broadcast outside The Joe Louis Arena. While the broadcasters and callers chatted about the opening-night game from time to time, most of the talk was about American football. Tonight, trying to listen online, was more of the same. I click onWXYT radio on iTunes and am rudely treated to Lions coverage instead of a live broadcast of the Wings game. I go to NHL.com then, but am eventually frustrated with the site. At the top of the hour, around 8 p.m., figuring things changed, I go back toiTunes radio and thankfully, finally the game is on. This from the Red Wings flagship radio station! Disgraceful!

Last season a magazine stated Detroit wasn't Hockeytown and said other cities were. The bad news - there is no Hockeytown in the U.S.A.
There's no way the Penguins outshine the Steelers. No way the Avs receive more attention the Broncos. I haven't been to Boston during hockey season, but I bet the Bruins are a very distant fourth to the RedSox, Cetlics, and Patriots. In Buffalo it's the same story. Nary a peep about the Sabres; it was all about the Bills.
Two seasons ago I visited Chicago to see a Blackhawks - Red Wings game. The story was the same there. The talking heads there talked more about The Big 10 men's basketball championship, which Chicago would be hosting in a few days, and the Bulls. For all the Blackhawk renaissance since Bill Wirtz died, I bet it's the same.
So in my mind it's down to one metropolitan area. Maybe in the Twin Cities it's different, maybe. I have serious doubts.
I want to move to Canada.