ATT <3s NHL

Inexplicably (but totally cool!) AT&T has decided that 2.5 million Oakland and Wayne County editions of the new AT&T Real Yellow Pages directory will feature the Detroit Red Wings on the cover. The shot of the team on the ice post-Cup victory, says the president of AT&T, is featured because, "It is our goal to keep our customers connected, but nothing connects communities like a championship team and we applaud the Wings for their accomplishment."

Cheesy, for sure, but it's certainly sort of neat to pick up the Yellow Pages and see the boys - and this time of year, it's the little things.

In honor of the recognition (or in recognition of the honor?) Wings grinder Darren McCarty was at Hockeytown Authentics signing autographs. Having missed him in Taylor and being in the area to begin with, I decided to stop by:

D-Mac, decked out in full support of Detroit and the Tigers (who would be playing across the street two hours from the end of the signing) - seemed like he was having a good time.

Freshly D-Mac-signed hat and the event-causing mini-phonebook.

Hockeytown Cafe was bustling (I proceeded to eat a panini - A+!) with the pre-Tigers game crowd, but McCarty - who looked like he was enjoying himself as much as someone writing their name for two hours straight could be, and who was very friendly - drew a fair amount of attention as well. The best thing about the event was that it was completely free, making it pretty irresistible after seeing prices charged at some other venues. The slight downside was that, compared to some other signings, the Cafe had only its own merchendise to work with, and thus your options for things to buy and get signed were a bit limited (they did, however, have the new red version of the Wings Locker Room hat - classy) - but most people (including me) had their own anyway. And hey, there was always the phone books!