tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83753150681059480872024-02-19T23:13:43.332-08:00Hockey RantingsAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.comBlogger269125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-84743670144338073662008-09-19T12:16:00.000-07:002008-09-19T12:17:12.823-07:00"I Had the Last Waltz With You"<i>by Jes</i><br /><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247811534203189298" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-b7Cc6fiA9bLzv9vA8kt9-C0JTKtTS6NT49Id2kLechSVmbR9lEvROuvua3lEekaWcaYjBjdome0_VVJ62nGXtGi62edtBzQS3q00F9eMQVHw6MjmEQ16xkT97nbth4U2vtGJV1d6v4w6/s320/Bladerunner19.jpg" border="0" /><br /><i>"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those ... moments will be lost in time, like tears...in rain.<br /><br />Time to die"</i> - Roy Batty, Bladerunner.<br /><br />Back in <a href="http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com/2004/05/lets-get-this-party-started.html" target="_blank">May of 2004</a>, I got the notion to start this blog, and called it <b>Hockey Rants</b> because I love hockey and ranting. Simple concept, really.<br /><br />I had often visited many baseball blogs (which there were/are plenty), and was tired of all the childishness of places like HFboards. I wanted a place where I could rant how I wanted, when I wanted, and on topics I wanted, without my voice being lost in the wilderness.<br /><br />I didn't come into blogging with many expectations, other than having a home for some friends and family reading my blathering, and maybe getting a decent audience who appreciated thoughtful blog posts over playground arguments. I also found the whole process to be a lot of fun, and got to experience a little bit of the hockey writer's life.<br /><br />---<br /><br />4 years later, I feel the fun has disappeared for me. Perhaps the combination of writing for AOL and my own site just overloaded my positronic circuits, but blog posting now feels more of a chore and an obligation than anything else. I haven't truly enjoyed blogging very much for the past few months, and I don't see that changing in the near future.<br /><br />You may have noticed I've hinted at burnout the past 1-2 months, and, like an old scented candle, I'm mostly now a mush of wax.<br /><br />I look back at some of my older posts, and I realize that my content is not nearly as good as it used to be. The posts on this site used to be either funnier, contain more detailed analysis, and/or a lot of Czech/Slovak content, the latter of which I'm the most proud to have brought to the blogosphere.<br /><br />Like <strong>Trevor Linden</strong>, I just don't have "it" any longer. I'm tired, worn down, and my abilities have been eroded over time. I know I'm capable of writing some good material, but it would take a lot of time and effort that I'm just not able to handle. When I think about the memorable posts I've written, most of it has not been writing over the past 6-8 months.<br /><br />That is why I've decided to retire from regular hockey blogging and close the Hockey Rants chapter of my life, as well as stop writing for AOL FanHouse.<br /><br />What does the future hold? Well, I like to rant and I like to write. I might change this site into an all-around Rants site (a mix of hockey, politics, pop culture, etc), or I might hook up with another blog and do some guest entries. Anyone who has any ideas is welcome to contact me. For the next while, though, I'm just taking an online vacation.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Hockey blogs have come a long way since I started. Back when I first posted here, there were maybe 10-12 hockey blogs TOTAL. There were many baseball blogs, but almost nothing revolving around our great sport. There was Hockey Pundits, Off Wing Opinion, Sharkspage, Hockey Update, and Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic. The blogroll was smaller than Steve Kariya.<br /><br />Right after a lockout, there was a sudden explosion on the number of hockey blogs out there. People flocked back to the game, and also to the new type of technology and reach that blogging offered. No longer was I able to visit every hockey blog within my lunch hour.<br /><br />Not only has the quantity increase substantially, but the quality as well. I used to pride myself on being near the top of the heap, but there are many other sites that just offer much more on the way of quality content than my little old site. Yes, I do feel like I've been left behind like John McCain's ex-wife.<br /><br />I'm not jealous or spiteful, but rather thankful of how much great stuff is out there. No longer are we subjected to purely reading what bones the MSM throws at us, or are we limited to a few publications and websites. There is just so much out there for everyone, and, in the end, its all of us hockey fans that win.<br /><br />Do I consider myself a pioneer? Yes, but just a small one. I have helped a few people start their sites out (those who asked), and I know a few people were like <i>"I saw your site and felt I could do that, too!"</i> I know I'm one of the true veterans out there, and am rather proud of some of the baby bloglings that grown up to be strong young sites.<br /><br /><br />---<br /><br />As I mentioned, I didn't have a lot of expectations from starting this site. Fortunately, and most surprisingly, this site brought me a lot of opportunities and allowed me to meet many people: bloggers, fans, writers, and even an ex-girlfriend. :/<br /><br />In Academy Awards fashion, minus the crappy, overrated movies *cough*<span style="font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;">No Country for Old Men</span>*cough*, I’d like to thank and give a shout out to various people who I've met over the past 4+ years. I still intend to maintain contact with many of you, as I certainly won't stop being a hockey fan any week soon. Don't be offended if I forgot you, it just means you aren't important :) <span style="font-size:85%;">(kidding...)</span><br /><br />In no particular order ...<br /><br /><br /><div><li><strong>Eric "Mac Daddy" McErlain</strong>, who scored me the gig with FanHouse and provided a lot of advice when I started out.<br /><li><strong>Michael "The Hockey Fanatic" Fedor</strong>, my fellow Team Slovakia member and one of the longest-serving hockey bloggers.<br /><li>My Czech loving co-bloggers <strong>Dan (Czechmate)</strong> and <strong>Greg,</strong> who helped add another point-of-view and some extra content to Hockey Rants.<br /><li>My girlfriend, <strong>Aurian</strong>, for obvious reasons ;)<br /><li><strong>Snoopyjode</strong>, who took over <a href="http://sidcrosby.blogspot.com/">The Sidney Crosby Show</a>, which I started as a social experiment, and made it into a real success.<br /><li><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Pavol Demitra</span></strong>, Jiri Slegr, Trevor Linden, Jan Bulis v2.1, and Tomas Plekanec for their continued awesomeness.<br /><li><u>My FanHouse comrades</u>: Wyshynski, Luongo, Lady Killer Mirtle, Ciskie, Schultzy, JD Press, Saler, Earl Sleek, Lackey, Starkey.<br /><li><strong>Stormbringer10</strong>, whom I haven't seen in years, for designing my site's banner.<br /><li><strong>The Acid Queen</strong>, who has helped me with female POV stuff and made me laugh with stories about her evil cats.<br /><li><strong>Alanah</strong> from Canucks and Beyond, who once took me out for dinner and helped me with some personal stuff ;), but hasn't spoken to me for ages :(<br /><li>My sources from Czechia, Slovakia, and other parts of Europe, who wish to remain anonymous.<br /><li>My part-time contributors ... guys who sent me in links to articles, news items, and other gossip: Southern Correspondent Wayne, Faux, 2 Man Advantage, the d00ds from Edinburgh, Big Dan, and so forth.<br /><li>The fellows from esports.cz, <strong>Misha/Schlegel</strong>, who gave me lots of good stuff before and during the lockout.<br /><li><strong>BBC Radio Five</strong>, for granting me my first ever radio interview. Man, was I ever nervous :/<br /><li>Of course, those who read and comment on my side on a (semi)regular basis. A blog is nothing without eyeballs. Bloggers love comments more than anything else.<br /><li>The MSM (Mainstream Mediots) for providing lots of fodder.<br /><li><strong>Tom Benjamin</strong>, another grumpy old-school blogger and the guy who actually made me look like a nice guy by sheer comparison.<br /><li>Anyone else I've forgotten. I've met so many people and fell out of touch with so many people over the years.<br /><br />So, good-bye (for now) to all of you. I shall not disappear totally into the night, but I will step back and just allow myself to be a fan and observer, and probably comment on a few blogs which I've been neglecting to read lately due to my busy schedule.<br /><br />It's been an Al MacInnis blast!<br /><br />Regards, Jes Gőlbez </li></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-72024527153693914622008-09-17T13:46:00.001-07:002008-09-17T13:46:59.890-07:00The NHL in Europe? Oh, noes<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Once upon a time, I wrote a pretty length post on why I believe the NHL would never work, on a full-time basis, in Europe. Playing an exhibition game or two is one thing, but a full season? It ain't gonna work.<br /><br />This post is a response to news that <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=249235&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl" target="_blank">the NHL is looking at expanding into Europe ... again ...</a><br /><br />Since I can't find my original post, I'll just have to rehash some of my old arguments. Most of my European hockey knowledge comes from the leagues I follow (Czech and Slovak), so I may not be totally right when it comes to places like Finland and Sweden.<br /><br /><br />1. Ticket Prices<br />The average ticket price for a European club hockey game translates to about 10-25$ US. Most teams charge very little for their tickets, knowing full well that a. the people simply don't have that much money to spend and b. knowing fans won't spend that much for a hockey game.<br /><br />European clubs make their money almost primarily through sponsorship. You see it on their uniforms, their arenas, and even their team names, which are often sponsored. The NHL's model of ticket-heavy revenue is the complete opposite of what happens in Europe.<br /><br />Let's face it, most hockey fans in Russia, Czechia, and Slovakia do not have that much disposable income. I know people in Germany and Sweden could afford $60 tickets, but would they really fork out that much for 30-40 games a season? I doubt it. Once the novelty wears off, you'd likely see a lot of empty seats. I can't see 15,000 people in either city wanting to invest that much on the NHL.<br /><br />Yes, I realize some European teams get over 10,000 per game, but the ticket prices, like I said, are quite low compared to the NHL.<br /><br />The fact is that many of the rich KHL owners we hear about are oil robber barons or diamond mine owners, and spend money on their hockey teams as an expensive hobby. There aren't an endless supply of these oil barons, nor are many of them likely to want to spend NHL-level prices for their own pleasure. Yes, there are oil barons owning soccer clubs, but you know they make a lot of money from tickets and merchandise.<br /><br />2. Travel<br />In the future, I see travel becoming even more of an issue than it is now. Fuel prices will not go down any day soon, and environmental concerns will only cause sports leagues to look into curtailing travel somewhat.<br /><br />In my view, fuel prices will cause the NHL to start playing even more intra-conference games, and try to eliminate some of the cross-country road trips that suck up so much gas.<br /><br />Traveling to Europe? Yeah, that would count as a long road trip, and it's certainly quite pricey if you do it constantly.<br /><br />3. Rivalries<br />Having an NHL team negates one of the reasons Europeans go to hockey games: The rivalries. Slavia and Sparta's "derbies" just could not be replicated by a bunch of foreigners playing some team from Toronto or Helsinki. Inter-city and regional rivalries would just not exist in the European NHL.<br /><br />4. Gary Bettman<br />D00d screws up everything he touches.<br /><br />Yes, I am a pessimist. Given how the NHL's short-term thinking has caused them so many problems, and given how many American franchises are far from strong, I think expanding into Europe is something the league just will not succeed at. Let the Europeans have their league and focus on making the NHL stronger, rather than even more watered-down than it is.<br /><br />----<br /><br />More stuff to mention<br /><br /><li>NHL owners have to realize that <a href="http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/500496" target="_blank">the current American economic crises is not good for the league</a>. Obviously, people are going to have less disposable income to spend on hockey games, and/or will be afraid to spend big for fears of even more crap happening<br /><br />If you are an UFA-to-be, you might want to think about re-signing rather than try the open market. Just a thought.<br /><br />On a side rant, this whole "crisis" is thanks to your lovely US government. For far too long, the US Government has let corporations run the country, including a highly-unregulated bank and finance industry. This, together with people's horrible spending habits, means that there is a lot of "artificial" money in the market that can never be repaid, and you have China owning a monster chunk of US Currency.<br /><br />Not to sound too much like a smart ass, but I always figured the US was set for a major collapse. No country can take on that much government and personal debt without the whole thing busting up eventually. Until people stop spending money they don't have, and until banks stop lending money they don't really have, the economy is not going to get better. I'm thankful that Canada had a bit more restraint, and isn't spending billions on a bogus war to inflate the pockets of a well-off minority (Do you really think Bush wants to drive down the price of oil? Ha!). That said, when the US economy tanks, it'll hit our country hard.<br /><br />(If you know basic economics and finance, than you know that a bank can take $1 of deposits and turn that into $7-10 of loans, hence creating a level of "artificial" money)<br /><br /><li>Over at his Legends of Hockey Blog, author Joe Pelletier goes into Boogie Nights mode and gives us his <a href="http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/2008/09/top-ten-mustaches-in-hockey-history.html" target="_blank">Top 10 Hockey Moustaches of all time. </a><br /><br />Personally, I would have put Harold Snepsts much higher, and would have had Dave Babych on my list. Lanny as #1 is hard to dispute, though.</li>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-64316829496511705372008-09-15T07:54:00.001-07:002008-09-15T07:54:46.418-07:00Monday Musings: Hockey Burnout<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />As you might have noticed, the volume of posts on this site has slowed in the past month. Besides the lack of good hockey news, I'm still feeling under the cloud of Blogger Burnout. Even if there is a good story to be had, I just don't have the spark.<br /><br />Remember <a href="http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com/2008/08/prospect-steven-legein-retires-at-19.html" target="_blank">the story of young Steven Legein</a>? He's the Columbus Dinner Jackets prospect that quit the game simply because he grew tired of it. All of the practices, training camps, video sessions ... it just wasn't worth it for the young prospect. <br /><br />This type of burnout seems to be happening more these days among our nation's youth, and most of it can be traced to those parents that push their children so hard in a usually-futile attempt to land a lucrative spot in the NHL.<br /><br />From <A href=http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=f1d147c0-6963-41d6-9045-458718b43ef0 target="_blank">The Province:</a><br /><br /><blockquote>But the seeds of hockey burnout are now being planted long before a player reaches the junior level, and [Canadian Hockey Head Bob] Nicholson agrees it is becoming a problem.<br /><br />"It's a big concern of ours that players aren't playing soccer, baseball, lacrosse like they used to (in the summer)," he said. "We're in board meetings now looking at ways to try to make sure that they're not playing competitive hockey 12 months of the year."<br /><br />Part of the problem is overzealous hockey parents with dreams of their son becoming the next Sidney Crosby. They're the ones forking out the cash for the summer hockey programs, which aren't cheap.<br /><br />"I think a lot of it comes right from the parents," Nicholson agreed. "It almost seems like it's worse now with the 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds. The message doesn't seem to be getting down to the parents right now."<br /></blockquote>It's not that the kids don't like playing hockey, it's that they don't like playing it ALL THE TIME, and they don't like the constant work involved. Most kids don't like practices, and most kids certainly don't want to feel pushed into training year round. It just saps the fun out of the game entirely, doesn't it? <br /><br />Think of how many kids play at the highest level of junior hockey in Canada. It's a very small percentage of the total population of hockey players in that age group. Now, think of how many of those kids will ever make the NHL. It's a very small percentage. <br /><br />The fact is that if your kid can't possibly be one of the elite players during the course of a regular season, those few extra months are not going to make him the next superstar. That extra training might help the very best young players, but it's not going to help the mass majority become THAT much better.<br /><br />Again, we must look over to Europe to see how they do things right.<br /><br />In the summer, even the pro teams never set a foot out on to the ice. In Europe, the players play soccer and tennis ... they go mountain biking, they go jogging, they have fun doing other stuff that isn't even related to hockey.<br /><br />The result? The players are happier because they get a break from the game, and the players are better trained.<br /><br />Better trained?<br /><br />Yes. Soccer and tennis, especially, develop athletic traits that aren't always worked on so well in hockey. Both sports are great for developing agility and stamina, allowing players to develop quickness on a different surface. Biking is obviously great for developing stamina and vitality, something short-burst hockey training doesn't always do.<br /><br />Having a kid play hockey 12 months a year will leave them rather 1-dimensional in terms of their athletic training, not to mention bored to tears. It's hard for any mind to develop creativity and creatively when it is constantly focusing on one type of task. <br /><br />Don Cherry is right on the money about these parents who push their kids<br /><blockquote>Last March, on the Grapeline radio show, host Brian Williams asked Don Cherry what he thought about hockey parents whose kids missed games during spring break to go on a family vacation.<br /><br />"What do I think of them?" Cherry roared. "You want to know what I think of them? I think they're selfish rats that can't be counted on. The parents that take the kids out of the team and go on vacation are rats that can't be counted on. Can I say it any clearer?<br /><br />"That's not only my opinion," Cherry added, "but real hockey people think they're selfish rats who can't be counted on."<br /></blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-30024481116999482552008-09-09T12:09:00.000-07:002008-09-09T12:10:29.559-07:00Revisiting Rod Brind'Amour's Physical Edge<a href="http://www.hhof.com/graphfea/SCJ06_07c.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://www.hhof.com/graphfea/SCJ06_07c.jpg" border="0" /></a> <i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Any hockey fan knows that <strong>Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour</strong> is a fitness fanatic. While he's a smart 2-way centerman with good on-ice vision, his strength has always been that he's stronger and possess more stamina than just about any NHLer to ever lace on a pair of skates.<br /><br />While we know most NHLers are quite fit, Brind'Amour's elite level of fitness does contribute to the other more "mental" aspects of the game. Most players make mistakes when they are tired, and can't chase down errant pucks when they are sucking wind. Brind'Amour and others of his type make fewer mistakes and can make more plays simply because they have more gas in the tank.<br /><br />If you already didn't feel enough like a coach potato, <a href="http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080908.wspt-nhl-camp08/GSStory/GlobeSportsHockey/home" target="_blank">the Globe and Mail has another article showing you how Brind'Amour works about 1,000 times harder than you</a>, and how other players adopted similar trends to keep up with ... well, each other.<br /><br /><blockquote>The captain of the Carolina Hurricanes is one of the fittest players in the NHL because he refuses to stop exercising. He turned 38 over the summer and still has three years left on a contract he fully intends to play out.<br /><br />Brind'Amour typifies the character needed to be a veteran in today's NHL. In the past, some believed that longevity was best achieved by taking extensive time off over the summer to let the body heal before essentially starting anew during training camp.<br /><br />That strategy simply wouldn't work now.<br /><br />“It's definitely a year-round job,” Brind'Amour said during a recent interview. “I think the guys that approach it that way are the ones that last the longest.<br /><br />“Especially with the amount of money guys make now, if you don't treat it year-round you're foolish.”<br /></blockquote><br /><div>Chris Chelios is nearing 50, and he's still known for his insane workout schedule. There is obviously some benefit in keeping the engines running year-round.<br /><br />What is amazing is that these guys can work insanely hard year-round and their bodies just don't break down. You'd think Brind'Amour's body would just say 'ENOUGH!' and shut down from the physical onslaught.<br /><br />I think one attribute that isn't talked about enough is that some human bodies are just blessed with superior physical construction to others, like Lance Armstrong and his huge heart, or Michael Phelps and his myriad of physical features that help him swim faster (Double-jointed chest, for one).<br /><br />I know that my body produces a high amount of urea (blood/muscle waste, in simple terms) that makes it hard for my body to recover from physical activity. When I used to work 4-6 times a week, my body simply refused to put on muscle, and I would sometimes ache for days after a workout. Simply put, I could never keep up this type of schedule and expect to be in top physical condition in the long run.<br /><br />So, compare and contrast that to a guy like Rod Brind'Amour. Obviously, his body has a well-above average ability to recover from workouts and to keep up a high level of physical activity without feeling fatigued, run down, and susceptible to injuries. Compare and contrast that to NHLers who you might consider brittle?<br /><br />Brind'Amour (and Chelios) should get full credit for his work ethic, but nature obviously gave him a boost that some other humans just can't match, even if they wanted to. Perhaps there is something in their blood that can be measured, and teams looking at potential draftees might want to be on the lookout for in blood measuring or gene testing becomes the norm. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-70458191200456523532008-09-08T08:28:00.000-07:002008-09-08T08:29:12.520-07:00Bulgarian Women Are an Easy Score!<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Bulgaria is not known for being a hockey power, so the fact that their women's team got blown away by Slovakia is no surprise.<br /><br />What is a surprise is just how badly they’ve been thrashed at an 2010 Olympic qualifying tournament over in Latvija.<br /><br />When my Slovakian friend sent this to my email, I thought it was a joke. Apparently not.<br /><br />Výsledky - sobota:<br /><b>Slovensko - Bulharsko 82:0 (31:0, 24:0, 27:0)</b><br />Góly:<br />6., 10., 12., 17., 21., 27., 30., 38., 39. a 52. Čulíková,<br />5., 5., 14., 22., 31., 34., 39., 42. a 42. Veličková,<br />6., 10., 21., 30., 34., 42., 57. a 58. Vargová,<br />7., 7., 14., 14., 35., 45., 48. a 52. Celarová,<br />16., 20., 26., 32., 51., 57., 59. a 60. Herichová,<br />2., 5., 36., 37., 40., 45., 53. a 56. Gapová,<br />6., 6., 24., 33. 54. a 54. Moravčíková,<br />1., 4., 25., 29., 45. a 48. Karafiátová,<br />9., 19., 43., 56. a 60. Kapustová,<br />8., 10., 39., 53. a 59. Sroková,<br />3., 17., 44. a 51. Danková,<br />6., 13. a 25. Džurňáková,<br />11. Konečná,<br />8. Brémová<br /><br />That's right, Slovakia won 82-0. All but 2 of the Slovak women dressed for the game had at least a goal.<br /><br />The Bulgarians also lost 30-1 to Croatia and 41-0 to Italy, hardly hockey powerhouses in their own right.<br /><br />Every country has the right to try to qualify for the Olympics, but why did the Bulgarian federation even bother? Not only did they not have a chance in hell, but their women get completely humiliated.<br /><br />I wonder why the Bulgarians even bothered coming out for the final two periods. I mean, do they really expect a comeback after being down 31-0 after the first period? I guess these women have balls, or absolutely don't give a rat's ass how bad they do.<br /><br />Note to IIHF: Have some entry standards. IT makes the sport look like a joke when you have games like this. Just imagine if it was the USA or Canada instead of Slovakia? Triple digits, easily.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-60212652704290086072008-09-07T17:55:00.000-07:002008-09-07T17:56:13.311-07:00Weekend Wonderings: Teddy's Angry<em>by Jes</em><br /><br />Caps owner Ted Leonsis has never been one owner who is afraid to speak his mind, and he's one of the rare sports owners who talks publicly at all. Most owners are content to sit in their country clubs sipping expensive wine and laughing at how many people they laid off this week.<br /><br />Ted? He's ANGRY!!! and <a href="http://www.tedstake.com/?p=2626">he takes a nice shot as some idiot in the MSM.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>From time to time, you have heard me rail against media pundits for their lack of criticality; original thinking; creativity; and basic non-understanding of what they are writing about.<br /><br />Well here is another rant. This time against Ross McKeon and his blog post mentioning contraction of six NHL teams including the Washington Capitals.<br /><br />First, the throw away notion of shuttering six major league teams is just mean-spirited. Those six teams employ thousands and thousands of people and support tens of thousands of families. I guess Ross wants us to lay off all those people in the toughest economy ever. And those teams generate dollars for their cities in taxes and they generate dollars to hundreds and hundreds of small businesses as vendor/ suppliers. All of that would go away and the benefit and glow of a major sports team franchise would leave those cities marked as second rate for a long, long time.</blockquote> For the most part, I agree with him. However, invoking the lost jobs argument, especially from a rich multi-millionare, comes across as disgenuine. People lose jobs all the time, and they can gain jobs just the same. It's not like jobs disappear into a black hole. Besides, most people who work at sporting events are part-timers: the concession peeps, the ushers/hosts, ticket takers, etc...<br /><br />Southern Correspondant Wayne chips in: <i>While I doubt Leonsis' claim about "thousands and thousands" losing jobs, I do see his point: a few of the new arenas are hockey only (Phoenix, Miami, Nashville, Tampa), and don't have an NBA team to fall back on (I would make the joke that Atlanta doesn't have an NBA team, either, but I'm keeping my mouth shut for now, as they were the ONLY Atlanta team to make the playoffs in a year), with millions of $ to pay in municipal bonds...</i><br /><br />---<br /><br />Over at ESPN, the Worldwide Leader of Slam-Dunk clips, columnist <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/story?columnist=frei_terry&id=3568989">Terry Frei opines that attendance will decrease greatly if NHL teams continue to charge higher ticket prices.</a><br /><br />Will they? Perhaps in some American markets. The Canadian economy is still in fairly good shape and the dollar is fine.<br /><br />The NHL has always had a risky model based on low TV ratings and high ticket prices. The NHL knows it can get away with charging its hard core of fans high ticket prices because they are willing to pay. The NHL also gets a lion's share of its revenues from ticket prices, and not ancillary sources like TV and merchandise.<br /><br />One could say the NHL has always been teetering on the ledge when it comes to its revenue strategy, and eventually the league will come to a point where the teams will be charging too much for fans to justify the expense. <br /><br />Still, it's up to each individual team to set their ticket prices, and some of the Atlanta's of the league may very well have a much lower ticket range than the Minnesota's. It may be that the Minnesota's and such subsidize the Atlanta's even more than they do now. That's the price of revenue sharing.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-55331324051439993692008-09-05T09:24:00.000-07:002008-09-05T09:25:12.102-07:00Canucks to Retire Linden's #16<i>by Jes</i><br /><br /><strong>Trevor Linden</strong>, the quintessential Vancouver Canuck, <a href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/story.html?id=51dc0a89-882b-4ee0-b2aa-8b85912e741b" target="_blank">will have his #16 retired into the rafters of GM Place.</a><br /><br />No surprise there.<br /><br /><blockquote>The Vancouver Canucks made official Thursday what many have suspected since the final moments of last season: they're going to retire Trevor Linden's No. 16 jersey.<br /><br /><b>The big event will take place Dec. 17 at GM Place.</b><br /><br />"It's going to be exciting," Linden said Thursday at a press conference to formally announce Trevor Linden Night. "I'm going to be a bit nervous but sharing that with our fans, my friends, my family and my teammates, or ex-teammates, will be very special."</blockquote>I just hope this game goes better for the Canucks than Linden's final game in the NHL, when the Flames trounced the Canucks 23-1 and the Canucks simply rolled over and played dead.<br /><br />In terms of # retirements, the Canucks are rather stingy on sweaters hanging from the rafters. After 38 years, Stan Smyl is currently the only retired number on the Canucks (#12), and there don't seem to be any great candidates in the near future. Compare that to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_sabres" target="_blank">the Buffalo Sabres</a>, the Canucks' expansion brothers, who have SIX numbers retired.<br /><br />The only other possible candidate in the near future, given that past Canucks such as Tomas Gradin or Pavel Bure aren't even considered, would be Markus Naslund. Nazzy is the all-time leading Canucks goal and point scorer, and played almost as many games in a Canucks uniform than Smyl.<br /><br />The problem? Naslund's acrimonious departure. Naslund clearly sulked during his last two seasons with the club, and never really touched Canucks fans the same as Trev or Stanley Steamer.<br /><br />I would think that Mattias Ohlund will be a candidate some day, given his longevity and service to the club. Other than him, the clothesline is pretty bare.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-5164720573352304662008-09-04T09:32:00.000-07:002008-09-04T09:33:21.781-07:00Thursday's Thoughts: TSN, Mats Sundin<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Americans have every right to be envious of our televised hockey coverage, especially that provided by The Sports Network (TSN), which has supplanted CBC as THE station to watch hockey on a regular basis, especially since they stole the frickin' theme song.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the producers at TSN don't seem to have heard of the credo "too many cooks spoil the broth". While the network has always prided itself on getting well-known experts to be analysts on their hockey shows, it has long gotten past the point where there are just too many talking heads.<br /><br /><u>Look at the TSN roster of talking heads ...</u><br />James Duthie (studio host who tries too hard to be funny)<br />Bob McKenzie (The Insider and draft expert)<br />Darren Dreger (<em>a former host who is suddenly an insider. Too stuck in MSM clichéd way of looking at the game</em>)<br />Dave Hodge (<em>Old man still kickin around. Likes to rant</em>)<br />Keith Jones<br />Matthew Barnaby (<em>surprisingly OK</em>)<br />Darren Pang<br />Glenn Healy (<em>utter crap and Leaf apologist</em>)<br />Pierre McGuire (<strong>MONSTER!!!)</strong><br />Mike Milbury (<em>as bad as he ever was</em>)<br />Scruffy, the janitor (<em>more insightful than Healy</em>)<br />Maggie the Monkey (<em>psychic mammal</em>)<br />Plus other special guests they get during the playoffs and D-day. In the past, they had Neil Smith, Jeremy Roenick, and Mike Keenan.<br /><br />All too often, these "experts" (Mike Milbury is an expert, but on sucking) get very little screen time, and TSN is constantly switching from one face to another to get in a sound bite. It feels hurried and sporadic, and you can tell that they are trying their damndest just to fit people in, rather than provide in-depth analysis and insight the consumers demand.<br /><br />So, the TSN solution appears to be to bring in MORE talking heads ... <a href="http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/sports/story.html?id=e99e59c7-6097-4c5f-8557-3e94fe115574" target="_blank">John Tortorella and Ray Ferraro.</a><br /><br />On the positive side, I think both of these guys will be a huge benefit to TSN's roster. Tortorella is always a great quote, and unlike Milbury, actually knows what he is talking about and has actually had some actual success. Ferraro has proven himself to be well-spoken and a cool customer. He's worked hard to become an off-ice analyst and provides a lot more insight than the likes of Glen Healy and Greg Millen.<br /><br />If TSN really wanted to improve their product, they'd get rid of some of the fat and trim off Milbury, Healy, Pang (he can go back to ESPN or Versus), and keep McGuire to the play-by-play booth.<br /><br />---<br /><br />Want to know where Mats Sundin head is these days? It's certainly not on hockey, since he's not even doing on-ice training.<br /><br />Nope, <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/09/03/mats-sundin-chooses-to-play-poker/">the big lug is going to be playing Poker for the near future</a>, leaving you wonder if any team ought to bother chasing the guy for much longer. His head obviously isn't in the game, and he certainly doesn't seem to have the FIRE that you'd want out of him.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/17738-THNcom-Top-10-Players-still-looking-for-a-team.html" target="_blank">Looking at what is left on the UFA market, however</a>, can give you an idea why Gillis and his peers are still offering their first-born daughters to Sundin for his sacrificial fodder supply.<br /><br />Other than Shanahan, no other uncommitted UFA is really worth the Canucks bothering with. Matvichuk and Murray might be able to play decent roles, but the rest is crap.<br /><br />10. <strong>Nolan Pratt</strong>, 32, D. Slow, crappy.<br /><br />9. <strong>Stephane Yelle,</strong> 34, C. Just signed with Boston. The Canucks don't need another Byron Ritchie failure.<br /><br />8. <strong>Jeff Hamilton,</strong> 30, C. Who?<br /><br />7. <strong>Geoff Sanderson,</strong> 36, LW. Soft, unproductive, and useless. Why does any team bother with this guy?<br /><br />6. <strong>Bryan Smolinski,</strong> 36, C. Been there, done that.<br /><br />5. <strong>Martin Gelinas</strong>, 38, LW. Again, the Canucks don't need another gritty 3rd-4th liner. Canucks fans still love the guy, but he's not that useful any longer.<br /><br />4. <strong>Richard Matvichuk</strong>, 35, D. I wouldn't mind having him around in a 6th-7th defenseman role, especially over Nolan Baumgartner.<br /><br />3. <strong>Jassen Cullimore,</strong> 36, D. Sloooooooooooooooooooooooooow.<br /><br />2. <strong>Glen Murray</strong>, 35, RW. A decent sniper, but has serious health concerns. Canucks ought to give ice time to a prospect.<br /><br />1. <strong>Brendan Shanahan</strong>, 39, LW. I'd like to see him on the Canucks, as he could provide 25-30 goals and take some heat off of the Twins and Pavol. Unfortunately, I doubt he'll come to a West Coast club.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-61987838918613150112008-09-03T10:32:00.000-07:002008-09-03T10:33:01.056-07:00Wednesday's Wonderings<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Today's random ramblings ...<br /><br />Smelly hockey equipment is a scourge that ranks up there with American Idol, white guys who think they are black, and Sean Avery. Many advances have been made in the washing hockey equipment, but that always presents just a temporary fix.<br /><br />Winnwell claims to have come up with a truly odourless set of hockey equipment <A href="http://www.thestar.com/Sports/GTHL/article/488932" target="_blank">that can get rid of stinky odour before it becomes a problem. </a><br /><br /><Blockquote>Natural enzymes in water bond to the material that is used as a liner anywhere equipment touches a player's skin – even the palms of the gloves.<br /><br />The microbes generate organic-consuming enzymes that remain dormant until activated by perspiration, eliminating the environment that bacteria needs to breed. <br /><br />"It could work," says Pat Bishop, chair of the Canadian Standards Association committee that certifies hockey equipment. "Bacteria is what causes all that stink. Anything that makes it easier for players to wear and easier on parents is worth trying. Right now, my daughter is going to buy her son new hockey gloves because she can't stand the smell."</blockquote> Mmm, organisms fighting bacteria. Just what I want in my equipment!<br /><br />Colour me skeptical, but knowing how much hockey players sweat, and how long equipment sits in stinky bags, I can't see this working as perfectly as described.<br /><br />---<br /><br /><a href="http://www.hollywoodtuna.com/?p=5623" target="_blank">Over at Hollywoodtuna</a>, the gossip guys have posted some probably-NSFW pictures of Willa Ford, aka Ms. Modano.<br /><br />Honestly, I can't see that she does it for me, especially in pictures that are completely airbrushed. <br /><br />Do guys really dig the Maxim-style airbrushed pics? I always feel that such photos make a woman look less desirable and simply more fake. <br /><br />---<br /><br />I had serious doubts about John Davidson's ability to preside over the St. Louis Blues, but I have to admit that the club is in good shape thanks to his PR efforts and ability to not suck as a GM.<br /><br />Even the <A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/01/sports/hockey/01davidson.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin">New York Times has taken notice of the job he's done in St. Loo.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>“This team had disconnected from the city, and we had to get people back in the arena,” he said, without naming Bill and Nancy Laurie, the largely absentee former owners who sustained huge losses, cut costs and traded away the popular Chris Pronger. “The Blues tradition had disappeared, and the fans wanted it back. We had to get them to believe again.” <br /></blockquote> Aahh, yes, the Lauries ... the asswipes who tried to buy the Vancouver Grizzlies and move them while claiming that they really really really wanted basketball to succeed here. *eyeroll*. Even David Stern didn't like the Lauries, which says something. <br /><br />Larry Pleau is still around as the behind-the-scenes guy, and I think the set-up works well. Pleau's analysis of hockey players was awful, but he does know the nuts and bolts of NHL law and finance, and can help JD with the more technical side of things. This leaves JD the room to do his thing with the public and also with player acquisition. <br /><br />---<br /><br />From the LOL! File comes word that the Philadelphia Flyers are going to hold a ceremony to honour Eric Lindros, <A href="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=247975&lid=sublink07&lpos=headlines_nhl" target="_blank">and the Big Ego won't show up!! Bahahaha!!!</a><br /><br /><blockquote>As part of their September 27th preseason game against Carolina at their former home, the Flyers have invited all 15 captains back to take part in commemorative ceremonies, including Lindros who was named captain at the age of 21 in 1994. However, his tenure with the team ended in a bitter dispute with management, which included then general manager Bob Clarke. <br /><br />While Clarke, Lou Angotti, Mel Bridgman, Dave Poulin, Ed Van Impe, Bill Barber, Ron Sutter and Kevin Primeau have confirmed their attendance, Lindros has declined because of a previous commitment according to senior vice president of business operations Shawn Tilger. Lindros will be attending a memorial service that day for a friend's mother.</blockquote> Still bitter, Eric? Now that you are retired, perhaps you can set aside your petty differences with the club and do something right for the fans that had your back?<br /><br />---<br /><br />To any readers in the UK, <A href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/ice-hockey-news/newcastle-vipers/2008/09/03/ivan-out-to-make-marek-with-vipers-72703-21664888/" target="_blank">you'll be happy to hear that pugilistic Czech Marek Ivan is back in your neck of the woods. </a> <br /><br />Yes, Ivan is one of the few Czechs that actually LOVES to fight, and does a pretty good job of being a toughie in between scoring a few goals. <br /><br /><i>(thanks to Southern Correspondent Wayne for some of the linkage help)</i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-78257074132009096522008-09-02T07:45:00.001-07:002008-09-02T07:45:36.155-07:00Trade Analysis: Bryan McCabe<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />The Toronto Maple Leafs continued their detox cleansing by dumping frumpy <strong>Bryan McCabe</strong> and his bad hairstyle on the Florida Panthers in exchange for <strong>Mike Van Ryn</strong> and a draft pick.<br /><br />It's no secret that I'm not a fan of McCabe's game. Yes, he puts up a pile of points, and is great on the Power Play, but his defence is atrocious, and he, far too often, goes out of position to make a big hit. Ever since his famed "can opener" was cracked down upon, McCabe's idea of defence is to put his blob-like body in front of a defender and hope that he hits something ... the puck, the ref, the opposing forward ... not pretty. McCabe is basically Sheldon Souray without the model good looks.<br /><br />This deal was more about dumping salary than anything else, so it's hard to expect the Leafs to come out ahead on the deal ... but how will they fare?<br /><br />Mike Van Ryn certainly has some skills of his own, and he did put up two straight 37-point seasons. That said, he put up just 2 points in 20 games last season and 29 in 78 games the season before. Ever since Jay Bouwmeester was given the lion's share of ice time in Florida, Van Ryn's game wilted, and his point production wasn't all that great.<br /><br />McCabe, on the other hand, put up three straight 50+ point seasons until last season, when he fell to just 23 in 54 games. With a healthy McCabe, you can expect about 15 goals and another 35-45 assists.<br /><br />So, the difference on offence is going to probably be about 15-20 points, which can be a big deal over a long season. In today's offence starved NHL, an offensive powerhouse like McCabe does provide some value.<br /><br />So, how does Van Ryn compare defensively to McCabe?<br /><br />Looking at some advanced numbers over at <a href="http://www.behindthenet.ca/2007/basic_5_on_5.php?sort=6&mingp=&mintoi=&team=&pos=" target="_blank">Behind the Net, it ain't pretty.</a><br /><br /><strong>RATING - Behindthenet Rating (+/- relative to team):</strong> -52 for McCabe and -51 for Van Ryn.<br /><strong>QUALITY OF COMPETITION</strong>: Van Ryn comes out ahead with .09 compared to McCabe's .02.<br /><br />The other defensive stats are rather similar, so we could say that Van Ryn comes out slightly ahead, or just call it a wash and leave it at that.<br /><br />Now, I understand the Panthers want to make the leap into the playoffs eventually, but why McCabe? The Panthers' biggest problem has been preventing goals, and McCabe is NOT going to help that. The last thing the Panthers need is a defensive liability on the ice for 25 minutes a game, and an expensive one at that.<br /><br />Thumbs down to the Panthers, and thumbs up to the Leafs for clearing out salary. Van Ryn is no star, but he's not chopped liver, either. He will give the Leafs a competent defenseman to plug a hole while plumber Fletcher orders a new part.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-54167754363358183692008-08-31T08:48:00.001-07:002008-08-31T08:48:23.417-07:00Holy Moly! The Butcher Bolts to Tampa<em>by Jes</em><br /><br />I know my blogmate, Czechmate, an Ottawa resident, was already seething over the lack of CzechoSlovak content on the Ottawa Senators. I'm sure, then, that he'll be crying in his All Bran over the fact that Andrej Meszároš was dealt to the Lightning for some prospect assets. Now, <a href="http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com/2005/09/fighting-losing-battle-of.html">Meszaros can have his surname butchered in whole new ways.</a><br /><br />In typical Tampa Bay circus fashion, the Bolts made an offer sheet to the young Slovak, only to find out that *DUH* they don't have the necessary draft picks as compensation. Cue the circus music and annoying clowns.<br /><br />Ottawa clearly didn't mind the fact that the Bolts wanted Meszaros, so the clubs came up with a rather quick trade to get the deal done.<br /><br />Tampa Bay gave up defensemen Filip Kuba, Alex Picard, and a 2009 first-round draft pick for the Butcher, and then signed him to a six-year, $24-million dealio.<br /><br />Kuba is no longer all that great, so it's basically a warm body, a lottery ticket, and Picard for a prime young D-man. Good deal of bad deal for Ottawa? I guess it depends on what Ottawa does with this new salary cap room they have.<br /><br />Over at FanHouse, <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/30/welcome-to-tampa-land-of-hyperbole/" target="_blank">JP notes that Tampa, famous for comparing Lecavalier to Michael Jordan</a>, turned on the hyperbole machine to proclaim Meszaros an 'elite' defenseman. JP isn't impressed.<br /><br /><blockquote>Senators GM Bryan Murray referred to Meszaros' play over the past two seasons as "[leaving] a lot to be desired" (not something you typically hear of the game's top defensemen), and the numbers certainly represent something a lot closer to "pretty good player" than "time to adjust the game plan, we're facing Andrej Meszaros tonight" -- Meszaros finished last season 25th among the League's defensemen in scoring and 68th in that group in plus/minus. He was 80th in ice time, 35th in power-play scoring and 100th in shooting percentage.<br /></blockquote><br />I'll play the Devil's advocate and come to the defense of Tampa. Yes, Andy is not an elite defenseman, but he's one of the better young d-men in the game and ought to get better.<br /><br />Remember Meszaros' rookie season? D00d was only 20 years old and put up 39 points and went +39 in 82 games. How many 20-year old d-men ever do that much?<br /><br />Then, something went sour for Meszaros in Ottawa and he's been on the Martin Skoula path to stagnation. Perhaps Ray Emery's influence made Meszaros into a party animal, perhaps the Sens' new anti-Slovak policy hurt Andy's feelings ... we'll likely never know. What we do know, however, is that Meszaros' relationship with the club was quit sour, and he needed to get the hell out of that rathole.<br /><br />I believe Butcher will become one of the league's better defensemen, and the Bolts will end up getting good value for this deal. Yes, they paid a high price, but good young defensemen are worth a premium. This is a far better deal than some of the other odd signings the Bolts have made.<br /><br />Of course, it's easy to be nervous if you are a Bolts fan, <a href="http://blogs.tampabay.com/lightning/2008/08/meszaros-its-a.html" target="_blank">especially when Meszaros is commenting on how much was given up for him.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>"I was surprised they gave up that much for me," he said of the Lightning. "They gave up some good players. I really appreciate that. I'm excited and happy to be in Tampa. Now it's a great challenge for me to step up and play as hard as I can." </blockquote>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-47699183228329577862008-08-28T11:42:00.001-07:002008-08-28T11:42:54.307-07:00Sakic Signs for Another Season<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Could you imagine the Colorado Crapalanche without Joe Sakic? He's been the face of the Quebec/Colorado franchise since I was a wee little lad, and not having him on the team would be like not having rain in Vancouver during an August morning.<br /><br />The 39-year old veteran hummed and hawed for awhile, <a href="http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=247711&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl" target="_blank">and then decided to come back for one more season of Canuck killing</a>, his 20th in the NHL. <br /><br /><blockquote>Patience paid off for the Colorado Avalanche, who signed Joe Sakic to a one-year, US$6-million contract Wednesday after he decided to play a 20th NHL season rather than call it a career.<br /><br />"Ultimately it came down to the fact that I still enjoy playing and competing," the 39-year-old captain said in a statement released by the team. "I'm comfortable with my conditioning and my overall health.<br /><br />"I'm ready for the start of camp and am looking forward to the upcoming season."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Last season was really quite strange as it was the first time that I can remember that Sakic looked less than immortal. As a Canucks/Blues fan, seeing Joe Sakic with the puck was pretty much guaranteed to induce that crap-my-pants feeling. You just knew that it would take nary a split-second before he unleashed a laser-like wrist shot that scored the Avs yet another goal. <br /><br />It wasn't too long ago when Burnaby Joe was still an elite forward. Actually, it was just two seasons ago when Sakic reached 100 points and looked even better than he did before the lockout. It speaks to Sakic's skill and conditioning that he could dominate at his age. <br /><br />At long last, the specters of age and injuries caught up with Sakic, and he fell to just 40 points in 44 games last season. Those who got to see a lot of Sakic on TV could see that he didn't have the same zip in his game and didn't instill the same fear as he once did. I find it amazing that Sakic even put up that much offence, given how "out of it" he looked. <br /><br />Still, Sakic is one of the league's smartest offensive players, and still adds a lot to the Avs in terms of productivity and leadership. In today's NHL, a point-a-game pace is damn valuable. Even as a mere mortal brought low, Sakic is better than most players in the game. <br /><br />So, enjoy Sakic while you can, because the face of the Avs, and of the game's best ever, will be skating off into the sunset before long.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-32421181672541980692008-08-27T11:05:00.001-07:002008-08-27T11:05:47.122-07:00Wednesday Wonderings: Burnout Edition<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Blogger Burnout sucks, especially when combined with an on-off again throbbing headache and a lack of actual hockey news.<br /><br />First, let's start off in the world of women's golf (zzzzz....), <a href="http://www.golfweek.com/story/lpga-english-news-082508" target="_blank">where the LPGA is going to mandate English proficiency.</a><br /><br /><blockquote> At a mandatory South Korean player meeting Aug. 20 at the Safeway Classic, the tour informed its largest international contingent that beginning in 2009, all players who have been on tour for two years must pass an oral evaluation of their English skills. Failure would result in a suspended membership.<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Wow, talk about really stupid rule changes ... If there is a sport that doesn't require English to be spoken, it's golf. Hell, they throw you out of the Country Club just for thinking too loudly. When do golfers need to speak, other than to the caddy? <br /><br />I can understand that the LPGA wants its players to be able to do interviews, but who the hell interviews women golfers, anyway? How about getting some eye candy out on the course? I don't think the media is really concerned about Korean women golfers who can't say boring clichés in broken Engrish.<br /><br />Imagine if the NHL tried to pull off something like this? Oh, you could just see the exodus of European NHLers returning back home because they didn't pass some stupid multiple-choice test Gary Bettman dreamed up.<br /><br />----<br /><br />While French/Quebec players might have the rep for being soft in the NHL (think Daigle, Turgeon, Brisebois), the fact is that Quebec is the #1 province for hockey fighting. The brawls in Quebec beer leagues are infamous, and the brawlers that province produce are second to none (Worrell, Laraques, Brashear)<br /><br />So, it seems quite strange, then, that Quebec has taken drastic measures to reduce fighting in junior hockey. It's not an outright ban, nor is it European (automatic ejection), but it's a serious change to how fights are penalized.<br /><br />From <A href="http://www.hockeyrefs.com/component/content/article/1-intheheadlines/197-hockey-quebec-announces-tough-sanctions-for-on-ice-violence-by-players.html" target="_blank">Hockeyrefs.com</a><br /><blockquote>Young hockey players in Quebec are going to think twice about using their hockey gloves as boxing gloves in the wake of strict new penalties announced Wednesday to curb on-ice violence.<br /><br />Hockey Quebec is targeting unsportsmanlike behaviour such as fighting, checking the back of the head and verbal abuse in the minor leagues.<br /><br />Players who fight, instigate, or jump into an on-ice brawl as a third combattant will be suspended for two games on a first offence. A second offence puts the player out for four games and means a trip before a disciplinary committee.<br /><br />A third offence means an indefinite suspension.<br /></blockquote> That's right, folks, a TWO GAME SUSPENSION for being in a fight! Gary Bettman must be jealous!<br /><br />It seems that The Powers That Be felt too much backlash from Jonathan Roy's actions. (<A href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVIG7RMif6s" target="_blank">Click here for YouTube goodness</a>)<br /><br />I understand that fighting in hockey is not very necessary, but it does provide us fans with extra entertainment, and allows for on-ice disputes to be handled without the need for serious stick swinging.<br /><br />Still, this feels like a gross overreaction. Couldn't the Quebec Fed simply give much harsher penalties for serious incidents? Why should a player be suspended two games for an average consensual fight? Most fights never end up close to being monster brawls or outright assaults. Why can't these bureaucrats distinguish between the two?<br /><br />I'm not sure if the QMJHL will follow these guidelines, or if it is just for the lower kiddie ranks. This is definitely something to keep an eye on.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-61124399929289879962008-08-23T18:24:00.001-07:002008-08-23T18:24:22.153-07:00Video of the Day: Usain Bolt, Poor Sportsman<em>by Jes</em><br /><br />When I heard about Olympic mafia leader Jacques Rogge whining about Usain Bolt being a poor sportsman, I pretty much rolled my eyes like almost everyone else did.<br /><br />Then, I was pointed to this video of Bolt's 100m race and now we see evidence that Rogge was right ...<br /><br /><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zzSpPaCIG0g&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zzSpPaCIG0g&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-78874138804842597292008-08-22T07:53:00.001-07:002008-08-22T07:53:22.531-07:00Study: Big Heads = More Aggression<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />The term "fathead" is often used in describing someone who is rather dull, stupid, and has a temper. Thus, when our buddy Wayne forwarded me a story with the headline "Hockey fatheads end up in the penalty box more often", I was pretty much like "D'uh, Big Moose!"<br /><br />It terms out that the "fatheads", in this case, refer to the actual size of the player's head, and is not just a cute expression.<br /><br />From <a href="http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=3577f3cb-17c8-443b-b5b8-0ea824ba36e9" target="_blank">the Regina Leader Post:</a><br /><br /><br /><blockquote>Results of the study published Wednesday in the prestigious Proceedings of the Royal Society, concluded of the six Canadian-based NHL teams, the faces of the Ottawa Senators are dead giveaways when it comes to predicting how much time players spend in the penalty box.<br /><br />"We're not saying that Ottawa is more aggressive than any other team. But each individual player's face predicts how much time he had in the box," said Brock University neuroscience researcher Justin Carre.<br /><br />The researcher devised a lab experiment comparing facial ratios of a group of student volunteers with their aggressiveness while playing a video game.<br /><br />The measurements, performed with the help of a digital ruler, compare the width of the face at the cheekbones with the height between the bottom of the eyebrows and the upper lip. An unusually wide male face has a ratio of about 2.3, while a relatively narrow face has a ratio of about 1.6.<br /><br />Among the male students, those with wide faces were more likely to play the video game aggressively, even downright vengefully.</blockquote>It is easy to dismiss this as bunk science, but there have been studies that show that finger length can often predict how aggressive guys can be. Perhaps having a larger part of the body means more testosterone?<br /><br />So, in the next advancement in scouting, will we see teams measure head sizes? Maybe measure finger sizes as well. Why just measure fitness levels? Do DNA testing as well!<br /><br />Looking for a bruiser? Don't get the chap who looks like John Cleese, go for the Brock Lesnar!<br /><br /><a href="http://z.about.com/d/crime/1/0/p/S/lesnar_b.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://z.about.com/d/crime/1/0/p/S/lesnar_b.jpg" border="0" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-28660631541076924802008-08-20T10:58:00.000-07:002008-08-20T10:59:19.452-07:00Steven Legein Retires ... at 19<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />A 19-year old man retiring from professional/amateur hockey is not that unusual. Many prospects that have no real shot of doing much in the pro hockey world do it all the time, opting for University or a career in the 'real' world. Why ride buses for days on end to make $30,000 a year when you can make double that with far less travel?<br /><br />When it is a promising 2nd round prospect with no history of major injury? That IS unusual.<br /><br /><u>Via FanHouse</u>: <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/20/stefan-legein-just-retired-or-did-he/#cont" target="_blank">Stefan Legein, a 2007 second round draft pick of the Columbus Blue Jackets who is just 19</a>, has retired from professional hockey. I'm sure BJs fans are quite stunned rightaboutnow.<br /><br />The reason: <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2008/08/20/jackets20.ART_ART_08-20-08_C3_T1B34HQ.html?sid=101" target="_blank">He just didn't want to play anymore. It's that simple.</a><br /><br />Legein seemed to be on the path to a potential NHL career, and, if you go through the FanHouse post, you see that Legein certainly didn't appear unhappy. The BJ's certainly had big plans for the kid, and you know that the team desperately needs some of its prospects to pan out.<br /><br />My first instinct, naturally, was to think "<strong>What a waste!".</strong> I can understand being in a funk, but why waste so many years of training and development when the potential for big $$ exists. Of course, that is merely me projecting my own interests and attitudes on someone I have never had any contact with.<br /><br />I know that some BJ's fans are probably pissed at the kid for quitting so soon, especially given the team's need for actual talent. It's been a hard few years for fans of the club, and the last thing they need is one of their top prospects bailing on them.<br /><br />As <a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/17600-.html" target="_blank">Adam Proteau of <i>The Hockey News</i></a> notes, we ought not to vilify the kid for his decision.<br /><br /><blockquote>I hope the young man isn’t vilified for his decision. Who among us hasn’t had doubts in our late teens (or for that matter, well beyond that age) about our direction in life? Legein’s biggest problem is he has been in a line of work that receives so much publicity and adulation most casual observers assume he should be down on his hands and knees in gratitude for the opportunities he’s been afforded.</blockquote><br />Exactly! I know I changed career paths and desires at 20, opting out of a potentially lucrative career as a software designer. I hated (and still do) computer programming and computer science, and I never imagined how utterly dull it would be when I signed up for a program.<br /><br />I left after a year, and found myself choosing Accounting and Finance. Yes, the money isn't as good, but I'm much happier with myself.<br /><br />Now, I can imagine that this young man had the same kind of "voila!" moment that caused him to say, "I really don't enjoy all of this hard physical training and I don't enjoy playing highly competitive hockey enough to continue on". Yes, playing hockey is fun, but when it is your job? Maybe not so much.<br /><br />Oh, and score one for bloggers (<a href="http://bethanyshockeyrants.com/" target="_blank">Bethany's Hockey Rants</a>, a title she kinda *cough*stole*cough* from us) for breaking the story!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-10211142571875813432008-08-18T12:11:00.000-07:002008-08-18T12:12:14.052-07:00More Olympic Rants<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Yes, I am still boycotting/not watching the Summer Olympics, but with no hockey news worth commenting about, and a blogging itch to scratch, I'm gonna bitch about them (again). How long until preseason starts? I really need some actual hockey news or I'm going to cry.<br /><br />---<br /><br />1. It was certainly nice to see Canada break out and win some actual medals! With all of the resources and people we have in this country, the fact that we had less medals than Azerbaijan was pretty sad. Canada has 9 now (at least that is what I heard last), which finally vaults us into respectable territory. Canada is never good at Summer Olympics, but we ought to be at least in the Top 20.<br /><br />2. There is no position worse than finishing FOURTH at an Olympic event.<br /><br />You finish last? You can laugh it about it down the road ... or you know you weren't even THAT good to begin with.<br /><br />You finish fourth? You are the best athlete not to get a single piece of bling. There is a certain cachet to having an a Bronze Medal. Saying "I finished fourth at Olympics" just doesn't sound 1/50th as impressive, does it?<br /><br />3. I don't get the love over women's beach volleyball. These women look way too skinny and manly to actually want to lust over. I know it’s a major step up from women's gymnastics (no jailbait worth looking at there), but still not enough to make me turn away from women's tennis.<br /><br />Do these women look hot to you?<br /><center><img src="http://cache.boston.com/resize/bonzai-fba/Reuters_Photo/2008/08/09/1218298061_4892/539w.jpg" /></center><br /><br />4. I will be "that guy" and piss on the <strong>Michael Phelps</strong> love a bit. Yes, he's a dominating swimmer, and I have nothing personal against him, but his gold medal record is a bit of a fraud.<br /><br />A pole vaulter, javelin thrower, or a softball player can win only one medal for their sport, right? Why should a swimmer be able to rack up multiple medals for the same sport? All they do is change the distance by a small amount or change the type of stroke, allowing one guy to basically rack up a bunch of medals simply because he's a far better athlete than his swimming peers. 100m butterfly vs. 200m butterfly vs. 100m freestyle, etc ... what's the difference?<br /><br />Want to level the playing field? Give shot putters a chance to win five different medals ... just increase the size and/or weight of the ball they throw for each event.<br /><br />Let's give the other athletes in other sports to win multiple medals for the same sport. Otherwise, shut up about Phelps and his record and realize that swimming is the one sport that allows such a 'record' to occur.<br /><br />5. How does one decide to be a professional speed walker? Rejects from the running team? I've never seen or head about speed walking competitions other than at an Olympics. This is the kinda job that falls down there with "guy who cleans up the set of a porn movie".<br /><br />6. What a shock ... <a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3OMvEA_ehIHkQwvUsKHCWZ5QzIAD92KQTK80" target="_blank">The Chinese government has not authorized any of the 77 applied for protests to take place</a>. The IOC was lavishing praise over this corrupt regime for allowing protest zones, but, of course, the Chinese government pulled the wool over the eyes of the Olympic Mafia ... yet again... of maybe the mafia just doesn't give a damn.<br /><br />Of course, this is the same corrupt regime that needed to have a 'cuter' girl lip-synch the opening ceremonies. *sigh*<br /><br />7. <strong>Steve Simmons</strong> <a href="http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Beijing2008/2008/08/18/6486216-sun.html" target="_blank">is still a douchebag</a>. I hope he gets cancer from breathing in too many Beijing fumes, or AIDS from his escapades with Al Strachan. Seriously.<br /><br /><blockquote>They ran the women's marathon here yesterday morning at the Olympic Games and no one died.<br /><br />No one succumbed to thick air and pollution. Many collapsed and fell: But none of it had anything to do with the conditions, the temperature or the apparent quality of air.<br /><br /></blockquote>As if people are going to keel over and die right on the spot! Just wait until people suffer long term effects. Some athletes have already reported that they felt a certain odd 'fire' in their lungs while training or running, and not the usual kind. Smokers don't die after one cigarette, do they? How has Steve Simmons managed to live this long with an IQ of 52?<br /><br /><blockquote>The most pressing issues of any Olympics -- facilities, housing, transportation, venues, the athletes, security <b>and this one, censorship -- have for the most part been taken care of. </b><br /></blockquote>Censorship taken care of? BWA HAHAHAHAHA!<br /><br />Oh, MSM sports reporters should never comment on political issues (Perry Mason, are you listening?). It just exposes them for the morons they are.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-27890023166602281162008-08-15T11:54:00.000-07:002008-08-15T11:55:06.531-07:00Friday's Frank Frothings<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />From my correspondence with Blues fans over the years, there is one player that is almost universally venerated by most of them.<br /><br />Brett Hull?<br />Al MacInnis?<br />Pavol Demitra?<br /><br />Close, but it's Brendan Shanahan.<br /><br />It's hard not to like Shanahan, the blue-collar scoring star with the charming good looks, lyrically pleasing surname, and gritty work ethic that most fans love in a player. Blues fans never saw quite that level of dedication in Hull, or that type of charm in Al MacInnis.<br /><br />When Shanahan was dealt to the Whalercanes for Chris Pronger, it was almost like a hole was ripped in the fabric of Blues fandom. Even the fact that Shanny went on to success with the hated Wings didn't seem to dampen Blues' fans respect for the dude. <br /><br />So, you can imagine how excited Blues fans are feeling at the prospect of Brendan Shanahan signing with the club for next season. <br /><br /><A href="http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/jeffgordon/story/0B04E440B488DEC9862574A600505A31?OpenDocument" target="_blank">Jeff Gordon of St. Louis Today outlines many reasons why Shanny</a> would be a good fit with the Bluenotes. He also makes the point that the Blues are getting some sweet PR points just by saying they'll attempt to sign Shanahan. <br /><br />Of course, the Blues have had a bad habit of signing or trading aging forwards all too often in the past: Tkachuk, Weight, Guerin, Richer, Derek King (ugh), etc ... but I think Shanahan is worth going after. <br /><br />Yes, he's 39, but he's still capable of producing some offense. Sure he's declined, but the guy is still a very good 2nd line winger with good skating ability. The Blues certainly have the cap space, so make it happen!<br /><br /><br />---<br /><br />Over at his legendary blog, <A href=http://www.greatesthockeylegends.com/ target"_blank">Joe Pelletier is counting down his Top 20 photos in hockey history</a>. So far, he's posted #20 and #19.<br /><br />Just a hunch, but I'm willing to bet a few Slovak Crowns that Bobby Orr's "Superman" will be #1.<br /><br />---<br /><br />There has been a lot of chomping in the media about how Canada's pathetic showing at the Summer Olympics. Yes, a pasty, somewhat out-of-shape (I haven't been to the gym much these days) hockey blogger has as many medals at the rest of Team Canada combined! ZERO!<br /><br />Over at the National Post, <A href=http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/08/15/scott-stinson-if-canadians-wanted-to-win-we-wouldn-t-lose-so-much.aspx target="_blank">blogger Scott Stinson opines that Canada just doesn't care enough about winning.</a><br /><br /><blockquote>Consider, also, the number of times you have read about a sporting event in some other nation and wondered if the people weren't just a little bit crazy. A soccer match in South America sets off a bloody riot. A referee in Europe has to run from a hail of firecrackers after making a questionable call. Have their been similar such incidents in Canada? Some Calgarians lifted their shirts and/or peed in public during the Flames' playoff run a few years back, but that's about it. And we were shocked. A Canadian team hasn't won the Stanley Cup -- our own trophy -- in 15 years, and how upset are we?</blockquote><br /><br />A few beefs and reefs.<br /><br />1. Riots in Montreal and Vancouver suggest that fans don't always accept losing very well. <br /><br />2. Many fans are upset that a Canadian team hasn't won a Stanley Cup in 15 years. That said, most players in cup winning teams are Canadian, so what's the big dealio?<br /><br />3. Sport is just that. SPORT! The fact that anyone would riot over the result of a soccer game or hockey game shows how insecure, immature, and petty those people are. Sport is supposed to be entertaining, and if you are not a player or working for that particular organization, what the hell does a loss really mean for you? <br /><br />Sure, I get upset and happy and all that, but I've never felt the need to light a car on fire ... although I do want to light Greg Millen on fire :)<br /><br />4. Canada does treat sports like a hobby more than a profession, unless you play hockey, or maybe baseball. In Hungary, a professional fencer is seen as a professional fencer. How many Canadians would take that seriously as a career? In Canada, a fencer would work at Wal-Mart part time to support themselves.<br /><br />5. Canada has, in the past, accepted "personal bests" far too often. Instead of wanting a GOLD MEDAL, we hear "Oh, I beat my personal best!" Bah, your personal best isn't good enough<br /><br />6. Then again, who the hell really cares if we get Olympic medals or not? I've lost most interest in this Olympic mafia, and I don't really care to watch weightlifting or shot put. <br /><br />7. Of course, I went nutso, as did the entire country, when Canada won Gold at Salt Lake City. Perhaps we just don't care enough about other sports.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-48365299913863491132008-08-14T09:35:00.000-07:002008-08-14T09:36:11.202-07:00It's a Cruel, Cruel Summer<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />(Yes, I used to listen to Ace of Base when I was a kid)<br /><br />One major factor in why it is hard to have true dynasties in this day and age is the "Stanley Cup Hangover".<br /><br />I'm not talking about the morning after drinking champagne from the holy mug, but rather the fact that the Stanley Cup Finalists often experience a drop-off in their record during the next season, especially early in the season. The fatigue builds such much that it is harder for the Cup finalists to repeat their great exploits from year to year.<br /><br />With the seasons getting longer and finishing later, the summer time break for NHL teams has been getting shorter and shorter. Is it any wonder why the Ducks, who also had to put up with a long trip to-from London, faltered so badly last season?<br /><br />Over at <a href="http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/emptynetters/archive/2008/08/13/down-time.aspx" target="_blank">Empty Netters, the excellent MSM blog over at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a>, Seth Rorabaugh crunches some numbers and we see that the Pittsburgh Penguins have the shortest summer break out of all the teams.<br /><br /><blockquote>After winning the Cup on June 6, 2007, the Ducks enjoyed a brief 115 days off before starting up again on Sept. 29 in London. That was the shortest offseason for any NHL team. The Penguins will own that distinction this offseason by having only 122 days off since losing the Cup to the Red Wings on June 4. <br /><br /></blockquote> Now, his calculations do not factor in training camps and pre-season games, so the summers for the Pens and Wings will be even shorter than indicated.<br /><br />Life in the NHL is physically brutal, and players have to work harder, faster, and take more physical punishment then players from 15+ years ago. Every player has to maintain a strong off-season training regimen, leaving few players with a true chance to take a long break from physical activity and fully recover. <br /><br />It should be no surprise if the Wings and Penguins start the season slowly and have problems later in the year with fatigue. The Wings, especially, might run into problems as their roster has more older players than the Penguins. <br /><br />Who should really benefit? Take a team on the upswing who had a long off-season, and I figure they will start off gangbusters. How about the Blackhawks? They added some big names, and have had lots of rest. The Capitals, too, could be primed to make another jump ... although their defence corps still sucks. <br /><br />So, how can a team beat this hangover and succeed year after year?<br /><br />For one thing, they could stop making these fricking long trips to Europe ... really, these jaunts really seem to do a number on the two teams who participate. <br /><br />Like Seth points out on his post, the Penguins experienced a rather high turnover for a Cup finalist, which means the newer players will be somewhat fresher and help compensate. The Wings? They experienced very little turnover. Perhaps cycling some fresh players in the depth positions can keep the team's skill level intact while helping offset the fatigue. <br /><br />It would be foolish to think the Wings and Penguins won't be very good next season, but one must strongly consider the factor of the "Stanley Cup Hangover" when making predictions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-958955731476036372008-08-13T10:20:00.001-07:002008-08-13T10:23:22.220-07:00Jarret Stoll and Rachel Hunter: Engaged<i>by Jes</i><br /><br /><center><img src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/13/article-1044600-024090C000000578-575_468x548.jpg"/></center><br />Well, it seems like MILF Hunter Jarret Stoll has taken the next step in his relationship with ex-model/prowling cougar Rachel Hunter: <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1044600/Age-barrier-says-Rachel-Hunter-gets-engaged-ice-hockey-star-13-years-younger.html" target="_blank">Engagement.</a><br /><br />Yes, the sexy "veteran" has managed to convince a man 13 years younger than she is to go down the aisle. <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/03/stoll-still-scoring-with-hunter/" target="_blank">The warnings signs were certainly there</a>, and Stoll made his move quickly.<br /><br /><blockquote>Rod Stewart's ex-wife Rachel Hunter is set to tie the knot with her ice hockey player boyfriend who is 13 years her junior.<br /><br />Hunter, 38, confirmed her engagement to 26-year-old Jarret Stoll to People.com.<br /><br />The model has reportedly told friends: 'He's my first true love since Rod, and the age difference isn't an issue.'</blockquote><br /><br />Talk about a good trade! Rod Stewart has been decrepit beyond belief for some time, and looks like he's been around the block a few thousand times.<br /><br />Stoll? He's young, fit, and can handle his stick quite well ... although he seems to lack finish. Maybe she likes it like that?<br /><br />Although Hunter is rather old for him, I still have to say Stoll did pretty well for himself. The former model has aged quite well, and certainly is capable of handling the spotlight.<br /><br />Now that Stoll is with the LA Kings, expect this couple to get even more publicity than they already do. A marriage made in hockey heaven.<br /><br />---<br /><br /><a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/12/hasek-no-dominator-in-the-business-world/" target="_blank">Dominik Hasek's overpriced "Dominator" clothing line is hemorrhaging cash</A> ... Is anyone surprised? Does anyone feel one iota sorry for the douchebag?<br /><br />I didn't think so.<br /><br />Nike may very well be able to charge exhobitant prices for their cheap goods, simply because they have a stupid SWOOSH on them, but Hasek has no such marketing clout.<br /><br />It seems rather funny, too, that Hasek's line will close down in Czechia, but still be open in the USA.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-86359369560856925332008-08-08T12:14:00.003-07:002008-08-08T12:14:53.349-07:00Why I'm Boycotting the 2008 Summer Olympics<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeY5V9EWPOEwGg0J2woaCqi96wqYOuuYRGpNckI5Eg2opozB9J0uIVNIT0MHzItSONkj3p_gvR-20rFe4Qj1mZ3_4L2zGX-3hsw2AUToqSwaXvIW0U9AhSFAakr73RaNIAqn0cN5oJgln3/s320/20070704213306363.jpg"><img style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeY5V9EWPOEwGg0J2woaCqi96wqYOuuYRGpNckI5Eg2opozB9J0uIVNIT0MHzItSONkj3p_gvR-20rFe4Qj1mZ3_4L2zGX-3hsw2AUToqSwaXvIW0U9AhSFAakr73RaNIAqn0cN5oJgln3/s320/20070704213306363.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><i>by Jes</i><br /><br />I'm not one to tell people what to think or what to do, but that won't stop me from expressing some prickly opinions that will rub some the wrong way, nor will it stop me from trying to change the way people look or think about a particular issue.<br /><br />Something that has irked me for some time is the Olympic(tm) Games. Ever since Vancouver was awarded (cursed) the 2010 Winter Olympics, we've seen just how disgusting this whole process is.<br /><br />Make no mistake about it, the Olympics are not about the athletes. The athletes simply provide the cheap entertainment and public front for the money generating merchandise machine that few people truly profit from.<br /><br />The athletes? Most of them have to scrape by with part-time jobs at Home Depot or the like, with very few getting those lucrative endorsement deals.<br /><br />Who truly profits? The large corporations, TV stations, developers, wealthy sponsors, and cronies will run the Olympic mafia. Few athletes ever make all that much money, and many of them have to put off more lucrative careers to train in their chosen sport.<br /><br />As we've seen in Vancouver, the government has spared no expense in dolling out millions of dollars on pork projects that profit very little real value to the people of BC. Millions for an Olympic skating oval? What good will it be after the Games are done? Oh, we can train more Olympic athletes. Lovely. Meanwhile, the downtown Eastside of Vancouver remains one of the most depressing places on Earth.<br /><br />Now, let's talk about China, that fabulous producer of cheap lead-tainted toys and about 95% of the products we buy.<br /><br />When the mafia awarded China the 2008 games, it was due to the fact that China promised to clean up its act in the arena of human rights. The IOC figured that putting China in the spotlight would force the Chinese Communist Party to improve living conditions and such in China.<br /><br />Have things improved? Not really.<br /><li>Tibet still remains under the strong thumb of China, with the Dalai Lama called a 'terrorist'. Really.<br /><li>The pollution in Beijing is so awful that many athletes pulled out of the games, worrying more about their long-term health than a shiny medal.<br /><li>Chinese secret police pose as Tibetan Monks or members of other interest groups to make those groups look bad. Classy.<br /><li>Freedom of the press rarely exists, and has not gotten better.<br /><li>Darfur, anyone?<br /></li><br /><br />I know, I know ... Canada is far from perfect on the Human Rights issue, but we've long passed the point where we execute people and harvest their organs because they choose to follow a religion not approved by the majority.<br /><br />I also know that I sound like a radical of some sort, but I don't take this as a partisan issue. The Olympic Games simply costs us peons millions of dollars and gives us nothing but a 2-week party and lots of expensive bills to pay on shiny new buildings nobody needs. Just ask the people of Athens what a poor investment the Olympic Games really is. People of any political stripe should be able to see that they are getting the short end of the stick.<br /><br />There isn't really much us peons can do if we're not into protesting, so do the next best thing and simply don't watch. It's not as if the Summer Olympics is all that thrilling, and you ought to be outside enjoying the sun. If the Olympics got low ratings, it might send a message, albeit a small one, that people are rather tired of the over-hyped Olympic machine.<br /><br />Of course, I know that won't happen, so go back to being reamed by the mafia if you so desire.<br /><br />If you want to learn more, visit these sites.<br /><br />http://boycott2008games.blogspot.com/<br />http://boycott2008olympics.org/<br />http://www.boycott-china-2008.info/<br /><span style="font-size:85%;">http://www.alternet.org/story/94278/china_unveils_frightening_futuristic_police_state_at_olympics/</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-5494245933826765552008-08-06T12:20:00.001-07:002008-08-06T12:20:13.247-07:00Summer Movie Musings<em>by Jes</em><br /><br />Since there is a lack of interesting hockey news, I might as well do a little summer movie review. Why? Just because my brain is suddenly churning around thoughts about movies and I have no other outlet.<br /><br />I invite you all to share your comments and recommendations.<br /><br /><strong>Batman: The Dark Knight (9.5/10)</strong><br /><br />If you are one of the few people that hasn't seen it, then I can easily tell you that this movie definitely lives up to the hype. This is an incredible feat given how much attention this movie got after Heath Ledger kicked the bucket.<br /><br />Yes, Ledger's performance is awesome, and even tops the great Joker that Jack Nicholson gave us. Lost in the hype machine is the fact that Aaron Eckhard gives a masterful performance as Harvey Dent/Two-Face.<br /><br />My only beef with the movie is that we have no history/background of the Joker ... he just appears and creates chaos! It would have been nice to get some of the motivation behind his insanity.<br /><br /><u>Maggie Gylenhaal</u> - To be shallow and blunt, this girl just looks weird. Definitely a big drop off from Katie Holmes in the looks department. Gylenhaal has this perpetual deer-in-the-headlights expression on her face, which makes me wonder how she got a career in Hollywood.<br /><br /><strong>Hellboy 2 (8/10)</strong><br /><br />This summer's hidden gem is the least hyped and talked about superhero movies of the summer. The first Hellboy never got the recognition it deserves, and the sequel was just as entertaining.<br /><br />Ron Perlman is one of the best, if not the best, actor-in-makeup/costume that I've grown up with. He plays the character beautifully.<br /><br />The CGI creatures in this movie and the Troll Market are some of the most creative ... err ... creations that I've seen in a movie in quite some time. The 'tooth faeries' are brilliant, as is the giant nature elemental. I normally don't like too much CGI, but this movie does it so well that I didn't even think about it during the movie.<br /><br />The downside? The relationship between Hellboy and his flaming girlfriend is really not explored enough, and the way the 'normal' people react to Hellboy is also just a little unreal.<br /><br /><strong>Iron Man (7.5/10)</strong><br /><br />This was another enjoyable superhero movie that did a good job kick-starting another franchise. Downie Jr. is the perfect casting as Tony Stark, and Jeff Bridges made a fine villain.<br /><br />This movie gives you a lot of laughs, which is not what most superhero movies do, and gives us a flawed character that is easy to like (unlike Batman, who is rather hard to like at times).<br /><br />I just don't get why people are quite so gaga over this movie. It does lack a lot of action (we see way too much of Stark working on his suits), and the terrorists that Iron Man escapes from are way too dumb. You have to suspend belief just a little too much for my liking, especially since Iron Man tries to be quite realistic in its delivery.<br /><br /><strong>Be Kind, Rewind (3/10)</strong><br /><br />This was a movie my g/f and I rented, and I was rather disappointed. The idea is a cute one (quite original) and there are quite a few chuckles, but there aren't nearly enough laughs and the characters in the movie are way too dumb to be believable.<br /><br />Call it a concept that was good in theory, but poor in execution.<br /><br /><strong>Superhero Movie (4/10)<br /></strong><br />Typical spoof movie. Lots of chuckles, too many fart jokes, but not enough jabs at the franchises outside of Spiderman. A decent rental if you want something brainless.<br /><br /><strong>Young Triffie (0/10)<br /></strong><br />Ok, so I rented this some time back, but it was one of the worst pieces of vomit that I've ever let my eyeballs experience. I know it's Canadian and some people went gaga over it, but I'd suggest you never even consider watching this movie unless compensated in triple figures.<br /><br />a. No captions, so my g/f couldn't watch it (a blessing in disguise)<br />b. The same "oops, the cop screws up" gags over and over and over again. Purely clumsy characters just aren't funny after the first couple of gags.<br />c. Mary Walsh, who is the female equivalent of Robin Williams (NOT FUNNY). She basically ruins any scene or show she is on. Everyone knows she was the weak link on 22 Minutes.<br />d. Slow ... like Molasses in July.<br /><br /><strong>Futurama - </strong><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054485/"><strong>The Beast With A Billion Backs</strong></a><strong> (6/10) </strong><br /><br />Much weaker than Bender's Big Score, and one of Futurama's poorer efforts. I don't understand why so much production went into this movie when most Futurama episodes are better than this. A decent rental for Futurama fans, but not worth buying.<br /><br /><strong>Bladerunner, The Final Cut (10/10)<br /></strong><br />OK, so this was about 99.9% similar to the Director's Cut I own, so it seems like a rather pointless remake. I did rent it to show it to my g/f, who *GASP* hadn't seen it.<br /><br />Anyway, the non-narrated version (Which was the Theatre Cut) gets an easy 10/10. Amazingly, it hardly looks all that dated, even after 24 years.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-81208328802974953902008-08-01T12:20:00.001-07:002008-08-01T12:20:47.165-07:00Celebrity Matchmaker: Sidney Crosby & Miley Cyrus<i>by Jes (<span style="font-size:85%;">Cross-posted on the sister site</span>)</i><br /><br />A lot of NHL players are getting hooked up with celebs these days, and it's great PR for the league.<br /><br />Elisha Cuthbert and Dion Phaneuf (assist to Sean Avery)<br />Eric Lindros and Kate Hudson<br />Alexander Ovechkin and Igor Larionov's daughter<br />Alexei Yashin and model Carol Alt<br />Mike Comrie and Hillary Duff<br /><br />So, why isn't Crosby getting in on the act? Where is his arm candy?<br /><br />Imagine the publicity the NHL would get if Sidney was shackin up with a Hollywood celeb? Oh, it would be way bigger than Gretzky/Jones.<br /><br />Who would we pair Sidney up with? Lindsay Lohan? Ewww ... Jessica Biel? Taken. Alanis Morrissette? Too old.<br /><br />Miley Cyrus? DING DING DING DING DING!!!<br /><center><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSixv9z24Q6pLFMYJhRez5ksf5EzS0-VboHCpLE72_9_SiEMj7_2-7NJmR6u5YwxdZTT9wvfNpBY8GYyH1nIYt8drZdUxwN2xbydz5vJaHAJxCGgFimoEU4AdjlPaE_e6A9KXrSqLVjybk/s1600-h/220px-Mileydog.png"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229630579552097778" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSixv9z24Q6pLFMYJhRez5ksf5EzS0-VboHCpLE72_9_SiEMj7_2-7NJmR6u5YwxdZTT9wvfNpBY8GYyH1nIYt8drZdUxwN2xbydz5vJaHAJxCGgFimoEU4AdjlPaE_e6A9KXrSqLVjybk/s400/220px-Mileydog.png" border="0" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQOXlNfQQeVUtuuEe24BqtpV_-wsz_vuDeUGP7D4dA-csuah41aP_fKChuJV_HBxwxG-4R3qoGYbiiNzmam_7fkRmEeqiGf6SwxGjck-4NKkoP560iewIHIBRSILdWTtYuuRNkTgkeQ09/s1600-h/sidney_crosby.jpg"> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5229630697722185650" style="CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqQOXlNfQQeVUtuuEe24BqtpV_-wsz_vuDeUGP7D4dA-csuah41aP_fKChuJV_HBxwxG-4R3qoGYbiiNzmam_7fkRmEeqiGf6SwxGjck-4NKkoP560iewIHIBRSILdWTtYuuRNkTgkeQ09/s400/sidney_crosby.jpg" border="0" /></a></center><br /><br />Just look at them and their big, toothy grins! Wouldn’t this be a match made in heaven? Just think of the headlines this would generate, and how a new legion of teenage girls would latch onto hockey like never before.<br /><br />Cyrus, the mostly squeaky clean teen with a big future ahead of her is just waiting to be broken into the dating game with a young, big name celeb.<br /><br />Sidney needs someone who can deal with his star power. A regular girl just won't do. Sidney also needs a partner who is rather 'fresh' and possesses the same upbeat personality.<br /><br />Oh, you say, but Cyrus is only 15 years of age?<br /><br />Damnit!!!! I guess there are laws to be followed. <i>*sulk*</i><br /><br />Still, if Sidney is willing to wait a year or two, and Billy Ray gives it his OK, then I think we ought to hook these two up and let the sparks fly.<br /><br />Who's with me?<br /><br />----<br /><br />Check out these totally gnarly posts over at FanHouse:<br /><br />James Mirtle gives us some <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/01/portraits-in-heroism-fanhouse-edition/" target="_blank">Portraits in Heroism (aka Photochop madness)</a><br /><br />I cover the <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/01/did-kate-hudson-trade-in-lance-armstrong-for-eric-lindros/" target="_blank">Kate Hudson/Eric Lindros rumours. Ooooh, gossip!</a><br /><br />JP thinks <a href="http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2008/08/01/is-pascal-leclaire-the-next-martin-brodeur/" target="_blank">Pascal Leclaire is the next Martin Brodeur</a>, sans Golden Horseshoe up the arse.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-67524906049171794682008-07-31T10:09:00.000-07:002008-07-31T10:10:30.940-07:00Where Have All The Slovaks Gone?<span style="font-size:78%;">long time passing ...</span><br /><br /><i>by Jes</i><br /><br />One of the sub-themes of this summer's Free Agent silliness has been the exodus of some well-known Czech and Slovak players back to Europe. These guys either want to play at home in Czechia/Slovakia, or try out the new Kontinental Hockey League.<br /><br />Jaroslav Modry is the latest Czech to say buh-bye to the NHL, <a href="http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jqHq7EXOimaZpY59KSDJ616oNasA" target="_blank">signing with HC Liberec (the White Tigers, they're grrrrrrrrreat!) for two seasons.</a><br /><br />Of course, d00d is 37 years old and was declining quite badly, but it's still sucky to have less Czech in the NHL.<br /><br />Who else has left us?<br /><br /><strong>Jaroslav Hlinka:</strong> Colorado Avalanche (NHL) to Linköping (SWE)<br /><strong>Jaromír Jágr:</strong> New York Rangers (NHL) to Avangard Omsk (RUS)<br /><strong>Tomáš Pöpperle:</strong> Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) to HC Sparta Praha<br /><strong>Martin Straka:</strong> NY Rangers (NHL) to HC Lasselsberger Plzeň<br /><strong>Martin Ručinský:</strong> St. Louis (NHL) to HC Sparta Praha<br /><strong>Josef Vašíček:</strong> NY Islanders (NHL) to Lokomotiv Jaroslavl (RUS)<br /><strong>David Výborný:</strong> Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) HC Sparta Praha<br /><br /><strong>Jozef Balej:</strong> Manitoba Moose (AHL) to Ocelari Trinec (CZE)<br /><strong>Ivan Baranka:</strong> Hartford(AHL)/NY Rangers(NHL) to Spartak Moscow (RUS)<br /><strong>Marcel Hossa:</strong> Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) to Dynamo Riga (KHL)<br /><strong>Branislav Mezei:</strong> Florida Panthers (NHL) to Barys Astana<br /><strong>Branko Radivojevic:</strong> Minnesota Wild (NHL) to Spartak Moscow (RUS)<br /><strong>Stefan Ruzicka:</strong> Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) to Spartak Moscow (RUS)<br /><strong>Jozef Stumpel</strong>: Florida Panthers (NHL) to Barys Astana<br /><br />Obviously, Jagr's departure is the one that creature all the headlines, but we have other semi-stars, regulars, and fine prospects that are heading back to Europe and giving up on the NHL.<br /><br />*teardrop*<br /><br />At least we'll always have <a href="http://jesgolbez.blogspot.com">Pavol Demitra!</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8375315068105948087.post-68859188852286564072008-07-30T12:18:00.001-07:002008-07-30T12:18:55.689-07:00Mark Parrishes From the Wild<i>by Jes</i><br /><br />Back when I used to cover the Florida Panthers, Mark Parrish was one of my favourite prospects on the club. I always have a soft spot for players who play the kind of game I do when I play ball hockey, and Parrish came from the school of Dave Andreychuk offensive forwards.<br /><br />Sadly, Parrish has never been quite able to match Andreychuk's numbers, or come close to them, and will probably be known more for being part of the awful Roberto Luongo deal than anything else.<br /><br />It shouldn't be a huge surprise to see that the Wild, facing some cap issues, <a href="http://www.twincities.com/ci_10034708?source=most_emailed" target="_blank">had to waive Parrish and his $2.5M+ salary.</a><br /><br /><br /><blockquote>"Do I think Mark Parrish can still play in the league, can he make some adjustments to still be effective? Yes," [GM Doug] Risebrough said.<br /><br />The presence of Parrish, who was paid $2.5 million last season, would have cost the team a salary cap hit of $2.65 million this season, bringing the Wild about $2.1 million short of the cap.<br /><br />"Too close," Risebrough said. "We were looking for a little relief away from the cap."<br /><br />The team had few options, he added. "I looked at Mark's salary and at what I thought his contributions would be and they were not totally in line," he said. "It's not Mark's fault;<br /><br />I negotiated the contract."</blockquote><div>Well, Parrish's contract wasn't too out of line given that he was an unrestricted free agent, but putting an offensive winger onto a defensive team and expecting good numbers isn't always the best recipe for success.<br /><br />When I look at the career of Mark Parrish, I see a player whose style of play led to quite a few injuries as well as a player who only ever scored 30 goals once. </div><div><br /> </div><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5228888379576442418" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3azaQZJoJZMAAnKxXdY3KMzTD-5lz-edstoiofpQFDOO95jz10guHuWPy4WbqK_ulaxWmx8FV3yrQ2Qkd5iNnGYC1xwTFETHRb-f0QNOAkwraHiEH9H-CrlNJtUDeF05eT5Pa5E1tdMe/s400/PARRISH.JPG" border="0" /><br />One other noticeable trend, besides the fact that Parrish was good at not taking penalties, is that Parrish NEVER got 200 shots on goal in one season ... not even close! You'd figure a net hang-a-rounder like Parrish would easily cross that threshold, but the guy never seemed to be consistent enough to be a dangerous offensive machine.<br /><br />Parrish has had a solid career, and done well for a 3rd round draft pick, but I still get the feeling he could have been so much better.<br /><br />* <a href="http://www.wildpuckbanter.com/2008/07/gm-jacques-lemaire.html" target="_blank">Over at Wild Puck Banter</a>, Pavol Lover <b>Roy Malhberg</b> suspects that Jacques Lemaire had a hand in this transaction. Is there something between Parrish and Lemaire we don't know about?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16882752106662170837noreply@blogger.com0