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Would most magazines exist if they didn’t make lists like this one?
Why, why, why would the NHL Network (channel 401 on Cablevision, NJ) broadcast the tape-delayed live broadcast of a game (GREAT!), but will feature a scroll bar at the bottom telling you the final score of the game? I’ve got to now force myself to not let my eyes wander.
I know someone else here (Rally?) said that the MLB.com games have a somewhat similar problem, in that you can tell how much broadcast time is left in the game (because of the scroll bar), and therefore, likely precludes certain outcomes if you are nearing the end of the scroll bar.
Montreal is infamous for its hockey riots. We had the one with Rocket(*) Richard being suspended and the league president was in the building the following game. We’d have one following a Cup victory. And, of all things, one happened last night after the first round (still 3 more rounds to go to the Cup). First time for that one. Almost always, it’s following the last game of the playoffs.
And the fans usually target cop cars. What makes Montreal such a target is that everything is downtown. The arena is right at the heart of downtown, there are tons of bars and restaurants downtown, the subway (Metro) has two lines that goes right through downtown, you can get from any part of the island to downtown in under an hour, and typically 20 minutes. Downtown is where the action is. And the people who start the riots are not the ones that go to the game! Just your standard hooligans who take advantage of the situation. And Montreal police is usually undermanned in these sport riot situations (until the next time). You’d think they’d learn their lesson. But, someone’s gotta pay I guess.
A true shame. You just need a few hundred idiots, and if you put them all in the same place, bad things will happen that is irrespective of the thousands of other law abiders. I’m sure Detroiters know what we’re talking about.
(*) There’s only one Rocket. I don’t like it that Clemens and Ismael got the same nick name.
For a long time, there were two major online hockey databases that I was using: HockeyDB.com, by Ralph Slate, and EuroHockey.net by lots of people. Now, we have Hockey-Reference.com by Justin Kubatko, with data provided by NHL-sanctioned Dan Diamond.
The NHL seems to be embracing the share and share alike that is the web motto:
“We actually support people snagging content of ours,” Mika said. “We love for our fans to share content and to send the links around. It’s something we really encourage.” The NHL is able to control the use and distribution of highlights because it is not locked into television deals with major networks. Using material gleaned from NBC, Versus, and the various regional cable rightsholders packages, the NHL can offer video content to its fans to see and share free of charge.
Michael Farber, one of the great writers few know, describing Joe Juneau’s post-NHL life.
I love goalie masks, and USA Today has them all. As is typical for most people, I prefer those from my youth: Ken Dryden and Gerry Cheevers. It’s different now, since all goalies have the grid shield, not the face shield those goalie had.
The Hockey News has a magazine out that discusses The 60 Greatest Moments in Hockey in the Last 60 Years.
I thought it would be interesting to find the MLB equivalent of their lists:
It seems that some NHL teams choose not to insure some of their player contracts.
Despite the controversy, organizers say they want to run a similar camp next off-season. “We’ll keep doing this clinic as long as there’s a demand for it. As long as there’s fighting in the NHL,” Lakness said. One young hockey player, Brayden Gelsinger, says it’s all part of the game. “It’s important because if you’re in a situation where someone’s pushing you around and stuff, you got to defend yourself and your teammates,” Gelsinger said. While Rich Hesketh, the Calgary Flames’ fitness coach, said 12-year-olds are too young to learn how to fight, there is at least one dissenting opinion. “If they’re there teaching kids at the ages of 12, 13, 14 to defend themselves, that’s fine,” said Wayne Gretzky. “I took boxing classes when I was 10. It didn’t pay off for me.”
This happens in the NHL all the time. It’s really quite shocking. The latest recipient of this largesse is the NHL’s MVP, Sidney Crosby. Crosby is this generation’s Wayne or Mario. In his second season, at the age of 19, he was the league’s MVP.
The NHL has a rookie cap, meaning that for the first three years, a player caps out at 850,000$ per year for 3 years. (And there’s no signing bonuses either.) In the NHL, you become a free agent at the age of 27, or if you have 7 years under your belt. In Crosby’s case, that means playing just 5 more years. In short, something like A-Rod went through in Seattle.
The NHL cap is 20% of the team payroll cap, which is currently 50MM. Between the rookie cap and free agency, you have restricted free agency (meaning arbitration, or if some other team signs your player, you give up draft picks… topping out at four 1st rounders in the case of Sid). Crosby signed an extension of 5/45 (meaning 1 year of free agency has been bought out). This is a free-agent deal, for a guy who is still under the rookie cap. How does this make any sense? Crosby has no leverage.
Also note that the salary cap has been jumping like crazy each year, since the lockout. It started at 39MM, then jumped to 44MM, and now at 50MM. As you can see, the NHL is swimming in cash. If they keep increasing at say 5MM per year, the salary cap would go to 11MM next, 12MM after, 13MM, then 14MM. So Crosby, who as a free agent would have been able to sign single year 5yr deals totalling 65MM, or a 5yr next year at 60MM signs an extension for 5/45. So, he’s not getting the full free agent deal, but that’s awfully close for a guy with two years under his belt.
This causes problems for the rest of the league, since now Crosby can be used in arbitration for the elite players. And even if not, it sets the trend for other players to get near-free agent deals, and those deal will be used in arbitration. (Unless the arbitration process isn’t what I think it is.)
The science of anticipation. Great article. (Hat tip: Zumsteg)
Little nitpick: Gretzky was not slow and he did not have a soft shot. He was well above-average in both. Here’s one video, which you can pick up at the 40 second mark to see his shot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXrX0BrPHlg
And a shot from the blueline:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wJ_wrqMUS4
Here’s him at full speed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2e_utfyIy2A
Versus is a cable channel, where the NHL has its games.
On my cable system (Cablevision), channels 35, 36 are ESPN2 and ESPN. Channels 37 through 49 are various movie and serial channels, like USA, TNT, AMC. Channels in the 50s are entertainment shows, the 60s are weather and CPAN types, and 70s have MSG and YES. All the way on channel 408 is Versus. Men are channel surfers. But, they’re not going to surf from channel 72 to 408. They’re certainly not going to type 408.
According to The Hockey News, MLB on FOX got a 2 rating, and NHL on NBC got a 1. That’s pretty good in comparison. Remember that the NHL revenues are a bit over 2 billion, compared to the 6 billion of MLB. Versus is on about half the homes of NBC, but it got 20% the ratings of NBC. Location, location, location. Versus needs to at least move into the channels 140s, like ESPN News and Fox Sports.
The NHL should also abandon any hopes to “convert” fans, especially since this is being done at the expense of annoying the core base. The NHL is a regional sport. Leave it at that. Bettman has the same attitude like NJ politicians, as they tried to come up with a state slogan (all of the form “Please love me"). Desperation is not attractive.
An interesting breakdown of how players turn out, relative to draft position:
http://www.hockeyanalysis.com/?p=316
Just for fun…
There were 987 fighting majors handed out in the NHL, in 2006/07. George Parris of Anaheim, 6’5”, 232 lbs, lead the league with 18 fights. While the average forward would play 15 minutes, and a fourth-liner would play at least 10 minutes, Parros played 10 minutes in one game, otherwise all of his other games were under 8 minutes. Parros managed the feat of leading the league in fights, even though he only played 34 games (less than half a season). He played a grand total of 170 minutes in the NHL. Imagine, 18 fights in 170 minutes of play. A goon in the classic sense.
But, I’m interested in something else. Who do goons fight? For this study…
Owning a team? Being GM? Batboy? Fughedabowdit. What can be cooler than being the Zamboni driver?
In hockey, like basketball I suppose, there are sure-fire players that you can find at an early age (I’m talking about 15 and younger). Gretzky is the most prominent, as he was a 6-yr old playing against 10-yr olds. And, when he was 11, he met the greatest player ever until that point, Gordie Howe. His destiny was written for him. He just had to execute. Even though he says he loves playing baseball more.
Since Gretzky—The Great One—every few years we get to hear about The Next One. Mario Lemieux was the first to be put on that pedestal (famously refusing to come to the podium when he was drafted, because of stalled negotiations), and he earned it, with his coming-out-ceremony happening with The Great One in one of the most remarkable series and pairing of talent anywhere, the 1987 Canada Cup. The next one to get the label was Eric Lindros (refusing to sign with the Nordiques, who eventually traded him for someone, as it turned out, better in Peter Forsberg, a few other players, and millions of dollars). Until derailed by multiple concussions, Lindros was also on his way. Then, Sidney Crosby was the guy, and he’s in the running for MVP this year, and he’ll still be a teenager when the award will be handed out.
And now, it’ll be John Tavares:
With 72 goals this season, Tavares broke a 29-year-old Ontario Hockey League record for most goals by a 16-year-old player. The old mark was 70 goals, set in 1977-78 by some kid named Gretzky. Last season, Tavares had more points than Bobby Orr had as a 15-year-old for Oshawa. The OHL had to alter its rules to allow Tavares to be drafted as a 14-year-old.
Until he’s finally drafted, here’s some fun look at the Stanley Cup, the way a real trophy is supposed to look:
Champagne is the drink of champions and every year and every party we go to, champagne is always in me. That’s always good. It always cleans me out very good inside. Beer is popular. A lot of players have kids, so I know you mentioned cereal. Froot Loops is probably one of my favorite cereals that has been in me. The first time we were in Russia, they filled me up with vodka — and that’s one big shot glass. Clark Gillies told me that when he won, he used to take his dogs for a walk every day. His dogs were an important part of their win, so he had his dogs eat out of me. Larry Robinson owns farms and he had his cow eat out of me. We went to a movie with Martin Brodeur and his kids and we sat in the front row and they filled me up with popcorn.
Tim talks about the double-standard that MLB faces with regards to drugs.
Ken Fidlin ponders a what-if, which I’ll paraphrase for baseball purposes:
Suspend reality for a moment while we paint a grim, fictional picture. It is the day after the final game of the World Series and the Yankees, America’s most decorated franchise, have won their 25th title, double the total of any other team in MLB. There is, however, little joy in New York, or any other city in America for that matter.
The team general manager has resigned, embroiled in a game-fixing scandal that appears to involve league referees and administration officials. The scandal already has claimed the MLB commissioner, who was forced to resign in disgrace the week previous. Former President George W Bush has been appointed “extraordinary commissioner” to sift through the allegations and clean up the mess. The entire Yankees board of directors has resigned and shares of the publicly-traded company are sinking faster than the Titanic.
Meanwhile, the Yankees’ highest paid player is under investigation as part of a massive gambling and game-fixing scandal from two years previous. The star is accused of betting on games in which he was playing. In all, dozens are under investigation for various roles in the scandal, and that may just be the tip of the iceberg. If the allegations are proven against the Yankees GM, it is very likely that the World Series victory will be nullified and the team banished from the league.
With that horrifying, fictitious scenario fixed firmly in your brain, we welcome you to the wonderful world of Italian soccer. And this is no fantasy. It’s real and it’s happening, almost on the eve of the 2006 World Cup.
European soccer can weather its gambling scandal. The NBA, NHL, and NFL would be able to weather any drug scandal that will come its way. If I were to tell you that rock stars dabble in drugs, you’d hardly be surprised. The surprise would be that they didn’t. And the truth is that teenagers are far more influenced by musicians than athletes. Parents know this because they’ve lived it.
We’ve all come to accept that everything in our world is tainted, and we’ve gotta live with it. But, not baseball. Baseball is above it all, a pure and beautiful game that MLB has the privilege to control. A right that it must abdicate if they don’t keep it pure and beautiful. That’s the bullshit that Field of Dreamers believe.
Baseball is baseball, and MLB is MLB, and MLB is Eurpoean Soccer, NHL, NFL, and Rock Stars. When you are watching MLB, you are not watching baseball, that pure and beautiful game. You are watching an event, like any other event performed by the best money (and other things) can buy. And all the sellers (the performers) and all the middle-men (management) and all the buyers (you) are complicit.
Live with reality.
May 16 22:50
Dodgers’ win reversed because Mattingly did not attest to proper score!
May 16 20:44
How to beat the shift
May 16 20:02
Sponsoring MLB jerseys
May 16 19:34
Now you frame it, now you don’t
May 16 16:56
Did Manny Pacquaio actually quote Leviticus?
May 16 16:06
Does changing your pitch frequency lead to substantial change in results?
May 16 14:18
Extra Innings: One-minute review
May 16 14:16
This particular criticism of UZR is unfounded
May 16 13:21
Psst… wanna intern for the Astros?
May 16 12:23
Arena wars
THREADS
May 16, 2012
Now you frame it, now you don’t
May 16, 2012
Dodgers’ win reversed because Mattingly did not attest to proper score!
May 16, 2012
Does changing your pitch frequency lead to substantial change in results?
May 16, 2012
Sponsoring MLB jerseys
May 15, 2012
Andre The Hawk Dawson speaks
May 15, 2012
Euro 2012 Preview
May 15, 2012
How to beat the shift
May 15, 2012
Will Pujols end the season with at least 30 HR and .500 SLG?
May 15, 2012
Kershaw v Strasburg, part 2
May 15, 2012
Did Manny Pacquaio actually quote Leviticus?
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