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Posted on 01/08/2013 1:16:44 PM PST by shove_it
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. You know when a player who really loves his team and city gets traded, and he gives an emotional speech about how sometimes you forget hockey is a business, and that sometimes makes it unpleasant? Let this lockout be a lesson that the same goes for fans. During that 113-day ordeal, you were repeatedly condescended to, taken advantage of, and lied to, by both sides of the argument. But never forget that the contents of your wallet, like one of the podded-up humans in The Matrix, are nothing but fuel for a machine that cruelly exploits you....
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.sports.yahoo.com ...
Crosby spoke at length about his sympathy for what fans have gone through during the lockout, which lasted nearly four months. NHL fans missed the 2004-05 season, which was lost because of a lockout.
He hopes they will remain loyal to the Penguins and the league.
“Hopefully everyone comes back,” Crosby said. “I understand people are frustrated. It‘s more than understandable for people to be frustrated. I don‘t blame them at all. I just hope everyone is excited by the news and by the idea of hockey being back. I‘m sure there are a lot of happy people out there, but I understand there are those who are frustrated and discouraged. I understand it. I get that. I just hope they can find it in themselves to come back and support us. Their support means an awful lot to us.”
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Sorry, I don't know how I sent a "hat trick" post.
(a natural HT at that!)
Lots of money lost by Concessionaires, people who work the ice, set up the stadium, sell tickets,even people who clean the stadium, people who don’t get big salaries and got hurt by the strike. How do they make up for their loss?
Diehards will always be diehards.
I suggested a 120 game season to run through next year, taking two months off in the summer.
Ha! I like it. I used to think there ought to be a “law of maximum hockey.” That Nature should steer playoffs into 7th games and then steer 7th games into OT, etc.
But I’m not he fan I once was and tend to fall asleep these days as the 3rd OT drifts mindlessly into the 4th OT. Oh, well. Who knew.
What a ridiculous article written by a little liberal pleeb who knows nothing about business. Blames it all on the owners, even in a sport where many franchises struggle financially, going into more bad ecnomic years. What a maroon.
And FTR, his gratuitous shot at the Carolina Hurricanes shows ignorance too. For a small market franchise, 1 Cup and 3 conference finals in 10 year time frame ain’t too shabby.
Absolutely right! Billionaires and millionaires taking advantage of thousandaires. It just is not right. I’ll never watch a Flyers game again.
The Penguins desecrated the cup by leaving it in Mario's pool overnight. Pittsburgh will continue to suffer and probably should lose their team.
Nashville too. We’ve made the play-offs 6/8 last seasons.
I remember in ‘95 Bettman was a shill for every team with a big star - he was looking for Michael Jordan on skates. During his 2nd period interview just before the Devils (the very picture of what a hockey TEAM is) won the cup, I watched the fans whip french fries at him. You could see them flying by on camera as he spoke.
One of the finest moments in Hockey.
I’ll second that emotion. NHL fans will bitch about this fiasco for a while but we are fiercely loyal to our teams and will come back like we always do.
Didn't know that ... desecrating the Stanley Cup in this manner is unconscionable. This cup is the 'Holy Grail' of the NHL ... I've seen it hoisted in jubilation many times by victorious teams over the several decades I've been around ... grew up in Canada. The Penguins should be banished from the NHL. Screw Mario Lemieux.
Lots of crazy stuff happened to the Cup in the old days before the HOF started sending a handler around the world with it. Crazy stuff still happens to it, but it no longer gets left in streams and pools, now the craziness is generally limited to being used to dispense alcohol and food.
No offense, but yuck. Actually, the last time they went with a 48-game schedule, I thought the energy level it created was great -- every game meant so much more because there were relatively few chances to make up for any lost ground. Gave the regular season a more playoff-like atmosphere.
One thing I would like to see the league change (other than tarring and feathering Bettman) is how points are awarded. Right now, you have some games that award a total of 3 points (OT/shootout games) and others that award 2 points (regulation wins). Every game should be worth the same number of points, and if not, a regulation win should be worth more than an OT/shootout win. Simple solution: award 3 points for a regulation win, and keep the 2/1 split for OT/shootout. Simple solution #2: get rid of shootouts, make all wins worth 2 points, and ties 1 point each... like it used to be.
I have talked to some former NHL players who have had the privilege of having The Cup for a day. Believe me, having it in a swimming pool is nothing compared to what that cup has been through.
Some swimming pool chlorine is probably a good thing.
BTW. Mario's pool isn't the only time The Cup went swimming.
Barry Trotz is a great coach. I mark Preds for a cup
probably before the Sharks get one.
Barry Trotz is a great coach. I mark Preds for a cup
probably before the Sharks get one.
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