Posted on 05/13/2008 8:10:41 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
It's the economy, stupid.
Political strategist James Carville made that statement the focal point of Bill Clinton's successful run for the U.S. Presidency in 1992, but those words could also be directed at Hockey Night in Canada's guru of misinformation, Donald S. Cherry.
In rants on HNIC and ESPN, Cherry talked about the empty seats at Joe Louis Arena for Game 1 of the Dallas Stars-Detroit Red Wings series and blamed the decline in attendance on the Red Wings' style of play.
"The people hate the way the game is being played," Cherry said. "It's a redneck town, they love the banging and smashing. Don't say it's the economy because the Lions are selling out, the Pistons are selling out and the Tigers set a record in baseball, so it's not that. They like rock 'em, sock 'em hockey and they're not getting it."
Well Don, anyone who knows anything about what's happening in Detroit knows that it is the economy and the next time you go on a rant, you should check your facts.
For starters, Cherry's wrong when he talks about the relative success of the Red Wings and the other teams in Detroit.
It's true that, after years of playing to sellout-plus crowds during the regular season, the Red Wings' average attendance fell to 18,912 fans a game this season. But it still ranked seventh in total attendance in the NHL and played to 94.2 per cent of capacity.
By comparison, the NFL Lions last season sold 94.3 per cent of their available tickets and the baseball Tigers are running at 90.3 per cent of capacity this season with considerably cheaper tickets. The Pistons are doing better. They have sold out every game for nearly six consecutive seasons. But they don't play in Detroit. Their arena is located in a more affluent suburb.
The Detroit area has lost tens of thousands of jobs in the auto industry during the past decade. It had the highest unemployment rate in the U.S. for the past three years and the highest rate of home foreclosures each year since 2005.
Cherry would like people to think that he's one of the common folk but, when you're making twice as much money as the prime minister of Canada, you forget there are a lot of people in Detroit who can't plop down $2,000 for hockey tickets like his affluent friends in London.
Note from a music lover: Quebec nationalist publisher Michel Brûlé and I may not be on the same wavelength politically, but I agree with his complaint that there's too much English music being played during hockey games at the Bell Centre.
If you go to most arenas across North America, you hear the same music. It's occasionally racist, sexist or in bad taste, but the one common denominator is that it's loud.
But there are some exceptions. Go to Halifax or St. John's and you hear folk music that reflects the local heritage. Ditto for Nashville, which draws on its country heritage. It's ironic that, while George Gillett has expanded the range of shows at the Bell Centre and other venues to include more French acts, the breaks in the hockey games continue to be dominated by a playlist drawn up in New York.
Canadiens sign White: Ryan White, a 6-foot, 213-pound forward from the Calgary Hitmen, has signed a standard, three-year, entry-level contract with the Canadiens. A third-round draft choice in 2006, the Canadiens had to sign him before June 1 or he would have gone back in the draft.
prisoner6
2. The economy though is a problem. I don't have $80 extra to spend on a playoff Wings ticket in the upper bowl.
Edit that - Make that $160 for tickets (2 tickets).
I couldn’t stomach Dave Strader and Mickey Redmond. Redmond, especially. My friends that were hard-core fans said I was being irrational, and I probably was. But I used to watch the games on the TV with the sound off and listen to the radio broadcast.
Major league sports are too expensive for me, but it's not the economy. I just feel like it's poor stewardship to spend that much money on a sporting event. A friend of mine spent $200 per seat to see last season's Cowboys-Packers game. That's his business, but I won't do it.
By the way, my Spurs won last night.
I still do that with Monday Night Football.
I can't stand Barry Melrose whereever he is now. He's is still bitter about not getting the Wings job which went to Scotty Bowman. I have the sound off when Dook, I mean Dick Vitale or John Madden are on the TV screen. I'll stomach VS if I can't get the game on CBC, but they aren't my favorite.
I hear ya’ about Melrose. I don’t see him that often, but he’s always struck me as sort of a prick.
Grapes is a solid conservative who supports the military.
Besides, as a proud Minnesotan it’s great to laugh at “Hockeytown”.
Are you kidding me? The Wild is the gayest name for a team out there, even gayer than the Ducks. Gosh, did your state suffer when you sent the North Stars south.
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