Grady Whittenburg Interview
Below are some excerpts from a radio interview I conducted Monday afternoon with Binghamton Senators radio broadcaster Grady Whittenburg. Grady spent 12 seasons as the voice of Cornell Big Red college hockey before joining Ottawa's AHL affiliate in 2002.Grady and I covered a variety of topics during the interview, including the NHL's labor woes, the recent rule changes instituted by the American Hockey League, the WHA, and excessive violence in pro hockey.
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Grady on the lockout:
“Labor negotiations typically do come down to the last second with both parties waiting to see who’s going to blink first. But my gut tells me there isn’t going to be NHL hockey (come October) because there’s so much at stake.
I think the owners have given the players the right to think more highly of themselves then perhaps they should by awarding the various contracts that they have. The players have taken everything they’ve been given, but they still seem to want more. I don’t feel for either side.
I’m Joe Schmo. I make X thousands of dollars a year. I’d glady trade paychecks with an owner of an NHL team or even a fourth line right winger. They’re getting paid a heck of a lot more money for playing a game.
I don’t see an 11th hour resolution. That’s unfortunate because the NHL really can’t afford to give itself even more of a black eye than it already has, at least south of the border here in the United States. The fan base just isn’t there. Some of the cities, should the NHL go on a prolonged strike, may not survive it.”
Grady on the owners’ preparedness:
“If Pittsburgh, to use an example, would go dormant for a year, (the owners) would lose less money than if they actually schedule. I don’t know how that makes sense. But there are some instances with some franchises where if they don’t play, they’re actually better off. That’s a sad statement on the affairs of the NHL.
When you look at all the revenues that aren’t going to be there in the owners’ pockets, you would think they’d say, ‘Okay, we need 40 plus dates a year in our building to make things work.’ But on the other side, for most owners of professional sports franchises, (owning a team) is like a little piece of their puzzle.
Look at Tom Golisano. He owns the Buffalo Sabres, but the Sabres aren’t his main income stream, so (a lockout) doesn’t directly impact him. It impacts everyone who works below him, all the way down to the little guy that’s selling parking and concessions. But in the overall scheme of things, it doesn’t effect him a whole lot.”
Grady on the TV deal:
“Personally, I don’t think the threat of an impending lockout was enough to deter a more beneficial contract. When you look at hockey, it needs to be marketed. You need a Michael Jordan-type like the NBA had – things that are going to grab people.
You’ve known me for a few years now, Joe. I’m a hockey guy. But I’ll be darned if I can sit there and watch a whole game on TV. It’s not just TV friendly. I think that’s the biggest problem.
To get people hooked on hockey, number one, you have to have a better product. It can’t be as watered down as it is. But number two, you have to find a way to get people into the buildings, whether that’s to see a UHL game in Rockford, Illinois, or Elmira, New York or to an NHL game, you need to get them in that way.
The NHL is kind of looking at HDTV as its savior. It may be (the league’s) last chance to try to gain fans through that modem. Until they get that, hockey just isn’t friendly on a TV basis. The interest needs to be generated by people going to the games. Interest on TV is a passing interest.”
Grady on contraction and relocation:
“I think you have to consider both options. Certainly, you never want to contract a team. But the reality of the matter is you need to have strong franchises.
Not every franchise is going to be at 100 percent at any given point, but if you have a franchise that’s lagging at the gate and you move it to an area that hasn’t had pro hockey, it’s like an immediate injection. You look at the honeymoon period the Columbus Blue Jackets have enjoyed. It’s worn off a little bit with the San Jose Sharks, but they still bring them out in throngs to the Shark Tank.
I think both are viable options. In a perfect world, you don’t want to see a franchise fail, have to move, or worse yet, fold. But I think it may be inevitable if the NHL is really looking to make itself better for the future.”
Grady on the AHL goaltending restrictions:
“In an article I read last week in The Hockey News, (AHL President) David Andrews was asked about the rule change, and he said goaltenders will still be able to go behind the net and stop the hard-around dump-in pass. Well, to me, that’s basically what they were trying to eliminate. It’s very contradictory.
On one hand, I can say ‘Yes, I am in favor of it.’ You’ve got goaltenders like Rick DiPietro, who makes it very, very difficult on a team that plays a dump and chase style.
But the onus (should be) on the attacking team to up their skill a little bit to where they can carry it into the zone. Don’t (prevent a goalie from performing a skill) that he’s honed for many years. It’s a tweaking of the fabric of the game. How much more offense that’ll create, I really don’t know.”
Grady on shootouts:
“I’m not a big fan of shootouts. The hardcore Binghamton fans don’t like it. Like yourself, I see a lot of internet web forum chatter. By and large, fans think it’s rinky-dink. The league is using it as a marketing tool (to ensure a victor).
I think Binghamton, in its first two years, had anywhere between nine and 11 ties over the course of an 80-game schedule. You know what? I can live with that. To me, the shootout is going to take importance off the overtime period, which was also tweaked a number of years back.
(A shootout) handicaps the hard-working team that really had to scrape for 60 or 65 minutes to get to that point. The odds are not in their favor in a shootout.
To me, not one more person is going to come to Binghamton Senator games here at the Arena this season with the thought, ‘Gee, you know what? There could be a shootout. I’m going to buy a ticket with the hope of seeing that. I’m not going to see a tie game tonight.’ I don’t think fans think that way.’
On the flip side, (a shootout) is exciting. You do go home with a resolution. But I think (for a team that loses a shootout), there’s an empty feeling of (having) decided a game in the second-best hockey league in the world via a rinky-dink method.”
Grady on tag-up offsides:
“I love it. Some people don’t like it because they feel the lesser-skilled defensemen gain an advantage. I can see that point. But the flow of the game is so much better. Having broadcasted in the American League the last couple of years (after 12 years at Cornell), it’s funny how many more whistles I did notice (at the pro level). I’m looking for a little bit better flow to the game this year.
Grady on automatic icing:
“I like it. I became very used to it at Cornell. People say, ‘Oh, you’re eliminating an exciting play in the game.’ Well, it’s exciting about once every two weeks.”
Grady on bigger rinks:
“To me, if you want to open up offense, make the rinks a little bit bigger. Not Olympic sized, but maybe make the rinks 90 or 95 feet wide, instead of 85 feet, to open up the wings.
I think that would take away from the (head) injury situation because you’ll have more room on the ice and (less time will be spent) along the boards.”
Grady on the WHA’s viablility:
“I don’t see big name players going there. If the NHL doesn’t play and if some (minor league) players that have been taken in the free agent draft decide to play there, then maybe some NHL players are going to go there. If I were an NHL player, I wouldn’t want to make myself part of what could a fly-by-night organization.
They’re big talkers in the WHA. But whether it gets off the ground remains to be seen. They have what they’re calling a Founders Franchise. What does that mean? Is that going to be like Bingo Long and the Traveling All-Stars where they don't play any home games? I don’t know how much credibility (this league) has.
I think it could work, but you’re going to have to have the right people running it. They’re going to have to prove themselves to me, potential players, and potential fans as well.”
Grady on the WHA’s attempt to lure Sidney Crosby:
“Certainly, the attention the WHA would get right off the bat would be incredible, especially if the start of the NHL season is delayed.
To me, there’s no incentive (for Crosby to join the WHA). I think there first has to be some kind of stability shown by the league. Do you want to sign with a team that doesn’t even have a lease agreement signed? I would continue on my junior career and look ahead to the NHL draft and go from there.”
Grady on potential WHA players:
“It’s going to be that upper-level career minor-leaguer that bounces back and forth between the AHL and NHL. That’s the kind of guy they’re going to latch on to.
Maybe a guy at the end of his career, as well, who can’t find work in the NHL (will be targeted). He’d be a name guy that adds marquee value to a franchise.”
Grady on negative media coverage:
“It’s not the league that glorifies (violence). It’s the ESPN’s, it’s the Fox Sports’, it’s the networks that glorify it. You never see hockey, for the most part, until something (negative) happens. Then it’s wall-to-wall. Our brawl in Philadelphia – that made CNN, for crying out loud!
The league doesn’t promote it. Does it condone it, to a certain extent? Does it bring people into the building? Yes. Does the league use it to promote itself on a national basis to try and gain new fans? I don’t buy that for a second.
I hate to call the league a victim when something like that happens, but they are a victim of all the PR they do get, and unfortunately it’s all bad PR.”
Grady on on-ice violence:
“The threat of a suspension doesn’t register. I’ve always told people that if I was a hockey player, I’d probably be thrown out of the game in the opening 30 seconds. It’s a very frustrating game, especially with all the clutching and grabbing that goes on. At times, you do get frustrated, and sometimes that comes out.
Looking back at the (Alexander) Perezhogin incident, that was just a reactionary thing. That doesn’t make an excuse for it, but I think that no matter what set of rules you put in place to try and safeguard against that behavior, sometimes it’s just (the product of) the raw emotion of the sport, especially one played at a very high speed in a very confined area.
Unless you’re just so highly disciplined emotionally, there’s always that chance that another unfortunate incident like that could take place.”
Grady on the instigator rule:
“If you drop the instigator, will violence go down? I don’t know. But I think if (players knew) a guy like Dave Semenko was going to be out there, you wouldn’t see (any) crap develop. Unfortunately, you don’t have that now.
I think there is a need for an instigator-type rule when a guy just wants to start a fight for no reason. But it’s such a grey area. If a guy goes after someone who took a run at his teammate, but (the referee) didn’t see (the initial infraction), all he’s going to see is a guy going after an opponent for no good reason. You’re only going to make matters worse for your team the way the rule stands now.
Officials have such a difficult job already. You don’t want to give them even more to think about (with the instigator rule). They have a hard enough time calling the rulebook as it is. I think the professional hockey world has tied its hands a little bit more due to the instigator rule being in effect.”
posted by Joseph @ Monday, July 26, 2004
