Kids These Days
Chuck Finder of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lives up to his name after speaking with two Ottawa-area teenagers who attended a Sidney Crosby hockey clinic on the eve of the NHL draft:
Everyone knows about Sidney Crosby in hockey's homeland.
"I don't even know who the Prime Minister is," said Kristina Erwin, 16, of Brockville, Ontario.
"Neither do I," added sister Brittany, 14, almost proudly.
If Finder was trying to make a point by including these two quotes in his piece, he accomplished his goal.
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The BlogHer Underground
Earlier this year, three young women started tossing around the idea of holding a conference designed to increase the presence of female bloggers on the internet. After much discussion and intense preparation, the 2005 BlogHer Conference became a reality, and will be held tomorrow in Santa Clara, California.
The event is not only designed to educate women on how to network and generate more exposure for their blogs, but it also intends to help produce greater visibility for the blogging community as a whole. It’s an interesting concept, and as Chris Nolan points out, the conference is not feminist-oriented:
This gives me a wonderful chance to state the obvious about this conference: IT IS NOT FOR WOMEN ONLY. Not only are men welcome -- a statement that it seems absurd to have to make - but some are planning to attend....
This gives me the chance to make another observation: If you are a man who like code and software and things that plug in, and is perhaps having trouble finding a girl who likes Java (and knows it's not just a coffee) and understands your inner Geek, this might be the PERFECT place for you to spend a summer afternoon.
For the record, the conference is sold out, and several influential male bloggers will be attending, including Kevin Drum and Jay Rosen, to offer their insight.
I guess Nolan’s sales pitch was fairly effective.
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Reality Check
Dallas Stars color analyst Daryl Reaugh explains precisely why removing the center red line will do absolutely nothing to open up the game:
All the removal of the redline will do is back the trap up from the redline to the defensive blueline. Teams will now employ a player staggering system called a 1-3-1. Larry Robinson, coach of the NJ Devils said so on a show called Off The Record on TSN in Canada. A 1-3-1 will make the old 1-2-2 look like a buzz-saw of forechecking activity. If you want an example get a tape of the German National team at the Olympics and a large supply of Redbull.
We won’t need a tape of the German team, Razor. Several NHL clubs will be providing us with vivid examples of the staggered trap come October 5th.
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On Second Thought
As if you needed another reason to love Wal-Mart:
Wal-Mart will allow the Pensacola News Journal to be sold at area stores, rescinding a ban imposed because of a newspaper column that a local manager considered derogatory to the retailer.
Columnist Mark O'Brien wrote in June 19 editions that Pensacola should "be more than the Wal-Mart kind of town we're becoming -- cheap and comfy on the surface, lots of unhappiness and hidden costs underneath"…
"We did make an error in judgment by removing the papers from our stores," Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Sharon Weber said in an e-mail from company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. "They should be available in our stores by the end of the week."
An error in judgment? That’s putting it lightly. In fact, Wal Mart’s Pensacola district manager Bob Hart was so incensed, he asked that O’Brien be fired for writing the column.
News Journal executive editor Randy Hammer sums up my feelings on the matter in an editorial published after the Wal-Mart ban:
When we stop listening to people on the other side of the fence, when we try to silence and even punish people for thinking differently than we do and raising facts and figures we don't like, well, we won't be red, white and blue anymore.
Imagine if Wal-Mart exercised this practice nationwide. They wouldn’t sell any newspapers.
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Till We Meet Again
Tom Benjamin gives a thumbs up to the just-released NHL schedule:
Some people have expressed dismay about the decision to reduce the number of inter-conference games if only because (the Canucks) will see a lot less of some of the storied franchises in the East and a lot more of the Minnesota Wild and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. I can see that point of view, but I think it comes down to a choice for West coast fans.
Do we want to see more wins because a significant geographical disadvantage is reduced, or do we want to see Sidney Crosby play in Vancouver? I'm selfish enough to care more about Canuck fortunes than variety.
In my opinion, variety is completely overrated. Like Tom, I respect the perspective of many die-hard hockey fans that want to a chance to see all teams from the rival conference play at their home barn, but there are just as many fans (like myself) that welcome the prospect of seeing more games against local rivals.
To me, one of the massive problems with professional hockey over the years has been the reduction in divisional play. There was once a time when NHL teams played divisional rivals ten times a season, and the animosity that would build up during the course of the year would often set up some classic battles down the stretch. And because the league’s playoff format was divisional, those heated late-season games had a lot at stake, as they would usually coincide with playoff position jockeying.
Walking into the Boston Garden in late March for a clash with the Whalers or Canadiens was an experience. Even if you were a passive fan that had no idea who the opponent was that night, you had the impression the game was an important one because of the atmosphere in the building. Hell, you could feel it in the parking lot.
I’ll never forget a story Gerry Cheevers told during a Whaler/Bruin playoff telecast in 1991. Gerry was the color commentator for Hartford at the time, and he recalled standing in line at a hot dog stand prior to the game. “I never truly realized how much Bruin fans hated the Whalers,’ he said on the air. ‘You should’ve heard some of the awful names they were calling me. They called me a traitor. Of course, I suppose it’s no surprise that all the fans in Bruin jerseys were in the beer line, while the Whaler fans were with me getting a hot dog.”
The good old days.
It’s no surprise that the most-hyped, and inevitably, the best playoff series’ are between teams from the same division. In 2004, NHL fans were treated to some fantastic post-season matchups, such as Calgary/Vancouver, Boston/Montreal, and Toronto/Ottawa. However, those matchups occurred by sheer accident, and if the league had any sense, they’d foster the divisional rivalries they’re trying to encourage during the regular campaign by re-introducing the divisional playoff format they abandoned in 1993.
UPDATE: Thankfully, the league is considering heeding my advice.
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Simulation Stimulation
In an editorial in this morning’s Los Angeles Times, author Steven Johnson claims video games are actually stimulating, not destroying, the minds of our young children:
Consider this one fascinating trend among teenagers: They're spending less time watching professional sports and more time simulating those sports on Xbox or PlayStation. Now, which activity challenges the mind more — sitting around rooting for the Packers, or managing an entire football franchise through a season of "Madden 2005"
Boy, I’ll have to think about that one. Johnson continues:
The national carjacking rate has dropped substantially since "Grand Theft Auto" came out. Isn't it conceivable that the would-be carjackers are now getting their thrills on the screen instead of the street?
Ah, the old catharsis theory rationalization. I know Aristotle would be proud, but unfortunately for Johnson, most behavioral studies in this area have proven the opposite.
Interestingly, after offering such a staunch defense of the video game industry, Johnson inexplicably surrenders in his final paragraph:
Of course, I admit that there's one charge against video games that is a slam dunk. Kids don't get physical exercise when they play a video game, and indeed the rise in obesity among younger people is a serious issue.
You don't say?
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God Save the Queen City
Gee, Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano is sounding awfully optimistic these days:
"This (CBA) is going to go a long way to make this organization financially stable… I think people feel they want to have a hope and a prayer that their team is going to have a chance at the Stanley Cup. With this new parity and new stability, it should make for a more competitive environment.”
It doesn’t appear as if Golisano is as confident about the fans’ willingness to come back to the rink in October. Curiously, the Sabres have actually decided to “categorize” their home games this year based upon the quality of the opponent. Individual game ticket prices will vary, depending upon the visiting team’s appeal. For example, local rivals like Toronto and Boston will command the highest prices, while teams like Carolina and Florida will command the lowest.
It’s an interesting idea, but it reeks of bush-league marketing. Besides, I thought the “new parity” meant that all NHL teams were going to be equally compelling to watch.
Maybe Tom should take a page from the AHL’s Springfield Falcons playbook. Back in March, the Falcons made an unprecedented offer to their season-ticket holders, announcing they would offer a full refund after three home games next year if season customers felt they were not getting their money’s worth. The Falcons haven’t finished with a winning record since 1996-97 (when Manny Legace tended goal), and their attendance has slipped to the point where they were one of just two AHL teams last season to have averaged less than 4,000 fans per game. Not surprisingly, desperate times call for desperate measures.
But since when does an NHL franchise exhibit such desperation? Admittedly, a recent bankruptcy filing, horrid on-ice performance, $7 million in losses, and a year-long lockout play into the equation, but when a big league sports team is offering its prospective customers $30 lower bowl seats for a game, you know something is dreadfully wrong.
Something tells me the Sabres are going to need some divine intervention in the not-too-distant future.
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God Bless America
How ridiculously sad is it that a book like this is selling like hot cakes? In an interview with Time Magazine, former CBS News correspondent Bernie Goldberg describes the premise behind his latest literary masterpiece:
I really think that there are a lot of people out there, liberals as well as conservatives, Democrats as well as Republicans, who say that this country has just gotten too angry in recent years, too nasty and certainly too vulgar. There’s this tendency to believe that this stuff just happens in societies—societies just evolve; nobody’s to blame. I don’t believe that. I think people are to blame. These aren’t the 100 worst people in America; they’re 100 people who in my view are screwing things up.
I can think of one more.
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A Frozen Concoction
Somebody tell me what’s wrong with this statement. Colby Cosh cites an article by Minnesota hockey writer Brian Murphy, in which the NHL’s decision to remove the red line is analyzed:
In the AHL, the elimination of the red line allowed teams to position a winger at the far blue line to receive a long pass, although teams were conditioned to defend against those breakouts, Lynn said. So the winger typically chipped the puck into the offensive zone to begin cycling. Not much different from the NHL game…
Sound strange? It should, at least for AHL fans. After all, the AHL did NOT allow two-line passes last season.
I don’t know who Brian Murphy is, but he should get his facts straight before taking his material to the printing press. Then again, it sounds like he was relying on the input of Minnesota assistant GM Tom Lynn, who appears to be referencing an outright fabrication about how AHL games were played without a red line.
I highly advise both parties to reference this October quote from AHL President Dave Andrews, who addressed why the red line would not be removed for the 2004-2005 campaign:
The elimination of the red line has had no support from either the NHL general managers nor the AHL Board of Governors. The reason for the lack of support is that most feel that eliminating the red line would lead to a more defensive game, with the trap being utilized more, and a lot of errant long passes going for icings.
Pretty soon, the National Enquirer is going to have higher levels of credibility than major dailies.
Then again, it is quite amusing to see how the NHL has changed its tune in a matter of nine months. I guess hallucinated experimentation really goes a long way.
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Make Me Smile
Tom Benjamin delivers a shot of cold reality to all the ecstatic Pittsburgh Penguin fans basking in the glory of Crosbymania:
Would someone explain the draft hype around Sidney Crosby? In three years, he can be had for a whack of money and four first round picks. The Penguins got Sidney Crosby for three years. Then they get the right to match the salary any other team is prepared to pay him for four years. Then he is an unrestricted free agent. Pittsburgh won the lottery. Big fricking deal.
Steve Ovadia is even more pessimistic:
My first thought on Sidney Crosby's draft rights going to Pittsburgh?
The league is serious about getting the Penguins out of Pittsburgh.
I don't think too many cities would be too excited to welcome the Penguins in their current form. But with Crosby? The Penguins could get arenas built in Portland or in Vegas, desperate for any kind of professional sports team.
Way to burst the Steel bubble, fellas.
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Corporate Love
I spotted this little tid-bit over at John Cole's place. Apparently, retail giant Wal-Mart has decided to ditch its efforts at encouraging cross-sex customer interaction at its Roanoke, Virginia location:
(T)he month-old program encouraged customers on Friday evenings to pick up a red bow they could place on their shopping carts as an invitation to other singles. "Flirt points" were set up in various sections of the store.
A Wal-Mart spokesman declined to comment on the reason behind the program's cancellation. But customer Dale Firebaugh, who showed up Friday night hoping to meet his match, said store employees told him several people had complained.
"I'm disappointed," said Firebaugh, 63. "Where can someone over 40 who doesn't smoke or drink or go to bars meet someone?"
Try this, Dale. Or if it's really been awhile, swing for the fences.
No pun intended.
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