The Dean Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 oh, trust me, i am, though i was drinking last night. what's yer excuse? jw He's drinking this morning. Thanks for covering for me, GG.
shrader Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 What was learned? Maybe automatic icing (rather than touch up) is a good idea. Besides that, OF COURSE Olympic hockey was better and more exciting. Consider the stage and stakes, national pride, and the abundance of talent on the ice...Your Tuesday night NHL game can't compete with that. What should his answer have been? What did YOU learn? Change the rules and eliminate 20 teams. Only a few minor tweaks is all it takes to re-create the olympic experience.
Lv-Bills Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 My friends and I call Boudreau "Hitchcock," given his uncanny resemblance to the former film director. "Shut your face, Hitchcock..." is a common refrain. LOL. Nice. I think I'll bust that out here in VA when we have our next Pens playoff party. I like it. The most painful thing ever last year was watching the Pens play the Caps in round 2 as I had to watch Comcast Sportsnet Washington and their whiny announcers. Even though Versus had the games, they only had exclusive rights in the conference finals and stanley cup finals. Since I live in the Caps home market, I had to watch all seven games (or maybe 5, NBC might have had two) on Washington's network. IT ROYALLY SUCKED.
Miyagi-Do Karate Posted March 16, 2010 Posted March 16, 2010 LOL. Nice. I think I'll bust that out here in VA when we have our next Pens playoff party. I like it. The most painful thing ever last year was watching the Pens play the Caps in round 2 as I had to watch Comcast Sportsnet Washington and their whiny announcers. Even though Versus had the games, they only had exclusive rights in the conference finals and stanley cup finals. Since I live in the Caps home market, I had to watch all seven games (or maybe 5, NBC might have had two) on Washington's network. IT ROYALLY SUCKED. Feel bad for you. Not sure if you get any of the FSN-Pitt games on your current package, but the line-up of announcers is great, although big-time homers. Jay Caufield on the Pens post-game basically put the entire city at ease after the blow-out loss during the Red Wings final series last year. I think most people would have been jumping off bridges if it hadn't been for his calm demeanor.
LongLiveRalph Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Change the rules and eliminate 20 teams. Only a few minor tweaks is all it takes to re-create the olympic experience. Hahaha yes! And make it a one-and-done playoff system that only takes place every four years! Bettman is so dumb for not seeing this.
shrader Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Hahaha yes! And make it a one-and-done playoff system that only takes place every four years! Bettman is so dumb for not seeing this. The winner gets the cup, but what do the 2nd and 3rd place teams get, maybe the Hart trophy and the Lady Byng?
RkFast Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 What was learned? Maybe automatic icing (rather than touch up) is a good idea. Besides that, OF COURSE Olympic hockey was better and more exciting. Consider the stage and stakes, national pride, and the abundance of talent on the ice...Your Tuesday night NHL game can't compete with that. What should his answer have been? What did YOU learn? Thats not the point. Its his JOB to try to improve his sport, no matter what. Especially since hes the Commish of a sport on the verge of irrelevance, save for a core fanbase. And here he had an event where his game was played that got HUGE attention (and always does) from OUTside that core fanbase, and he just outright dismisses the possibility of learning ANYTHING from that event? Thats got nothing to do with the Sport, itself...thats just piss poor management right there. Which was my point. Bettman is a poor manager.
LongLiveRalph Posted March 17, 2010 Posted March 17, 2010 Thats not the point. Its his JOB to try to improve his sport, no matter what. That's not entirely accurate. First and foremost, any commissioner in any sport works for the owners of each franchise. There was over $2.2 BILLION in contractual value carried by players playing in the Olympics. Those owners are locked in to paying that guaranteed money, and yet have to release their players for two weeks to go play for someone else. Those players are the owners' meal ticket...They are the best players on their teams, they sell tickets for the owners, and they give the owners' franchise the best chance to win. Do you think the owners like this setup? In the post-Olympic NHL world, if the TV ratings are the same, and the attendance is the same, then what was learned??? That the league is essentially risking their best players and most valuable commodities for little to zero return? Additionally, the Olympics are soooooo controlled from a sponsorship standpoint, the NHL can't even use their logo at the rink or help casual fans make the connection to their league. And we are so quick to forget...That great USA-Canada preliminary game was not shown in HD and wasn't even shown on NBC, it was on MSNBC. If Bettman is sending his league's best players to the Olympics, and a marquee game full of NHL players doesn't warrant network treatment, what's the point? And...If there were two upsets in the semifinals, and it was Finland vs. Slovakia for the gold medal, would people have this huge hard-on for Olympic hockey??? Especially since hes the Commish of a sport on the verge of irrelevance, save for a core fanbase. And here he had an event where his game was played that got HUGE attention (and always does) from OUTside that core fanbase, and he just outright dismisses the possibility of learning ANYTHING from that event? Thats got nothing to do with the Sport, itself...thats just piss poor management right there. Which was my point. Bettman is a poor manager. You are right, there was additional attention on hockey during the Olympics. Americans now know Ryan Miller, and Crosby was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. That exposure helps. But you know what??? Curling got HUGE attention during the Olympics from outside of it's niche core fanbase. Do you think anyone will care about it until 2014? Casual fans are casual fans. In the end, NBC values ice dancing and the female audience MUCH more than it values the hockey audience. Say what you want about Bettman's management, he has taken a sport that was bleeding money and had out-of-control salaries, and he took a year-long lockout to build a model that allows owners to actually compete for a Cup and make some money. And that's without a lucrative TV deal. Everyone loves the Olympics because it's the world's best players, the tension of elimination games is huge, and there is national pride on the line. Then it's over, and people say something like, "Wow, Olympic hockey is great, and there's no fighting, the NHL should remove fighting" like that has anything to do with anything. So once again, what did you learn from the Olympics that could be applied to the NHL?
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