Topic: Don't piss off Shemps#1

[jrvass]

He can't be in a good mood since the Boston Bruins lost 5-0 to the Montreal Canadians in game 7 last night.

Losing to the French is bad, losing to Canadians is bad. But losing to French Canadians is BAD². 

James

[Dunrobin]

Zhere is no Canada like French Canada,
It's the best Canada in ze land,
Ze other Canada is a bourgeois Canada
(If you lived zhere for a day you'd understand.)

 

[locoboymakesgood]

Fuck the Habs!

The Sabres were robbed this year.. over shitty plays...

[Giff me dat fill-em!]

I'm not sure, but I glean from the few argumentative conversations posted above that you folks are actually emotionally bound to an overgrown game of stick ball?             
(consider this an out-an-out attempt to piss off Shemps#1) (Nyerk!)

[shemps#1]

Actually I'm quite proud of the B's. Yeah, losing the hated Habs sucks, but no one gave them a chance to do anything this season anyway. Factor in that they went 0-8 against Montreal in the regular season and I think taking the top seed to a 7th game is quite impressive.

Now if the Celtics somehow lose the Atlanta I'd be pissed.

[metaldams]

All I know is everybody is excited in the Philadelphia area 'cause of the Flyers.  Not much a hockey fan myself.  The team I sort of liked as a kid no longer exists (Hartford Whalers).

[jrvass]

All I know is everybody is excited in the Philadelphia area 'cause of the Flyers.  Not much a hockey fan myself.  The team I sort of liked as a kid no longer exists (Hartford Whalers).

They are still around. They call themselves the Carolina Hurricanes.

James

[shemps#1]

Yeah, the Whale moved to Carolina and became the Toilet Bowls. No more Brass Bonanza.

It was hard for me as a kid having two New England teams. I rooted for Hartford because they were the closest team to me and the only major league sports team in CT, but I also rooted for the Bruins because of my affiliation with all Boston teams.

I'm going to get it on record that the Pittsburgh Penguins are my pick to win the Stanley Cup this year.

[metaldams]

Yeah, the Whale moved to Carolina and became the Toilet Bowls. No more Brass Bonanza.

It was hard for me as a kid having two New England teams. I rooted for Hartford because they were the closest team to me and the only major league sports team in CT, but I also rooted for the Bruins because of my affiliation with all Boston teams.

I'm going to get it on record that the Pittsburgh Penguins are my pick to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Yeah, exactly.  I sort of liked the Bruins as a kid as well, and they were my grandfather's team, but I liked the Whalers the best.  Shit, they were the only Connecticut team, unless if you count the now defunct AHL team the New Haven Nighthawks (who played in the now defunct New Haven Coliseum).

Ah, but there's hope!  My birth city, Bridgeport, now has a minorleague baseball team, AND Jose Offerman threw his temper tantrum in Bridgeport, so there's my pride.

[shemps#1]

I can go on and on about how NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is a complete and utter retard if he believes ice hockey is going to get over in places like Nashville, Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix to name a few warm weather climates where it has moved since he's been in charge. I believe Bettman made it very tempting for the Whalers ownership to move the team to North Carolina, just as he did for the owners in Winnepeg, Quebec, and Minnesota. Hockey will never get over in Nascar Country...Tampa Bay is the lone exception.

[jrvass]

Bettman and the NHL couldn't market ice cubes to Arabs in the summer desert heat.

You have the playoffs on Versus in the US, a second-tier sports cable network. And on TSN cable in Canada. Worse is when they play on NBC in the US. NBC is always selling shit "That passed puck was brought to you by 'Foamy'!" CBC and FSN are decent... but FSN won't broadcast the last 2 rounds.

How the hell are you going to promote the NHL if your TV contracts bury it like a cat turd in shallow sand?

James

[shemps#1]

The biggest mistake Bettman made as far as the television deals go was of course leaving ESPN all together. Like you pointed out the playoffs are mostly on Versus, which I don't believe is on the local system here. I currently live in the market area of the Nashville Predators, and granted I do not follow the local sports scene at all, but there was literally no buzz about the Preds' playoff run for the second straight year. A main reason for this (besides the obvious conundrum  of having ice hockey in Tennessee, where Nascar and college football dominate the sports scene) is because at least half of the Predators games aren't even shown on tv here. Tennessee just does not support professional sports teams at all; the local pro wrestling show beats the Grizzlies and Preds in the ratings.

Doesn't matter to me though, with the wonderous internet I can get practically any game I want to watch streamed online for free. In fact, it's about time to watch the Red Sox/Rays game.

[jrvass]

My brother says it's just as bad in Chicago... and they are part of the original 6. But the former owner ignored the team and TV, until they became worse than mediocre.

Remember the "Dead Things" of the late '70's-early '80's? Until James Norris sold the Wings to Mike Illitch, the team was bled dry. Illitch had to give away cars to get asses in the seats for a game!

Marketing saved the Wings. And it will save the NHL. Don Cherry for commissioner! Gary Bettman for a Bart Giamatti "special"!

James

[locoboymakesgood]

I currently live in the market area of the Nashville Predators..

And to think.. I thought you lived in Boston!!

A good example of why NHL teams don't belong in warmer climate markets was my experience at the Playoffs in 2006. Buffalo was playing Carolina, and I took a roadtrip from Buffalo to Raleigh to catch the game. Now I'm a Carolina AND Buffalo fan, so this was win-win for me either way.. but what surprised me was that there were more Buffalo fans than Hurricane supporters at the RBC Center! If you watched the playoffs on TV then you'd notice the stadium was nearly packed with just Sabres fans.. nobody showed up to watch the Canes (who ended up clinching the Cup that year).. and local sports coverage was minimal as well as newspapers I bought.

See I grew up in hockey country. Any state where it snows, is close enough to Canada, and has a long history with the NHL has a nice niche market. And it's fun. I live in California now, not far from the Sharks, and you know what? No one watches them. They don't have what it takes. The only authentic West Coast team that has mjaor pull is the Canucks and they're in Canada anyway. The LA Kings, San Jose Sharks, and Anaheim Ducks are a joke.

I will say, I got to Phoenix pretty regularly and the amount of fans there for what is the hottest climate in the country is unreal. The Coyotes rule the roost down there - even moreso than the Cardinals and D-backs.. but if I had my guess, I'd say Gretzky's affiliation had something to do with that.

[jrvass]

Interesting observations LBMG.

BTW... The Bosox were swept in their series by the TB Rays. S#1 is going to go hunting for the hillbilly who told Ned Beatty to "Squeal like a pig!" (Just for jollies!)

James