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Friday, April 18, 2008
Pat Burns Won't Sing God Bless America in Iraq Anytime Soon
Former NHL coach Pat Burns is a regular contributor to CKAC, a Montréal-based all-sports radio station. When asked to comment on the threatment that some of the thousands of Habs fans got at the Boston Garden when making the road trip for game 3 and 4 of the Canadiens-Bruins series, Burns declared something along the lines of: "If you go to a party in Iraq and start singing God Bless America, you're in trouble."
He then followed up saying that Boston fans are pretty tame and that's nothing compared to what would happen if fans were to show in drove in Habs gear in Philadelphia or Washington. "Washington has one of the worst murder rate in the US."
Good Old Pat needs to have a closer look at the crowd in DC and he'll notice that fans cheering for the opposition, wearing their jersey, are often there in large numbers. To the point that Caps owner Ted Leonsis and the marketing department devised ways to try to make it harder for rival fans to get tickets.
One thing is for sure, Pat will always be colorful.
"Who's Sidney Crosby?" asked CNN's Wolf Blitzer with a deer in the headlight look during a panel discussion about the upcoming Democratic Primary in Pennsylvania in The Situation Room.
The question came after Dick Armey, former Republican House Majority Leader, said: "I think it's sort of a monthly thing. Count Senator Clinton out, and watch her come back. I think she would get Sidney Crosby to come out strong for her; he could sew up the whole state. Right now, he's probably the most popular person in the entire state.
The 40 seconds Crosby snippet starts 1:40 into the clip below:
Inbred Referees - Leonsis' (in)direct Criticism of Refs Trigerring Fine from NHL?
After a 2-1 loss in Boston, Washington Caps' owner Ted Leonsis posted two entries on his blog criticizing the referees. The first one had a relatively mild comment about the refs. Leonsis' second entry though, simply entitled "A Perfect Blog Post", only said "Says it all" and linked to a third-party blog post entitled "Inbred Referees 2 / Caps 1" which had as only content the following YouTube clip:
Chances are that if Leonsis had made a comment to the media along the lines of that blog post, the NHL would fine him. Probably the same if he had posted that clip on his blog. One wonders if only linking - and obviously publicly agreeing - to a third-party blog with that clip and title will also trigger a fine from the NHL.
Darren McCarty is on fire while with the Calgary Flames! No, not on the ice. In the locker room! Did he just look at his bank account? Actually, no. He has filed for bankruptcy...
This is an oldie, but a goodie. Timing is good too as he's just back in the NHL.
Interesting screenshot and ad from the 26-year old granddaddy of NHL 2K8 and NHL08: Ice Hockey by Activision.
Look at those graphics. Had to be a riveting game with bone crushing bodychecks and... yes, even faceoffs! To top it off: no referees - not a game for the faint of heart.
Who's that at center ice? Looks like a pixelated slim rookie Chris Chelios.
Rip This Magazine in Half.
A Though Tryout for Ice Hockey by Activision.
You can't be nice on the ice. You have to be tough. So, we've devised this little test to find out if you're tough enough for Ice Hockey, Activision-style.
It's one of the most head-to-head competitive video games ever designed for the Atari or Sears games systems.
How tough is it? Face-off. Breakaways. Stick-checking. Body-checking. Tripping. Battling the boards. And no referees.
So, go on. Give this magazine your best shot. We know it won't be easy. But then again, neither is our game.
The NHL needs to step in and tell Ilya Kovalchuk that he's not playing in a garage league. Or in Russia. What's with this white tape he's been using most or all season on his socks? They ran out of transparent tape? No teammate will share? What next? USPS tape like 45-year-old guys with beer bellies use in beer leagues?
Former NHLer John Anderson Gets Makeover: Career Move?
Yes, this is hockey-related. John Anderson getting a makeover. That's the story on the website of the Atlanta Thrashers' AHL affiliates, the Chicago Wolves. For the local ABC station, he's getting a new hairdo, new clothes, new look, and will be presented to several players to see their reaction. Will anybody cry?
Remember Anderson? He played 12 years in the NHL. Mostly for the Maple Leafs but also for Québec and Hartford. After retiring in 1994, he started his coaching career and has been head coach of the Chicago Wolves, in the IHL and now the AHL, for 12 years. Despite his decent record and winning 3 championships, he hasn't been able yet to step up to the NHL. Despite two head-coach openings with the Thrashers. What's going on?
Maybe the Extreme Makeover or Queer Eye route really is a last attempt at jump starting his NHL coaching career?
Bernie Nicholls won't make it in the Hockey Hall of Fame but he had a productive 18-year NHL career with the L.A. Kings and 5 other teams where he racked-up over 1,200 points. Apparently, 9 years after his retirement, some people felt that it was time to give him credit and make a movie on his career:
Hockey Pet Peeve #72: Walking in front of the Interviewer
Why do hockey players have to walk between the camera and the interviewer, while still on the air, immediately after completing an interview during intermissions? Sure, they are busy, tired, and important. But that busy or tired? Can't wait 12 seconds? What's going on in the lockerroom that they really can't miss?
TV networks can't position the camera in such a way that the player-in-a-hurry will walk away from the camera on his escape route to the lockerroom? They can't beg them to stay still until they go off-the-air? They need to make that part of the next CBA.
This is Hockey Pet Peeve #72: Players walking in front of the interviewer.
NHL hockey is a sport. It is also showbusiness. The players certainly master and understand the "business" part of showbusiness. After seeing the SuperSkills competition and the All-Star Game, it is clear that they need to improve the "show" part of showbusiness.
First, the SuperSkills competition and its last event, the Breakaway Challenge. This is a new event where a panel of judges award points on the artistry and creativity of a player on a breakaway. Scoring doesn't cut it. Fancy doesn't even cut it. We're talking about creativity, here. Something totally out of the ordinary. Kolvalchuk tried a little, shooting while on his knees. St. Louis at least tried something spectacular but totally failed. Getzlaf had faint attempts and once skated behind the net before shooting. Others barely tried to be fancy. Luckily, Alexander Ovechkin was there to spice things up. The bottom line is that the players generally didn't seem to get the point of that Breakawat Challenge and the NHL obviously didn't brief them properly. Next time, hopefully, they'll do better.
Second, the players' presentation before the All Star game and before each event during the Superskills competition. They barely cracked smiles, let alone show any emotion, acknowledge that they were being presented, or try to connect with the crowd and viewers. When they are presented during the playoffs, they have the excuse that they are in their zone before an important game. The All-Star game is a party, though. Wave at the crowd! Nod! Smile! Something. Anything. Again, you'd think that the NHL would give some directions to the players, asking that they at list show that they're alive when their name is announced.
Fortune Accumulated by 2008 NHL All-Star Game Players = $870 Million
Based on its extensive Salary History Database, HockeyZonePlus.com estimates that the aggregated accumulated fortunes of the players participating in the 2008 NHL All-Star game is almost $US 870 million.
The Western Conference players have a total of $473,670,000 while the poor Eastern Conference players tally up $395,920,000.
Nicklas Lidstrom leads the pack with $73 million, followed by Chris Pronger, with $66 million and Martin Brodeur with $52 million.
Paul Stastny will be the poor man on the ice with an accumulated fortune of $1.22M. Guess who'll be asking for a doggie bag at the All-Star Game VIP Dinner Party!
Details are provided below with 2007-08 salaries followed by individual accumulated fortunes. Clicking on a player's name will lead to his specific salary history. The HockeyZonePlus.com Database provides salary history information from 1989 to the present on over 2,600 past and current NHL players.
The Small Print: Salaries paid in Canadian currency by Canadian teams, in the early 90s, were converted to $US as per the January exchange rate of the given seasons. Some players have two-way contracts and have received lower salaries than those listed when playing in farm clubs. The listed salaries were gathered from different sources and while they closely reflect reality, they are not necessarily exact. Of course, that is from their NHL salaries only and it does not take into account any other revenue streams such as endorsements, summer jobs, business ventures, being a Mary Kay independent consultant to supplement revenues, etc. Base salaries are usually shown as bonuses are generally not made public. Totals do take into account the fact that players received only +/-58% of their salary during the 1994-95 season because of a strike (48 games played instead of 84). Some players possibly had contracts stipulating that they were paid despite a strike but we have no information in that regard. During the 2004-05 lockout, some players joined various teams in North America and Europe and were paid to do so. It is not included in the Grand Total because we have no information about the salaries they made in those leagues. Still reading? Tax season is coming up soon. How is your 401k/RSSP doing?
In its 2006-07 edition, The Hockey News' Ultimate Fantasy Guide -- "Pool Guide" for the Canadian version, eh -- presented its annual High I.Q. (Intimidation Quotient) ranking based on some formula they came up with ([goals x 3] + [PIM minus 10-minutes penalties]) many years ago. To be eligible, a player must have a minimum of 20 goals and 80 amended penalty minutes in order to weed out guys with a boatload of goals and no PIMs or the other way around.
After the 05-06 season, only 20 players qualified and Sidney Crosby was first, followed by Brenden Morrow, Eric Staal, and Brendan Shanahan. To justify Crosby, the Bible of hockey went out of its way to explain that there was a power shift underway in the NHL. The term 'power forward' used to be reserved strictly to guys with hulking frames and fine hands. Not anymore, apparently. Really?
Now enters Marc Savard, former Atlanta Thrashers who joined the Bruins in July 2006. Savard was ranked 9th right after Iginla, Arnott and Bertuzzi. Time to rethink the formula! Savard can be described in lots of ways but the words "power forward" and "high intimidation quotient" just don't cut it.
Thanks to Dr. Pistone and a hair transplant, the former Philadephia Flyers goalie and Stanley Cup champion apparently has a new life, according to this testimonial.
“I feel good today. I feel fantastic. I get up in the morning…as a matter of fact when I go to sleep at night, I can’t wait to get up the next day; that’s how good I feel.”
Wow. He're a picture of the before and after and the amazing effect of a goalie dome full of hair.
NHL: $2.5 Billion Industry Looking for Volunteers!
The NHL, with projected revenues of $2.53 billion (as per Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal) for the 2007-08 season, is looking for people who will work for free as volunteers during the All-Star game festivities.
Why not! There's a sucker born every minute, right?
The league generates $2.53 billion for the season, hundreds of “employees” make millions per year, owners sit on their sound investments and the league doesn’t have the decency to pay people $10/hour to work during the All-Star game festivities!
Why would they, though, given that people apparently line up to work for hours for free (or a cap and a shirt) for them? Ever seen people react to t-shirts thrown in the crowd during a sports event? Obviously, a free t-shirt goes a long way.
Rubbing elbows with the rich and famous? Maybe. There’s nothing like being the dork working for free, wearing a NHL shirt, driving Sidney Crosby from the Airport to a restaurant you can’t afford. Or showing Ovechkin’s dad where the bathrooms are at some All-Star game party. Or having a glimpse at Vincent Lecavalier walking the red carpet, far away, while you keep the autograph seekers away.
Former NHL coach Pat Burns is a regular contributor to CKAC, a Montréal-based all-sports radio station. When asked to comment on the threatment that some of the thousands of Habs fans got at the Boston Garden when making the road trip for game 3 and 4 of the Canadiens-Bruins series, Burns declared something along the lines of: "If you go to a party in Iraq and start singing God Bless America, you're in trouble."
Interesting screenshot and ad from the 26-year old granddaddy of NHL 2K8 and NHL08: Ice Hockey by Activision.
