There goes hockey season. That link is to a good article by Dan Wetzel about why; corporate greed, over-expansion. Loss of tradition in the NHL. It’s a drag. San Jose is now a hockey town. It wasn’t when I was growing up, but the Sharks are San Jose’s team. No, we don’t have the century […]
There goes hockey season.
That link is to a good article by Dan Wetzel about why; corporate greed, over-expansion. Loss of tradition in the NHL.
It’s a drag. San Jose is now a hockey town. It wasn’t when I was growing up, but the Sharks are San Jose’s team. No, we don’t have the century of hockey tradition they have in Canada, in some back-east cities. And I’ve only just discovered hockey in the last couple years. It’s a sport you have to go see live, TV doesn’t do it justice. Maybe that’s the problem right there.
“It starts with commissioner Gary Bettman, the most hapless, hopeless executive in sports, who in 13 years in charge of the NHL has succeeded in little more than driving the once-proud league right into the grave.
It moves onto a collection of owners who care little about the game, about the fans, about the tradition – franchise killers such as Bill Wirtz in Chicago who care only about bottom line.
They (and their stooge Bettman) pursued reckless expansion for the sake of franchise fees, never taking time to realize it was a recipe for disaster. They (and their stooge Bettman) priced out families in pursuit of corporations. They (and their stooge Bettman) showed an utter lack of understanding for the sport, allowing neutral-zone traps, oversized goalie equipment and bear-hug defenses to suck the excitement out of the rink.”
I was planning to take my eleven-year-old daughter to a game for her birthday this season. We were gonna get seats against the glass. Now — who knows. Who knows if it’ll be back, if it’ll be the same.
I was a major hockey fanatic when I was a kid in Boston, played on a 7-year-old team even, but then we moved to New Orleans. This was before indoor ice rinks had found their way to the South, so hockey was unheard of down there. It wasn’t even on TV. So I lost the hockey thing and I’ve never been able to get it back, other than during the Olympics.
I like watching it up a little higher than against the glass, that way you can see the game play out.
Yeah, the glass is pretty much just for the so-close-it’s-scary feeling. In the corners, where the roughest checks happen. I think that’s a one-time deal, once Olivia seems some blood, she’ll want to be back to our usual seats.
William Wirtz bought one of my hockey paintings back in the early 90’s. It’s an ass-kicking piece, one that was inspired by painting from still-framed images on a recording of a Blackhawks game. I’d paint, rewind, paint, rewind… just to catch the intensity of the moment.
I wish I had that fucking painting back now. It pisses me off that a greedy ass like Wirtz owns it. He’s played an enormous role in ruining the one sport I ever truly loved.
Maybe losing an entire season to this BS will knock some sense into everyone involved in the negotiations.