A National Day of Sorrow...
The Boston Massacre... Pearl Harbor... 9/11... All days that are forever a negative part of American History. Today, Canada has it's own Pearl Harbor or 9/11: The NHL officially cancelled the 2004-2005 Hockey Season.
I have yet to see the Maple Leaf flying at half-staff but it may just be because the shock hasn't totally set it.
Ok, maybe it's not THAT bad, but it definitely got more attention up here than it did in the States I bet. Just about every day when I get off the train, I grab a free copy of Metro, which is a daily paper up here. In fact, I believe they have a Boston paper now but the Globe and Herald are trying to knock the wind out of it. Too bad the Herald is even more of a rag than Metro. But the pending cancellation was on the front page of that and a few other papers. People at work stopped by my office to let me know of the news.
Again, after baseball, hockey gets a lot of my attention. But ya know what unlike baseball, cancelling the season isn't the end of the world. As I say that some Canadian has probably just taken his or her own life. The game has gotten much slower over the past few years. New rules and regulations bog it down. And there are presently 30 teams out there. Most of which no one will ever give two shits about. Like Nashville. Or even Tampa Bay. I bet the folks down in Tampa Bay can really appreciate good hockey. Consider it never gets cold enough down there for a pond to freeze. But they have a pro team. So then you have your "real" teams like Boston, Detroit, Montreal, Philly, etc whos fans look at the schedule and say "Wow, the Bruins are playing Phoenix, that's gonna be fun to watch, maybe I'll just stay home and watch paint dry." Hopefully some of these lamer teams will close up shop. One can only hope.
On top of that, these guys are getting good money to play a kids game. Much like football or baseball, however there is a huge difference: TV Deals. When a baseball player whines that 15 million a year isn't enough though it's hard to relate to that. However when you think of how big the stage is, it's a little easier to feel sorry for those guys than hockey players. Baseball and Football both have major TV deals. They're always in the spotlight. Hockey doesn't. The Bruins can be seen on NESN but not every team is that fortunate. Baseball and Football are much richer sports therefore owners by nature have more money to pay salaries. Not so much the case in hockey.
But as sad as all that may be, it's pretty much a moot point as tomorrow pitchers and catches report for duty. That's right folks, spring training starts. Blue Jays tickets go on sale in a few days I think so I'm going to try to get a jump on when the Sox are in Toronto and see them there once at Skydome. Or actually now its called the Rogers Centre or something like that.
Time to update Louie and Julie's website then to start gathering my things for next week.
I have yet to see the Maple Leaf flying at half-staff but it may just be because the shock hasn't totally set it.
Ok, maybe it's not THAT bad, but it definitely got more attention up here than it did in the States I bet. Just about every day when I get off the train, I grab a free copy of Metro, which is a daily paper up here. In fact, I believe they have a Boston paper now but the Globe and Herald are trying to knock the wind out of it. Too bad the Herald is even more of a rag than Metro. But the pending cancellation was on the front page of that and a few other papers. People at work stopped by my office to let me know of the news.
Again, after baseball, hockey gets a lot of my attention. But ya know what unlike baseball, cancelling the season isn't the end of the world. As I say that some Canadian has probably just taken his or her own life. The game has gotten much slower over the past few years. New rules and regulations bog it down. And there are presently 30 teams out there. Most of which no one will ever give two shits about. Like Nashville. Or even Tampa Bay. I bet the folks down in Tampa Bay can really appreciate good hockey. Consider it never gets cold enough down there for a pond to freeze. But they have a pro team. So then you have your "real" teams like Boston, Detroit, Montreal, Philly, etc whos fans look at the schedule and say "Wow, the Bruins are playing Phoenix, that's gonna be fun to watch, maybe I'll just stay home and watch paint dry." Hopefully some of these lamer teams will close up shop. One can only hope.
On top of that, these guys are getting good money to play a kids game. Much like football or baseball, however there is a huge difference: TV Deals. When a baseball player whines that 15 million a year isn't enough though it's hard to relate to that. However when you think of how big the stage is, it's a little easier to feel sorry for those guys than hockey players. Baseball and Football both have major TV deals. They're always in the spotlight. Hockey doesn't. The Bruins can be seen on NESN but not every team is that fortunate. Baseball and Football are much richer sports therefore owners by nature have more money to pay salaries. Not so much the case in hockey.
But as sad as all that may be, it's pretty much a moot point as tomorrow pitchers and catches report for duty. That's right folks, spring training starts. Blue Jays tickets go on sale in a few days I think so I'm going to try to get a jump on when the Sox are in Toronto and see them there once at Skydome. Or actually now its called the Rogers Centre or something like that.
Time to update Louie and Julie's website then to start gathering my things for next week.
posted by Surviving In The Burbs at 2/16/2005 08:21:00 PM
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