- The Montreal Canadians came to the JLA the other day for the first time in 4 years.
- The fact the Red Wings have to play Anaheim, LA, Vancouver, SJ during the playoffs when their fans have to sleep is ridiculous. Keep them in the eastern time zone.
- The All Star game is on a Wednesday Night. Instead of using Super Bowl break week they do this...and its on Verses. What the hell is Verses?
- Division rivalrys are crap when they are fabricated. I will never care about Nashville or Columbus, let alone 8 times a year.
- The game may be faster, but there is less hitting. I'm glad the clutch and grabbing is gone, but the phantom calls for power plays is a joke. Where's the physicality? NFL understands.
- Lackof respect by the NHL Commissioner to one of the top franchises in hockey. Typical east coast bias per usual.
- No real characters on the team. Everyone is a model citizen and super happy. Not that this is bad, but it doesnt make you want to see who's battling for ice time, or who has a chip on their shoulder. It's not there.
- Complacency of the fans...they've just won alot..the regular season doesnt mean much.
- Who can afford to go to games at $50 plus a ticket, plus food, parking, and gas?
- The economy has had an impact.
- The lockout has had an impact.
- The NHL needs to take note, if the Red Wing fans dont get it...it doesnt matter. Next will be Montreal and Toronto...ok maybe not Montreal.
- Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, and Kovalcuk are hidden in the east. We never see these guys.
- Lack of a real tv contract has hurt.
- The slappy coverage of the Wings in the local papers has over dosed us on stupd crap. How many times can we read what Drapes eats for breakfast?
- Compared to the Palace, Copa, and Ford Field...JLA sucks!
- Ken Daniels spends more time talking during the play about things outside of hockey then the game action itself. It's enough to bore the hell out of you. Bob Cole is still the master, where every shift has you on the edge of your seat even in a lopsided game.
- The DSR after the game on Fox Sports is annoying as hell. They broadcast from Seattle yet speak as if they are Detroiters. Who's buying this crap? Not me.
- We've been fooled so many times about winning the regular season, we know the playoffs are all that matters - winning it all. President's Trophy mean nothing.
I long for the good old days of hockey.
4 Comments:
Gee, how can you complain about fabricated divisional rivalries when you're all set to blow up the conferences in college football for your playoff system and create your own fabricated rivalries???? Versus is just another network name (and a stupid one at that)for what was OLN.
The hitting left years ago when they decided to ban fighting (a good way to release frustration or aggravation during a game, settle some issues, and maybe jack your own team up a bit to play better) and made LEGAL hip checks and hits a penalty. Nothing nicer than a clean hip check that sends someone tumbling over you and to the ice!!
The NHL realigned based strictly on geography. Teams were spending too much on travel without enough return $$. Where is your east coast bias coming from?? Check a map and you can see how the divisions were set. Boston and the Rangers was a big game for years, with home-home weekend series. That's gone too. Toronto games lost some of the feeling when they were moved out years ago. Even though they're now back, it isn't the same. If someone in the west had drafted those guys you'd see more of 'em. I do think that teams should play everyone else twice a year though, and the rest of the games should be in your division. It would make the playoffs more like they were after the initial expansion. You'd know less about teams and add to the mystery and mystique of the playoffs, like the original AFL-NFL.
College Footbal doesnt play 82 games. Quit trying to compare apples to pears. Plus I've never said anything about getting rid of college rivalries. A playoff system does not take that away, it enhances it.
If the NHL was aligned on geography, then Wings would be in the East, not the West. Buy a map and look.
I agree on the playoffs.
The Wings being stuck in the Western Conference is one of my biggest sports pet peeves. We never see Original 6 teams (Save for the worse than awful Blackhawks, who are a disgrace to the name "Original 6"), and the Wings are at a competitive disadvantage with the travel involved.
Let alone the fact that the Wings always seem to be playing Columbus or Nashville. Christ, the NHL scheduling is FUBAR.
It isn't apples and oranges. Apparently it's "let's find a way to get um in a playoff because they aren't winning their conference." Have you forgotten the ridiculous "realignment" of your conferences?? Those rivalries and conferences go back a HELL of a lot farther than NHL hockey does, check it out.
Did you fail geography in school?? CHECK THE DAMN MAP! Or maybe you can tell me which one of these teams plays in a city west of Detroit?
Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Toronto
Boston Atlanta Carolina Tampa Bay
Washington Florida New Jersey
Pittsburgh NY Rangers NY Islanders Philadelphia
If you really need it in writing I'll see if I can get an IFR supplement from Selfridge ops and give you the lat/long of each city, or just mail it to you and let you look them all up. As I said CORRECTLY, east-west was strictly on geography.
I'll agree that alignment sucks for Wings fans seeing the rest of the original 6. There is no more of a competitive disadvantage for Detroit than there is for Vancouver or Edmonton from travel though. Unless you can get Florida or Tampa Bay to change conferences,(or to fold and end up in a western city) Detroit is stuck being the most easterly team in the western conference.
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