Flying High– The Return of The Jets

The Jets will fly again? Well, maybe. But when Nick Kypreos broke the news on Toronto radio station, The Fan590, on Wednesday afternoon, the city of Winnipeg certainly seemed to have a sense of self–righteous satisfaction wafting through the air. And who could blame them?

Though Bill Daly circulated and email shortly after the former NHL player turned broadcaster broke the story denying any truth what-so-ever to the rumors, it’s hard to look at the current state of the transaction between Hulsizer, the City of Glendale and the NHL, who currently owns the team, and feel optimistic that a deal will get done anytime soon. 

Now, this isn’t to say that it won’t. Crazier things have happened, but it’s not looking to good for hockey in Arizona. 

Now, why does the NHL seem so reluctant to allow the Coyotes to move back to Winnipeg? My guess, is that this has more to do with the Atlanta Thrashers than anything. 

From the beginning, the Coyotes have been mismanaged. The organization has continued to loose fists full of money season after season, and has not once finished a season in the black. Not good. 

But Glendale is a sports town, and the Coyotes are a good team. Really, there is no reason why the Coyotes can’t be successful financially, even if only marginally. And it’s not like Americans don’t like their hockey either. More and more we are seeing young, phenomenal talent coming from the sunshine states who are making it into the first round of the NHL entry draft. So hockey IS selling in the states. It is definitely  possible for the Coyotes to be successful if they find the right owners and the proper marketing strategy.

But back to my point. 

The NHL is not completely adversed to relocating a team to Winnipeg. In fact, the other financially troubled franchise, Atlanta Thrashers, will be purchased along with its other Philips Arena and the Atlanta Hawks, by a mysterious man, known only has “The Balkan”.

Rumor has it that “The Balkan” has no interest in holding on to the hockey team, and has a tentative agreement to sell the team to True North once dust finally settles in the desert. 

This will mark the second time that hockey has failed in Atlanta, and presumably the NHL has put this franchise on the back burner knowing that it will simply rubber stamp the transaction and relocation of the franchise to Winnipeg. 

However, if the deal falls through in the desert, and the Coyotes return to their original home, what will happen to the Thrashers? Presumably the NHL has no desire to float another struggling NHL team, and with no where else for a team to play in the fall, the league could be SOL.  That is why it is imperative for the NHL that the sale of the team to Hulsizer happens quickly.

As much as it pains me to say, the Coyotes need to stay put. For the good of hockey and the NHL, hockey needs to stay in the desert.  Winnipeg will still get  a team sooner rather than later, but that team being the former Winnipeg Jets, as poetic and sweet for Jets fans as it would be, would not be in the best interest of hockey. 

The better hockey does in the States, the more likely the NHL will consider expansion to Quebec, Winnipeg and other smaller markets. As for right now however, there are still too many uncertainties and risks circulating around the NHL to risk putting a team in a market that has already failed once before.  

Blackouts F'n Blackouts.

Blackouts.  Every sports fan knows and hates them. But what are they, and why do the powers-that-be insist on having them, forever infuriating us loyal fans?

I came home today expecting to watch the the Laughs, sorry Leafs game via channelsurfing.net or ATDHE.net. However, good old Homeland Security has moved in and shut down the website, presumably saving us from some sort of terrorist attack committed by pirates.  ATDHE is trending on Twitter, so the situation has received a reasonable amount of attention. 

(For those of you wondering I am watching the Leafs game while I type this and the Panthers just scored. 1-1  ATDHE.me)

I took my dilemma to Twitter and got this reply...

@RogersSportsnet Rogers Sportsnet

@althewhite Unfortunately, the blackouts are restrictions that are placed on us by the NHL. Not our choice. http://ow.ly/3Ou9g

(The NHL has yet to get back to me on this, and frankly, I doubt they will.)

So I clicked the Link. It’s the NHL’s fault. No shit. But what exactly is a blackout and what are the reasons for having them? Let's check the internal webitory.

wikipedia defines blackouts as... 

In broadcasting, a blackout is when certain programming, usually sports, cannot be televised in a certain media market.

The purpose is theoretically to generate more money by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV. While financially a logical procedure on the part of those providing the programming, blackouts are frequently unpopular with the affected audience as it will cause some fans to miss the game completely even if they were willing to enter the stadium and pay.

Okay, fair enough. Encourage fans to go see games, increase ticket and merchandising sales... but wait a minute. When was the last time Toronto had a hard time selling tickets? That doesn’t make any sense.  Let’s look further.

Unlike the policies governing professional football broadcasts, the National Hockey League has no blackout policy that is dependent on ticket sales...

But I thought blackouts where intended to increase ticket sales? If only people who are close enough to buy tickets and attend the games, are also the only ones who are allowed to watch a Tuesday night home game on TV, then what’s the point in blacking it out for the rest of the country?

What does the NHL have to say about this? Nothing, they only refer to blackout  regulations for their own Centre Ice package.

If you are located in a team's television territory and their local regional sports network is not available on your current cable or satellite provider, you will not be able to see these games in NHL CENTER ICE. This is a distribution issue between the regional sports network and the cable/satellite provider.

It does appear that Rogers Sportsnet is the only carrier in Canada that blackouts broadcasts  outside the region of origin. Meaning, if you want to watch a Leafs Game or a Canucks game,  on Rogers Sportsnet, you have to live in Toronto or Vancouver to watch it. Lame.

All I can imagine is that blackouts are there to encourage people to fork out extra dough for a NHL package. Blackouts could also be used to keep advertising profits down by keeping the ads local, and in theory I guess, more affordable to advertisers. There is no point for Bob’s Garage in Toronto to have his ad aired in Winnipeg--not that simulcasts are completely unheard of. But national advertisers buy space during these games, so I don't see what the problem is.

Again though, apparently it’s up to the NHL. Possibly there are some contractual agreements involving national broadcast exclusivity with CBC and TSN? Maybe. (I made those words up, I'm not a lawyer but it sounds plausible to me.)

Either way I’m still not happy about this, and I know many people are with me. I had hoped to find a reasonable answer to this but I just ended up with a headache. Since I have managed to find another pirate feed, I can’t say that I’m overly concerned anymore, Just confused. 

One day I’m going to write a strongly worded letter to these “powers-that-be” expressing my frustration at their ineptitude and enlightening the unpleasantness they are causing their loyal customers. 

If anyone has any other ideas as to why, or if there is something I am missing, feel free to enlighten me because I am out of ideas.  Third’s about to start 3-2 Leafs!

Go Leafs Go!

Some People Are Losers. Some Are Winners.

TSN’s Darren Dreger wrote an article about Bruins' Marc Savard receiving his second concussion in less than a year, and the possibility that this could be a career ending incident. 

Nothing overall special about the article, concussions are a hot topic in sports now, primarily hockey, and a little bit in the NFL, but there is nothing earth shattering here. 

What is astonishing to me are some of the comments posted by ignorant, petty human beings who flamboyantly display their complete lack of sympathy.

“Yeah boo hoo. Let's all cry and weep for Marc Savard. Poor guy is going to have to retire at 33 years old from working for a living as a hockey player where he made millions of dollars. He's a pro athlete and is paid to take the risks. If he doesn't want to worry about concussions, come work as a saw operator like me where he can work head shot free until he's 65.” 

Got news for you crazy_tattooed_guy: You’re a loser. You are pathetic. I can sympathize what it’s like to work at a saw mill, since I lived in a mill town, and can assume that more than likely, you got the job fresh out of high school, and never bothered to try to amount to anything in your life.  That’s your problem. Not Marc’s or mine.

You wreak of jealousy.

Imagine if you will, that you have been playing a sport, and instrument, an art, or whatever, since you can remember. Something you have dedicated your entire life to. You live it, you breath it, it’s the reason you get up in the morning, and you’re damn good at it too. 

Now take that all away. At the ripe old age of 33. 

You can no longer live your life without the risk of well, dying. 

I know people who have worked long careers, and have trouble finding stuff to do once they retire. It is natural for people to work and feel that other people they work with are counting on them. Most of them didn’t even love their jobs. They didn’t hate it, but they didn’t love it either.

I don’t think many hockey players, Marc especially, do it for the money. I mean, what you have to go through to even have a 1% chance of making it to the NHL would discourage just about everyone from doing it, if it was all about the money. 

I would bet a hefty sum of money right now that if Marc is unable to continue his career as a hockey player, that his heart will take much longer to heal than his head, and would gladly swap that pain to his wallet.