Posts Tagged ‘Sidney Crosby’

June 23, 2010: What a Day in Sports

June 24th, 2010 BroadStreetHero

Today was an unforgettable day in the world of sports.  Let’s recap the day by looking at the highlights from sports all across the world:

Wimbledon

To start the day (and to end it), John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played 10 hours of tennis at Wimbledon, making it the longest match in history.  Tied at 59 games in the 5th set, play was suspended due to darkness and will resume for the 3rd day tomorrow.  It is by far the longest game ever played in tennis history and it isn’t even over yet.  The last match that I remember being that long and on such a grand stage was last year’s final match between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick at Wimbledon that went to 30 total games in the 5th set at Wimbledon before Federer broke Roddick.  The 5th set of this match, at over 7 hours long, is probably one of the most stunning events in sports history and it is amazing that we can watch it resume tomorrow.

Update: American John Isner finally won the match today with a 5th set score of 70-68.  The match totalled 183 games, far and away the record.

The World Cup

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last couple of weeks you know that the FIFA World Cup is going on in South Africa, and that team USA had high hopes of competing against the world’s best.  At 10am today USA played their third and final match in their group against bottom dweller Algeria.  If they win, they go on to the Round of 16.  Lose and the are out.  Tie and they need some help to get in.  Well, late in the 2nd half England had pulled off their victory and were moving on, so behind by two points,the USA had to win to advance.  Still tied after 90 minutes the refs gave the game 4 minutes of stoppage time.  One minute was all the USA needed.  Landon Donovan followed up the play on a great run and put a wonderful strike into the back of the net, sending the USA into the next round and allowing them to win their group for the first time since 1930.  Donovan’s goal was probably the most important goal in USA Soccer history and could inspire a new generation of soccer players in the United States.

NHL Free Agency

In a (not so) surprising move, the Chicago Blackhawks relieved some of their cap problems by trading Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, and Brent Sopel to the Atlanta Thrashers for a 1st and 2nd round pick, Marty Reasoner, and a prospect.  This shakeup really shows how dire the Blackhawks’ cap situation really is and makes us question their longevity as a team, something that bodes well for the Flyers.  Even though the Thrashers gave up some good picks in the trade, I think that it was a good move for them.  Having seen what Byfuglien can do first hand, I know they got someone who will irritate the other team and be a force in front of the net, and I really can’t stand the fact that I will have to see him twice this season.  Ben Eager is another tough guy who can help a young team with no real leaders and Brent Sopel gives them a veteran on defense.  Overall, this NHL offseason is getting off to an interesting start, and hopefully the Flyers will make another big splash soon.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Henrik Sedin for winning the Hart Trophy as league MVP.  The Sedin’s haven’t gotten the credit they deserve from the mainstream media (probably because they aren’t Crosby and Ovechkin), and hopefully this is the start of their emergence as faces of the league.  Congrats to Ryan Miller as well for winning the Vezina as the league’s best goaltender, to Duncan Keith for winning the Norris Trophy as the best defenseman, and Tyler Myers for winning the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year.

Around Major League Baseball

Stephen Strasburg continues to show why he signed a record contract as the 1st overall pick last season.  The man is a machine.  Tonight he received his first loss, by a score of 1-0.  Strasburg pitched 6 innings and had 9 more strikeouts, bringing his season total to 41 strikeouts in 25.1 innings.  The rookie continues to break records and is even being considered for a spot on the All Star Game in a few weeks.  If he makes two more starts and gets to 60 strikeouts before the break he has my vote.

Josh Hamilton and the Rangers have also been red hot.  The Rangers have won 10 straight games and are well atop the AL West.  Hamilton has been a man on a mission.  In the month of June the Rangers are 17-4 and Josh is batting .476 with 8 HR and 26 RBI.  Thankfully we don’t play them in interleague play, that’s all I’m saying.

Phillies Baseball

Tonight I was fortunate enough to score some tickets to the Phillies vs. Indians game so I got to see them play first-hand for the first time since Roy Halladay got hit around by the Red Sox.  Well, from a pitching perspective, Kyle Kendrick didn’t have it tonight.  He looked very nervous out there, possibly because he saw J.A. Happ making another rehab start and saw his job on the line.  In the first inning Kendrick allowed a leadoff double and then tossed up a meatball to Shin-Soo Choo who crushed a homer to the upper deck in right field.  Their second time around was like deja vu, with another double by Trevor Crowe and another home run by Choo.  After that, Kendrick’s night was done.  The bullpen actually performed well.  Mike Zagurski, who was recently called up from the minors, did a great job coming out of the pen, getting 5 outs with what looked like zero effort.

The Phillies offense wasn’t too shabby either.  Jimmy Rollins, who was only playing in his 2nd game since being back, didn’t look too sharp during the game, but let’s just say he turned it around later.  Jayson Werth hit another opposite/center field home run and Raul Ibanez had a 2 RBI double to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead.  Brian got off the Schneider (I had to use that sorry) by hitting a homer to right to tie the game at 5.  One person who really hit the ball well tonight was Chase Utley, but that won’t show up on the scorecard.  He ripped two balls foul that were no-doubt-about-it home runs and hit another one to the warning track that needed a great catch to avoid an extra base hit.  All in all, Chase was on top of the ball tonight and I really think he has gotten the confidence to break out of his slump.

Back to Jimmy Rollins.  After the Phillies allowed the Indians to take a 6-5 lead (possibly due to some poor managing by Charlie Manuel who should’ve walked Carlos Santana to load the bases and create force outs at each base with 1 out instead of pitching to him), they were down their last chance, the bottom of the 9th.  Jimmy Rollins, who was 0-4 with two miserable looking strikeouts came to the plate.  Watching him in the batter’s box brought back memories of Game 4 against the Dodgers in the NLCS when Jimmy hit a double in the gap to fuel the Phillies’ comeback.  Me, my brother, and my neighbor were discussing that at bat and getting pumped up, hoping Jimmy could provide some more magic tonight, down one run with a man on.  Just then, Jimmy took a Kerry Wood fastball and deposited into the right field seats at Citizen’s Bank Park, hitting his FIRST ever walk off home run and giving the Phillies the 7-6 victory they really needed!  While giving his post-game interview, Shane Victorino emerged from the dugout and gave Rollins his shaving cream pie to the face, showing us that this team still has the confidence and swagger that we’ve seen for the past few seasons.  At 37-32 the Phillies still have a lot of work to do, but the season isn’t even half over yet and we are only 4 games out.  Let’s go Phils!

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Dear NHL: Get Your Priorities Straight!

August 5th, 2009 BroadStreetHero
Bettman demonstrating the gap between the NHL and other professional sports leagues

Bettman demonstrating the gap between the NHL and other professional sports leagues

Over the last week I have been grimacing in pain due to getting my wisdom teeth pulled.  It has given me time to sit around, watch television, and live on yogurt, soup, and pudding.  As I’ve waited for the pain to subside I was lucky enough to observe the idiocy that is the NHL front office.  For a league that is struggling to maintain it’s place in the popular sports hierarchy, it doesn’t look like they realize that there is a huge public image problem.

This has been escalated even more by the recent news stating that the NHL is looking into contracts signed by star free agents.  Evidently, they are concerned that teams are front-loading the contracts so the player gets paid the bulk of the money in the earlier years of the deal, providing the team with less of a salary cap hit in the later years of the deal.  For example, defensemen Chris Pronger of the Philadelphia Flyers just inked a 7 year deal worth $33.5 million, $28 million of which will be paid in the first 4 years of the contract.  The fishy part about the contract is that Pronger is now 34 years old and will be 35 when the season starts, so the odds of him playing until he is 42 years old is very slim, although NHL defensemen do enjoy long careers.

The problem with the entire contract situation is this:  the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was designed so that teams would have to abide by a set salary cap.  By front-loading the money in contracts, teams look like they are trying to circumvent the cap hit that would occur should a player retire before playing out his deal, which would mean that a team signed a player and discussed his retirement, something that is forbidden.

The NHL shouldn’t be overly concerned with this issue, and that is why I’m writing a letter to Gary Bettman, the Commissioner of the NHL, telling him exactly what he should do to bring the league back to prominence:


Dear Commissioner Bettman,

Why are you concerning yourself with the ethics behind contracts being signed by your star athletes when there are more pressing matters at hand?  Do you want to see your league take a step back to what it was like during the 2004-05 NHL Lockout?  I sure as hell don’t.  What you need to be focusing on is the promotion and image of the league.  The one good thing that you have going for you: the attendance numbers are extraordinary!  Total attendance throughout all thirty teams totaled 21,495,541 fans, with only the Atlanta Thrashers filling less than 80% of their seats.

Both of these numbers are better than the NBA, which plays the same number of games in front of comparable crowds.  The NBA had 21,398,899 fans come to their games, but seven franchises failed to reach 80% average attendance, with the Memphis Grizzlies bringing up the rear at 70.3%.

To compare the two leagues, in Philadelphia, a strong sports market, you had the Flyers average 19,545 (100.2%) in attendance at the Wachovia Center versus the NBA’s 76ers who averaged 15,802 (79.7%) in the same arena!  The amazing thing is, both teams made the playoffs in 2008-09, but the disparity in attendance heavily favored the NHL team.

So Gary, now that you have brought back the original fan base to the NHL, it is now time to expand the league’s horizons and grab sports fans and casual viewers alike.  How should you do this?  First, focus on obtaining media contracts!  The NHL may as well be in the Stone Age compared to the rest of the major professional sports leagues.  While the NFL has $3+ BILLION in television contracts with CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN, and NFL Network, the NHL has a measly $70 million per year contract with Versus along with a two year contract to broadcast about 10 games on NBC a year (including the Winter Classic through 2011).

Here is a list of things to do to promote the NHL:

  • Get a deal done with ESPN to broadcast games.  Some of my best memories from when I was younger was watching Gary Thorne do a game on ESPN, then keeping the TV on to watch NHL 2 Night.  ESPN does a great job of promoting the content shown on their station, and with the amount of viewership they get, it will be worth it, this I guarantee.
  • Recognize that you have a great thing going with the NHL Winter Classic.  The event has rejuvenated hockey and is something that the media can jump on board with.  One idea that has been floating around is a possible matchup between rivals Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the middle of the Keystone State at Beaver Stadium at Penn State.  I suggest working as hard as you can to get the Penn State Athletic Department to agree to let you have a Winter Classic there.  The 2009 Winter Classic was the most viewed game in 34 years.  Image the viewership and attendance numbers if the reigning Stanley Cup champion Penguins faced off against the division rival Flyers in a packed stadium of 107,282+ people!  Not only are you competing with College Football Bowl Games on New Year’s Day, but you will have the biggest College Football stadium to host a game in!
  • Promote your star players more effectively.  Other leagues do this very well through community service programs which they advertise during games on television.  For example, the NFL is teamed up with the United Way, the MLB has the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, and the NBA has their own NBA Cares program.  What does the NHL have?  Show some of the league’s top stars interacting with people in their communities in a likeable and humorous way.  That should spark more interest in the teams and players around the league.
  • We all know who Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are, but instead of jamming more of them down our throats, why don’t you do something to promote the other stars in the league.  I am a Flyers season ticket holder and know of the accomplishments of Jeff Carter, Mike Richards, and Simon Gagne, but other hockey fans might not.  Most likely, if fans can’t reach the players on a personal level, then they won’t be as likely to keep watching.  Get the best players in the league in the spotlight and keep them there!  The NHL All Star Game was great this year at doing this, the problem is that not many people saw it.
  • As a fan of all sports, I can probably name the top stars in each league, but none more so than the NFL.  I could probably name the starting QB, RB, and WR as well as top defensive personnel and head coaches for each team.  For the NHL, I could only do this with about half of the league, and I probably only know about 5-10 coaches in the league.  This shows the pathetic job that you are doing in promoting your own people.  When avid hockey fans don’t know the teams around the league then you have to work at getting more people to watch more games.  By changing up the schedule to make it easier for people to watch more games, or by broadcasting more games nationally you have a much better chance at success.

There are a lot of problems with the NHL, but things have gotten much better since the Lockout.  Attendance numbers are great, but what you need to do now is promote the league and it’s image.  The NHL has some of the most talented athletes in the world right now and is dominated by young, exciting stars.  People should know about them!  If you do your job and actively promote the league, no matter how much it costs the league and the owners, you will make the NHL a premier league once again.

Sincerely,

A Hockey Fan Who Cares

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