The Tao of Ken

I recently got into an email conversation with a friend of mine from Drexel, Ken. He's a big Flyers fan and definitely knows hockey well. We were talking about the USA v. Canada game and how much better it was than the average NHL game. The issue of fighting came up and it triggered his thoughts on how to improve the NHL. I'm not going to try to rewrite his thoughts, so here they are:

i dont think eliminating fighting had anything to do with the awesomeness of that game.

the only difference would have been a couple fights would have broken out and the game would have been delayed a bit for the fights.

the real thing this game showed is the need for contraction of the NHL.

you put the best condensed talent on the ice and you just see the amazing results.

here's what happens. you reduce the number of teams -> increase the difficulty of getting into the NHL -> raise skill level of average player -> more skilled player usually = less of a fighter -> reduce fighting in the NHL.

Now this im in favor of... wait what? A flyers fan in favor of reducing fighting you say? You dont want to eliminate fighting, too many cheapshots and slashing and other penalties would happen out of frustration. And it would be very hard to pass a rule that says no more fighting.

However if you do what i said above you will naturally reduce the amount of fighting and eliminate "enforcers". That's the real problem, is that your Riley Cote's of the world are still able to make the NHL. When you have 30 teams and a reduced level of skill to get to the professional level, it opens the door for guys to make the NHL who have just enough skill, but are there to primarily be assholes.

If two skilled tough guy players get into a fight, then fine. But if you got guys out there on the ice that are pretty much paid to fight, thats where your problem lies.

I've wanted for years for the NHL to expand. But Garry Betteman blows giant horse cock, and still wants to expand. He thinks the NHL should be able to compete with the NFL and MLB. Then he wonders why no watches the stanley cup finales when the anahiem ducks and tampa bay lightning are in it.

the bottom line is it's a niche sport, and even though fans of hot weather teams, might act pissed in the end about having their team taken away, it's just too bad, they shouldnt have a hockey team in the first place. and whenever their teams are even mediocre the fanbase deserts the team.

it's ridiculous that a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs hasnt won a cup in 60 years or whatever and the tampa bay lightning, carolina hurricanes, and anaheim ducks have won cups.

what i think should happen is you pretty much knock out all the teams in the southern and western divisions except the Capitals, maybe the Carolina Hurricanes just to keep one kinda mid-south team, the San Jose Sharks (by far the best fanbase of the Cali teams) for all California renamed the California Sharks; possibly merge the NY Islanders and New Jersey Devils into the "Long Island Devils". Keep the Columbus Blue Jackets because they're a northern team. Re-add the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques. With the deletion of the Dallas Stars, give Minnesota back its original franchise name - the Minnesota Northstars, and possibly add another big northern american city in the west like Seattle to cover the West besides California.

Re-arrange the divisions into either 2 divisions of 6 per conference awarding only the 2 spots for division winners just to eliminate any chance of a week division. And you get:

Eastern Conference
Atlantic
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
New York Rangers
Washington Capitals
Long Island Devils
Carolina Hurricanes

Northeast
Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins
Quebec City Nordiques
Toronto Maple Leafs
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres


Western Conference
Central
Chicago Blackhawks
Detroit Red Wings
St. Louis Blues
Winnipeg Jets
Columbus Blue Jackets
Colorado Avalanche

Northwest
Edmonton Oilers
Calgary Flames
Minnesota Northstars
Vancouver Canucks
California Sharks
Seattle

boom. 24 teams. just the right amount. more talent. more excitement. better league.

Overall, I like his thoughts on contraction. I'm not sure I agree with all the teams that will be eliminated/created/merged but I think he's on the right track. A month ago I would have said he was crazy to move the Devils, but after going to a Friday night game when they're #2 in the conference and seeing it 2/3 full at most, I might have to agree with him. Either way, I think this is an NHL that could expand its fanbase (though it won't match the NFL or MLB) and produce a quality product (and probably a profit). Most importantly, it's probably an NHL that AK can get behind.

I Think You Know What This Post Is About

Man, that was an epic battle of a hockey game. Definitely one of the most entertaining games I’ve seen in a long time. This was a preliminary round game and the guys were playing like it was game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals! It was really a showcase of how international hockey is different from the NHL (main differences: larger rink, no fighting). The game was much faster than your average NHL game since there is more room on the ice for these guys to work. During the 2nd (I think) period I can remember a sequence of USA breakaway, followed immediately by a Canada breakaway, followed immediately by a USA breakaway which is something you just don’t see that often in the NHL. Obviously part of that is the higher emotional state the players are in since Olympic hockey is one of the few Olympic sports that involve professionals who actually care (unlike soccer/tennis). However the other factor is certainly the larger rink and the smaller amount of clutching and grabbing going on. If that had been a NHL game I guarantee there would have been at least one fight since you could see the animosity between the teams, however with international rules a fight results in automatically getting kicked out of the game, and none of the players want that. It really came down to the goalies in this one, Miller played great and I think Broduer played just okay. He seemed out of position on a few goals and made a really dumb move of trying to bat the puck out of mid air in front of the net. Word on the street is that Luongo will be starting the next game but that’s just a rumor right now. I took a look at the matchup tree and the US and Canada are on opposite sides meaning a gold medal rematch is a possibility. I remember watching that during the 2002 Salt Lake games and it was a great game and I’m sure that atmosphere would be even better this year since Canada cares that much more.



Looking ahead: the US will face off with the winner of Sweden/Belarus in the Quarterfinals while Canada will play Germany in a playoff qualifier and assuming they win (likely) will then play Russia in the Quarterfinals (should also be a really good game).



Comparisons to the Miracle On Ice: No way can you compare the games and I don’t know why people are. In 1980 you had a bunch of college kids (average age 22) going up against the best hockey team in the world who had creamed them in an exhibition game right before Lake Placid. Of course there’s that other little thing going at the time, the Cold War. The game had such a deeper meaning to it that I don’t think it will ever be replicated in any sport, but I guess we’ll see…

What To Watch Tonight

Men's Hockey: USA vs. Canada
MSNBC, 7:45 PM

This will be a good game for the non-hockey lovers (AK) because it's a grudge match that doesn't allow fighting. So far the US has smoked all the teams they've played, but they haven't really played anyone that good. Canada had a scare against the Swiss but came out with a win. Other than the gold medal game this is probably the most anticipated game of the Olympics and I'm certain that the place will be rocking. Remember that Vancouver is only like 100 miles from the US, so I think they'll be a large contingent of Americans in the crowd. The US team isn't as feared as it was a few months before the tournament due to injuries, especially to their defensive corp so that will be a key thing to watch. Hopefully it'll be good.

Only In Philly

I can't find an embeddable video that works, so watch from this link:

http://news.yahoo.com/video/philadelphiacbs3-15751053/stolen-ambulance-driver-leads-police-on-chase-18211609

Who steals an ambulance? Honestly!

I really don't see what you gain out of jacking an ambulance, I have to imagine that their isn't a big resale market for those things, it's kinda hard to strip it and flip it. Maybe you can sell some of the parts, but it's not the type of thing that people forget about easily, I'm sure they have some heavy duty pain killers and stuff in those things. Crazy.


On a separate but still Philly note, how crazy is this:



I didn't watch the whole video, but supposedly it was discovered because a student was written up for inappropriate conduct he did AT HOME!!! I don't know what administrator thought this would be a good idea, or if it was even a sanctioned action, but if this case pans out I'd love to here more details about it.

A......yo **Updated**

I've been trying to longer posts but this one was too good to pass up. I had two thoughts when I saw this. First, what would Joe Budden's response be? I have to imagine it would be a really long pause, followed by the perfect Ayo!



The second was, how can Jing get this chicks phone number....AYO!


On a completely different topic, I'm watching women's downhill skiing and 3 chicks have had the most crazy ass wipeouts i've ever seen. People crashing and burning at 70 mph on basically a sheet of ice, crazy stuff.

**I can't find any embeddable videos of the crashes, so I'm going to link to the page. At least watch the first one, it's the definition of adding insult to injury**

http://tv.gawker.com/5474312/three-women-skiers-go-down-hard-at-the-olympics

They're Baaaaaack!

I think I'm in the minority on this, but out of all the Olympics, winter is my favorite (para not far behind). Obviously I'm a big hockey fan so that helps, but it's not just that, there are a shit ton of cool sports in the Winter Olympics.


Short Track Speed Skating: I like horse racing, I like ice sports, short track is basically a combination of the two. Way more excitement than long track since you have 6 people on a tiny ass track and it's almost guaranteed someone will wipe out once per race. I just watched a qualifying heat and Apolo Anton Ono bossed the competition completely!


Snowboarding: I'm making this a general sport, because they're all pretty sick. Obviously half pipe takes the cake, but the downhill 4 at a time races aren't bad. Putting snowboarding into the Olympics is probably the best move they've made in a long time, that ish is pretty trill.


Moguls: Another sport that is on right now. I don't really get why they put all the bumps on the course, it seems stupid to test if people can keep their knees together, but the kickers are ill. Anything where tricks are involved is pretty cool, but I think it would be better with no bumps and bigger jumps. Maybe I'll start a grassroots campaign to make that change. I just learned that technically the event is "freestyle skiing,"


Super G: I think I just like to hear the chatter on the ice because these people are skiing so fast. It's a cool sport to watch because they're flying down these hills and occasionally wipe out like whoa. It also tends to have the most controversial athletes (drug busts, fights, etc.)


Ice Hockey: Save the best for last, haha. This is the type of hockey AK will like. There's no fighting allowed and the rink is bigger so the game is more open. Since it allows NHL players it's basically like an All Star game that actually means something. I guess it's really the only big team sport for the Winter Olympics whereas the Summer Olympics have a lot of different team sports. Sounds like it will be a tough run for the Americans since they have a lot of injuries and I'm pretty sure the Canadians are the favorites, but anything can happen.

Event to watch: USA v. Canada Feb 21st

Like Bill Simmons, I'll admit to watching figure skating and I agree with his assertation that it's a good sport to watch because it's so easy to know whether someone will win or lose. If you slip, you're done, simple as that. Ice Dancing on the other hand is a different story, I can't stand that crap.

I'm hoping that this will be a good two weeks!

Winter Wonderland

Most of the attention has been on D.C., but Philly got it's fair share of snow this past week. It was all people at work could talk about Tuesday, especially as it became clear that everything would be shut down on Wednesday. Sure enough, the snow started rolling in around 7 PM Tuesday night and didn't really stop until 11 PM Wednesday. For the most part it was a steady, moderate snowfall, but sometimes it really started coming down. As predicted work was cancelled on Wednesday and it was supposed to have a delayed start at 11 AM Thursday. However, when I called the weather hotline at 10 AM this morning, it was announced that manufacturing operations would not begin until 2nd shift! Boom, two snow days in a row, epic win. It's really sunny now (as it always is in Philadelphia) and the roads are starting to clear up so I'll definitely be back in to work tomorrow. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, the power went out in my apartment for 3-4 hours this morning, that wasn't horrible, but it kind of sucked. Here are some pictures I snapped of the snow around my place.

The Big 1-0-0

This is my 100th post, so I thought I'd make it a good one! I went to NYC this weekend to see a Leafs game with my boy Dave and then spend the rest of the time chilling in the city.

Friday:

I left work around 3 and drove towards the city, my plan was to park at a train station and take the train back and forth. Cost wise it wasn't too bad and convenience wise it was great. On the way up I found a great opportunity to show why so many people make fun of Jersey:

This was only one of the many scenic stretches of the Jersey Turnpike. On a side note, probably wasn't the best idea to try to record video while driving, but as you can see from the camera work, I was focusing on the road!

After parking my car I met up with Dave in Newark and headed to the Prudential Center to see the game. The place is practically brand new (a year or two old I think) and it looked pretty nice. It was a very modern facility but as is normally the case it didn't have any sort of a special feel to it.The view from our seats wasn't bad (the camera always makes it seem further away) and we didn't have a row behind us so it was really easy to get in and out of them. We got there about 30 minutes early so we saw the end of warm ups and then had some time to kill. While we were chilling I noticed one of the trillest things ever...

TVs in the rafters!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think they were for the press box level, but still, that is some pretty trill ish. It was around this point that some crazy ass Devils fans showed up and took there seats in front of us. They called themselves the Hard Hats (for obvious reasons) and one dude had a conch shell that he kept blowing into.

Since I don't think anyone who reads this blog follows the Devils (or hockey that closely), I'll provide a recap. The Leafs were up 3-1 with 3:00 minutes left in the game when the Devils scored making it 3-2. With 48 seconds left in the game the Devils scored on a 6-4 power play to tie up the game. Finally, to just put the icing on the crap cake, the Devils scored with 19 seconds left to win the game 4-3 in a pretty heartbreaking loss. Total bummer. One more thing, that place was pretty empty for the 2nd place team in the conference on a Friday night, not sure the video does it justice, but it was maybe 2/3 full at most.

After the game, Dave and I went out to a few different bars with his roommates and got pretty crunk. It hit me pretty hard that night and took me out of commission for most of Saturday (can't drink like I used to). Saturday night Dave and I headed back out into the city to meet up with a friend from highschool (TO) and a friend of mine from Germany. We went to a pretty chill place and kicked it for a bit but ultimately called it a night fairly early since everyone was pretty tired. Sunday was pretty relaxed, Dave and I walked around his neighborhood for a bit and took in the sights before grabbing a bite to eat. I took off around 1:oo to get back for the Super Bowl (happy the Saints won) and overall it was a pretty good weekend.

Making Moves!

Finally something for a Leafs fan to be excited about! Brian Burke made some moves yesterday, one a blockbuster 7 player trade, the other a move that helps Toronto take out some of the trash. First an update, then an analysis.

Blockbuster:

From Toronto
Matt Stajan (C), Nik Hagman (LW), Jamal Mayers (RW), Ian White (D)

From Calgary
Dion Phanuef (D), Keith Aulie (D), Frederik Sjostrom (LW)

Taking out the trash:

From Toronto
Vesa Toskala (G), Jason Blake (LW)

From Anaheim
Jean Sebastian Giguere (G)

Break it down!!!!

The biggest player involved in this trade is Phanuef who is a former Norris Trophy candidate. Apparently he had some attitude issues in Calgary, but I think that he will fit into Ron Wilson's system better and he will definitely mesh with Leafs GM Brian Burke (he loves hitting people and he's not European). Some of you may be wondering where you've heard Phanuef's name before, here's your answer:



Avery was referring to Phanuef dating Avery's ex, Elisha Cuthbert (cue a comment from Jing).

Aulie is also a good piece to bring to T.O., he's not going to be a major player right now, but he's a great defensive prospect and the Leafs need to think about the future, not the present. The Leafs didn't lost any one great player, but they did lose some offense and we'll see how that affects them. Hopefully some guys will step their game up to fill in because if not I could see a lot of 1-0, 2-1 losses in the Leafs' future. Brian Burke says he isn't done yet, so I have to assume he'll be looking to add some offense to the mix. I think the main player on the block will be Kaberle (D) since he's the best player the Leafs have (pre-trade) and I believe is approaching free agency.

In the other trade of the day the Leafs were able to get rid of a terrible goalie (Toskala) and a waste of salary (Blake) for a goalie that's had a rough past couple of years but who has shown great flashes in the past. Giguere will be reunited with his goalie coach from when he was pretty good in Anaheim so hopefully that will work out. He has one full year left on his contract and I think his role will be to bridge the gap for Gustavsson so he has some time to improve and then, if Giggy plays well, be trade bait next year.

This is a typical scene for Toskala

Dave and I will be seeing the Leafs in Jersey on Friday, and I'm hoping that some of these guys are already playing by then (I think they will be).