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The NHL’s outdoor overkill

- May 16th, 2013

Remember when the Winter Classic was this unique game that felt special, like a real occasion to circle on your calendar? Well the NHL is going ahead and ruining arguably the best thing that it has going.

The NHL had already announced the Red Wings and Maple Leafs will have a do-over for their cancelled classic that will be held at the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich. Next, the league announced a March 1 game with the Penguins visiting the Blackhawks at Soldier Field – the latest an outdoor game has been played. At the same time, we got a SoCal twist on the outdoor game, with the Ducks playing the Kings at Dodger Stadium – because keeping up the ice outdoors won’t be a problem in Los Angeles.

Seemingly not satisfied, the NHL has now come and announced two more games, both to be played in late January at Yankee Stadium. It seems the league wants to try to leech some of the attention from the Super Bowl being played in the New York City area the next Sunday. You know, because these games don’t usually do well with ticket sales. Also, are you going to be more likely to watch an ice hockey game because the Super Bowl is going to be played in the same area a week later?

I can understand the argument that the NHL is trying to rebuild their fan base after the great lockout of 2012 that has ruined this season. But why does it think that tossing all this outdoor games out there in such a short period of time will be a good thing? Oversaturation is a great way to ruin an otherwise good thing.

Oh, and don’t forget that it has been reported that the league is going to announce another outdoor game in Vancouver – a Heritage Classic, they say. But is it really an “outdoor” game if they play at BC Place, which has a retractable roof, as proposed?

The league should have kept it simple and went with a simpler plan for their outdoor schedule. Why have six games in the span of 60 days?

What the NHL should have done is this:

-Have the Wings-Leafs outdoors tilt at the Big House on News Year Day and break the record for attendance at an ice hockey game.

-Have the all-star game outdoors. Why not? The KHL already does this because it’s a meaningless game all about the spectacle. What better spectacle is there than playing it outdoors?

-Finally, throw the Heritage Classic in Vancouver at BC Place. I think that the fact that it could be in a retractable roof stadium is actually interesting.

It’s too bad the Gary Bettman continues to find ways to ruin the league that he is running – into the ground.

Follow me on Twitter @danbilicki

 

Categories: Ice Hockey | No comments

Sir Alex Ferguson: Greatest manager ever?

- May 9th, 2013

After 26 seasons and countless trophies, Sir Alex Ferguson is stepping down as manager of Manchester United, the biggest football club in the world.

How prolific was Fergy at winning silverware? Check out the list of accolades with the team: 13 Premier League titles, five FA cups, four League Cups, 2 Champions League Cups, 10 community Shields, 1 European Cup-Winners Cup, 1 FIFA Club World Cup, 1 UEFA Super Cup, 1 Intercontinental Cup. And that’s not including individual awards, like his many manager of the month awards or manager of the year kudos.

That tally of 38 team trophies is unrivalled by any manager in North America – hell by any team! The man with the most titles this side of the Atlantic is Phil Jackson with 11. But if you want to compare Fergy with an American coach, you have to throw in his crustiness with the press. He has held grudges with members of the media for years and has straight-up refused to talk to any reporter at all for weeks on end. And you can never forget his ability to find the right players to buy, sell players when their value is highest all while continually developing his youngsters. Basically, he was great at every aspect of his job.

His final game will be his 1,500th with the club, a number that is simply mind-boggling. The only managers that are even remotely close to that in the EPL currently are Arsene Wenger at Arsenal and David Moyes at Everton – but that’s about to come to end.

While there could have been quite the fun guessing game about who will replace Fergy, word had start to leak out just hours after his retirement statement that Man U had already chosen their new man: Fellow Scot Moyes.

We could have had a summer of rumours regarding Real Madrid’s Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp of Borussia Dortmund, maybe a retired Ryan Giggs and, of course, Moyes.

Moyes has shown that he can find value and compete with the top teams while working on a budget over his years at Everton. He’ll undoubtedly pick Ferguson’s brain – Sir Alex is staying on as a director with the team – about summer buys and strategy. And why wouldn’t you want the chance to learn the ropes from such a great?

But now you have to wonder how the players will react to this move. Paul Scholes has already retired once and Sir Alex talked him into coming back last winter. Giggs is the oldest player in the league right now and can’t play forever. You also have to figure that Rio Ferdinand isn’t getting any younger and could conceivably go at any time. At least Wayne Rooney will be happy to be out of the doghouse.

And this doesn’t even get into how Everton will fare without the talented manager Moyes is.

There is some good news though for soccer fans, particularly those who play fantasy football. We may finally see some more predictability in the Red Devils lineup choices. It was never fun buying several Man U players only to see them shuffled into and out of the lineup every other week, seemingly regardless of form.

Follow me on Twitter @danbilicki

Categories: Soccer | No comments

We’re starting to feel the Jason Collins effect

- May 6th, 2013

It has been quite a week for homosexuals in professional sports.

In case you hadn’t heard – which might have been impossible for anybody that even looked at the Internet this week – NBA veteran Jason Collins became the first active player to come out of the closet in North American sports.

That started a whirlwind of commentary and general praise for a guy who was never really that good of a player. Let’s face it: Nobody will ever remember Collins for his play on the court. But that’s beside the point and would only diminish what he has done to break down this barrier.

Unfortunately, while there has been heaps of positivity, there have been idiotic negative comments as well. Mike Wallace’s comments on Twitter were perhaps the most well-known, but I’m sure we all had some ignorant fools on our Facebook timelines comment about Collins.

I personally saw a lot of comments like: “We’ve always known there are gays in sports, look at so-and-so.” These are the immature people that make it tough for people to come out of the closet. These are the people that need to grow up and get with the times.

And while a lot of the press went to Collins, we shouldn’t forget about Robbie Rogers either though. The MLS player came out of the closet and immediately retired back in February.

Now, less than a week after Collins’ announcement, Rogers is contemplating a comeback. After all, it was sort of weird that a 25-year-old with U.S. national team experience would simply hang them up that abruptly.

Maybe it was Collins breaking down that barrier that convinced him to give it another go.

But, the biggest news of the week may have been the report in The Guardian that eight players in England’s Premier League have come out to teammates. How much longer can those players stay in the closet with that report getting out?

We’ve also heard the story about four gay NFL players who were considering coming out during a joint news conference earlier this year. Is that the next big thing to come out on this front?

Really, now that the wall has been broken, we could start seeing a flood of players to join Collins as active homosexual athletes – and it’s about time. With gay marriage becoming legal in more places and with being gay becoming more socially acceptable, there’s no reason it should be taboo.

Follow me on Twitter @danbilicki

Categories: General | No comments

NHL playoff predictions: It’s going to be bad

- April 30th, 2013

Before we get to our fantastically uninformed NHL playoff preview, I feel it my duty to remind everyone what we’re in store for: TERRIBLE ICE HOCKEY.

You might’ve forgotten last year’s playoffs thanks to the prolonged lockout – which should have mercifully wiped out this season – then 48 games played at a ridiculous pace. Well, that’s why I’m here.

Get ready for games where defence is always paramount. There will be almost as many shots blocked as make it to the goalie. There will be plenty of guys jawing at each, but never fighting. There will be a scrum with a lot of face-washing after every whistle. The refs will be ‘letting them play,’ which means we’ll see the type of clutching and grabbing that was eliminated after the previous lockout.

Throw in the fact that everybody is going to be tired and a little banged up from playing too many games in too short of a time period and we are in store for some of the worst ice hockey the NHL has seen in years.

In other words, we’re going to see some big upsets and a champion that likely won’t deserve to hoist the best-looking trophy in sports. And then, next year, we’ll forget all about how bad it was and get psyched up for terrible playoff ice hockey.

On to the predictions…

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Pittsburgh over New York Islanders in 4.

It was nice of Tavares to lead the Islanders to the slaughter. This is a nice building block for the future for the franchise that will soon move to Brooklyn, but this isn’t going to be pretty. Sid the Kid and Co. are the odds-on favourites to win it all for a reason.

Ottawa over Montreal in 6.

This is going to be a tight, defensive showdown with lots of rough stuff – but no fighting, remember. I see the under-rated Craig Anderson getting the best of Carey Price, who hasn’t looked good recently.

Washington over New York Rangers in 7.

Alex Ovechkin has been on fire and the Rangers aren’t going to be the team to stop them. New York has been doing better since the trade deadline, but this is still a flawed team. You can’t forget about Henrik Lundqvist’s poor playoff record.

Toronto over Boston in 6.

I won’t even see this as a shocker. The Bruins have fallen apart down the stretch and have some question marks in the goal-scoring department. The Leafs have a strong team and will surprise some folks. In fact, I see them making it to the conference finals before bowing out.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Chicago over Minnesota in 6.

The best team in the regular season face a team that had to beat out the Columbus Blue Jackets on the final day to make it in. It won’t be easy for the Hawks though, they are missing Ray Emery and Dave Bolland at the moment.

Anaheim over Detroit in 7.

Of the Red Wings teams that have made the playoffs 22 seasons in a row, this is one of the worst. Many forget that the Ducks were one of the best teams in the league early in the season. Anaheim has the depth and goalies to make a good run.

Los Angeles over St. Louis in 7.

The defending champions are good enough to eke one out over the Blues. I wouldn’t beat against a goalie like Jonathan Quick standing on his head and carrying this team again. This will be a battle of goalkeepers with a few overtime tilts.

San Jose over Vancouver in 6.

After the wonder twins, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the Canucks don’t have a lot of scoring depth. The Sharks aren’t prone to deep playoff runs, but this is a weird season where anything can happen, remember.

STANLEY CUP
Pittsburgh over Anaheim in 6.
The only thing stopping Crosby and his team of superstars from hoisting the Cup is an injury, but you can’t rule that out for a second.

Categories: Ice Hockey | 2 comments

Some feelings about tonight’s NFL draft

- April 25th, 2013

You’ve now no doubt read my mock draft and are prepared for tonight’s big first-round. But here are a couple of things that couldn’t be expressed in the space that I was given. So here are some quick hit thoughts about tonight, the players, what teams may do and some predictions for the future of those guys getting their names called by the loathsome Roger Goodell.

-The draft, of course, will not play out like I’ve written it. The thing about a mock is that you have no way of really predicting draft-night trades and how they’ll shake things up. And once you start dealing with all the moving pieces of trades, it just makes figuring out the whole thing even more difficult. So, for my sanity’s sake, no trade are mocked up.

-For the first time since I started doing mock drafts a couple of years ago, I had a hard time fitting a QB into the first round. In fact, up until yesterday, I only had Geno Smith going to Minnesota at 25. I finally relented and had Smith going to Cleveland, but I still don’t feel great about it.

-If there were trades in my mock, at least one team would be seen trading back into the late first round to grab either Matt Barkley or Ryan Nassib.

-I feel pretty confident with the fact that I don’t have a first-round running back. Only Eddie Lacy really fits the bill talent-wise, but he’s nothing like the all-around back that Trent Richardson was last year. You can definitely wait on a good back this year.

-The whole ‘Dee Milliner has had five surgeries’ thing scares me. If I were to bet, I’d say that he finishes two of his first four seasons on the IR or misses at least two games in each of his first three seasons.

-The Jaguars pick is a real wild card. With some many holes on that team, there’s no telling where they can go. I will say that Dion Jordan makes the most sense for them, but knowing Jacksonville, that doesn’t really matter.

-Tavon Austin’s stock has soared in the past week or so, as if his game tape has gotten better. I still see him settling right into the middle of the first round.

-Of the guys that I’ve dropped out of the first round – Menelik Watson, Damontre Moore, Margus Hunt, Arthur Brown, Jonathan Hankins, Sylvester Williams – my guess is that Watson and Williams have the best chance of making it back in. The guy with the least chance? Moore.

-With two picks each in the first, the Jets, Rams and Vikings are good bets to make some trades. If the Vikes really want Austin to replace Percy Harvin, they’ll have to jump up around 10 slots.

-I think that the Dolphins will make the deal for Branden Albert. You’re better off getting a tested and true tackle for a second-round pick than rolling the dice with your first rounder.

-This will be one of the least-watched recent first rounds. There’s no big names and all the talent is at non-marquee positions. The lay-fan won’t care about the linebacker, lineman or safety their team drafts too much.

Follow me on Twitter @danbilicki

Categories: Football | No comments

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