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October 8, 2005
(I Hope) The Fix Is In
Why I'm Very Convinced That The Flyers Will Win The Stanley Cup
We missed you, hockey.
I'll admit that I was semi-distracted during football season last year; generally speaking, I don't really get into the hockey season until the new year. I mean, I'll check the Flyers scores and watch them if they're on TV, but I'm pretty preoccupied in re: professional football during the fall. (It should go without saying that actual live hockey attendance is always welcome. That's in an entirely different category. Live hockey is awesome.) I didn't really feel the void left by hockey until the spring, though, when suddenly I had 40 percent fewer TV shows to watch for the two months that usually were chock full of Stanley Cup playoffs. You mean I'm going to have to watch the NBA playoffs? And that's it? No other choices? No sickly looking dudes with broken faces and long, jaw-contorting names clawing at each other night after night on ESPN?
The Stanley Cup playoffs are easily in the top three sports TV shows (along with NFL Football and the NCAA Basketball Tournament); what with the fantastic hockeyspeak from all parties involved (mostly around the long i in "organization"), the prominent roles of Bill Clement and Barry Melrose (whose name I can't even type without hearing a voice in my head saying it in a Canadian accent: "Berry Milrowse"), and, of course, The Greatest Tradition In Sports (shaking hands at the end of the playoff series), you've got a heck of a reality TV show. And I seriously missed said TV show. Much more than I remember missing the World Series in 1994. I can only imagine how the good people of Canadia felt last spring! (And, come to think of it, they got the shaft with the World Series thing too; the Expos had the best team in the majors that year -- sorry, Canadia!)
But now hockey's back -- with new rules, a new financial framework, and some serious reshuffling of teams and rosters. If it wasn't for imaginary hockey (and the tastefully named "Eag Flyers Eag" franchise) I might not have learned who was on what team until well into the spring. Seriously, I still have no idea (a) who half these guys are and (b) what teams the guys I do know are on. I like a lot of what they've done to freshen things up -- the red line didn't make any sense, and I'm fired up that you can't just grab dudes to play defense. I want more high-speed collisions and less clutching and grabbing (clutching and grabbing is boring). I still wish they had made the rinks bigger, but hey, that wouldn't be very Eddie-Shore, now would it? Also, the revenue sharing means that the cool Canadian franchises should be able to hang (welcome back, Battle of Alberta!).
Of course, the coolest thing about the return of the NHL is the new TV deal. Said TV deal (with the Outdoor Life Network) is actually "not so sweet" for the league. I'm sure they would have preferred to remain with ESPN (production value, brand cache, cross-promotional value), but as far as I'm concerned, the OLN thing is phenomenal. Sure, the studio and graphics packages are completely discount, and the camera work on opening night was awkward at best, but from a corporate media behemouth perspective, I like what they've done. That is, OLN is owned by Comcast. That is, Comcast owns the Flyers. That is, the fix is in! The entire league is now beholden to the cable operator that owns my favorite team if they want to rebuild their fanbase! And unlike when Disney owned the Ducks and broadcast the NHL (on ESPN), Comcast actually cares about the Flyers! As a company, Comcast has that Philly chip on its shoulder -- and they sure wouldn't hate winning a Stanley Cup on their own network! If only to show all those hotshot New York/ LA media companies who's boss! The organIzation that owns our organIzation is running the whole organIzation!
(Also, we have Peter Forsberg. That is also awesome.)
Posted by thatkid at October 8, 2005 4:49 PM under
Sports
Comments
camena?
Posted by: micah at October 9, 2005 2:55 AM
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