With all the
happenings that occurred this weekend, there are other things I need to
address. Maybe I’m fired up because I
spent 95% of my weekend time watching sports, or maybe I’m doing actually what
I’m supposed to do (honestly it’s both).
Let’s have at it.
Peter
Gammons – I read an article on TSN this morning regarding Peter Gammons
and his reaction to the line brawl that began in Saturday’s Flames/Canucks
game. Gammon commented that what
happened Saturday night is one of the reasons hockey is a “minor sport”. Wait a damn minute… Let’s get a couple of things straight.
First of
all, Gammons is baseball writer, why does anyone give a rats ass about his
thoughts on hockey!?! Also, while hockey
isn’t as popular as baseball is in The States, hockey is a true world-wide
sport; baseball just wants to be.
I saw a poll
this morning on ESPN about fighting in hockey and 69% of the voters wanted the
fighting rules to stay how they are.
Fighting is part of the game, and it doesn’t make it minor sport just
because some pretentious asshole in Boston thinks it is.
Maybe
Gammons should focus more on who is putting a needle in whose ass to gain a “competitive
edge”, not what’s happening in an arena in Vancouver. Better yet, maybe he should wonder why less
and less kids are watching and playing baseball. I have two nephews (11 & 13), and both of
them are part of USA Hockey (in fact I’ll be in Long Island this weekend for my
nephew’s High School All-Star Game).
They train and play hockey year-round.
They probably couldn’t name 10 Major League Baseball players. As someone who played and loves baseball I
tried to talk to them about it and they wanted nothing of it. “It’s slow and boring.” It’s not just them . More kids want to play hockey, basketball,
and football over baseball. Shit, more
kids are getting into lacrosse.
How “major”
will baseball be when no one wants to play it?
The Olympics already pulled it.
As a big baseball fan it pains me to say all of this, but it’s the
truth.
Jamaican
Bobsled Team – In case you missed it, the Jamaican bobsled team is
making a triumphant return to the Olympics.
They just want you to finance it.
The Jamaicans figure they’ll need about 80K to get to Russia and they
need your help. The website Crowdtilt.com
has taken up the cause and has already raised $18,000. Word on the street is there’s a PayPal
account in the works as well.
I don’t want
to sound like a dick, but why should anyone kick in some cash to get these guys
to Sochi? I understand Jamaica is a very
poor country and people did the same thing for Usain Bolt in 2012 in London,
but there’s a difference. Bolt is the
fastest man in the world, and won gold medals.
The Jamaican bobsled team is a novelty.
Look… I enjoyed the movie Cool Runnings too. Doug E. Doug is a funny guy and the 1988
Jamaican team was pretty inspiring. It
doesn’t mean I’m going to pay to watch them embarrass themselves.
Darryl
Katz – Who is Darryl Katz you might ask? He’s the owner of the Edmonton Oilers (my
beloved hockey franchise). This
afternoon he wrote an “open letter” to the Oilers fan base, attempting to keep
the fans at bay.
If this was
actually written by Katz, it was more or less a bunch of hot air. The initial theme seemed to be oriented
toward the rebuild, but in reality it was a letter defending Kevin Lowe. The Oilers president has taken a lot of heat
for rebuilding a team that has no defense.
There are social media pages dedicated to “Fire Lowe”. Oilers fans are pissed (myself included), and
want some type of answer.
Another question
I have regarding “Rebuild Year Four”. If
you’re rebuilding a young team, wouldn’t you want some type of consistency? The Oilers have had three coaches in four
years (and people are calling for Dallas Eakins’ head now). If you’re doing a true rebuild, you don’t
change coaches annually. Young players
need consistency and annual changes aren’t conducive for development. . .
The letter
was nothing but a written vote of confidence for Lowe.
Well, I’m
done. I can be reached at gimmeasign@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @JayPlatt. I’m pretty bitter…
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