The sports world lost one of it’s best voices on Saturday with the announcement of the passing of Jim McKay. Jim McKay was the Walter Cronkite of sports broadcasting. He was a trusted friend we invited into our living rooms every Saturday since 1961 when he began hosting “Wide World of Sports”. 

I was only 9 years old when “Wide World of Sports” first aired on ABC. I remember watching it at my friend’s house. Our neighbors, the Nylins, were big winter sports enthusiasts and it was because of them that I came to love skiing, nordic jumping and figure skating.  ABC and Jim McKay brought these and so much more to the American public.

I think back with fondest memories at all the expert commentators at Jim McKay’s side. Bob Beattie for skiing, Dick Button on figure skating and many other great co-hosts that brought you “up close and personal” with the athletes and their sports. Because of  Roone Arlidge and Jim McKay, you not only saw a variety of sports, you learned all about them.

ABC also made huge strides in sports broadcast technology. Remember seeing the Hannenkamn from a camera attached to the ski racer’s helmet? Slow motion showed the physics of ski jumping and the rotations of the triple lutz. Iso-cameras showed the racer’s ski catching the slalom gate. Jim was always there to highlight the nuances of each sport. He was always well prepared. Jim knew his stuff.

Most people recollect the most important broadcast of his career. Jim McKay held the hand of the viewing public worldwide with his calm and steady reporting about what would turn out to be the blackest day in Olympic history, the massacre of the entire Israeli Olympic team in Munich in 1972.

As a long time viewer of WWS,  I understood how hard that telecast was for Jim McKay. It was a loss of innocence for Jim and all of us. As with the assassination of the Kennedy’s and Martin  Luther King , Jim McKay and the world were stunned to think that such evil was possible. The Olympics were meant to bring the youth of the world together in peace to pursue personal excellence in sport. Jim McKay put aside his personal feelings and physical comfort and was there around the clock to keep the world informed.

Jim McKay was a consummate professional.

Whether they are from Canada or Europe or the USA, always send a man to do a man’s job. I hope this lesson wasn’t missed by Canada’s gift to the NHL, Sidney Crosby. I hope he learned that it’s not about the diving and it’s not about the whining. It’s about the hockey. Just play the game hard and leave the drama out.

Despite the NHL’s best effort to forward the fortunes of young Sidney and his team, in the end the real men of the NHL won the Cup. From their coach, Mike Babcock, on down to a rookie like Darren Helm, the Red Wings, led by Captain Niklas Lidstrom, showed the  Pittsburgh Penguins and the world how to win like men. Michel Therrien and all the young Penguins were defeated by the most worthy opponents in the league. It is no shame on the Penguins to have lost to the best team in the NHL in 6 games.  

Congratulations to the Detroit Red Wings on their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years. There are so many great players on the Red Wings, choosing the Conn Smythe winner couldn’t have been easy. But, they did get it right. Henrik Zetterberg is a great two way hockey player. To have come as far as he has is a testament to Zetterberg and the entire Detroit organization.

Congratulations to Jim Devellano, Ken Holland, Steve Yzerman and the llitch family for treating their players like family. Having faith in these players and offering some a second chance (Osgood, Drake and McCarty) reaped the greatest reward and many blessings.

May all teams and players who pursue the greatest trophy in all sports be as worthy.

The Detroit Red Wings

2008 Central Division Champions

2008 Western Conference Champions

2008 President’s Trophy Winners

2008 Stanley Cup Champions

Where do people sit who just want to watch the game? Is there a section in any stadium for us? Invariably you either have to sit in a section with obnoxious, loud drunks or you have to sit in a No Alcohol Section with a bunch of squirming, annoying little children. 

Last night I went to the Met game and paid $5.00 each for two seats in the upper deck. I opted for the “No Alcohol” Section because I do not like sitting near beer swilling drunks. No sooner had we sat down when a swarm of little boys and their chaperon dads arrived. Seriously, there had to be about 30 boys ranging in age from 10-12. At any given time, 5 or 6 of them were crawling all over the section. It was like sitting in the middle of a pile of Mexican jumping beans. By the third inning, we elected to move down to an empty section of upper boxes.

No sooner had we sat down there but an usher came over. He asked to see our tickets. I told him we had moved down from Section 16 because we couldn’t enjoy the game surrounded by 30 disruptive and annoying little boys. The usher looked up and over at Section 16. He told us it was okay to sit there and left us alone. After the usher left, we noticed the group of young men sitting across the aisle. There were several dozen empty beer bottles at their feet. As the game went on their obnoxiousness level increased commensurately with their alcohol consumption. Profanities galore.  You know the drill.

There is no happy medium for the average working stiff. If you sit in the cheap seats, you  have to put with “the great unwashed”. This is why it’s good to be rich. One can insulate oneself from the rabble by sitting in expensive seats. They have plenty of security to shut the drunks up and to make the kiddies sit down and behave themselves. Their parents won’t.

I listen to Boomer and Carton on WFAN in the morning. I like Boomer. He’s a Ranger fan. He gives hockey more time then most of the other “personalities” on the Fan.  Craig Carton is only barely tolerable and, with his whining voice, only slightly less obnoxious the Chris “the Mad Dog” Russo.

Boomer and Carton were sitting in the cushy blue seats behind home plate tonight watching the game. They had the VIP seats. They were probably comped. It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Anyway, they are being interviewed by the young blond guy who does the  color interviews at the Met games.  Carton turns around as tells his kid to pipe down and dammit, the kid actually listens to him!  How refreshing! 

Too bad the obnoxious, foul mouthed drunks don’t have a parent with them at games to tell them to sit the hell down and shut the hell up. When the Mets actually play well and win, one has a higher annoyance threshold for bad behavior. However, the assaults to one’s sensibilities from “the fans” make staying at home and watching on television a more attractive option.

Even though the Rangers are out of the playoffs, there is still plenty of hockey to watch. Break Up Day for many Ranger fans means popping on to their favorite message boards for some hot stove buzz. Not this hockey fan. I am intrigued by each Conference Final. The best part of watching the rest of the playoffs is that I can enjoy it without that knot in the pit of my stomach. I do not have a vested interest in who wins or loses. This makes makes for dispassionate, calm viewing. No pressure, just fun.

Sure, Ranger fans still viewing may have their preferences as to the outcome of each series. Personally, I would like to see the Flyers take down the Penguins and the Red Wings give the Stars the gate. I want the Flyers to take down the Penguins because of the bad taste left in my mouth after the Rangers series with Sid the Squid diving and whining. But this Flyer team should be less loathsome to Ranger fans than anytime since its inception. The tainted paw prints of Bobby Clarke are finally off this franchise. 

The 2007-2008 Flyers are a rags to riches story that the NHL should be selling the hell out of. Paul Holmgren and the coaching staff have done a tremendous job with this team. The Flyers are in the Eastern Conference final one year after finishing dead last in the league. They had to fight tooth and nail just to make the playoffs. They played a terrific series to eliminate Ovechkin and the Capitals in the first round of the playoffs. The Flyers then defied all odds by eliminating the mighty Montreal Canadians in five games.

What can you say about the Detroit Red Wings? Year in and out they finish at the top of the league for a reason. From their owner on down, this is the classiest organization in the NHL. While they haven’t won the Stanley Cup since 2002, they have won the President’s Trophy four times since. What the Wings have more them any other team in the league is balance. Even if the Wings are down by three goals in a game, you can never count them out.

In the first of the Conference finals games, the Wings trounced Dallas. It was a pretty embarrassing game which the Red Wings won 4-1. It was like watching the Red Wings take Turco and the Stars to hockey school. While some may think total domination is boring, the vacationing Rangers should do themselves a favor and watch the Red Wings powerplay.  They could learn much.

I’ll be checking in here to comment on these playoffs as they move forward. I am rooting for the Red Wings to take it all so I can watch the amazing play of Franzen, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Holmstrom, Kronwell et. al. well into June. Enjoy the Playoffs!

No , not like Donna Summer, like Dave Maloney. Tomorrow night at 9pm tune in to “The Sports Docket” and hear me, mhurley, spout off about the Rangers in particular and the NHL in general.

 http://www.blogtalkradio.com/docket

Thanksgiving Proclamation

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

Abraham Lincoln
President

Eric Lindros should eventually make it in to the Hall of Fame. He may not get there on the first ballot but he has the numbers and the accomplishments to get in. Surely, if Clark Gillies is in the Hall, so should Eric Lindros be inducted.

Here are Clark Gillies’ Career Stats:

NHL 958 games 319 goals 378 assists 697 points +241

Here are Lindros’ Career Stats:

NHL 760 games 372 goals 493 assists 865 points +215

Here is a list of Lindros’ accomplishments if you need to be reminded:

2001-02 Played in NHL All-Star (Injured)
2001-02 Olympic Gold Medal (2002-CAN)
1999-00 Played in NHL All-Star
1998-99 Played in NHL All-Star
1997-98 Played in NHL All-Star
1996-97 Played in NHL All-Star
1995-96 NHL - Second All-Star Team
1995-96 Played in NHL All-Star
1994-95 NHL - Hart Trophy (MVP)
1994-95 NHL - Lester B. Person Award (Player of the Year selected by the NHLPA)
1994-95 NHL - First All-Star Team
1993-94 Played in NHL All-Star
1992-93 NHL - All-Rookie Team
1991-92 Olympic Silver Medal (1992-CAN)
1990-91 CHL - Player of the Year (Canadian Major Junior)
1990-91 CHL - Plus/Minus Award (Canadian Major Junior)
1990-91 OHL - Red Tilson Trophy (Most Oustanding Player)
1990-91 OHL - Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy (Leading Scorer)
1990-91 CHL - Top Draft Prospect (Canadian Major Junior)
1990-91 OHL - First All-Star Team
1989-90 Memorial Cup - All-Star Team

Eric Lindros was set to be “the Next One” but his parent managers set back his career by causing league wide ill-will by insisting on dictating the terms of his draft. How much of this uncooperative attitude can be attributed to Lindros himself will never be known.

I only know what I saw during his career. It is unfortunate that Eric came up in the league at the height of expansion. The dilution of the talent pool lent itself to clutch and grab and hits to the head. No better reminder of this dark period in NHL history is the induction of Scott Stevens to the Hall of Fame this weekend.

Recall that Scott Stevens deliberately dealt concussion causing head injuries with unnescessarily high hits to both Lindros and future Hall of Famer Paul Kariya. No matter what people think of Lindros, no player deserves to be head hunted and severely injured. And yet, the league is rewarding that behavior by inducting Stevens. Despite all of Steven’s accomplishments and Stanley Cups, he will always be a lowlife for his cheap play and borderline legal hits. If the NHL lionizes a player who exhibited the worst qualities of a hockey player, then they should induct a skill player like Lindros when his time comes.

Eric Lindros came to the Rangers long after he should have. While with the Rangers, Lindros played to the best of his ability. He didn’t dog it like many other players in those same years who gave less then their best and collected fat paychecks.

What is really rich is that a jerk like Bobby Clark, after effectively destroying Lindros career and almost killing the kid in the process, comes out in support of Erics’s eventual induction now. Clark is the one person that has made Ranger fans hate the Flyers all these years. Now that he is gone, the Flyers are doing better. Too bad they didn’t have the cojones to give Bobby the Bum’s Rush back when he defamed and slandered Lindros and his family.

Is there any way Clark can be uninducted?

I’ve been waiting years to get that off my chest.

Most people take beach vacations or tour Europe or the USA during the summer. Not this hockey fan! For the last three summers, I have spent the penultimate week of August at the Lake Placid Camp for Adult Figure Skaters.

This year I had the honor to be a part of a skating tribute to renowned skating coach Evelyn Kramer. Also on hand to pay tribute to Evelyn were Dick Button, Don Jackson, Marie Jelenik, Oleg and Ludmilla Protopopov, Ken Shelley and Evelyn’s family, friends and students.

Our adult production (skated by 22 adult figure skaters of all ability levels) was a hit at the tribute. We usually do the group number at the end of every August Adult Skate Week Exhibition. This year, we were asked to be part of this tribute show by our friend and mentor, choreographer Scott Brown.

As a bonus, I got to see the USA Ladies under Age 22 Hockey team play a tournament with the Canadian girls. The Canadians are a tough bunch. They won the two games I saw. Team USA played a passing, peripheral game while the Canadian girls crashed the net. I thought I was at an early last season Ranger game.

Last, but certainly not least, all the guests and cast members were treated to a gala reception in the Hall of Fame Room and a private viewing of the Lake Placid Olympic Museum in the Herb Brooks 1980 Arena. I touched the actual goal net that Jim Craig tended when Team USA won the Gold. All the uniforms equipment and 1980 memorablia was awesome.

This week Ice Hockey and Figure Skating peaceably shared the ice surfaces and their ouevres in Lake Placid. Each sport learned a little about the other. Figure skaters and skating fans enjoyed some great hockey. Hockey players got to see some great skating and learned that beneath all the sequins and glitter beat the hearts of serious athletes.

A beloved skating coach from my past taught me skills and gave me an avocation that will last my lifetime. He taught me what Mr. Lussi taught him, what Evelyn teaches now and what all Mr. Lussi’s students and their descendents know. It’s all about the edge.

All in all, it was a great summer skating vacation.

The last time the New York Rangers played hockey was four weeks ago, on May 6 th. They were eliminated by the President’s Trophy winning Buffalo Sabres in six games. Ironically, the President’s Trophy would be the only trophy the Sabres would go on to win. Buffalo went down to the Ottawa Senators in a wimper, losing in five games.

One of the most controversial calls in the Ranger/Buffalo series would be the “no goal” call in Game Three at Madison Square Garden. It was called a goal on the ice by the officials. Toronto overruled the call on the ice and disallowed the goal saying Karel Rachunek used a distinct kicking motion to guide the puck into the net. Despite the NHL’s attempt to gift wrap this game for Buffalo and giving them a 3-0 lead in the series, the Rangers went on to win the game in overtime.

Yesterday, with Ottawa on the verge of going down 3-0 to the Anahiem Ducks, once again the criminals in Toronto overturned a “No Goal” call by the on ice officials. Ironically enough, one of the officials yesterday was one of the miscreants who officiated the aforementioned Ranger game, Paul Devorski. The NHL awarded Ottawa the goal despite the fact that Daniel Alfredsson clearly used a kicking motion to put the puck in the net.

Brett Hull, in all his usual smugness, pointed out how ridiculous allowing Alfredsson’s goal was in light of disallowed Racunek goal in that Ranger/Buffalo game. Usually, when a situation like this happens in sports, there are umpteen replays of both goals. Most networks would have broken it down, split screened it, slow mo ’d it. Not so NBC. Isn’t that fortunate for the NHL?

Because NBC doesn’t give a rat’s ass about hockey, Campbell and his ace revue team up in Toronto avoided being exposed for the frauds they are. By letting the call of “no goal” on the ice stand, the Ducks had the potential of winning this game and going up 3-0 over Ottawa, Canada’s team. By overturning the call on the ice and allowing the goal, the War Room in Toronto did their best to insure a positive outcome for Ottawa, while extending the playoffs to a game 5. 

Once again, the NHL has insulted the intelligence of the few fans that are still watching these Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t know how anyone else feels but I’m done watching this farce. The casual fans stopped watching long ago, especially after the Preakness fiasco (the NHL’s version of the “Heidi Bowl”). Now, even die hard hockey fans are disgusted. 

Clearly, for the sake of the game and the players and fans who love it, it is time for a shake up in the upper eschelons of the NHL. How many more black eyes must be inflicted on the game before the Governors and owners wake up and smell the stench on Sixth Avenue and in Toronto?

Bettman and Campbell must go.

Last Saturday afternoon, the Sabres/Senators Eastern Conference Final Game was dropped by NBC at the conclusion of regulation time. NBC kindly explained that they had to go to their coverage of the Preakness.(Note: If NBC didn’t present its coverage of the Preakness in full, NBC would be in violation of their agreement with Thoroughbred Racing and its advertisers). Bill Clement explained that Versus would be picking up the coverage of the overtime.

For the rabid fan of NHL Hockey, it wasn’t a big problem. Most of us have Versus. All you had to do was change the channel. However, for the casual fan, it must have been a huge turn off. Imagine investing 2.5 hours in a sporting event only to be told you couldn’t see how it would end. That’s not the way for the NHL to win fans. Recall that the NHL has no formal agreement regarding how much they are being paid and how they are covered. The playoffs are being shown at the grace and favor of NBC. They can take hockey or leave it. They left it.

The radio talking heads were laughing at the NHL, supporting NBC in their decision to drop the game. The overtime game got less then a 1.5 share on Versus, as opposed to the Preakness which got a 5+ share for NBC. They went on to say the present format of the NHL playoffs precludes it from serious consideration from major networks. Major networks do not have the flexibiliy to continually alter their schedules for a sport with a tenuous running time. (Except for baseball, which is sacred in the lower 48).

The implication to me was that, in order to resolve this problem with NBC(any major network), the NHL should find a way to commit to a finite time for game play. The most obvious way to guarantee that a game concludes in under three hours is to determine a regulation tie with a shootout. Like it or not, this may eventually come to pass. If the NHL wants to compete with the other major sports, they may have no choice but to go to the shootout. The shooutout also solves another problem. Playing triple and quadruple overtimes exhausts the players. They turn up at the next game like raw meat.The quality of the play would be infinitely better if games were decided in less time.

Many fans will argue that to decide NHL playoff games in a shoot out would be akin to the before/after ramifications of the designated hitter rule in baseball. Like baseball. Hockey would never be the same. It would denigrate the game.. All that had gone before would retain an elevated status in the annuls of the NHL. Winning the Stanley Cup is about the grinding 16 game odyssey to Hockey Nirvana. To lessen the terms of the quest is unthinkable to NHL fans. Sure, the shootout in the regular season is exciting and has become popular. But, it has the allure of a Lindsay Lohan. It is cosmetic and shallow. To cheapen hockey’s legacy is a huge price to pay for television market share.

Picture Gary Bettman at the next Board of Governors meeting. He’s trying to convince them that the answer to all their television revenue problems is to institute the shoot out in the playoffs. Can’t you see him standing up, doing his best impression of Michael Douglas as Gordon Gecko in Wall Street. Greed is Good. I bet they’d eat it up with a spoon.

Please. Don’t shoot me, I’m only the messenger.