The continuing pontification about the Todd Bertuzzi Steve Moore incident that left Moore with a broken neck and Bertuzzi suspended for at least the rest of this NHL season was to be expected and to some extent is understandable. It was a horrible incident. But some of the gratuitous piling on is getting a bit ridiculous. It’s an excuse for those writers who for some reason have a compulsion to criticize all things hockey a free shot at a game they don’t like and don’t understand. Read the rest of this entry »
The Fault Is Bertuzzi’s
August 17, 2005
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hockey, sports | Tagged: controversy, fighting in hockey, NHL, Steve Moore, Todd Bertuzzi | 
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A Strange New Team
August 7, 2005Well, a self-imposed news blackout didn’t seem too risky in February, when I was making the reservations. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in SF on Wednesday, having spent three days with no phone, no tv, and no radio, to discover the Flyers had become a fantasy league hockey team.
I’d been impressed with the Flyers handling of the whole lockout. They treated season ticket holders like trusted shareholders, trying to keep us informed without inflammatory shots at the union. And it helped that most of their full-time employees could be shuffled through the bigger Comcast organization, letting the customers feel that we’d be dealing with the same folks when it was all settled. Read the rest of this entry »
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Post CBA Stumble
July 24, 2005The NHL owners and players have approved the new collective bargaining agreement among much positive spin on the new partnership between teams and players. It’s now Saturday night and the only team who’s done quite completely what the Flyers have done is the Flyers. We know who’s definitely missing (either staying in Europe–and I knew there’d be a lot of guys, particularly at the lower end of the pay scale for whom it would be much more difficult to justify leaving home–or being waived and bought out). We know the new pricing structure. And we’ve had management (executive and hockey) and players sit on the same dais, make statements, and answer questions. I have every confidence the Flyers will win this game of the cap management era because, as usual, they are thinking ahead, communicating effectively with the fans, and thinking of everything. (I’ve already emailed them that I expect we’ll all be sitting in the stands opening night in those “back where we belong” t shirts. But I’m sure they already planned to do that.) Meanwhile, there isn’t another team out there that has so much as announced their waivers. And again, I wonder if anything will really change for hockey. Because how any team can’t have been fully prepared for today, after a week of knowing exactly when it would happen, is beyond me.
Leave a Comment » | hockey | Tagged: CBA, NHL, Philadelphia Flyers | Permalink
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A Weighty Matter
May 30, 2005Robby Gordon, NASCAR driver and erstwhile IRL wannabe, said the other day that Danica Patrick has an unfair advantage in an Indy car because she weighs only 100 pounds compared with Gordon’s 205. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | auto racing | Tagged: Danica, Indy, IRL, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, NASCAR, Robby Gordon | Permalink
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The New NHL
November 16, 2004I’ve held out as long as I possibly could. And really, it isn’t all that long, since we are only about six weeks into the season that isn’t. But I have to get some things off my chest.
You see, I want hockey back (although, it needs to wait until next season because all my 2004-05 season ticket money has been spent on paint and painters, electricians, carpet, and window treatments).
However, I don’t want the NHL back just the way it was.
1 Comment | hockey | Tagged: Bettman, contraction, expansion, NHL, strike | Permalink
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Fire Larry
October 3, 2004Would another manager, a fiery, relaxed guy, who could actually manage the National League game and manage a bullpen, have been able to save the Phillies season?
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Today Was Christmas
April 3, 2004Today was Christmas. If you love baseball and you’re a Philadelphian (or from thereabouts) today was Christmas—when you still believed in Santa Claus.
After years of longing, Phillies fans finally got to enter their brand new baseball palace. Read the rest of this entry »
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Oh My Head
March 29, 2004If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
On February 12, two players on the Philadelphia Flyers suffered concussions. The progresses of their recoveries have been wildly divergent.
Flyers’ Captain Keith Primeau’s injury initially was variously described as having his “bell rung”, having “a headache”, a “knee injury,” and “fatigue.” Primeau actually considered playing in a game February 16 and the team was said to be leaving the decision up to him, all the while trying to pretend he didn’t have a concussion. It is now March 29, and he hasn’t played yet. In fact, he hasn’t gone for any appreciable time without symptoms.
On the other hand, Jeremy Roenick, who also suffered a shattered jaw at the time, was diagnosed immediately with a severe concussion. The combination of his serious jaw injury and the fears of more serious brain injury kept him resting for some time. Could it be that the knowledge that there was no point in his trying to rush back, because the jaw injury would keep him sidelined, helped him get the rest he needed for the concussion to heal?
Leave a Comment » | hockey | Tagged: Jeremy Roenick, Keith Primeau, Philadelphia Flyers, sports concussions | Permalink
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Bertuzzi Aftermath
March 15, 2004Media reaction to the Bertuzzi incident, Moore’s injury, and the NHL’s response is way off the mark.
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Of Curses and Cussedness
October 21, 2003Enough. Enough talk of curses and destiny. Enough whining about fate. Guess what. The Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs became long-time losing franchises the old-fashioned way. They earned it. And they continued their sorry records with the same unremarkable ability to find a way to lose.
For the next 100 years we’ll be hearing about curses and goats and the Babe. Why? Not because there really are curses, but because it is much easier to underachieve when you have a nice convenient (no not goat as curse but) curse as a scapegoat.
1 Comment | baseball | Tagged: Alou, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Curse, Dusty Baker, Grady Little, Kenny Lofton, Kerry Wood, MLB, Pedro Martinez, Pryor, Yankees | Permalink
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