I'm back...

[lithera]

So, after taking a day off for various reasons... Most of them being me not wanting to try to handle other people at all, I am back at work. Wheeee. Work. And.. well.. Yeah. Go and listen to Break Stuff by Limp Bizkit. That's about where I was before taking the day off.

*sigh*

I'm hoping for Steve to get hired for both of us. I really, really think we could both use the money fairy making a stop with us.

Mike coming over yesterday was nice. He got to watch Sean go a little crazy and played an excellent Mexican nun. Woooo!

The Ducks are going to the Western Conference finals. The Eastern Conference Finals are Ottawa and New Jersey, which is pretty much how I thought that would work. At this point, I would like to see the Canucks pull it out. I would love to see an all Canada cup. That would rule. I would be hard pressed to cheer against Ottawa or Vancouver, though I would do my damnedest to get tickets to see a Stanley Cup game.

Comments

[silentclarity.livejournal.com]

An all Canada cup would be the worst thing that could possibly happen to the sport of hockey. Yeah it'd be nice for tradition's sake but the fact is no one in America would care, and America is where a vast majority of the TV-ratings for the NHL come from. An all-Canada cup would just kill the ratings, resulting in shittier TV deals and even less exposure than the NHL has now.

JD

Re:

[lithera.livejournal.com]

You're right. That doesn't mean I have to like it. Hockey gets the shaft as it is already.

[silentclarity.livejournal.com]

Enh, this Stanley Cup is going to be a debacle for ratings no matter what. The largest market team left is Anaheim (!!!). All the big-draw teams went out way early.

Hockey honestly kind of deserves to get the shaft these days. With all the clutching & grabbing & trapping it's a boring fucking game sometimes - watch the Wild play. Sure it's neat that they're going as far as they are in only their third year of existance, but the fact is it's boring damned hockey. Doesn't help that the NHL never follows through on its crackdowns on obstruction.

Honestly I think the trap and its variants are the worst thing that could happen to hockey. It slows down a naturally fast paced game. Given that you can't just make a rule against it, I'd suggest one of the following fixes:

1) Increase rink size by about 10' in each direction. Right now five guys can pretty much fill up a section of the ice. This would prevent that. Of course this wouldn't be popular with the owners - you'd lose a row of your highest-price seating at each rink, and the replacement would be expensive. Best plan would be toe require all new rinks to be compliant with the new measurements and require all existing rinks to upgrade within 5 years.
2) Get rid of the red line and eliminate the two line pass (offsides is obviouslys still valid). This would allow risky passes from deep in the defensive zone to near the other team's offensive zone, allowing a fast-breakout type scenario where a winger can get the puck into the offensive zone without having to dump it into the corner.

JD

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I agree with you entirely.