Allow myself … to introduce … myself
It is with tremendous pleasure that I introduce myself to all of you as the latest addition to The Rangers Tribune. My name is Michael Spinner, and this is probably (hopefully) the last time I will ever write about myself in a column. But, since ice hockey is something we are all so passionate about, and I am sure many of you will have an opinion at times about my opinions, I figured I would spend a few minutes writing about what I bring to this publication.
I began my print journalism ‘career’ as a High School freshman, some 20 years ago, and I have not been able to put down the proverbial typewriter/computer since then … did I really just say typewriter (for those of you below the age of 20, google it!)? I was Editor In Chief of the Pace University student newspaper, and while in college I also began writing for the Queens Tribune, the Bayside Times (both stationed in Queens, New York), and I also helped begin a publication known as Inside Lacrosse, which to this day is the largest regular publication in the sport. I spent four years as an Assistant Editor, before moving to the now-defunct 360Lacrosse.com (owned by Street & Smith’s Sports Publishing) as Managing Editor for three years. When the internet bubble began to burst and Street & Smith’s dumped its web division, ending 360Lacrosse.com, I joined the staff at e-lacrosse.com, where I have been a Senior Columnist and reporter for the last nine years. If you’re a lacrosse enthusiast, you may have seen my column, ‘The Latest Spin’ – a bi-weekly column that has been published regularly since 2001.
To pay the bills, I am the Athletic Director at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, Connecticut. As I have seen during my time covering lacrosse, every once in a while, my experience in Athletic Administration may just allow some unique into a column … maybe.
As a life-long lacrosse player and coach, I have primarily written about the sport of lacrosse, but when it comes to sports, my true love is hockey. I am, of course, a member of Blueshirt Nation and a die-hard New York Rangers fan, but to be honest, there is no such thing as a bad hockey game. I love hockey and everything about it, and it has been a dream of mine to write about the NHL, which is why I am so thankful to Nick Montemagno for this incredible opportunity.
I have a great deal of experience writing, and a great deal of opinion on the sport, so hopefully you will find this column to be informative, entertaining at times, and thought-provoking. I tend to hold nothing back … unless the boss tells me to! If you ever want to continue anything I write about into a conversation, do not hesitate to follow me on Twitter (@MichaelSpinner). Before I begin, let’s all agree to disagree. We love hockey, we love talking hockey, we love reading about hockey … so enough about me, let’s get started!
Aux grands maux les grands remèdes
One day, Canada is going to have a real scandal. You know, something that truly makes international headlines. For now, we have the occasional sound-byte coming out of the Great White North, but nothing truly scandalous. You cannot find fault with Canada for their lack of truly newsworthy headlines. After all, the greatest military feat in the history of the nation has yet to be determined, the national currency is called ‘the Loonie’ (this is true), and the list of truly famous Canadians who are not hockey players has Jim Carrey and Alan Thicke among its honorees.
So what we have for now emanating from Canada are items such as a riot in Vancouver after Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals … and now this: The Montreal Canadiens hired an Interim Head Coach who does not speak French. Oh, the humanity! Weeks after Randy Cunneyworth was hired as Interim Head Coach of the Habs, social Media sites within Quebec are still calling for a boycott on attendance at Canadiens games, as well as a freeze on the purchase of Canadiens merchandise, and even the province’s culture minister stated she expects the Canadiens to ‘correct the situation.’ Cunneyworth’s attempts to learn French have actually been documented and deemed newsworthy by Montreal press.
Which of course lends an important question, if Cunneyworth were to lead the Habs to the Stanley Cup, what do the Canadiens do? Do they dare hire Cunneyworth as the team’s Head Coach? Do they send him to a French-Canadien boot camp where he learns to speak French with a perfect accent and also articulate the difference between Poutine and Cheesy Fries? Or, do they take the almost unheard of step of removing a coach solely because of cultural differences?
All joking aside – and there should be an avalanche of jokes based on this situation – the provincial or perhaps national reaction to an unhealthy juxtaposition of politics and professional sport is at the same time comical and, to a certain extent, romantic. Most professional sports fans are of the mindset that they do not care what language their coaches speak, as long as the team wins games. During an era of sport when there are so many bona fide controversies that it is almost hard to turn to the sports section of the newspaper on a daily basis, most sports fans are happy to have a coach without a checkered past.
We all have skeletons in our closet. Heck, Tom Hanks did ‘Joe Versus the Volcano.’ So when we have an individual like Randy Cunneyworth who played 16 NHL seasons with six franchises and skillfully rose up the coaching ranks ascend to Head Coach of the most famous franchise in the history of the NHL, most fans would rejoice that his one skeleton is his lack of French acumen. But, not in Montreal.
This situation, while hysterical, also illustrates a sentiment in professional sports that seems to have lost its way thanks to unmitigated free agency and fantasy sports. The controversy here is not because Habs fans and the Canadian Parliament are angry that Jacques Martin was fired. The headline is that a professional sports franchise has an identity, and desperately wants to maintain it. Canadiens fans are among the most passionate in all of sports, but they want to win ‘their way.’ Remember when the New York Rangers hired Bryan Trottier as their Head Coach? Rangers fans were almost happy he failed because no self-respecting Rangers fan could ever jump on the bandwagon for a coach who captained the New York Islanders. The Rangers have their own culture that transcends a coaching resume. The same can be said about the Canadiens. Can we laugh at the backlash against Cunneyworth? Of course we can. But we should also have a degree of respect for the sentiment involved.
Free Agency has almost killed the true identity of Major League Baseball teams. Many NFL teams have found a way to maintain their identity, but at the same time, we now have a ‘Dream Team’ in Philadelphia. Professional Basketball has become the first major sport to allow its players to not only demand a trade, but also specify the team a player wants to be traded to. In hockey, the Montreal Canadiens are a franchise with a cultural integrity so strong that they may not hire the most qualified coach to lead their team. Keep laughing at this, but also understand that the sentiment shared by Canadiens’ fans is something all hockey fans should be proud of to a certain extent.
Of course, the question remains, what happens if Randy Cunneyworth leads the Canadiens to the Stanley Cup?
Fear not, Canadiens fans, whether it is incidental or not, the Canadiens have not fared too well since Cunneyworth took over, and the team has all but surrendered the 2011-2012 campaign (feel free to insert French jokes here). It would seem that a new Head Coach with the ability to speak French as well as Pepe LePew is on the horizon.
A thought about Reliagnment
What is the life-blood of sport? A very tough question to ask. Some may say spectators, others may say advertising/sponsorships, and many will suggest that television coverage is what makes the proverbial sports world turn on its axis. Some of you might be sport-sophisticated enough to say it’s the sport itself.
In today’s sports world, none of what is listed above is as important to the health of a sport than the rivalry. A great rivalry can make a terrible game into something memorable, well-attended, entertaining, and superbly covered by television. Don’t believe me? I have two words for you: Winter Classic. The Winter Classic has been unbelievably successful in large part because the NHL has annually selected two teams to compete that are either naturally bitter rivals or became more bitter rivals thanks to ‘24/7.’ Has the hockey been spectacular? One may argue the hockey has been very average because the elements (i.e. bad ice, bad climate, large stadium surroundings, etc.) has made the games themselves unspectacular, but the drama and spectacle of the Winter Classic has surpassed this issue because of the rivalry … with the 2012 edition being the perfect example.
All of which is a great lead-in into the NHL’s realignment dilemma. The NHL Players’ Association rejected a realignment proposal that would have changed the landscape of the league by applying actual and substantive common sense to the way the league presently operates. In the omnipresent battles between the players’ union and ownership, this time, the players got it wrong, and the long-term impact could be devastating as the current collective bargaining agreement gets closer and closer to an expiration date.
The NHLPA, led by Donald Fehr – a dynamic itself that screams strike or lock-out – claimed that the realignment plan would have led to too many concerns regarding travel, and the imbalance of having two conferences with seven teams, and two conferences with eight teams.
Travel concerns? Did Fehr bother asking members of the Winnipeg Jets how they feel about traveling to Washington, Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Florida for divisional games? Or how about the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars who play almost every divisional game in a different time zone? Bottom line: The NHL’s realignment plan focused singularly on geography, which – if anything – would ease travel concerns, not create new ones … which leads me to believe that Mr. Fehr was, for lack of a better term, wrong. As for the competitive balance concern, there is some validity to Mr. Fehr’s concern, but if anything, the NHL realignment could easily open the door to expansion or relocation … both of which could benefit the league greatly.
This realignment issue is important for two reasons: First, the NHL’s realignment plan focused on a geographic shift that would have enhanced the rivalries of virtually every club in the league. Right now, under no circumstances will the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers ever be a rivalry that gets fans excited and encourages fans to turn on the television. And for Dallas and Minnesota, their ‘rivalry games’ on the road start late enough at night that most fans are sleeping by the end of the first period. By basing conference alignments on geography, the NHL both put teams in the best position to continue or create a rivalry, and also guaranteed every NHL game is a home-at-home schedule, every season. So, if somehow, the NY Rangers have a heated battle with the Los Angeles Kings in October in LA, at some point, the two teams will play at Madison Square Garden during the same season. This is great for business, and solely in the best interests of the fans. And for the players on the teams who are currently locked into the mess being experienced in Winnipeg, Dallas, and others, this plan actually eases travel concerns. The current NHL alignment is not based on geography and only one game per season is guaranteed against all opponents, so it simply does not make sense. If the rivalry is the life-blood or even just an important element of the success of a sports league, the decision of the NHLPA is a set-back for the entirety of the NHL.
More importantly, since the NHLPA’s stance on realignment was far more flawed than the realignment plan itself, one has to ask if there is a genuine concern regarding competitive balance, or whether or not this was a shot across the bow for a potential labor dispute? Let’s all hope it was not. The NHL has come so far, so fast since the lock-out of 2004-05 that many fans do not remember it, and few hold the cancelled season against the league. The NHL has arguably the best product of all professional sports, a fan base that is passionate and growing, and events such as the Olympics and Winter Classic that are a fantastic showcase for the league. If Donald Fehr’s goal here is to stack the deck for a labor war and the league suffers another work stoppage, who knows if the fans will come back this time around?
If everybody else jumps off a bridge, would you do that too?
Here’s a great idea for all professional sports: Stop having all-star games. I could probably end this section here and have many of you on my side, but for those who could be skeptical of my opinion, let me explain.
Professional sports, particularly the NHL, have grown past all-star games. When I was a kid, all-star games were a lot of fun to watch because as a New Yorker, I rarely got to see the likes of Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky play … except when they played against a New York team, or the occasional nationally televised game. Today, we have the internet, Direct TV, multiple ESPN and other all-sport networks, and national television contracts to the point where seeing a superstar play regularly is a fairly easy thing to do. The NHL uses this dynamic to sell their Center Ice Package. If you move to Peru, and want to see the NY Rangers play every game, get the Center Ice Package … and see every team play every game. Because of the ability to see virtually any sporting event any day of the week, one appeal of the all-star game is now gone. If Henrik Lundqvist is the best player in hockey (yes, I went there), any hockey fan can see him play at any time without need of an all-star game.
The other utility of the all-star game is the perception that the all-star game will provide a superior product to what fans are used to seeing, a perception that has absolutely no basis in reality. Are fans going to host all-star game parties, TiVo the game for future watching, and climb on to message boards to discuss the amazing play they saw? Probably not. Even in Major League Baseball, where the all-star game means something, the there is very little interest in the all-star game, and certainly limited drama or intrigue.
For the NHL, the all-star game provides a ton of goals, a complete deviation from the physical nature of today’s NHL product, and an opportunity for fans of those who participate to be scared to death that their favorite player will get hurt … and little else. The league has taken some exceptional, extraordinary steps to market itself. The Winter Olympics two years ago were a sensational showcase of hockey, and completely worth the NHL shutting itself down for several weeks. The Winter Classic is a holiday staple, and provides the league with an all-star game atmosphere, but a product that is meaningful to the operation of the league. The Stanley Cup Playoffs is the most exciting post-season in all of sports.
In other words, the NHL does not need an all-star game. It’s almost overkill at this point for the league. If the NHL really wants to do something to enhance itself, they ought to give every player a week off mid-season to rest, nurse injuries, spend time with their families, and recharge the battery for the second half of the season. That will lead to happier players, a better product later in the season when the games are more meaningful, and fewer injuries.
Of course, there is the argument that every other league has an all-star game, so how could the NHL stop this tradition? Well, if every other league jumped off a bridge …
Finally … Tebow Time?
Any mention of Tim Tebow has absolutely zero place in a hockey column. However, here it is. Should Tim Tebow put on ice skates and head to the nearest arena? Absolutely not. But, does Tim Tebow’s impact on the NFL offer a tremendous lesson for the NHL? Absolutely.
We are in a golden era of sorts for NFL Quarterbacks. Is Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning (when healthy), or Drew Brees the best quarterback in football? What about Eli Manning and Tony Romo? How good is Cam Newton? All legitimate questions as each quarterback above can make the case that they are among the best in the league. However, despite a group of quarterbacks who are in their prime and either have established or are en route to Hall of Fame credentials, the entire focus of the league during the second half of the season was on a quarterback who was only slightly better at his job than Shaquille O’Neal was at shooting free throws. Think about it, when Tebow put up a pass, most of the time, you could yell, ‘clang’ the same way you did when Shaq was at the free throw line. Tim Tebow can likely build houses if his NFL career flames out with the preponderance of bricks he accumulated during half a season of football. However, despite the success of Brady, Rodgers, the Mannings, and others, Tebow is the current NFL cover-boy.
Why is this? It’s simple: The NFL needs Tim Tebow. For as great as Brady and Rodgers and others are – both on and off of the field – there are so many off-field issues in the NFL and other sports that when you have an athlete who stands for values that transcend sport the way Tim Tebow does, you have to make that athlete front-and-center.
In the NFL, you have the conduct of Ndamukong Suh, James Harrison, and several others on the field; end-zone celebrations that border on the more elaborate and ridiculous every week no matter how much a team is losing; superstars going to jail; and players changing their names as a marketing ploy. It is hard to find a reason to entice families and younger fans to watch. But, along comes Tim Tebow – a man we can point at and say to our children, “Be like him!” – who won seven of his first eight games as a starter, and led his team to a thrilling playoff victory. Add to the mix the story of Tebow’s triumph over the adversity of being told he is not good enough to play in the NFL, only to create headlines with his seemingly weekly comeback efforts, and there is no bigger story in professional football then Tim Tebow. This man is going to Disney World, whether or not he ever wins a Super Bowl, and is going to appear in commercials for milk, Gatorade, and everything else associated with children – wearing something NFL related every time.
All of this is because the NFL needs a man like this for its image. Major League Baseball and the NBA needs a cover-boy like Tebow as well for similar image impairments.
However, the one place where a man like Tebow is not needed is the National Hockey League. Why is this? Simply because despite the many different cultures, egos, and personalities present in the NHL, and despite the commercialism gained by the league thanks to the Olympics, Winter Classic, and prevalence of so many superstars, where the NHL has succeeded when other professional sports have failed is that the NHL remains singularly and solely focused on the game itself. Personalities change, and unlike the other professional sports, in the NHL the game has remained the same. This is the one sport where fighting is legal, and yet still, the NHL does not have image issues. The NHL game is being played at its highest level, ever, there is more money to be made than ever before, but the game and its image are pristine.
It’s simple: While hockey is quite possibly the least watched of the ‘major’ professional sports, it is also the sport most centered on the game. Here’s hoping it remains that way.
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