Skip to content
Archive of posts filed under the opinions category.

nhl’s green initiative

i ran across a post by the nhl on their green initiative. my initial reaction is ‘???’. the post is pure garbage and political bull-shit. it simply just seems that the green movement has truly become a must for every association, organization or political entity in order to gain support. after digging through the useless bullshit about the dying planet, changing environment and climate change one will manage to find what the nhl plans to do in order to become ‘greenet’. their biggest actions are one almost retired hockey player driving what is thought to be a green car and the nhl selling branded re-usable bag.

i wonder if bettman was drunk or on drugs when this initiative was started. this is the same man that simply won’t understand that an ice sport can’t build a strong support base in a desert. the amount of energy put to keep the ice frozen in subtropical places is enormous. it can only be kept with the help of lots and lots of energy. energy that needs to be created at the expense of our environment. but, one of the biggest stars drives an environmental friendly car…that ought to off-set all the pollution created by the ice rinks in pheonix, miami, tampa bay, carolina, etc.

how about the pollution created by all the plane travel done between games? is it really necessary to play 82 games a season? almost a game every 2 days? maybe…but with all the plane travel done, this league is light years away from becoming green. it’s hard to have a league without travel, but they can be a bit smarter about they it is done. combine travel for teams. use more efficient ways of travel (if possible).  however, i doubt the hockey stars will be subjected to any travel less than first class on a plane.

how about the 7 game series? or i shouldn’t touch this…as the hockey fanatics will point to ‘history’ and that it’s always been a 7-game series. 3 or 5 game series can result in the same outcome, with less travel..thus less pollution. less pollution from the arenas, as there’s less time spend inside (and other sources of pollution that come from the arenas will also be reduced with less games). that might also bring better effort from teams in all games, because less games make each game more important. thus, a bad effort in one game can cost a series. in a 7-game series, you can waste 3 games and still advance (i.e. 2010 philadelphia flyers).

how about all the broken sticks? there’s bound to be materials out there to make them just as flexible, but less likely to break. history of the game is brought into play when changes are not wanted, but last i recall the original sticks were make out of wood, not composite. i guess the argument ‘it’s always been this way’ fails at this one. make sticks stronger and less likely to break, will reduce waste…thus be green. i haven’t heard this from the nhl!

don’t get me wrong, being green has to start somewhere. but i for one am sick of overhearing the bullshit connected to being green, going green or any other initiatives…when they only words without proper actions. the green initiative has become a political move to get support; and with that it’s losing its importance very fast. no real actions are taken. reductions have not been done. the nhl is a far way from being green, and while it’s important to start…i wish they actually did it properly.

enough already

…enough of crosby already! yes, you’ve heard me, enough of him already. i am not doubting his talent, his determination and his professionalism. the guy is a very very good hockey player, but he’s not the greatest and he will never be. there was this guy named gretzky and there is this russian kid named ovechkin. the arguments that crosby won more at a younger age than gretzky is a weak argument. why? simply put gretzky made the players around him great, crosby is the opposite. without malkin, stall and fleury he would have never won the stanley cup by this point. malkin had an incredible season, and fleury was great when he needed to be. stall was great throughout the season. crosby, just needed to play his game.

ever since the overtime goal everyone is praising crosby. all of a sudden crosby had a great tournament. has anyone watch the entire hockey portion? yes he scored a very important goal. guess what? if toews, or stall, or anyone else on this star-heavy roster would have been in that position they probably would have scored. crosby never showed up for the olympics. his passing was off. his puck handling was horrible. for at least half the games he was less than mediocre. and while some might argue big players show up for big games…he never showed up. he got a lucky bounce of the ref, and then shot the puck. miller made a mistake. his first mistake in the olympics…and all of a sudden crosby is reaching legendary status. it’s undeserved at this point. the other olimpic medalists are more deserving of some mediatization. there were 13 other gold medals in the last two weeks. thh 14th, was won by stall, nash, getzlaf and the rest of the team. he missed a clear break-away in the game. he had the game on the stick, and when the pressure was on him he lost the puck. so…enough of crosby…let’s give the other athletes that represented canada a bit more time on tv.

i personally am growing sick of this already. hockey is canada’s game, but last i checked so is being humble. at this point i’d rather hear about bilodeau or rochette. i’d rather the sports channels stop hyping up crosby and promote the other sports that brought some gold medals. crosby did nothing special in the last two weeks, there are others that did. out of 14 medals, only 2 were hockey. this record would have never happened if in the other 16 days the canadian athletes did not put on their best show.

hockey supercup

for the last few seasons gary betman decided to open the season in europe. and every year the teams that were sent complained of having trouble upon their return to the north american continent. yet, the following year more teams were sent europe’s way. i guess if he couldn’t conquer the south, he thought he’d have better luck in football (yes football) world.

however, here’s an idea how to increase the reputation of the nhl in europe. copy football. yes, copy (it’s not as if they haven’t done before). anyhow, hear me out before you disagree. in football, the champions from each conference play for the world’s supercup. it happens in japan, in early december. and although one usually knows that every year it’s the european champion and the south american champion in the final, the whole mini-tournament is amazing. great crowds, and it’s the only (yes the only) way to determine the world’s best. if the champions from the conferences don’t play against each other, then you have no right to call yourself the champions of the world. (no the final of the mlb should not be called the world championship, and nor should the winners of the other american leagues should dare call themselves champions of the world…it’s simply disgusting)

a series between the nhl and khl champions. whether it’s 6, or 8. play one year in europe and the next in north america. or perhaps have half of the series in one continent, and the other half in the other. then, the winner gets bragging rights as the best in the world. this will improve ratings on both continents. it will sell tickets and will get more attention, and will increase the fan base. it will achieve betman’s dream, but do it in a more rational way. more than that, it will also get the two leading hockey leagues on better terms, as they are trying to out-duel each other. why fight against each other, and not work together. they’ll have more to win by promoting together, than against each other. just my two cents; but then again the nhl is known to continue throwing money out the window!