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Archive of posts tagged sports

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.

show ‘must’ go on

given the media attention given to the latest flu, there’s no surprise that controversy appears due to it. now, while i won’t be talking about the h1n1 flu and how it can or cannot affect one, or the symptoms or how one can prevent it. a vaccine has been rolled out by pharmaceutical companies (in short supply…hint hint). at this point i’m not sure how much a shot costs, but i’m certain the quarterly profits of the manufacturers will surpass the expectations. anyhow, as it turns out due to the short supply of vaccines…there is a priority list set. the government figured they should get a priority list and ensure those in the high risk category (not yet sure how that is assigned and what makes one person high risk over the other…) will get access to the vaccine (if they so desire) first. well…as it turns out there is one factor that promotes one to the ‘priority’ list of getting vaccines; and if you haven’t guessed then you’re a bit to naive. yes, it’s called money.

a story was leaked to the media yesterday that the members of the calgary nhl team (the calgary flames) and their families received the h1n1 vaccines at a private clinic. as it turns out, you got money…you have priority. tier based health-care in effect in canada…yet again. i guess one would want to affect the hockey season if a player suddenly gets sick…after all the show must go on. so what if there’s no fans to watch because they’re battling the flu, at least the hockey teams will continue on playing. the organization denies any wrongdoing in this situation. the health authorities in alberta were somewhat quick to respond, and fired a person due to this situation; doubtful that the particular employee is actually the one responsible for this…they just had to find a scapegoat. calgary , unfortunately, is not the only team that is guilty of this. as it turns out, toronto based teams have acted in the same fashion.

so, i wonder what these teams will say to the family of the next h1n1 victim that didn’t get the vaccine because the next shipment didn’t arrive yet…yet professional players were allowed to receive the vaccines. i wonder how they will stand and pretend they are role models when they did not wait their turn like every other regular citizen. some are more equal than others. i am guessing here, but i doubt only these three teams (calgary flames, toronto maple leafs and toronto raptors) are guilty of cutting in line to get the vaccines. shame on the healthcare system for allowing this, shame on the organizations for pushing for this to happen…and shame on the players for going ahead with this. however, robyn regehr (a member of the calgary hockey team) stated he wasn’t aware there’s a short supply of vaccines. quite doubtful, given that has been the news for the past week.

edit (nov 5): as it turns out, british columbia officials are guilty of this too…a abbostford hockey team received the shot before high priority people in the city. i guess they are ‘higher’ priority given they spend time on the ice (and it’s cold on there)…and it’s important they keep on playing regardless of the surroundings.