Like a Pony : JessieKitty.org's Personal Blog

I was reading Puck Daddy - a Yahoo hockey blog by this guy Greg Wyshynski, and one article REALLY caught my eye, its fuckin' fantastic... check this out:

"Move three U.S. teams to Canada, save the NHL?
By Greg Wyshynski

So is there a template all the Canadian newspapers share when it's time to write the "hockey will never work in the United States, so let's ship some warm-weather teams to Canada" editorial? It's like an anti-U.S. Mad-Libs: "Obviously, hockey in (Southeast Division city) will never work, so they should be relocated to (Canadian city) before the NHL is completely (adjective)."

The National Post unleashes a case of the Mondays on the NHL in the U.S., suggesting in "A Smaller NHL" that the League should ignore any positive momentum from the TV ratings successes in the Stanley Cup playoffs and start shipping the Predators and Thrashers office equipment to more deserving Canadian cities:

Hockey does have immense local popularity in pockets of the United States -- particularly in New England, the Great Lakes region and in several northern Atlantic states. But only when all the elements align perfectly, as they did for this year's Cup, does the league attract even a fraction of the attention routinely devoted to the NFL, MLB, the NBA, boxing and auto racing.

The league has to focus on what's possible. It should allow the sale of at least three weak teams to Canadian investors, who would move them to hockey-mad medium-sized cities such as Hamilton, Quebec City and Winnipeg. A move to Seattle for a fourth might be wise, too. Until the league's governors accept the marketing ceiling imposed by hockey's limited geographical appeal, its finances will remain shaky.

You can always learn something from these ill-conceived Canuck-centric screeds. Today, the National Post taught us that:

• The NHL's successful franchises in California and Tampa Bay only have strong attendance because "plenty of ex-pat and vacationing Canadians to fill seats." Next time you're at a San Jose Sharks game, don't forget to ask the guy next to you what the weather's like in Moose Jaw this time of year.

• That the NHL is "still the only major sport without a lucrative TV contract in the United States," which would ignore the fact that NHL hockey is on Versus in the U.S. for the sole reason of its more lucrative contract offer in comparison to ESPN. Make the exposure argument, please; but the NHL is making coin on its Versus deal.

• Finally, the editorial places the Phoenix Coyotes (last playoff appearance: 2002), Florida Panthers (last playoff appearance: 2000), Nashville Predators (zero postseason series wins, continuing ownership mess) and Atlanta Thrashers (one playoff appearance in eight years) on the chopping block. As we've said before: Why not see what these cities look like with a winner on the ice? And it's once again stunning that the Islanders never seem to be mentioned in these "teams struggling to bring in fans" discussions.

Then again, Long Island isn't the Sun Belt. And mocking NHL expansion to the American south fits the Canadian media template a hell of a lot better. "


Great fucking article dude. God.... no wonder some canadians act so incredibly fucking stupid at americans about hockey... look at the blatant lies and tabloid-y fuckery they're being fed by their dipshit media... Hockey isn't popular in the south?? Last year when the owner of the Nashville Predators wanted to sell the team, and Balsilie, the canadian shit apple who got rich off of blackberrys, wanted to buy the team and move them to Hamilton... the city of Nashville fucking FLIPPED OUT. Everyone was talking about it, everyone was angry and upset and worried.... it was discussed in depth on the news every night. Fans held protests and rallies and it was a big crazy show down until some awesome locals bought the team and saved the day.

You know what... I have been harassed on the internet by weird insane wild eyed hockey freaks who were obsessed with these psychotic types of lies about america, and our hockey. They attack you the second that they see youre an american fan, and they soak you with a barrage of their dopey creepy autistic brand of 'fighting' lingo... like "I just sonned you son. Youre my son, I sonned you. Im a sonner." ... seriously. Like that's some shit to do with calling someone 'son' for reasons of ridicule. They will make some ridiculous claim like 'the leafs are gonna win the cup, you dont even know anything about hockey, Canada invented hockey" and follow with"... hahaha I just sonned you. Sonned!" ...and then all his little twink friends in the chatroom will all repeat and chant 'SONNED SONNED SONNED'... Wow. (and of course, their victims haven't even said anything to upset them in the first place)..To you canadians with weak minds perverted by bullshit such as that article, I must point out that you're very fucking pitiful, you're very deluded, and you should base your ego on something a lot more valid. By the way, you're giving cool canadians a bad name.