04/23/24
October 05, 2012
SportsFilter: The Friday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Don't know what to get that Newcastle fan in your life for Christmas? Now you do. Please note the wig must be added separately.
posted by yerfatma at 10:24 AM on October 05, 2012
I want your honest votes/opinion.
WILL THEY PLAY NHL HOCKEY THIS YEAR? yes/ no and why
posted by Debo270 at 11:43 AM on October 05, 2012
50 quid Fattie, that is not so much so I can't wait to see how many fans turn out in the suit at matches!
posted by billsaysthis at 12:14 PM on October 05, 2012
Called it. 0-9 after OT.
posted by bender at 12:53 PM on October 05, 2012
WILL THEY PLAY NHL HOCKEY THIS YEAR? yes/ no and why
At this point it appears the only way they play is if the players cave, which would do nothing to rectify the problems the NHL has. As a fan I want to see the issues that exist at the league and ownership level addressed once and for all:
1. Get teams out of markets where they don't belong.
2. Get the owners to understand their actions are not autonomous and impact the entire league.
3. Send the people who run the league office some testicles to deal with the small group of wealthy owners who are the root cause of all of the problems.
Resuming play this year without these issues resolved is nothing more than scheduling the next lockout date in another 4 years or so.
posted by cixelsyd at 01:09 PM on October 05, 2012
WILL THEY PLAY NHL HOCKEY THIS YEAR? yes/ no and why
I'm going to say no AND yes.
Will they play NHL hockey this calendar year (2012)? No. Will they play NHL hockey this seasonal year (2012-13)? Yes.
I think they'll do what they did back in 1995, and play a mini-season (45 games) starting in January.
Both sides realize this is a death sentence if they lose TWO full seasons within recent memory. American hockey fans will never come back to the weaker teams/markets, and Canadian fans will distract themselves with junior hockey.
I'm pretty sure that the Canadian networks (Sportsnet, TSN, CBC) will begin leaning VERY heavily on both sides to get something solved.
I could see a couple of franchises simply folding if they miss another year (Islanders, Coyotes), and I'm not sure many owners are going to step up to take them on (or transfer them to other locations).
If the NHL cancels the entire season, the KHL and other Euro leagues will thrive. I could even see the growth getting to the point where the NHL might want to set up a September "Champions League" tournament with the KHL/Finnish/Swedish/Swiss/Czech league winners, just to give itself a popularity boost again.
posted by grum@work at 01:38 PM on October 05, 2012
Called it. 0-9 after OT.
Nice call. Wonder if it's a trend or just waiting for The Law of Averages to be done with baseball season.
posted by yerfatma at 02:40 PM on October 05, 2012
If the NHL cancels the entire season, the KHL and other Euro leagues will thrive.
I agree. ESPN just signed on to cover some KHLgames in the short term. If CBC/CTV/etc. were to do the same and it caught on, suddenly the NHL has put themselves in a precarious position; TV revenue in North America going to non-North American teams. If (and this is a long-shot) it caught on enough, and junior hockey started to edge in a little, the next time they go for TV deals they may find their bargaining position severely weakened.
posted by dfleming at 02:52 PM on October 05, 2012
I could even see the growth getting to the point where the NHL might want to set up a September "Champions League" tournament with the KHL/Finnish/Swedish/Swiss/Czech league winners, just to give itself a popularity boost again.
That just might make a partial lockout worth it.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 03:19 PM on October 05, 2012
ESPN just signed on to cover some KHLgames ... If CBC/CTV/etc. were to do the same
I'd much rather see coverage of Junior and College Hockey and feel there's a huge untapped viewer market, certainly in Canada.
posted by cixelsyd at 03:33 PM on October 05, 2012
I don't see why we can't simply go on reliving the end of the 2010 Olympics men's hockey gold medal game.
We've gotten weeks of mileage out of it in the past.
posted by beaverboard at 05:06 PM on October 05, 2012
The NHL season will start AFTER Jan 1, if only because Bettman hates Detroit and doesn't want them hosting a Winter Classic...
posted by MeatSaber at 06:56 PM on October 05, 2012
Not perfect, but not bad either: Joe Flacco: FUCK U GUYS! I'M ELITE
posted by Ufez Jones at 07:08 PM on October 05, 2012
I laughed at Russell Wilson's appearance.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 08:10 PM on October 05, 2012
I dunno, Ufez. That's pretty damned close to perfect.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:56 PM on October 05, 2012
Weirdly, both games ended with the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the 9th and two outs (Murphy with the bases loaded and Uggla with 2nd and 3rd). That seems really improbable.
Man, I Costanza'ed my picks in the WC games. I picked Texas by 4, so they lose by 4. I picked Atlanta by 3... so they lost by 3. I picked Hamilton to lead in RBIs, he goes 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. At least I got the Yu Darvish pick for most innings, whoopty-doo. If only DJE had allowed the differential as its own pick...
That said, for those of you still rooting for a specific team, I'm now selling my Pick 'Em selection of their ALDS opponent to the highest bidder.
posted by hincandenza at 02:08 AM on October 06, 2012
Nice call. Wonder if it's a trend or just waiting for The Law of Averages to be done with baseball season.
I heard something about this a couple seasons ago, but I couldn't find anything online to back it up, so I decided to track it this season. With Miami's win today (maybe their back-to-back OT games cancelled each other out), the streak has been broken, but 1-9 is still pretty significant. No OT games (so far) this week, but I'll try to remember to update later in the season.
posted by bender at 09:43 PM on October 07, 2012
I wonder when the Rams come to the conclusion that Sam Bradford is not the QB they were hoping for; watching last night's game, he was great on their opening drive and had a long pass early in the 4th quarter. Otherwise, he was 4-16 for 25 yards and a pick and was beyond erratic.
St. Louis' D was outstanding last night, but it's getting harder and harder to think that he's going to develop into a franchise, or even an average, QB. Yes, their receiving corps is pretty thin, but guys like Lance Kendrick (who seems like he could be in the echelon of reception heavy TEs) go unnoticed because they can't get a good pass to work with.