Subtopic	Posts		Updated
	Archive 01	50		2004/06/07, 05:03 pm

Great Game !! I am glad for Tampa Bay and for Mr Chuck 22 years is a long time to wait

Andreychuk a minor footnote in hockey history -- the DON SUTTON of hawkey. Amazing to see Tampon Bay move so quickly from NHL laughing stock as recently as lecavalier's 1st year to rulers of the roost. And all done by cast-offs turned superstars like St. Louis, true gold rathe than the usual FOOL'S variety in Khabibulin, and a finals MVP (hey Canadians, is it still called the Conn Smythe award???) in Lecavalier gravy-train rider Richards.

And last but not least, for the Sopranos-wannabe coach, nice to see vindication for your melodramatic words.

BTW, re: all you 'go Flames' proponents, and 'Stanley needs a tan' bashers, consider this a continuation of the CURSE OF JIMMY CARTER! FLAMES RETURN HOME TO ATLANTA OR THE CURSE WILL LIVE FOREVER!

Porker
Like - u got issues, eh?

I should be happy for Tampa. I mean, they're a helluva closer than Calgary. And Canadians are a nothing but a bunch of overtaxed, beerguzzlin frat boys. But to park Lord Stanleys Cup in a cypress swamp where it never snows?

Good god man. I need another Molsons.

Price of Poker;

When I lived near Tampa, they could almost not even give away tickets. They had all sorts of offers; buy 5 get 8 games; free parking during weeknight games; Free TBL hats to the first 500 entrants;

Along with the Stanley Cup, here comes $8 parking, scalped ticket prices; and $20 TLB hats.

Oh well, happy for them to win. Good for the local economy and city pride.

I'll join ya in that toast buddy but could we make it a Blue?

Yes Sir !!! Tampa brings home the cup.

Tampa to win series (-230) 11.5 units to win 5 units --- WON 5 UNITS

Tampa to win series (down 0-1, +135) - 2 units to win 2.7 units --- WON 2.7 UNITS


Tampa on puck line game 7 (-1.5, +200) --- 1 unit to win 2 units --- LOST 1 UNIT

WON 6.7 UNITS
PREVIOUS TOTAL - WON 5 UNITS

NHL Playoffs to date --- WON 11.7 UNITS

fooledagain1 does it again, that`s 8 years in a row with the correct Stanley Cup Finals series winner.

Hey, I used to consider you guys a very sharp bunch of sports fans.......UNTIL NOW. I see absolutely no mention that Calgary was robbed of a late goal in Game 6 and most likely would have protected that lead for the final few minutes and hoisted the Cup in their own building.

Just to clarify, I'm NOT a Calgary fan, I'm NOT a Tampa hater, and I didn't have any money on the result.

What a travesty!

A Sure glad he's not a Calgary fan who was robbed of the Cup kind of guy,

Ootie

I cannot believe these morons are greedy enough to halt the season. While I do not believe everything the owners say in terms of losing money the players have to be smart enough to understand there is no huge TV cash cow in hockey. Who do they think pays for their outrageous salaries ?? The fans of course. 15 or so years ago my season loge seats at the Forum in LA were $8.50 each. Pre- Gretzky of course. Now those same seats are about $95. WTF can afford that besides big corporations looking for a tax write off ? If there is no season this year I believe hockey is doomed to be a third rate sport in US. No one will care if the players come back or not.

BTW---What's so terrible about a salary cap that the players can NEVER accaept it ? The two most popular and healthiest sports- football and basketball both have salary caps. The players do not seem to be living in missions or eating at soup kitchens.

This is going to be a long lockout- seems no hope for compromise in forseeable future.

Anybody else surprised that some crazed Canadian hasn't whacked Bettman yet?

Did he actually have the guts to go thru with that open forum meeting he was supposed to have with the fans in Toronto ?
Someone should lock him and that idiot that represents the players union in a large room filled with drunk Canucks. No one comes out until we reach a deal.

The fact is Bettman holds all the cards. The players have absolutely no leverage... Too bad it has come to this as in the end the "game suffers" more than the collective individuals. The sport is on the fringe and will always remain there.

I agree tho, I would love to see Don Cherry take him out up in Toronto!

Even though I'm a former Capitals season ticket holder - I bailed when my per-seat cost hit $60 per game, and that's for a full 41-game plan, not a partial or per-game - I think I speak for a lot of American sports fans who, when asked about the hockey lockout, respond with "oh yeah, hockey.....I forgot about that"

Very interesting, Catocony. 60 bucks per ticket seems outrageous, but just illustrates what the whole problem is about.

Personally, I have been a rabid hockey fan at times in my life, but haven't missed it in the least this year.

I had LA King's season seats for 24 years and gave them up several years ago for two reasons. Ine the move downtown to Staples made getting to every game ridiculous. Two the cost of the seats went to $95 each. That's exactly why the owners HAVE to cap salaries. NO TV money to spaek of so revenue must be gouged from the fans who attend the games. Thus, no more fans --just corporate types entertaining clients and talking thru the whole friggin game- drives you crazy !!

What are the players thinking ?? NFL and NBA both have salary caps and are the two most successful leagues in the US. They're not exactly going to work for minimum wage. In 2-3 years they will sign the same deal they could have had this year if they were not so hung up on the term " salary cap ".

Well it will be my first spring without hockey in 24 years.

Hockey is one of my favorite sports to watch.

I was a long time Kings season ticket holder unitl they turned my seats into senate seats at the old forum

My best friend finally gave up his Caps tickets at $75 a seat. I used to go every Christmas when I visited him usually vs my favorite Rangers and would wear my Rangers jersey. Two years ago the caps killed the Rangers and I was on the big screen for like two minutes as I was very bummed out and just standing in shock.
That night every bar we went to someone would come up and say, hey you are the guy from the big screen. Helped us meet a couple of hottties though.

The last Kings game I went to was when I scalped a ticket for $10, ten minutes into game 7 when the Kings upset the Red wings. That shows you the difference between NY and LA. It is almost impossible to scalp at Madison Square Garden even when the Rangers are losing.

I will miss Hockey, it is fast paced and can be very exciting.

There's going to be a lot of unhappy hosers come Wednesday. I wonder what the legal barriers are to ditching everything related to the NHL name and just starting up a new pro league with the players having ownership of the teams. Couldn't be THAT difficult to find arena leases, now could it?

A great quote from Dan Wetzel of yahoo sports re: NHL expansion in this article http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylc=X3oDMTBpcmc2NWVyBF9TAzI1NjY0ODI1BHNlYwNvZQ--?slug=dw-nhl021405&prov=yhoo&type=lgns :

"Too many franchises were put in any outpost with two Winn-Dixies and the expansion fee, regardless of competitive commitment or business realities."

The Bruins have yet to lose a game this year
I feel for the hockey fans !!!
Take off you Hoser !!!

The NHL players need to wake up to reality.

I believe the NHL owners when they say that losses over the past 2 years amount collectively to over $450 million. That equates to(32 teams times 2 years = 64 seasons into a $450 million deficit) about $7 million per year loss per each and every team.

You know, there are a lot of millionaires in the USA (and some in Canada) and most are very egocentric; meaning their ego would love to say that they sit up in the owners luxury box, know the players personally, etc ... and yet none of them are stepping forward and saying "Gee, I'd like to own a pro hockey team and enjoy all the privileges and incur costs of $7million per year out of my own pocket".

If the players owned the league, they'd have no choice but to take on a salary cap since they would have to fold franchises if ever they were unable to meet a payroll (players do not have millions sitting idly nearby, nor anything to collaterilize to obtain a bank loan).

Yes, the NHL over-expanded into soft markets ... so more players on the fringe of being called NHL pro players, could have big league salaries.

The fans cannot stretch any more, sometimes paying from $40-90 for a pretty good seat at a game. It is especially harder for the Canadian teams, who's dollars are only worth about 75% of the American dollar (but those players want American salaries!).

The NHL players will be out for 10 years (and beyond) if they won't budge on a "no salary cap" stance.

If players owned their own teams, what exactly would their start up costs be? Making uniforms, some travel costs and advance payment on an arena lease. It's not impossible, minor leagues exist a fraction of a cost of the NHL.

The name of the game of sports ownership is not year to year profit and loss, and creative cooking of books can make even a rather large profit LOOK like a loss. The name of the game is the appreciation of franchise values. Bettman and the owners have severely damaged them by watering down their product chasing expansion fees and now destroyed them by writing off a whole season.

Hockey has never gotten huge revenue from a national TV contract, but the current ZERO dollar NBC contract? Come on. ESPN is HAPPY there's no hockey on so they can show more college basketball. The NHL desperately needs to be fixed and bickering over salaries is only one factor. No player put a gun to an owners head and said 'gimme xx millions of dollars'. It was the owners' own stupidity and ignoring the name of the game, marketing their product and maximizing franchise values instead of watering them down by allowing in weak teams in poor markets to make a couple quick bucks.

Alright Porker, finally a chance to debate something (besides mongering, where I do not dispute your built-in advantage) like sports and finances (I'm an degreed accountant when in a vertical position!).

Oh, there are quite a bit of expenses that are committed before the season begins (players paydays are only twice a month during the season).

Yes, several minor league teams, 40 visiting road game dates need chartered airfare and hotel accomodations (reserved in advance usually means also largely paid in advance ... commonly referred to in the biz as "CIA country/cash in advance").

Meal per diem money, running a training camp during pre-season when everybody under contract is invited for a look, reserving an ice rink for practice during the season (here in Orange County, it's currently Disney Ice in Anaheim, previously Glacial Gardens also in Anaheim), insurance policies of all types; i.e. workers comp, general liability (umbrella policy...no arena is going to let your customers enter its facility without one, health insurance for players, a similar health policy for non-playing employees, etc etc.

Yes, it's true that sports owners largely make their money from franchise appreciation. Angels owner/former Bmovie star Gene Autry bought into the Angels as an expansion team in 1961 for approximately $4million and sold to Disney 30years later for $225million. Yes, that's about $7million per year ... h-m-m-m.

Hockey is less receptive to television contracts. Having 2 intermissions in the middle of the game is difficult plus there's little interest in looking in when YOUR team is not one of the participants.

Football plays with a salary cap (about 55% of revenues, I believe) and the competitive balance (not withstanding the NE Patriots success in 3 of the last 4 seasons) ... plus the Rozelle rule of the worst teams drafting first, and playing each other in a more or less stacked arrangement ... makes every franchise strong. Franchises like San Diego Chargers can go from worst to first in one season, given a good coach, a good draft and
a soft schedule.

The answer for the NHL players is ... take a salary cap (about 55% of all revenues), develop franchise competitive balance like football (look what happens in baseball/ Yankees [rich franchise) always on top & Expos (no revenues)always at bottom]) and be happy as the 4th major sport behind football, baseball and basketball.

Yes?

Sounds good to me. Now somebody explain that to Dickhead Bettman and everybody else involved in pro hawkey.

Well Well Well... I think I will be able to cheer on the bruins and maple leafs once again. They sure know how to ruin a great sport tho....

I'm disheartened, but optimistically anticipating Bettman's castration!

I doubt I'll ever be a hawkey fan again after the fucked up strike (I'm only an NFL fan anymore because of fantasy football), but for those that are and may be in areas where coverage is not available, yahoo sports is showing live NHL playoff games for free. The screen is like a 3x5" window, so it's a little hard to follow unless they zoom in for some reason. You can do full screen, but it's blurry as hell.

Anyway, someone may be interested in this. MTL-CAR game 6 I have on now is using Hawkey Night in Canada announcers. Why DO those hosers say "aBOOT" anyway?

I guess it's time to resurrect this thread after many years. I was a Caps season ticket holder back during the last big wave they had - 1997-2002 - and really have to say that the current squad is one of the best I've ever seen in the entire NHL. Did any of you catch the game today or any of the last few games? The skill level of Ovechkin and Semin and Green and Backstrom is amazing, four legit superstars on the same team at the same time and the oldest one, Semin, is only 25. Oh, and couple of 21 year-old goalies to boot.

Why? Hockey is soccer on ice. Only entertaining if you are at the game. Otherwise, simply boring.

EA

Maybe it's time to switch to watching Rugby....

El Apodo, soccer players don't hit each other with sticks or slam each other face first into plexiglass.

Interesting comments, Catacony. I truly felt a loss when the NHL canceled their season (as I did during strikes by the other major sports which will never let me have a loyalty to a TEAM again), but I don't miss the game.

I remember how excited I was for the '98 Olympic hawkey where I was sure Hasek and Jagr were going to dominate. Now? I couldn't possibly care less...

Great goal to send the Caps game into overtime by the guy carrying the puck into the mtl zone.

Ubaldo J just threw a no hitter, tho threw 130 pitches in the process. 115 going into the 9th, I'd have pulled him, honestly...

4 NBA playoff games, Mexico ESPN shows ONE (Boston-MIA). Not-coincidentally, NBA internet ppv showing streaming playoff games for 99 USD. BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

Theodore acting ALL happy when Caps win 10 seconds into OT!

There is still a professional hockey league? Huh, who'd a thunk it?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: hockey is soccer on ice. Who cares...

EA

After the Olympics, Hi Def and FreezeUrNutzOff outdoor hockey ALMOST re-created interest in WHite Guys On Ice, The NHL meet the WWF All Star game set it back 40 years?

Tonight's all-star "fantasy" draft is probably THE gayest thing I ever saw in sports.