Wednesday Morning Fly By: Hopefully Nobody Tries Any Mass Murder Tonight

well that’s more understandable as the media and cable people seem to believe that internet tv is the devil.

Corporate media cartels love Neilsen because they paint a nice rosy picture and provide detail about the demographics of viewers.

Media Cartels don’t care about the content, they care about who’s watching the ads. A raw count from cable boxes won’t tell them how many wealthy housewives are watching shampoo ads.

Dangerously close. Intentionally. Was hoping for precisely that reaction. Antics are fun :-)

Both… But if I had to guess, probably Hartnell

Isn’t that the age old question?

It’s a very good example of advocacy journalism. NYT has long had very little space for hockey, even though it used to devote three beat writers to the local teams. Olympic coverage always included columns favorably comparing that style of play versus the “fight-filled” NHL game, arguing that if the NHL cleaned up its act it could join the real sports leagues at the table and expect the same level of interest that Olympic hockey had, failing to take into consideration the structural differences between a two-week All-world tournament and a 30-team 82-game season.

The internet freed the paper from print space restrictions and it has used the Slap Shot blog to continue the effort to remove fighting from the game (as well as offer some insightful coverage of the game, especially from Stu Hackel). Even before the deaths this summer the paper was trying to use the concussion issue as a way to take on fighting. Coverage of Probert’s death accelerated this and they’ve also started assigning Alan Schwartz, the guy who took on the NFL about post-retirement concussion-related trauma.

The paper wants a ban on head shots and a ban on fighting. Its reporting starts from the position that this is the only appropriately modern and humane viewpoint and subtly casts the opposition as retro and thuggish. There was an article this week related to the winter meetings asking Bettman about fighting, in which he is quoted extensively. The league clearly wants to keep fighting in the game and is relying on the relative newness and incompleteness of the medical research to be able to say that they’re monitoring the situation and it’s too early to draw conclusions. Bettman’s quotes are going to sound like Neanderthal avoidance to the non-hockey world.

It will be interesting to see if the paper is able to use its influence on a game that has largely existed outside of its reach and interest. I haven’t been keeping up with the Toronto Globe & Mail on the concussion issue or the enforcer deaths this summer to gauge its opinion.

I love the Times and wouldn’t mind if the enforcer role goes away, but I worry that a ban on fighting would have unintended consequences which would change the game in ways that would diminish it. Furthermore, one of the things I’ve always liked about hockey is that it does exist outside the mainstream: awkward with today’s marketing/PR driven sports-as-entertainment world; athletes who seem to be more down-to-earth and embarrass us less often with their behavior away from the job; and a game that I think has the most interesting and longest learning curve, plus all the magic of taking place on ice. I hate the idea of a media bully like the NYT stepping into a space it hasn’t given a shit about for decades and telling people what they’re supposed to do. I understand that if I was in favor of corrupt politicians or criminal business interests I could be making a similar argument and that it is their job to try to address problems in all aspects of society. But I hope if the NHL does change it does so from its own collective conscience and not because of outside pressure.

Slid it right between the pads.

Oh, I don’t doubt that he scored.

Just like I did with Pardini, I responded to the first half of your comment, ignoring the second half.

Yeah, you and I agree on that.

Actually, age is not of much importance. Accumulated damage over time, though, could be correlated to age, but there are plenty of older fighters who either more luck, more technique, or better management who have not accumulated much damage.

We know Pronger has accumulated lots of damage.

Reach is still important. Plus, anyone with power has, as they say, a puncher’s chance.

Now I forget some of the principle names but there was a kid on the Rangers who got called up to the NHL after the Rangers had already made the playoffs. He was taking runs at everyone on the Flyers roster during a game including and almost exclusively the star players on that team. Craig Berube skated over to the Rangers bench after one of the hits and told Brian Leech that if he didn’t settle the kid down, Berube was going to drag his ass to center ice and beat the shit out of him in front of 19,000+ people at MSG. The kid did not throw a check for the rest of the game.

I’m no arguing either of your points. I’m just saying that is how policing is supposed to work to me.

Yeah, I don’t think it was. This is all a surprise to me.

Thanks.

Fair enough – I’ll buy that conclusion.