http://syracusecrunch.dyndns.org/sugden/
Ok, here’s the latest pile of hockey related horseshit to slide across my desk...
Picture this: You’re an NHL calibre enforcer. You’ve been close to cracking the NHL for about 10 years, but never made it. Not a single game in the big show.
Then, your Dad gets cancer. You return home to help out the family business and be with him. In the meantime, you’re a hockey player, so you join a part time minor league.
A year later, a real live NHL team actually comes calling, inviting you to training camp for the upcoming season! The dream is at hand!
However, because you signed so-called ‘retirement’ papers two years ago and then played in the most minor of minor leagues, now the NHL (just 3 possibly 4 teams out of 30!) will not let you participate in camp.
Welcome to the Brandon Sugden Story. Only the latest in a long line of public relations nightmares for the NHL, and I would advise them to make this situation right ASAP. I’ve signed the petition, but unless the NHL feels they’re going to lose significant money on Brandon Sugden merchandise, it is assumed they will do nothing.
The team with the invite is the New York Islanders, so it’s believed that the other teams in their division do not want Sugden on the ice against their teams. Pure class. As if Sugden playing a few games this year would make any sort of long term difference to their success, either on or off the ice.
How many shifts is he really going to get? How many fights? If he does fight, he’ll only be fighting other fighters...what’s the big fucking deal? The NHL loves fighting. Fighting sells tickets, gets on YouTube, ESPN (Bettman’s dream network!). May I suggest that Sugden may even help sell tickets in other cities were he to travel to them! Ah, got your attention now, don’t I, you greedy fuckers!
Unacceptable. I’m not even that big of a hockey fight guy, but I know when I see something that is not fair. I don’t know why I’m so passionate about this, but it just strikes an absolute chord with me as soon as I heard about it. It’s just such a common sense thing I guess.
You add in the cancer angle of this story, and it is an absolutely shameful disgrace that anyone would ever possibly feel the need to block Brandon Sugden from going to training camp. If absolutely nothing else, for the sake of another human being, just let the kid’s dad finally see him make the big league! That’s all I’m asking. Jesus Fucking Christ.
Lemme tell you something about hockey dads and moms. They are the salt of the earth, I sound like Don Cherry, but seriously. Well, not the ones that go nuts in the stands and fight other parents...those ones suck. But I'm talking about the good ones. The ones you don't hear about. These people sacrifice, they work hard, they forfeit about $200k over the course of your development, all for the potential and minute chance of the dream to see your spoiled ass make the NHL. Show them some bloody respect!
Those three teams know who they are, and I bet the managers or whoever it is in charge making this wrong choice, once played hockey when they were a kid. Even if they didn't play, they sure as hell have watched games growing up, and now they watch games for a living! So they know what it's like to dream the dream, and think someday I can do it too.
It is up to them, and only them, to change their minds and do the right thing. The NHLPA can’t fight the battle, Sugden isn’t a member...yet. Best of luck man, and a lesson to all us, especially Mats Sundin: Don’t sign anything that says ‘retirement’ on it!
Go here for more on this story.
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Showing posts with label money. Show all posts
Friday, September 12, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Clicky Mouse in "Stream Both, Will He?"
Ah, been a while. Anyway, I’m back to wrap up my experience with the NHL Centre Ice Online package, let this serve as research for any other Canadians out there who may consider this deal in the future, I’m giving you exclusive content here, circa the 2008 NHL season.
In April 2008, the Maple Leafs began their annual Spring attempt to sneak into the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. Didn’t make it, as is quickly becoming tradition, but it was an exciting ride nonetheless, depending how die-hard you are.
However, in order to see the weekday games of said playoff drive, I decided to finally pony up for Centre Ice Online. It was $50 for the last few weeks of the season, I’m not sure when that price point started, but I figured if I watch the remaining Leaf games, plus any Vancouver (who was also making an ill-fated playoff drive), it’d be worth it.
So, you log in/create an account, pay the money, and they let you onto the streams.
Remember all those warnings about ‘blackouts may apply’? Well, I’d change it to “warning, most games will be blacked out, most of the time’...
First of all...you have to use Firefox. Safari resulted in bizarre behaviour at best, strange buffering issues, and if you try and use the 'mosaic' mode to watch up to 4 games at once, you get all the AUDIO FEEDS AT ONCE. In all fairness, they do warn you not to use Safari. I suppose I’m happy it works on Mac at all.
As you can see, I couldn’t watch ANY of the games on Wed April 9 2008 through NHL Centre Ice Online. Now, to explain but not excuse, Sens @ Pens and Flames @ Sharks was a rare Wednesday Night doubleheader on CBC. Rangers @ Devils and Avs @ Wild were a double-header on TSN. Thus, nationally broadcast, and therefore ”blacked out“ on Centre Ice in my ”region“. If the Flames @ Sharks (or any Oiler game) was on Sportsnet West...then that’s my ”region“ too, so no streaming allowed there either.
However, online hope was not lost. As part of CBC’s new deal with the NHL, they can stream all their games online. This was a new innovation for them this year, and a welcome one, as it allows fans to pick the game they want to watch, instead of suffering as the Leafs get raked up every Saturday, or conversely, allowing Leaf fans to see games even if you live out West.
Now, I guess the argument from the NHL’s side of things is ‘why do you even need to see a game online in Centre Ice that is shown on a ‘local’ channel in your ‘region’? Well, what if I don’t have cable, Mr. Smartass League-Rep? What if I want to move away from cable/satellite TV altogether, since all the good content is online except apparently for LIVE NHL Games? Otherwise, I’m PAYING TWICE! Once to the cable company to get the channel (although you can get low quality CBC over the air) so I can watch the game ‘locally’, and once again to ‘not’ be able to watch it online. THREE TIMES if I signed up for the cable/satellite NHL Centre ICE. The local broadcast has ad breaks, although on Centre Ice Online, the ads are mercifully blocked with a ”back in a minute“ screen. Here’s a couple pics of the lack of ads online...may it live forever:
Not a single Subway, Tim Hortons or Home Depot ad to offend the eye.
Obviously, TSN and other NHL broadcast partners pay big bucks to get the broadcast rights. Well, next year, Centre Ice Online will become an even bigger rip off, as TSN (to be confirmed) will stream all it’s National broadcast games online. This will come about since TSN recently re-upped their broadcast deal with the NHL to include these new media and streaming rights. They did a few games this year, including the immensely popular World Junior Hockey Championship in December. We’ll see if the NHL lowers the Centre Ice Online price, I doubt it, but they’ll make no bones about ”blacking out“ the games that TSN/CBC are streaming. At least the dollar is par now. Also new to the deal for TSN is that every game will feature at least 1 Canadian Team. They know what their sponsors want.
So, to sum up, all four games were available online...NOT NHL Centre Ice Online, but online at the CBC and TSN. This screenshot shows some dual-online-streaming action, as CBC and TSN both featured games:
Also, props (do people say ‘props’ anymore? ...mad respect?...) to TSN for revamping their online video pages...way overdue, and much appreciated. Now they just need to redo their comment system, but that's another rant. TSN uses Microsoft’s (yes, THAT Microsoft) Quicksilver, which is trying to replace Flash and the antiquated Windows Media on the web. So yeah, good luck Linux users...you’ll need it. Barely works on Mac. Also, that’s a Quicktime window on the right side with the CBC feed. In the ”Flip4Mac“ preferences, you can set it to open videos in Quicktime Player, instead of the browser...this allows you access to the transport control (aka Play/Pause/Bathroom Break) buttons, and allows you to line them up side by side like shown.
So. What did I get for my $50? 4 Leaf Games. And I think I watched 2 or 3 Vancouver games. You do the math, but I think it would have been worth it if the Leafs had been at all entertaining...unfortunately, that’s not up the NHL. ☺ They held up their end of the bargain...they provided SOME games, and ”blacked out“ a lot MORE games.
The playoffs featured several blacked out games, since most nights in the first round the CBC and TSN had you covered. I quit logging in after the first round.
Thus ends the great Centre Ice Online experiment. The quality is just par, good enough to have on in the background while you surf the web, but it’s fairly below full screen-able quality. The log in process is bizarre and can be confusing (you get used to it). The price is debatable, based on your love of the game/team, region, other entertainment options, etc.
I’m expecting big things from CBC and TSN next season, and look forward to keeping my cable canceled for good. Yeah, I won’t get access to every game, but with CBC having Saturday nights sewn up (and over the air if I really want to watch on my TV), and TSN doing their weekday games (and if they stream like I hope they do), the Internet options for LIVE NHL games are growing better every year.
P.S. If you’re really a hardcore streaming hockey fan, why not go the extra mile? I hooked up my Mac to the TV, and watched the 2007 Summit Series this past September before I had subscribed to TSN...you can see my mouse pointer on the right gray bar. Geek or Genius?
Finally...today’s title comes from the classic animated Mickey Mouse adventure, ”Steamboat Willie“. Congrats to those who caught that, cause it was a reach and a half...anyway I’m shocked Disney has that online, but I suppose it’s made all the money it’s gonna make...until the Blu-Ray release of course...then back in the 'vault' for another generation.
In April 2008, the Maple Leafs began their annual Spring attempt to sneak into the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. Didn’t make it, as is quickly becoming tradition, but it was an exciting ride nonetheless, depending how die-hard you are.
However, in order to see the weekday games of said playoff drive, I decided to finally pony up for Centre Ice Online. It was $50 for the last few weeks of the season, I’m not sure when that price point started, but I figured if I watch the remaining Leaf games, plus any Vancouver (who was also making an ill-fated playoff drive), it’d be worth it.
So, you log in/create an account, pay the money, and they let you onto the streams.
Remember all those warnings about ‘blackouts may apply’? Well, I’d change it to “warning, most games will be blacked out, most of the time’...
First of all...you have to use Firefox. Safari resulted in bizarre behaviour at best, strange buffering issues, and if you try and use the 'mosaic' mode to watch up to 4 games at once, you get all the AUDIO FEEDS AT ONCE. In all fairness, they do warn you not to use Safari. I suppose I’m happy it works on Mac at all.
As you can see, I couldn’t watch ANY of the games on Wed April 9 2008 through NHL Centre Ice Online. Now, to explain but not excuse, Sens @ Pens and Flames @ Sharks was a rare Wednesday Night doubleheader on CBC. Rangers @ Devils and Avs @ Wild were a double-header on TSN. Thus, nationally broadcast, and therefore ”blacked out“ on Centre Ice in my ”region“. If the Flames @ Sharks (or any Oiler game) was on Sportsnet West...then that’s my ”region“ too, so no streaming allowed there either.
However, online hope was not lost. As part of CBC’s new deal with the NHL, they can stream all their games online. This was a new innovation for them this year, and a welcome one, as it allows fans to pick the game they want to watch, instead of suffering as the Leafs get raked up every Saturday, or conversely, allowing Leaf fans to see games even if you live out West.
Now, I guess the argument from the NHL’s side of things is ‘why do you even need to see a game online in Centre Ice that is shown on a ‘local’ channel in your ‘region’? Well, what if I don’t have cable, Mr. Smartass League-Rep? What if I want to move away from cable/satellite TV altogether, since all the good content is online except apparently for LIVE NHL Games? Otherwise, I’m PAYING TWICE! Once to the cable company to get the channel (although you can get low quality CBC over the air) so I can watch the game ‘locally’, and once again to ‘not’ be able to watch it online. THREE TIMES if I signed up for the cable/satellite NHL Centre ICE. The local broadcast has ad breaks, although on Centre Ice Online, the ads are mercifully blocked with a ”back in a minute“ screen. Here’s a couple pics of the lack of ads online...may it live forever:
Not a single Subway, Tim Hortons or Home Depot ad to offend the eye.
Obviously, TSN and other NHL broadcast partners pay big bucks to get the broadcast rights. Well, next year, Centre Ice Online will become an even bigger rip off, as TSN (to be confirmed) will stream all it’s National broadcast games online. This will come about since TSN recently re-upped their broadcast deal with the NHL to include these new media and streaming rights. They did a few games this year, including the immensely popular World Junior Hockey Championship in December. We’ll see if the NHL lowers the Centre Ice Online price, I doubt it, but they’ll make no bones about ”blacking out“ the games that TSN/CBC are streaming. At least the dollar is par now. Also new to the deal for TSN is that every game will feature at least 1 Canadian Team. They know what their sponsors want.
So, to sum up, all four games were available online...NOT NHL Centre Ice Online, but online at the CBC and TSN. This screenshot shows some dual-online-streaming action, as CBC and TSN both featured games:
Also, props (do people say ‘props’ anymore? ...mad respect?...) to TSN for revamping their online video pages...way overdue, and much appreciated. Now they just need to redo their comment system, but that's another rant. TSN uses Microsoft’s (yes, THAT Microsoft) Quicksilver, which is trying to replace Flash and the antiquated Windows Media on the web. So yeah, good luck Linux users...you’ll need it. Barely works on Mac. Also, that’s a Quicktime window on the right side with the CBC feed. In the ”Flip4Mac“ preferences, you can set it to open videos in Quicktime Player, instead of the browser...this allows you access to the transport control (aka Play/Pause/Bathroom Break) buttons, and allows you to line them up side by side like shown.
So. What did I get for my $50? 4 Leaf Games. And I think I watched 2 or 3 Vancouver games. You do the math, but I think it would have been worth it if the Leafs had been at all entertaining...unfortunately, that’s not up the NHL. ☺ They held up their end of the bargain...they provided SOME games, and ”blacked out“ a lot MORE games.
The playoffs featured several blacked out games, since most nights in the first round the CBC and TSN had you covered. I quit logging in after the first round.
Thus ends the great Centre Ice Online experiment. The quality is just par, good enough to have on in the background while you surf the web, but it’s fairly below full screen-able quality. The log in process is bizarre and can be confusing (you get used to it). The price is debatable, based on your love of the game/team, region, other entertainment options, etc.
I’m expecting big things from CBC and TSN next season, and look forward to keeping my cable canceled for good. Yeah, I won’t get access to every game, but with CBC having Saturday nights sewn up (and over the air if I really want to watch on my TV), and TSN doing their weekday games (and if they stream like I hope they do), the Internet options for LIVE NHL games are growing better every year.
P.S. If you’re really a hardcore streaming hockey fan, why not go the extra mile? I hooked up my Mac to the TV, and watched the 2007 Summit Series this past September before I had subscribed to TSN...you can see my mouse pointer on the right gray bar. Geek or Genius?
Finally...today’s title comes from the classic animated Mickey Mouse adventure, ”Steamboat Willie“. Congrats to those who caught that, cause it was a reach and a half...anyway I’m shocked Disney has that online, but I suppose it’s made all the money it’s gonna make...until the Blu-Ray release of course...then back in the 'vault' for another generation.
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