HedleyLamarr

Bringing kids to the podium.... Will someone please think of the children?

This guy with the purple shirt and ponytail has some potential.....

Slow your roll, Glendale. We got a Dave & Buster's on the way!

This kid that sounds like Skip Holtz gets it that the city can't afford the team. At least, that's what I gathered from his Authentic Frontier Gibberish....

So, best-case scenario for parking money (which is counting just the 41 regular season home games....no preseason games or concerts/shows during the season).....they're raking in a little over $22,000 per game. That's not good, folks. And that's assuming the $905,000 isn't inflated.

How about Winnipeg Thrashers?? They should be able to support both teams. Since the ice is down anyway for most of 7-8 months (and costing nearly $13,000 a day just for ice maintenance), may as well put a second home team there and get some of that money back. How many non-hockey (and non-ice-usage) events does Winnipeg get during the hockey season?

Is there a way soccer can work in that once-a-game-gorilla that we championed for in future NFL rule changes? We do need more shenanigans in sports.

You know what? I'd like to see Las Vegas get an NHL team, only because I'd like to see what kind of professional sports city Las Vegas really is. Arena Football or minor league baseball/hockey or UNLV basketball won't tell us anything. Having an actual top-tier pro team in town will. Las Vegas is one of the few mid-to-larger cities that hasn't been tested yet.

Can't the NHL give the Coyotes an unlimited amount of revenue-sharing money each year? If Bettman and/or the league are so inclined, they can gift them enough money to make sure they don't reach that magic $50 million mark within five years.

Didn't even realize Goose Gossage played into the mid-90's. Great find.

Not having work and school that day, like many other places that don't have the best of public transportation methods. Something many of you forget is that this board isn't like the crowd you'll see at sporting events. We're all big sports fans and plan our game days unlike most people do. For most folks, it's the husband and/or wife leaving work at (or after) 5pm, getting home during the brunt of rush-hour traffic, picking up the kids from school or daycare or a neighbor's/relative's house, getting home, getting yourself and the kids ready, then getting back out into the rush-hour and gameday traffic heading to the stadium, and everything else. Week-night games are really geared towards those that don't have typical work hours or children. And regular 8pm week-night games are going to chase away those fans with 9-5 jobs and children. Late starts mean late endings.

Did CBC own the Kraft Hockeyville rights? I've been seeing the games on NBC advertising voting for this. Has the contest been opened up to both Canada and the US now? Are the rights now owned by NBC or by the NHL and both NBC and Rogers get to be co-sponsors?

I just looked at Gomez's career stats. He's only had one season where he scored more than 20 goals (33 in the season after the year-long lockout), and his second-highest total was his rookie year (19). Only had one season where he got more than a point per game (the same season where he scored 33 goals: 2005-06), and has never come close to a 100-point season. How has he managed to stay in the league this long? Especially if he's supposed to be an offensive threat.

The quality of the game between the NHL and ECHL is night and day. The ECHL game is slower and sloppy and hard to watch at times. And when you're used to seeing the top players in the world play, having to settle for the ECHL just doesn't compare. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, Mockba.

I'd rather drive four hours to Nashville to see an NHL game than 30 minutes to see a Gwinnett game.

You guys are putting way too much thought into how the AHL and ECHL should function. As Admiral keeps pointing out (upon deaf ears, apparently), the point of minor leagues is to get practice time and develop as a player in game situations, and to keep costs down. It's not about playing equal schedules or seeing every team or even winning a championship (and a parent team will never admit that last point publicly). It's getting their younger players ready for the top league and helping players rehabilitate and get back in game shape. It's not really a necessity to have your AHL team located near the parent club when you have an allowance of carrying three extra skaters.

Yeah, the circus is a given. The animals and all the things around the rings would tear up the ice protections. They do have plenty of events going on between now and the end of the regular season. For some reason, we also had a ton of events and games in the back half of the season, too.

No, but the poor widdle Sharkie-warkies were having a wah-wah because it took too long to fly some guy named "Melker" from Boston to San Francisco.It really makes a lot of sense, from the arena's perspective. I've no idea how many shows/concerts/whatever make stops in all three Bay Area venues: SAP Center (San Jose), Cow Palace (San Francisco) and Oracle Arena (Oakland). Nor do I know the SAP Center's annual calendar during hockey season. For at least seven months, they likely have ice on the floor every single day, from mid-September to mid-April. Just to have the ice on the floor (this does not include any maintenance) costs $15,000 per day. The arena's normal house lights cost like $22 a minute to operate. If the SAP Center doesn't have many events during the hockey season other than Sharks games, having a second hockey tenant that you own can at least sell some tickets for those that can't afford NHL prices for another 30-ish dates.

I wouldn't be so harsh on the refs for the city flub. Their travel and game schedule is just as rigorous as the players, if not more. Yeah, they miss calls, but it's awfully tough to officiate what is likely the fastest game in the world with two refs watching 12+ players at once (the linesmen have the easier job, by far) without benefit of a replay or homer announcing trying to point out any ticky-tack things that the refs didn't see.

The way I understand it (after reading a couple few articles on it)....Kovalchuk is on the "Voluntary Retied List" and won't be removed from said distinction until he turns 35 (unless one of the two scenarios I mentioned earlier happens). The Devils still own his rights until Kovalchuk turns 35. At that point, he becomes an unrestricted free agent and won't need anyone's approval to return, nor would the Devils control his rights. So I think this is where a five-year wait period kicked in. So the 30-team vote isn't a Waiver Claim deal...it's a stand-alone process. Each of the 30 teams' GM's issue their vote. A unanimous approval means Kovalchuk returns, and 20 votes of support leads to the NHL's Board of Governors getting to decide Kovalchuk's fate. The 30-team vote only takes place if Kovalchuk doesn't sit a year from any professional league in any country. If he does sit a year, only the Devils have to give their consent. (Then the Devils either have to make a new deal or they can trade him.) Kovalchuk doesn't get removed from the VRL, even after a vote of approval, until he signs a deal with NJ (or the team he gets traded to) or sits until he's 35.

If I remember correctly, Kovalchuk can't come back to the NHL anytime soon unless one of two things happen: Either he sits out a full year from any form of professional hockey (and gets New Jersey's consent to return), or all 30 teams have to give Kovalchuk consent. Not sure if the Devils' rivals would allow New Jersey to gain a player that makes them more of a threat...unless there are some handshake agreements like we see during expansion drafts. Hell, I'm not so sure the Devils would even give Kovalchuk permission to return after he screwed them over. I seem to remember a 5-year waiting period for Kovalchuk. Not sure if that's where the NHL's AARP rules kick in or not.....

Wow. Do they really put up banners for players on the team who won gold medals in the Olympics? That just seems really dumb. They didn't win them for the Heat... they won them for the pride of their nation. Jeez. I'd like to see an NHL team try and do that Here's a serious question though: who would get the raise Shaq's number up in their rafters? Or has that happened already? I really don't follow the NBA. The Carolina Hurricanes have done this, but I assume just for Olympic years. When we went to a game there in 2010, they had each player that played in the Games a separate banner featuring their name and their country's flag. Apparently they did this last season, too. Not sure if this is an annual thing, or if this was a special occasion because he was the game's MVP, but Eric Staal got an All-Star banner:

It may be more like "Kosher Kingdom sold some group tickets in order to have this ceremony". Many teams in sporting venues that don't have full-season sellouts will have various groups approach them about doing pre-game, post-game, or halftime/intermission entertainment on the court/field/ice. The teams will say "Sure, you can have this date if you sell X-number of tickets".

Looking at the other side of the coin in this....instead of adding two schools to get to 12, does the Big XII lose schools instead? We aren't that far removed from the Big XII being on it's death bed. Texas and Oklahoma were rumored to be going to either the Pac-10 or Big Ten until the remaining eight schools got together and hashed a deal to stay in the Big XII. Remember, while the other conferences split the money evenly, the Big XII doesn't. Texas gets the biggest slice of the pie, Oklahoma the 2nd-largest, and the other eight get whatever scraps are left. Texas A&M told Texas "You aren't better than us!" and told the Big XII to kick rocks. Nebraska said "To hell with out history with Oklahoma" and fled to the Big Ten. Missouri and Colorado jumped ship as soon as a lifeboat came. While TCU and Baylor are both upset with the committee's decision, the circumstances that led to their decision are the fault of the conference, and both parties aren't exactly happy with the Big XII right now. Baylor's irked that the conference didn't do anything to pimp their cause. The SEC has 14 schools. The Big Ten has 14 schools. The ACC has 14-ish schools. The Pac-12 has just 12 schools. While the Pac-12 has publicly said they're happy with 12, they were looking to add to that, and here's a possible opportunity to add a pair of Texas schools and force the issue of some bigger-fish schools to make a choice in where to go.

Coyotes, since we know they have an out within five years.