BBTV

I was with a girl who had been black maled before. God was she disappointed when she saw what I was working with.

Actually, a disaster that destroys the Jobberdome might be the best thing that could happen to that city. The team has nowhere to play, the league will be forced to sell them, the city would collect on some type of insurance (then use the money to make a parking lot), and their budget deficit would be reduced by $25M.

Just curious - when a major arena is built in a suburb (like Landover MD, Glendale, Pontiac, etc.), does the anchor city contribute anything since its name generally gets associated with the team and they probably benefit from hotel taxes, or is it the suburb who assumes all the risk for the project? Or would each case be totally different?

The thing is, this isn't really a "few years" type thing - they're going to go through this next year, then the year after that, etc. etc. They need to have a contingency plan ready to go at each year-end - they don't have the luxury of counting on the Coyotes being in the suburban mall for a "few" more years. So I'm confused with the conflicting reports. Where does this stand right now? I read that the Glendopes agreed to pay the 5M, but then that other article hinted that they were leaving. What's the deal here?

The Rock is built like that... Open concourse with a direct view of the ice from anywhere... Is it really? I just googled a few articles and read that one end of the mezzanine is open, providing a "baseball park-like view", but I didn't realize that the entire thing was open.

Holy crap that sounds sweet. I have been CitBank Park (people call it that, right?), but that sounds amazing. No. You're passion and fury is certainly understandable, it's just that you're placing far to much value on on-ice success. I'm one who thinks that it makes the league more "legit" to have successful franchises in big market cities, however it's simply not possible to argue rationally in favor of the city continuing to do what they're doing to keep a team that is just not set up in a way to ever re-pay the citizens for their investment. In a different time, with a different business plan, maybe Phoenix could work - but the whole Glendale deal has simply made it impossible at this point.

My favorite feature of Citizens Bank Park is the 360 concourse with full view of the action from anywhere. I never even thought about something like that being built into an indoor arena like that. That's f'ing fantastic, and will make most if not all of the indoor arenas built in the past 20 years obsolete in due time.

Probably because you'd only be able to see the opposite end of the ice due to the location of the rink and the pitch of the stands. There's "limited" view, and then there's "really f'ing limited" view. Those would likely fall into the latter category.

Why does dying or injury supercede actually being good? I say treat them all the same. If they "honor" the great players, then "honor" the dead ones too. The Flyers are the opposite (sort of.) When Pelle Lindberg died, they immediately pulled his number from circulation, and it has remained that way for 27ish years now. They will not retire it though (probably because he was DUI when his car crashed, but still.) The Eagles retired Jerome Brown's 99 when he too was killed in a car crash while driving recklessly on a wet road. He was an all-pro player and arguably the best DT in the game, but had he simply retired at that moment I don't think he'd have qualified for such an honor.

When a significant player leaves, just hold his number out of circulation for a while until clear heads can decide if it should be retired or not. Just saying HOF is kind of dumb because there are players who play a significant role in their franchise's history for reasons other than HOF caliber play that should be considered, and there are guys who weren't considered worthy of retirement who happen to make their respective HOFs decades later, creating the mess of teams retiring the same number for multiple players, or retiring a number that had been worn by 12 other players since the one who "retired" it was done with it. The Eagles have several numbers out of circulation - Randall Cunningham's 12 (some pre-season QB had it years ago and it was taken away after the first practice, and this year Steve Smith wanted it because it was his old Giants number but the team said it was off limits), Brian Dawkins 20 (the owner said that no player would ever wear it again because of what he meant to the team and the fans... but stopped short of saying it'd be actually "retired"), and Brian Westbrook's 36 (Ronnie Brown wore it in pre-season because not enough other numbers were available, but then was told to switch after the final cuts.) I doubt McNabb's 5 will be issued any time soon, despite the team's and fanbase's disdain for him. It's a crime that they would hold his number out but then give Ron Jawarski's 7 out to a kicker, punter, 3rd string QBs, and now Michael Vick. I don't think either should be retired, but if 5 is than 7 should be too.

It's all up to the teams. You'll find that a lot of newer teams will seemingly retire the first number of any halfway good player that played with them just so they can try to establish a history or have an event out of it. I know for the Phillies the requirement is HOF, which is why Jim Bunning's #14 was retired decades after he last played (and after several other players, notably Pete Rose wore it) when he was elected by the Veterans' Committee. I believe the Flyers have the same requirement, which is why Mark Howe's #2 was just retired. I think it's kind of dumb to retire a number after it's been worn by other players, but that's what they do.

I couldn't disagree more. Let the teams that these guys play on retire their numbers, but allow other players on other teams who may grow up idolizing these guys to "honor" them (which I think is ridiculous, but I know I'm in the minority there) by wearing their numbers if they so choose to. I have no problem with league-wide jackie Robinson tributes or memorials, because it's a story that needs to be known by everybody, but I don't like seeing #42 hanging next to Mike Schmidt's, Steve Carlton's, Richie Ashburn's, and Robin Robert's numbers.

Tickets for the Islanders-Devils exhibition game went on sale today - here's the seating map on the ticket page: I still can't believe they built an arena in New York City metro too small to accommodate every type of event that utilizes arenas. I don't just mean hockey either. Now you have fewer seats for concerts, you don't have room for motocross or monster trucks or the circus. Not that monster trucks are a big draw in New York, but why not leave open the possibility? It seems so stupidly shortsighted. Three words: Madison. Square. Garden. Between the Knicks, Rangers, and the other events held at MSG, there would be no open dates for another team to play. Also, I doubt the Isles would want to play on Rangers logo'd ice, and the Rangers certainly wouldn't change it. But it doesn't matter anyway, because of the first thing. Also, would the Islanders crowd (what's left of it) go into Manhattan for games?

Can people stop posting just photos without any description please? Not everyone knows who the hell some guy on your favorite team is.

Looks like the Flyers changed their retired number banners when they retired Mark Howe's number a couple of weeks ago. I liked the old ones better because they emphasized the number, which despite how clear it is in my picture, isn't that noticeable from the other side of the arena or the upper level.

make the FDLs smaller and more of them, like the Sens laurel from the pre-edge alt.

I thought a stylized FDL would work well as a primary crest for a Quebec team (though I like it as a trim aspect as well.)

Sorry if it's been mentioned, but does Seattle have an arena that's viable even as a 1 or 2 year holdover until they can build a new one? Actually, is that plan still even moving forward?

That logo never looked right on the silver patch. Still one of the all-time great marks though.

In that case, I still disagree. While of course Ozzie's first and foremost uniform is of course the Cardinals, he doesn't look "wrong", so to speak, in Garvey-era Padres garb. At least in my view. You would be in the minority - and I'm old enough to know him as a Padre.

It may be the right uniform, but certainly not the right number!

Yeah he jokes openly about how bush league the atmosphere was down there and how it sucks to play there once you've played in a decent football market before, and how crappy the coaching was and they basically just handed him a ton of money to do nothing. That's besides the point - goddam that's a great jersey. Look at the gold. Look at it. Look, goddammit, look. Not suprised for 2 reasons. 1.) Jack Del Rio IS bush league. He was a bozo. 2.) Hugh Douglas is a lazy bum and got his ass beat by T.O. On 2 you're dead wrong. Dude worked his ass off and was a huge contributor for the Eagles, helping them get to the SB once he came back from Jacksonville. As for the TO thing, well, he didn't get his ass beat, but even if he got tagged a few times, it was T freaking O. Dude could take out most of the league if he wanted to back in those days, and Hugh was retired (and by then had become a lazy bum.)

Yeah he jokes openly about how bush league the atmosphere was down there and how it sucks to play there once you've played in a decent football market before, and how crappy the coaching was and they basically just handed him a ton of money to do nothing. That's besides the point - goddam that's a great jersey. Look at the gold. Look at it. Look, goddammit, look.

I'm not a mod, but you need to change that signature immediately. Many of us view this site at work and can't have porn up there. Seriously, what the hell goes through your head when you put that picture there?

Ron Hextall wearing #72 for the Islanders for a hot minute.... Hextall with the Nordiques... ...and one of him in no uniform, after one of his dozens of fights. I believe this one was after he beat up Lyle Odelein. EDIT: That could've been after he attacked Chelios in the '89 playoffs for Chelios' cheap shot on Brian Propp, but I'm not sure.