OITGDNHL: We Are The Kokusai Green Preservation Society

[The_Admiral]

I like the Blues fans I've talked to on the internet and in person (I was once on Amtrak to St. Louis the day of a Hawks-Blues game in 2010-11. Packed with folks from both sides). I'm a big Committed Indian fan, and St. Louis Game Time is basically the same thing. The Blues have been good without being elite, and hockey by its very nature makes people really edgy, aggrieved, and perpetually dissatisfied, so the aw-shucks circle-jerking of Cardinal Nation that I find so cloying and unbearable is 99% absent. Maybe the team should do a campaign that plays up the fans being intimidating and passionate and stuff. "The Worst Fans In Hockey."

In OITGDNHL news, is Eugene Melnyk seriously phishing journalists?

[BigBubba]

I think 46 years is too long a date to leave.

I can think of a lot of teams that moved after being somewhere for 40+ years. The Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, Chicago Cardinals, St. Louis Browns, Seattle Supersonics, etc.

And at this rate, the Phoenix Coyotes.

[DaytonBlue]

I like the Blues fans I've talked to on the internet and in person (I was once on Amtrak to St. Louis the day of a Hawks-Blues game in 2010-11. Packed with folks from both sides). I'm a big Committed Indian fan, and St. Louis Game Time is basically the same thing. The Blues have been good without being elite, and hockey by its very nature makes people really edgy, aggrieved, and perpetually dissatisfied, so the aw-shucks circle-jerking of Cardinal Nation that I find so cloying and unbearable is 99% absent. Maybe the team should do a campaign that plays up the fans being intimidating and passionate and stuff. "The Worst Fans In Hockey."

In OITGDNHL news, is Eugene Melnyk seriously phishing journalists?

A couple thoughts...

Most of the "Cardinal Nation" mentality comes from the media IMHO. The first time I saw the "best fans in baseball" moniker was in the Post-Dispatch and/or Sports Illustrated in '98. This mantra is perpetuated by the Cardinals current TV broadcasters, who are so annoying that I can't even stand to watch more than a few innings at a time anymore. Last night they had to give the batter's average for every different count after every pitch. Dan McLaughlin has two DWIs in the last couple years and still managed to keep his job (significant in a brewery town who lost a relief pitcher in a drunk-driving accident a few years back). To the average St. Louisan, the Cardinals are simply the top team in town that dwarfs the others all year (i.e. Lakers in LA, Broncos in Denver, SEC in the south, etc.)

I'm pretty convinced that each metro city has one team or sport that is always above the rest, and it's usually NFL.

Exceptions: St. Louis, NYC (baseball), Boston (Red Sox), Canadian cities (hockey), Phoenix (Suns?)

What's funny about St. Louis sports is the same people who cheer politely for an opponent's good play will threaten to rip your head off if you dare try to get up while the puck is in play at Scottrade Center. I guess here you could say OITGDNHL in a positive way here. (should we have a chapter for that in the book?)

[The_Admiral]

Chapter 87.5: Left of the D'isle

Radio [edit source | editbeta]

Islanders' radio broadcasts are aired over WRHU (88.7 FM), which is licensed to Hempstead-based Hofstra University. The station's signal doesn't carry too far outside of Nassau County. The play-by-play is done by longtime Islanders broadcaster Chris King. Hofstra students will handle color commentary and reporting for all home games and several away games, and are also involved in engineering the broadcasts from on-and-off site.

The Islanders are unusual among professional sports teams in their use of a noncommercial radio station as its lone radio outlet; because of the complications of such an arrangement in regard to advertising and commercial breaks, the Islanders have no radio network.

[Gothamite]

That will change when they play in Brooklyn.

[RyanMcD29]

One of my friends from high school is believe it or not the Islanders' main analyst on radio telecasts. Considering the playoffs got carried on some of the bigger NYC stations, he got a ton of exposure, so that's cool for him.

Otherwise, yeah. We went from ESPN Radio, to Bloomberg Radio, to an FM station that the Meadowbrook Parkway is the end of the signal carriage (PROTIP: when your arena is west of the Meadowbrook, make the radio station you're on reach that arena), to a university station. Yup. The Islanders.

[The_Admiral]

One of my friends from high school is believe it or not the Islanders' main analyst on radio telecasts.

"What about being a sports commentator? You know how I always make those witty comments during a game?"

"You do make good comments."

"So?"

"Well, they generally give those jobs to ex-ballplayers and people, you know, in broadcasting."

"Well, that's really not fair."

"I know."

[Kramerica Industries]

yeah, fine, you win this round.

[hrivnak]

Just discovered this thread, but I wanted to throw in a story that is ripe to be written about... you could pretty much blame the death of the Thrashers on a trade made in the NBA. Due to the trade of Joe Johnson, the owners fought with each other in court, which basically prevented the owners from dumping the Thrashers. So, when the lawsuit was finally settled, nobody locally wanted to touch the team because they had done such a horrible job of mismanaging them. If they would've been able to sell the team at the height of their popularity (their one-and-only playoff series), the team might've stayed in Atlanta (with an owner who might've put money into them).

The story of the Flames move to Calgary is almost as sad.

[HedleyLamarr]

Just discovered this thread, but I wanted to throw in a story that is ripe to be written about... you could pretty much blame the death of the Thrashers on a trade made in the NBA. Due to the trade of Joe Johnson, the owners fought with each other in court, which basically prevented the owners from dumping the Thrashers. So, when the lawsuit was finally settled, nobody locally wanted to touch the team because they had done such a horrible job of mismanaging them. If they would've been able to sell the team at the height of their popularity (their one-and-only playoff series), the team might've stayed in Atlanta (with an owner who might've put money into them).

The story of the Flames move to Calgary is almost as sad.

Not really. Indirectly maybe, but it's not the driving force.

Atlanta Spirit only ever wanted the Hawks and the arena, but Time Warner would only sell all three (including the Thrashers) as one package deal. The plan was for Atlanta Spirit to sell the Thrashers once the NHL allowed them (can't remember the specific time frame...5 years I think). The Joe Johnson deal not only ticked off Belkin (who had the biggest stake in the Thrashers/Hawks/Philips Arena of the ownership group, at 30%), but the subsequent court hearings dragged out the saga for 5.5 years, and the rest of Atlanta Spirit simply couldn't afford having two teams and the arena without Belkin being a part of the equation. They let it be known to the NHL that they wanted out ASAP, and that they wanted to fill dates with more shows and concerts and conventions than hosting 44+ home hockey dates a year. No prospective local owners showed up because Atlanta Spirit told them they didn't want a hockey team playing in their building unless they wanted to pay an insane amount in rent and get very little cut of parking, concessions, etc. The NHL was more than happy to rid themselves of Atlanta Spirit, even if it meant moving the team.

If there was no ownership dispute and Belkin (and his 30% stake) stuck around, they likely would have sold the Thrashers to a local owner because they wouldn't have been bleeding money the way they did. Plus, to make the Thrashers an enticing buy, they likely would have put more money into the team than the bare minimum.

As for the Flames...the guy's housing business was going to crap, and he sold the team to the highest bidder, no matter what the new owner's intentions were.

Going by straight numbers, yeah the Thrashers didn't draw well. But so many things went wrong here that turned off/chased away fans that Atlanta gets an unfair reputation as not being able to support hockey. It wasn't that long ago that the Thrashers were out-drawing the Bruins and Blackhawks, and that's when none of those three made the playoffs. The Thrashers set an attendance record for expansion teams and were making money under Time Warner....Atlanta Spirit simply ran the team into the ground, they made the team unattractive for ticket buyers, and they wanted the team out of their hands and out of their building. They weren't given a chance to succeed. Maybe if the Thrashers bought their way to relevance (like the Carolina Panthers, Arizona Diamondbacks, and Florida Marlins did in their infancy days), when Time Warner wanted to sell, the Thrashers would have wound up with a singular owner that would have put money into the team.

Very few remember that the Hawks and Thrashers were close to being sold to David McDavid (some car guy from Texas) before Atlanta Spirit was formed, with two of the ownership group's members being Ted Turner's son and son-in-law. Time Warner (Ted Turner's company) essentially sold the teams to family, even though McDavid did have an agreement in place (and won a lawsuit against Time Warner for like $250 million). But with Atlanta Spirit having 8 owners (in three different cities, no less), it was a cluster :censored: from the onset.

[IceCap]

Hypothetically speaking do you think the Thrashers could have overcome the problems that had turned fans away by the end? Or had ASG's mismanagement and in-fighting salted that earth for the foreseeable future?

[HedleyLamarr]

Hypothetically speaking do you think the Thrashers could have overcome the problems that had turned fans away by the end? Or had ASG's mismanagement and in-fighting salted that earth for the foreseeable future?

Granted, it's just from browsing the Thrashers message board on occasion.....but there was a growing disdain for ASG from the posters there. Mainly because all their decisions were viewed as "being cheap". Rick Dudley and Craig Ramsay only had the one year in Atlanta, so they really didn't get to prove themselves or build the team.

Like anything else in Atlanta (football aside), you put out a winning product or at least show an honest effort at winning, the fans will come out. Had the team ever been able to keep one of their star players, fans would have kept their excitement over the team and not worry about getting too attached to a star player that'll be gone in a year. The Braves, Falcons, and even the Hawks managed to re-sign their star players...that just didn't happen with the Thrashers.

I only go to a couple Gwinnett Gladiators games a year, and they seem to do alright, but folks don't get as excited for ECHL hockey as they do for the NHL. Sure, it's hockey, but it's slow and sloppy minor league hockey. It's not as enjoyable to me, especially since I was so exposed to the highest level of hockey in the world.

I believe that Atlanta can support an NHL team easily. Depending on how soon the city could get a team, the fans would need an owner that instantly wins them over (as far as investing in the team goes) so that they won't think about having "another Atlanta Spirit owner".

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

Did you know Bettman makes about $8.3 million a year?

[mcj882000]

I picked up the NHL's official 2013-14 yearbook yesterday, and I came across this:

At first I just assumed they goofed & put the wrong logo in, but as I looked further, I saw their predictions made quite a few other errors as well:
-Colorado's 10th in the West, seemingly taking Winnipeg's spot
-Columbus is "tied" with Winnipeg for 10th in the East. They moved Detroit & Columbus to the East but didn't move Winnipeg back, giving the East 17 teams
-NY Rangers & Washington are tied for 6th in the East, and nobody's 5th
-Nobody's ranked 12th in the West (Winnipeg's real prediction, I guess)

-Of course there's also the issue of ranking teams by conference with the new divisional playoff format, but that can be forgiven

I mean, I know errors happen, but was anybody proofreading this?

[The_Admiral]

This realignment is shaping up to be the biggest goat:censored: since an actual instance of a man :censored:ing a goat. You know, I was really on to something with the stop sign.

[The_Admiral]

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/inside-carolina-hurricanes-awkward-family-drama-peter-karmanos-145710046--nhl.html

Wherein Karmanos fires his son from a high-level executive job for undisclosed personal reasons. The Hurricanes are such a weird organization. Their only guiding principles seem to be signing every Staal and never firing Jim Rutherford. They serve no purpose but to be laughed at for things like this.

[The Giant Pacific Octopus]

^ Meh, they won a Cup. Thats something the Leafs have been trying to do for the past near 40 years and have been failing miserably at it. So I rather be made fun of and win, then be respected and lose.

[TorinK92]

^lol, respect the leafs? What are you talking about?

[Sodboy13]

CNBC's "American Greed" had a segment on Boots del Biaggio tonight. He got into the GDNHL by befriending Greg Jamison (o hai) and buying a 2% stake in the Sharks, and charmed his way through hockey's Old Boys Network to earn a rep that eventually allowed him to buy 27% of the Preds with something vaguely resembling money. To own a team outright, though, he'd have to up his assets considerably, so he devised this brilliant, elaborate scheme:

- Befriend a guy with access to confidential financial statements

- Obtain copies of financial statements from legitimate entities

- Print his own name, cut it out, and glue it over the actual entity's name on the statements

- Scan the altered documents and submit the PDFs as proof of his wealth

Boots secured about $100 million in loans this way, before anyone caught wise. A federal investigator noted, "It was really shocking how unsophisticated the scheme was." Del Biaggio told the feds the main thrust behind his fraud was an "insatiable desire" to own an NHL team. And so we have the chapter Predatory Lending: How One Man Nearly Bought a Franchise With Adobe Acrobat and a Glue Stick.

[The_Admiral]

A federal investigator noted, "It was really shocking how unsophisticated the scheme was."

But enough about the left wing lock. What about the bank fraud?

Seriously, though, this is awesome. This league is the new ABA, it just has a captive audience. And don't you mean "Perdatory Lending"?