You can watch the entire game recap (only 6 minutes long) or start watching around the 4 minute mark to see the rangers collapse with only 7 minutes left in the game and with a 2-0 lead. Beautiful hockey.
The Long Weekend (of Sports)
I went up to Canada for the long weekend on Thursday morning and came back late last night on a drive that lasted much longer than I had anticipated. Sure there was going to be some traffic considering the number of people coming back from their 4th of July holidays but an 8 hour drive ended up taking nearly 12 – there was a stretch early on by the border where it took well over an hour and a half to cross a one mile distance to get into the United States.
Anyway Canada was good as usual. I went to a wedding, played some basketball, cricket and Halo as well as hearing about the wacky Yankee/Red Sox series and catching the first two plus sets of the Nadal/Federer Wimbledon final. Unfortunately I had to leave to comeback and miss arguably the greatest tennis match ever played. Go catch an online clip of it if you can, I’ll put up an update later tonight.
Baseball news before the NHL stuff. Brewers really surprised me in acquiring C.C. Sabathia for four prospects and giving themselves two top of the line starting pitchers (Ben Sheets). Sheets is 10-2 with 2.77 ERA – by far the best start of this career to go with CC who is only 6-8 with a 3.83 ERA. Keep in mind though that the Indians scored two runs or fewer in 11 of his 18 starts this season. Brewers stand at 3.5 games behind the division leading Cubs but are tied for the lead in the Wildcard with their division foes St. Louis Cardinals. This race can get real interesting with those three teams having the top three records in the National League but only two spots are available to them and the race could get even more crowded if the Mets finally decide to heat up a little and the Phillies continue their decline.
As for the NHL news today that there will be second New Year’s Winter Classic Day game – this time at Wrigley Field between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings. It was a fantastic game last year especially with the large crowd outdoors and I was kinda hoping they would do it at Yankee Stadium this year so maybe I had a chance to go see it but that didn’t pan out. Anyways, I’ll make sure to catch this game on tv just as I did the one last year.
Last New Year’s Day, more people tuned in to see the NHL play outdoors than any other regular-season game in more than a decade.
The Penguins-Sabres game in snowy Buffalo — the first regular-season outdoor NHL game in the United States — drew a 2.6 overnight rating and a 5 share on NBC. Each ratings point represents about 735,000 households; the rating is the percentage watching a telecast among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into a broadcast among those households with televisions on at the time. Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets in the United States.
The 2.6/5 were the best numbers since a six-game regional telecast on Fox drew a 3.0 overnight rating and a 7 share on Feb. 3, 1996.
The Winter Classic ratings also surpassed Wayne Gretzky’s final game, which was broadcast on Fox on April 18, 1999, and drew a 2.5/6. – Article
P.S. The MLB All-Star game from Yankee Stadium is coming up. I’m sure this media coverage on that in the tri-state is going to be crazy. Hopefully its a memorable one.
New York Rangers vs. NHL
So I’ve been meaning to write about this silly ongoing saga between the New York Rangers and the National Hockey League. I finally got around to it this morning and I have a feeling this isn’t going to be a one and done issue, so I have started a series for it, in anticipation for future posts being devoted to the issue.
It has been centered around who actually owns the rights to the team’s website and how to run its promotions. The NHL is considering to kick the owners of the New York Rangers out of the NHL or force them the owners to sell their team as punishment for accusing the league and its officials of violating antitrust laws. Madison Square Garden (the owners of the Rangers) sued the NHL last fall saying that it violated antitrust laws by monopolizing control of team promotions. A judge ruled this past November that the league was within its rights to seize control of the team’s website.
This all seems much ado over nothing as the 29 teams in the league do not seem to have a problem having over access to the NHL to control promotions but the Rangers seem to be making a big deal. On one hand, NHL should have the rights to control their website considering they run the league but I think threating to kick a team out of the league is a little excessive. As the MSG spokesman said, “The NHL shouldn’t be afraid of the judicial system. We will pursue our case vigorously and will not be intimidated by the NHL’s bullying tactics.”
If the NHL is willing to kick a team out of the league for not listening, is it because they don’t think they have as solid of a case as they are leading us to believe or are they afraid there is a possibility that the law might rule in favor of the New York Rangers.
MSG first went to the courts just as the league was preparing to fine the organization US$100,000 per day if the company did not give the hockey league complete control over the Rangers’ website and other promotions.
Madison Square Garden had accused the hockey league of having “veered into unlawful behavior” by seeking to control the licensing of teams for all commercial purposes and to stop teams from marketing apparel, merchandise and memorabilia.
I wonder if this is the NHL’s way of generating hockey interest in the tri-state area. Even though hockey ratings have steadily increased across the hockey, New York has been one of the most lagging markets in terms of television viewership and certainly with the owners of Cablevision at the head of this problem – that might not bode well for the games being broadcasted in this area.
Maybe it is time for the NHL in this New York region to wake up and make their voice heard on the issue for or against either side. Although it is bound to make very little to no difference in the overall outcome of the case, I think it time the fans stopped being dormant and woke up a little bit. Spark a little life into the team and the league in the off season.
Personally I wouldn’t mind the MSG being removed as owners of the Rangers and there have been interesting rumors that there is an expansion team in Manhattan waiting to jump into the league if given the opportunity. There is a small logistical problem of where they would play but I am sure the rest of the league owners wouldn’t mind kicking the Rangers out, splitting the massive expansion fee from an owner in Manhattan and just split it amongst themselves. But maybe I’m getting a little bit ahead of myself. There are still plenty of hoops for the NHL to jump through before that could happen and one ruling from the courts could change everything.
NHL Resurrection in America?
The Stanley Cup Finals deserve more than one post. So they’ll probably will end up getting at least two.
What a Stanley Cup Finals it has been so far. With Game 6 slated for 8 PM tonight in Pittsburgh, one can only hope it goes to a decisive Game 7. The ratings for the triple-overtime Game 5 were through the roof and can only help develop the game in the United States once again.
Crosby and company have their work cut out for them and they can’t expect to get outshot 2 to 1 and think they’ll pull out another victory tonight. Marc-Andre Fleury and his 55 saves really did save their season Monday night and I have a feeling he’s gonna be on top of his game yet again. The Penguins are a +2 goal differential in their 2 wins (you do the math, that means they won each game by a goal) but are an awful -8 in their 3 losses (0-4, 0-3, 1-2). They’ll need to generate a lot of offense and will need to be led by Evgeni Malkin who just had a tremendous regular season with 47 goals and 59 assists in 82 games and has a respectable but not great 9 goals and 20 points in the post season.
I knew their streak was long but I did not know that the Red Wings have finished 1st or 2nd in their division in points for a remarkable 16 consecutive seasons – reaching triple digit points in all but 4 of those seasons.
The Penguins on the other hand were basement dwellers for 4 consecutive seasons in their division with 69, 65, and 58 points twice before getting 102 and 105 the past two seasons. They have gone from worst to first in just 3 seasons and would have had it last year – losing out the division title to the Devils by a mere 2 points. Let’s not have too much pity for the Penguins who had made it to the playoffs (and won two Stanley Cups) in the previous 11 seasons before their miserable streak started in 2001-02.
I don’t know how many teams have done this but the Penguins when they won back to back Stanley Cups in 1990-91 and 1991-92, did it under two different coaches (Bob Johnson and Scotty Bowman) – Bowman who would later coach the Red Wings to 3 Stanley Cup Championships himself.
So what’s it gonna be? Are the Red Wings gonna close it out on the road or do the Penguins have it in them to completely turn this series around and put Detroit’s backs against the wall and force a Game 7?
Game 6. Tonight. 8 PM. NBC.
P.S. Wrote this post for my buddy Rusty who every now and then leaves me a reminder to ABG this or ABG that. Last night, it was “ABG the Stanley Cup Finals”.
Grab Bag Of The Month
I haven’t really gotten a chance to post recently, been busy with classes and finals and what not but I’ll put up a couple of cool clips I saw recently below the Facebook rant.
Anyways, I had been collecting my “application” requests on Facebook for maybe 2 or 3 months now and finally late last week it cracked triple digits. I have gotten random invitations bid on what my friends are worth in “friends for sale”, another application that is titled “how many kids” and certainly the “which swear word are you?”. Sure every now and then there is a good one like “Oregon Trail” or a March Madness Bracket Selection but the other 100 or so that have stayed on my sidebar to rot (take a look at the thumbnail here) really start to make me angry. Facebook has become littered with these nonsense applications, ridiculous ads and useless features like the chat that they just added. I totally agree with what my roommate said the other day, “Like I don’t have enough ways to instant message someone already? Why do I need this chat?” The “People You May Know” feature on the side that suggests people you may know by looking at common friends is a good addition and you have the potential of meeting with an old friend from another country or elementary school so I will not criticize that but these other things are really making me an ABG.
To view the videos regarding the awesome kick save by a pitcher, a great way to get into home plate without being out and an awesome penalty shock in hockey, please read on.