As sad as the Canadian Stanley Cup drought (and probably more so) is the forever Minnesota drought! How can a state that has produced more NHLers than any other state have never won a Stanley Cup (with either the awesome-named North Stars - Gump Worsley anyone? - or the Wild)? Just baffling.
Joe, WTF????!!!! I keep making this comment, but with no recognition, let alone response. That is, what do you have against the Upper Midwest when it comes to your book tour? After all, you are from Cleveland. Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, CHICAGO! Come on, Joe. What gives?
MLB is obsessed with idiotic but lucrative uniform promos (City Connect: A couple of hits but mostly misses). The new ones just follow that trend. And I agree that the NHL really isn't doing itself any favors when a parade of "southern" US cities, where no one really cares about hockey and certainly no one else in the US cares whether those places win or lose, hoist the Cup. Besides seeing a Canadian team win, I think it is at least a baby step to relevance when one of the "Original Six" is back in the game. Tampa, Las Vegas, Colorado, Florida, zzzzzz. Last Cup I even took any time to watch was 2019, St. Louis and Boston. Yes, I'm a geezer, but a serious hockey fan since the early 1960s.
Joe, I appreciate you mentioning who the autographs were from. They were indecipherable to me. You could have claimed they were almost any four people and I couldn’t have disputed it.
There was a Skins Game about 25 years ago with Mike Weir (lefty), Phil Mickelson (lefty), Fred Couples (righty), and Sergio Garcia (righty). On one of the par 3 holes, I think the last of the event, Weir and Mickelson (borrowing clubs from Couples and Garcia) hit their tee shots right-handed, and Couples and Garcia played left-handed. What a brilliant idea. Incredibly, all four of them hit the green. Whoever hit last must have been under tremendous pressure.
I bring this up because when Joe revealed the names of the autograph signers I wondered if McEnroe and Connors had signed right-handed and Lendl and Cash with their lefts.
I was born in and grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and loved all the local teams. Kings tickets were dirt cheap and our family would drive to The Great Western Forum to see several games a year. Dionne, Vachon, Goring, Taylor... yet never a trip to the final. I was living in Central Illinois when the Gretzky, Sandston, Grenato, and Coffey Kings made it to the finals. I had to go to a campus sports bar to watch the games. There, during the preceding series against the Leafs, I met a guy from Toronto who was there to root for his Leafs against my Kings. We would meet in that same bar for the next few weeks to watch the Stanley Cup semifinals and finals. Great memories, even through the fog of many beers. Sadly, my Kings ran into Patrick Roy in the finals. Though the outcome of the finals was ... um ... unfavorable, this article rekindled GREAT memories.
I think I read this in a program at a Canucks game in the mid-80s. Your late 70s Kings had a defenceman named Bob Murdoch; not an all star, played in the NHL for a decade or so, a solid campaigner for the Kings for a number of years. I guess he was having a rough season and a bad night in front of one of those LA crowds that were so small and dead that you could make out conversations on the other side of the rink. The teams were going through the motions when Murdoch got called for a lazy hook. He glided over to the penalty box, stepped in, sat down, and stared at his skates when someone in the stands yelled “Lock the door!”
The trick with the HR leader is either Judge stays healthy or it’s someone who just goes crazy one year and picking that guy is almost luck. No one would have had Matt Olson as even a dark horse a year ago. Eugenio Suarez is a 30-35 HR guy but he went off the second half of 2019 and hit 49!
Oh, how I wish Gino had hit his standard-issue 30 to 35 last year. I probably would not have had my playoff ticket purchase refunded.
Gino is such an easy guy to pull for. It was so fun at T-Mobile when he’d come through with a big hit. He just made too many outs last year. He played a very nice third base but there were too many strikeouts and not enough home runs. I’m no expert, but I think the Ms are right to move on. I do hope he has a big season in Arizona, though.
I have a theory that the "Canadian" style of play demanded by numerous "old school" fan bases and promoted by a thankfully-unemployed-high-collared hockey pundit are the main reason Canada has not seen a Stanley Cup winner in so long and rarely a finalist. Perhaps I am giving punditry and old school mentality too much credit, but here goes.
Canadian-style was tough guy hockey with dump and chase and make the smart basic play without flash and don't celebrate.
Of course, it's do the simple things until the computer nerds attempt to show you data and nerds aren't allowed in Canadian hockey.
It seems analytics weren't embraced as quickly up here and perhaps analytical jobs are more attractive in the US. Probably more analytical minds are produced in US institutions due to the earlier adoption in MLB. The US dollar and the hesitancy to leave the US for work might be a factor.
I'm a long suffering Canucks fan and have a few Leafs die-hards in my vicinity and the anti-Russian sentiments and Euro phobes are quick to jump into any good old hockey debate. I wonder if front offices feel the pressure to stick with the good Canadian kids and keep them in a box rather than flow creatively.
Of course, this might be changing and there are some franchise altering players up here still labelled with the "can't win in the playoffs" label.
Perhaps this is the year (welp...) for my Canucks or maybe the Oil put it together and of course everyone but Leafs fans know what to expect out of that franchise.
That picture frame would be great! I can have my wife take a picture of me.and 4 of my friends from a distance in tennis garb. Should work well since we're all old, retired coots
Balancing the equities of thr baseball uniform controversy, player complaints are surely outweighed by the fact that the lightweight fabrics are MUCH easier for the 11 year old Cambodian factory girls to handle.
As sad as the Canadian Stanley Cup drought (and probably more so) is the forever Minnesota drought! How can a state that has produced more NHLers than any other state have never won a Stanley Cup (with either the awesome-named North Stars - Gump Worsley anyone? - or the Wild)? Just baffling.
The 2021 Stanley Cup final in the Pandemic shortened year was between the victorious Tampa Bay Lightning and the Montreal Canadians.
Maybe Jim Palmer should model the new uniforms.
the new uniform pants are horrid, and definitely see-through!
really not much of a hockey fan, have only been to one game
(i went to a fight then a hockey game broke out)
So excited, just bought a ticket for Boca! See you there Joe!
Joe, WTF????!!!! I keep making this comment, but with no recognition, let alone response. That is, what do you have against the Upper Midwest when it comes to your book tour? After all, you are from Cleveland. Detroit, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, CHICAGO! Come on, Joe. What gives?
The PNW is the same- Portland, Seattle, Vancouver. You’re not unique.
I agree. I am biased, of course, but baseball places like Chicago and Detroit goes all the way back to the founding of the leagues.
MLB is obsessed with idiotic but lucrative uniform promos (City Connect: A couple of hits but mostly misses). The new ones just follow that trend. And I agree that the NHL really isn't doing itself any favors when a parade of "southern" US cities, where no one really cares about hockey and certainly no one else in the US cares whether those places win or lose, hoist the Cup. Besides seeing a Canadian team win, I think it is at least a baby step to relevance when one of the "Original Six" is back in the game. Tampa, Las Vegas, Colorado, Florida, zzzzzz. Last Cup I even took any time to watch was 2019, St. Louis and Boston. Yes, I'm a geezer, but a serious hockey fan since the early 1960s.
Joe, I appreciate you mentioning who the autographs were from. They were indecipherable to me. You could have claimed they were almost any four people and I couldn’t have disputed it.
There was a Skins Game about 25 years ago with Mike Weir (lefty), Phil Mickelson (lefty), Fred Couples (righty), and Sergio Garcia (righty). On one of the par 3 holes, I think the last of the event, Weir and Mickelson (borrowing clubs from Couples and Garcia) hit their tee shots right-handed, and Couples and Garcia played left-handed. What a brilliant idea. Incredibly, all four of them hit the green. Whoever hit last must have been under tremendous pressure.
I bring this up because when Joe revealed the names of the autograph signers I wondered if McEnroe and Connors had signed right-handed and Lendl and Cash with their lefts.
Studio 54 Remembrance Day. I needed a good laugh going into the weekend.
I was born in and grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and loved all the local teams. Kings tickets were dirt cheap and our family would drive to The Great Western Forum to see several games a year. Dionne, Vachon, Goring, Taylor... yet never a trip to the final. I was living in Central Illinois when the Gretzky, Sandston, Grenato, and Coffey Kings made it to the finals. I had to go to a campus sports bar to watch the games. There, during the preceding series against the Leafs, I met a guy from Toronto who was there to root for his Leafs against my Kings. We would meet in that same bar for the next few weeks to watch the Stanley Cup semifinals and finals. Great memories, even through the fog of many beers. Sadly, my Kings ran into Patrick Roy in the finals. Though the outcome of the finals was ... um ... unfavorable, this article rekindled GREAT memories.
I think I read this in a program at a Canucks game in the mid-80s. Your late 70s Kings had a defenceman named Bob Murdoch; not an all star, played in the NHL for a decade or so, a solid campaigner for the Kings for a number of years. I guess he was having a rough season and a bad night in front of one of those LA crowds that were so small and dead that you could make out conversations on the other side of the rink. The teams were going through the motions when Murdoch got called for a lazy hook. He glided over to the penalty box, stepped in, sat down, and stared at his skates when someone in the stands yelled “Lock the door!”
So excited you’re finally coming back to Southwest Ohio. See you in Cincinnati, Joe!
The trick with the HR leader is either Judge stays healthy or it’s someone who just goes crazy one year and picking that guy is almost luck. No one would have had Matt Olson as even a dark horse a year ago. Eugenio Suarez is a 30-35 HR guy but he went off the second half of 2019 and hit 49!
Oh, how I wish Gino had hit his standard-issue 30 to 35 last year. I probably would not have had my playoff ticket purchase refunded.
Gino is such an easy guy to pull for. It was so fun at T-Mobile when he’d come through with a big hit. He just made too many outs last year. He played a very nice third base but there were too many strikeouts and not enough home runs. I’m no expert, but I think the Ms are right to move on. I do hope he has a big season in Arizona, though.
I have a theory that the "Canadian" style of play demanded by numerous "old school" fan bases and promoted by a thankfully-unemployed-high-collared hockey pundit are the main reason Canada has not seen a Stanley Cup winner in so long and rarely a finalist. Perhaps I am giving punditry and old school mentality too much credit, but here goes.
Canadian-style was tough guy hockey with dump and chase and make the smart basic play without flash and don't celebrate.
Of course, it's do the simple things until the computer nerds attempt to show you data and nerds aren't allowed in Canadian hockey.
It seems analytics weren't embraced as quickly up here and perhaps analytical jobs are more attractive in the US. Probably more analytical minds are produced in US institutions due to the earlier adoption in MLB. The US dollar and the hesitancy to leave the US for work might be a factor.
I'm a long suffering Canucks fan and have a few Leafs die-hards in my vicinity and the anti-Russian sentiments and Euro phobes are quick to jump into any good old hockey debate. I wonder if front offices feel the pressure to stick with the good Canadian kids and keep them in a box rather than flow creatively.
Of course, this might be changing and there are some franchise altering players up here still labelled with the "can't win in the playoffs" label.
Perhaps this is the year (welp...) for my Canucks or maybe the Oil put it together and of course everyone but Leafs fans know what to expect out of that franchise.
That sounds allot like the kind of play that the Blues won with in '19. Craig Berube style.
The Blues would definitely be an outlier and considering their history they could be grouped into Canadian teams with a long Cup drought.
That picture frame would be great! I can have my wife take a picture of me.and 4 of my friends from a distance in tennis garb. Should work well since we're all old, retired coots
Every time I see you provide an update on your book tour, I get my hopes up and quickly scan for "Seattle." And every time, I am disappointed. :-)
Come to Tucson!
Balancing the equities of thr baseball uniform controversy, player complaints are surely outweighed by the fact that the lightweight fabrics are MUCH easier for the 11 year old Cambodian factory girls to handle.