The Scramble For D


Hey kids...The Souray signing yesterday has definitely gotten the ball rolling again on a week that has been very "on and off." I talked to an assistant GM this morning who admitted, "Now we have the last big ticket defenseman gone and we need to re-evaluate. We all need to look at our corps and determine if these players are the ones to go to war with."

Loooking around the league it is fairly obvious that many teams aren't happy on the blueline and that means quickly snatching up the remaining talent like Markov, Berard, Sutton, OR making a move for Jovanovski, Morris, Kubina or someone else. I believe we are about to see another scramble of sorts...I am on it, talking to everyone I can get on the phone. Right now I am getting alot of voicemails which tends to mean that there is much afoot. Expect a major rumour update early to mid afternoon Eastern time.

but first indulge me with a rant that I feel very strongly about..

Crosby Gets Hosed By ESPN


This is all that is wrong with ESPN. The "Determine the Ultimate Sports Star" Contest they have set up is a fun idea. Put the stars into brackets and have the fans vote for who advances. Well, that's not the whole story. The fan voting acounts for only 70% and the other 30% is given to the "Panel of 3 Experts."

Crosby won the fan voting by three percent, which is amazing in the US, but he should have. Nothing againsts Jeter, but Crosby is a 19 year old, who within the last year, won all the major awards in his sport, signed a big-time contract and probably saved a franchise from leaving a city. Jeter is a Superstar but Crosby is a Phenom. Crosby is up there with Tiger, Ruth, Martina, Jordan, Wayne and very few others.

Remember this is ESPN, not TSN. This is America, and when a phenom from the fringe sport of hockey defeats a superstar from the national pastime it should be allowed to stand.

BUT NOT ON ESPN.

ESPN has decided that three "sports experts" get to over-rule thousands of fans. This is so very tres ESPN in that you must remember that although there is no "i" in team, E-S-P-N is really spelled i-i-i-i. ESPN is all about selling Stars. What ESPN has created, with the young athletes now coming up, is a landscape that unless kids are getting solid coaching they may not understand the concept of team at all...The network that brought us the ESPY's (that should be called the hard to pronounce "Me -ies") and has dedicated 90% of its efforts to following Bonds or TO, realized long ago that Soap Operas are the way to go, and therefore believes we are all just old ladies sitting around waiting for our "stories."

And yes, the reality of it all is we do enjoy stories and drama. We do love our superstars. And yet, at the end of the day, they don't always love us back. Because Jeter will do what is best for Jeter, and what's best for his family. And that is fine, but call a spade a spade here. We don't buy season tickets to Jeter. We buy season tickets to the Yankees. We route for the logo on the front not the name on the back. We have to emotionally seperate ourselves, and that isn't terrible, but that is real.

Often our sports reporters, especially ESPN sports reporters, have become stars themselves. Which is also fine as long as they realize they are nothing more than any other really educated fan out there when it comes to their sports opinions.

What makes a sports reporter different than a fan is charisma, training, good looks, and a skill for communication. All of these (except for the maybe the looks) are indeed something that many of them work hard at and deserve credit for. They are solid entertainers and I do believe we can all apreciate that even though they have a great job, it still is a hard job that not many people out there who know sports could sit on the ESPN set and do as well as they do. It is a skill.

But the SECOND these sports reporters start to think that they know more about sports then the major sports fans out there, they have gone to the dark side for me because it just aint true.

Let me let you in on a secret. I have been in press boxes, and I have been on message boards. If purely knowing the sport of hockey was the ONLY qualification there are maybe only five hockey reporters that I can honestly say know the game inside out and better than some of the best posters in hockey forums.

I am amazed by the knowledge that many of you have regarding the game and its players. I love how it makes me work harder. I wish the technology was there so that these so called "ESPN Experts" could get direct comments through the television because they would be screwed and humbled pretty damn fast. I know I have been and I only have 2 million unique readers. They have tens of millions of viewers. If they got comments they would realize the ugly truth about sports reporting.......There is always someone out there who knows more than you do, and even if you do indeed have as much knowledge as you can know about any given sport...guess what? The rest is ALL JUST OPINION.

Imagine if I were to put a pool out there and say you could all vote on the best goaie, but oh by the way, my vote (or opinion) counts for 30 percent? You would all rightly say, "Who the hell are you? Just because you have a popular website, know some people, and have a press pass you think that your opinion on something so subjective should count a thousand times more than mine?"

I would (and should) be laughed off the frigging internet for that arrogance.

And yet thousands of people, 95% of whom I'm sure were Americans, said Crosby is the bigger star than Jeter. And then three REPORTERS, who I guarantee know less about hockey than 80% of all the people reading this blog, determined that Jeter was the winner. (and I bet they also know they would have had to answer to Jeter as well if they voted for Crosby) The reporters should be allowed their opinion, but they should not be allowed to over-rule the voters. Don't fake a vote for pageviews and advertising if you aren't going to acknowledge it.

Then again, the "Determine the Ultimate Sports Star" contest is a contest if ever there was one that fits the "iiii" like a glove. And one thing I know about Crosby: Winning a personal contest like this would mean nothing to the guy. There is no "i" in Crosby.

I appreciate you reading my rant...more rumours in a bit...

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