2008/09 NHL Thread

What pisses me off is that ESPN Radio hosts NEVER talk about hockey unless there is a story like this.

 

I do believe though that every police station that he had an affiliation with as an honourary officer or whatever, dropped him immediately. Whether the NBA did anything just goes to show the difference between the real world and the Pro-sports world. I know if I refer to anyone as sloppy seconds in a story or column, when I wrote a column, it would come with repercussions.

 

Wanna bet the Buzz is talking about Laviolette and Maurice in Raleigh today?

 

Here's James Mirtle's take on L'Affaire Avery.

http://www.fromtherink.com/2008/12/2/678289/nhl-right-to-suspend-avery#comments

And Brett Hull's comments:

This goes beyond hockey and beyond the game on the ice, and that's what bothers me. We have talked and talked and talked about being on the edge within the game, but not going over the line. We told him from the start that he can not do things that would embarrass the organization. Ever since the start here, this organization has been built on class, and there is a responsibility to the organization, to the owner and his family, and to the city and the fans to maintain that class. Play hard, push the game on the ice, but do not embarrass the organization

Lot of CYA there but he's essentially right about the "game on the ice" stuff.

 

Mutual Admiration Society.

 

You basically said marketers would have a field day in promoting the next time Avery came to town to put asses in the seats.
That's where I was coming from. Had a Bertuzzi/Moore incident happened which was very likely, if anything I can't imagine it being anything but a giant headache for the league. It would have been completely stupid for the league to allow Avery to play that game. Again he's not gone for good, just until Bettmen and co. can figure out how long to suspend him.

 

You're talking about one game. That was already sold out anyway.

I'm talking about other teams in struggling markets using the beast that is the Avery Personality and spin it to promote games in that area.

Which would be why I said 'marketers around the league,' not 'the Flames marketing team.'

Thought that was pretty explicit.

 

Now they are. But when Bomani Jones had his show this morning, there was no hockey talk. That moron never talks hockey. I had to go to the Fan out of Toronto to get any talk of the Canes' move.

 

Beef, a Bertuzzi-Moore incident was very likely?

There might have been a fight. Maybe two. But I feel very safe in thinking that neither Dion Phaneuf or Jarome Iginla would DDT Sean Avery onto the Saddledome ice.

 

But if an incident happened, that's not just a Flames PR nightmare, that becomes a league PR nightmare and those struggling markets take yet another hit. I didn't just mean in Calgary in my comment either as they sell out every game and have no problem putting people in the stands. It was a league-wide concern which is why the league stepped in.

 

Strangely, it's great marketing for the NHL - at least people are paying attention to it, albeit because of a guy who thinks he's so much bigger than the league and anybody in it. However, Sean Avery has a track record of stirring things up - baiting Georges Laraque by just about calling him the n-word, nearly coming to blows with a teammate on the Kings over that teammate's speech impediment and, recently, getting into it with a fan and his girlfriend in the stands in Boston.

If anyone read the piece in SI last week about the Stars with Steve Ott and Sean Avery, Michael Farber did enough for people to read between the lines about the situation in the Dallas locker room. Furthermore, Avery's been on a short leash as of late. Now, he's making the NHL into his own version of Us Weekly, and this week he's on the cover.

Farber put it best on SI.com today:

"But a lot of what Sean Avery does is a cry for attention. He's the only NHL player I know who has his own publicist. But sometimes I wonder if it's a cry for help as well."

 

If they're angry enough sure, especially with Avery's penchant for skating away from fights. Maybe he doesn't get a DDT into the ice maybe he get's a McSorely chop to the head, or maybe Phaneuf comes flying from accross the ice and drills him into the board from behind. many things were possible, especialy in a highly emotional, volatile situation like that.