2008/09 NHL Thread

Isn't everything MacTavish's fault? Is the player ever at fault?

 

IF IF IF ... the league took away the Flames ability to take the higher road and play a clean game.

And that is absolute bullshit.

There are referees on the ice for a reason.

 

There's nothing to spin about Avery. He's been offensive since he arrived in the league.

One thing the game has always tried to do is reinforce the notion that of the four major sports, hockey players are the classiest. It's been the message before the NHL even knew what marketing was. Whether it's true or not is irrelevant. We're the sport with the wholesome (some would say 'boring') players.

You don't, all of a sudden, start promoting the game through a player that goes directly against that message.

That's not a marketing opportunity, it's a marketing nightmare.

 

People may be talking about it who don't normally talk about it, but this is not going to cause them to run out buy tickets, jerseys, hats, and become fans. If anything it reaffirms negative stereotypes about the league.

 

Wait...the NHL, which is known among non-fans as "the league that promotes fighting", supposedly promotes itself as "wholesome?"

I'd never take a kid to a hockey game. If anything, it's the opposite to me.

 

Beef, was the statement made that "people are going to run out and buy tickets because of this guy" ? No. Avery's antics, again, it's enough to turn heads, but let's not make it out to be like the NHL will see a surge in sellout crowds anytime soon.

Avery embodies this: It's like a train wreck. People will slow down to see how bad it is, then move along.

 

And referees have never let a game get out of control before, even ones where something was expected to happen. If you want to play with fire, that's fine. I'm sure the league has learned its lessons over the years and would rather not risk having another one of its stars -- both of whom are perennial contenders for major awards -- become pariahs.

 

Well, if they're stars and perennial contenders for major awards, they must be good at what they do.

And if they're the standup guys you'd have me believe, they'd do their jobs and not get bogged down in petty bullshit knowing what the long-term effects of it would be for them and the league.

Right?

 

If you talk to anybody who's covered all 4 sports they will tell you by leaps and bounds hockey players are the nicest and most respectful players to deal with

 

But that's all ifs and maybes. No one knows what would have happened had Avery played. To say a ''Bertuzzi-Moore incident was very likely" is wildly jumping to a conclusion.

 

Which may be fair. I'm not talking about people who cover it. I'm talking about people who only know of hockey what they see in highlights...fighting.

 

And I don't see how that is beneficial to the league. When this leads sports shows that usually don't even roll the scores from the night's NHL games this isn't positive PR for the league.