Friday, June 06, 2008

 

Do You Believe in Probable Outcomes? YES!!!!

That rather brilliant post header comes from Melt Your Face-Off. While much of the allure of sports comes from the drama of unknown outcomes, and upsets, and underdogs making good, I'm one of these people who feels a certain flavour of satisfaction when the best team wins. That feeling is all the more pronounced with the Wings clinching the Cup; principally, I think, because it puts to rest so many of the unfair raps on the team, its coach, and its players, as well as a few myths and some voodoo about what it takes to win (and what never can). You have to think now that, for any team wishing to knock the Wings off their perch, they'll be focused not on how to be tougher, or "more committed", but on how to be better, period.

I was just browsing through the archives a bit, and found this, which I think in retrospect is pretty good:
From my own perspective: Spezza, Ovechkin, Crosby, and a few others can make defenders look awful on any given shift, but there is no one who is the equal of Zetterberg (and his line) at making the opposition look completely inept for an entire game. They control the puck beautifully, one guy is always finding some open space, and when they don't have the puck, they seem to get in the way of everything. Call them the Line Most Likely to Make You Depressed About Your Team's Ability to Clear Their Own Zone.

Remember when? This was written by Colby Cosh after the '04 Cup was awarded, and I reposted it in '06:
A note about the post-victory celebration: the Stanley Cup ceremony has been allowed to go to hell and someone should put a stop to it. This business of letting the winning coach hoist the Cup, and then letting the plucky assistant coach do it, and then letting the director of player development do it, and then Christ knows who else, is really pushing established religious practice to its limits. Letting Scotty Bowman skate with the Cup wasn't a precedent: it was an exception, made for the greatest coach who ever lived. I suggest that Soapy Tortorella be allowed to lift the Cup over his head when he's won the thing eight more times, like Bowman. At the very least, let's have a little decorum and not give a victory lap with the Cup to the stick boy. It's a simple matter of issuing sidearms to the custodians of the trophy. They should also have a broad mandate to shoot the players' children, who now throng the ice when the Cup is won and wander around crying and confused, giving the whole thing the air of a GE company picnic. I can just about tolerate the players photographing one another like a bunch of Japanese tourists, but generally the intimate-family-gathering atmosphere is getting out of hand.

Thinking back, I might have missed the presentation last season, so I'm not sure when it was reformed, but props to the NHL. Access onto the ice was severely limited until the Red Wings had each taken a turn with the Cup, and had the team photo taken; I didn't see any kids or handi-cams until later. It generally seemed a lot more dignified. Greg Millen pointed this out as well, which reminds me...

I liked Bob Cole and Greg Millen, for the most part. Millen seems to be the rare analyst who gets better with experience; this goes against form, as most get unarguably worse.

I didn't watch every minute of the series, and some of what I did watch was NBC's broadcast, but Millen has definitely cut way down on the, whatever you want to call them, "folksy cliches that directly contradict what is actually happening on the ice". Best, he seemed to have a knack for seeing things right the first time; this is surprisingly helpful to me the viewer, contrasted to having the booth figure out what happened by watching the replay at the same time as I am.

Still with the CBC, "The Song"... I'm grateful for Staples' reportage on the matter (and Tyler's supplementary info). Count me in the "I'll live if they ditch the old theme" crowd. For starters, I find the CBC's reticence to conduct ongoing business with someone who has a major lawsuit pending against them quite reasonable.

More to the point though, I'm personally most partial to the song that kicks off the pre-game at 430MT ("There's a buzz on the street"). That whole thing with the song, the custom highlight package, and the minor hockey team setting up the game broadcasts is one of my favourite parts of the whole evening. On Saturdays when I know I'll be watching that night (usually because the Flames are in the late game), I actually find myself humming or singing it sometimes. It's catchy enough that I even (eventually) got over the fact that they re-arranged it this season: cut out a verse, and had it re-recorded by The Headpins or Lita Ford or who knows.

Jarome: fortunately, it is an honour just to be nominated.

Have a good weekend y'all.

Comments:

Thinking back, I might have missed the presentation last season, so I'm not sure when it was reformed

Oh, last season was a mess of children and understudies and coaching staffs. If you were against a general family affair, you would have hated it.

Still, I don't know if there's any need for reprimand. It's a tough enough trophy to win, I don't know if I want to start telling players how they must react to winning. Season's over. Go ahead and party, however you see fit.

And it could have been a factor that for the first time in a while, the Wings won on opponent ice. That may have changed the dynamic even if they had other plans.
 


I feel comfortable with my pro-family bona fides. :) But I think it's much better this way, hold the families etc. up just 10 minutes, and let the hoisting & team pic happen first. After that, I enjoyed the hell out of watching the on-ice interviews of Player + Mom & Dad, Player + 2 Kids, etc.

But the child's dream of someday hoisting the Stanley Cup does not involve first side-stepping the Lay's marketing rep, the asst. GM's wife, and 14 local photographers to get his hands on it.

(The point about it being on the road is an interesting one, though; no idea what effect that had.)
 


More to the point though, I'm personally most partial to the song that kicks off the pre-game at 430MT ("There's a buzz on the street").

Ya, you lost me right there.


As to the post-game celebrations, I really enjoyed watching Cabbie interact with the guys after the game.


And Matt, no comment on McCarty winning the Cup?
 


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Please god, just don't let it be Nickelback...

With luck, we'll get a 2x speed gag reel accompanied by "Yakkety Sax". That'll get us on ESPN for sure.

And while I'm working my comedy routine: NHL Star Called Up to the Big Leagues
 


On the celebration front, am I alone in missing the days when teams would take the cup for an actual victory lap around the rink instead of a half-assed, 15 foot turn around the neutral zone? I recognize the growth in media coverage kinda cramps the space, but it's just not the same. I also miss random dudes.
 


First, let me say that I completely agreed with Colby's '04 take, and I definitely agree that the league has to walk it back a bit. Whether that happened this year on purpose or just because the Wings won it away from home, I don't know, but I'm grateful. Got no problem with players celebrating, but lets keep it to players

Sorry Matt, I found Millen as frustrating as usual and a couple of times each series actually distracting in his annoyingness. His call of Pittsburgh's second goal in the final game seemed all too typical, claiming that Osgood couldn't see the puck, when it was obvious the shot was deflected not screened. I think silence from Millen would always be preferable to something he offers, which I guess is bad in a colour guy.
 


Did anyone notice this year that when Bowman tried to lift it, he almost toppled over.

Normally, I'd laugh my ass off at such a sight -- I'm not a big Bowman guy and I'm not sure if anyone else noticed he said that the insertion of Letang was a really big deal for the Pens -- but it was honestly sad.
 


Did anyone notice this year that when Bowman tried to lift it, he almost toppled over.

The man's about 107 years old. I'm not surprised. I initially thought he just felt bad about lifting it again when he hadn't actually been behind the bench, but quickly realized what was more likely going on.
 


About the "unarguably worse" thing, it's kinda funny: this morning I was listening to a radio call of G7 of the 1964 World Series (probably best remembered as the Johnny Keane Series). The announcers were Phil Rizzuto and Joe Garagiola, who by my own youth had earned reputations for being garrulous, tiresome, and ridiculously error-prone. In '64, they were pretty good!--meticulous, restrained, every bit the informed ex-athlete that every TV or radio producer thinks he's hiring.

And oddly enough, Tim McCarver, who scored a Cardinal run on the front end of a double steal in that very game, is just about the best example of an ex-jock broadcaster going from innovative to intolerable in about five years.
 


It's a tough enough trophy to win, I don't know if I want to start telling players how they must react to winning. Season's over. Go ahead and party, however you see fit.

It's not a question of "telling players how they must react": it's a question of not letting non-players onto the ice, in the legitimate interest of preventing the presentation of the Cup from turning into a private party full of bastard children and bottle-washers. The players are already given the entire summer for private celebration with the Cup.
 


Colby: where the hell did you find Game 7 of the '64 Series? What a treasure. (I recently came across David Halberstam's outstanding book October 1964 and gobbled it up; but footage or radio of my Cardinals' memorable win over the damn Yankees is pretty hard to come by.)

I remember that double steal like it was yesterday. McCarver was a fine runner for a catcher, but nobody expected him to steal home for goodness sake. For gutsiness Johnny Keane's call ranks up there with Dick Williams calling the fake intentional walk on Johnny Bench in Game 7 in 1972. In both cases the Series may have been won in that delicious moment.

To this day I don't think I've ever seen another catcher steal home, or another fake IBB. Carpe diem.
 


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And oddly enough, Tim McCarver, who scored a Cardinal run on the front end of a double steal in that very game, is just about the best example of an ex-jock broadcaster going from innovative to intolerable in about five years.

In the 06 Mets vs. Cards series, there was one game that finished 12-5 Mets. Next night, McCarver points to a play late in the game (Taguchi to 2nd on a wild pitch - then I believe Beliard strikes out to end the inning), and says "Who knows what the score would have been if the Cards could have driven in one more run".....well, by my count Tim, it would have been 12-6.
 


Looks like the HNIC tune has gone to CTV:

Link.
 


Completely off topic, but blog worthy none-the-less:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080610.WBhockeyblog20080610132204/WBStory/WBhockeyblog
Lanny McDonald joins the Wayner in the illustrious realm of having received an honourary doctorate.
 


The McCarver game is offered for free somewhere on the MLB.com site as a taster for a classic games package of some kind. Afraid I can't be more help than that. McCarver is still the only major league catcher to lead his league in triples (13, 1966).
 


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Thanks, CC, I'll try to track it down. Nice stat on the triples; I do remember McCarver being an excellent runner, and not a bad hitter either. (His three-run homer in the 10th inning won Game 5 of that '64 Series in Yankee Stadium.)

McCarver was also a decent receiver, esp. if his batterymate was one Bob Gibson.
 

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