Posted in Transactions August 31st, 2007
Midway through my fantasy sports rant, news came across the wire that the Kings added Dave Lewis to their coaching staff.
Two funny quotes from the article:
- “Kings Coach Marc Crawford, who led Colorado to a Stanley Cup title in 1996, said Lewis is ‘a perfect fit for our staff.’”
- “Dave commands respect because he deserves respect, and he is really anxious to help get this team to be the best it can be.”
Apparently Marc Crawford didn’t watch the Bruins highlights in from this past spring.
The best quotes however, were the one that didn’t happen:
- Lubomir Visnovsky: “Feel…slower. Creativity…draining…from body. Must…fight urge to simply stand in front of net.”
- Brad Stuart: “We hired who?? Awwwww, craaaaaap.”
Posted in Fantasy Sports August 28th, 2007
(note: while things are slow on the Bruins front, I’m going to stray off a bit on a different sports topic)
So as I’m watching one of the ESPN Football Fantasy shows last week, I see sports celebrities making appearances to discuss draft picks and strategies. Cato June (Bucs and former Colts linebacker) is doing a mock draft in the on-air ESPN league and Payton Manning video conferences in to discuss his selection in the draft. And in prior shows (yes, I’ve watched several), Rams RB Steven Jackson made an appearance as did Woody Williams of the Houston Astros. And this is no doubt a sampling…I’m sure there are a lot more sports icons that I’ve missed on other shows.
And it hits me: these people are being awfully brazen about being a part of something that could easily link them to gambling.
Just think about recent events. Rick Tocchet and his involvement in a gambling ring. NBA referee Tim Donaghy and his admission to betting on multiple NBA games. Michael Vick who may never return to the NFL after the recent dogfighting scandal. All of these are gambling scandals that have arisen in multiple sports over the course of recent months.
And gambling is something that the sports world takes seriously…even more seriously than violent crimes. The NFL, for example, is still employing Leonard Little who killed a woman in a drunk driving incident in 1998. However, gambling is a different story because it threatens the integrity of the game. Art Schlichter’s and Pete Rose’s careers ended after gambling charges. Rose may never make the Hall of Fame because of it.
Players have been able to make these TV and radio appearances because their real-life employers have been resting on a flawed premise: that the fantasy leagues their players are involved in have no monetary rewards. C’mon, let’s have a show of hands here. Of those of you who have played fantasy sports, how many have ever played in a pay league where you stood to win money at the end of the year? I’m willing to bet at least 75% of you out there have done it at least once and at least 25% of you do it on a regular basis. And for those of you who do play in pay leagues, you know that that the entry fees are usually on par with the relative income of your group of friends. Some of you may play for $50 a year and some over $100. On that premise, I anticipate that any fantasy leagues involving professional players would have significantly higher stakes due to considerably higher incomes involved. Entry fees in the $1000 or higher range certainly wouldn’t surprise me. You throw in major celebrities like, say, a Terrell Owens, and the stakes may increase exponentially.
But would all this affect the performance of a player? Would a 2nd string middle linebacker on a non-playoff team playing against the Chargers in week 16 intentionally mistackle Ladanian Tomlinson so that he could scamper for a TD…just so his fantasy team could score 6 points in his league’s championship game? Maybe. But does it really matter? The problem is that the answer may never be known…that the question of a potentially tainted play will always be there.
And if something like this does happen, I anticipate it would completely blindside the leagues involved. Not only would it have been happening right in front of them, but they would have been providing the breeding grounds for it. Go to the websites for the NHL, NBA, NFL and MLB. Each one offers their own fantasy games.
My biggest fear is what the aftermath would be. I’ve been playing fantasy sports since the late 80’s. I remember doing everything by hand and being forced to wade through boxscores for stats. Over the years, fantasy leagues have become automated and stat processing is done automatically. If a scandal rips through the industry, you may see the leagues put a halt to fantasy sports, or perhaps try to seriously curtail it. Although I doubt it would return to the stone ages, the freewheeling fantasy sports universe we play in may be seriously toned back. One speculation is that online stats might be limited, or the leagues may attempt to prevent them from being used in a fantasy sports environment. If that’s the case, we would no longer have the luxury of having nearly unlimited up-to-the-minute stat updates for our teams.
And for those of us who check our teams at least twice nightly, that would be devastating.
Posted in TV August 18th, 2007
Now that it’s nearing the end of August and I can almost hear the crisp sounds of slapshots echoing through a rink, my mind wanders to the annual October question.
Do I go and splurge on DirecTV’s NHL package again?
If this was football, the answer would be a given. Sixteen games, each one delivered to my screen, no questions asked. But we’re talking the NHL package here. There’s no given that 3/5th of those games would be viewable in my area. As many of you know, I’m not from Boston. I’m from central NJ, in an area that’s inhabited by about 50% Flyers fans, 40% Rangers fans, and 10% Devils fans (those are the younger ones who had a third team to pick from and a decent bandwagon to hop on). If I lived out in Montana, I’d probably get about 60-70 games. But because I live in central NJ, I have to abide by the blackout rules imposed by the local teams. In my area, that’s the Flyers, Rangers, Devils and…believe it or not…the Islanders.
In addition to that, I had the NHL package two years ago and found out that I ALSO needed to subscribe to the local sports packages (like Fox Sports NY) in order to get the games…a double screw by DirecTV. However, that may have changed…I didn’t have the NHL package last year, but inexplicably had access to Fox Sports NY…possibly a change in their programming packaging (I know I didn’t intentionally purchase it).
But perhaps the worst of all, the simple fact is that I’m rarely home to be able to watch a game. I work nights and my shift is already well underway when the game begins. I tried TiVo’ing games last year, but it didn’t work. By the time I got home, I already knew the score and was too tired to stay up another 1.5 hours to sit through the game (at least I could shave a good hour off the game by just fast forwarding through the commercials and intermissions).
Sigh. I guess I’ll be relegated to another season of watching whatever games they show on Versus (and, if I’m lucky again, Fox Sports NY).
Posted in Claude Julien August 2nd, 2007
To shed a little more light on the history of Claude Julien and Geoff Ward…in particular their 2002-03 season with the Hamilton Bulldogs…here’s an article from the 4/9/03 Hamilton Spectator, courtesy of Factiva.
They have been friends for years, their philosophies on the game of hockey are very similar and yesterday Claude Julien and Geoff Ward were named co-winners of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award as the AHL’s outstanding head coach.
Julien was the Hamilton Bulldogs’ head coach until the Montreal Canadiens made him their bench boss on January 17. Ward, who had been Julien’s assistant, moved up to be the top Dog.
Under first Julien and then Ward the Bulldogs built a 49-19-8-4 record, the best in the AHL, and the media in the league’s 28 cities took the unusual step of naming them co-winners.
Not surprisingly both Julien and Ward gave much credit to the other. “In Wardy’s case you really have to tip your hat to him,” said Julien who pointed out that his former assistant had to deal with a team weakened by callups and injuries.
“He had to deal with playing forwards on defence and calling guys up from every different league. For him to keep that team still winning and finishing first overall is a credit to him. He had the toughest task of the two of us to keep that team together.”
Said Ward: “When Claude was the head coach he really allowed me to be a contributor to it. Our philosophies were very similar, which is one reason we ended up working together in the first place.
“We were able to work through the program together and Claude always included me in the decisions and allowed me to use my strengths. That really helped me when I became the head coach.”
Ward also credited Joe Patterson who was hired to be his assistant.
“He’s another main reason why this has happened,” said Ward. “Joe has come in and fit in well. He has head-coaching experience and has been an integral part of everything that’s happened.”
Bulldogs’ captain Benoit Gratton said Julien and Ward are worthy recipients for the award especially for what they did at the start of the year making one team out of players from both the Canadiens and Edmonton Oilers.
“At the beginning of the year, with players coming from two teams, I had my doubts because I was in that situation before in Portland and I knew it was not easy,” said Gratton. “They did a good job, right from the first day telling us what they were thinking. The guys responded, so we have to give them both credit.”
To make sure that the Bulldogs didn’t split into two cliques, Julien said the coaching staff took the unusual step of assigning the dressing room stalls themselves. In many dressing rooms, stalls are assigned based on seniority. Julien said they made sure the players from both teams were interspersed throughout the room and they also tried to mix up the European players, as well as the French-speaking and English-speaking players.
This is the first time two coaches from the same team have shared the Pieri Award; Maine’s Mike Milbury and Hershey’s John Paddock were co-winners after tying in the voting in 1988. Previous winners of the award include Frank Mathers (1969), Fred Shero (1970), Al MacNeil (1972, ‘77), Don Cherry (1974), John Muckler (1975), Jacques Demers (1983), Larry Pleau (1987), Marc Crawford (1993), Barry Trotz (1994), Peter Laviolette (1999) and Bruce Cassidy (2002).
“It’s nice to be mentioned in the company of a lot of great coaches who have won the award before,” said Ward. “Being able to share the award with Claude makes it that much more special.
“I’ve always believed a coach-of-the-year-award is a function of how the team performs. The players have done an outstanding job and it’s been an easy team to coach. They’re a great group to work with, so I look at it as a team award more than anything else.”
Ahhhh, the Bruins can only hope for a 49-19 record this year….
Also a member of that 2002-03 Bulldogs team? Bobby Allen.
Posted in Transactions August 1st, 2007
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..(snort)….hmmmm? wha?
Oh wow, there’s some Bruins news to report on. Today the Bruins named Craig Ramsay and Geoff Ward as Claude Julien’s sidekicks in the coaching box.
Ward has about a decade of coaching experience in the OHL and AHL and even won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award (yeah, I’ve never heard of it either, but it’s an award of merit!) in 2002-03 along with Claude Julien with whom he was coaching that year. Obviously, Ward and Julien are no strangers to each other.
Ramsay coached the Sabres in ‘86-’87, the Flyers in ‘00-’01 and won a Stanley Cup as an assistant with the Lightning in 2004. He also had a distinguished career with the Sabres in the ’70s and ’80s. I remember his hockey cards fondly.
