Trying to capture the spirit of the thing.

Welcome to my inaugural blog posting. In the words of the New Zealand board of tourism, “Don’t expect too much, you’ll love it.” I never thought I’d be a blogger, always assumed blogging was something people who paid $5 for a latte and sat in coffee shops all day did. Let’s be honest, I’m the guy who got a C- in English freshmen year of College, dropped a class after seeing that the syllabus included no less than 8 term papers, and organized an entire Senior year filled with classes that didn’t have any reports to do. So needless to say, I’m no Shakespeare. Wanna BS over a few beers? No problemo. I’m just not a professional scribe. That being said…. Let’s take her for a spin and see what she can do.

I decided my first post will be mainly NHL focused. But you’ll also get a taste of my sports background along the way.

The State of the game.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a hockey fan. And not just the NHL either. I liked watching the amateurs and the aspiring pros in the OHL. I’m a guy who crossed the border into Canada so I could watch the World Junior Hockey Championships on TSN because no American television would carry the tourney. I remember my dad letting me stay up late one night when I was a kid so I could watch UND ( the fighting Souix not the Irish.) prevail in a triple overtime game over North Dakota State. Tony Hrkac was like a god to an eight year old. I used to be able to get “Hockey Night in Canada” using the rabbit ears on a little black and white television in my bedroom long after I was supposed to be sleeping. I played hockey as well. Hockey was something my dad and I would do together. He was my coach you see, driving me to tournaments and coaching the little rug rats out there. Hockey was a sport I loved to play, even as my parent’s marriage was crumbling, I still had the game and it had me. Hockey was the only thing that made sense in my life. After the divorce, money was tight as my mom learned to provide for two teenagers on a social worker’s salary. But she always found a way to get me the equipment I needed and to practice on time. The NHL, and more importantly hockey, was a big part of my life and one of the last things my dad and I did together before he left.
That being said, the league I knew in my youth has changed. Maybe for worse, maybe for better only history will decide. Gary Bettman just about killed the sport for everyone except the most die-hard fans on a few fronts. The Strike was not a good situation, and the new penalty calling rules create so much diving by players that I sometimes feel like I’m watching that other sport called “football”
Labor stoppages are never good for the fans. Fans don’t care about competitive balance and salary caps. Well maybe Penguin fans do but I’m a Detroit Red Wings fan. Red Wings Mgmt had the money to spend and they spent it. It worked out well for us, even if we did had to ay 7.50 for some flat Molson. And 95 bucks for tickets. We had a shot to win a Cup every year once we learned how to utilize that competitive advantage. Having lots of money to spend didn’t guarantee anything. The teams GM could still blow that money on stupid contracts, (the Rangers.). So now every team goes into the year with labor cost certainty, which is good. But at what cost? Hockey in the southern United States doesn’t seem to work. The weather is too good and there’s too much to do. February in Miami? February in Buffalo? You get my point. I visited Buffalo 7 years ago for a wedding and my liver still hasn’t recovered.
So Gary Bettman managed to bring cost certainty to the league. Allowing more teams to be competitive but at what cost? We have hockey in places that don’t seem to want it and no national TV deal in the United States. Now any team can win the Cup, but no one will be able to watch it except on those weekend NBC games. I call it a wash. But I’m looking at it from the fan’s perspective.
Mr. Bettman’s bosses probably have a different point of view. From the owner’s standpoint they got what they wanted. Cost certainty and their own network. They bet that the fans would return when they got a look at the more wide open game. It remains to be seen if they will.

So that's it for now. I'll try to post regularly but until you start sending money, I'll have to keep my day job. And ignore any comments about me from my partner in crime Walt. He's a little unbalanced. I heard he even pulled his piece out one time at the lanes.

Dickie Dunn




"if Dickie Dunn wrote it, it's gotta be true. "