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It's the Great Pumpkin, Gary Bettman! |
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It's The Great Pumpkin, Gary Bettman!
A Thumb-in-Mouth Commentary for your Entertainment
B.D. Gallof
A letter I wrote last night to the Great Pumpkin as I sat waiting in the pumpkin patch (an ode to Charles Schultz)
Dear Great Pumpkin,
I am looking forward to your arrival on Halloween night. I hope you will bring me lots of presents. For it is another season of hockey. Despite the NHL's pigeonhole into the depths of Comcast's outhouse of a TV channel in VERSUS (apologies, Mr. Engblom), which is nestled next to the Golf channel and some other one where I could swear I saw Adam West doing the Batusi when searching for some ice on my TV screen. I had thought I had wiped that scene from my mind.
You see, I am sitting here in the pumpkin patch, waiting for your arrival. For there, once again, is no hockey game on tonight. This is one complaint among a few which I'd like you to address. It's something that only a few teams and fans are complaining about . . . the schedule. Some teams and fans haven't noticed. Some have.
Sure scheduling for so many teams is tough work, but seems to me several teams, right out the starting gate sat with days and nights with nothing but Hockeybuzz on their computers, Dancing with the Stars on TV, and a Hungryman dinner on their snacktable as they were stuck watching the NHL on Center Ice rather than actually playing the game. Sadly, there just isn’t much recourse from the league to why this cluster of daftness where teams get stuck with back to backs and then right after, a week of nothing in October of all months . . . The time when engines are supposed to be revved and players hitting the open road.
But perhaps that gaffe was unavoidable. Maybe some teams were not picked to screw the proverbial pooch. And to make it all work, a couple of teams had to take the puck to the jewels. Perhaps, along with some crazed lunatic spitting tobacco juice and beer screaming: "Walk it off!!!!" as we hobble wondering if we just lost future generations.
Yes, November seems more active on the schedule, and the ‘Trick or Treat’ has ended. But for October, teams like the Isles and Ottawa looked in their bag, much like Charlie Brown, discovering rocks instead of candy.
Of course, Ottawa sits riding high on a fantastic start, showing that their run last season was no lark. And even the Isles are keeping afloat, rolling with the NHL schedule punches.
But all the same, do fans deserve sitting there looking through their sports pages, noticing with horror that is worse than being stuck seeing Saw 6, or American Gigolo 3, that their favorite team, only a few weeks in, are not playing that WEEK?!?!? Not day. Week. Seems unacceptable. And should have seemed that way when it was penciled onto NHL league office paper before it ever was committed to.
Some real rocks are in some fans bags this year courtesy of the NHL, and perhaps a closer look to the mindset of those making decisions seems apropos in lieu of it.
So, Great Pumpkin, as we watch the Columbus Blue Jackets actually have a winning record. We watch Philly's absolute tear. And we watch NJ and Martin Brodeur struggle. The Rangers take a bit of time to jell. We see Bob Gainey's Montreal team finally showing some strides in the right direction. Well, there are some interesting changes afoot, and hockey season is actually going on. Just check people blogs to see it all going on . . .
Despite many teams are building more fanbase initiatives, and actually seeing more fans at games over last year at this time, there is still much work to be done. But one of the biggest boons is the large internet fan base which is becoming more and more evident to the older generation. Look at the giant boom of websites like this, blogs (except for that Gallof boys...they are a bunch of troublemakers), Youtube and messageboards all related to hockey. The internet has turned into the biggest hockey community of all, and soon bloggers and blog boxes might be seen in other hockey venues besides just Long Island and in Washington.
Hopefully the rest of the blogging establishment (you know who you are) won’t be whining about it like the last time, as the Islanders have touched off a focus on those who write and follow teams on the web, continuing merry parade of web savvy hockey fans and writers to infiltrate the party-at-large who have been slow to get the picture of the future. Meanwhile, critics of the blog box have calmed down, some admitting that perhaps they might have reacted prematurely. Especially since last game I was at, the bloggers were given full access.
So, we merrily have begun to knock on doors, looking for tricks or treats. And we won't stand for rocks in our bags instead of candy.
So, Great Pumpkin, lets get better access and a more supportive blogosphere. Lets get better schedules for teams and fans in the future.
Your pal,
- BD
Email: B.D. Gallof
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