This week's guests were some really nice guys! We had: Rob Delmundo who runs the www.tmlfans.ca site; John Shannon, who was with CBC for a long time, and is now with Leafs TV; and Mike Ulmer, a writer with the Toronto Star. As usual they were all really passionate about hockey, but I think the great thing about these guests in particular was that they talked more--how do I put it?--intellectually about the game. It's hard to explain, but Mr. Shannon and Mr. Ulmer especially reminded me of Ken Dryden, and the way he talks about hockey. You know, not just as a fan, but as someone who's thought about the game at a deeper level.
Anyway, there was some pretty good discussion going on this class, which was cool. I even finally worked up the nerve to ask a couple of questions! And they weren't completely idiotic either! =P Okay, I think the first time I actually asked a guest a question was last week, but this time was more memorable for me, for some reason.
So yeah, both questions were directed to Mr. Shannon: 1) What has the fan reaction been to the news that Leafs TV will be carrying 12 Leafs games next season? 2) From a tv producer's perspective, what type of rule changes would you like to see?
For the first question, well apparently he got a whole bunch of nasty emails and two death threats (okay, so the death threats were an exaggeration), but he emailed everyone back personally to explain his position. It's kind of silly for people to complain about having to pay for Leafs games, since they're already doing so! I mean, to get TSN (which carries most of the weeknight games) you have to pay for cable anyway! The only hockey you can get without paying extra cable costs is Saturday nights and the playoffs from CBC. Actually, it's funny because he was saying Leafs TV would cost like $2/game, which would be $24, and that's actually cheaper than Leafs TV is right now! When I got it for the pre-season games, I think it cost $2.95! =P
His answer to my second question was pretty interesting, actually. He said that it was the tv producers who had to change/improve for it to view better on tv, not the game itself! He was saying how producers need to learn hockey better so that they can know when to place commercials (like when they're going back for an icing call) and interrupt the flow of the game less. That was pretty neat to hear, especially from a tv producer! I mean, usually what you hear is either that hockey simply doesn't televise well, or the game needs to be changed to better suit television audiences.
Well, I'll end off here with a couple of little quotes from our guests:
"Sports is guys' soap opera"
"Hockey is the original reality tv."
"A hockey player's ethos is: 1) don't complain; 2) fight through it; 3) do as you're told."
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Back-tracking a little
Well, I said I was going to post again about the content of the class, but I was so exhausted for the entire week, I didn't actually do so! ^^;; Unfortunately, since I was, as I said, tired during the class, my notes and my memories of the class aren't that great--not a good thing for this blog, nor for the test I have next week! ^^;;
Anyway, the class was about "the business of hockey", which included marketing and merchandising, although Kevin's lecture, from my notes anyway, was mainly about the history and workings of the NHLPA. It was pretty interesting because I was partway through Bruce Dowbiggins' book "Money Players" at the time, so the lecture reinforced what I'd read, as well as adding some details I was unaware of. I didn't know, for example, that when Eagleson negotiated Bobby Orr's last contract, he didn't tell Orr that the Bruins had offered him a share of the team to thank him for all his years with the team. It's really sad, because Orr thought he wasn't wanted and signed with the Blackhawks (the owner, Bill Wiertz(?) just happened to be one of Eagleson's cronies) instead.
Our guests were basically from the marketing/merchandising side of things, and it was especially neat for me because they were all doing things I've wished I could do: Hersh Borenstein runs the collectible store Frozen Pond, and Kerry Goulet and Jens Castens founded Premier Hockey, which is producing a magazine, as well as running training camps, etc. Okay, so maybe I've never been interested in training camps, being the lazy, unathletic person that I am, but I've always thought it'd be cool to own a collectibles/card store (although I was thinking more along the cards line, like Untouchables), and if I had any talent for articles or publishing, I would've loved to write or edit for a magazine.
So yeah, it was neat to hear about how they got started. Actually, I've been noticing a kind of trend in the guests' stories about how they got into their respective businesses: a lot of them seemed to just fall into it, or have positions open up while they were pursuing their passions. The Bauer Nike catalyst guy, for example, just happened to meet up with someone who remembered him from his days at a retail sports store (I'm assuming here that he worked in that retail store in the first place because he had a passion for sports), and Hersh said he just got to know people from his efforts selling cards, and one day ended up being asked to show Pavel Bure around for a day and therefore got the chance to get Bure to autograph a bunch of things for him, and voilà! Oh, and the trainer guy volunteered with the Canadian Hockey Federation (or whatever it was called before it went back to Hockey Canada) and got noticed when he offered to help carry some equipment to a team bus or something like that. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I wonder if things really still work that way? I know a lot of stuff comes from connections and networking still, but I wonder if jobs really just open up that way without someone really looking of pushing for one?
I'd rather like to think it could still work that way, since I know one of my faults is that I'm not aggressive or opportunistic enough. Sure I make an effort (like going to the ACC job fair last summer and going through the screening, handing in a resumé etc.) but generally when I reach a closed door, I turn around and look for one that's open. ^^;; It's a flaw, I know, but so far I haven't been able to change that. Ah well, I've rather digressed from my topic, and I don't know if I can pick it back up again, so I'll stop here.
Anyway, the class was about "the business of hockey", which included marketing and merchandising, although Kevin's lecture, from my notes anyway, was mainly about the history and workings of the NHLPA. It was pretty interesting because I was partway through Bruce Dowbiggins' book "Money Players" at the time, so the lecture reinforced what I'd read, as well as adding some details I was unaware of. I didn't know, for example, that when Eagleson negotiated Bobby Orr's last contract, he didn't tell Orr that the Bruins had offered him a share of the team to thank him for all his years with the team. It's really sad, because Orr thought he wasn't wanted and signed with the Blackhawks (the owner, Bill Wiertz(?) just happened to be one of Eagleson's cronies) instead.
Our guests were basically from the marketing/merchandising side of things, and it was especially neat for me because they were all doing things I've wished I could do: Hersh Borenstein runs the collectible store Frozen Pond, and Kerry Goulet and Jens Castens founded Premier Hockey, which is producing a magazine, as well as running training camps, etc. Okay, so maybe I've never been interested in training camps, being the lazy, unathletic person that I am, but I've always thought it'd be cool to own a collectibles/card store (although I was thinking more along the cards line, like Untouchables), and if I had any talent for articles or publishing, I would've loved to write or edit for a magazine.
So yeah, it was neat to hear about how they got started. Actually, I've been noticing a kind of trend in the guests' stories about how they got into their respective businesses: a lot of them seemed to just fall into it, or have positions open up while they were pursuing their passions. The Bauer Nike catalyst guy, for example, just happened to meet up with someone who remembered him from his days at a retail sports store (I'm assuming here that he worked in that retail store in the first place because he had a passion for sports), and Hersh said he just got to know people from his efforts selling cards, and one day ended up being asked to show Pavel Bure around for a day and therefore got the chance to get Bure to autograph a bunch of things for him, and voilà! Oh, and the trainer guy volunteered with the Canadian Hockey Federation (or whatever it was called before it went back to Hockey Canada) and got noticed when he offered to help carry some equipment to a team bus or something like that. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I wonder if things really still work that way? I know a lot of stuff comes from connections and networking still, but I wonder if jobs really just open up that way without someone really looking of pushing for one?
I'd rather like to think it could still work that way, since I know one of my faults is that I'm not aggressive or opportunistic enough. Sure I make an effort (like going to the ACC job fair last summer and going through the screening, handing in a resumé etc.) but generally when I reach a closed door, I turn around and look for one that's open. ^^;; It's a flaw, I know, but so far I haven't been able to change that. Ah well, I've rather digressed from my topic, and I don't know if I can pick it back up again, so I'll stop here.
Tuesday, June 22, 2004
A Slightly Off Day
As usual it was an interesting class, but unfortunately I wasn't able to concentrate as well as I would've liked. ^^;; Guess my poor sleeping habits finally caught up with me!
I slept around 3am and woke up around 6am, so I guess I should've expected to be tired, but usually I perk up and am wide awake for class. Really, I just don't know what happened tonight! I felt SO bad, because I could feel my eyes drifting shut, and it's just so disrespectful to fall asleep in class! ^^;; It felt especially bad because I have so much respect for Kevin. *sigh* Just awful.
Anyway, when the break came I got up and tried to keep moving around, hoping it would wake me up! Thankfully it seemed to work.
But it's getting pretty late right now, so I'm going to have to reserve my comments on the actual content of the class for later!
I slept around 3am and woke up around 6am, so I guess I should've expected to be tired, but usually I perk up and am wide awake for class. Really, I just don't know what happened tonight! I felt SO bad, because I could feel my eyes drifting shut, and it's just so disrespectful to fall asleep in class! ^^;; It felt especially bad because I have so much respect for Kevin. *sigh* Just awful.
Anyway, when the break came I got up and tried to keep moving around, hoping it would wake me up! Thankfully it seemed to work.
But it's getting pretty late right now, so I'm going to have to reserve my comments on the actual content of the class for later!
Wednesday, June 16, 2004
Hockey is for Everyone...
...but it seems to be easier for some. Or, at least, that's the impression I got from our class this week. Since our topic was diversity, Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell, the president of the National Women's Hockey League (NWHL) came into the class as our guest. (We were actually supposed to have another guest, but he never showed up, it seems.)
So I learned a lot about women's hockey in Canada, and it was the exact opposite of inspiring, I'm sad to say. Okay, so maybe that's not quite correct, the determination of these women and all the volunteers involved with the NWHL is inspiring, but Canada's treatment of our women hockey players is appalling.
There was quite a lot brought up in Mayor Fennell's talk, so please excuse me if I'm rather disjointed and confusing. From what I understand, the NWHL is governed by the Ontario Hockey Federation, which is under some other organization perhaps, but at any rate is ultimately under Hockey Canada. Under the OHF, the women are subject to the exact same rules as men's midget teams.
If just the concept of women's hockey being treated the same as men's midget hockey sounds strange to you, well the way in which this works out practically isn't going to disabuse you of that conception. The big rule that Mayor Fennell mentioned was the import restrictions. Apparently men's midget teams can only have one "import" per team. Now here's the best part, "import" players aren't just players from outside of Canada, they're also players transferring membership from another province! So if a girl was playing in Brampton and then moved to Quebec, she'd take up the Quebec team's import spot if she wanted to play there!
Anyway, apparently the NWHL tried to lobby to get an exemption from the import rule, so that they could move towards being more like the NHL, which brings in the best players from all over the world, but all they managed was a concession for two import players. Woohoo. (Excuse me if I'm getting my timeline wrong; it's possible that they were allowed two players some time before the request for the removal of the restriction was rejected.)
Can you imagine the life of an international player before that rule change? It was incredibly difficult, the way Mayor Fennell described it. I mean, you come from a different country, possibly not speaking much English, and the season isn't all that short, you aren't getting paid while you're here so you have to have some source of funds, and it's especially tough around the holidays because chances are you're not going to be able to afford to fly home. Can you imagine how lonely it would be?
And that brings up another point. Did you know, that until Mayor Fennell started up this league, women had to pay for everything? Their own equipment, travel expenses, etc.? I mean, just think, we've got our 1998 silver medal Olympians and they're having to find ways to work jobs or raise money to keep in training to play? I knew Canada had a really horrible system for dealing with the development of athletes, but I didn't realize that Hockey Canada invests $0 in the National Women's Hockey teams that train up our Olympians. It's totally ludicrous. Meanwhile they're paying the NHLers to play for the men's teams.
You know, before the NWHL got started, women hockey players basically had no where to develop? They came back from the Olympics and had to join rec leagues or something to keep in shape, there was nothing for them like men have in terms of a development program. And even now the women's program is fully funded by the communities of the NWHL teams. It absolutely boggles the mind.
I'm making a hash of it, I know--probably everything I've written up to now has been completely incomprehensible. My basic point is that women who want to play in elite levels of hockey have to make enormous sacrifices in order to play, and even though "Canada" is happy to take the credit for their international sucesses, really the people, apart from the players themselves and their families, who deserve all the credit are their communities which sponsored their training and expenses and such. Most of the women have full time jobs because they don't earn anything from playing hockey. Then you think about NHLers, even guys in the the minors, who haven't had to worry about paying for their equipment, travel expenses and theings like that (although thanks to the NWHL the women no longer have to worry about these things either), AND get paid to play, and the disparity is just so huge.
Sure part of that is due to the fact that women's hockey programs are pretty young, but at the same time, you've got to wonder why Hockey Canada and the OHF isn't acknowledging the special circumstances of women hockey players and instead is putting them at the same level as men's midget teams. Imagine that, our Olympic-calibre women hockey players are governed by the same rules as men's midget teams. You'd think someone would acknowledge some sort of difference in circumstances and needs and such, wouldn't you?
I recognize that I've got a very one-sided view of the story, but I'd say that hearing the other side wouldn't really do much to make the situation seem better. And I guess another thing I've come to see more of through not just this week's class, but throughout the course is how big a role politicking plays in hockey. I mean, it's nice to think of hockey as Canada's soul, an integral part of Canada's national identity, a unifying agent in an incredibly diverse country, but of course there's always the politics working behind the scenes, from the choice of music played in rinks during games to the claim to the title of the "birthplace of hockey."
So I learned a lot about women's hockey in Canada, and it was the exact opposite of inspiring, I'm sad to say. Okay, so maybe that's not quite correct, the determination of these women and all the volunteers involved with the NWHL is inspiring, but Canada's treatment of our women hockey players is appalling.
There was quite a lot brought up in Mayor Fennell's talk, so please excuse me if I'm rather disjointed and confusing. From what I understand, the NWHL is governed by the Ontario Hockey Federation, which is under some other organization perhaps, but at any rate is ultimately under Hockey Canada. Under the OHF, the women are subject to the exact same rules as men's midget teams.
If just the concept of women's hockey being treated the same as men's midget hockey sounds strange to you, well the way in which this works out practically isn't going to disabuse you of that conception. The big rule that Mayor Fennell mentioned was the import restrictions. Apparently men's midget teams can only have one "import" per team. Now here's the best part, "import" players aren't just players from outside of Canada, they're also players transferring membership from another province! So if a girl was playing in Brampton and then moved to Quebec, she'd take up the Quebec team's import spot if she wanted to play there!
Anyway, apparently the NWHL tried to lobby to get an exemption from the import rule, so that they could move towards being more like the NHL, which brings in the best players from all over the world, but all they managed was a concession for two import players. Woohoo. (Excuse me if I'm getting my timeline wrong; it's possible that they were allowed two players some time before the request for the removal of the restriction was rejected.)
Can you imagine the life of an international player before that rule change? It was incredibly difficult, the way Mayor Fennell described it. I mean, you come from a different country, possibly not speaking much English, and the season isn't all that short, you aren't getting paid while you're here so you have to have some source of funds, and it's especially tough around the holidays because chances are you're not going to be able to afford to fly home. Can you imagine how lonely it would be?
And that brings up another point. Did you know, that until Mayor Fennell started up this league, women had to pay for everything? Their own equipment, travel expenses, etc.? I mean, just think, we've got our 1998 silver medal Olympians and they're having to find ways to work jobs or raise money to keep in training to play? I knew Canada had a really horrible system for dealing with the development of athletes, but I didn't realize that Hockey Canada invests $0 in the National Women's Hockey teams that train up our Olympians. It's totally ludicrous. Meanwhile they're paying the NHLers to play for the men's teams.
You know, before the NWHL got started, women hockey players basically had no where to develop? They came back from the Olympics and had to join rec leagues or something to keep in shape, there was nothing for them like men have in terms of a development program. And even now the women's program is fully funded by the communities of the NWHL teams. It absolutely boggles the mind.
I'm making a hash of it, I know--probably everything I've written up to now has been completely incomprehensible. My basic point is that women who want to play in elite levels of hockey have to make enormous sacrifices in order to play, and even though "Canada" is happy to take the credit for their international sucesses, really the people, apart from the players themselves and their families, who deserve all the credit are their communities which sponsored their training and expenses and such. Most of the women have full time jobs because they don't earn anything from playing hockey. Then you think about NHLers, even guys in the the minors, who haven't had to worry about paying for their equipment, travel expenses and theings like that (although thanks to the NWHL the women no longer have to worry about these things either), AND get paid to play, and the disparity is just so huge.
Sure part of that is due to the fact that women's hockey programs are pretty young, but at the same time, you've got to wonder why Hockey Canada and the OHF isn't acknowledging the special circumstances of women hockey players and instead is putting them at the same level as men's midget teams. Imagine that, our Olympic-calibre women hockey players are governed by the same rules as men's midget teams. You'd think someone would acknowledge some sort of difference in circumstances and needs and such, wouldn't you?
I recognize that I've got a very one-sided view of the story, but I'd say that hearing the other side wouldn't really do much to make the situation seem better. And I guess another thing I've come to see more of through not just this week's class, but throughout the course is how big a role politicking plays in hockey. I mean, it's nice to think of hockey as Canada's soul, an integral part of Canada's national identity, a unifying agent in an incredibly diverse country, but of course there's always the politics working behind the scenes, from the choice of music played in rinks during games to the claim to the title of the "birthplace of hockey."
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Game Seven Class
Well, my question on the first day of class came back to haunt me. I asked what we would do if an elimination game of the Final was on a Monday night, and while Phil said that he would have to skip, Kevin never really answered at the time.
So we got our answer on Monday (June 7), which just happened to be GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup Final: class goes on as usual. I guess I wasn't really expecting anything else because, I mean, we had our first quiz already set for yesterday, and all the guests were confirmed and stuff, so what else could we do?
Kevin was great about it anyway, skipping the lecture part and going straight to the guests so we could leave early and catch the last period. I actually made it home just a few minutes after the start of the third.
Anyway, despite the fact that I was anxious as anything about the Final--I was watching my cell like a hawk, since Nathan was text messaging me updates--I really enjoyed the class. We had an extremely enthusiastic bunch of guests, and they really did provide an inside look at the workings of the NHL. What Jimmy Holmstrom, who's in charge of in-house entertainment at the ACC, had to saw was especially interesting. All the nitty gritty details about timing music for commercial breaks and such, and all the politics of music selection were things I had never really considered before.
So yes, it was a good class, and I'm glad I stuck around for it instead of skipping out early to watch more of the game. Funny thing, that. I mean, on Saturday I was willing to skip out on a wedding dinner--the dance part, anyway--to watch as much of game 6 as I possibly could, but I wasn't willing to skip out on class for GAME 7? The weird little quirks of mine, I guess.
So we got our answer on Monday (June 7), which just happened to be GAME 7 of the Stanley Cup Final: class goes on as usual. I guess I wasn't really expecting anything else because, I mean, we had our first quiz already set for yesterday, and all the guests were confirmed and stuff, so what else could we do?
Kevin was great about it anyway, skipping the lecture part and going straight to the guests so we could leave early and catch the last period. I actually made it home just a few minutes after the start of the third.
Anyway, despite the fact that I was anxious as anything about the Final--I was watching my cell like a hawk, since Nathan was text messaging me updates--I really enjoyed the class. We had an extremely enthusiastic bunch of guests, and they really did provide an inside look at the workings of the NHL. What Jimmy Holmstrom, who's in charge of in-house entertainment at the ACC, had to saw was especially interesting. All the nitty gritty details about timing music for commercial breaks and such, and all the politics of music selection were things I had never really considered before.
So yes, it was a good class, and I'm glad I stuck around for it instead of skipping out early to watch more of the game. Funny thing, that. I mean, on Saturday I was willing to skip out on a wedding dinner--the dance part, anyway--to watch as much of game 6 as I possibly could, but I wasn't willing to skip out on class for GAME 7? The weird little quirks of mine, I guess.
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