This Things I Believe

I've often been criticized for keeping my opinion to myself. My friends tell me, "Scott, you never tell us what you think of the Oilers, you just sit there and stare blankly. Why so quiet?" Well, it's time to end my silence in another addition of "This Things I Believe."

I believe… Canadian sports networks are failing us.

Forgive me, because this could probably be a blog on its own, but I think I'll cover it today.

I've recently been reading a few websites that discuss sports media, notably The Big Lead and Deadspin. For those of you who don't follow, these sites candidly discuss prominent members of the sports media elite, discuss holes in their writing or logic, and any sort of news that will stay out of the print media (what a prominent sports journalist says on a radio show, etc.).

For example, they take a look at how ESPN's Rick Reilly recycled an article from six years ago.

If anything, sites like this make fun of the media that most of us do in our free time (I, like many I know, have a good laugh at the local media pandering to the Edmonton Oilers and so forth).

My first point is – these sites exist because these guys have so much to choose from.

ESPN.com and CNNSI.com feature dozens (hundreds?) of legitimate writers posting content on a near daily basis. My unabashed favourite is Bill Simmons, who is the only sports writer I read religiously. If the site writers aren't localized enough for you, ESPN offers "ESPN Local," more or less an RSS feed of all new articles from major newspapers and other news sites from throughout the United States (I only mention ESPN and CNNSI because those are the sites I frequent; there are dozens more like Yahoo! Sports etc. which I'm sure are solid as well).

So, I know the normal response is "well, so what, I can read Darren Dreger and, um, Jim Lang online. Canada has its online columnists, too!"

Not really.

A Dreger article looks like this, or this, or this. The same goes for pretty well every TSN writer. They're television personalities writing mini-reports for the website. Sportsnet follows the same path, with the only exceptions being Mark Spector and Jim Kelley, who's opinion articles are tucked away on the most poorly laid out major website I have ever seen (I guess Mike Brophy is a columnist as well... but he's so inexcusably bad he made me cancel my The Hockey News subscription four years ago). Canada's third sports network, The Score, only has blogs for its respective TV shows which offer you nothing at all.

On the rare occasion Canadian sports fans do get an opinion piece, it's the usual safe "who would disagree?" drivel we've had to deal with for years. Bob McKenzie thinks head shots are bad. Anyone on Sportsnet thinks it's tough for the Blue Jays to compete against the Yankees and Red Sox. Playoff hockey is intense. And worst of all, we get bland blanket statements with no proof or justification. I've complained about this before, but if you say "Lindy Ruff is a respectable NHL coach, and deserves to stay on with the Sabres"… tell me WHY.

No one has the guts to stand up against a bad coach, an underachieving player, a clueless commissioner, or an idiotic general manager (with the only possible exception being Spector sort-of questioning Craig MacTavish's reign as Oilers bench boss).

Compare this with Simmons killing the Los Angeles Clippers, or routinely criticizing NBA officiating (even going as far as to mention NBA officials by name).

Why can't we have that? (not the criticism exactly, but the honest, candid sports commentary.) Why can't a Canadian sports site feature an actual opinion article worth reading? Why does TSN only employ columnists for "The Reporters," and one of them is Steve Simmons – arguably the worst sports writer in Canada (and perhaps the world)? Why does this blog feature more "opinion" than TSN's entire site?

I'm saddened that the general malaise which has fallen over print journalism has fallen over major Internet sites, as well. I don't care if I agree with the sports opinion or not – I just want some.

I bet at least one of the six people who have read this far is wondering "this is odd… where are all the Canadian sports personalities writing?" Well, ESPN has Pierre LeBrun (CBC), George Johnson (Calgary Herald) and Damien Cox (Toronto Star) writing on their site. Hm.

I believe… relegation is fantastic.

There was big news in the English Premier League the other day. Newcastle United, a long-time fixture of the league, finished 18th in the 20 team league and were relegated to the League Championship (a curiously named second division; only topped by the even more curiously named third division, which is titled "League One").

Why do you care? You probably don't. But it's interesting in my book. I love European sport because the incompetent and unsupported teams inevitably fail, while any team has the ability to work its way up. On Sunday in Germany, a team called "Wolfsburg" won the German Bundesliga (the top division). Wolfsburg is in a town of 130,000 and worked their way up from three divisions below.

Wouldn't it be fun if we didn't need to concern ourselves with the Phoenix Coyotes, because they would have long been relegated anyway? It's completely illogical with the way North American sport is structured, but it's still fun to think about.

If you're incompetent or poorly franchise in North American sport, you have the chance to be the Pittsburgh Penguins. By failing (epicly) for a few years, the Penguins amassed high picks, and were particularly lucky to do so in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin's draft years. While some teams were killing themselves to make the playoffs and falling just short, the Penguins were terribly mismanaged and rewarded for their stupidity.

I believe… I was a bit uncomfortable with Martin Havlat playing in Game 4.

Everyone who writes about the health of an athlete is contractually obligated to open with "I'm not a doctor, but…" so I will as well.

I'm not a doctor, but… Havlat suiting up for Game 4 was a little unnerving and I wish he hadn't. It's been established athletes can come back from concussions, but they run into serious peril when they have two concussions in a short span (see: Lindros, Eric; Stoll, Jarret and so forth). From what I've read, concussion symptoms are sometimes immediate and sometimes they take a few days to "kick in." It seemed too risky to me.

Future rule of thumb: if you are hit so hard your eyes roll back in your head, you should not be playing a contact sport two days later.

I believe… Joel Quenneville earned his fine.

The league fined the Chicago coach $10,000 for saying the following:

We witnessed probably the worst call in the history of sports [Sunday] at the end of the [first] period there. A nothing play and they scored and it was 3-0. They (officials) ruined a good hockey game. They absolutely destroyed what was going on on the ice. Our guys were battling and competing and doing what we have to do to get ourselves back into it. It was that call ... I've never seen anything like it.

While officiating ultimately didn't cost Chicago that game, it's rearing its ugly head way too many times this post-season.

Sidenote: Marc Joanette is still officiating this year! God help us all.

I believe… the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to win the Stanley Cup.

I hate myself for thinking it, I hate myself for believing it, but I think my worst nightmare is going to happen (right after the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup).

When the Penguins and the Red Wings meet in the Stanley Cup Final sometime in mid-July, they'll both be healthy (which will help Detroit), but a few things have been established this playoffs:

• Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby have stepped it up to a different level. Particularly Crosby.
  
• Detroit is, as always, great. But they've shown some holes, and struggle when trying to shut down star players (think Ryan Getzlaf).
  
• I'm really starting to believe the league will stop at nothing to guarantee Crosby winning the Stanley Cup.
  

Yes, it's just a gut feeling. But beating a team in back-to-back finals will be very difficult, and I think the Penguins will find a way.