Garts Comes Home

On about a dozen occasions the past couple of years I've been able to listen in on conference calls arranged by the Caps with prominent members of the hockey community. Generally there are a couple of bloggers participating in the calls, and at least a half dozen members of the traditional media. I enjoy listening to all of the questions asked, and their answers. The press, it seems to me, makes a fairly limited range of inquiries of any given hockey figure, whereas the bloggers seem to bring a special spirit of inquiry to the exercise, one that's expansive and creative and a bit outside to proverbial box. It's not as if one set of questions is inherently better than the other, it's just that more often than not I find myself admiring the line of thinking new media personalities bring to the calls. The players, managers, and personalities being interviewed seem to enjoy answering both sets of questions.