New Jersey Devils’ Dainius Zubrus Through the Legs Pass to Ilya Kovalchuk for the Goal (via ESPN)
In a season that hasn’t turned out the way the front office planned in New Jersey, it’s nice to see Ilya Kovalchuk get a goal like this.
Everybody loves hockey fights. That goes double for goalie fights, which is why I was as giddy as a little girl when I watched this tussle between Brent Johnson of the Pens and Rick DiPietro of the Islanders earlier this evening. I guess I could say the outcome here was an apt metaphor for DiPietro’s career on the Island, but that might be too easy.
PK Subban Meets Alexander Ovechkin (February 1 2011) (via Fel0096)
I tuned in late to the Caps-Habs game last night, so I missed the home team’s first two goals. But what I didn’t miss was Alex Ovechkin’s highlight reel hit on Habs d-man P.K. Subban.
The hip check, along with the backhand, is something of a lost art in the NHL, so it’s hard not to smile when you see one executed so flawlessly. And when I write that, I’m not just talking about the hit itself, but the aftermath. In this case, we didn’t just get a pretty hit. Thanks to John Carlson, we got a turnover and a scoring chance. Front to back, it was about as perfectly executed as you could ask.
The Caps wore their Winter Classic throwback unis last night when they hosted the Habs at Verizon Center. Though the outcome wasn’t the same as on New Year’s Day—Washington would drop a 3-2 OT decision after jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first period—the team looked just as good.
The fact is, the more I see the throwback Caps sweater, the more I want to see it on the team full time. I’m guessing that a significant slice of the fan base feels the same way. Here’s hoping the team keeps the throwback togs as a 3rd jersey. If they do, they might just be forced to bring it back full time.
Like a lot of folks, I hate the use of cameras in traffic enforcement. As far as I’m concerned, they’re nothing more than an elaborate tax. But what really made my blood boil today was reading this story by Ashley Halsey III in today’s Washington Post about a study on how red light cameras supposedly save lives. Here’s the comment I left in the comment string after the WaPo story …
Please note the classic pattern here: interest group gives major media outlet an exclusive and supplements it with supportive quotes from allied organizations. That includes a quote from a group that only a few weeks ago made the preposterous claim that the First Lady’s initiative to get people to walk more often resulted in an increase in pedestrian deaths. The statement was widely derided at the time, and the group, the Governors Highway Safety Association, was forced into publicly walking back the claim. You’d think that an embarrassing gaffe like that might have eroded the group’s credibility, but I guess the WaPo’s editors think otherwise.
This story is also seriously unbalanced. Nowhere in it do you hear a peep from anyone who might be critical of the study or its conclusions. What’s worse, it’s clear that the reporter didn’t do any due diligence when it came to the study’s methodology, which apparently has some fatal flaws, like the fact that the study credited red light cameras with a decrease in fatalities at intersections where they were never installed. Check the link for other flaws in the study:
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/33/3392.asp
To uncover facts like that, the reporter would have had to do some actual reporting. Failing that, he might have taken some time to talk to the WaPo’s automotive columnist, Warren Brown. It’s clear he has some interesting thoughts about red light cameras:
http://www.theagitator.com/2007/02/24/i-heart-warren-brown/
At bottom, what you have in this: a story peddled by a source with a financial interest in the outcome (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), supported by a source of dubious credibility (Governors Highway Safety Association). The reporter failed to include any dissenting voices (I guess if they don’t have an office with a 202, 301 or 703 area code the WaPo figures they aren’t worth talking to), and clearly failed to ask any tough questions about the study’s conclusions or its methodology.
Mix it all together, and you’ve got an object lesson in why mainstream media organizations like the WaPo are bleeding their credibility away one story at a time.
Just got the note from the Caps that Dino Ciccarelli will be at Verizon Center tonight to drop the ceremonial first puck before the game with the Habs. It’s all in honor of his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I have to wonder out loud about what Dino will be thinking as he steps onto the ice. After all, he didn’t leave DC under the best of circumstances. As we now know, when stories like that break today, they aren’t as easily swept under the rug.
Still, expect a big hand for Dino from the home crowd. As for me, he’ll always be the rookie who carried the North Stars on his back—with some help from Don Beaupre—all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1981. You know you’re middle aged when you have clear memories of 30 years into the past.
Rob Neyer Joins SB Nation, Becomes Part Of ‘Us’ Not ’Them’
“There are a lot of things to love about SB Nation, which is why I’m here. But among them is that they — excuse me, we — don’t see us as us and you as them. We’ve got bloggers who most professional writers probably consider them … but we know better. We know that some of our writers are every bit as talented and knowledgeable as anyone you’ll find working for newspapers or the Big Boy websites. We also know that today’s readers are tomorrow’s writers, and that often the only difference is opportunity (one fantastic thing about the Web is that opportunity is everywhere).” - Rob Neyer
Over at FanHouse, the arrival of big name national writers was really the beginning of the end. What was well known, but hardly every articulated, was that the big names came with big price tags but very rarely, if ever, delivered the page views.
Does Neyer have the kind of following that will justify his price tag, whatever that might be? I can only speculate, but the minds behind SBNation are fairly savvy, and pay attention very closely to their analytics. They wouldn’t make this hire unless it made economic sense.
Some thoughts:
I’m sure the new owners think that changing the logo and uniform allow them to put their own stamp on the franchise, but I think it can be dangerous too. The Lightning isn’t just another expansion franchise, this is a team that won a Stanley Cup not too long ago, and fans have happy memories associated with the original uniform and color scheme.
As for the new uniforms, I like them fine, but the fact of the matter is that the design for the shoulder patch could very well have worked as the primary logo:
If you take another look at it, the patch looks a lot like the logos we now see in Minnesota and St. Louis, not to mention, Florida. It’s easy to see why that design is popular—simply put, it works.
For those of you who are fans of the team’s 3rd jersey, the one with “BOLTS” featured on the front, don’t fret. It’s coming back.
UPDATE: Don’t say I didn’t warn you. The backlash has begun.
