john bollwitt blog

With the new RBK jerseys being launched all around the NHL for this coming season, there is a lot stirring in terms of discussions about team logos. Enter the NHL Tournament of Logos.

I’ve been pretty fascinated with the material they have been covering about the entire league, and the tournament over who has the best logo in the league is entertaining. I love how the site has been as nearly mesmerized over the coming Canucks new jersey and/or logo, whatever the hell it’s going to be, as the rest of us fans have become. It’s also opened my eyes to what the rest of the league has been toying with, not to mention fan concepts.

Watch for more teams to unveil their new looks over the coming month, and this site will help you keep tabs on it..

The Reverend Don Deeley sent me the link to this cartoon. With all the jersey talk, Trevor Linden getting signed on for another year, and The Crazy Canucks getting geared up for another season, I had to share this. It made me laugh.

overcompensating.com

Thanks, Don.

Tossing even more fuel towards the flames, I thought I would chime in with the always interesting discussion about the new Canucks logo and jerseys that are going to be announced in the coming weeks. This I know based on what VP Chris Zimmerman said at the state of the franchise I attended with J.J.

Speaking of, J.J. posted the other day with the scoop, and Alanah chimed in with some thoughts about it today. Being that I get a lot of Google searches on this topic, Canucks fans will be interested to see and hear this one.

It was a reader who emailed this into J.J., so no one can be sure on its authenticity. However, as mentioned in his post, these colors within the logo match the current color scheme on Canucks.com. Does that mean anything? No one really knows.

My opinion, it’s not too horrible, but I’d still prefer the stick-in-rink. Otherwise, this isn’t too bad, especially if you consider what Buffalo changed to last season. At least this looks a little more menacing compare to that slug.

Going back to my post about attending the state of the Canucks franchise with J.J., I thought I would hit a few points that stuck out to me. More so, it’s something that a lot of hockey minded folks, from broadcasters to fans, have been talking about. It was the opening panel that inspires me to mention a few of the following topics.

I can’t remember who said it, but the basic jest was that we, the fans, need to speak up about what we want from the things we enjoy and love. Truly, that can go for anything you follow, sports related or not, and the truth is that fans make things like the NHL exist.

Speaking of a lack of fans making things not exist, look at the Nashville Predators. Great team, horrible fan base, and a relocation of the franchise is constant soap opera. There are about four locations being tossed around: Las Vegas, NV, Kansas City, MO, Hamilton, ON, and Winnipeg, MB. Basically, the southwest desert, midwest U.S., hockey saturated Ontario, and a return of the NHL to the Canadian prairie.

I’ve stated my feelings about KC before, even though that was about the Penguins who are staying in Pittsburgh, and I still stand by what I said. However, I will add that if the Predators are going to relocate within the U.S., then it should be to KC, not Las Vegas. Another Canadian team is something I am all in support of, but not in Ontario. Return it to Winnipeg where people are hockey lovers, and it’s a well known fact that all the Canadian teams in the NHL are making a large bulk of profits for the entire league. It just makes better business sense to move the team where hockey is loved and will make a hell of a lot more money than the desert.

If you move a team to Las Vegas, you’ll have to spend a lot of marketing dollars on teaching fans that the team exists on top of teaching the game. At least if you move the team to Kansas City, the team will be closer to the 49th parallel where hockey is more prevalent. Another team in the desert, where there is never enough ice to even skate on, is a ridiculous move.

Speaking of ridiculous, kill the television contract with Versus. Nuke it. Rip it up. There are way too many people who have a hard enough time getting NHL coverage in the U.S. with the way it stands, so something needs to change. There are those who can’t even get the network, so why would you invest in something that has lackluster exposure?

A little side note, but an interesting one, the annual Iowa vs. Iowa State football game will be on Versus this year, opposed to one of the major broadcast networks or ESPN. That even has a few people asking questions about what a Versus actually is. Being the good Hawkeye fan that I am, that article made me laugh as well as sad.

Anyway, I have liked the NBC deal thus far, and it’s even better with Brett Hull leaving to take a job with the Dallas Stars. I don’t like them leaving a game early because a game runs long, especially for a horse race that has one hour pre-show for a two minute event. I can’t think of a better way to turn off a new fan who discovers hockey in the midst of the Stanley Cup playoffs, much like I did in my early teens.

Lastly (because I know you’re listening, NHL), take a long, hard look at what the New York Islanders are doing with allowing bloggers access to their franchise. Not only am I a huge fan of this, but this is a remarkable step in allowing those who love their team to report on their team. It’s true that this has its good and bad qualities to it, but there is a lot of difference between sports reporting (i.e. radio or newspaper) and sports blogging.

Recording a podcast episode of The Crazy Canucks from the press box in GM Place.
(Photo credit: Miss604 on Flickr)

In blogging, and podcasting for that matter, we brew a community. We have comments, interaction, and other people blog what someone else blogs about. It’s a world wide conversation, and we’re talking hockey on a scale that is much different than what sports reporters do in press or behind the desk or mic. We’re not bound by deadlines or schedules, but there is precedence on being honest about what you love, which is your hockey team. True that this can be biased, but people write what they are passionate about. That’s blogging, and they post views about the team they are the fans of, expanding and strengthening the team and league around the world.

The NHL should make more of an effort to expand this concept throughout the league. Want examples of how much blogging benefits a team like the Canucks? Check out J.J., Alanah, or Zanstorm. They are fans, but they offer news, viewpoints, and a unique voice that speak to people more than a sports reporter might. At least I know that I can count on all of those folks to translate league news into something I can readily understand.

Those are the big issues for me right now, and I know that there are more that will creep up later. I’ll try to post about them when I think of them. If you have something to say, then post it in the comments. Better yet, get your voice out there, too. Who knows if we can change anything in the end, but speaking up is a start.

J.J. had an extra ticket to the Vancouver Canucks State of the Franchise tonight, so I was more than happy to go along for the event.

Basically, this is intended for season ticket holders, plus a few other classifications of people who coordinate boxes and what not. GM Dave Nonis and VP Chris Zimmerman take the stage for about an hour to discuss concerns of ticket holders, give updates on where the organization is heading, and then take questions from the crowd.

I have to say that the most intriguing point of the event was that Zimmerman and Nonis hung around after their stage time to talk to anyone that wandered down to the floor. From what I could overhear, people were asking some good questions about the organization. The responses were diplomatic, but not so much that you couldn’t appreciate the sincerity of the answers. By the time we headed out of the building, the crowd had dwindled to about ten around each guy, and they didn’t show any signs of movement towards the door.

It was a really neat experience, but there wasn’t anything earth shattering that was announced. Well, at least nothing that I didn’t already clue into based on The Crazy Canucks, J.J.’s and Alanah’s blogs, and general hockey conversations that Rebecca and I have. If anything, I have a new found respect for Dave Nonis and his business ethics, but you just need to look around the rest of the NHL to understand this.

The coolest part of the evening started out with John Shorthouse coming out on stage to kick off a panel discussion with a group of Team 1040 broadcasters about various topics around the NHL as well as the Canucks. Don Taylor, Dave Tomlinson, and Barry Macdonald joined Shorty on stage to hack through the usual topics of the schedule, rules, and what should and shouldn’t change. It was highly entertaining, and I’m sure J.J. will have more on his site about the discussions.

One note about the whole jersey topic. Zimmerman answered the question from the audience about this and hammered on a detail that adds some more light. I’ve heard it before, but him stating, quite matter of fact, that “Fin will have a continued presence in the organization” leads me to ponder this comment that showed up in my last post about this topic. That’s all I’m going to say.

If anything, it was really awesome to be in GM Place and be talking about the Canucks. That’s pure happiness, and you can view more of the photos here on Flickr.

Our good pal Bradley gave us a pretty swanky gift for our first year, and we finally got around to checking it out last night. Hockey Night in Canada: The DVD Trivia Game!

Ok, maybe that isn’t swanky to you, but Rebecca is all about the trivia. I’m a bit of the same, but my hockey knowledge gets pretty fuzzy from 1990 and beyond. How hard could it be though? Right?

My biggest problem is the lack of CBC knowledge, so anything about former broadcasters is pretty out of reach for me. We only played two rounds, each splitting the wins. There are some of the guess whatever-you-are-instructed-to before the bell dings, and you have to be the first person or team to do it. This was fun with the picture puzzles or word scrambles, so it becomes a guess by yelling sort of affair, the closer to the end of the round equals being the loudest.

The trivia can be pretty trying, but I was surprised with how much I actually knew. There were some rounds where you get a clip to watch, and then the following questions were in reference to the clip. Still, not all of those questions are directly related to the clip as much as the people or team. It actually taught me a little bit, even made me look up the 1976 game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Russia to get more back story on the questions it asked me that I knew nothing about.

I think we still have a few more games left to play of it. I’m not sure if there are more or will be more editions of this made, but for off season entertainment, it’s pretty good.

DaveO had the opportunity to catch the celebration of the Vancouver Giants success in winning the Memorial Cup at Vancouver City Hall this past Tuesday afternoon. He captured some great audio, even snagged an interview with the legendary Pat Quinn!

The only issue he had was cranking out the audio into an all out podcast episode, so he asked if I would help him out. We’ve talked about this concept before, and it worked out fairly well. When you have all the audio laid out for you, it’s easy to put it all together. It also helps that Dave is really good at formulating an entire episode in pieces, all set up for sliding them together and splicing music to segue between all the parts.

It was a treat to do it, and I could really get used to the production side of things if I ever found myself doing this on a regular basis, full compensation, of course.

You can find episode #54 of the Canucks Outsider at HockeyNW.com, edited by yours truly.

I know that I am so late to the post, but there is not an easy way to approach the end of the Canucks season. I’ve been busy with some projects at home and having some job opportunities to explore that getting time to get The Crazy Canucks gathered and the studio pumped up to record has been a hassle.

Am I depressed? Kinda. No one wanted to see the season come to an end like that, and I doubt that anyone wants to see their team in any sport get booted out of any sort of elimination process like that. It’s the way the game is played, and you can’t forget that.

Saying that, I was prepared for the season to be over for the Canucks, but the beam of hope is something I never gave up. In fact, in the second period of that game five against Anaheim, I was was calling for a 9-1 victory for Vancouver. A bit of a stretch, but hasn’t the whole season been that way?

So here comes the excuses, and this is only because there are those out there that would call it that. I like to call it facing the truth because the fact is, we went from a painful season last year, to a clueless start to this one, and wound up with something no one in their right mind thought was possible. Sure, the dedicated ones will tell you that they always knew, but that’s just the legacy of a fan.

At the end of last summer, so many people knew that we had a good goalie. How good remained to be seen, but we all get the picture now. Alain Vignault was… well, no one had a clear picture other than what could vaguely be recalled about his previous experience as a NHL coach.

And don’t forget the new faces. So many fans we’re trying to figure out, “Why the hell did we toss down money for Mitchell?” And now we sit here saying, “Oh… right.”

There were other things that I am really lazy as to listing off, but for a season that was often viewed as a rebuilding year, we whooped all the predictions, aside from those few who called it a long time ago (good for you, now shut up and get over yourself).

The Canucks fell short? I don’t think so. I know that this season was a blast to watch, and Luongo probably had a large part to do with that. The rest of the chips fell into place, but not enough to push the team further than what all of us fans wanted to happen. Yet, I can’t say that I am disappointed at all.

When Luongo let that absentminded goal go in, I wasn’t upset or angered by his sudden drop of the guard, not that it’s excusable. But after everything he did in that game five, not to mention the entire season, I can truthfully say that I was not let down. If anything, I am more excited for next season and can care less about the rest of the playoffs.

Well… almost.

Go Sens

Totally stealing this one from J.J.

I am convinced that the only way that hockey is to grow in the U.S. is by instilling a love for the game with the younger crowd. In fact, let me translate this video clip for said folks who live in this said country. She is taking a cue for her, I assume, father that when he says the first name of the player on the Canucks, the little girl responds with the last name of the player. And she’s probably two or three?

Changing rules or scheming marketing plans don’t lure long term fans to a sport, or anything for that matter. Most Canadian fans will tell you that hockey is something they grew up with, and that’s why they are so passionate about it. And even if they’re not living and breathing it, they might still have a fondness for it. And if you think that’s stupid, then ask someone from Mexico as to why anyone would find futbol, aka soccer, interesting.

This could be completely false information, but it’s worth passing on for the sake of finding out if it is or not. An email came in to The Crazy Canucks about what showed up into this guy’s email. Based on this post by J.J. earlier today, I can’t say that I’m too surprised, and it fits with what I said about the new NHL uniforms coming about next season[post]. Still, are Canucks fans ready for the return of the stink-in-rink and Johnny Canuck?

Rebecca has a take on it, but we’ve been talking it over without really any conclusion of what we feel about it. Alanah put something on Kukla’s as well, so let the jury call the verdict. Is Buzz a victim or bringer of truth? You decide.

Update: Check out the comments in Alanah’s post. It appears that these are some mock ups created by a Canucks fan. Can’t say I blame them, but I figured I’d pass on the rumor for the sake of finding out for sure. Internets, you did your job.

Update - June 4, 2007: The jerseys are going to change.

Update - August 21, 2007: The jerseys are here on August 29, 2007

Update - August 29, 2007: The new jerseys are here!

There’s a very interesting discussion going on right now in the realm of hockey blogging. I’m a bit of an outsider when it comes to the “mucking and grinding”, but it’s no secret that I’m a hockey fan.

What’s going on right now is a discussion about Eklund, the main guy behind HockeyBuzz.com. I don’t know enough about the guy to say much about him as a blogger, but to know him is to understand that “Eklund” is a pseudonym, he never posts under his real name, and you never see his face. Anonymity is his “thing”.

In the blogosphere, there is an unspoken system of checks and balances that fellow bloggers go to work on in order to verify the integrity of what one person claims through their posts. Now that Eklund is to partner with Sportsnet (a Canadian variation of what FoxSportsnet or ComcastSportsNet is to the U.S.) for the hoopla of the approaching trading deadline for the NHL, various folks are coming forward to address this issue of his method and content.

The discussion seems to be expanding, but you can read what Kukla, Alanah, J.J., Zanstorm, and Eric are saying about this. You can say what you want about blogging, but there is something to be said about journalistic integrity. To me, this is what all this discussion stems down to.