Reaction to Deflate Gate

This is just ridiculous. I'm not saying what Tom Brady and the Patriots did is ridiculous, its the punishment that is ridiculous. Tom Brady altered a part of the game that gave him an edge in the game to win. I don't care what the score was, I don't care the fact that they would have probably have won the game, there was no reason to do this. The Patriots are clearly a better team than the Colts. That part isn't the ridiculous part of it. The punishment Tom Brady got is just not enough. If a player like Greg Hardy or Ray Rice get the axe for doing something stupid off the field like domestic violence, then why shouldn't Brady get the same. He at least had to know what was going on. There was no way he could not have known the balls were deflated. He was the one holding them! Brady should have been suspended for the year and the Patriots get the fine and loss of draft picks. With this Brady is now known as a cheater throughout the NFL. Deflate Gate should also prevent Brady from going to the Hall of Fame. This incident is just the steroid problems in the MLB. There are still debates going around whether Sammy Sosa or Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. Same thing should happen to Brady. I'll leave it at this, if Josh Gordon gets the axe just for drinking alcoholic beverages, then why does Brady get only 4 games for cheating and giving an edge in the game?

Corruption in Hockey

Corruption is probably one of the worst crimes in the world. Hockey has had corruption issues, but none were bigger what John Spano did in the 1990s. The NY Islanders around this time were the laughing stock of the NHL. They also had horrendous financial troubles. If things got worse, they would be forced to relocate the team. The team's owner, John Picket then agreed to sell the team to Spano for $165 million and $80 million for a 90% stake of the team. Spano was seen as a hero throughout Long Island. The people of Long Island were partying in the streets after they heard their "savior" came from the heavens. At the home opener in 1992, the fans cheered his name nonstop during his inauguration speech before the game. However, it was all too good to be true. After missing multiple deadlines to give Pickett his money, the NHL found out that Spano had forged documents about his wealth. It was also found out that he took out multiple bank loans during his "regime" as owner of the Islanders. On January 21, 2000, after multiple investigations and a long court battle, Spano was sentenced to 71 months behind bars and was forced to pay back all the money he owed to all the lenders. This was one of the biggest scandals in NHL history. Something like this will probably never happen again, but you never know. Lets just hope it stays like that.     

Reaction to League of Denial

The Concussion Crisis is an ongoing crisis in sports that probably won't be stopping any time soon. The NFL has known for years that there is an ongoing issue that concussions might cause long-term brain defects, such as CTE or dementia. I understand why they deny it, they don't want to destroy the sport of football. Its ok to have that line of reasoning, but that does not mean retired players or current players have to suffer. The NFL should not be having their own doctors running the show on this crisis. If they run the show, how do we know that they are running the proper tests/experiments? How do we know that they haven't rigged the tests in any way? How do we know that they are doing any tests at all? There are too many questions and too many suspicions that they probably will not answer. Testing should be run by brain specialists that are not biased and can be trusted by their colleagues and the general public. The NHL on the other hand has their own concussion issues, but its not as much of a problem as it is with the NFL. The NHL has taken action by creating rules and suspending and/or fining players with the intent to injure someone. The NHL is dealing with a concussion lawsuit, but the players involved have played at least 75 NHL games or less. The players involved with the suit are players that no one has heard off. The NHL will probably win because of the small sample size of games played by the players.    

If I were Commisioner of a Youth Hockey League

Hockey, in my opinion, is one of the hardest sports to play. The hitting and the roughness of hockey keeps people away from the sport. There are not really many non-checking youth leagues out there, especially for midget hockey. However, if I were to be a commissioner of a league, I would do four things. One, I would make it no checking so that players won't, contact with other players is allowed, but the player must have the puck and the player is only allowed to make contact to get take the puck away from the opposing player. Two, the league will accept anybody. The skill set of the player will not matter. This would make the league more attractive to beginners and would not be afraid to try because he is just starting out. I would make sure that the teams have at least 2-3 beginner level players per season to balance out the rosters so that there is not just one good team destroying everybody. Three, the coaches must be experienced at coaching. In my opinion, the coach is one of the most important part of a team. A coach must know how to develop and deal with young players. A coach must know how keep his players in order and must know how and when to use them. Four, the league will not be expensive. Hockey is probably is the most expensive sport to play, especially travel hockey. Just to try out for a travel team, you at least have to pay anywhere between $500-$1000 (depending on what level of play). Once you make the team, you probably have to pay another fee between the price range listed above. If you don't make the team, you will not get your money back. My league will guarantee a roster spot for all players that sign up. In case of a player needing help financially, the league will offer financial support or work out smaller payments.      

Youth Hockey

Youth sports in America is very big. People have dedicated their lives into creating the next superstar. However, hockey is a little bit different. Ice Hockey and Roller Hockey is currently on the decline. The main reason for this is concussions. Kids are getting hurt and then become to afraid to step on the ice or court. USA Hockey a few years ago changed a rule that kids could not start checking until Bantam Hockey (14 and under). Unfortunately, kids were still getting hurt and many were quitting. Kids these days are being undisciplined and reckless by trying to take someone's heads off because they did something that bothered them. Another reason why hockey is on the decline is because of the equipment. The equipment itself is not the issue, it is the price of the equipment. Hockey by far is the most expensive sport to play because of all the equipment that is needed. For example, the normal price for player skates is about $300-$400. For low income families, that is a hassle. Equipment for goalies is also ridiculous. The price for pads have skyrocketed over the past few years. The top end pads can go anywhere between $1500 and $2000. If hockey equipment was a lot less expensive, more people would play. Even though hockey has concussion problems, it does not happen as often as it does in football. You would have to be hit a certain velocity and angle to get a concussion in hockey. Even though the equipment is expensive, it is very protective. If ran right and coached right, hockey could become a child's life and dream to play in the NHL.

Job of a Fan

In any sport, there are fans, and they are probably very passionate about their favorite sport. However, that passion might take you a little bit overboard. The right of a fan is this, root for your favorite team(s), and that is it. There is nothing else a fan needs. If your favorite player is gone from your team, would you switch teams? In my opinion, no I wouldn't. I will say this though, fans sometimes do help management make decisions because that is what they want. If your team loses a game should you be mad, yes you should, but throwing stuff and yelling at other people won't help anything. If a fan goes to road games, he has the right to root for his team, but should watch what he/she says because you might start a fight or almost start one. A perfect example of this was when I went to the 2012 NHL Winter Classic in Philadelphia. The Rangers won the game and the Flyers fans were upset, but for a certain Rangers fan, the win wasn't enough. As I made my way down the ramp at Citizens Bank Park, a Rangers fan was yelling profanity and saying mean things about the Flyers and their fans. Then, someone snapped and the fan got sucker punched and a brawl started. The two were broken up and was taken into custody. That wasn't the only incident that day. Another example of a fan going overboard actually happened that same day. A group of Rangers fans went to grab a bite to eat after the game at one of Philadelphia's most famous restaurants, Tony Lukes. The fans were supporting the Ranger's win, but wasn't doing anything crazy. An argument then started with a Flyers fan and fight broke out. The Flyers fan beat the living hell out of the Rangers fan and was later charged with assault. The rangers fan then sued the Flyers fan and got millions of dollars. Like I said, you have the right to cheer for your team on an opposing team's arena, but if you are going to be an ass, then you are asking for it. I'm not saying that these fans are bad, I'm just saying what fans can and can't do.  

NCAA's Realtionship with Hockey

With the Frozen Four coming up soon, I think its a good time to talk about the NCAA's relationship with the sport. To be honest, I think the NCAA is missing out on missed the potential on the sport. Hockey has the most passionate sports fan base in the world. Out of college, there have been many superstars out of college. For example, Martin St Louis was once an unknown until he went to Tampa and became an instant star. Another thing is that anything can happen in a hockey game. For example, 18th seeded St Cloud State beat North Dakota, who was a #1 seed. In hockey, there are a lot more upsets then there are in the Final Four. Another example of this, is that a small college like Union, won the national title last year, against a very good Minnesota Gophers team. A great thing about college hockey is that you can get drafted at any time and still be able to get your education. After you are drafted, your team holds your rights for two years, and if they don't sign with the team, you can sign with whoever you want. Most people say that all the great hockey prospects come from Canada and that you can only get noticed if you play in the CHL. A perfect example to disprove this is Jack Eichel. He is currently a freshman at Boston University and projected to be a No 1 or No 2 pick in this years NHL draft alongside of Connor Mcdavid. This year, it's good to be a hockey fan because this type of generational talent does come along often, let alone two of them. This link is to the NCAA Division 1 hockey playoffs http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/icehockey-men/d1. There are a total of 10 unranked teams in the playoffs, proving that anyone can make a miracle run to the championship, unlike the NCAA Division 1 Basketball Playoffs.

The Best and Worst reporters of the NHL

Like the NHL, the NBA, NFL, and the college conferences have their beat writers/reporters and try to tell people what is going on. In my opinion the NHL has the best reporters in all of the major sports leagues combined. Why? The community of hockey reporters is not that big, but they are very passionate about their work. For example, Darren Dregger, and Bob Mckenzie have their own twitter feeds and update them regularly. Their stories and their reports are usually spot on and never tell a false story or steal any other writer's stories. Another example of why these people are the best is that they have great relationships with the players and can get interviews with the players very easily. With NHL trade deadline coming up, the panel of TSN analysts (basically the ESPN of Canada) have a show starting at 8am the day of the deadline and is broadcasted all over the US and Canada and report trades as soon as they fall through. The players around the league even watch it because it lets players know if their teammates or even themselves have been traded. The hockey coverage of Canada is way better then in the US because not many people down here in the US want to cover hockey. People these days want to talk about the NBA or the NFL. There have not been really any stories of corrupt reporters in the hockey world, but in all other sports, they are out there. There aren't many bad reporters in the hockey world, but the coverage of hockey from one certain network is bad. ESPN. Why? Because its not that the reporters are bad, they are not really well known and have just been writing articles and never go on Sports Center. They pretty much get no public outlook on what they say because they are not well known if you don't go on ESPN.com. I mostly get my news from the TSN guys or NHL.com because they get the news right away, while ESPN.com does not write about it until a few hours later. Hopefully as hockey grows around the US, the community of hockey reporters will grow also.

NHL and the Media

The NHL like any other major sports league has its media coverage. The NBA, NFL, and all the college conferences get covered on ESPN, but not the NHL. There was a time where ESPN did commentate over NHL games, but that ended after the 2005 Lockout. The main reason why NHL isn't as covered as all the other leagues listed above is that they either don't care or nothing interesting has happened. However, even though not covered much, the community of hockey analysts usually have good relationships with the players and/or the team. Their reports are usually up to date and they always update their Twitter feeds in case of an injury, trade, rumors, etc. These sources are usually very reliable, but there are better. The best sources of information is the fans themselves. The most passionate NHL fan will know pretty much everything that is going on around the league. Unlike the NBA and the NFL, the NHL gives chances to smaller market teams like the Florida Panthers for example. A great example of hockey growing is California. Before the Kings won the Cup in 2012, the LA area was not really considered a hockey town. When the Kings went that magical run to the Cup, all eyes were on the Staples Center for every game. Now there have been 2 Stanley Cup Finals played in California along with 2 outdoor games in the past 2 years alone. Hockey back then was pretty much not known to the world before the Stanley Cup Playoffs and Finals. During the regular season, NBC would show its game of the week on Sundays and VS(now NBC Sports Network) would play games every once in a while. Now the NBC Sports Network has a game every Wednesday called Wednesday Night Rivalry, where two rivals would battle it out in prime time. This has caused people that are not really into hockey, to liking because of the hatred towards each other and the way they try their hardest to win the game. Another thing the NHL has done is bring the game outdoors to a game(s) called the NHL Winter Classic or the NHL Stadium Series. The two series are pretty much the same, but the Winter Classic is always more hyped for because it is pretty much the game of the year. Two teams go play an NHL regular season game under the bright lights of a football field or a ballpark. These games are loved by the players(especially) and fans alike because as a kid, a frozen lake or frozen pond is where you got your first stick and skates and tried them for a test run. Hockey is slowly growing for the US and I hope it comes to a point where it is covered on ESPN regularly and has just as much fans as they do in Canada (the birth place of hockey).
  

Should NHL Players be Considered Role Models?

Like the NHL, the NBA, NFL, and all other professional sports leagues, have their superstars. The NBA has Lebron James, the NFL has Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, while the NHL has Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. Can professional athletes like the ones listed above be role models to other people? Yes, but only NHL players. I say this because it depends on which athlete you look up to. For example, Alex Ovechkin donated a car to a Hockey League for mentally Disabled kids. Another example is that some NHL stars like Claude Giroux, Sidney Crosby, Scott Hartnell, and Ryan Miller went and supported a youth sled hockey team and played a little game of sled hockey. The NHL stars also let the team take a picture with the team afterwards. Things like this shows that professional athletes do care about the community and want to give back for all the support some fans have given them all these years. The NHL gets a lot of attention for helping out the sport of hockey because the athletes within the league take their job seriously and care about giving back to the community. Another reason is that the NHL has a good reputation, because on the most part, does not have the violent off ice incidents that the NFL and the NBA have had over the past few years. The only violent incident that comes to mind with the NHL is the Slava Voynov domestic violence case. The NFL has had many scandals over the past few years, like Deflategate or the Ray Rice incident. The NBA, back in 2007, had a referee name Tim Donaghy who would bet on the games he called and made sure he would win every time by making outrageous calls. The NHL is safer bet to have a role model because of the athletes within the league and the way they give back to the community and the way they help the sport of hockey in general.

Mess Ups in the NHL

The NHL, like any major sports leagues will have big mess ups. Just like the NFL, the NHL has had one case of domestic violence this year. Slava Voynov of the Los Angeles Kings was arrested in October and was charged for domestic violence. Marta Varlamova, Voynov's wife claims that the violence started after a Halloween Party he took of his glasses and punched her in the left jaw. When asked about what the argument was about, she said that she did not remember. The violence continued in the couple's Redondo, California beach house where he supposedly choked her three time times. It was also reported that he pushed her down eight to nine times before telling her "I want a divorce" and "Get out". This link is to his mug shot that was taken on October 20, 2014 (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/kings-slava-voynov-suspended-indefinitely-domestic-violence-arrest-article-1.1980434). It was then reported that that Marta was sent to the hospital after Slava reportedly pushed her into the TV after she got out of bed. The hospital reported that she had a 1.2 inch laceration around her left eye and required 8 stiches to repair. Slava, after the story went viral, was suspended indefinitely by the NHL and has been suspended (without pay) since then. His trial is projected start on March 2.


The way the NHL is handling this situation is the correct way. Slava was suspended once the story got out and that is how it should be. The NFL makes its players go through hearings and the league determines the player's suspension. The NFL can learn from the NHL by suspending the player indefinitely and see how the trial goes and see if the player gets charged or not. The NFL is starting to lose its popularity because of all the violent incidents like the Ray Rice incident. Even though we do not know if the NFL got the video of the incident far in advance, we do know the NFL did not make a decision quick enough. All pro leagues should suspend its players indefinitely without pay no matter how severity of the charge. If the player is cleared of the charges, the player should be able to come back and play for his team. However, if the charge is serious enough and goes to trial, then the player should be suspended for the rest of the season and await the decision on his trial.

What the Super Bowl Can learn from the NHL

The Super Bowl is a big sporting event that is played in many places around the United States. The Super Bowl can make small market areas become big within a weekend. However, the Super Bowl is not played at the home team's home field. The Stanley Cup Playoffs are played both at the higher seed's home rink and the lower team's home rink. Unlike the NFL Playoffs however, the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a 7 game series. The NFL Playoffs are played at home fields, but not the Super Bowl. The NFL should consider playing the Super Bowl in the higher seed's home field. This would cause a potential boom in the market for the hosting team in the Super Bowl. However, the downside to this is that it would be almost impossible if you are a fan of the other team. However, this can cause a big spike in the local economy of the host city and cause more tourists to visit the location. Josh Peter of USA Sports said, " Arizona, drawing from private and public funds, will spend about $30 million to host the 2015 Super Bowl, to be played Sunday in Glendale" Ariz" ( http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2015/01/25/super-bowl-host-cities-economic-impact/22324109/). Probably the biggest flaw in this system is that the NFL would not have that much time to prepare for the big game and would need a lot of time to set up the festivities. Leave comments below if the NFL should stay the way it is or should the higher seed get home field advantage in the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Reaction

Tickets for any big sports event can be worth a fortune. Especially as big of a game as the Super Bowl. Most people got their tickets far in advance and were able to travel to Arizona to go watch the big game. However, some people bought tickets, but they were tickets that never existed. Due to the limited supply for tickets, the price for the tickets sky rocket to about triple they were last year. The Friday morning before Super Bowl Sunday, the average prices of tickets were around $10,000. Due to the increase in price ticket brokers were forced to either buy higher priced tickets at a loss, give a refund or not deliver the ticket. As Schuyler Velasco mentioned at csmonitor.com "...secondary sellers Like Stub Hub have for years been selling tickets before they actually have them..." (http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Sports/2015/0201/Super-Bowl-XLIX-tickets-Why-are-they-the-most-expensive-ever). Another reason why the tickets were so expensive was both the Seahawks and Patriots were good traveling teams. Last year when the Seahawks played in New York, not many fans wet because it was too cold and it was too far of a travel.




There are too many flaws in this system for selling tickets. Thousands of people got ripped off and were disappointed that they could not watch their favorite team in the Super Bowl. There could be a way to fix this system, if it is done right. There should be a new website where seller provides photographic proof that they have the ticket, so that the potential buyer does not get ripped off. After the buyer buys the tickets, the broker would ship or email the tickets to the buyer as soon as possible so that the broker can guarantee the buyer that they can get their tickets before the event. This website can make sure that no person can get ripped off and makes buyers more likely to buy more tickets because they know they will get their tickets.