News and Notes Part 13: Waddell has bought a house in Raleigh

[DaleCooper]

The Verizon Center works because DC has a very good public transit system. The Verizon Center is parked right on top of a major transfer station on the Metro and intersects with the two biggest bus lines in DC, the X2 and the 70. The only parking is street parking, and an internal lot for players and staff. The Verizon center, and the development around it, simply can't be replicated without a substantial investment in transit.

For a pretty much entirely car based area such as the triangle, you need to have an arena on the outskirts of an area with lots of parking, especially when you draw a regional crowd, not just a local one.

On another note, I've got my ticket for the preseason opener here in DC monday. Let's just hope no concussion for Skinner at this time. Got a pretty good view of that last year...

Other cities around the country with low transit usage have proven this wrong, including Charlotte, which does of course have a light rail line but I'd be curious how many people are actually taking that to games. By the time Raleigh were to seriously be considering a new arena they will likely be in the midst of investing in a new transit system anyway so the two could go together.

Nonetheless, my comment had more to do with the physical design of the Verizon Center. The new Detroit arena proposal is pretty similar in an area where nearly everyone is driving to games from the suburbs.

 

[HisIceness]

A roof top deck sounds cool but one thing I do wish PNC has is what we have at TWC in Charlotte.

I'm not entirely sure what this is called, but it's an open-air view on the upper concourse looking down on the court. Has a bar and tables.

Unfortunately, it would eliminate a lot of seats and probably wouldn't be worth it in the end.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Just because this particular subject needs more fuel on the fire:

http://www.tvasports.ca/2015/09/21/trempe-lhomme-aux-1001-secrets

Semin, the black sheep

Asked to reveal a little secret on a player in the current edition of the Montreal Canadiens, Trempe is reserved.

"It's more an anecdote when [Alexander] Semin played for the Hurricanes, he recounted. I had seen along the Staal brothers and Justin Faulk. Semin did not understand everything that was said to him in English and say that others made fun of him a little. "

Interesting, if true. But I'm betting the odds of it being true are quite slim.

 

[What the Faulk]

How ****ing hard is it to believe that someone doesnt understand English and maybe interprets standard locker room **** giving as making fun of? Can we stop trying to vilify a player that is long gone already.

 

[Blueline Bomber]

Because in this case, it's the Staals and Faulk getting vilified?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Because in this case, it's the Staals and Faulk getting vilified?

You could read it that way. You could also read it that he (Semin) is so fragile that he can't handle a little bit of locker room fun and those guys had no real ill intent, or as WTF said, just a misunderstanding based on language barriers.

To me, this seems to be much ado about nothing. Things can easily get twisted in translation and this is probably just Semin saying that he really didn't fit in well with those guys, which given the language barrier, different cultures, the fact that he's a more private person, etc... is not a surprise. He obviously had enough of a relationship to join the informal skates with them this summer. If there were any major issues, I doubt he would have been there.

 

[NotOpie]

Because in this case, it's the Staals and Faulk getting vilified?

Personally, I wouldn't give 2 ***** what was joked about in the locker room if I got to go home every night to my $7 million

and this...

 

[Blueline Bomber]

You could read it that way. You could also read it that he (Semin) is so fragile that he can't handle a little bit of locker room fun and those guys had no real ill intent, or as WTF said, just a misunderstanding based on language barriers.

To me, this seems to be much ado about nothing. Things can easily get twisted in translation and this is probably just Semin saying that he really didn't fit in well with those guys, which given the language barrier, different cultures, the fact that he's a more private person, etc... is not a surprise. He obviously had enough of a relationship to join the informal skates with them this summer. If there were any major issues, I doubt he would have been there.

Found the story over on Montreal's board, where one of HF's Semin loyalists used it to vilify the Staals and Faulk, which is why I said as much.

I agree it's probably a mistranslation somewhere (either from Russian to French or using Google to translate French to English) or simply a guy trying to make a story out of nothing, but I figured I'd bring the story here so that any talk of Semin getting bullied by Faulk doesn't come out of left field.

 

[What the Faulk]

I give as much of a **** about what some random HFer thinks as I do what my dog thinks. Just because they say something doesn't make it true.

 

[RodTheBawd]

As much as I like the guy, my one knock on Semin is that by now, he should have a much firmer grasp on the English language. I mean the guy has been here for over a decade and still sounds like he's fresh off the boat. When difficulty communicating seems to be a common criticism, is it so hard to throw on some rosetta stone every now and then?

 

[What the Faulk]

Learning a new language isn't that simple.

 

[RodTheBawd]

Is it possible to criticize Semin without you getting your panties in a wad? He's spent almost a third of his life having a career in a country whose predominant language is the most spoken non-native language in the world. I'm not asking him to be fluent, I'm asking him to have beyond a 1st graders command of the language. Come off it dude, holy ****.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Learning a new language isn't that simple.

Particularly when you don't even attempt to.

 

[Vagrant]

I wouldn't discount the fact that it's possible that there may be factors unrelated to someone's desire to learn a new language that may prevent them from doing it. Learning disabilities are much more common than you'd believe. Not saying that's the case, as I have no idea, but going the route of him not having a strong verbal command of the language and is thereby unwilling to learn might be misguided.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Is it possible to criticize Semin without you getting your panties in a wad? He's spent almost a third of his life having a career in a country whose predominant language is the most spoken non-native language in the world. I'm not asking him to be fluent, I'm asking him to have beyond a 1st graders command of the language. Come off it dude, holy ****.

What languages do you speak fluently besides English?

 

[Vagrant]

I took 4 years of Spanish in High School, 2 more in college, and if somebody asked me to talk about the game I just played on my PS4 I would jaja my face off.

 

[Anton Babchuk]

as a 12-year old i threw a tantrum to get out of hebrew school because it was too difficult. we weren't even learning what the words meant, but just how to read it phonetically.

pretty sure it would take me at least twenty lifetimes to learn russian.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I took 4 years of Spanish in High School, 2 more in college, and if somebody asked me to talk about the game I just played on my PS4 I would jaja my face off.

I have no idea if Semin can or can't speak English, or will or won't be willing to learn, I was being somewhat sarcastic in my response and probably should have included the given how overly protective and sensitive some are of anything remotely critical of Semin.

Re: your comment Vagrant. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school with a good friend of mine. Neither of us had a very good command of anything but the basics after the 4 years. He then spent 6+ months in Mexico and when he returned, his command of the language was infinitely better than mine and he was easily able to carry on conversations with others.

My point being, that REALLY learning a language (for most people) takes not only getting taught, but immersion into the language as well and our high school teacher told us as much on day 1. I never had the chance, need, nor desire to do that, thus my ability to speak/understand Spanish was rudimentary at best. I'm guessing my buddy could have gone to Mexico and "gotten by" on limited knowledge of Spanish, but he chose to immerse himself and become much more fluent.

As I said, I don't know much about Semin's ability to speak the language, but I have zero doubts that if he really wanted to become more fluent in the language, he would be able to. There are others that have come right out and said they refuse to learn. Nikita Nikitin, for instance, came right out a couple of years ago and said he sees no need to learn english and refuses to. I don't think it's unreasonable at all to attribute his command of the English language to how much he wants (or feels the need) to learn it.

 

[Ole Gil]

Even if you can speak/understand English fairly well, the language is a mess, and there's almost certainly going to be some stuff lost in translation.

I know on occasion when talking with someone whose first language isn't English, I'll have to explain some idiom that they hadn't heard before. Hell, listening to teeny boppers talk, I've had to google some of that nonsense to see what it meant before.

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

duolingo is very good...

 

[RodTheBawd]

What languages do you speak fluently besides English?

Sick burn buddy. What country have I worked in for over a decade where the understanding of the predominant language of that country (and employer) is pretty vital to my success? Let's gloss over the "I'm not expecting the guy to be fluent" part as well, that'll up the wit level.

Vagrant at least has a decent point. But hasn't Semin himself said that he doesn't feel the need to? Might be easier to say that than putting a possible learning disability out for the public, but it doesn't help change the perception.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

I spent three months in Sweden for a job once.

I'm pretty good at picking up languages, with the ability to read French, Spanish and Russian. I've got a pretty good ear.

But being basically very shy and introverted at the time, I spent those three months in Sweden in the hotel bar. Where the bartender spoke English.

Why, you may ask? Because after working a damned hard job for many hours a day, I was tired -- and communicating to these strangers was a challenge even in my own language. Learning another language, by speaking to other people? Holy ****, no chance.

I think one of the reasons that people are so split on Semin is that a lot of us identify with him. Basically a nice quiet guy who keeps to himself, wants to do his job, doesn't quite fit in. The classic introvert.

A bunch of people who are unlike him -- and therefore unlike us -- say things like "if he gave a ****, he'd learn the language". People who have pretty much no clue who this guy is and what he's about.

In talking **** about someone like Semin, you are, whether you realize it or not, talking **** about someone like me.

He's gone. Cut the guy a break, and cut us a break too.

 

[Navin R Slavin]

Sick burn buddy.

Honest question, man. Languages are hard, and if you haven't been there, you haven't been there.

 

[Carolinas Identity*]

What languages do you speak fluently besides English?

German and Icelandic and I can get by in Swedish

Need to finally finish the Rosetta Stone I got before I moved there, but only half finished

I spent three months in Sweden for a job once.

Talar du Svenska?

We can practice together

 

[Joe McGrath]

Who gives a ****? Let the situation die for the love of God.