People/things you are nostalgic about that might raise an eyebrow

[SealsFan]

Since you asked for an eyebrow-raiser, I miss the talent disparity of the 70's. I readily admit the quality of play in that decade was probably lower than any other decade; just watch some videos of the bottom dwellers (my team included) and they're skating around like chickens with no heads. I readily admit the conditioning and training in modern hockey is better than the 70's. I simply liked the individuality of players and teams in the 70's, including having really good teams and really bad teams as opposed to what seems like perpetual parity. Yeah, you have first place and last place teams today but when you look at the goals for/goals against differentials they're nowhere as wide as in previous eras. I miss teams scoring and allowing over 300 goals in a season. By my unofficial count, only 3 times since 2000-01 has a team scored 300 goals!

 

[Tarantula]

You guys have covered just about everything I would have posted! I'll see if I can add anything that hasn't been mentioned.

A time when an organ was the only music heard in the arena. I can't stand the deafening blasts of a 10-second snippet of a rock song over the PA at every break in the action. This along with the swirling spotlights and over-the-top presentation when the home team takes the ice, like something out of pro wrestling.

A time when a TV broadcast was about the game, not about the cameramen, the editors and the graphics, and look how clever we are with our technology, zooming and panning in and out with rapid-fire scene changes and seizure-inducing graphics, along with that "whooosh" sound when they're switching to a replay...

Biggest complaints I have!!!!!!!! Bring back the organ, and stop being cute with the camera angels. I love how they cut to a close up in the corner and all you see is a wrinkled jersey on the glass, why bother?

 

[Killion]

Since you asked for an eyebrow-raiser, I miss the talent disparity of the 70's. I readily admit the quality of play in that decade was probably lower than any other decade; just watch some videos of the bottom dwellers (my team included) and they're skating around like chickens with no heads. I readily admit the conditioning and training in modern hockey is better than the 70's. I simply liked the individuality of players and teams in the 70's, including having really good teams and really bad teams as opposed to what seems like perpetual parity. Yeah, you have first place and last place teams today but when you look at the goals for/goals against differentials they're nowhere as wide as in previous eras. I miss teams scoring and allowing over 300 goals in a season. By my unofficial count, only 3 times since 2000-01 has a team scored 300 goals!

Yeah, a lot more individuality in terms of play, style of play, equipment, sticks, skates & so on. Far less regimentation, nowhere near as disciplined as its become. Players with idiosyncrasies, odd skating postures, "patented moves", carrying the puck... often from unexpected quarters, shocking & surprising Defenders & Goalies... heres an example.... not exactly a name you'd equate with finesse, disciplined player, but just watch the 1:45 beyond dogged shift put in by Brian Spinner Spencer in 76 playing for the Sabers in an Exhibition against a Soviet Team (who's style of play has become very much the norm in the NHL today)... causing them all kinds of problems, he's #21; www.youtube.com/watch?v=1i87tKze5Ac

 

[BadgerBruce]

Something else I miss: two, and only two, jerseys per team. Light colours at home, dark on the road. Though the exact styling/cresting might change slightly once per decade, team jerseys were pretty much standardized for years at a time.

Imagine Roch Carrier trying to write “The Hockey Sweater” today. The boys would hit the ice in 3rd or even 4th jerseys. And every team for the last 20+ years seems to want a black version of their jersey. Enough already.

 

[Killion]

Something else I miss: two, and only two, jerseys per team. Light colours at home, dark on the road. Though the exact styling/cresting might change slightly once per decade, team jerseys were pretty much standardized for years at a time.

Imagine Roch Carrier trying to write “The Hockey Sweater” today. The boys would hit the ice in 3rd or even 4th jerseys. And every team for the last 20+ years seems to want a black version of their jersey. Enough already.

Yeah, this too.... and furthermore... I'm not a fan of having the players names on the backs of their jerseys either. I miss the clean number & thats it thats all. If you didnt know who the player was... buy a program, borrow one, ask, whatever.... but no, no lets junk up the uniforms as much as we can, change & alter it in order to sell more of em', add 3rds.

 

[SealsFan]

Yeah, a lot more individuality in terms of play, style of play, equipment, sticks, skates & so on. Far less regimentation, nowhere near as disciplined as its become. Players with idiosyncrasies, odd skating postures, "patented moves", carrying the puck... often from unexpected quarters, shocking & surprising Defenders & Goalies...

Yessir, a distinct lack of free-stylin' and free spirits... as "whatname" said, where are the cherry-pickers? No room in today's game for such insolence! And great clip of Spinner Spencer, got to see him in action on those early Islander teams.

Getting back to goalies... if you took all of the goalies in the 70's and outfitted them in plain white jerseys, no team colors or logos or numbers, and let them keep their masks but with no painted designs on them, and placed them on a NHL team other than their own, I would still be able to identify most of them by sight through distinct markers: their face if sans mask, their mask, their playing style, etc.... then take today's goalies and put them in plain white jerseys, no teams colors or logos or numbers, keep their masks but with no painted designs on them... and they all look alike and play alike.

 

[DowntownBooster]

Something else I miss: two, and only two, jerseys per team. Light colours at home, dark on the road. Though the exact styling/cresting might change slightly once per decade, team jerseys were pretty much standardized for years at a time.

I would love to see the league switch back to white (or light) jerseys at home and dark jerseys on the road.

 

[Killion]

I would love to see the league switch back to white (or light) jerseys at home and dark jerseys on the road.

... unh... here we disagree... I grew up when the darks were home, the whites away, sometimes both teams wearing their darks & preferred / prefer that at home, home team in their dark jerseys.... the reds in Montreal, Chicago & Detroit, gold & black in Boston, blue in NY & Toronto. Liked (still like) seeing the whites of the road teams when they visited / visit.

 

[brachyrynchos]

I miss teams having only 2 jerseys, instead of cash grab alternate, winter classic, etc, and not changing the jersey & logo every couple of years.

 

[DowntownBooster]

... unh... here we disagree... I grew up when the darks were home, the whites away, sometimes both teams wearing their darks & preferred / prefer that at home, home team in their dark jerseys.... the reds in Montreal, Chicago & Detroit, gold & black in Boston, blue in NY & Toronto. Liked (still like) seeing the whites of the road teams when they visited / visit.

It's okay to disagree on this one. As you indicated, the preference most likely reflects the era one grows up in and becomes familiar with the game. Perhaps the league should incorporate the policy of wearing the whites at home for the first half of the season and then the darks for the second half. The WHA did that in the last few seasons.

 

[Canadiens1958]

The old arena atmosphere. Modern arenas are mini-malls. Certainty of scheduling. Teams always home certain nights, away others with one or two nights a week dark in the NHL.

 

[Killion]

It's okay to disagree on this one. As you indicated, the preference most likely reflects the era one grows up in and becomes familiar with the game. Perhaps the league should incorporate the policy of wearing the whites at home for the first half of the season and then the darks for the second half. The WHA did that in the last few seasons.

Interesting concept.... Up until 1970 the home teams wore dark, then white or light until 2003, that switch back in 70 made in the hopes that people in Toronto, Chicago, New York etc would take a fancy to the visiting teams dark jerseys and buy, particularly with Expansion, new designs, colors etc. That the hometown fans would have a more colorful array to look at in the visitors jerseys game-game. In 2003 they switched back again to home dark, as many teams were introducing 3rd jerseys including retro throwbacks, wanted to show them off at home, again... to sell more jerseys.

What sometimes has happened is the home team in wearing its 3rd jersey which can be light with a few dark highlights is that it forces the inbound visiting teams to bring along their dark jerseys (and standard road whites), wearing darks for any given game to accommodate the home team. So a hassle. And really, all about sales, money, typical NHL, to Hell with tradition unless it can be monetized somehow & if its in the way, like Ballard & Foster Hewitts Gondola, rip it down, tear it out, change it up, explain it all away with false logic.... So sure, if you grew up in the 70's-80's & 90's, good chance your going to prefer the whites at home, grew up prior to that, dark jerseys.... So... 1970.... thats when they started messing with your heads on that one kids... and you didnt even know it..... Next?

 

[The Panther]

I also prefer only two jerseys, and teams wearing white ones at home. I guess it's arbitrary, but in 90％ of cases I find the white jerseys look better.

 

[SealsFan]

I miss teams having only 2 jerseys, instead of cash grab alternate, winter classic, etc, and not changing the jersey & logo every couple of years.

I would prefer teams keep a consistent jersey look too... but in comparison to how other teams have gone, I will allow for revisions over the years so long as they keep the basic logo and color scheme. For example, the Penguins and North Stars in their early years were constantly making revisions but they were still recognizable at a glance because the logo and colors stayed within parameters.

However I don't like when teams just scrap their entire look, logo and colors. Vancouver went from blue/green to yellow/orange/black "V" jerseys, then the flying skate logo, then to dark blue/burgundy with the orca logo, then back to their original colors with the orca logo and sometimes a variation of the original rectangle logo.

Similarly, Buffalo went from their beautiful classic blue/yellow threads to white/black/red with the buffalo head, then back to darker version of their original colors with the buffa-slug, then the original logo.

 

[pvr]

i miss the one giant trough that wrapped around two walls in the men’s room at the old pacific coliseum that everyone had to pee into in unison.

ye olde days, a real sense of community

Up until this year, you still could have relieved yourself thusly at the Joe in Detroit. I believe Wrigley Field still has troughs...perhaps a road trip is in order for you, so you can relive your glory days.

 

[GJB]

You probably wouldn't have guessed it from my avatar, but I miss seeing genuine ANGER and HATRED and RIVALRIES.

There is just not much feeling in the majority of games I watch. No scrums or big hits or fights or raw passion. The game plays too much like a play put on for entertainment purposes only. There are no more goons or tough guys that brought a whole other element to the game that was unique across the four major sports leagues in North America.

It's a watered down product now. The playoffs are much more watchable than the regular season but its still not the same as when big hits and crushing body checks were celebrated not analyzed from 8 different angles to see if anything illegal occurred. Let Them Play Hockey.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

This thread =

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Up until this year, you still could have relieved yourself thusly at the Joe in Detroit. I believe Wrigley Field still has troughs...perhaps a road trip is in order for you, so you can relive your glory days.

i visited the joe a few years ago when i was in the midwest. sad to have not had to pee and now lost that opportunity forever.

now that i am an adult, peeing into that giant trough would go much more smoothly. i have a distinct memory of trying to stand far enough back that i wasn't standing in the pee moat that surrounded the entire trough and firing at an 80% angle to try to get it over the lip, only partially successfully of course.

 

[GJB]

This thread =

I HATE CLOUDS!!! =)

 

[MarkusKetterer]

This thread =

My avatar is better

 

[The Panther]

I was kind of stunned the other day when I saw Ovechkin's 600th goal, scored against Winnipeg.

Here it is on YouTube:


What I found surprising about it is how Ovechkin is allowed to have three chips at the loose puck, right at the side of the net, until he scores. Now, granted, Byfuglien is down on one knee and it's a forward (Laine) who comes back to "check" him, but Laine kind of does a fly-by and after Ovechkin scores nobody on the Jets seemed upset that he hacked and whacked his way to a goal.

Full marks to Ovechkin for getting it done, but I don't think he'd have been able to score a goal like that 10 years ago, because he would have been killed by the opposition for standing there and digging for a three-count. Or, if he had scored, there'd likely have been some payback right after. Nowadays, it's just very easy to stand around the front of the net. Players are really hesitant to take penalties, and consequently they let the opposition stand around, mostly unimpeded at the front/side of the net.

So, I dunno -- is that better, or worse? I grew up watching talented players like Craig Simpson (best shot-% in NHL history) have to retire at 25 because of the endless abuse they took in front of the net. I always hated the excessive rough stuff, especially of the illegal variety. But nowadays it seems like it's gone too far in the other direction -- what Mike Milbury called the "pansification of the game".

 

[KMart27]

I wouldn't really want to go back to it but recently I was thinking how much more exciting it was to watch a game when there wasn't so many on TV. Growing up I would watch the doubleheader on Saturday night and the playoff games I wanted to watch. When an Oiler game would be on or whichever team Gretzky was playing for would be on it was a treat. Now I know I am watching all 82 or at least close to it. Maybe I only had that thought because of how this season has gone. I know I wouldn't actually be able to go back to only watching an occasional game.

 

[Howie Hodge]

Okay, a bit of a discussion I had the other day with someone was about O.J. Simpson. Once a great, great running back and probably still has the best single season by a running back in 1973 to this day. Hall of Famer and then had a nice career as an analyst and a few good movies like Naked Gun. Then, well, the rest is history starting in 1994 and it involves a white bronco. But I have to admit, I am nostalgic for that "old" O.J. He was charming, seemingly genuine, had an "everydayman" quality to him and was generally liked. I know what has happened to him in the last 25 years and that can't be ignored.

.

OJ was not a decent guy at all off the field. I'm not going to get into his problems prior to USC.

From growing up in Buffalo with people who knew him, encountered him, and worked for The Bills, I can tell you he wasn't a good person at all.

I edited my post to delete specifics, because this is not really the place to do so.

Let's just say what happened in 1994 was no surprise to some of us at all. It fit the profile we had been privy to for years prior...

Not trying to derail the OP here, just couldn't let anyone think OJ was a good guy who made a bad choice one day....

 

[DJ Man]

...

Getting back to goalies... if you took all of the goalies in the 70's and outfitted them in plain white jerseys, no team colors or logos or numbers,

...

I'm happy that it isn't like pro soccer, where the goalie can wear any old thing so long as it has no similarity whatsoever to what his teammates wear, because presumably the officials in that game can't keep track of who is allowed to use his hands without a lot of help.

A game I used to play was when I hit upon a soccer match while scanning channels, I'd see how long it took me to figure out whether the green goalie belonged to the red team or the white team.

...

Baseball established white for the home team long ago for the (mundane) reason that the team at home had better access to laundry facilities, so better that the visitors wore gray to hide sweat and grass stains. Basketball followed suit (ahem!), though football did the reverse. So, for traditional reasons, I'd prefer white at home.

 

[Jim MacDonald]

You guys are gonna think I'm nuts......and I don't know how I can put this in typing (it's like you'd have to hear it in my voice). In the 1993 Montreal-Quebec series.....when the Nordiques had home games in that series...during stoppages in play there was something sung in French....it was like...lol...oh man you guys are gonna think I'm nuts...it sounded like..."lay your hands on me" and then there was like a cheer like "ahhh!" or "yeahhhh!" Please I hope someone knows what I'm talking about & can maybe post a clip/soundbite....I know I'm not doing this justice......sometimes the "song/phrase" was repeated too I want to say.

**DISCLAIMER** The only French I know precedes the words "toast" and "fries."