AO, Hat Trick...Assist...{chirp, chirp}

[Sammy*]

Agree to disagree?

 

[Epsilon]

Yeah ok there Bud. Keep on thinking Americans really pay alot of attention to athletes from othe countries.
Oh, & btw , the Americans & their networks basically ignore athletes from other countries in competitions like the Olys. Its not a question of covering their own, Canadian networks do that as well. They simply dont go on as if the rest of the world doesnt exist.

Having lived in both countries and had the "pleasure" of experiencing both sports medias, I'd definitely agree with your point with regards to individual sports like the Olympics, golf (Canada is not much better there though: in the US its blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah whereas in Canada it's blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah Mike Weir Stephen Ames blah blah blah), and tennis where the press make country of origin nauseatingly important even though it usually isn't. On the other hand I'd say the US sports media does a better job of building up foreign athletes in team sports, basketball in particular. Of course, this has a lot of do with the fact that basketaball has made itself a lot more marketable than most others.

 

[Sammy*]

Having lived in both countries and had the "pleasure" of experiencing both sports medias, I'd definitely agree with your point with regards to individual sports like the Olympics, golf (Canada is not much better there though: in the US its blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah whereas in Canada it's blah blah blah Tiger Woods blah blah blah Mike Weir Stephen Ames blah blah blah), and tennis where the press make country of origin nauseatingly important even though it usually isn't. On the other hand I'd say the US sports media does a better job of building up foreign athletes in team sports, basketball in particular. Of course, this has a lot of do with the fact that basketaball has made itself a lot more marketable than most others.

Just a side bar. It drives me absolutly nuts with the media & Ames. He's about as Canadian as I am Dutch (my step mother is Dutch). Its frankly ridiculous.

 

[Lionel Hutz]

What's your definition of casual?

Dressing down, you know, wearing sandals, jeans, t-shirts etc.

 

[Mothra]

81 12,096
82 12,496

i can't find figures for the other years, point was there were years where they struggled for attendance, but they are a great hockey market.

"struggled" for attendance is a far cry from "pathetic" which is what you first said.....if 12,096 is "pathetic" how about this nugget....Pit didnt eclipse the 12,000 mark once during their first 18 years in the NHL

82-83 Pens 8408
83-84 Pens 6839

 

[Absolut]

Dressing down, you know, wearing sandals, jeans, t-shirts etc.

Good response dude, good response...

 

[thomasincanada]

Crosby gets picked over other Canadians, too. He's the new boy wonder.

In Crosby case, being Canadian helps, but the 3-4 years of hype helped too. Gretzky practically anointing him his succesor. Also, making the Junior team at 15 was a pretty big thing. Of course, Ovechkin was in RSL at 16 and on the Russian men's team at 18, (The former reason was why Ovechkin was hyped so hard in 2004)
With the lockout, and Crosby being Canadian though, his hype has suppased Ovechkin's, or anyone else in a long times. Timing is everything, and the nationally didn't hurt any.

Excellent post! No nationality bashing required, no *****ing about a Canadian Sports Network not giving much coverage to a Russian playing in the US, just the truth. Sad to see how this thread has deteriorated into a Canada vs US bashing match.

Crosby gets hyped over everyone - Americans, Russians, Canadians (how many non-hockey fans have heard of Nash ?!?). This is partly because of his age, partly because of his nationality and partly because of Gretzky's comments a while back. It's not the end of the world if another prospect doesn't get the hype he does - regardless of performance the table has been set for Crosby and he'll always get the most press.

True fans of Ovechkin should be glad he doesn't get the press - much less pressure to succeed from day 1 and it gives him a chance to adjust to living in the US and the NA game. He'll get his press eventually - and in the meantime it's not like he's not getting paid.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

"struggled" for attendance is a far cry from "pathetic" which is what you first said.....if 12,096 is "pathetic" how about this nugget....Pit didnt eclipse the 12,000 mark once during their first 18 years in the NHL

82-83 Pens 8408
83-84 Pens 6839

And that has to do with the past couple of decades when Pittsburgh supported their team to 90% capacity plus crowds the vast majority of years? Were the number 3 Fox local broadcasting market? Look to your own house before you throw stones. Pittsburgh did not have to block all calls from the a certain area code to buy playoff tickets because our arena was half filled with the other teams fans for every playoff game (not to mention regular season game too). Who was that club that did that? Oh yeah, the Caps.

 

[Mothra]

And that has to do with the past couple of decades when Pittsburgh supported their team to 90% capacity plus crowds the vast majority of years? Were the number 3 Fox local broadcasting market? Look to your own house before you throw stones. Pittsburgh did not have to block all calls from the a certain area code to buy playoff tickets because our arena was half filled with the other teams fans for every playoff game (not to mention regular season game too). Who was that club that did that? Oh yeah, the Caps.

why are you getting upset? This all started when the poster said Pit was a "very good hockey market"....and all I have said was, like most NHL cities in the States, a winning team is whats needed to do well at the gate....would it make you feel warm inside if I mentioned the "Save the Caps" campaign and that the city almost lost them? I have said several times in this thread that I'm not bashing them.....its just they arent NY/Philly/Chicago/Boston/Detroit etc when it comes to being a hockey market....those cities are "very good"

 

[Jaded-Fan]

why are you getting upset? This all started when the poster said Pit was a "very good hockey market"....and all I have said was, like most NHL cities in the States, a winning team is whats needed to do well at the gate....would it make you feel warm inside if I mentioned the "Save the Caps" campaign and that the city almost lost them? I have said several times in this thread that I'm not bashing them.....its just they arent NY/Philly/Chicago/Boston/Detroit etc when it comes to being a hockey market....those cities are "very good"

My apologies. I freely admit we are not and never will be those markets that you mention above. I would point out though that we are pretty good over the past couple of decades though considering our market size though, which is vastly smaller than any of those cities that you mention. Person per person we by many multiples get more to the arena or watching on television per capita than any of those markets above.

 

[Mothra]

My apologies. I freely admit we are not and never will be those markets that you mention above. I would point out though that we are pretty good over the past couple of decades though considering our market size though, which is vastly smaller than any of those cities that you mention. Person per person we by many multiples get more to the arena or watching on television per capita than any of those markets above.

The per capita point is very valid.....and again, this is no shot at Pit at all.....but over the last 2 decades they had a stretch of a few seasons where they were the best team in the world, had arguably the best player ever, and later when it was just Jagr....had what many considered the best player in the world.....and they had a winning team for much of that time.

It will be interesting to see what happens in St. Louis over the next few seasons. They have always had support...but they have always been a playoff team. With many people thinking some lean years might be on the horizon....guess we will see.

 

[Taranis_24]

And that has to do with the past couple of decades when Pittsburgh supported their team to 90% capacity plus crowds the vast majority of years? Were the number 3 Fox local broadcasting market? Look to your own house before you throw stones. Pittsburgh did not have to block all calls from the a certain area code to buy playoff tickets because our arena was half filled with the other teams fans for every playoff game (not to mention regular season game too). Who was that club that did that? Oh yeah, the Caps.

Not questioning you jaded but was that before or after Mellon was expanded to hold more 10,500 or both. Just saying that claiming 90% doesn't really mean anything. It's like the Dallas Stars claiming a 120 straight sellouts then I go to Dallas for a conference a few years back and catch a game and find out their old arena only held like 12K max.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Not questioning you jaded but was that before or after Mellon was expanded to hold more 10,500 or both. Just saying that claiming 90% doesn't really mean anything. It's like the Dallas Stars claiming a 120 straight sellouts then I go to Dallas for a conference a few years back and catch a game and find out their old arena only held like 12K max.

basically approximately 15,000 plus from 86-02. Arena holds under 17,000 capacity. And I had not known that the arena gained that many seats, the expansion must have occured in 86 then which further bolsters a fairly strong support even before '86 (to the arena capacity that was there at the time).

http://www.kenn.com/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl_pit_attendance.html

 

[Lionel Hutz]

Good response dude, good response...

It suited the question.

 

[Mothra]

basically approximately 15,000 plus from 86-02. Arena holds under 17,000 capacity. And I had not known that the arena gained that many seats, the expansion must have occured in 86 then which further bolsters a fairly strong support even before '86 (to the arena capacity that was there at the time).

http://www.kenn.com/sports/hockey/nhl/nhl_pit_attendance.html

I'm pretty sure that expansion of the igloo happened a few times....it opened with 10,500 capacity.....and in 72-73 the avg attendance was 11,195....so I would guess that the first expansion happened in the early 70's

 

[Transported Upstater]

The Flyers just won in OT 7-6. Ovechkin was the best player on the ice for the Caps by far, this kid is good. Every time he was on the ice he made an impact.

Though Niittymaki stoned him, and his teammates, in the shootout.

I think Nittymaki (spelling? Finnish names are impossible...) will be an EXCELLENT goalie for Philly in the future.

 

[Transported Upstater]

Excellent post! No nationality bashing required, no *****ing about a Canadian Sports Network not giving much coverage to a Russian playing in the US, just the truth. Sad to see how this thread has deteriorated into a Canada vs US bashing match.

Crosby gets hyped over everyone - Americans, Russians, Canadians (how many non-hockey fans have heard of Nash ?!?). This is partly because of his age, partly because of his nationality and partly because of Gretzky's comments a while back. It's not the end of the world if another prospect doesn't get the hype he does - regardless of performance the table has been set for Crosby and he'll always get the most press.




True fans of Ovechkin should be glad he doesn't get the press - much less pressure to succeed from day 1 and it gives him a chance to adjust to living in the US and the NA game. He'll get his press eventually - and in the meantime it's not like he's not getting paid.

 

[Transported Upstater]

Yeah, cause we all know how the US media promotes foreign born athletes at par with homegrown ones.
What a frickin joke your post is.
If theres one country in the world that doesnt look outside its boundries...

If you are implying things other than hockey, then save it for another message board....

 

[Sammy*]

If you are implying things other than hockey, then save it for another message board....

Sports in general but in any event, gotcha Boss.

 

[Transported Upstater]

Sports in general but in any event, gotcha Boss.

Sorry if I put it that way, but you know what will happen otherwise.


You'll get something akin to certain TV programs you get in the USA where 56 people are simultaneously arguing about 678 different topics....and the end result is everyone hates each other over something they never even discussed because they were too busy arguing like spoiled 5-year olds.


Whether I agree with you or not (and I never said I didn't
), I just worry that this board could turn into National Flame Wars 'R' Us even more than it already can...

 

[Jaded-Fan]

3 GP:

AO: 2 goals, 2 assists = 4 pts

Crosby: 1 goal, 4 assists = 5 pts

http://www.nhl.com/nhlstats/stats?service=direct&context=Home/completePointLeaderLink

Chirp, chirp.

Or perhaps we could wait more than 1 game, or even 3, to pop up with threads like this one, eh?

 

[MomentsofSanity]

Or perhaps we could wait more than 1 game, or even 3, to pop up with threads like this one, eh?

I think I said that back when this thread first started... or was it one of the thousands of other identical threads to this one that I have seen over the last few weeks...........

Call me in December when the debate should be appropriate.....

 

[Corto]

3 GP:

AO: 2 goals, 2 assists = 4 pts

Crosby: 1 goal, 4 assists = 5 pts

Caps - 2 points
Pens - 2 points

And I'm a Pens fan.

I don't care if Sidney ends up with 8 goals on the year, as long as the Pens make the playoffs.

 

[Jaded-Fan]

Caps - 2 points
Pens - 2 points

And I'm a Pens fan.

I don't care if Sidney ends up with 8 goals on the year, as long as the Pens make the playoffs.

Actually I would love making the playoffs. But in the end if I had to choose between Crosby being the real deal and making the playoffs this year I have to go big picture, long term, and pick Crosby being everything claimed of him and more. I of course would love both to happen.

But all that said, that (pimping Crosby) was not the point of my post that you responded to. Not even close. Quite the opposite actually.

 

[Corto]

But all that said, that (pimping Crosby) was not the point of my post that you responded to. Not even close. Quite the opposite actually.

I know.

But the Corsby thing is getting out of hand. Personally, so far, he has exceeded my expectations. Which is great.

The Pens are on the other hand... Are playing like I expected them to play. Which is to say... Very unlikely they'll see the playoffs unless CP makes some moves.

I'd leave Sidney and AO alone. Let them do their thing. They're both the real deal, IMO. And so is Malkin. Hell, IMO, Malkin could easily end up being the best of the three.