"DC" David Morehouse Discussion

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I was at Rocky Mountain National Park today and I saw David Morehouse disrespecting the fragile tundra ecosystem.

 

[Shady Machine]

Fair enough. I would argue differently but both would be fruitless as they are left then to each of our personal interpretation as to when our public image began to change.
Either way, this does little to dispell my concerns about him, nor does it address the point I was asking for and that is cool as well. I'm not making a huge deal out of him and don't think it amounts to much of anything, but chose to throw out my thoughts on the subject because somebody chose to make a thread and I was kinda sick of rehashing the same ol same ol.
You're fine with him there and I'm a bit leery. And I seeboth sides as staking a valid claim.


It seems as if you are choosing to argue the semantics of the statement rather than the topic of the statement. Again, that would be a fruitless endeavor for the both of us as I'm sure that you know that I'm familiar with the teams history as well.
Take away the term which seems to disagree with you and the point still remains in its simplest of terms. We were greatly respected at one point. Now we are the opposite.
Correct me if I am wrong but I understand that as to fall under the branding category which he was in charge of.

And like Clefty, it seems that you're fine with DM which I don't find to be an indefensible position either. Yet it also seems that your basis for such is based on attacking those who don't agrees position as based on assumption or listening to rumors. That is just as faulty a position as one based on rumors because it is founded on the assumption that the concerns surrounding DM aren't genuine and you can't possibly know that they aren't for a fact. Nor can you possibly know if everyone is actually basing their opinions on assumption.
My reasons aren't founded on rumor. Or assumption. I have laid them out clearly in this thread.

Sure, I don't trust politicians right off the bat, but I don't blindly trust ANYONE right off the bat. I also worked in politics (like actual paid work for a California state senator...not the typical volunteer work) and was around quite a few during that time. And the ones that I met have been fun, smart and interesting guys who like to say what people like to hear rather than what they really mean a lot of the time.
That said, my views on DM are completely independent of that knowledge, or history.

Am I skeptical of him? Yeah, I am. Is it because he is a politician? Nope. It is because I am leery of the job he has done in shaping the public image of this team. Terms (buzz words) we've been spoon fed like "Penguins Hockey" are completely hollow and void of any substance or meaning. Fastest to 250 is great and all but the guy was still a train wreck as a coach. I dont trust stuff like that. I don't buy stuff like that. And yeah, stuff like that actually reeks of politico speak. Saying a lot without saying much of anything at all.
And again, I simply don't want a guy who has little to no background in hockey having any say in the on ice product.
Perhaps that is where you get that whole assumptions aspect. As in, I'm making assumptions about DM and his involvement with the hockey operations. I understand that. I have no idea how big or how small his say is...if any.
But again, independent of that is the branding. A job that I personally feel he has butchered. And nobody has said anything to convince me otherwise. I am more than willing to listen with a completely open mind and change said mind if a reasonable and logical counter is provided, but semantics or claims of assumption simply don't have enough influence to sway me.

You are complaining about things, like "Penguins hockey", that have nothing to do with David Morehouse. My general complaint with those criticizing Morehouse is that no one can point to anything specific that Morehouse has done wrong. They just speak in generalities of things they don't like and then blame Morehouse. I don't even like the guy (I don't dislike him either because I don't know much about him), but what I do know is the Penguins have become extremely popular during his time here. Obviously the players on the ice are the major reason for that.

Outside of the hockey ops issues (of which he has little control of from what we can tell other than some vague suggestions that he's trying to take over), the Penguins have done extremely well during his tenure. Things like TV rankings, image in the community, player and fan interaction (personal season ticket deliveries, student rush pizza, skates and plates, etc), franchise rankings (ESPN has the Penguins as the #7 overall sports franchise and number 1 in hockey) just as some examples.

http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/teamrankings

I'm not really sure what area of branding you have a problem with. If anything, the org has become too much about the business of being popular, fan friendly, likable, etc and not enough about winning. So that's a hockey ops issue. Maybe Morehouse was meddling in these issues or maybe Shero and Bylsma were the bigger issues. Can you please elaborate on what your specific issues are with the Penguins and how Morehouse is at fault for them.

 

[Shady Machine]

I was at Rocky Mountain National Park today and I saw David Morehouse disrespecting the fragile tundra ecosystem.

I'm not at all surprised by this.

 

[Master Shake*]

Official Fire David Morehouse thread

He was a political hire. Fire him and get a Hockey guy in there. The only reason he got the job was to grease wheels politically for the new Arena and area.

 

[Winger for Hire]

Good luck with that

 

[WayneSid9987]

I don't think this guy really cares that much, in terms of the product on the ice. Mario is more of a problem than he is.

 

[kodoshin]

I've always figured that Morehouse's political background is the only reason he even comes up in discussions. Everything gets politicized.

 

[DegenX]

It's not so much politics as much as it is the amount of wagging the dog that goes on. Image is everything.

 

[Get To Our Game]

Not about Morehouse but I didn't know where else to put this:

http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/7743415-74/penguins-peart-sales#axzz3RHoT5PSS

David Peart, the Penguins' senior vice president of sales and service, has resigned, according to two sources in the organization.

Peart was a driving force behind many of the Penguins' corporate sponsor relationships.

He is leaving the Penguins for a job outside of the Pittsburgh region.

Peart oversaw revenue generating departments of the team that included business partnerships, corporate sales, premium seating, ticket sales, broadcasting, and concession and merchandise sales strategy.

 

[Shady Machine]

Somehow this is Morehouse's fault

 

[Jacob]

I wanted to bump this thread for a few reasons:

1. There seems to be an increasingly negative aura surrounding the Penguins. The on-ice product, the decisions by management, and fan perception all seem to be at all-time lows.

2. That Friedman article mentions Penguins management as being "paranoid" and that feeling filtering down through the organization. I wouldn't consider Lemieux or Burkle to be the paranoid type, so I assume he's referring to Morehouse.

So basically how much of this team's current issues can be at least partially blamed on Morehouse, who is not a hockey guy?

 

[FlightlessBird]

IMO it's hard to know exactly his effect. But considering his background in politics and campaigns, it's not hard to believe that he'd be "paranoid" about the team's image. I can't remember who it was and what they said right now, but media members have commented about him before too. My preference would be for him to not be an executive on this team.

 

[Beauner]

He worked PR on a presidential campaign. His previous job basically required him to be paranoid about image. Look, none of us know what his motives are, what he has a hand in or what part of this team's terrible management he has been responsible for. But, like Jacob said, he's the only one with a history that suggests he'd be at the forefront of pimping guys like Adams, worrying about style over substance, etc.

I'm not gonna put all of the blame on him for what's gone wrong with this team, but if he were fired tomorrow there's no possible way things could get any worse.

 

[MrBurghundy]

If he cares about the team's image, then he better start realizing that employing over the hill veterans that can't play hockey is starting to piss the average fan off.

 

[Speaking Moistly]

If he cares about the team's image, then he better start realizing that employing over the hill veterans that can't play hockey is starting to piss the average fan off.

That weird moment when you realize that Morehouse intervening for the sake of image could really help with the Kunitz and Scuderi problems. Go forth and save the team, Darth Morehouse.

 

[Coastal Kev]

Once Morehouse was hired this team has steadily turned into a cold corporate organization. The funny thing is the product on the ice has matched this attitude. Who are the Penguins? Why are they here? That's what they look like to me. Just guys collecting a check in a corporate job until they retire. I wish I could say how I really feel.

 

[MrBurghundy]

That weird moment when you realize that Morehouse intervening for the sake of image could really help with the Kunitz and Scuderi problems. Go forth and save the team, Darth Morehouse.

It is pretty ironic in a way...

 

[HandshakeLine]

It's not so much politics as much as it is the amount of wagging the dog that goes on. Image is everything.

What does this even mean? It's just a jargon salad.

 

[crossicepass]

Not about Morehouse but I didn't know where else to put this:

http://triblive.com/sports/penguins/7743415-74/penguins-peart-sales#axzz3RHoT5PSS

Too bad he didn't take Sam Kasan, Michelle Krakeola, Potash and Stiegerwald with him.

 

[canadianguy77]

Are tinfoil and reality sometimes the same things?

 

[Burgs]

Morehouse was brought in some 10 years because of his connections to Clinton and Kerry. Then-governor Ed Rendell was a tough negotiator in the casino and arena negotiations, so Burkle hired an experienced and high-level Democratic staffer to better deal with Rendell. It was a good move, and it worked out in the end. But that is where Morehouse's influence should have ended.

Instead he got promoted to a position of authority over the entire franchise. And he is running it like a political campaign with all this emphasis on PR and "controlling the message". Maybe he knows no other way, or maybe he's a control freak who wants to micro-manage even the hockey-related things he has no clue of and should never mess with. It has become harmful for the on-ice product even if it works (yet) for the bottom line. His predecessor as president and CEO, Ken Sawyer, to my knowledge never was overly concerned with being "the good guys" and selling us as the league's model franchise, let alone getting involved in actual hockey decisions. He had been the NHL's long-time chief financial officer before getting hired by the Pens in 1999. And he focused on getting us through bankcuptcy and into a new arena, handling the finances and leaving the rest to Patrick, Shero and Mario. After Sawyer retired in 2010 (he is currently an advisor with the Sabres) things slowly started going downhill in the Pens front office. I don't think this is a coincidence. Morehouse is like a CEO version of Steigerwald, a great salesman with strong local roots and a PR background whose lack of in-depth hockey knowledge becomes obvious fast when tested. Only as president/CEO he can do much more damage than a merely annoying TV commentator.

 

[Jacob]

I agree with you, Burgs and Pghkev, that the organization has gone in a downward trajectory since Morehouse has had more and more control over the team.

 

[clefty]

For me it's not who we have it's who we don't have. I really don't care about David Morehouse the individual being around.

But from what I can tell, the only person on the executive level working for the Penguins with a strong background in hockey is Mario, and he's hands off and in the process of trying to become even more hands off. We've previously always had someone like Ken Sawyer, who'd been around the NHL since the 80s. Since he retired, I haven't seen his presence replaced.

Where's our Luc Robitaille? Or Al MacIsaac? Or Cam Neely? Or Harry Sinden? Someone who can approach the corporate side of the franchise with a dedicated hockey frame of mind.

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

Yeah. I don't buy the "Morehouse is an evil puppeteer, manipulating all of the goings on in the Penguins organization from top to bottom" theory. I think he's a shit-head, and has no place doing anything in this team (a good, well-run, successful hockey team markets itself), but I don't think he's some malevolent force behind the scenes.

But I agree with the idea that we need more hockey minds in this organization. Look at what happened to the Blues and the Blue Jackets after JD went to each team. I don't know exactly what kind of affect he had on each organization, or what he did in detail, but both clubs righted the ship pretty dramatically. I realize Columbus is playing terrible hockey right now, but the point remains.

 

[Jacob]

I think our President and CEO should be someone with a hockey background, and he can oversee a PR wing below him that is separate from hockey operations.

Obviously Morehouse has some kind of say in hockey decisions considering he's not only at the draft table, but right next to Rutherford, and he was even seen arguing with Rutherford prior to the Hornqvist trade. That's not good.