bleeney
Registered User
- Mar 29, 2008
- 1,834
- 0
The THN Top 100 panel included a lot of journalists and media people, including:
Kevin Allen, USA Today
Ken Campbell, THN
Steve Dryden, THN
Bob Duff, Windsor Star
Eric Duhatschek, Calgary Herald
Milt Dunnell, Toronto Star
Mike Emrick, Broadcaster SportsChannel
Jack Falla, THN
Stan Fischler, writer/THN
Tony Gallagher, Vancouver Province
Charlie Halpin, THN
Dick Irvin, HNIC
Jim Kelley, Buffalo News
Claude Larouchelle, Le Soleil de Quebec
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Ken McKenzie, co-founder THN
Bob McKenzie, THN
Brian McFarlane, writer/HNIC
Frank Orr, Toronto Star
Yvan Pedneault, Journal de Montreal
Fran Rosa, Boston Globe
Over 40% of the panel was media people, many with a connection to THN.
Why wasn't someone like Ralph Mellanby on the panel? The guy only ran HNIC since day one, and has seen as much of the greats from the 50s on as anybody (And I'm not saying that as an Orr supporter; Mellanby is on record naming Howe as the best player ever).
It's just that the selection panel has a few curious names on it, as far as I'm concerned. Having Fischler, a man with a personal axe to grind against Orr, on the panel is a joke. After their falling out, he went from practically worshipping Orr to ripping him almost overnight. Orr went from being - in Fischler's own words - "the Greatest Ever", to ranking #14 on his list. Replace him with Mellanby, and you'd have a virtual three-way tie at the top.
*note: I have about 40 Fischler books in my collection. He's a very knowledgable, entertaining writer, particularly about the game in the early days. He's forgotten more than most of us will ever know. But... he sometimes lets his personal feelings get the better of him. He holds a grudge for a long, long time and he can be a real ****-disturber. For instance, he's had a long, nasty feud with Brian McFarlane(!)
Another thing about THN that bugs me: Switch even one panel member, and that vote could've gone any of three ways. But the write-up for Gretzky in the Top 100 came with the following heading:
"The Greatest One: Bar None"
They go on to say "That he is the greatest hockey player of all time is a given, merely affirmed - not decided - by the voting of The Hockey News 50 member committee."
-THN Top 100; pg 13
Excuse me? They make it sound like it wasn't even close, but I can think of dozens of knowledgable hockey people (every bit as qualified - in some cases more - as anybody on that panel) who would've voted for either Orr or Howe ahead of Gretzky.
It's as if their minds were made up before they even began.
Kevin Allen, USA Today
Ken Campbell, THN
Steve Dryden, THN
Bob Duff, Windsor Star
Eric Duhatschek, Calgary Herald
Milt Dunnell, Toronto Star
Mike Emrick, Broadcaster SportsChannel
Jack Falla, THN
Stan Fischler, writer/THN
Tony Gallagher, Vancouver Province
Charlie Halpin, THN
Dick Irvin, HNIC
Jim Kelley, Buffalo News
Claude Larouchelle, Le Soleil de Quebec
Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal
Ken McKenzie, co-founder THN
Bob McKenzie, THN
Brian McFarlane, writer/HNIC
Frank Orr, Toronto Star
Yvan Pedneault, Journal de Montreal
Fran Rosa, Boston Globe
Over 40% of the panel was media people, many with a connection to THN.
Why wasn't someone like Ralph Mellanby on the panel? The guy only ran HNIC since day one, and has seen as much of the greats from the 50s on as anybody (And I'm not saying that as an Orr supporter; Mellanby is on record naming Howe as the best player ever).
It's just that the selection panel has a few curious names on it, as far as I'm concerned. Having Fischler, a man with a personal axe to grind against Orr, on the panel is a joke. After their falling out, he went from practically worshipping Orr to ripping him almost overnight. Orr went from being - in Fischler's own words - "the Greatest Ever", to ranking #14 on his list. Replace him with Mellanby, and you'd have a virtual three-way tie at the top.
*note: I have about 40 Fischler books in my collection. He's a very knowledgable, entertaining writer, particularly about the game in the early days. He's forgotten more than most of us will ever know. But... he sometimes lets his personal feelings get the better of him. He holds a grudge for a long, long time and he can be a real ****-disturber. For instance, he's had a long, nasty feud with Brian McFarlane(!)
Another thing about THN that bugs me: Switch even one panel member, and that vote could've gone any of three ways. But the write-up for Gretzky in the Top 100 came with the following heading:
"The Greatest One: Bar None"
They go on to say "That he is the greatest hockey player of all time is a given, merely affirmed - not decided - by the voting of The Hockey News 50 member committee."
-THN Top 100; pg 13
Excuse me? They make it sound like it wasn't even close, but I can think of dozens of knowledgable hockey people (every bit as qualified - in some cases more - as anybody on that panel) who would've voted for either Orr or Howe ahead of Gretzky.
It's as if their minds were made up before they even began.