IPB Finds A Temporary Fix

It is creeping closer, Gentle Reader. The end of the off-season is almost upon us, but while that offers some small solace in this misbegotten, hockeyless night, it still doesn’t answer the question of “What in the hell am I supposed to do when there still isn’t any hockey?” Well, we know we’ve mentioned a few times in this space that the major off-season-ending landmark for us is the U.S. Open, and yesterday we made our first-ever trip to Flushing Meadows for a night session. We have been to the Open before, back in 2003 for a day session, but there’s something so spectacularly “beginning of Fall” about night tennis from Arthur Ashe Stadium that we were especially eager to experience it in person. On the TV, in HD, there’s something about the blue seats, the sharpness of the colors on the courts, the people in the crowds looking chilly in their summer-weight coats on surprisingly cool nights, and the quality of the huge stadium lights that makes us feel like we’re watching Mariano Rivera blowing on his hands to keep warm on a frigid night in late October at Yankee Stadium. (Not that we’re big Yankees fans, or anything, but if you’re a sports fan from the corner of the universe that we are, nothing says Autumn like post-season Yankees.) When our friends Eugenie and Jarrett mentioned they had extra tickets for a Friday night session, we couldn’t say no to a chance to be in that atmosphere instead of just watching it on the TV.

Read Full Post »

Reasons We Love Hockey Part 69

The 69th in our 118-part series.

Good Marketing

There’s quite a buzz now about the Dallas billboards that advertise the Stars by poking good-natured fun at the NBA and NFL. The NHL gets such a bad rap for not selling itself effectively, and well, for the most part, it’s a deserved reputation. But there have been a handful of really fantastic television commercials we’ve seen over the years that made us proud to be hockey fans. It started with the black and white spots ESPN ran back when the NHL was welcome on the Worldwide Leader. From Joe Sakic using his wristshot to get sodas out of a vending machine, to Marty Lapointe’s “Ooh, I’m in the crease! Ooh, I’m out of the crease”, to John LeClair’s modeling of a futuristic Flyers uniform, they were the height of sublime. We didn’t even really mind when they recycled all of them by adding colorization and the occasional appearance by Fred Willard. Sure we were being pandered too (in hindsight, the warning signs were all there!) but the spots were just that funny. ESPN hit another home run with their series of commercials featuring the players’ Day with the Cup. It should have been terrible to see anyone other than the Devils with the Cup, so it’s a testament to how well-made they were that we chuckled every time Brett Hull locked the Cup in his car. Of course, the spots the following year were even better, since they featured our boys taking the Cup to the beach and the boardwalk. (We’ll overlook that when the Devils traded for Jamie Langenbrunner our first impression was, “Heeey, he was the guy making out with his wife in the carriage ride; that doesn’t seem very Devil-riffic.”) But, by far the best promo ESPN ever aired was for the start of the Playoffs.

Read Full Post »