Chicago? The city that once stopped broadcasting the games of its 'orginal 6' hockey team? Most overated "great sports town" ever.
Hold on, you can't count the moves of a dickhead owner as an indictment of the city.
If there ever was/is an ownership in Major Professional Sports worse than that of the Lions and (currently) the 49ers, it just may have been the Wirtz family that owned the Blackhawks until several years ago.
March 18th, 2016 at 12:06 AM ^
and for further clarification. I couldn't remember old man Wirtz's first name(Bill), was too lazy to look it up, and wrongly assumed completely different ownership. On top of that, I also wrongly blamed the rest of the Wirtz family for the ineptness of Bill Wirtz. My bad!
You're definitely right about how well that organization is now run. Didn't they hire Scotty Bowman several years ago (post-Bill Wirtz) among their other moves? Now, after decades of being one of the worst franchises in the NHL, they're one of the best----but i still HATE them. Go Red Wings!!!
p.s.: if the Blackhawks could turn things so completely around when the "old man" passed, does that mean there's hope now for the Lions?
March 18th, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
The B1G need to really step up and designate someone in charge that knows something about hockey! I'll glady contact them as well.
For those that care, the game going on is PSU vs Wisconsin.
Michigan plays the winner tomorrow at 5pm.
Now that the game is underway, did the other 6 ticketholders show up yet?
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That's because nobody likes Hockey.
That's certainly untrue about Michigan.
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Though that doesn't mean it's the most watched or supported. The other three major sports playoffs such as football, baseball and basketball all get many more viewers and attention.
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Yea for sure people in Minnesota hate hockey. /s
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I honestly don't know what happened, but it's pretty annoying. Seemed to me like there was a bad day of outages and then when it relaunched you couldn't see any votes. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
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1-0 PSU
and as I type that it's 2-0 PSU.
If the bobsled team attends, the B1G will be able to break attendance records.
not to mention all those fine young people who are too busy puking all that green Bud Lite in the gutter right now.
But those things don't hide the fact that neutral site hockey is fucking idiotic. The attendance doesn't lie.
I mean, it's not like this is a thousand miles away from Minnesota's campus. According to Google Maps, we're talking 7 miles from Mariucci. There's a difference between a true neutral site in the middle of nowhere and a neutral site that is basically adjoining a campus.
The issue is if Minnesota fans don't pack the building. They could be reasonably expected to do it, and they possibly would if Minnesota was a powerhouse team right now. The Twin Cities are a hotbed for hockey.
The problem with that is it's a conference that stretches from Pennsylvania to Minnesota, with three of the six teams in Michigan or Ohio. Centrally locating this tournament is putting it in Detroit or Chicago. You're not going to get very many people other than Minnesota fans with the tournament up there--but Minnesota pushed hard for it, Wisconsin and OSU didn't want it in their building, Penn State is truly too far away, and Michigan/MSU can't have their way every year when Minnesota is in the conversation.
But we can keep bitching about the attendance as if it's a surprise. This is a first round game on a weekday when most people are working, and also on one of the biggest drinking days of the year AND the first day of the basketball tournament. Perfect storm.
Just accepting that this is a terrible format and not making our opinions--the fans i.e. the people who watch and go to these games--known will do nothing but continue to keep it the way it is.
I'm sure if people just said "eh it is what it is" about the noodle at The Big House instead of speaking up, it would've stayed there all year long.
The contract is up after next year. Hopefully these empty suits get a clue that this isn't working.
Move it Toledo if you must keep it neutral site. Not a giant building and basically is in the middle of B1G land.
The original format was supposed to be 3v6 and 4v5 in best 2-of-3 series on campus and then the winners of those series advancing to play in single elimination games at the home arena of the conference champion.
OSU will likely never win the B1G and if Wisconsin can't host it, give the hosting rights to the next-highest seed like they do in the NCAA WBB tournament. Not that difficult.
They just need to have it in a smaller arena until the conference grows it's fanbase overall. A spot like the newer arena where the Toledo minor league team plays would be good, just off the turnpike. Either way, only family/friends/few diehards are going to be traveling for this no matter where it is.
The Hunt is the perfect spot for it. Been there a million times and it's a great venue. Not oversized and this would work perfectly.
The B1G WBB tournament should be there as well. There's no need to put it in a cavernous building when you know the highest the attendance will get is 7-8,000.
March 17th, 2016 at 10:19 PM ^
If both Michigan and MSU are good, 7-8,000 is way too small. I've been to many UM/MSU games at Joe Louis with crowds over 15,000.
I'm sure the same is true for Minnesota/Wisconsin games in the Twin Cities when both teams are good. The problem is as you said, the conference is too spread out geographically to have the tournament anywhere where fans from all 6 schools can reasonably travel to attend.
we're depriving the hockey-playing student-athletes of their spring breaks.
Everything you said is true. But don't you think the conference would be better served by not walking straight into that perfect storm?
Wisconsin scored but PSU just did so it's now 3-1 PSU.
The only people making any noise at this game are the band members.
PSU scores another goal on terrible Wisconsin to make it 4-1 and it looks like Michigan will face PSU for the 3rd conecutive game after sweeping them last weekend.
You don't need to watch this game WD. We're not counting on you right now.
Once there's a compelling NCAA MBB Tournament game on, this thing is being turned off.
We really lucked out on the TV times tomorrow. Hockey plays at 5pm and MBB at 9:40pm. No overlap and it's in the evening so no one will miss either game.
For Hockey fans, it's great because we'll able to catch both. Better off than Friday afternoon when everyone is still at work.
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This is at least when the game is underway and it looks like maybe 200-300 people
Between potentially ruining parts of D1 hockey and football with our expansionism and refusing to put these games on campus sites in defiance of how laughable the above image is (amongst so many others things), I just wonder if Delaney - like Dave Brandon - is a devout follower of Ram Your Head Up Your Own Assism
Rotate it between all the schools like the big ten does with softball.
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2 Michigan will face 3 Penn State tomorrow at 5pm.
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