Okay, I'm officially sick of it

[jdog19 0]

Ok...so I jokingly mentioned to a co-worker from Pitt this morning that I'm so confused who to expect to win this series, as before yesterday, it was how good Det was, and now this morning it's the second coming of the Golden Boys.

Not so funny anymore.

Against my better judgement I flipped on Home ICE on XM today. NO MORE! Rob Rossi predicts that not only will Pitt win on Saturday, but that they will ride that momentum back to JLA and 'shock the hockey world' by heading back to Pitt with the chance to close out the Wings in game 6.

People on the freeways in L.A. be forewarned...there may be flying XM radio debris on your way home!

[MSUSpartanfan72 0]

Crosby-Crosby-Crosby

Crosby-Malkin-Crosby

Crosby-Crosby-Crosby

Crosby-Crosby-Crosby

Crosby-Crosby

Crosby-Crosby

Crosby-Crosby

Crosby

Malkin

That was the funniest post I've seen in quite some time... BRAVO!

[Wingman 0]

That was the funniest post I've seen in quite some time... BRAVO!

Now that's a lineup the marketing strategists would like!

[motorcitykid 42]

I understand and agree with everyone defending the coverage of Crosby's coverage being good marketing to non-hockey fans. The problem I have with that is, I couldn't give a s*** less about attracting non-hockey fans. Let them watch baseball. Hockey doesn't need to be marketed to basketball watching ******* where it's a foul for touching a guys wrist. All this crap of trying to grow the NHL and draw in more fans blows goats.

Lets review what it's got us so far:

Suckass expansion teams. Which leads to salary caps to bring parity. Which leads to watered down teams. If you start a team in a "non-traditional" market and there is no fan base to support it, it can wither and die instead of dragging the rest of the league down to it's level.

Glowing pucks so tards that are used to watching slow games like baseball can keep up. (Thank god that's a thing of the past)

Fights taken out of the game so it can become just another ***** sport err I mean mainstream.

An emphasis on scoring so that it will attract more simpletons that think scoring is the only way to have a good game. I've seen some badass 1-0 hockey games. The best period of hockey in this series was the third period of game three and how much scoring went on there? What are they going to do next, award 6 points for a goal and give a guy a shootout chance after each one to attempt an extra point. That way we could be like football and just pretend it's a high scoring game.

Sidney freakin Crosby ad nauseum. (And not even him personally, anybody who is there poster child) The honest truth is, there would be a lot more love for this guy from real hockey fans if they didn't shove him down our throat so much and just let him impress us with his play instead of his press coverage.

As far as I'm concerned they can take their marketing to non-hockey fans and shove it before it destroys the game we love.

I see your point, but it's overkill. No other league has ever pimped out a player this much.

Besides, focusing on one player is bad marketing. People all over the world react the same way when something or someone is shoved in their face at all times: they start to dislike the person, even if there is not legit reason.

Therefore it is always better to have a small core of players who symbolize the new league (i.e. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Crosby, Malkin), and focus on all of them. It makes people think there are more than one player in the league in case they come to hate the sickening devotion to said single player.

So no, we don't have to accept the Crosby love, but we do understand why they are doing it: They are horrible at marketing.

Excellent posts!!

That's what the NHL gets for installing an American, with zero hockey knowledge in the position of damn Commissioner. Yeh, he was real great as basketball Comissioner, huh?

What other job do you get with NO experience, or a clue as to how to do it?

Yeh the owners [some, not all] love him because he's a great lawyer, I guess, but is it any wonder the league is turning to silly gimmicks etc, in HOPES of attracting more fans - which ain't happening!!

[Cern 0]

We can't take it so personally. This is a business and Crosby is going to be the face of the NHL for the next 15 years.

The WHL just keeps sounding more and more appealing...

[Cern 0]

New markets/people probably identify with superstars/well-known players first, hence promoting them to the fullest extent. It's not insulting at all, that's basic marketing. Coke and Pepsi are good examples of this.

That's right, people will instantly forget that Coke and Pepsi ever existed if they stopped making ads about them ad nauseum. It's beyond saturation as is FFS.

[C-TownWing 0]

What are they going to do next, award 6 points for a goal and give a guy a shootout chance after each one to attempt an extra point. That way we could be like football and just pretend it's a high scoring game.

Hilarious...that's the first thing I always mention to people who tell me that hockey doesn't have enough scoring. There are basically the same number of goals in a hockey game as there are touchdowns in a football game, we just don't count them as 6/7 points. Thought I was the only one who noticed!

Anyway, forget about goalie pads, bigger nets, etc. The solution is to change the point value of a goal because people are idiots and will buy it. So from now on, the score of game 3 was 21-14 Pittsburgh.

Back on point: like I've said, I understand what the league is doing and why, but my personal viewpoint is that as long as the NHL is solvent and continues to be there for my enjoyment, I really don't give a crap that it's not as popular as the NBA, NASCAR, golf, tennis, MMA, spelling bee, etc.

[VM1138 1,921]

You know, I'm not so sure Crosby IS the future.

At first I was, but the more I watch him, the more convinced I am that he's going the way of a Kovalchuk or a Lecavalier, both players meant to be "the next Great One" and who, while great amazing players, are not heads and shoulders above anyone else.

I think Crosby falls in their category.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

You know, I'm not so sure Crosby IS the future.

At first I was, but the more I watch him, the more convinced I am that he's going the way of a Kovalchuk or a Lecavalier, both players meant to be "the next Great One" and who, while great amazing players, are not heads and shoulders above anyone else.

I think Crosby falls in their category.

No, he's a great player no doubt. But his whining and complaining all game, and afterwards in the press conferences seperates him from the Yzerman's and Sakic's who never complained to the media. I do not like how he is getting all the spotlight in the Finals, I'm starting to hope AO out does him again next year.

[The Noodle 39 14]

Yea a buddy of mine who watches the Wings from time to time came over and we watched game 3. We were dieing of hysterical laughter because of the Crosby obsession! We laughed so hard at the end of the 1st period when somebody ran up to Crosby before he could even got off the ice and shoved a red microphone in his mouth! LOL we lost it at that point because i myself have never seen an interview on the ice like that lol. I believe every intermission was a story about Crosby as well i dunno we played NHL 08 for the the last intermisson because the laughter died down and we could not take the Crosby infatuation anymore.

They zoomed in and out of his face all friggin nite and it is totally ridiculous!

[hamip1998 3]

Crosby is the face of the league. They are going to pimp him as much as they can. I don't get why this is so difficult for people to either understand or accept.

You pimp your most marketable players/well-known faces to grow the game.

And I can bet that most of you want hockey to be more popular overall in this country or for people in general to at least understand it. What's a way to do that? You pimp your most marketable players. You can't have it both ways to where you want people to stop talking about Sidney Crosby AND the game gets more popular overall. Doesn't work that way.

Sidney Crosby has that tag right now.

Get used to it, it's not that torturous.

SWF, I want to apologize up front. You really do seem like an intelligent and likeable person. You typically step up and are the voice of reason when it seems like most posters are either panicking or wearing their homer glasses.

But really, do you always have to be Mr. Contrary? If that's really how you feel, that's fine and I respect that. Maybe it just stands out to me so much because of some of the knee jerk reactions by other posters to all things that don't go the Wings way.

Hockey is the ULTIMATE team sport. This isn't the NBA where you can have a team made up of one superstar, a second above average player, and the rest of the roster be average to mediocre and make a championship run. Bettman pimping Crosby is like the NBA pimping Shaq or Jordan. It's VERY tiresome. One more way Bettman is attempting to market hockey like it is the NBA.

There are FANTASTIC players throughout the league. BOTH teams in the final have some outstanding players whose names don't sound anything like Crosby or Malkin. The casual fan has a hard time identifying with someone from Europe who doesn't speak the language without an accent. It also doesn't help that most folks didn't grow up playing hockey. The league really needs to work on playing to all of it's strengths (passion, intensity, speed of the game, the toughness and skill of the players) and simplifying the game for newbies. When you hitch your cart to one horse - i.e. If for some reason you lose Crosby or if he doesn't live up to the hype, then the wheels wil come off of the bandwagon and those casual fans will go away.

[ThreeRiversFan 0]

Just got my copy of SI...big Wings article...nothing on the Pens.....

Feel better?

[Yzerfan75 0]

Just got my copy of SI...big Wings article...nothing on the Pens.....

Feel better?

The who?

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

SWF, I want to apologize up front. You really do seem like an intelligent and likeable person. You typically step up and are the voice of reason when it seems like most posters are either panicking or wearing their homer glasses.

But really, do you always have to be Mr. Contrary? If that's really how you feel, that's fine and I respect that. Maybe it just stands out to me so much because of some of the knee jerk reactions by other posters to all things that don't go the Wings way.

Hockey is the ULTIMATE team sport. This isn't the NBA where you can have a team made up of one superstar, a second above average player, and the rest of the roster be average to mediocre and make a championship run. Bettman pimping Crosby is like the NBA pimping Shaq or Jordan. It's VERY tiresome. One more way Bettman is attempting to market hockey like it is the NBA.

There are FANTASTIC players throughout the league. BOTH teams in the final have some outstanding players whose names don't sound anything like Crosby or Malkin. The casual fan has a hard time identifying with someone from Europe who doesn't speak the language without an accent. It also doesn't help that most folks didn't grow up playing hockey. The league really needs to work on playing to all of it's strengths (passion, intensity, speed of the game, the toughness and skill of the players) and simplifying the game for newbies. When you hitch your cart to one horse - i.e. If for some reason you lose Crosby or if he doesn't live up to the hype, then the wheels wil come off of the bandwagon and those casual fans will go away.

No need to apologize to me whatsoever. I try to be a voice of reason and have a middle ground stance when the team might be facing adversity, or getting people to try to consider a more general/overall perspective outside of just the Red Wings, etc. That's probably a good reason why some of my posts seem to always go against the grain on certain subjects, such as panic-attack threads and so forth, or Mr. Contrary in your specific words, which I think I understand.

Honestly, the whole media thing where a lot of the attention/NHL marketing directed towards Crosby does not bother me whatsoever. I'm probably in a minority thinking that, but I have to accept and understand the fact that it bothers plenty of die-hard hockey fans, not just Red Wings fans, not just because it's a case of only OMG WHY DON'T MEDIA TALK ABOUT ZETTERBERG AND DATSYUK, but I do think the league should also consider promoting other stars. Ovechkin has that treatment somewhat as Crosby, but since the Caps got eliminated early and Crosby is the other posterboy, Crosby gets all the attention then. If I pay attention really closely, I'll probably get that it is tiring, but honestly it just doesn't bug me that much to get riled up about it that badly.

I guess my stance is that I wish people would accept that Crosby is going to be one of the main marketing pieces for a long while (assuming he still produces on the ice) since he's only 20, and he's from this continent and move on. But maybe what I am failing to see or accept myself is that people already have accepted this and are maybe not tired of it, but would like to see the NHL do new stuff and promote other players as well, like you said.

At the same time though, I'm pretty sure the NHL wants to try to bring in new fans. We may all make smart-allec remarks how the NHL will never be popular regardless, but they have to at the very least try. Crosby is somebody people can easily identify with I think. He'll be in the league for a while assuming he stays healthy, he has star talent, he's a "Captain/Leader" (whether you think he's a good captain or not, entirely subjective and I'll leave that up to you to decide), he's a good person to start the marketing with. Crosby shouldn't be blamed for that.

Promote other stars more like Ovechkin, Zetterberg, Rick Nash et al? Of course. But realize and we have to live with the almost certain fact that Crosby is going to be one of the leading players of the marketing efforts. I'm definitely for though putting eggs in multiple baskets (marketing more than just 1 or 2 players).

[dallas27 7]

Everyone here needs to take a marketing class. It's going to be non-stop Crosby coverage. You should have known this going into series. And you should not be expecting anything less until Monday when the series comes to an end. Crosby, sans the rapist playoff beard, is a pretty good looking guy, a phenomenal hockey player and YOUNG. Bettman and co. will try to ***** him out to every national media outlet and opportunity they can. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, it ain't going to go away. Get used to it. CROSBY IS THE BEST THING THE NHL HAS GOING FOR THEM IN TERMS OF MAKING MONEY AND GETTING THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE NHL. If Bettman was smart he would tell AO to learn English and clean himself up so he has another person to promote.

And honestly, I don't know why people care so much. Everyone single person on this board knows the team that we have and have had for more than a decade. That is all that matters. Why people insist on every media outlet to write feel-good stories about something we ALREADY KNOW is beyond me.

*edit* SWF I just read "I guess my stance is that I wish people would accept that Crosby is going to be one of the main marketing pieces for a long while (assuming he still produces on the ice) since he's only 20, and he's from this continent and move on. But maybe what I am failing to see or accept myself is that people already have accepted this and are maybe not tired of it, but would like to see the NHL do new stuff and promote other players as well, like you said." and that's all I needed to see to agree.

Edited May 31, 2008 by dallas27

[Cern 0]

CROSBY IS THE BEST THING THE NHL HAS GOING FOR THEM IN TERMS OF MAKING MONEY AND GETTING THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE NHL.

I don't know what that statement makes me want to do more, put a bullet through my head or put one through Crosby's kneecaps. The last three seasons have just been feeling like one long constant ******** from the NHL to anyone who's been following the game since before the lockout.

[Guest NumbaSixty-Six]

I don't know what that statement makes me want to do more, put a bullet through my head or put one through Crosby's kneecaps. The last three seasons have just been feeling like one long constant ******** from the NHL to anyone who's been following the game since before the lockout.

Then clearly you have some personal problems or a chemical imbalance....

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Everyone here needs to take a marketing class. It's going to be non-stop Crosby coverage. You should have known this going into series. And you should not be expecting anything less until Monday when the series comes to an end. Crosby, sans the rapist playoff beard, is a pretty good looking guy, a phenomenal hockey player and YOUNG. Bettman and co. will try to ***** him out to every national media outlet and opportunity they can. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, it ain't going to go away. Get used to it. CROSBY IS THE BEST THING THE NHL HAS GOING FOR THEM IN TERMS OF MAKING MONEY AND GETTING THE WORD OUT ABOUT THE NHL. If Bettman was smart he would tell AO to learn English and clean himself up so he has another person to promote.

And honestly, I don't know why people care so much. Everyone single person on this board knows the team that we have and have had for more than a decade. That is all that matters. Why people insist on every media outlet to write feel-good stories about something we ALREADY KNOW is beyond me.

*edit* SWF I just read "I guess my stance is that I wish people would accept that Crosby is going to be one of the main marketing pieces for a long while (assuming he still produces on the ice) since he's only 20, and he's from this continent and move on. But maybe what I am failing to see or accept myself is that people already have accepted this and are maybe not tired of it, but would like to see the NHL do new stuff and promote other players as well, like you said." and that's all I needed to see to agree.

Based on that, Zetterberg is the one who should be marketed.

He's also young, is a better all-around player than Crosby, plays for a better team than Crosby, is a lot better looking than Crosby, and isn't a little whining ***** like Crosby is.

Also, Hank speaks English well enough to understand him. He should be the one marketed.

Besides, what the hell does Bettman know about marketing? He couldn't run a hot-dog stand.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I don't know what that statement makes me want to do more, put a bullet through my head or put one through Crosby's kneecaps. The last three seasons have just been feeling like one long constant ******** from the NHL to anyone who's been following the game since before the lockout.

How so? I really don't have much of a problem following the game right now.

[dallas27 7]

Based on that, Zetterberg is the one who should be marketed.

He's also young, is a better all-around player than Crosby, plays for a better team than Crosby, is a lot better looking than Crosby, and isn't a little whining ***** like Crosby is.

Also, Hank speaks English well enough to understand him. He should be the one marketed.

Besides, what the hell does Bettman know about marketing? He couldn't run a hot-dog stand.

Based on that, it's a homer thing to say, but that's what I would expect. And 5 pages on this makes everyone in this thread a little whining ***** just like Crosby even though none of you want to hear that.

Zetterberg is not nearly as young (seven years is quite a difference, Crosby is TWENTY), and while he is a better complete hockey player he is not as flashy or marketable as Crosby or AO in the "new NHL" He's the captain of a team at twenty, was the MVP, "led" his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, everything points in his direction to as why they should market him.

It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp. And again, why everyone is ready to jump off a cliff because this team and it's players don't get enough love from all the media is beyond me. Listen to 97.1 if you constantly want to hear about how great the Wings are but even then every caller ******* about Crosby too.

What is more important, what happens ON the ice or OFF the ice? Wrap your finger around that one for a little bit.

And what is even funnier is when people say "OH, I like it when everyone doesn't pick us to win." Well which one is it. Do you not want them to pick the Wings or do you want them to write every article on them? Can't have your cake and eat it too.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Based on that, it's a homer thing to say, but that's what I would expect. And 5 pages on this makes everyone in this thread a little whining ***** just like Crosby even though none of you want to hear that.

Zetterberg is not nearly as young (seven years is quite a difference, Crosby is TWENTY), and while he is a better complete hockey player he is not as flashy or marketable as Crosby or AO in the "new NHL" He's the captain of a team at twenty, was the MVP, "led" his team to the Stanley Cup Finals, everything points in his direction to as why they should market him.

It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp. And again, why everyone is ready to jump off a cliff because this team and it's players don't get enough love from all the media is beyond me. Listen to 97.1 if you constantly want to hear about how great the Wings are but even then every caller ******* about Crosby too.

What is more important, what happens ON the ice or OFF the ice? Wrap your finger around that one for a little bit.

And what is even funnier is when people say "OH, I like it when everyone doesn't pick us to win." Well which one is it. Do you not want them to pick the Wings or do you want them to write every article on them? Can't have your cake and eat it too.

Beautifully put, especially your last 3 blurbs/paragraphs.

[eva unit zero 271]

You know, I'm not so sure Crosby IS the future.

At first I was, but the more I watch him, the more convinced I am that he's going the way of a Kovalchuk or a Lecavalier, both players meant to be "the next Great One" and who, while great amazing players, are not heads and shoulders above anyone else.

I think Crosby falls in their category.

I compared a pre-draft Crosby's future potential as closer to Pat LaFontaine than Steve Yzerman. So far, all he's done is back up that assessment of his talent, although he hasn't had to play behind established stars (Brian Trottier) as Patty La did.

[sjradio 0]

I got the XM radio out of my car and hooked it up to my stereo. I muted the TV audio and I'm going to delay the TV video with my TIVO

[Cern 0]

Then clearly you have some personal problems or a chemical imbalance....

I'm embellishing, but it really is starting to turn me off from the league. The NHL seems to continuously promote the notion that unless you're south of the Mason-Dixie or constantly sucking Crosby's penis, it dosen't give a flying f***. If they're growing increasingly disinterested in my monetary/viewing contributions as someone north of the border, I'm growing increasingly disinterested in providing them.

[Kp-Wings 3]

Crosby is lazy and he sucks™