Nonlinear FC wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 3:20 pm
I dunno man, it's not like someone that wakes up one day and decides they are a ManCity fan.
It wasn't one day, and it wasn't that fucking Blue, but I chose Man U as my team because they offered free radio calls of their games at the time. It was a great thing to have on in the background on a work afternoon. Didn't hurt that was around the time Giggs/beckham/Scholes et al were winning a bunch, but it was just so much easier to get into them because their online presence was so much better than what others had.
Assuming this was more about someone who isn't AB, mine was, more or less, one day and it was because they invested in NYCFC. Before that I was scheduled to be a Tottenham fan but then the sale to the Yankees consortium didn't happen. Like I decided "ok, I guess this is my team* now" without any idea about Aguero and 93:20 and all that. I likely didn't even know who Aguero unless he featured in the prior World Cup. I am simply blessed by coincidence and a love of baby blue uniforms.
* I now say "club". Progress.
I think it happens a LOT with European soccer and I totally get it, especially back before so much soccer was blasting across our screens like it is now. I mean, I spent at least 2 or 3 years closely following the Eredivisie (the fact I can spell it without thinking proves the point) and Argentinian soccer is down to the fact that Fox Soccer (or whatever that channel was called) had those leagues on full display.
Or before that, us oldheads were learning about the game watching Soccer Made in Germany, for cripes sake.
But, no, I'm talking about a specific type of fan that is located in an area where they have local teams they can root for, but they choose to find the most successful franchises and then go all in. Looking back, it's like saying ppl shouldn't like popular TV shows... It's a pretty silly thing to get worked up about.
I was a Lions fan for many years. It just got old. I like that they are looking like they are turning the corner, and I respect folks that moved out of that area and still stuck with them. Not my fucking deal. I've got enough angst following the mostly successful teams I follow... If you are a constant source of misery an drudgery... Can only deal with that for so many years before you have to legitimately question the point of all that.
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
mister d wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 4:21 pm
They came in at the right time (relative to Seattle) and took advantage. Vegas getting 1/3 of the league to attempt symbiotic trades is to their credit, but the reason they were able to do that is very clearly because of the reduced protection slots.
I’m saying the Internet exists and you can go back post-expansion draft and look at every major NHL writer/publication and the total consensus was they were going to suck. I hope that’s not up for debate.
Oh, I’m not debating that part, just that the draft was skewed towards much quicker success and directly set up the current team. If anything teams fucked up (or were directed by the league) when it came to Seattle. If you can protect an extra guy you like for multiple years and dump a salary, that’s far more value on a 1st than you’ll get at the deadline. Or you could just hand over Shea Theodore like idiots.
Johnnie wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
mister d wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 7:01 pm
Oh, I’m not debating that part, just that the draft was skewed towards much quicker success and directly set up the current team. If anything teams fucked up (or were directed by the league) when it came to Seattle. If you can protect an extra guy you like for multiple years and dump a salary, that’s far more value on a 1st than you’ll get at the deadline. Or you could just hand over Shea Theodore like idiots.
I think we’re largely on the same page. Yes the VGK/SEA expansion rules were obviously more favorable than previous ones but getting to draft a bunch of third-line wingers and second-pair defensemen wasn’t seen as some winning strategy. Vegas and Seattle both did well with different strategies but their success wasn’t exactly pre-ordained. In fact remember Seattle only had 60 pts (-ish) their first year.
Look rush is totally being a little too agro about brian deciding to support VGK and has been for years but brian totally ran away before game 7 in 2009 and was like “I have very cool important shit to do don’t judge me when my team loses to an ascendant Pens team and I don’t post for a week afterwards” so I feel rush just a little or at least snicker at brian under my breath.
It’s also hard to know how I’d feel if I moved and suddenly lived within ~7 miles of an NHL franchise that had infinite available tickets and was better than the one I’d rooted for my whole life.
Johnnie wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
mister d wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 9:31 pm
It’s also hard to know how I’d feel if I moved and suddenly lived within ~7 miles of an NHL franchise that had infinite available tickets and was better than the one I’d rooted for my whole life.
Again not to shit on your general point, which is fair, but you should probably research the resale price of VGK tix.
(The reason for insane prices for VGK tix is complex and definitely impacted by visiting fans but the fact that a 18000 seat arena is usually 80 percent local fans despite the extortionate prices is evidence of a solid fan base.
mister d wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 11:30 pm
I live less than 7 miles from the Devils. That’s all that was.
Ok. Gotcha. Again not to get too deep in the weeds but you’re a lifelong NYR fan and are a train ride or two from them and NJD are a hated rival of NY.
I truly don’t care and, knowing I’ll regret opening this can … it’s far more relatable to say “eh, I like this other team more now in my spare time” than home-team twisting all of that Deflator shit.
You guys should arm wrestle.
Johnnie wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
I'd guess that the NHL wants to keep them in the west for geographical balance. So, Houston or Salt Lake City are probably more likely destinations than Quebec or Atlanta, if they move.
Yeah, I'm old enough to have actually seen an Atlanta game in person. Tickers were, um... Not difficult to obtain. (My gramma lived in Hotlanta, so I spent a good chunk of my childhood summers there.)
You can lead a horse to fish, but you can't fish out a horse.
sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 1:41 pm
I'd guess that the NHL wants to keep them in the west for geographical balance. So, Houston or Salt Lake City are probably more likely destinations than Quebec or Atlanta, if they move.
East-West thing is so overrated. It does not have to be this way.
Move to Quebec City, make a Canadian division. Then make 3 divisions for the US teams. Keep divisions only for a scheduling but have a single points table. Then do a 1-16 bracketed playoff. (even have 15th to 18th place play in games)
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 1:41 pm
I'd guess that the NHL wants to keep them in the west for geographical balance. So, Houston or Salt Lake City are probably more likely destinations than Quebec or Atlanta, if they move.
East-West thing is so overrated. It does not have to be this way.
Move to Quebec City, make a Canadian division. Then make 3 divisions for the US teams. Keep divisions only for a scheduling but have a single points table. Then do a 1-16 bracketed playoff. (even have 15th to 18th place play in games)
As fun as the Canadian division was/would be, the travel would be insane.
sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 1:41 pm
I'd guess that the NHL wants to keep them in the west for geographical balance. So, Houston or Salt Lake City are probably more likely destinations than Quebec or Atlanta, if they move.
East-West thing is so overrated. It does not have to be this way.
Move to Quebec City, make a Canadian division. Then make 3 divisions for the US teams. Keep divisions only for a scheduling but have a single points table. Then do a 1-16 bracketed playoff. (even have 15th to 18th place play in games)
As fun as the Canadian division was/would be, the travel would be insane.
It would be better than the COVID year.
Road trips will be combined. Like Calgary could play in Toronto/Montreal and games in New York.
It's just crazy to me that location of teams is dependent on an arbitrary structure.
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
a) It's not hard: slide Detroit to the Metro, slide Columbus to the Central, and put that team in Quebec City for fucks sake and drop 'em in the Adams (er, Atlantic) division. First one that says the phrase "grow the game" around me is getting a mailbox full of my dog's used poop bags. Canadian franchises quite literally prop up the rest of the league financially and have forever.
a') i admit that i just had to look up the actual names of the divisions - i still don't remember them. boring.
a'') i know it's not happening.
b) if they do move to Houston and they don't name them the Aeros then shut the whole goddamn operation down already.
sancarlos wrote: ↑Wed May 17, 2023 5:27 pm
From a travel perspective, I’m sure Columbus or Detroit would pitch a big fit if they were told they have to move to the Western Conference.
Like when did Columbus ever matter. Detroit and Toronto were in the Norris Division for years!
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
re: old Norris -> truth, which is why i still find a soft spot for the Leafs (at least historically-so). Was easy to root for a shitty franchise in each conference
but Columbus/Detroit - geographically I think they're closer to at least what, Nashville/St Louis/Chicago than a bunch of those liberal effete northeast teams, not to mention Florida. But seriously I think it's more about the time zones anyways...?
(doesn't matter - of course we know it's going/staying south)
The four candidates are Houston, Salt Lake City, Kansas City and Sacramento. The problem is, Houston, Salt Lake City and Quebec City want expansion franchises, not relocated ones. Which begs the question, is the NHL really expanding? There is no league that has more than 32 teams, heck MLB and NBA can't even get past 30. The NFL last expanded to 32 teams in 2002. The NFL is a league that could have 50 teams and even they are hesitant. What makes the NHL think it can dilute it's awful product even more?
Kung Fu movies are like porn. There's 1 on 1, then 2 on 1, then a group scene..
A fun thought exercise is which teams would be better if they (singularly) got to wipe their roster and do an expansion draft with the 1/3/7 protection terms.
Johnnie wrote: ↑Sat Sep 10, 2022 8:13 pmOh shit, you just reminded me about toilet paper.
