NBA Fans Need Not Apply

Thanks (again!) to another glorious find on The Pensblog, now YOU can own a color- and logo-customized pair of RBK kicks like the one below:

It's actually really kinda cool for about 45 seconds, and yes, the Cats are represented. Made a pretty nice looking shoe by playing with the color options. Retro (Nords, Whale, Jets, Seals, etc.) would be a sweet touch. Embroidered pictures of the team's owner - Ted looks particularly at home above - is an additional $10.

But $90 for what looks to be the absolute bare-bones footware from Reebok? Still, a nice toy for the rabid Alan Cohen fan.

McKeon vs. Leonsis: Can this Possibly Top Burke vs. Lowe?

Caps owner Ted Leonsis holds off Yahoo! Sports editor Ross McKeon in an epic battle for limelight domination.

And the war of words continues. To contract or not to contract. The owner versus the writer.

I won't waste time recapping more or less what Puck Daddy very succinctly captured in his recent column, so to sum up the essence of this bizarre situation thus far, head over to his site or the excellent Barry Melrose Rocks for the details.

Apparently, McKeon wouldn't let the issue die after Leonsis decided to dance. All of this contraction craziness, in a strange way, has led to quite a cornucopia of strong emotions from one side of the blogosphere to the other.

Having been on relatively both sides of the lame-duck-fan coin (relocation of the Mighty Whale, and being a slave to a Panthers club consistently targeted on the web for contraction or a move to Winnipeg), I am a bit biased on this subject. My heart was already ripped out once, and I won't bore anyone with the sordid particulars on Hartford losing it's hockey club in this piece.

Needless to say, I want the Cats to stay right where they are for a very long time. It is not up to me to question Alan Cohen's ultimate plans for his toy, but what more can we as a fanbase do but hope the man is being true to us, and support his efforts here, whether through attending games when financially feasible, or buying the occassional bit of merchandise, or talking up the team on various BBS services, or any other positive action which benefits both the consumer and the seller.

I blog for two reasons: to pimp for - and when called for, against - the team, and because I enjoy the heck out it the relationships created by it. Would I continue doing this if the Cats packed up and shipped out to Hamilton or Kansas City? Or if they ceased to exist at all? I guess I would, only begin targeting other realms of the best game in the world. But I wouldn't be happy initially.

The Whale's exodus in 1997 was not the fault of the fans, or the players, or the local media. There was 93% capacity in their final season, and in fact led the Adams(!) Division at midseason (before the inevitable collapse). Paul Maurice was an assistant coach for the Eastern (Wales?) Conference at the All Star Game that very year. Things looked good, until the carpet was pulled out in March.

Long story short, of course I, and by extension, all NHL fans would feel the sting of contraction in one fashion or another. That's the emotional aspect that's to be expected. The financials are ean entirely different animal (hopefully, a panther).

In any case, watching this Leonsis/McKeon feud has been great fodder for all of us. How far can it go?

Ted Strikes Back

A typical super-fan's rendition of what should be done with the Southeast Division.

For anyone familiar with bulletin boards, talkbacks, and blog comment areas in the hockey universe, the opinion that Florida, Tampa, Washington - heck, the entire Southeast Division, needs to be folded or relocated is no revelation. Especially if you follow and support a team within that division. Or in Nashville. Or Phoenix. (And the Stars get a pass, um, why...?).

It's the same refrain, over and over, from fans in Toronto, and Detroit, and Montreal, and New York, and on and on.

The approximately one billion reasons presented for backing up their remarkably ignorant case run the gamut from "No one goes to the games", to "no one cares about hockey down there", to the gold standard: "There's no support."

It's just sooooo easy to sit up high in your glass arena and toss brickbats at the southern upstarts.

"I am a (Insert name of long-established, never-to-be-relocated, top 15 market team here:) _________ __________ fan who, drunk on my own sense of self-worth, wishes to feel mighty and justifiably superior to those who may "enjoy" the existence of an "organization" who can attract only second-tier talent in an "non-traditional" hockey market. It's so fantastically super-awesome to be a die-hard __________ __________ fan."

I've been a nut for this sport way too long to not notice the sea-change in attitude toward the SE Division. There's a developing "us-vs.-them" mentality brewing, and it's not healthy.

Then along comes Ross McKeon, Yahoo! Sports editor, with his suggestions for the fantastic daily "5 Ways I'd Change the NHL" feature at Puck Daddy.

A firestorm of controversy has erupted from the far corners of fandom in the aftermath. As a fan of the the Southeast Division, I'm used to the non-stop calls for contraction of our teams, but this is a bit much.

Apparently, Alex Ovechkin's financier Ted Leonsis agrees, and he's had enough:

"First, throw away the notion of shuttering six major league teams is just mean-spirited. Those six teams employ thousands and thousands of people and support tens of thousands of families. I guess Ross wants us to lay off all those people in the toughest economy ever. And those teams generate dollars for their cities in taxes and they generate dollars to hundreds and hundreds of small businesses as vendor/ suppliers. All of that would go away and the benefit and glow of a major sports team franchise would leave those cities marked as second rate for a long, long time."

A completely awesome and timely response from a successful owner within our division. By all means click the link above and enjoy a very frank and honest read. Go Ted!