This is just a rant, but did anyone see todays Mercury News sports page? You would think the Sharks already won the Stanley Cup. The Amount of space given to the Sharks today was about half of what the Quakes got all last season when they won the MLS Cup. BTW, I like the Sharks.
It just means we still have a lot of work to do to establish ourselves as "San Jose's Team". GO FLAMES GO!
I guess I continue to be amused that this surprises people. Let's face it - in the US you have the first tier sports: pointyball, stickball, dunkball and depressingly, golf and bubba-ball (NASCAR). Then you have the second tier sports: tennis, hockey, horseracing, chicks-on-ice, etc. And finally, you have everything else. I'm afraid that soccer falls into that last, cats-and-dogs category. I am not sanguine that this will change during my lifetime, but don't really care. I enjoy the game and as long as a sufficient 'critical mass' of other people around here do, we can maintain a team. It's only when the faithful drop below critical mass (as it seems to be doing in the Bay Area right now) it's a problem...
Here we go again. It's not the media's job to sell the Quakes to the Bay Area, it's the team's job to get the requisite amount of interest established in the team so that the media will cover them. While they did have some attendance problems this year, the Sharks still probably averaged about 17K/game overall. When the Quakes start to do that, we'll get increased coverage.
You'll only have 3 more days to endure the extensive Sharks coverage. Please be patient. It will be all over Monday around 10pm your time.
I love the Sharks. Nabakov (don't know if I spelled it right, sorry) reminds me of Joe Cannon...San Jose sports don't get enough credit or press. The SF Giants, who suck fatly right now, are getting press b/c they suck! The Chronicle has articles on why they suck! Sharks will come back. I'm not worried. Kyle is awesome. Go San Jose!
When I was working as a sports reporter in the early 90's I was having a discussion about hockey/attendence with my colleague in Chicago. He mentioned that the consistent sellout crowds the Sharks got was impressive. I countered by remarking that it must be the same with the Blackhawks. He told me that the Blackhawks' popularity was somewhat mythical--that the consistent crowd was the same core group of fans and that the love of the game/team has never really spread throughout the city. He said the 'Hawks always took a backseat to the Bears, Cubs and Bulls (at that time.) That puts me in mind of our Quakes' situation here. It wouldn't be a bad thing to subsist solely on a loyal core following. It's just too bad our core group isn't 17K instead of 8K.
The Sharks looked pretty good in Calgary. We have a series now. The Sharks will have to win at least one on home ice to get past the Flames.
No, really? At least the Sharks have a winning record on home ice this postseason. PS--LOVE the crowd in Calgary. No, really. Even if they need those inflatable thundersticks (like some WUSA crowd) to equal the natural crowd noise at the Shark Tank. But WTF is this crap about "all of Canada" being behind the Flames? That's what ESPN announcers have said repeatedly. If the situation was reversed -- ie, if the final four was three Canadian teams and, say, the Dallas Starlets -- I certainly wouldn't root for Dallas just because they're the team from the USA. Please tell me the TV announcers are exaggerating this, and that all of Canada isn't really a bunch of nationalistic poofs.
True, but. Canadians are naturalely sensitive about the USA dominating their national sport. The Nords and Jets both moved south and there have been many rumblings about the viability of all Canadian franchies, save Toronto and Montreal.
True, but none of the remaining playoff teams from the USA are relocated Canadian teams. And, while the crowds seem cool this time, we're talking about the same boobs who started booing our national anthem because we had the gall to win the Hockey World Cup in '96.
Speaking of the Flamers, I had to go to downtown SJ around lunch time to get more tix for Saturday at the Quakes office. Afterward, my wife, my mother-in-law and I were walking on Santa Clara St. between San Pedro and Almaden, and who should pass us but Shean Donovan, Jarome Iginla, Andrew Ference, and presumably another Flame. Then, we went to the Brit for lunch, and as we finished up, Don Cherry and Ron MacLean came in for their lunch (for those unfamiliar with hockey, these two are the equivalent of Monday Night Football announcers here). San Pedro Square is decorated quite nicely, BTW.
Ironic, then, that the lone Canadian team left in the playoffs is a relocated team from "South of the Border" (nee: Atlanta Flames).
It looks like this is going to go 7 games as neither team seems to be able to get it right at home. The local rag had a picture of Ricci and Hannah (they both would have no problem fitting into my crowd circa 1977) enjoying Tim Horton's coffee this Saturday. Pity your "fans" booed their team in two of the last three home games. The Calgary being Canada's team is a bit of a joke as they would rate at the very bottom of any popularity poll prior to their little playoff run. Toronto and Montreal have support across the country, especially with the older folks who remember the 6 or even the 12 team NHL. Edmonton generated lots of younger fans 15-20 years ago or so and Vancouver has been fashionable lately.
Hannan mentioned in an interview last year that his favorite is Tim Horton's, and all the players love to go to Canada for that coffee. At least our "fans" don't need inflatable sticks to bang just to make noise. But you're right, the fans are totally sucking at the Tank. Sure, they make great noise before the game or if the Sharks are winning. But did you see how many empty seats there were for the last half of the third period last night? Un-be-*******-lievable. Last night was potentially the last time our "great" fans were going to see the Sharks at home after their best season ever. I had full season tix for years but bagged them after last season, and I'm so glad I wasn't there last night, probably would've gotten in a fight with some a-hole leaving early. Disgusting. At least most of the Flamer fans stayed until the end on Sunday, even though they were losing. If the series goes 7, the Sharks better figure out how to not be losing 2-0 in the first period, as they have in games 1, 2 and 5. This is the part that grates me the most. During the regular season, SJ was by far the best first period team in the NHL, almost doubling the goals of the team that was second best. In all three home games, they've sucked ass in the first period. That's good to hear, because it once again illustrates what a bunch of hyperbolizing, lying, uninformed boobs the ESPN announcers are, trying to make "stories" out of nothing. If CGY wins, good luck in the final.
Those thundersticks were handed out recently, the crowds were loud for the first two series without any props. On that Canada's team topic, the team most deserving of the title is in fact San Jose. They have 16 Cdns starting on that team. Both Calgary and TB hav 15 Cdns each and Philly only have 8 Cdns. Those numbers reflect healthy bodies available. However, none of the final four teams has a Cdn GK; perhaps the mystique of the Quebecois GKs may be wearing off.
But the Quakes do...interesting. Are you watching on TSN or ESPN? I almost fell out of my chair laughing last week (I think it was during Game 1). Towards the end of the game, ESPN ran a graphic showing all four remaining starting goalies, and what countries they were from. Esche (USA) and Kiprusoff (Finland) were fine. But for Khabibulin (Russia) and Nabokov (Kazakhstan), the idiots put "USSR" as their country.
TSN can only carry the Flyers/Lightning series. I am watching the network of the motherland: CBC. You can catch Don Cherry's rants at www.cbc.ca. I would advise blindfolding oneself before launching the video.
I think by technicality they were correct. They were referring to their country of birth and at birth it was still the Soviet Union...but that was a bad reference.
The local paper reported today that over 100,000 Flames flags have been purchased in the city over the past few weeks. That's a lot of merchandise to move in a city close to 1,000,000. Game 6 tonight and the C of Red should be jumping. The Flame's have a Donovan but he has fewer teeth than LD (although I am going out on a limb and saying his father is Cdn too!).