Over the past couple of decades, the National Hockey League has made several rules changes in efforts to make the game more appealing. While I think some of the changes have had a positive effect, I think there some changes that still could be made to improve the game and its appeal, especially to new fans.
This is my "if I were Commissioner" list of changes that I think would increase scoring, please fans, and make the game easier to understand. I guess this is really the list of things that annoy me most about the NHL right now. In no particular order:
1) Restore the crease back to a simple semicircle. Back in the 90s, the NHL instituted a new rule that made it illegal for an offensive player to enter the crease at all before the puck. Then the NHL decided that the violations were occurring too frequently, resulting in too many disallowed goals, so they made the crease smaller by chopping off the sides. So now the crease has this ridiculous squared-off semi-circle shape. But the crease violation rule was dropped years ago. The original semi-circle, which is still used everywhere else in the world, should be brought back to the NHL, if only to make it more consistent with international arenas. It would not effect the play, but it would make the NHL look less silly.
2) Remove the "trapezoid" behind the net. This rule was instituted several years ago to prevent goalies from clearing the puck out of the zone every time the offensive team tried the "dump and chase" tactic. In reality, I don't think this has made any real difference in the amount of offense. If anything, it slows down the play because instead of the goalie being able to make an up-ice pass from the corner, he is forced to wait for a teammate to skate all the way to the corner to retrieve the puck. The extra lines add more confusing lines to an already busy ice surface, and it's one more way the NHL differs from hockey everywhere else, including all levels of amateur hockey in the USA.
3) Restore icing calls on the penalty kill. I never understood this rule. Icing is called when the puck is shot from the defensive side of the center ice line all the way past the far goal line and no defending players have a chance to play the puck. But, if your team takes a penalty, you get the privilege of icing the puck at will with no recourse. In my opinion, a penalty is punishment, and the penalized team does not deserve any extra privileges. This would have several effects. It would increase power play scoring due to increased time in the offensive zone. It would speed up the game during power plays because there would be less of the advantaged team "re-grouping" behind their own net. It would eventually decrease the number of penalties, because when the power play effectiveness percentages rise from the current ~18% to 30% or more, players would have to learn to be more disciplined and take fewer penalties.
4) Restore O/T back to regular 5-on-5 play. The 4-on-4 overtime was an attempt to increase decided games. I don't think it necessarily has that effect, and it changes the entire complexion of the game. This means that the forwards have to play differently from how they normally play, and their teammates are not going to be where they might instinctively expect them to be. Also, this is one more idiosyncrasy of the game that requires extra explanation to casual audiences. The shootout already ensures there are no ties, so I don't think there is any reason to mess with the game in Overtime.
5) Go back to home whites. OK, this one doesn't really affect the game, but it sure would make a lot of long-time fans happy. The dark home/away white system has always seemed unnatural to me. And it has not transferred to any other league. I don't know why they made the change. I can only assume they thought it would somehow lead to more sales of jerseys or something, but I don't see how it really made anything better. Good guys wear white. Let the home team wear white.
Overall, the NHL needs to simplify rather than complicate. Every rule they make that adds another exception to an existing rule makes the game harder to understand for new fans. And new fans will be driven away by rules they don't understand. Simplify the ice layout, simplify the way rules are enforced, keep the game moving and keep scoring up. This is how to grow the game.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Kill The Ticker!
It's 2010. Just about everyone has internet access. Many have internet access on their phones. There is nearly unlimited access to timely information at hand everywhere you go. Yet, it seems that TV channels, and especially sport channels, still think we need a ticker-tape across the bottom of the screen giving us constant updates on scores or other news.
There are two main reasons why these tickers suck:
1) They use up valuable screen real estate that could be used to show more of the game we are trying to watch.
2) Sometimes I watch or record replays of games, and most channels have yet to figure out that when they replay a game, it is NOT a good idea to have the ticker at the bottom of the screen show the FINAL SCORE of the game we are watching!
This latter issue drives me insane. The other day, a friend told me I should watch the Penguins/Capitals hockey game from earlier that day because it was really exciting. I found it being replayed on the NHL Channel (at 2 AM that night) and set my DVR to record it. I watched it for about 5 minutes the next day before they flashed the final score of the game across the bottom of the screen! Thanks for ruining it for me! What's the point of showing the replay if you are going to spoil the end??
So far, only NESN, the Boston RSN that carries the Bruins, has shown enough forethought to avoid showing the final score of the game during a replay. They do waste screen area on other updates, but at least they don't spoil the ending of the game I'm watching. The NHL Channel doesn't get it. The NY MSG channels don't get it. Fox Sports channels don't get it. When I record a re-play of a game on one of these stupid channels, I have to set up a big box in front of the TV to block out the update ticker so I can actually enjoy the games. Yes, it is ridiculous that I have to do this.
File this under "D" for "duh."
There are two main reasons why these tickers suck:
1) They use up valuable screen real estate that could be used to show more of the game we are trying to watch.
2) Sometimes I watch or record replays of games, and most channels have yet to figure out that when they replay a game, it is NOT a good idea to have the ticker at the bottom of the screen show the FINAL SCORE of the game we are watching!
This latter issue drives me insane. The other day, a friend told me I should watch the Penguins/Capitals hockey game from earlier that day because it was really exciting. I found it being replayed on the NHL Channel (at 2 AM that night) and set my DVR to record it. I watched it for about 5 minutes the next day before they flashed the final score of the game across the bottom of the screen! Thanks for ruining it for me! What's the point of showing the replay if you are going to spoil the end??
So far, only NESN, the Boston RSN that carries the Bruins, has shown enough forethought to avoid showing the final score of the game during a replay. They do waste screen area on other updates, but at least they don't spoil the ending of the game I'm watching. The NHL Channel doesn't get it. The NY MSG channels don't get it. Fox Sports channels don't get it. When I record a re-play of a game on one of these stupid channels, I have to set up a big box in front of the TV to block out the update ticker so I can actually enjoy the games. Yes, it is ridiculous that I have to do this.
File this under "D" for "duh."
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Big Move - 2001
In the summer of 2001, I was working as a consultant for Prudential when I was told that my contract would be ending several months earlier than expected. I had spent the previous month purchasing the townhouse that my wife and I had been living in for three years, and now it was three of us as my first son was coming up on his first birthday.
Prudential had offered me a permanent job, but it required relocation to a new office in Scottsdale, AZ, so I had emphatically turned it down. I was not a big fan of hot weather. I should mention that there is some irony in this, as I was specifically working for Prudential's relocation services business. So, I started looking for a job in vicinity of our home in Danbury, CT. The only suitable positions I could find were in Manhattan, and with a new child in the family, I was not ready to commit to spending 2 hours or more of every week day commuting to NYC. So, roughly 1 week after finally closing on the townhouse in Danbury, I accepted the job with Prudential and started planning the move to Arizona.
In September of 2001, we took a trip to Arizona and spent a week shopping for a new home. We found a place that was absolutely perfect for us, and managed to get a deal in place before we headed home.
Since I had waited until the last minute, I missed out on the relocation benefits that were originally offered with the job, so I had to fund the move myself. Being the cheapskate that I am, I shopped around for a long time to find the least expensive way to get our stuff from Connecticut to Arizona. I settled on a company based in New York City that seemed to be somewhat reputable.
When I set up the transportation for my belongings, they urged me to purchase moving insurance. It was about $500, and it would cover any damage to our property that might occur during the move. I finally agreed to purchase the insurance, and they billed my credit card for it. H0wever, a few days later I spoke to my insurance agent (who happened to work near me at the Prudential office) and he pointed out that I already had coverage through my regular homeowner's policy. I called the moving company back and canceled the insurance, and they agreed to refund the premium that I had paid.
The movers came and packed everything up and took it away at the beginning of October, 2001. Then I flew to Arizona to start my job and receive our furniture and belongings when it all arrived, while Amey and the baby went to her Mom's house. The plan was for them to meet me in Phoenix after all of our furniture was there and appliances were in place.
About 10 days after the movers took our stuff, I call the moving company to find out where it is. It was still sitting New York! I said it was supposed to be delivered within 12 days, and they insisted that it was just an estimate, and that it might be several more weeks before I would get it. I was obviously irritated, and I finally persuaded them to find a way to get my stuff on its way to Phoenix immediately.
The next call I got from the movers was several days later. They said "there was a problem with the truck." The truck had been in an accident. I ask "How bad of an accident? Was my stuff damaged?" They did not have details, but they confirmed that there was "some damage" to my property. They would still deliver it in a few days, and then I would need to assess the damage at home.
Obviously, I was pretty freaked out at this point. I had no idea what to expect. I figured it was a probably a small accident, and most of my stuff would be OK. The moving company did not seem too panicked about it, so I hoped for the best.
A week or so later, the movers finally showed up in Phoenix. At this point, I had been sleeping on a borrowed air mattress in my empty living room for 2 weeks waiting for the rest of our furniture.
The driver of the moving truck explained to me that the it was not just a small accident. He had fallen asleep at the wheel and the truck went off the road and tumbled into a ditch in Tennessee. The had to rent a replacement truck to cart the stuff back to me. And then they opened the truck door to reveal a mess of unrecognizable junk. Shards of plastic and wood, torn boxes, garbage bags full of who-knows-what. Apparently, a lot of stuff escaped the truck in the accident, so they picked up anything that was on the side of the road and returned it to me. We never found any trace of our Christmas tree ornaments, but we did gain some old beer cans and some other colorful rubbish.
As they unloaded it, I stood by in disbelief, sometimes laughing at the absurdity of it, sometimes furious. They unloaded a sofa that looked like someone had hit it with a giant hammer right in the middle. Our washer and dryer, nearly new top-of-the-line models, were squashed into parallelograms. We had a crib that seemed to have completely disappeared other than a few pieces of wood that looked like they might have been part of it at one time. Every single piece of furniture we owned was damaged or completely destroyed (mostly the latter). My new 3-car-garage was now completely filled with junk.
The driver said he had had some dental work one, so he was on painkillers, and the heat in the truck did not work, so he was very cold and just could not stay awake. His partner was sleeping on the floor of the cab at the time of the crash. Somehow both of them were unhurt. The driver seemed to be looking for sympathy from he. I assure you, he got none. I could not even feign it at this point.
This is the unfortunate driver.
This used to be a nice dresser.
The only good to come of all this was that my homeowner's insurance policy had a replacement-value rider, which meant that Prudential would be purchasing furniture to replace all of what we had lost. An adjuster would be coming in the next few days to assess the damages (a full day's work!). Meanwhile, I had not received the refund for the canceled moving insurance policy that I had purchased through the moving company. It was actually kind of fun telling them that if they did not issue the credit within 3 days, that I would make the damages claim against them, and they would be buying me an entire house full of furniture instead. I got my money back shortly after that call.
Phoenix has a bulk trash pickup program, where they will come around with a loader and a bigger truck and take large stuff that will not go in regular trash cans once every three months. Luckily for me, our street was due for such a pick-up a couple of weeks after this debacle occurred. I made a great first impression with my neighbors by completely filling my front yard with junk that week.
Amey and the baby showed up a few days later, and we started shopping for furniture and appliances for our new home. We used our Costco American Express card for all of the purchases, and rang up a very nice rebate at the end of the year. Prudential came through with generous valuations for our stuff and even paid us quickly after we filled out the forms for the claims. Unfortunately, Pru got out of the property insurance business a year or two later.
So that was the inauspicious beginning of our life in Phoenix. Fortunately, things have gone much better since then. I was even able to sell the townhouse in Danbury about 5 months after purchasing it at a profit of about 25%.
Prudential had offered me a permanent job, but it required relocation to a new office in Scottsdale, AZ, so I had emphatically turned it down. I was not a big fan of hot weather. I should mention that there is some irony in this, as I was specifically working for Prudential's relocation services business. So, I started looking for a job in vicinity of our home in Danbury, CT. The only suitable positions I could find were in Manhattan, and with a new child in the family, I was not ready to commit to spending 2 hours or more of every week day commuting to NYC. So, roughly 1 week after finally closing on the townhouse in Danbury, I accepted the job with Prudential and started planning the move to Arizona.
In September of 2001, we took a trip to Arizona and spent a week shopping for a new home. We found a place that was absolutely perfect for us, and managed to get a deal in place before we headed home.
Since I had waited until the last minute, I missed out on the relocation benefits that were originally offered with the job, so I had to fund the move myself. Being the cheapskate that I am, I shopped around for a long time to find the least expensive way to get our stuff from Connecticut to Arizona. I settled on a company based in New York City that seemed to be somewhat reputable.
When I set up the transportation for my belongings, they urged me to purchase moving insurance. It was about $500, and it would cover any damage to our property that might occur during the move. I finally agreed to purchase the insurance, and they billed my credit card for it. H0wever, a few days later I spoke to my insurance agent (who happened to work near me at the Prudential office) and he pointed out that I already had coverage through my regular homeowner's policy. I called the moving company back and canceled the insurance, and they agreed to refund the premium that I had paid.
The movers came and packed everything up and took it away at the beginning of October, 2001. Then I flew to Arizona to start my job and receive our furniture and belongings when it all arrived, while Amey and the baby went to her Mom's house. The plan was for them to meet me in Phoenix after all of our furniture was there and appliances were in place.
About 10 days after the movers took our stuff, I call the moving company to find out where it is. It was still sitting New York! I said it was supposed to be delivered within 12 days, and they insisted that it was just an estimate, and that it might be several more weeks before I would get it. I was obviously irritated, and I finally persuaded them to find a way to get my stuff on its way to Phoenix immediately.
The next call I got from the movers was several days later. They said "there was a problem with the truck." The truck had been in an accident. I ask "How bad of an accident? Was my stuff damaged?" They did not have details, but they confirmed that there was "some damage" to my property. They would still deliver it in a few days, and then I would need to assess the damage at home.
Obviously, I was pretty freaked out at this point. I had no idea what to expect. I figured it was a probably a small accident, and most of my stuff would be OK. The moving company did not seem too panicked about it, so I hoped for the best.
A week or so later, the movers finally showed up in Phoenix. At this point, I had been sleeping on a borrowed air mattress in my empty living room for 2 weeks waiting for the rest of our furniture.
The driver of the moving truck explained to me that the it was not just a small accident. He had fallen asleep at the wheel and the truck went off the road and tumbled into a ditch in Tennessee. The had to rent a replacement truck to cart the stuff back to me. And then they opened the truck door to reveal a mess of unrecognizable junk. Shards of plastic and wood, torn boxes, garbage bags full of who-knows-what. Apparently, a lot of stuff escaped the truck in the accident, so they picked up anything that was on the side of the road and returned it to me. We never found any trace of our Christmas tree ornaments, but we did gain some old beer cans and some other colorful rubbish.
As they unloaded it, I stood by in disbelief, sometimes laughing at the absurdity of it, sometimes furious. They unloaded a sofa that looked like someone had hit it with a giant hammer right in the middle. Our washer and dryer, nearly new top-of-the-line models, were squashed into parallelograms. We had a crib that seemed to have completely disappeared other than a few pieces of wood that looked like they might have been part of it at one time. Every single piece of furniture we owned was damaged or completely destroyed (mostly the latter). My new 3-car-garage was now completely filled with junk.
The driver said he had had some dental work one, so he was on painkillers, and the heat in the truck did not work, so he was very cold and just could not stay awake. His partner was sleeping on the floor of the cab at the time of the crash. Somehow both of them were unhurt. The driver seemed to be looking for sympathy from he. I assure you, he got none. I could not even feign it at this point.
This is the unfortunate driver.
This used to be a nice dresser.
The only good to come of all this was that my homeowner's insurance policy had a replacement-value rider, which meant that Prudential would be purchasing furniture to replace all of what we had lost. An adjuster would be coming in the next few days to assess the damages (a full day's work!). Meanwhile, I had not received the refund for the canceled moving insurance policy that I had purchased through the moving company. It was actually kind of fun telling them that if they did not issue the credit within 3 days, that I would make the damages claim against them, and they would be buying me an entire house full of furniture instead. I got my money back shortly after that call.
Phoenix has a bulk trash pickup program, where they will come around with a loader and a bigger truck and take large stuff that will not go in regular trash cans once every three months. Luckily for me, our street was due for such a pick-up a couple of weeks after this debacle occurred. I made a great first impression with my neighbors by completely filling my front yard with junk that week.
Amey and the baby showed up a few days later, and we started shopping for furniture and appliances for our new home. We used our Costco American Express card for all of the purchases, and rang up a very nice rebate at the end of the year. Prudential came through with generous valuations for our stuff and even paid us quickly after we filled out the forms for the claims. Unfortunately, Pru got out of the property insurance business a year or two later.
So that was the inauspicious beginning of our life in Phoenix. Fortunately, things have gone much better since then. I was even able to sell the townhouse in Danbury about 5 months after purchasing it at a profit of about 25%.
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