[A] Mental Tax: CHI 2, COL 5

[Rex]

I told you 2 years ago that the BS that was going on would trickle down and eventually impact the product on the ice because it would find it's way into the locker room. 51 called it out when he left and was interviewed before the Hawk/Panther game.



Why did Torch leave? Really? Those that could leave, did after the BS that occurred with the dismissal of the GM as a result of the McDonough/Bowman plan.

yup, and I called it this summer to watch for our current roster to slowly trickle away, back to Dale to play fun hockey in Florida.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

I wouldn't be suprised to see Shane O'Brien come here, since his name is popping up in the trade rumors and he is going to be a free agent this year. I think he would be a good addition from whats left out there.

 

[Rex]

I wouldn't be suprised to see Shane O'Brien come here, since his name is popping up in the trade rumors and he is going to be a free agent this year. I think he would be a good addition from whats left out there.

are you Special person? The guy is a penalty magnet. Our PK is terrible, and Shane does nothing but take terrible penalties at key times. Only thing good about him is that he paid Ron.

 

[R K]

I told you 2 years ago that the BS that was going on would trickle down and eventually impact the product on the ice because it would find it's way into the locker room. 51 called it out when he left and was interviewed before the Hawk/Panther game.



Why did Torch leave? Really? Those that could leave, did after the BS that occurred with the dismissal of the GM as a result of the McDonough/Bowman plan.

Most of us took Dudley's comments to heart.



This is an example of the asshole in charge.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

are you Special person? The guy is a penalty magnet. Our PK is terrible, and Shane does nothing but take terrible penalties at key times. Only thing good about him is that he paid Ron.

because the players we have on the blue line are any better? he is added depth.





Oh and almost forgot get Nabby from the N.Y while were are looking for help.

 

[Rex]

because the players we have on the blue line are any better? he is added depth.





Oh and almost forgot get Nabby from the N.Y while were are looking for help.

so a penalty magnet and a big game flop? Boy am I glad you're not GM.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

so a penalty magnet and a big game flop? Boy am I glad you're not GM.

Im not even going to bother....its not worth it.

 

[Chief Walking Stick]

Hire pat quinn!!!!

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

Hire pat quinn!!!!

I really think this team should consider looking at Dominick H. as the goalie coach next season, among others. Also on Q, I think the team needs a new coach a change in the system of playing. He was good when he first came, but its been very predictable on what he is doing on the ice..and IMO the players lost him. the fire is burining out.

 

[xatruio]

You tell 'em Shade! lol



Remember how they were sucking last year and then Havi took over and started righting the ship by getting the first 4 wins of their 8 game streak under his belt? How he calmed things the **** down? Good times. That streak was the best strecth of hockey they played with the Purge Roster.

i mentioned how giving Havi more control or the reign entirely might calm the boys down (especially the ones he coached in the minors) and someone reamed me for it haha



also, Stalberg is improving his d game even, so now even when he isnt scoring i love him not just because im giving him a chance on potential offensive threat like before, but for just being there using his speed to get back in his own zone now.

 

[bookjones]

i mentioned how giving Havi more control or the reign entirely might calm the boys down (especially the ones he coached in the minors) and someone reamed me for it haha



also, Stalberg is improving his d game even, so now even when he isnt scoring i love him not just because im giving him a chance on potential offensive threat like before, but for just being there using his speed to get back in his own zone now.

Say what? Who would be anti-Havi? Perish the thought. I personally have always been anti-Q and pro-Havi (seeing as we can't have Bylsma or Babcock, heh). As noted before, success and winning have always followed Havi during his coaching career. But we can't have nice things in Hawks nation since the Cup so I suspect that our luck will eventually run out and someone will poach Havi from us maybe this coming offseason and they will keep on keepin' on with Q until everyone in Hawks nation learns the HARD way that Blues and Avs nations did what it's like to see him slowly bleed out a team despite having some measure of talent on the roster.



How folks can look at other teams who have less talent, less Cap but more system and more actual fucking coaching and think this is all on Stan as if he's handed Q just a roster of garbage is beyond me. This is the post-lockout NHL world---NO ONE gets to duplicate the depth of talent on the Hawks Cup roster for the forseeable future. Too many confluence of "just right" events and circumstances got us that. What you have to do is define your CORE, concede to it being top-heavy in terms of your Cap, be willing to pay to the Cap ceiling and then yeah, you have to have a bunch of support players who are young or old but are cheap. That's pretty much the deal unless a new CBA changes that. Therefore you have to learn to fucking DEAL with what you do have and make sure you get the most out of the talent you do have. . .you know, strategize, analyze, adjust. . .C-O-A-C-H.



I am so fucking tired of Q getting a pass with the admittedly lamebrain Hawks mainstream media beat while every other sport franchise Head Coach in this city historically gets to have their ass handed to them by the press and the fans and who's decisions and strategies are questioned ALL the time whether their team is technically successful or losing.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

Say what? Who would be anti-Havi? Perish the thought. I personally have always been anti-Q and pro-Havi (seeing as we can't have Bylsma or Babcock, heh). As noted before, success and winning have always followed Havi during his coaching career. But we can't have nice things in Hawks nation since the Cup so I suspect that our luck will eventually run out and someone will poach Havi from us maybe this coming offseason and they will keep on keepin' on with Q until everyone in Hawks nation learns the HARD way that Blues and Avs nations did what it's like to see him slowly bleed out a team despite having some measure of talent on the roster.



How folks can look at other teams who have less talent, less Cap but more system and more actual fucking coaching and think this is all on Stan as if he's handed Q just a roster of garbage is beyond me. This is the post-lockout NHL world---NO ONE gets to duplicate the depth of talent on the Hawks Cup roster for the forseeable future. Too many confluence of "just right" events and circumstances got us that. What you have to do is define your CORE, concede to it being top-heavy in terms of your Cap, be willing to pay to the Cap ceiling and then yeah, you have to have a bunch of support players who are young or old but are cheap. That's pretty much the deal unless a new CBA changes that. Therefore you have to learn to fucking DEAL with what you do have and make sure you get the most out of the talent you do have. . .you know, strategize, analyze, adjust. . .C-O-A-C-H.



I am so fucking tired of Q getting a pass with the admittedly lamebrain Hawks mainstream media beat while every other sport franchise Head Coach in this city historically gets to have their ass handed to them by the press and the fans and who's decisions and strategies are questioned ALL the time whether their team is technically successful or losing.

very well said.

 

[LordKOTL]

Agreed mostly, Book, but i think the right set of circumstances for any team are a bit more easy to realize. A team needs some young, fledgling talent that's playing above their pay-grade, and vet presences that is playing above their pay-grade. Those circumstances are possible in the cap world, even if unlikely. The thing is, the windows for that conjunction of circumstances is not only rare, but doesn't last.



I think it will happen again sooner than most people think, but in the same vein, the team that does it will be imploded when the rookies are demanding raises, the journeymen are looking to take over leadership spots, and the vets are looking to retire.

 

[bookjones]

Agreed mostly, Book, but i think the right set of circumstances for any team are a bit more easy to realize. A team needs some young, fledgling talent that's playing above their pay-grade, and vet presences that is playing above their pay-grade. Those circumstances are possible in the cap world, even if unlikely. The thing is, the windows for that conjunction of circumstances is not only rare, but doesn't last.



I think it will happen again sooner than most people think, but in the same vein, the team that does it will be imploded when the rookies are demanding raises, the journeymen are looking to take over leadership spots, and the vets are looking to retire.

Yeah, you are correct. That's what I was getting at saying the non-CORE roster would be young and old but I *meant* to imply exactly what you said which is that they have to at minimum earn their pay and at best for team and post-season success, play above their pay. That's a given. I was trying to get more to the notion that I am starting to read in blogs and articles which implies that our CORE is some sort of Cap abberation like it isn't like this for most would-be contenders in this day and age of the NHL---the COREs are gonna eat up a lot of your Cap and so you gotta build aorund them the best you can. I of course abosultely concede though that your CORE had better be clutch and not fail and produce on the regular otherwise you're fucked.



I take no small meaure of panic in seeing Captain Amazing Jonathan Toews look and sound in a post-game like he is finally and truly just at his wits end, beaten down, and hear him concede to the press that they just don't know what the problem is. That's profoundly disturbing.

 

[Ashor-redtribe]

I found this song fiting for the situation the Hawks are in ....and its one that I like from the good old 80's when music was music.http://youtu.be/w_er72QbMpk

 

[BigPete]

I am so fucking tired of Q getting a pass with the admittedly lamebrain Hawks mainstream media beat while every other sport franchise Head Coach in this city historically gets to have their ass handed to them by the press and the fans and who's decisions and strategies are questioned ALL the time whether their team is technically successful or losing.

It would seem to me that they don't want to lose their press passes to the UC. I predict that McDumbshit would verbally ***** slap a reporter and editor as well as Trib, DailyHerald, Times, etc owner/manager if there was truly insightful and negative articles written about the Hawks brass or coaches/managers.

 

[bookjones]

It would seem to me that they don't want to lose their press passes to the UC. I predict that McDumbshit would verbally ***** slap a reporter and editor as well as Trib, DailyHerald, Times, etc owner/manager if there was truly insightful and negative articles written about the Hawks brass or coaches/managers.

Sorry, I don't subscribe to that bullshit meme when I hear it speculated. I mean yes, I think you're right that the FO would acually be dumbass and arrogant enough to try that angle but IMO, the Hawks mainstream media beat still has "hand" (tm "Seinfeld", heh). Because ultimately, McD & Co. want the team to get press. They're still a sort of footnote now in terms of the TV, print, and radio sports coverage so the press could just as easily tell them that they'll be reduced to just having the latest game's score noted and that's it if they withhold team access because of getting their undies in a bunch about what's reported. I didn't see the press being denied access when they whaled on Ozzie or Vinnie when they were here or on Lovie. It's a two-way street here---the Hawks need photogs and reporters to show up at the Sears Tower for Kane's lighting the X-Mas tree or else it means nothing from a PR standpoint, just like they want even the briefest snippet of video highlights on the 10 PM news and the media need team access. It's a quid pro quo thingy.

 

[BigPete]

Sorry, I don't subscribe to that bullshit meme when I hear it speculated. I mean yes, I think you're right that the FO would acually be dumbass and arrogant enough to try that angle but IMO, the Hawks mainstream media beat still has "hand" (tm "Seinfeld", heh). Because ultimately, McD & Co. want the team to get press. They're still a sort of footnote now in terms of the TV, print, and radio sports coverage so the press could just as easily tell them that they'll be reduced to just having the latest game's score noted and that's it if they withhold team access because of getting their undies in a bunch about what's reported. I didn't see the press being denied access when they whaled on Ozzie or Vinnie when they were here or on Lovie. It's a two-way street here---the Hawks need photogs and reporters to show up at the Sears Tower for Kane's lighting the X-Mas tree or else it means nothing from a PR standpoint, just like they want even the briefest snippet of video highlights on the 10 PM news and the media need team access. It's a quid pro quo thingy.

Are they part of the Hawks? That's what I thought...

As to the next sentence - PR ops are covered by their own people and put on the Hawks website. They don't really need anyone but the 9 and 10pm news to replay that clip for ten seconds. Do you really think there is no money involved in that transaction?

 

[CLWolf81]

Hire pat quinn!!!!

Wow ... that's one way to bring the dead back to life... Really?



Kevin Constantine is still out there if you really want to bring back some old coaches... At least offensively he wouldn't be a bad coach to bring in.



Hell, if you REALLY want to bring in an old guy to coach, I know Al Arbour is still alive. -.-

 

[bookjones]

Are they part of the Hawks? That's what I thought...

As to the next sentence - PR ops are covered by their own people and put on the Hawks website. They don't really need anyone but the 9 and 10pm news to replay that clip for ten seconds. Do you really think there is no money involved in that transaction?

Sun-Times and Tribune reporters as well as sports radio personalities routinely questioned, second-guessed and generally chided them. Were their media outlets denied access to the teams? Are local media not allowed access to the Bears or Lovie because someone on their reporting staff routinely calls him out? That's what I thought. What the hell does being a "part of the Hawks" have to do with my larger point in citing examples? The Hawks FO isn't any more extra-insular or extra-mysterious an organization than the tightly-wound inner-sanctum driven clusterfuck the McCaskey's run.



Yeah, because the Hawks FO somehow instills more fear of reprisal in the local sports media pool. The team that is likely in 5th place locally in terms of coverage in this town after football, baseball, and basketball. Were the press denied access to the Cubs when McD headed their entire Marketing Department if they criticized the team? That's what I thought.



PR Ops are not only handled in-house. Some Hawks show up at a public school or hospital or charity golf game? Sure, likely only in-house and only fodder for the website, newsletter, blog and magazibe. But there are certainly press outlets at other events not just the Hawks videographer and photographer. Who's pictures are used online and in the newspapers of in-game action, photographers from media outlets and photo agencies, not just Hawks payroll. Is Chicago Magazine a part of the Hawks PR staff and do they have to feature Hawks on the cover?



Local news stations paying the local sports franchises to recap the day's action? First I'm hearing of this. Who knows though that makes no sense whatsoever to me. It's just general sports reporting. You think the Fire wouldn't 100% ensure themselves coverage of every game if it were as simple as ponying up a little coin each time? Or the Sky? So, during Dollar Bill's basement dwelling days the reason the Hawks were almost never mentioned in daily recaps let alone highlights shown was because he was a cheap bastard not because of the relative lack of interest locally in hockey to anyone but long-time, die-hard fans? My point is that while obviously the FO has the Hawks beat reporters irrationally psyched out with fear they clearly shouldn't be and someone should fucking man up and call their idiotic bluff. Yay though everyone at IHN has tremendous hockey love the fact of the matter is that McD heads a team that plays a sport that isn't anything close to being the most avidly followed in this town so his hubris shouldn't be allowed to play the Wizard behind the curtain---the fact that the press corps allows him to is simply further proof of their general incompetence and laziness.