So, if you follow my Twitter feed (hint hint), or at the least have stumbled upon this site in any fashion, you know I am a fan of the Los Angeles Kings. If you have followed hockey at all in the past month, you know the Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup, and are the champions of the National Hockey League. As noted earlier, that's pretty cool, and your favorite team in a sport winning a championship is something everyone should experience. I'd recommend it.
At the risk of getting weepy to, presumably, Kansas City hockey fans on a Kansas City hockey blog about a team in Los Angeles, seeing the pictures of the Kings parade and rally make me long for a similar parade and rally to attend in my own backyard. You, oh wise and wistful Kansas City sports fan, will say, "but the Royals had a parade in '85," and, "just wait, the Chiefs/Royals will be holding a rally soon enough!" And that's all fine and good, especially since any success from these teams would be small payback for years and years of crushing disappointment. Winning a championship and giving us a reason to celebrate something, anything, is the least they can do.
This July 4th, while you are celebrating and eating and shooting sparks in you eye and totally not doing anything illegal, take time to remember those heroes that made a difference. Those brave persons who fight day in and day out for your love and admiration. I'm talking, of course, about American hockey players. Aren't they just so dreamy. Yes, yes they are.
But, we can't honor all of them on this day. Oh no. Only the best. And, only those that will make this a somewhat quick post.
Soooo, without further bullcrap, and because this is somewhat timely, I present a tribute to the two American-born captains who led their team to a Stanley Cup Finals victory: Derian Hatcher and Dustin Brown.
The NHL rolled out a new playoff ad campaign this year meant to attract the "casual fan," replacing their old, passive voiced "History Will Be Made" campaign of the previous two seasons. This new campaign is titled "Because of the Cup," and it encourages these "casual fans" to watch because...uh, I guess because it's the Cup, which is good enough for me and you, but maybe not for the random dude over at the KC basketball blog (as far as I can tell, no such blog exists...).
Anyway, the NHL has created many team specific spots, but only of most Eastern Conference playoff teams, Detroit, and Vancouver (fix this, NHL). One of the Eastern Conference teams featured in the ads are the upstart Florida Panthers. The Panthers won the Southeast Division this year after free-falling into that position the last month of the season or so. Oh, and don't forget GM Dale Tallon's wild 2011 free agency signing period. Basically, this team wasn't supposed to crack the top ten in the East, let alone win the division, but here we are. That's why they play the games, etc. That being said, here is the NHL's "Because It's the Cup" ad for the Panthers:
The "Tallon Blueprint"? You have to admit, his "blueprint" is an unconventional one, if not entirely different than the one that resembles Brian Burke's ass. But, basing a commercial around free agent acquisitions. Damn, that's really going to attract the casual fan... It's obvious the NHL wants to go away from pointing out specific players that maybe only semi-interested fans might know, but you can't talk about the GM and then show a bunch of the first year Panthers if that's the case. Point out the fact Florida hasn't been to the playoffs in forever. Or, if you will show players, maybe point out Jose Theodore's decent season, or Tomas Fleischmann's strong scoring year, or...or....wow, no one on this team stands out. Really. It's the truth. Go to the League Leaders page on NHL.com. No one leads the league in any scoring category or plus/minus category. Not even near the top. Theodore is the best goalie on the team, which is like mediocre compared to most of the league. How did they make the playoffs?
