A Sports Confession...

by Matt Brannen

Every sports fan has their favorite time of the year. Whether it be opening day of the Major League Baseball season, March Madness, the Super Bowl, or other important sporting event, each sports fan has to admit that there is a sporting event that they will not miss. What is mine, you may ask? The Stanley Cup Playoffs. Yep, that's right. Hockey. Playoff hockey. It's awesome.

I feel that every outstanding aspect of all the other major sports can be found in Stanley Cup hockey. You want upsets and "Cinderella" teams like in March Madness? Keep in mind that almost each year, a high seed loses in the first round to a team that had to scrap and claw its way just to get into the playoffs. This year, Western Conference top seed San Jose is down 2-0 to 8th seed Anaheim and those games were IN San Jose.

You want buzzer beaters to decide games like the NBA playoffs? Check out the below video from the Carolina-New Jersey game earlier this week...

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2009/04/nhl-playoffs-now-with-buzzer-beaters.html

You want tough guys that play injured, like the Super Bowl? Most playoff hockey teams, fearing that their opponents might get an edge, won't even list the details of their players' injuries. The phrase "Lower Body Injury" on the NHL playoff injury report has come to symbolize a player that probably suffered a broken leg or torn knee ligament, but "hasn't been ruled out" for the next game. Need further proof? Read the below story on former NHL winger Brent Gilchrist and what he went through to stay in the lineup for the 1998 Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings...

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009904150371

Pain-killing shots in the groin just to keep playing? Ouch. As ESPN announcer John Buccigross says when he does hockey highlights about a player that gets knocked down and finds his way back to his feet, "That guy's tough. He's a hockey player."

Are you looking for tradition and the culture of the sport, like Major League Baseball? Stanley Cup hockey perhaps some of the best traditions in all the major sports leagues. First, many teams adopt a "no shaving" policy as players grow their "playoff beards" each year at this time. The first and only time that the members of the team shave is either when they get knocked out of the playoffs or after they lift Lord Stanley's Cup as champions. In Detroit (a city that calls itself "Hockey Town"), fans will throw an octopus (Aside: I had to write this sentence in such a way as to not have to worry about what the plural of octopus was and how it was spelled) onto the ice during a break at some point late in a playoff game. This does not happen, mind you, during the regular season. Only the playoffs. While many other sports have these sorts of acts as hooliganism (See: Giants fans, New York Football), it is actually a tradition that goes back to when the NHL, many years ago, had a playoff structure that only necessitated 8 wins for the Stanley Cup (Aside: 8 wins...Octopus....Get it?). Hockey fans not only know their sport and are passionate, they keep tradition and history alive during this time of the year.

There is also nothing like the pomp and circumstance at the end of a Stanley Cup playoff series and/or the end of the season. Unlike playoffs for other sports, where opponents fraternize and talk frequently after every game, hockey's "unwritten rule" is that the players have no contact with each other until after that series is over. Then, regardless of how physical or antagonistic the series might have been, the two teams line up near center ice and every player and coach shakes the hands of their opponent. My guess is that you don't see that at the end of every Daytona 500. Furthermore, the trophy presentation for the Stanley Cup is so much better than any other playoff. Many hockey players preserve a huge superstition that they cannot touch the Stanley Cup until their team wins it or they will be doomed to never win the championship. I haven't heard a story of a golfer indicating that he couldn't touch the green jacket because he wouldn't win it. Furthermore, when a team does win the title, every player gets to skate around the ice while holding the Cup above his head. Normally when the Lombardi trophy is awarded at the Super Bowl, the two or three most well-known players, the head coach, and owner get a chance to "accept" the award from the commissioner on a raised platform that separates them from their teammates, while gobs of confetti fall all around in a huge mess (Aside: Do a Google or Yahoo search for the video of when Indianapolis won the Super Bowl and look at how many of the players, including Peyton Manning, have wet pieces of paper all over their faces). Not so with the Stanley Cup. Beyond that, every player gets possession of the Cup for an entire day and can take it anywhere they want in the entire world. Could you imagine the NCAA allowing the players on the BCS championship team to do with the trophy what they want? Didn't think so. This is why Stanley Cup hockey is so outstanding.

It would be highly unlikely for the NHL to become nearly as popular in the United States as it is in Canada. There are many reasons for this that are well documented and this is not the place for that discussion (Perhaps I'll save that for a post at another time). However, this sports fan is more than willing to admit that, even though I am an American, I am captivated for the 4-6 weeks of the Stanley Cup playoffs each year. I would encourage all sports fans, especially those that are not hockey fans, to watch at least one Stanley Cup Game 7 playoff game this season. If you don't get hooked, then watch another one...Eventually, you will become hooked. You can thank me later.

Pull Up The Madden Cruiser One Final Time...

by Matt Brannen

An era of the NFL ended today when Hall of Fame coach and larger-than-life figure John Madden announced his retirement from broadcasting. Most well known in recent years for the most popular video game franchise of all time, the 70-plus year old Madden steps away from a game that has made him a household name amongst non-football fans and riches beyond his wildest dreams. While Madden seemed to lose a couple of miles per hour off his analyst "fastball" over the last few seasons, he still should be recognized as someone that helped revolutionize how football is broadcast on TV.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AgsMPIUTBrAf0VaG__TMFOU5nYcB?slug=ap-maddenretires&prov=ap&type=lgns

Few 21st Century NFL fans probably do not realize how successful Madden was as coach of the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s. Not only did Madden win the Super Bowl in 1977, he finished his head coaching career with the envious record of never having a losing season. Madden's accountability based, yet laid-back coaching style allowed owner Al Davis to bring in other team's talented cast-offs with little distraction. Plus, during his tenure with the emerging "Just Win, Baby" franchise, the Raiders became the most feared team in the entire league during a time when Dallas and Pittsburgh also sported legendary squads. John Madden stood toe-to-toe with Hall of Fame coaches like Tom Landry, Don Shula, and Chuck Noll, holding his own with some of the best ever in the business.

After stepping away from the sidelines after the 1978 season, Madden took what appeared to be a fairly low-profile NFL announcing job with CBS. He was paired with a young broadcaster named Bob Costas at the time. While that team didn't last long, CBS recognized that Madden was a budding TV personality and paired him with future long-time partner Pat Summerall in the early 1980s. It was an announcing team that would go down in the annals of TV sports broadcasting history and elevated Madden to "rock star" status. Madden's knowledge of the game was unquestioned, however it was his, to be kind, neighbor down the street appearance and "every man" explanation of football that exploded him into the sports broadcasting stratosphere. The "telestrator" (or ability of the analyst to write on the screen to diagram plays) is a technological feature and catch phrases like "Bam!" that became popularized during the height of Madden's career.

While Madden had terrific careers as a football coach and announcer, it has been his role as a commercial pitch-man that has clearly made him so well known in this country. From his bursting on the scene withe classic late 1970s/early 1980s Miller Lite ads (For anyone under the age of 25, go to a video website and type in "John Madden, Miller Lite"), Madden became the long-time spokesman for such various business entities as Ace Hardware, Tinactin foot spray, Outback Steakhouse, and Sirius Satellite Radio. Of course, no conversation on Madden's pop culture position would be complete with the NFL video game that carries his name. The game has become such a part of every die-hard 15 to 45 year old NFL fan that a TV reality show (called "Madden Nation") was created about the game on ESPN a couple of years ago (The premise of the show is to follow contestants around the country that participate in Madden video game tournaments). In fact, some even claim that a "jinx" exists for those players that are placed on the cover of the video game each year. Because of all this, Madden is even more well known for his off-field endeavors than what he actually did on the field of play.

In a week where we lost legendary Philadelphia Phillies and NFL Films announcer Harry Kalas, it is certainly understandable for Madden to want to enjoy his golden years with his family. While I have used this forum in the past to jostle the legend for his unconditional admiration for Brett Favre, I am the first to admit that Madden has added significantly to the profile of announcers and has more impact on how sports are broadcast than he, himself, may even realize. Here's hoping that the big man has as much fun off the air in retirement as he seemed to have on the air with all of us over the years.

The Better Angels Of Our Nature...

by Matt Brannen

Normally, this space is reserved for my thoughts on the world of sports. However, everyone in the Greater Binghamton area has been jolted to their core in the last few days by the tragic mass shooting that has taken the lives of over 10 members from our community. There is no doubt that Friday's terrible event will leave scars that may never completely heal. It is in times like these when we, as sports fans, turn to our favorite diversion for relief and comfort when answers to life's most difficult questions are impossible to find. This situation is no different. As many around the country have pointed out in our nation's economic crisis, sports can be a great escape from reality's nightmares. Friday's unecessary, inexplicable, and surreal tragedy causes us to now turn to sports as a salve for our collective wounds. On behalf of everyone associated with Southern Tier Sports Network, I send out my most heartfelt condolences to the surviving victims, the families of the victims, and all that have been touched by this tragedy. The victims will not soon be forgotten and let's hope that we, as a community and as a nation, can emerge as a better society from this awful incident. As U.S. President Abraham Lincoln once said, let's hope we can completely release "the better angels of our nature." Let's also hope that next week, I can post about some, by comparison, silly and not nearly as significant controversy about the world of sports.