Okay, so honestly, how many people want to miss out on an entire hockey season? Yes, I am lucky to be stationed near the Tri-City Americans, and so I would have some WHL to fall back on, but let's be honest, it's not the same. Even when the NFL was on the verge of their own lockout, I refused to believe that college football was the answer. Same sort of problem here.
If I were to do a poll for what the fans of hockey think about this lockout, I have the strong suspicion that the bulk of the responsibility would fall to the penny pinching owners. Even for football, even with enormous salaries, the players seem to walk away unscathed. I attribute part of this to the personality of the sport. Businessmen are just not meant to warm our hearts with their money heroics. (No political message intended) Players go to children's hospitals, help out military vets, and they smile at every available camera. It is the players who work their way into our hearts, and so when it comes right down to it, it is the players who we will side with. If not for their talent and personality, there would be no fans to fill the rinks. And then, in the case of the NHLPA, they follow this up with the master stroke of good will. They put, the very first time on the table, the idea of cutting salaries for a greater sharing. They took the words out of the owners' mouths, and so where are we left? With the suits determining there is too great a distance to be bridged.
When hockey comes back, and it will, there will be no burgeoning superstars (Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby) fresh out of juniors to follow. We will have our veterans (Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, the Sedins, Stamkos, Malkin, Kopitar, etc) and a sour taste in our mouths. I know the owners are hardly going to change their point of view by a few words that are written in the professional sports Sahara of Eastern Washington, but here's hoping smarter heads prevail. Not cooler, businessmen aren't lacking there, but someone with common sense, right about now, would be absolutely, positively, priceless.
BlytheLea L.E.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Long Time No Post
Wow, its been awhile. I missed the Olympics, the Tour of Utah, and, well, anything else that happened. Golf does not count. I personally view golf as a recreation not a sport, and the best way to play it is put put.
In the cycling world, the La Vuelta is fast approaching, but I am eagerly awaiting the US Pro Cycling Challange. I know its crazy, but I feel like someone must have read this blog and convinced my favorite riders to come. Crazy Legs Voigt and Andy Schleck? Oh, if only I could get myself to Colorado. Instead, I'll be watching it at home and trying, again, to come up with a way to go next year.
Pre season football has begun. I have never managed to muster any enthusiasm for the preseason games. And, for some reason, since the antics of last year followed closely by so many screw ups when it comes to my favorite team, the Saints, I am having a hard time mentally preparing this year, too. Can anyone help? Or is anyone feeling this same sort of jet lag? We want the season to begin, but at the same time don't really care if it does. Who Dat anyway and for good measure.
Speaking of a lack of enthusiasm, please NHL, please, for the love of all that is good in this world, avoid yet another professional lockout. You were freakishly lucky last time to have two of the biggest stars come onto your stage after the lockout. If not for Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, let's be honest, the sport would have faltered badly. Instead, with the help of a few more superstars, like Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, and the entire LA Kings team, you have a sport people actually want to watch. Don't throw that all away. Money may be the driving factor for most of this capitalistic world, but facts don't lie. I cannot be the only one suffering from post NFL lockout hangover. Please, NHL, while more than just die hard fans like you, don't spoil the feeling. No Winter Classic showdown would save your newly established image if you give into the same sort of bickering and squabbling that consumes the political realm. Besides, its an election year. Save us from having to watch the news.
Well, I could go on forever, but from personal experience get bored when someone goes on for more than a page on a single diatribe. I'll stop while I'm ahead. Anyway, here's hoping for a NHL season, and for a glimmer of enthusiasm about the NFL one. In the meantime, there is always cycling.
BlytheLea L.E.
In the cycling world, the La Vuelta is fast approaching, but I am eagerly awaiting the US Pro Cycling Challange. I know its crazy, but I feel like someone must have read this blog and convinced my favorite riders to come. Crazy Legs Voigt and Andy Schleck? Oh, if only I could get myself to Colorado. Instead, I'll be watching it at home and trying, again, to come up with a way to go next year.
Pre season football has begun. I have never managed to muster any enthusiasm for the preseason games. And, for some reason, since the antics of last year followed closely by so many screw ups when it comes to my favorite team, the Saints, I am having a hard time mentally preparing this year, too. Can anyone help? Or is anyone feeling this same sort of jet lag? We want the season to begin, but at the same time don't really care if it does. Who Dat anyway and for good measure.
Speaking of a lack of enthusiasm, please NHL, please, for the love of all that is good in this world, avoid yet another professional lockout. You were freakishly lucky last time to have two of the biggest stars come onto your stage after the lockout. If not for Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, let's be honest, the sport would have faltered badly. Instead, with the help of a few more superstars, like Evgeni Malkin, Steven Stamkos, and the entire LA Kings team, you have a sport people actually want to watch. Don't throw that all away. Money may be the driving factor for most of this capitalistic world, but facts don't lie. I cannot be the only one suffering from post NFL lockout hangover. Please, NHL, while more than just die hard fans like you, don't spoil the feeling. No Winter Classic showdown would save your newly established image if you give into the same sort of bickering and squabbling that consumes the political realm. Besides, its an election year. Save us from having to watch the news.
Well, I could go on forever, but from personal experience get bored when someone goes on for more than a page on a single diatribe. I'll stop while I'm ahead. Anyway, here's hoping for a NHL season, and for a glimmer of enthusiasm about the NFL one. In the meantime, there is always cycling.
BlytheLea L.E.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Whinny if You Like the Olympics
I suppose, with this being the great and glorious time of the Olympics, if I really wanted to catch an audience, I should come up with an interesting piece about the gymnastics team, or Michael Phelps vs Ryan Lochte. Much as I appreciate the sports I have watched so far, I just can't bring myself to generalize with the masses. Here at BlytheLea we like random things. Most days this is either cycling or hockeyn when it comes to professional sports, but for a brief moment in time, when the sport to end all sports is given a few rays of television, I have to stop and wonder. To me, as an amateur horse shower, nothing gets my interest like the 3 Day Eventing and the Dressage. As an eventer, I acknowledge that dressage is not my strong suit. On my less shown mount, I admit that dressage is a wonderful art, and someday, maybe, we can be up at that level too.
3 Day Eventing is a true test of champions. First, the high strung horses ideal for the sport have to be tempered for dressage, and then wound back up and maneuvered around a tricky obstacle course before being asked to come back and add precision around a stadium course. I love it, there's no other word for it. I have competed in minor events for ten years now, and watching the Olympics is a wonderful moment to enjoy. Rarely, very, very rarely is eventing broadcast on major networks. For the most part, if we competitors want to watch, we watch each other or have someone tape our rounds for slow days at the farm. But now, in London, I was able to watch a truly magnificent showing of horses and riders. Pox on NBC for changing their times around and forcing me up at five to six in the morning to watch anything, but at least there was something. For someone like me, who rarely gets to see the talent that was on display compete, well, for now, it isenough.
As for Dressage, a not so quick note on how preposterous the world has become about this sport. Forget politics. Politics only serve to sully the sports world by dragging it down into the muck with it. I get incensed on a nearly daily basis to watch the pundits mocking the artistic sport that is dressage. "Horse Ballet" they continue to call it. These people, certain presidential hopefuls included, do not understand what the sport is about. Dressage has long been a way for the horse and rider to find perfect harmony. Since ancient times, man has been seeking to work with the horse to better the ride. What dressage embodies is the peak of this quest, the end to the wonderful path so many have embarked on. It is not a political moment, or juicy bit of gossip, and I beg the world to stop painting it as such. Yes, most top competitors need a lot of money to stay competitive, and most of those horses were bought for at least five figures. However, as an amateur, I have competed and won events on horses I got for free. Retired Standardbreds, Mustangs, and off the track Thoroughbreds may not be the grand warmbloods on the world's stage right now, but each has won a ribbon at dressage, and we got their together, my horses and me, through communication. We did not do it for the notoriety, or the money, but for that glorious moment when I know we just accomplished something truly special. When I watch the Olympians on their mounts, I am inspired to try more. I am not inspired to become a millionaire and buy the fanciest mount money can by. If that is how you see dressage, you are seeing it all wrong. I am inspired to try great things, to reach for the stars, and that, above all else, is truly what the Olympics are about.
3 Day Eventing is a true test of champions. First, the high strung horses ideal for the sport have to be tempered for dressage, and then wound back up and maneuvered around a tricky obstacle course before being asked to come back and add precision around a stadium course. I love it, there's no other word for it. I have competed in minor events for ten years now, and watching the Olympics is a wonderful moment to enjoy. Rarely, very, very rarely is eventing broadcast on major networks. For the most part, if we competitors want to watch, we watch each other or have someone tape our rounds for slow days at the farm. But now, in London, I was able to watch a truly magnificent showing of horses and riders. Pox on NBC for changing their times around and forcing me up at five to six in the morning to watch anything, but at least there was something. For someone like me, who rarely gets to see the talent that was on display compete, well, for now, it isenough.
As for Dressage, a not so quick note on how preposterous the world has become about this sport. Forget politics. Politics only serve to sully the sports world by dragging it down into the muck with it. I get incensed on a nearly daily basis to watch the pundits mocking the artistic sport that is dressage. "Horse Ballet" they continue to call it. These people, certain presidential hopefuls included, do not understand what the sport is about. Dressage has long been a way for the horse and rider to find perfect harmony. Since ancient times, man has been seeking to work with the horse to better the ride. What dressage embodies is the peak of this quest, the end to the wonderful path so many have embarked on. It is not a political moment, or juicy bit of gossip, and I beg the world to stop painting it as such. Yes, most top competitors need a lot of money to stay competitive, and most of those horses were bought for at least five figures. However, as an amateur, I have competed and won events on horses I got for free. Retired Standardbreds, Mustangs, and off the track Thoroughbreds may not be the grand warmbloods on the world's stage right now, but each has won a ribbon at dressage, and we got their together, my horses and me, through communication. We did not do it for the notoriety, or the money, but for that glorious moment when I know we just accomplished something truly special. When I watch the Olympians on their mounts, I am inspired to try more. I am not inspired to become a millionaire and buy the fanciest mount money can by. If that is how you see dressage, you are seeing it all wrong. I am inspired to try great things, to reach for the stars, and that, above all else, is truly what the Olympics are about.
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