Hey, Brian Burke and Kevin Lowe want to eat each other, go to town, I don't care. But this quote pissed me off:
"Lastly, he's in a pathetic hockey market where they can't get on any page of the newspaper let alone the front page of the sports, so any of this stuff carries on."
I'll list the problems with this statement is list form because it's easy:
1) Anaheim is a good hockey market right now. They were 15th in attendance and sixth in capacity last season. Just because they have a terrible, outdated arena doesn't mean they're a bad hockey market.
2) What newspaper? The LA Times? The OC Register? The Long Beach Press-Telegram? I know the Ducks get twice the coverage the Kings do in the Times, so he can't be talking about it.
- B/R Ticket Guide
And the Register...well, I don't get the Register because I don't eat my young but I'm sure they cover the Ducks extensively. And really, do Canadian papers put sports news on the cover of their newspapers?
I would probably cancel any subscription I had to a newspaper if they made me turn the page to get the latest body count in Iraq because some Finnish guy signed with my favorite team.
3) Really, man? This is the route you wanna go? Your franchise spent the '90s hanging by a thread and now you want to go around judging other teams?
You're the one team in Canada that should have our back, man, because you know what it's like to have people judge you. Don't give into that easy belief that because someone made you feel inferior you have to turn around and judge someone else.
Look, Lowe, I know you probably don't respect Burke because he went to college and you played with Wayne Gretzky, but don't resort to junior high bullshit.
Burke's a blowhard and a jackass, but he's not an idiot. He made an argument, now defend yourself. You have an argument: you only did what was best for the Oilers and it's not your fault the Flyers panicked and signed Mike Richards to a five-year deal at $5.75 per.
Why don't you say that? Trying to paint Burke as a terrible GM is stupid and you know better.
And trying to tar anywhere in California as a pathetic hockey market is bull and you damn well know it.
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4 months ago
it is a pathetic hockey market.. nobody can argue this fact. california is a basketball/baseball/football market. after this ocme the rest - beach volleyball, golf, and of course hockey. Burke is a blowhard & california is a crap hockey market. everything Lowe said was true, and long overdue.
4 months ago
Good Hockey market? I went to an Anaheim Ducks game and they had 2 for 1 season tickets!! Couldn't believe it. What are you talking about bad building?? The pond is beautiful compared to Rexall.
4 months ago
I dont care what side of the Lowe/Burke debate you fall on. I tend to believe both of them in a way. I think Lowe overspent on a minus two player *and* I think Burke should have kept his mouth shut. But that's MY opinion. I dont want to fight with some other hockey fan Ive never met just because they root for a different hockey team than I do.
BUT... here are some facts:
FACT: Yes, we in California know that hockey is Canada's game (The Russians might disagree) but we love it anyway. Why is it necessary to disparage us because we live in California? I grew up in Wisconsin and played hockey as much as any Canadian kid did and I LOVE it. I live in California and I am a huge Ducks fan. Shouldnt Canadians be HAPPY that their game has great fans in California, Texas, Florida, Carolina, etc? That's a compliment, isnt it?
FACT: Yes, California is a football/basketball/baseball state first but there are 35 million people here (slightly more than the entire country of Canada) and not all of us were born on the beach. I know Finns, Norwegians, east coasters, midwesterners, even Canadians who live here and support California NHL teams. California has THREE NHL teams (Well, two and a half) so there are obviously enough fans to support all three teams. (Canada has six.) I dont consider that "pathetic" at all. (BTW, as a fan, it is possible to support a baseball team, a football team, a hockey team, and a basketball team at the same time, isnt it?)
FACT: Anaheim has had 77 consecutive sellouts, third most in the US behind Minnesota and the Rangers. Yes, they did offer 2 for 1 season tickets but those tickets were in the very top rows and the seats were not together. It was a way to sell the random single seats by pairing them off in a package. I thought it was a stroke of marketing genius, myself. . As you could imagine, selling ONE single season seat is difficult. I go to 20 or so games per year and I NEVER go alone.
FACT: As for the notion that Burke "inherited" a successful team from Murray, that is simply not true. The 2003 team that went to the Finals was a small, speed team with the likes of Rucchin and Kariya. This Ducks team is all defense and all size and attitude and toughness much like the Devils were in 2003. There are only three players one the current roster from that team (Giguere, Pahlsson, RNiedermeyer.)
Here is the current Ducks roster with the GM who brought that player in or drafted him in parentheses:
Hiller (Burke)
Giguere (Murray)
Schneider (Burke)
O Donnell (Burke)
Beauchemin (Burke)
Pronger (Burke)
SNiedermeyer (Burke)
Dipenta (Burke)
Huskins (Burke)
Morrisson (Burke)
Selanne (Murray got rid of him. Burke brought him back)
Perry (Murray drafted him but left before Perry ever played for him)
Kunitz (Burke)
Getzlaff (Murray drafted him, same situation as Perry)
Parros (Burke)
Sutherby (Burke)
Carter (Burke)
Ryan (Burke)
Marchant (Burke)
May (Burke)
Pahlsson (Murray)
Moen (Burke)
RNiedermeyer (Murray)
Decide for youself whether he "inherited" Murray's team or not.
At any rate, Burke stated his opinion that Lowe overpaid for a minus two player and Lowe responded by insulting me, Ducks fans, the State of California, Corey Perry, Scott Niedermeyer and called Burke a "moron".
Id like to hear a rebuttal from Lowe as to why he thinks Penner was worth that much. I personally have always believed that Lowe made the offer to Penner trying to trick Burke into matching the outrageous offer and, therefore, making it impossible for the Ducks to sign Getzlaff and Perry. Burke called Lowe's bluff and Edmonton got stuck paying $25 million for an average player and that's embarrassing to Lowe.. Methinks Lowe doth protest too much.
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