Jim Cowan joined November 2008

Scribe
Syndicated Writer
  • 27,600article reads
    Rank: 856
  • 50articles written
    Rank: 944
  • 409comments written
    Rank: 636
More Stats »
Jim Cowan

About Jim »

Turning chicken sh*t into chicken salad...

The Shortlist »

  • Favorite Athletes

  • Favorite Sports Teams

    Notre Dame Fighting Irish teams, Buffalo teams, San Antonio Spurs, Texas A&M teams

  • Favorite Coaches

    Jesse Harper...Knute Rockne...Lou Holtz

  • All Time Sports Moment

  • Most Memorable Game Attended

  • Most Unbreakable Sports Record

  • Ruth or Mays?

    Ruth

  • Unitas or Montana?

    Montana

  • Jordan or Russell?

    Russell

  • Gretzky or Orr?

    Gretzky

  • Pele or Maradona?

    Neither

  • Federer or Sampras?

    Sharapova?

  • Tiger or Nicklaus?

    Eh...

  • Petty or Earnhardt?

    Could care less.

  • Schumacher or Senna?

    Eh...

  • Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big East?

    GO IRISH!!!

to post this comment

JW Nix said...

Delete

here is a story of another NFL Legend who has yet to get his deserved respect :

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/286573-crazy-canton-cuts-ed-meador

13 days ago

Trey Bradley said...

Delete

Jim-
Thought you would have some fun with a look back... maybe even remember one I missed?
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/284480-where-does-jimmy-clausen-rank-among-notre-dames-seven-best-no-7s

17 days ago

JW Nix said...

Delete

Now that the offense is done, it is time for the defense :

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/284160-the-almost-all-time-tennessee-titans-defense

17 days ago

Dan Scofield said...

Delete

Have you seen ISU's post-game celebration?

This is what makes this game so special:http://bleacherreport.com/articles/280262-iowa-states-post-game-celebration-reminds-us-why-we-love-this-game

24 days ago

Anthony Pilcher said...

Delete

Thanks for becoming a fan Jim.

If you want to see all of my archived articles you can visit here:

http://clashmoremike.com/author/anthony/

If you want to subscribe to receive automatic emails with new publishings and/or an RSS feed just visit here:

http://clashmoremike.com/subscribe

It's simple, free and painless.

26 days ago

Tyler Lambert said...

Delete

Hey Jim,

Brad Frank, one of the Duke Basketball Community Leaders, and I have just completed an article we wrote together. We highlight 5 different questions about Duke's upcoming season and each answer the questions from a different point of view.

Check it out if you get the chance and make sure to supply some of your great comments and feedback. Thanks in advance!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/266157-duke-basketball-preview-two-views-on-five-pressing-questions-for-season/show_full

48 days ago

JW Nix said...

Delete

this man belongs in Canton :

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/265091-crazy-canton-cuts-don-coryell

50 days ago

Dan Scofield said...

Delete

I've spent the past several weeks adding to a piece dedicated to one of the father's of college football, Knute Rocke. In time for his dedication tomorrow at Notre Dame Stadium, I present to you the true and inspiring story of the most renown coach in the game:

Don't be shy, and as always, feedback is appreciated.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/265043-the-true-story-of-knute-rockne-college-footballs-most-renowned-coach

R.I.P 3/31/1931

51 days ago

Trey Bradley said...

Delete

To a fellow Irish fan...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/259082-linebacker-letdown-why-notre-dame-wont-make-the-bcs

61 days ago

Dan Scofield said...

Delete

Jimmy Clausen has been the best quarterback in the past 240 minutes of college football. Will he be invited to New York this year, or will the Tebow's of the nation get their pre-reserved seats?

Don't be shy.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/258974-the-unspoken-heisman-candidate-america-meet-james-richard-clausen/poll_results#poll

61 days ago

Robert Domaine said...

Delete

Hello Jim, here is the follow up article on George Martin. I would appreciate it if you would take a look at it and leave your support in the comment area. Feel free to pass it around. Thanks!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/244249-give-george-martin-a-key-to-nyc

85 days ago

Dan Scofield said...

Delete

Hey Jim,
The great debate continues, and I share my opinion on it in my latest piece. I'd also like to hear your opinion,so don't be shy!

The full explanation for why college football is better than the NFL: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/243617-saturdays-vs-sundays-why-college-football-is-better-than-the-nfl

86 days ago

Robert Domaine said...

Delete

Hello Jim, I would like you to take a look at this article and leave your support in the comment area. I would love to see this story make a difference. Pass it around! Thanks

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/224275-ny-giants-george-martin-the-forgotten-hero

90 days ago

Jennie Luptak said...

Delete

Yours = most accurate description of Bettman EVER.

195 days ago

Steve Thompson said...

Delete

Thanks for responding again, Jim. I've written several articles on some of the issues you have raised. Since you haven't read them, I'll repeat some of the things for you.

Hamiliton
This city of app. 700,000 is located halfway between Toronto and Buffalo, so Balsillie would have to compensate BOTH Toronto and Buffalo. Balsillie is prepared to do this. Another proposition is to play the first few years temporarily in Hamilton while a new arena is built in either Kitchener or London which are outside the territorial limits of Toronto and Buffalo so he will not have to pay any compensation. Balsillie is also prepared to do this. By major professional sports league standards, either of these cities are extremely small, both within the 400-500,000 range. But the entire west Southern Ontario region from Toronto to Detroit contains about 6 million people so he would have no problem drawing fans. A franchise in either of these two cities would be like Green Bay in the NFL.

Winnipeg and Quebec
Both want their franchises back but there are two different problems. Both (like Hartford) lost their franchises because of economic problems and "small city thinking". Being small cities, they did not build proper NHL size arenas to get them through a rainy day and when economic conditions deteriorated, they lost their teams. Contrast that with Edmonton, Calgary, and Ottawa which built proper arenas for the long term. In Quebec there is no problem with a fan base. 80,000 people signed a petition wanting the Nordiques back. The problem seems to be finding investors for both an arena and team. There is nobody like Balsillie actively fronting any group. If they could find people who believe in a Quebec franchise and arena, they would probably be the best city after Hamilton for a Canadian franchise.
In Winnipeg, they can't seem to make up their minds whether they want to be an NHL city or not. Since they have an AHL franchise, they built a new AHL size arena instead of a proper NHL size one. There is a pressure group there which I have clashed with on BR that insists the new arena (with 15,000) is big enough for the NHL. In fact the new arena is over 1,000 seats less than the Islanders arena which is condemned for being too small. If they had built an NHL size arena instead of an AHL one, they would have been in a good position to bid for the Coyotes and get their old team back. And the NHL would have preferred to go back to Winnipeg instead of Hamilton because there are no territorial issues and it gives them a chance of sticking it to Balsillie again. I doubt if Winnipeg will build another arena of NHL capacity in the near future, so Quebec would be the likely Canadian candidate for expansion/relocation if they could resolve their arena issue.

Bettman and Southern Expansion
Bettman wants hockey to become one of the "big four" sports in the United States. This is symbolized by a rich American tv contract like the NFL, MLB, and the NBA have. But hockey is still very unpopular in the United States despite what limited growth and success in new markets (Anaheim, San Jose, Colorado, Dallas) it has enjoyed. Television ratings are so pitiful that the NHL could not renew its old contract with ESPN and had to accept a deal with Versus instead. Ratings are on the pro-Darts level. To counteract this negativity, Bettman persuaded the NHL governors to expand into non-traditional hockey markets to make hockey seem like an American national game. He figured that if these new markets took to hockey, ratings would improve and he would get a rich American tv contract.
Instead hockey failed to take off and the NHL had 10 teams that were losing money when the season ended. Many of these teams offer sweetheart discount deals in order to lure fans. Many pad attendance figures so that they can get financial assistance from the NHL. St. Louis, Columbus, New Jersey, and Carolina have probably turned the corner because their teams are getting better and have made the playoffs. The Islanders have a glorious past and once had an adequate fan base. But bad teams and now possessing the smallest NHL arena have put the team's future in jeopardy. If they don't resolve the arena problem, they will move and Kansas City is the likely destination. Tampa Bay has bad ownership. If they were sold to good owners who want to make the team competitive again, there is no reason to think they won't become popular again. But Phoenix, Florida, Nashville, and Atlanta are all in bad shape and could face contraction or relocation. But if that happens, it would be a personal humiliation to Bettman and his strategy and goodbye to any rich American tv deal. Hence his opposition to moving from money-losing Phoenix to money-making Hamilton.

197 days ago

View more »

Jim's Achievements & Awards »

  • Hot Read

    Hot Read: Gold Medal

    The Unofficial Top Five Notre Dame Coac…

    Received 5,000 Reads • November 09, 2009

  • Hot Read

    Hot Read: Gold Medal

    Texas A&M-New Mexico: Surprisingly Stro…

    Received 5,000 Reads • September 07, 2009

  • Great Debate

    Great Debate: Gold Medal

    The Top Five Most Annoying College Foot…

    Received 100 comments • August 21, 2009

  • Great Debate

    Great Debate: Silver Medal

    The Unofficial Top Five Notre Dame Coac…

    Received 50 comments • November 09, 2009

  • Great Debate

    Great Debate: Bronze Medal

    Six Blunt Points On The Irish Win

    Received 25 comments • October 25, 2009

  • Hot Read

    Hot Read: Bronze Medal

    The Top Five Most Annoying College Foot…

    Received 1,000 Reads • August 21, 2009

What's this?

Jim's Favorite Writers »



CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.