M MacDonald Hall (Columnist)

Joined 5 months ago

  • 30 articles written
  • 123 comments posted
  • 7 articles of the day
  • M's Website

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M's Bio

M has been writing previews, trivia, info-breaks, game recaps, trade and roster information and other hockey articles for various fan sites. An avid hockey and sport fan, M has been writing articles to fill the information void that exists regarding all sorts of topics from the hockey world. The writing is rooted in a deep love of the game. A Canadian from an English/Scottish family, M consequently has sporting tastes which run the gamut from football (soccer), hockey, basketball, cricket (not that M claims to fully understand it!), CFL/NFL football, baseball etc. Baseball and footy were early favourites as M spent hours outdoors playing and practising in the yard, or pestering neighbour children into playing catch in the street. In school M found mates who played hockey and began a love affair with the Canadian game. Once out of primary school M started playing colligate (middle and grade 10/11) basketball, eventually winning a few championships and earning the "Guard of the Year".

As silly as it may seem, M learned the teams and players as a child by collecting hockey and baseball cards, along with a few basketball and FC cards. M found a best friend across the road just getting into card collecting, and the two youngsters spent many hours and pennies buying up every card set and surprise pack within walking distance, forming yet another bond with sport. Looking at all those cards now, there are some pretty neat players in the collection; there are even a few signed cards, including Will Clark and Joe Sakic, and a Mike Ricci Peterborough Petes card.

M enjoys writing and wants to use the medium to facilitate a positive sport encounter for others. Everyone has his or her own personal connection to the sports they love, and the appetite for knowledge can be insatiable. That's why M's articles run on the long side; there are so many facets to a game/sport that many get completely overlooked otherwise. Sport is for everyone, and if B/R can help another feed that need, that's the aim!

Author's Notes: Thanks to everyone for reading and for all the fantastic feedback. I'm writing it for you guys (as corny as that may sound!) Your reads, comments, criticisms, and Picks of the Day are always gratefully appreciated. Thank you for the great fan support. Any further questions, comments, or concerns may be sent via email to sports.writer@live.com.

If anyone has a topic they would like covered, please feel free to mention it. It may not get done, but the challenge is always appreciated. There are so many topics not covered by mainstream media, or when they are, it may be without depth. Sometimes even just the research is worth the look.

For my Flames Fans readers, the August trivia answer is Tim Hurlbut.

M Writes About

The Short List facts and information about M MacDonald Hall

Favorite Athletes

Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff, Andrew Ference, Craig MacDonald, Wayne Gretzky, Kirk Muller, Doug Gilmour, Stephane Yelle, Joe Thorton, Martin Brodeur, Joe Carter, Fred Brathwaite, Will Clark

Favorite Sports Teams

Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, Calgary Roughnecks, Saint John Sea Dogs, Calgary Hitmen, Toronto Blue Jays, Boston Red Sox, Calgary Stampeders, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Team Canada (any event/sport), Guilford Flames, England's National Football team, Scotland's National Football team, Exeter City, Glasgow Rangers, Toronto FC, Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtic, Seattle Seahawks

All Time Sports Moment

2004 Stanley Cup Playoff run. So many memories! Also the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics... fantastic to see the men AND women win gold!

Most Memorable Game Attended

Calgary vs San Jose 2 December 2003. My first NHL live, successful penalty shot, courtesy of Shean Donovan. Miikka Kiprusoff's first game against his old team. Later that year we would see the Flames take the Western Conference Championship from the Sharks at the 'Dome. Simple but fantastic hockey. First time in years I saw more wins than losses when I went to the Saddledome.

Most Unbreakable Sports Record

Toughie... Gretzky's various records, longest game streak, Wilt Chamberlain's multiples perhaps?

Ruth or Mays?

Willie. Not to take anything from Ruth, but Mays was a better all-around player in a League that posed him more challenges and competition.

Jordan or Russell?

Jordan. Grew up watching the man, had his poster on my wall (in a trio, with Gretzky and Roberto Alomar) and really dug what he brought to the game. Re-revived basketball.

Gretzky or Orr?

Orr. The obvious answer is Wayne, and the numbers don't lie. However, I play defence by nature, and having seen what he COULD have done had his body not given out, I'll go with Orr. He was my kind of player. It's almost another apples and oranges question though, considering the time frames, different positions, and length of career.

Bulletin Board (129) Post a note »

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  1. by Ryan
    1 day ago

    Thanks again for your understanding, M. I do like the idea of a more "weighted"/visible tag for pieces (like yours) that aren't specific to any particular league. That's an option we've discussed in the past, and a possibility we'll explore in the future.

    As far as the tags on your latest--I think NHL (as opposed to Multiple Sports) is the right call. The piece comments on sports in general, but it does so in the context of hockey. That focus, combined with your role in the NHL community, seems to make NHL an obvious fit. That said, I don't think Multiple Sports would have been a wrong choice; I just think NHL is a better one (especially given the current tagging/filtration system we have in place).

    So...those are my two cents. Take them for what they're worth, and (as always) please never hesitate to raise questions or concerns down the road. I'll look forward to answering them as best I can.

    Ryan

  2. by Daniel
    1 day ago

    Hey M, thanks for the note, much appreciated. Yes, I live in Montreal, so any help would be appreciated.

    I will read your huge Open Discussion shortly and give you my 2 cents for sure. Thanks for the invite.

  3. by Ryan
    2 days ago

    Thanks for your patience on the double-text issue, M...and I’m glad to hear that everything has been cleared up. Please let me know ASAP if you ever notice it happening again.

    As far as tags:

    I think I’m hearing two distinct issues from you. The first concerns the functionality of the new system--i.e. the wrong players appearing in the Players section, and added players appearing in the Other section. These are bugs that still need to be worked out of the interface...and while I can’t guarantee a quick solution, I can tell you that we’re working to get everything on the level. In the meantime, we’re grateful for your willingness to bear with us, and will do our best to get it fixed as soon as we can.

    The second issue, to my ear, is more of philosophical one--i.e. whether or not we give users the ability to tag articles with multiple individual leagues (e.g. NHL). While I appreciate your concern (especially w.r.t. this particular article), I think the current limitations are in the best interest of the network. By restricting users to one major league tag, we ensure that individual articles don’t get peppered across the network. On balance, the benefits of such a strategy (i.e. fostering more open and equitable content distribution) outweigh the negatives (i.e. limiting articles like your latest to one league section)...so I’m afraid we have to stick with it for the foreseeable future.

    In any event, thanks very much for taking the time to weigh in on this, and please let me know if you have any questions/concerns/objections regarding any of the above. It’s users like you who make BR tick...so the more input you send our way, the better off everyone will be.

    Thanks again, and I’ll look forward to being in touch.

    Ryan

  4. by Ryan
    2 days ago

    My apologies for the formatting headaches, M. The double-text posting is a display glitch our development team is in the process of fixing. They should have it figured out no later than the end of the week, so please let me know if you're still experiencing trouble then. In the meantime, thanks very much for bearing with us...and please do keep the good stuff coming. Your latest was a great read--hopefully a few would-be superstars are lucky enough to hear your advice.

    Thanks again for everything, and I'll look forward to being in touch.

    Best,

    Ryan

  5. by Ken
    6 days ago

    But that also what made it great...great work.

  6. by Ken
    6 days ago

    If it had been any longer M it would have been a book.

  7. by Josh
    7 days ago

    I know I should just wait for the article... but what do you think of Pelech? I recall he was a real off-the-board pick who had been injured most of his draft year, and I really haven't heard anything about him since.

  8. by Heather
    8 days ago

    Hey M

    Sorry about the late reply, I've been a bit busy too (travelling, moving, graduating etc etc) so havent really been posting many articles either. I'm looking forward to revealing my shoddy hockey knowledge with your quizzes though!

    As for the crisp points, I'm going to say thanks but no thanks as I'm actually moving to Canada in 5 weeks so they won't do me much good either! I thought for a while that I might be a Flames fan for a year but that job fell through so it looks like I'm condemned to be an honorary Leafs fan for 12 months instead!

    Keep up the good work!
    Heather

  9. by Ken
    9 days ago

    email Zander about getting in touch with Dave for Press Cred. As far as my teams, they are about to become one less. Stay tuned for an announcement article from me in the coming days.

  10. by Bethany
    16 days ago

    Hey, thanks for the edit. I don't get on here too often, and my blog just automatically imports from my site, so I rarely, if ever, check to make sure everything came in properly. Thanks :)

  11. by Josh
    17 days ago

    No holiday here. We get ours next Friday.

    I'll keep a look out. Another great quiz, btw.

    Are you a fan of the Eagles, by any chance? I went to their concert in Moncton on the weekend and out of 60,000 people, I wound up at the very front, dead centre. I got to see my favourite all-time band play my favourite all-time song about 10 feet in front of me. Doesn't get any better than that!

  12. by Alan
    17 days ago

    hey mac...how long is it gonna be up? cuz im drop dead busy until sunday, and even so, idk if im gonna have time..

  13. by William
    20 days ago

    I was on vacation in new zealand form awhile and did not check the site...but i had printed off all your articles to read while i wasa gone..i left them at the hostel in christchurch becaue i had tio keep on lending them out..you should have a cult following soon from where you least expected it. really looking forward to the new season and your takes on the happenings.

  14. by Josh
    20 days ago

    I'll send you an email today about what we're going to discuss, although it will likely change a little, depending on how long it is before our next show.

    Thanks for the prospect updates. How is Chucko looking as a prospect, anyway? I remember that pick being way out of left field and I haven't really heard anything about him since. I really hope Nemisz can become a solid NHLer, because I'd hate to think that they picked him just because he's from the same team as Mickey Renaud. We'll see, he seems to have good skills for a power forward.

    Negrin should be a good one too. I was really surprised to see him drop to the third round.

  15. by Long
    21 days ago

    M

    hi - incredibly perceptive, you learnt so much about me from my style of writing .... can see you are linguist

    OK - am a nomad .... and all of what you said is true

    roots are definitely south Indian (explains Diwali and cricket ... but I followed Cricket for 19 years and dont any more, except only the Aus team .... gotten past that)

    Live in North America (Ann Arbor is home and this summer, in Chicago) and absolutely embrace it as my other home, lived in gainesville (FL) and Ann (Michigan)- both places I go to school, have some of my best friends in here, American mates ... so that explains the thanks-giving

    And once (if and when) I graduate, wanna live in OZ .... English is my passion, the English I learnt was a cocktail

    the queen's English was in boarding school ... and OZ English was all self-taught, needless to say north American English is what I use every day, so yeah ... its the OZ effect that I used 'mum' ... been to NZ too, so I tend to use mate quite a bit, been to toro-town too ... liked Toronto too

    like all styles .... love the various facets of the language in itself ...

    so i belong to no where ... am where I am ....

    and YES - the dedication was ofcourse to you mate - I can swear on that one ... the actual dedication was to one of my best friends in Palo Alto (Calif) ... it was for her

    love tennis and f-1, if its cricket, its no one other than the Aus team, but gotten past that now

    Long John Silver - was an OZ descent yes - and also one of my fav classics ever ... Treasure Island, it was between LJS and Robinson Crusoe (or) Artful Dodger

    choose LJS - ....

    cheers - am amazed how much you knew about me from just one article, loved your note mate

    cheers -thanks