When the NFL kicked off their season on Thursday, September 10th, there was one game that night. The Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Tennessee Titans at home. That game was the only game on opening day. It was nationally televised and well advertised. They showed the ceremony with the fireworks and the Steelers started off their season with the NFL world watching them celebrate their championship a bit before the game started.

As the MLB kicked off their season on Sunday, April 5th, the only regular season game that day was played by the World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies as they faced the Atlanta Braves at home. This opening game of the season was also available for all baseball fans to enjoy as the Phillies celebrated their win with their fans one last time before starting the new season.

The NBA started off their season last year on October 28th with a double header on TNT starting with the NBA Championship Boston Celtics hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers. The second game of the double header featured the first regular season game for the number one draft pick in the 2007 NBA draft.

All of these leagues have a few things in common. The reigning champion of the league gets to start off the next season. The start of the season is a well advertised event with countdowns on public websites. The opening game and pre-game events are nationally televised in HD for anyone in the country to see without a special sports package. The national TV coverage of the games happens on a channel that everyone with cable gets (I realize that TNT is a cable channel) for free. They don’t need to purchase a sports package (as I do in order to get Versus) and the channels are all on DirecTV (which Versus is not as I write this – I’m still hoping they’ll work that out before I move, since I really want to change back to DirecTV when I’m able to get it). These games also all take place in the United States of America.

In contrast, the NHL starts their season with four games on opening day (Thursday, October 1st). Two of these games are nationally televised (including HD) on Versus – the Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins (7pm) and the San Jose Sharks at Colorado Avalanche (10pm). The other teams playing on opening day are The Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and Calgary Flames. None of the teams playing on opening day were even in the Stanley Cup Finals last season. In fact, only three teams out of the eight playing on opening day made it out of the first round of the playoffs. They (the Capitals, Bruins, & Canucks) were all eliminated in the conference semifinals.

The Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins play their first game the second night of the hockey season. They play the 8th game of the season and will have all the fanfare of raising the Stanley Cup Championship banner with only local audiences (Pittsburgh & New York City) as well as those of us who have the NHL Network (a pay channel on my cable service). I am hoping the NHL Network shows the Pittsburgh feed of the game. Center Ice normally airs the home feed for home openers and I’m hoping the NHL Network will do the same. I’m also hoping that when entering the info someone just forgot to check the box to select that the show is in HD, since as of this morning the repeats on the NHL HD Network are going to be in HD, but the live feed will not. I think it’s horrible that the first game of the reigning champs isn’t nationally televised on a channel that’s easily accessible to all sports fans. Those wanting to see the raising of the banner living in New York will most likely have to settle for YouTube replays or watching it on the Penguins’ website, since the NHL Network feed will be blacked out in NYC due to the MSG telecast. I’m sure the Rangers will do the same thing the Ducks did when they played in the Penguins’ first home game a few years ago and cut out anything fans of the Penguins would want to see of the opening of the season and local fans will not get a choice.

The NHL messes up a lot of their marketing (or lack of marketing, as it were). Their not acknowledging the reigning Stanley Cup Champion is just one of many errors. The NHL continually tries to compete with the NBA (which will always be more popular in most parts of the US). This competition makes it difficult for some people (especially those in southern California and other areas where local basketball teams were doing well) to find a bar that will show the games if they’d like to go out with friends to enjoy them (or, as in the case of my one friend, didn’t have cable and needed to find someone willing to show hockey that had Versus – at least Versus and DirecTV didn’t have their battle until the playoffs ended). If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Bettman was brought in to lower the NHL’s ratings and prove that it should eliminate some teams. A lot of the choices he’s made seem more like the choices networks make when they want to kill a show’s ratings. I could talk about different errors in judgment the NHL makes for ages like most hockey fans.

Southern California residents not attending the Ducks’ season opener (also their season opener), which is the same night as (and only a half hour apart from) the Kings’ season & home opener, will be disappointed if they’d like to watch it later. It’s one of the few games airing on KDOC instead of Fox Sports Prime Ticket or West, so it will only be aired in standard definition. I’ll be at the Kings game that night and was disappointed that the Ducks’ first game of the season will not be televised in HD. I think this is another bad marketing choice, though this one was probably made by FSN & KDOC, not the Ducks. I’m sure the Ducks would prefer all of their games to be aired in HD. Who wouldn’t? It makes fans happy and that’s the goal, isn’t it?

I know fans of all sports complain about choices those running the league make, but how is it possible that all the other major league team sports in the country have figured out that celebrating the reigning champion is a good idea and the NHL still hasn’t understood this simple fact? It doesn’t take a brilliant mind to figure out that having one (or two) game(s) to open the season and making a big deal out of the opening night with the current champ as well as nationally televising that game (and the game after it, if applicable) is a good marketing strategy. For all of Bettman’s talk about expanding interest in the NHL in the United States, he doesn’t seem to make choices supporting the concept.

Typically, July is a very boring sports month – all around. The NHL & NBA have finished their finals, it’s the middle of the MLB season, NFL & college sports haven’t started …

However, living across the country from your favorite baseball team makes any time they’re in town fairly exciting (especially if you, like me, don’t have the MLB package). I love being able to see the Yankees in HD and I’m lucky enough that they’re on ESPN and Fox fairly often, but when they’re in Anaheim (as they were this weekend), it’s great to see them in person. Granted, they often lose, since Anaheim is the only team with a winning record against the Yankees in the last 13 or so years, but it’s still good to see them play. In their first two games this weekend, the Yankees scored 14 runs against the Angels. Very good, actually… except for the fact that the Angels scored that many on Saturday alone and 24 on Friday and Saturday. Today’s game was a lot closer though the Angels still won. The Yankees had been one of the hottest teams in baseball before meeting up with the Angels, so hopefully they’ll get back to that after the All-Star break.

This weekend was also the LA Kings’ development camp for their young players who haven’t made it into the NHL yet. It’s always good to see the players who’ve been chosen. I don’t follow that much minor league hockey, so I never know if I agree or disagree with the rankings before the draft or have much of an opinion on how various teams did in the draft. The development camp puts it into perspective a bit, since you can see the players in person and judge them for yourself.

It was nice to see the large turnout today at the development camp in El Segundo. Everyone says it was about as crowded Friday and Saturday, too. Since Friday was during a work day and Friday and Saturday had great weather and (as always in southern California) plenty of options for fans to spend their time, it’s great to see how many of them chose to spend time inside to get a glimpse of the Kings’ future. Hockey has the shortest off season, but it can still seem to drag at times. Development camp is definitely a way to get a good hockey fix in person.

Hockey Fest in the end of August at LA Live is really the next major event for hockey fans in southern California. The more I hear about Hockey Fest, the more interesting it sounds. I think it’s something all southern California hockey fans will be able to enjoy (yes, even the Ducks fans). Of course, southern CA hockey fans who haven’t visited the Science of Hockey exhibit at the Discovery Science Center should check that out to kill the time in the off season.

Kat
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To read more of my thoughts on the NHL and other sports, check out Press Box Perspective.

What a game. I don’t know about all Penguins fans, but this Penguins fan has a sore neck. It’s amazing how stressful just watching a game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals can be… When watching the horrible game 5 at Diesel on the south side in Pittsburgh, Bryan Trottier mentioned that he was just watching this year as a fan and that it was very stressful to be a fan watching your team in the Finals. Hearing that from a guy who won the Cup six times (4 with the Islanders, 2 with the Penguins) as a player and once as an assistant coach (with the Avalanche) was pretty surprising.

In Pittsburgh, it would have been simple to pick a bar for watching game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and you probably couldn’t have made a bad choice. Every bar was surely filled with fans wanting the Penguins would win and the fact that the NBA wasn’t playing tonight didn’t matter as much to Penguins fans in Pittsburgh as it did to hockey fans in southern California. Here, most people care more about the Lakers than they do two out of town teams in the NHL Finals. Heck, even if the Ducks or Kings were in the Finals, I’d bet a lot of money that more people would care about the Lakers being in the Finals.

I went to my favorite local sports bar (The Corner Office) with a friend figuring there were bound to be other hockey fans there watching the game and I was right. I left work a half hour early and we just barely got there in time to get one of my 5 favorite booths in front of the big screens. There was another fan in a Penguins jersey (also Mario Lemieux), a fan in a Red Wings jersey, one in a Red Wings t-shirt, etc. More people in the bar seemed to want the Penguins to win, but there were fans on both sides. The Corner Office even put the sound on for the game, which I didn’t expect. Could we hear it most of the time? Not really, but the bar tried and I think that was really nice of them.

Game 7s don’t happen every year in the Finals, but they are a lot of fun when they do. The Penguins/Red Wings series was an exciting one, in spite of the blow-out in game 5 (where the Red Wings won 5-0). The 7th game lived up to my expectations. The game wasn’t over until the buzzer sounded. It was exciting and Penguins fans everywhere went crazy. I’m sure many of them worried when Sidney Crosby went down, but Max Talbot was amazing and gets the Stanley Cup winning goal, which he definitely deserved. Marc-Andre Fleury made some amazing saves, including one highlight reel save that will even show up on ESPN over and over, I’m sure. Dan Bylsma came a long way in a short period of time. From assistant AHL coach to Stanley Cup Champion head NHL coach. It must seem like a bit of a blur for him, but he’s done an amazing job and deserves a lot of credit for the turnaround the Penguins made this season.

Sidney Crosby may not have played much in game 7 (he didn’t even get to 10 minutes, due to his injury), but he was still the youngest captain in NHL history to lead his team to a Stanley Cup victory and raise the Cup. Evgeni Malkin became only the 5th player in history to win the regular and Stanley Cup playoff scoring titles (he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP). Marc-Andre Fleury proved he can play with the best of them and Marian Hossa chose the wrong team. Of course, there’s always the question of whether the Penguins would have been able to keep the necessary players (like Brooks Orpik) or afford the late season additions that allowed them to win the Cup this year. The NHL Network mentioned that Maxime Talbot specifically said he wanted to meet up with Hossa in the hand shake line and tell him he picked the wrong team. Clearly, he got to do that and I’m sure he enjoyed it as much as he thought he would.

The Penguins didn’t make the playoff run easy for the fans. The Washington series was rough, but the Finals against the Red Wings were even more difficult. Pittsburgh has two reigning teams (the Penguins and Steelers). A friend of mine mentioned that the pressure is on the Pirates now, which is (of course – if you know anything about baseball) hilarious, since the Pirates are most likely to become the team with the longest streak of losing seasons in MLB history this year. Of course, the other end of the state (Philadelphia Phillies) is the home of the reigning World Series champions. Three out of the four top professional team sports – not a bad year for Pennsylvania sports.

Now, we can all look forward to next week’s NHL Awards ceremony and the draft.

The NHL couldn’t have scripted last night’s game with Crosby vs. Ovechkin better (though I’d bet they would have picked Pittsburgh to win, since they want the series to go to 7 games). In spite of the fact that Malkin won the NHL scoring title this year and until last night had more points than Sid in the playoffs, all the buzz has been about Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin. Alexander Semin had more points than Alex Ovechkin until last night, too. Now, advertising Sid vs. Alex seems to make sense. Crosby stands alone in 2nd place (behind Ryan Getzlaf and no one is going to talk about him – he’s from a southern California team that people still seem to think is lucky for having beaten the Sharks). Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin are tied for 3rd with 11 points, though Malkin’s 1.38 points per game beats Ovechkin’s 1.22. At least now they’re talking about the top scoring player on each team, which they weren’t before last night’s hat tricks.

Who would have ever guessed that Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin would both get their first playoff hat tricks in the same game? The league really couldn’t have planned it better unless it was in game 7 of the conference finals. That would be a bit better. Otherwise, it was perfect. The two players the NHL cares to market both got their first playoff hat tricks in the same game. Alex’s third goal in his hat trick was the game winning goal. It really was perfect.

The only problem is that the NHL has no clue how to market itself. Drive around and look at the billboards in any major city and you’ll see ads for the MLB, NBA, NFL – I’ve even seen one for tennis. I’ve never seen a billboard with NHL stars telling me I should watch the NHL. Watch the NHL on NBC and you’ll see ads (I stopped fast forwarding to watch it, since it looked interesting) for watching poker. They even have a hockey themed ad for poker explaining how the games are similar and why those watching the NHL game should stay tuned and watch the poker tournament that follows. Conversely, if you watch the poker tournament or baseball or anything other than the NHL on any channel other than Versus, you’ll never see the NHL playoff ads. The NHL could really use a better marketing director.

Perhaps the NHL will prove me wrong this time, but I’d be completely stunned. They don’t seem to realize that advertising during a hockey game for a hockey game is pretty pointless. I’m already watching. Heck, knowing what channel Versus is on my DVR is a huge step – it’s something your average person on the street wouldn’t know. Ask them where they find ESPN, though, and I’d bet you get a much higher percentage of correct answers and 0% of the people going “What’s that?” Somehow, I think if you polled people on a street corner asking where they can find Versus on their cable or satellite, you’d get a lot of puzzled looks and people saying they’re not sure if they get that channel – and they might not. Versus is a part of my sports package, though ESPN & ESPN2 are both standard. Those of us who are already watching Versus don’t need to be convinced. We watched Sid and Alex both get their first playoff hat tricks last night, but non-hockey fans could have been won over last night. A lot of hockey fans who don’t normally watch other team’s games got sucked into the Ducks/Red Wings game Sunday, since it was exciting. A game going into 3OT where there is one winner and one loser (and no point for losing in overtime) is exciting – especially when it’s a fast-paced game like hockey. Since that game was on NBC, perhaps a few people who don’t normally watch hockey did stumble upon it and get sucked into the action, but without a better marketing strategy I don’t see how the NHL can improve their ratings.

Of course, some cities are better at advertising than others. This may be where some of the people saying that southern California shouldn’t have NHL teams get the support for their argument. In Pittsburgh, during the playoffs, there are banners all over. I drove through Anaheim Saturday night and there was no way anyone could possibly tell that just a few blocks away was the home of the Ducks – in round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs. I don’t have experience with the surrounding areas of most teams in the playoffs, but I know that in Pittsburgh stores have signs in their windows and are happy about the Penguins being in the playoffs. That doesn’t happen around here and without the NHL having billboards or any other advertising to let people know, it’s no wonder people only care about the NBA playoffs. If you live in the US and haven’t seen a TNT billboard for the NBA, I’d be pretty surprised. I haven’t watched a playoff NBA game since Rick Fox played for the Lakers, but I know what channel it’s on if someone asked me in random conversation. It just goes to show you that the NBA knows how to advertise. I have a DVR and don’t even watch most games live, but I see ads in magazines and billboards. It would be nice if someday the random person on the street could tell me where you could find the NHL playoffs, just as someone who doesn’t care about the NBA playoffs still knows where to find them.

Is it just me, or is it sad that NHL.com is one of the worst places to find information on the NHL? I don’t know about most fans, but I think TSN.com covered the trade deadline the best (as usual). Their live tracker had trades posted within minutes. NHL, on the other hand had the countdown clock. That’s it. Apparently, they thought having a countdown to the last second was more important than having trade updates, since their “Complete list of NHL trades, since Feb. 3” was always updated about 2 hours after the trade happened (TSN’s site listed the time of each trade as the trade was posted just minutes after it took place).

MLB.com does a good job of keeping up on baseball. I don’t see why the NHL can’t do the same. The NHL could really use some help from MLB’s marketing department, too. Though I don’t watch commercials, I notice baseball commercials as I fast forward through them when watching other shows on many channels. Conversely, I only see NHL commercials on NBC during their NHL game of the week or on Versus during hockey games. Versus could show NHL commercials all the time and they probably do. However, like most people I’ve polled, I only watch Versus, or even know it exists, because of hockey. Some fans I polled also watch the Tour de France, but that takes place in the summer during the NHL off-season, so NHL commercials then wouldn’t make too much sense. There is no reason NHL commercials have to be limited to NBC and Versus. They should be on during American Idol, CSI, and all the other popular shows.

I have a lot of female friends who don’t follow hockey, but they know Sidney Crosby’s name because he’s an attractive kid. There’s no reason well-done advertising and focusing on some of the other attractive NHL players couldn’t get women like them (and teenagers) to start watching hockey occasionally.

The trades started out pretty slowly this year, but have certainly picked up in the last hour. Enjoy the last few hours of the trade deadline madness!

Who thought the last game played in Yankees Stadium would be played in September? I certainly wouldn’t have bet on it. Of course, five years ago I doubt most people would have guessed that Johnny Damon would hit a home run as a Yankee the last time the Yankees played in Yankee Stadium.

I’m very glad that ESPN televised the last Yankee Stadium game in HD so I could enjoy the final game. I also appreciated the extras they included in their broadcast. They scrolled stats through the years of Yankee Stadium on the bottom line and mentioned many interesting facts throughout the show. ESPN also had a lot of special guests Yogi Berra is always a fan favorite, but I like that they included as many of the Yankee greats as possible in their broadcast. There are a lot of things ESPN does (like barely covering hockey) of which I’m not fond. However, I must give them credit for doing a wonderful job with the final game in Yankee Stadium. They even mentioned the New York Cosmos (the soccer team that called Yankee Stadium home). I remember going to Cosmos games when I was little and it’s nice that the Cosmos were mentioned.

The first home run in Yankee Stadium (as most Yankees fans know) was hit by Babe Ruth. The last was hit by Jose Molina. Sure, if it had scripted by someone in Hollywood the final home run would have probably been hit by Derek Jeter (when he had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 6th, probably). It’s great that Jose Molina was back in the lineup and able to have such a special moment on the last night the Yankees played in Yankee Stadium. Derek Jeter was playing injured today and you can’t perfectly plan real life. Although I’m sure Jeter is bummed that he went 0-5 in the last game at Yankee Stadium, I’m also positive he’s glad he played in the game, even though he was injured. How could anyone who told his parents he was going to be a Yankee as when he was young miss playing in the last game in Yankee Stadium when he has that chance? Jeter did get a standing ovation by the crowd when he took the final Yankee at bat in the final game at Yankee Stadium. I’m sure this night wasn’t as he pictured it, but Derek Jeter batting the final at bat by a Yankee in the game and the Yankees winning definitely fit perfectly.

It’s perfect that Andy Pettitte started the final game in Yankee Stadium (he was also credited with the last win) and Mariano Rivera ended it. I’m glad Girardi paid attention to the importance of the final game in the house that Ruth built and made sure the two pitchers who came up through the Yankee farm system pitched in the final game. Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York has played for the last time in the original Yankee Stadium and the Yankees wandering around the field waving to their fans as it played a few times was the perfect way to say goodbye to the home of the Yankees. I wish I could have been there for this final game, but I’m glad I got to visit the stadium one last time before it closes the last time I was in the city.

I’m sorry that Jorge Posada couldn’t play in tonight’s game at Yankee Stadium. He’s one of the remaining 4 players on the Yankees who won the 4 World Series in 5 years (ending with the Subway Series in 2000). The other 3 are Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte. It’s good that Posada was there to share in the memories, but I’m sure he would have preferred to be playing in the game.

It’s also too bad that Joe Torre couldn’t be there to share in the last game in Yankee Stadium. His current team, the Dodgers, look like they will be making it into the playoffs this year. I wish he could have been there for the last game in Yankee Stadium, but I’m glad he’s doing well with his new team.

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The last time the Yankees missed the playoffs, it was 1994. So much has happened since 1994. I, personally, had two weddings (and the associated divorces), graduated from Penn State, and moved (more times than I care to count now, but three states and 7 cities were involved). It’s amazing what can happen in 14 years. The price of gas in 1994 was around a dollar and California experienced the horrible Northridge earthquake. Hopefully, it will be another 14 years before the Yankees miss the playoffs again and the new stadium opening next year will be a new start for the Yankees in this millennium.

Home Aid’s Project Playhouse is now in its 17th year. Home Aid is a great charity founded in 1989 by the Orange County chapter. They build houses for homeless families, so they can rebuild their lives.

Project Playhouse normally includes a house that is all Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (I didn’t pick the name and, in my opinion, it’s horrible that the MLB allowed them to change their name, but that is their official title). They’ve had some great designs over the years and if you look at the website you can see pictures of the houses from previous years.

This year, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had a house that was all Anaheim Ducks instead of the usual Angels. Due to the time commitment involved in creating these amazing little houses, when the Anaheim Ducks won the Cup last season, it was too late for a house to be created that year.

I’m not a Ducks fan, as anyone who has read my stuff on HockeyBuzz or listened to The Hockey Chicks knows. However, seeing a play house this amazing completely dedicated to the Anaheim Ducks was really great as a hockey fan.

When the Ducks won the Cup, a couple blocks from the Honda Center one could barely tell. Though the Ducks and other non-traditional market teams (like the Kings) have a dedicated fan base, it is rare to see signs of hockey outside of the immediate area surrounding the arenas (and sometimes you wouldn’t even know there’s hockey going on from a block away). I think all hockey fans can appreciate the way this house was put together – especially when you see the back yard setup, complete with mini roller rink and net.

If you live in the area, I encourage you to get to Fashion Island before the Project Playhouse auction. You can see the houses until October 11, so check it out. You can only go inside the first day every year, which is why I try to get there that day, but you can still see the amazing craftsmanship and donate to a worthy cause by visiting before October 11th.

I’ve been a big fan of Alyssa Milano’s Touch clothing line since I first heard about it when she was adding the NHL to her line and I thought most of the clothing was very well done. I didn’t order any of it initially, since I was waiting to see what they’d end up offering for my NHL teams. Unfortunately, while waiting for that, some of the items I liked sold out for my baseball team (the Yankees). I realized that it’s taking too long to get her clothing line fully launched with the NHL teams. I thought I remembered seeing Penguins clothing in the first NHL catalog that had the Touch line, but as of today only 11 teams are listed on the NHL Touch page and the Penguins aren’t one of them. Only a little over a third of the NHL teams have Touch clothing available at the NHL shop online and neither of my teams are included. I know from talking to the guys who work for the Kings that the Kings are going to do a full launch and are going to work with Alyssa Milano on marketing and their own commercials for the line, but I don’t know when that will be released. Hopefully, it won’t be long after the season starts.

I decided to stop waiting for the NHL to get fully on board with the Touch clothing line and order a couple of Yankees (and one All Star) items. I got them yesterday and I love them. Not only do they look good, but they’re comfortable and machine wash & dryable. It doesn’t get much better than that for me with clothing. It’s easy to care for the garments and they look great. I’m so happy to have a good option in women’s clothing to support a sports team while still being fashionable. It’s great that Alyssa realized that there was a deficiency in this area (as many women have) and decided to do something about it by developing a line of clothing for women who love sports.

The other Touch clothing lines are available here:
MLB Alyssa Milano Touch Collection
NFL Touch

If you or someone you know is a woman interested in sports, I highly recommend Alyssa Milano’s line.