Weekend Sports Notes and a Sad Night for Hockey

The Flyers opened their season with a 4-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday night. The Orange-and-Black spotted the Rangers a 4-0 lead to start the game and put in the most abysmal first period since District-5 played the Hawks prior to Gordon Bombay’s revelation that the game is supposed to be fun.

The Flyers did rally back to get within one goal of the Blueshirts, and that showed a lot of heart and a good team dynamic, but the defensive corps of this team should really worry the fans. With Ryan Parent out for an extended period along with Randy Jones, there’s a lot of question marks on that blue line which led to Martin Biron getting hung out to dry. On first glance, first-round draft pick Luca Sbisa looked fairly impressive in his first NHL game and could learn from some veteran defenders—if we had more than one, that is. Let’s hope Kimmo Timmonen will be able to mentor the lad to prominence.

Also, we get the feeling that Ossi Vaananen is this year’s version of Jaroslav Modry, by which we mean we’ll be screaming his name at the television a lot with an expletive preceding it. We have no real factual basis for this theory, but it’s just kinda one of those feelings... like when you realize 10 seconds too late that your milk has gone bad.

Finally, and most troubling, Comcast-Spectacor Chairman and Flyers Boss man Ed Snider decided to inject politics into this years’ Flyers opener by having Republican Vice Presidential Candidate and American Dunce-Laureate, Gov. Sarah Palin drop the first puck at the home opener under the guise of “hockey-momism." Anyone who doesn’t think this was a political stunt ought to be bludgeoned over the head with a civics text book. Mr. Snider’s political leanings are well-documented, as he escorted that same Alaskan Governor to the Irish Pub back in September for the first Presidential Debate and would love the tax breaks he would get from the Geezer/Dingbat administration. What is troubling about this is how little Mr. Snider seems to care for his beloved Flyers or the fans they so often take financial advantage of.

Mr. Snider, how dare you inject politics and division into the first game of this hockey season. At a time when Flyers fans should be standing together rooting for another chance to get their hopes up and fall short, you turn them against each other based on their political beliefs. Yes, Sarah Palin was booed unmercifully by the Flyers Faithful, and rightfully so, but those few people who did cheer for the governor were then treated to condescending and mean looks from Obama supporters that they, in turn, gave right back.

The point is that it doesn’t matter whom you support for the White House, because everyone has the hockey team they all love in common. And you, Mr. Snider, drove a wedge into that.

It’s not enough you pair with Aramark, one of the most evil companies to ever sell a hot dog. It’s not enough that you priced the blue-collar fans who made hockey what it is RIGHT out of the game. It’s not enough that you decided to tear down the Spectrum, perhaps the greatest venue to watch a hockey game still standing, in favor of that soulless monstrosity you call an arena. No, none of that was enough. For the fans that did fork over the ghastly price you require for tickets, they had to be treated to your naïve political charade that cast an uncomfortable pall around many areas of the Wachovia Center.

The most tragic part of this is that you should know better, Mr. Snider. You used to understand this city and this sport. There was a time when you once understood that luxury and opulence have no place in hockey. But perhaps you’ve been among the privileged for too long, Mr. Snider. The Spectrum, for instance, would offer a true home-ice advantage to the team you claim to love so much. If you truly cared more for the team’s success than your own, then you would find a way to blow up the Wachovia Center, put “Philly Live” in that parking lot, and make the Spectrum the Fenway Park of hockey. But then you sacrifice luxury boxes and posh client meetings. You know, all those things that kids fantasize about when they’re skating around on frozen ponds.

You lost touch, Mr. Snider, and you lost the faith. You proved that when you made the Flyers a cash cow instead of the relatable local team that hung out with fans at Kaminsky’s in Cherry Hill. You proved it when you decided to euthanize the Spectrum. And you proved it by forcing Sarah Palin down our throats and then trying to drown out the boos with music. To think that blue-collar fans of a blue-collar sport in a town like Philly would actually buy this tripe is insulting. You put politics ahead of the fans and you expected us to buy it. It’s a damn insult, Mr. Snider, and you should be ashamed.

This should be infuriating, but it isn’t. It’s just sad. It’s sad to think that a dad and his son, forget a family of four, have to shell out 200 bucks to go to a game. It’s sad that the biggest booster the regular fan once had is now a shill for greedy corporate pigs. It’s sad that we won’t be able to take our kids to the same arena where we got to see Gretzky, Lemieux, Messier, and Roy play Roenick, LeClair, Recchi, Hextall, and Primeau. It’s just sad that we have to go to a game now and put our politics before our hockey team.

So thanks for that, Mr. Snider. And by the way, I think I owe you $45 for a dog and a beer.

Image Credit: Flickr user neat1325