The Bulls' website also makes the Fronts' look ill. It's kind of a microcosm of the two organizations. The Bulls were quick to have a YouTube recap posted last night after Kingston-area product Mike Murphy and his mates shut out Windsor 4-0 in the first game at the Spitfires' spanking new arena. It is almost like it was a highly anticipated matchup between two teams who could end up meeting in the OHL final. (It was like Murphy had a point to prove after not being invited to the selection camp for Canada's world junior team.)
(The Spitfires' scoring leaders, Ryan Ellis and Kingston's own Taylor Hall, did not play since they're at the junior camp. Still, 4-0 on the road over the No. 1 team in Canada, way to go, Bulls. It's too bad some of us, long ago, took the vow of emotional poverty that comes with involving yourself in the whole durned human comedy that is the Kingston Frontenacs.)
It's all about a professional appearance. If the Frontenacs were 19-7-6 instead of 7-19-6 (six points in arrears of the 19th-place team in a 20-team league), no one would care about the website. However, their record is what it is, which means side issues are amplified.
The Bulls website has a RSS feed. There's video for the fans. Links to game write-ups are easy to find. It actually has a toolbar that links back to the league's website, which the Fronts have somehow got away with not having.
There's no flash player illustration that's straight out of 1998. (About that: The Fronts finally removed the traded Josh Brittain, who makes his return with the Barrie Colts tonight in the front end of a home-and-home, but replaced it with an outdated photo of defenceman Taylor Doherty -- he's shown wearing No. 24, his rookie season number, instead of No. 4, which he switched to this season.
The Kingston Voyageurs site also looks better than their major junior counterparts, and again, they have video clips front and centre. The hell of it is that Frontenacs' highlights are available on YouTube, thanks to the intrepid MisterDB at Fronts Talk, but for some reason the team isn't making use of his passionate hobbyism.
Again, it's blatantly antifan not to put some effort, and it's effectively cutting a hole in one's own pocket. Frontenacs owner Doug Springer would never do that. Next thing you know, he'll be telling everyone that his GM who hasn't won a playoff series in a decade is a "great hockey man."
Sorry, bad example. Anyway, how about Mike Murphy:
By the way, here's the new baseball standings for the OHL's Eastern Conference
- Belleville: --
- Brampton: ½
- Oshawa: 5½
- Ottawa: 6½
- Sudbury: 7
- Niagara: 7
- Mississauga: 8
- Barrie: 8
- Peterborough: 8½
- Kingston: 13
EDIT: (Duane here) Have a look at the Windsor Star's coverage of the opening of the WFCU Centre. It's a near perfect junior hockey rink.
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7 comments:
Too bad the Intell still has a 200-word advance story, without byline, from yesterday...
Windsor won the first meeting in Belleville 1-0. Clearly, these teams are competitive. The east might not be as weak as many OHL fans seem to think it is.
Such is sport that the Bulls have no time to rest. They have London tonight (and then Sarnia on the back end of a three in three, which is as bad a road trip as you can imagine. You don't want the weakest team at the end...)
Don't look now, but former Frontenac Bryan Rodney made his NHL debut with Carolina last night.
Nice, but remember where he got a Memorial Cup ring.
Trust me, I won't. I'm from London. :D
Am I the only one that thinks moves like Blake's really drive home what BS shootouts are? And I'm a Leaf fan.
Colour me antiquated, but I'd take a tie after 60 minutes over pond hockey moves like that. If he tried that in a real game, he get smoked.
I think moves like that are what the League is looking to get more of in the shootouts. Generally with the NBA you rarely see a schoolyard dunk or play but when you do see something essentially out of the And1 Mixtapes the crowd goes BEZERK! I would think that the League would want more crazy goals than not, whether they're welcomed or not by the Hockey purist crowd out there.
The League needs every marketing push it can get especially down south! Personally I thought it was fun to watch - even though I knew that there'd be just about no way that goal would have been scored in a real game I didn't really mind.
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