What, Mats Worthy?
When I was a kid, back before cable, the Internet, and pain-in-the-ass blogs devoted to snarking on sportswriters in a juvenile fashion, there were very few outlets for a snot-nosed little nerd like me to huff back my sports fill. Basically, my primary outlets to interact with what was then the far-off and mysterious world of pro sports were baseball and hockey cards, newspapers, occasional network TV broadcasts, books, and the then-rare magazines devoted to the North American scene.
Of those magazines, three stood out like hoary old giants coming down the mountain with unimpeachable testimony: Sports Illustrated, the Sporting News, and the Hockey News. (I was also enamoured of Hockey Digest, especially their 'Who's Better?' feature where you could hash out earth-shattering debates like the superiority of Bernie Nicholls vs Jimmy Carson. Do they still run that?)
These magazines had stuff no one else did - great photography, quality writing, lengthy, in-depth features, coverage of all the clubs in the league, not just your local team, best of all, rows and rows of stats - stuff that made them indispensable. But as with so many warhorses of the print era, the coming of the Internet has not been kind. The things they specialized in are now commonplace - a flick of the mouse or remote and I can, instead of reading a 500-word notes column on the St. Louis Blues, watch them playing Chicago, read their beat writers in the Post-Dispatch, and follow the team through the eyes of an impassioned, knowledegable fan on a blog. Or hell, I can just stop reading about Jeff Woywitka's progress in Peoria and watch Mr Perfect take on the Hitman.
The last few years have shown the toll this new scenario has taken on the three. The Sporting News stopped publishing it's 80-year old annual guides, moved out of St. Louis, and recently launched an abominable web-paper which is uncopiable, guaranteeing that no bloggers will link to it. Sports Illustrated gives away all it's content for free online, and responds to the obvious question of why anyone would now pay $5 a week for the mag by giving away free subscriptions with a 12-pack of toilet paper.
The Hockey News has changed the look of its magazine inside and out, and dropped the price, if I remember correctly. But of the three, they might be making the most progress in adapting to the online world. Apparently, they have been following popular websites like Hockeybuzz and realized the best way to attract the all-important page views is to write nonsensical columns trolling Leafs fans. Like this one!
So while Sundin dithers on what to do next season, here are 10 reasons why he won't make the Hall of Fame three years after his retirement. There might be 20 reasons why he will make the Hall some day, but some members of the selection committee will reject him for these flaws :
OH YEAH!!!!
10. Has never led his team to great heights.
Wow, I must have been WICKED high when I saw Sundin leading Team Sweden to the Olympic gold medal against the finest hockey talent in the world. You do know the it's HOCKEY Hall of Fame, right?
The rest of this article continues in this pointless vein, so I won't go point by point. Why should I bother, when Costello himself won't even put his own name on his argument, instead saying "this is what some writers will say but maybe not me when his time comes." Brian Costello, winner of this month's Cox Bloc Profile In Courage. I'll give you a couple more of the highlights:
3. Has never won an individual award.
Dude, he won the Mark Messier Memorial Lay's Potato Chips Goblet THIS YEAR!! Come on!
2. Has never won a Stanley Cup - or even made it to the final.
Wow, I guess Darryl Sittler, Brad Park, Borje Salming, Vladislav Tretiak, Tony Esposito, Jean Ratelle, Marcel Dionne, Michel Goulet, Peter Stastny, and about ninety other guys who never won the Cup are getting kicked out next year. Controversial. Also, did you know Mats Sundin is retired and his career is over? Costello has the SCOOP, Gz.
1. Has rarely played at a level where he's considered among the top few players at his position.
This, after he points out as a negative that Sundin has been a second team all-star twice, so actually he's been considered the second best centre in the league twice. He's also made the All-star team nine times (and would have been there again this year if he hadn't declined), and he wasn't the fourth line centre, believe me.
He has been loyal, durable, his production has been remarkably consistent, but he hasn't crossed the line between being a very, very good player and a truly exceptional player.
He might have an argument here, if that statement bore any resemblance to reality. Anyone who thinks the Hockey Hall of Fame is for only the 'truly exceptional' should take a look at Clark Gillies, Bernie Federko, Mike Gartner, and Glenn Anderson having a beer together at the next induction weekend. By any reasonable look at the HOF standard, Sundin walks it.
I would add stuff about Brian apparently having no idea to adjust for the fact that Mats played his entire prime in the Dead Puck era, but you get the point. With articles like this, I eagerly look forward to the Hockey News' next headline-grabbing move in the world of shinny journalism - the hiring of Howard Berger and Damien Cox as Editors-at-Large. Funny, I thought it was Mad Magazine who called their contributors "The Usual Gang Of Idiots".....
Of those magazines, three stood out like hoary old giants coming down the mountain with unimpeachable testimony: Sports Illustrated, the Sporting News, and the Hockey News. (I was also enamoured of Hockey Digest, especially their 'Who's Better?' feature where you could hash out earth-shattering debates like the superiority of Bernie Nicholls vs Jimmy Carson. Do they still run that?)
These magazines had stuff no one else did - great photography, quality writing, lengthy, in-depth features, coverage of all the clubs in the league, not just your local team, best of all, rows and rows of stats - stuff that made them indispensable. But as with so many warhorses of the print era, the coming of the Internet has not been kind. The things they specialized in are now commonplace - a flick of the mouse or remote and I can, instead of reading a 500-word notes column on the St. Louis Blues, watch them playing Chicago, read their beat writers in the Post-Dispatch, and follow the team through the eyes of an impassioned, knowledegable fan on a blog. Or hell, I can just stop reading about Jeff Woywitka's progress in Peoria and watch Mr Perfect take on the Hitman.
The last few years have shown the toll this new scenario has taken on the three. The Sporting News stopped publishing it's 80-year old annual guides, moved out of St. Louis, and recently launched an abominable web-paper which is uncopiable, guaranteeing that no bloggers will link to it. Sports Illustrated gives away all it's content for free online, and responds to the obvious question of why anyone would now pay $5 a week for the mag by giving away free subscriptions with a 12-pack of toilet paper.
The Hockey News has changed the look of its magazine inside and out, and dropped the price, if I remember correctly. But of the three, they might be making the most progress in adapting to the online world. Apparently, they have been following popular websites like Hockeybuzz and realized the best way to attract the all-important page views is to write nonsensical columns trolling Leafs fans. Like this one!
THN.com Top 10: Reasons why Mats Sundin isn't a Hall of Famer
by Brian Costello
31/07/2008 11:00:01 AM
Sundin is a consistent player, but here's why he isn't a Hall of Famer.
Some media outlets have referred to the indecisive Mats Sundin as an automatic Hall of Famer, regardless of what he decides to do with his hockey career.
So while Sundin dithers on what to do next season, here are 10 reasons why he won't make the Hall of Fame three years after his retirement. There might be 20 reasons why he will make the Hall some day, but some members of the selection committee will reject him for these flaws :
OH YEAH!!!!
10. Has never led his team to great heights.
Wow, I must have been WICKED high when I saw Sundin leading Team Sweden to the Olympic gold medal against the finest hockey talent in the world. You do know the it's HOCKEY Hall of Fame, right?
The rest of this article continues in this pointless vein, so I won't go point by point. Why should I bother, when Costello himself won't even put his own name on his argument, instead saying "this is what some writers will say but maybe not me when his time comes." Brian Costello, winner of this month's Cox Bloc Profile In Courage. I'll give you a couple more of the highlights:
3. Has never won an individual award.
Dude, he won the Mark Messier Memorial Lay's Potato Chips Goblet THIS YEAR!! Come on!
2. Has never won a Stanley Cup - or even made it to the final.
Wow, I guess Darryl Sittler, Brad Park, Borje Salming, Vladislav Tretiak, Tony Esposito, Jean Ratelle, Marcel Dionne, Michel Goulet, Peter Stastny, and about ninety other guys who never won the Cup are getting kicked out next year. Controversial. Also, did you know Mats Sundin is retired and his career is over? Costello has the SCOOP, Gz.
1. Has rarely played at a level where he's considered among the top few players at his position.
This, after he points out as a negative that Sundin has been a second team all-star twice, so actually he's been considered the second best centre in the league twice. He's also made the All-star team nine times (and would have been there again this year if he hadn't declined), and he wasn't the fourth line centre, believe me.
He has been loyal, durable, his production has been remarkably consistent, but he hasn't crossed the line between being a very, very good player and a truly exceptional player.
He might have an argument here, if that statement bore any resemblance to reality. Anyone who thinks the Hockey Hall of Fame is for only the 'truly exceptional' should take a look at Clark Gillies, Bernie Federko, Mike Gartner, and Glenn Anderson having a beer together at the next induction weekend. By any reasonable look at the HOF standard, Sundin walks it.
I would add stuff about Brian apparently having no idea to adjust for the fact that Mats played his entire prime in the Dead Puck era, but you get the point. With articles like this, I eagerly look forward to the Hockey News' next headline-grabbing move in the world of shinny journalism - the hiring of Howard Berger and Damien Cox as Editors-at-Large. Funny, I thought it was Mad Magazine who called their contributors "The Usual Gang Of Idiots".....
No adjustment for the Dead Puck Era. I mean...good grief.
Tune in next week for Brian Costello's opus, "Why Patrick Roy and Grant Fuhr Were Not As Good As Manny Fernandez and Patrick Lalime."
What was the one that kind of looked like a TV guide...I think maybe it was Hockey Digest. I subscribed to that thing for years. I have them all stashed away at my parents house...I will sell them to you real cheap.
Hey Dick,
Till and I have been trying to get our hands on some old PWI magazines so that we can prove that Eddie Elner and Damien Cox are the same person. Any chance you have some old wrestling mags boxed up in your parents basement?
I have so many old PWI's that it isn't funny...Actually I was at my parents a couple of weeks ago and was reading the 1989 year in review double issue.
Sweet. I will personally drive you to Orillia to pick them up when I get back in September. We can stop at the casino.