Tag Archives: fans

Fans Pay for Players’ Mistakes

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By Jason Menard

The latest NBA brawl is notable mainly because of the harsh reaction by the league. Of course, as is the case in all of these situations, the only true loser is the fans.

Think about this. The NBA’s leading scorer, Carmelo Anthony, has been rightly suspended for 15 games for his involvement in a recent on-court dust-up between the New York Knicks and Anthony’s Denver Nuggets. Anthony, of course, is one of the leagues “next ones,” drafted behind only Cleveland’s LeBron James and Orlando’s Darko Milicic (originally chosen by Detroit) and before Toronto’s Chris Bosh.

The length of the suspension shows two things: one, the league is serious about cracking down on violence, even if that means suspending one if its young, marquee talents; and, two, the league really doesn’t care that much about its fans.

That’s right. By suspending Carmelo Anthony (and, to a lesser extent, the other players who received varying degrees of penalties), the league has said to the NBA fans in general – and Denver fans in particular – that it doesn’t care about providing value for the entertainment dollar. Discipline defeats customer appreciation every time.

Of those 15 games that Anthony has been suspended, 12 of them take place in Denver. With the team clinging to seventh place in the Western Conference, there’s a good chance that after 10 games without its top two scorers (J.R. Smith received 10 games off for his involvement in the fracas) the club will find itself on the outside looking in. That means you’ve got two sets of losers: the team and the hard-working, money-paying fans.

By suspending Anthony, who is already rich beyond most of our wildest dreams – no matter how wild your dreams may be, the league has done minimal damage to the player. Sure, his endorsements may falter a little bit, but they’ll come back (Kobe Bryant, anyone?) In the end, Anthony suffers little more than a 15-game break that will end up leaving him fresher in the long run – perhaps bestowing an advantage to him during the end-of-season grind.

But imagine if you’re a Nuggets fan, who has saved up all year – or longer – to earn enough to pay for a couple of seasons’ tickets. You sacrifice on other things for the right to go to the game to see one of the league’s elite players on a nightly basis – only to have that taken away from you because of one player’s selfish act.

Or what about those dedicated fans who may have planned a holiday trip to Colorado, partly to catch their beloved Nuggets in action. The value of their trip has gone down, but I don’t see anyone in the NBA offering a reimbursement.

Sure, Anthony’s the one getting punished, but why does it have to hurt the fan so much?

Like the punk kid in school who looks at a suspension as nothing more than time off of school, the NBA’s form of punishment here is ineffective at best – and punitive to the fans at worst (don’t believe me? Try asking some Indiana Pacers’ fans about their experience a couple of years back).

So what’s the solution? Simple. Anthony doesn’t miss a single game. He continues to play for the Nuggets, providing the fans value for their money. However, he does not earn any salary for the duration of his suspension – essentially working for free. And then, at the end of the season, he is compelled to perform various acts of league-imposed community service in the Denver community as a way to make up for sullying the club’s name. And the same goes for the players in New York.

The other alternative is to make players financially liable for the losses incurred by the franchise or the fans as a result of their actions. If a player’s suspension results in the loss of playoff revenue, then perhaps a percentage of the player’s salary should be returned to the club in the form of compensation.

In fact, why not open up class action suits for fans who can prove that their investment has been devalued by these actions? A season ticket holder can argue that his 40+ game investment has lost over a quarter of its value – and the player could then be responsible for reimbursing every fan who makes a claim (within reason of course). Maybe a nice hand-written note of apology could accompany each cheque.

Of course, this will never happen. For a Player’s Association that defends its members, even if they choke management (and, yes, I’m looking at you Latrell Sprewell), doing the right thing comes second to protecting its dues-paying members.

But imagine if we could hit players where it truly hurts – in the pocketbook. Heck, these guys all say they love the game so much they’d play it for free, but I have a belief that when push comes to shove money matters. When you threaten those paycheques – or make them play without pay – chances are incidents like this will drop dramatically. In the NBA – as in any professional sport – money talks. So this solution could be used in all major sports: the NHL, NFL, and MLB!

Best of all, this would only impact a small number of people, as most athletes are fine, upstanding individuals. But if you’re going to step outside of the rules, you should be forced to own up to your transgressions.

After all, it’s not the fans’ fault, so why should they be forced to pay – both literally and figuratively – for someone else’s mistakes?

2006© Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Fortune or Foresight? The NHL’s Winning Formula

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By Jason Menard

The NHL not only managed to slip its head out of its self-imposed noose, but the league appears to have found a winning lottery ticket on the way down the ladder.

All the public hand-wringing and doomsday scenarios cooked up by the pundits have been put on ice, as the National Hockey League has rebounded nicely from its lockout to boast improved attendance numbers, a better product, and a future that’s so bright Gary Bettman’s gotta wear shades.

The league released its attendance figures, clocking in a 91.7 per cent capacity over the year, league-wide. Now, some may snicker at that number considering that some of those 20,854,169 reported attendees arrived dressed as empty seats. But regardless of how many fans walked through the turnstiles, a 2.4 per cent increase in tickets sold is nothing to sneeze at – especially in light of the potential damage the lockout could have caused.

Luckily for the NHL, common sense combined with serendipity to provide an exciting, dynamic year that gave the fans a reason to come back.

It’s not surprising that Montreal was able to set a team record for season attendance. They were able to sell out all 41 home games in the cavernous 21,273 Bell Centre. In fact, it’s no surprise that Canadian hockey fans were ready to come back in droves – the surprise was that there was no drop-off in U.S. fan support.

Realizing the precipice upon which they were perched, the league finally listened to its legion of constructive critics and implemented a host of rule and stylistic changes designed to speed up the game, let the skill players display their talents unimpeded by lumbering goons, and add goals to the game. Most importantly, they ensured that each game would end with a winner and a loser.

Part of the joy of being a hockey fan comes from experiencing the highs and lows of the season. However, it’s hard to ride that emotional rollercoaster when it’s stuck in neutral – and that’s what happened in the past as so many teams were playing not to lose and we more than content with a tie and the point it provided. The addition of the shootout, gimmicky as some may think it is, gets the butts out of the seats, brings back the breathless anticipation that hockey is known for, and gives fans back the opportunity to experience the depth of disappointment that accompanies a loss. However, that feeling also allows them enjoy the adrenaline rush that a win brings with even more passion.

That’s what common sense brought: the knowledge that hockey was a game with untapped potential that was being impeded through clutch-and-grab tactics. Desperation is the mother of invention and to reaffirm their place in the professional sporting mosaic, the NHL had to make changes.

The serendipity came with the fact that so many teams from non-traditional markets were in contention for playoffs right down to the wire. How much was fan interest buoyed in Atlanta thanks to the fact that the Ilya Kovalchuk-led Thrashers were in it right down to the final weekend? Did the Carolina Hurricanes’ success have anything to do with their 27 per cent increase in fan support? What about Nashville’s unexpected performance? Do you think that may have helped the team improve attendance by 10 per cent? Did Joe Thornton’s arrival and subsequent sparking of the San Jose Sharks playoff drive matter to the fans? A six per cent increase says yes.

Like the increase in fan support in Montreal, NHL markets are notorious for supporting their teams win or tie. The fact that so many non-traditional market teams were playing games that mattered only gave a bigger stage to display the changes that were made on the ice.

All the talk about fan revolt dissipated when we realized that it wasn’t just the NHL that was back – it was the NHL game of our youth that was resurrected. Just as Wayne Gretzky made his return to rinks behind the Phoenix Coyotes bench, the style of game that he enjoyed in his heyday was back in fashion.

While it’s hard to say that losing a season of one’s favourite sport is ever a worthwhile venture, the bitter pill fans were forced to swallow has gone down much easier with the sweet changes made to the current game. Now fans have to hope that the league has finally cured what ails it and commits to ensuring its long-term health.

Whether it was foresight, serendipity, plain dumb luck, or a combination of all three, the NHL has stumbled across a winning formula – and it’s the fans who are the biggest beneficiaries.

2006© Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

What Ever Happened to Respect?

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By Jason Menard

Silence is not only golden – it’s respectful. Well, it is at least until the moment that some disrespectful moron chooses to misuse that honourable pause to draw attention to themselves with their 15 seconds of fame.

As the band Sloan once sang, “it’s not the band I hate, it’s their fans.” And that sentiment can be carried on to a select few attendees at our arenas and stadiums. When it comes learning how to show respect, Canadian sporting fans have a long way to go to.

An interesting parallel was broken at the recent home opener for the London Knights junior hockey club. When two veterans of combat came on to the ice to take part in an opening ceremony, they were greeted with a standing ovation from the assembled throng. But this is contrasted with a select few idiots choosing to use the singing of the national anthem as the background music for their sub-intellectual, puerile outbursts.

Does it not seem somewhat odd that we’re willing to stand and gratefully acknowledge the contributions that the veterans have made to the betterment of our society, yet when it comes to honouring the very flag and anthem for which they fought, we’re found woefully lacking?

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that sporting events should be a time of fun, excitement, and celebration. And I appreciate the overwhelming crescendo of applause and cheers that build as the anthem reaches its climax. But there is a time and place for everything, and interrupting our anthem in the middle to release a guttural, animalistic scream is disrespectful and insulting to all Canadians.

And this isn’t just a London thing. It happens all the time in arenas and stadiums across the country. Whether it’s hockey, football, baseball, or any other sport you can imagine, I’ve yet to find one sport that’s immune from the presence of this particular self-congratulatory glory hound.

Really, is in the middle of a song that represents our nation – one with which we should be standing at attention and singing along – the best time to shout “Go Team Go!?” Honestly, I’m pleased that at that moment you finally were able to muster enough brain cells to string two words together (I’m sure it helped that two were short and were the same word, though), but those are sentiments that don’t have a shelf life. They don’t need to be accompanied by Calixa Lavallée’s soundtrack, nor do they need Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir’s or Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier’s (depending on which language, of course) lyrics serving as background vocals for your indispensable contribution to Canadian pride.

Of course, how can we expect to show our anthem the proper respect when we don’t place a premium on it in other aspects of life? Our children listen to the national anthem in school, but don’t sing along. In fact, my 11-year-old son states that many kids in his school talk through the anthem or otherwise act inappropriately. O Canada is an anthem of pride, but each year we see Remembrance Day inch closer and closer to irrelevancy due to the lack of interest we have.

This isn’t like the debate about prayer in school. There is no grey area. The moment we choose to live in this country, we are all Canadians. While each of us is encouraged to retain our social, cultural, and religious identities, we must also recognize that we are all Canadians. And the anthem, like the flag it represents, is a tangible representation of what it means to be Canadians and, as such, deserves respect.

The anthem is powerful. I remember attending an opening day for baseball’s Montreal Expos a few years back. When the anthem started, it was met with a small chorus of boos – which is political expression at its best. But instead of being overwhelmed, the others in the packed stadium sang with all their hearts and voices, the volume rising until the naysayers were overwhelmed. The sense of Canadiana and connection to each other was palpable and it was one of the most moving experiences. At that moment, I truly felt what it meant to be proud of our country. I was able to express outwardly what I’ve always felt inwardly.

We need more moments like that. We need to express our pride to truly feel our pride. And that needs to be done without some moron interrupting the process. Showing pride in our country isn’t the domain of beer commercials – it’s up to each and every one of us to take a stand and use these moments to showcase the best that the country has to offer.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Question of Honour or Savagery?

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By Jason Menard

Although the game’s played on ice, it seems that nothing heats up a Canadian’s passion than taking a critical look at the game of hockey.

Response to a column that I wrote in the Aug. 11, 2005 edition of The National Post, has been swift, passionate, and polarized. The column, which examined the questionable timing of the NHL’s reinstatement of the Vancouver Canucks’ Todd Bertuzzi on the same day as Wayne Gretzky’s announcement of his return to the game, was met with approval by some, but with vehement disapproval by others.

And what surprised me about the e-mailers who disagreed with me was not that they disagreed with the timing of the announcement, or with the actual point of my column – they were passionately opposed to the suspension in the first place, essentially saying Steve Moore, the object of Bertuzzi’s lack of affection, deserved it.

It seems that, according to the e-mailers, Bertuzzi did nothing more than avenge hockey’s karmic gods, which Moore angered by elbowing Bertuzzi’s teammate Markus Naslund. That, in the context of hockey, Bertuzzi’s actions were honourable and that he was being a stand-up teammate.

In fact, one respondent actually referred to Mr. Bertuzzi’s attack of Steve Moore as a “mild take down of the NHL’s honour code.” If Bertuzzi’s attack was mild, apparently more serious infractions should be met with death in the future.

How does the culture of hockey change when some of its fans and some of its players still ascribe to this barbaric system of retribution. The hockey gods must be of the Old Testament variety if this eye-for-an-eye honour code is how they must be appeased. And if the fans are willing to circle the wagons – or even start forming a lynch mob – to avenge their fallen heroes, then perhaps the game has deeper problems than a new CBA and a stricter enforcement of the rules can fix.

The idea of payback has been a part of hockey for generations. The Gordie Howes and Maurice Richards would dole out retribution on their own and were as tough as they were talented. Later on, the role of the enforcer developed – which explained why Dave Semenko was able to ride shotgun with Wayne Gretzky all those years – to allow the skill players to be skilled without fear of the opposing team taking liberties with them.

Bertuzzi, the player, signaled a throwback to the players of yesteryear — big, tough, talented, with hands as soft around the net as they were tough in a fight. And, it’s true that his act against Moore was done to avenge Moore’s hit on Naslund that put him out of commission. But the thing about honour is that it’s best served face-to-face. Not from behind, bulldogging your opponent to the ice face-first.

The players of yesteryear had a respect for each other. Whether it was borne from the lack of helmets or from the fact that they weren’t set for life with their rookie contract, they played the game tough, sometimes dirty, but not with the intention of blindsiding an opponent. Even the so-called goons respected the game enough to only go after each other.

The problem with the way hockey’s unspoken honour code is being interpreted is that many of the fans – and players themselves – forget that a major component of honour is respect. Respect for the game, respect for the fans, and respect for your fellow opponents.

I can understand the idea of standing up for yourself and your teammates. It’s one of the things that make this team sport so attractive – but there are limits. Just because somebody cuts my wife off on the highway doesn’t mean I get to run them off the road the next time I see them.

Hockey’s honour code does not foster the lawless society that some of the e-mailers believe. It does not allow for vigilante justice of this nature. While Bertuzzi’s intent may have been honourable, the way he enacted his frontier justice was not. Bertuzzi’s heart was in the right place, but his head and body weren’t on the same page. And even the fact that Moore was skating away from the confrontation does not justify jumping on his back.

Of course, it seems a lot of Bertuzzi fans would like nothing more to jump on Moore’s back along with him. The game of hockey is built upon the foundations of speed, beauty, and toughness – not savagery. And while honour has its place, it can’t exist without respect.

If the fans and the players lose that respect for one another, then our beloved game of hockey will devolve into nothing more than a bloodsport.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved

Thawing Fans’ Frozen Hearts

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By Jason Menard

It’s somewhat appropriate that during a time much of Canada is undergoing an oppressive heat wave, the labour relations between the National Hockey League’s players and owners finally thawed.

Of course, there is the not-so-insignificant matter of both sides’ rank-and-file ratifying the deal. But after so much acrimony and so much loss, the players really have no choice but to admit defeat and sign off on this pact. And the owners’ pen-wielding hands will be nice and warm from rubbing them with glee!

Now a group of people who have built a reputation of playing balls-to-the-wall, both on and off the ice, will have to find a way to come back to the game with their tails between their legs, effectively neutered as a group by the ownership. Worst of all, there’s no time for licking their wounds – those lips will be otherwise occupied by kissing up to the fans.

That’s right. It’s not just the owners that wanted to cut the players down a peg or two – the fans, who have been subjected to a year without their beloved game, will want their pound of flesh. There’s real anger and real disappointment permeating the fan base, and it falls to the players to diffuse those feelings.

You see, the owners already weren’t the favourite people for most fans. At best there was a love-hate relationship with certain owners, but they’re a behind-the-scenes (or, more accurately, an up-in-a-luxury-box) group. The players, like it or not, are the faces of these organizations – regardless of whether they’re covered in egg.

So what do the players do? What can they do? Any public apology is just going to come across as insincere and staged. They’ve lost whatever goodwill they may have earned being “Good Canadian Boys” who weren’t as spoiled as those NBA or MLB-types. Rightly or wrongly, there is a perception that hockey players lost out because of their own greed – refusing to take a better deal to save the season, and being forced to swallow a much more bitter pill in the end.

The solution to this dilemma? Play the game and play it like the fans would love to play it. If you’re in the NHL, hockey is your job. But for the average fan, playing in the NHL is a dream. The realities of getting paid, a short career, and hectic travel schedules cutting in on family time are often lost on Joe or Jill Average who would give their right arm to lace up with their favourite teams just once. Because of that, the players need to come back and play hard, every night, and make the game the exciting display of dynamism that it has the potential to be.

If the lockout has done anything, it’s created an environment where excitement is going to grow in spite of itself. With so many free agents, the NHL has turned into a giant rotisserie league, wherein every fan can dream about their team going out and signing players that previously would have been financially unattainable. Each and every fan will get caught up in the potential swap meet of players and the excitement of a new season, with new hope, and new potential for all will start to stoke the flames of passion that have been cooled by the lockout.

The NHL has done a lot of damage to itself with this lockout, and both players and owners share in the blame. Hockey hotbeds like the Canadian cities and some northern U.S. locations will be able to draw upon their large fan base for whom hockey is a way of life. But it is those non-traditional markets, like the southern States that the damage will be felt most.

But like anyone who has suffered a serious wound, the NHL will need to accept that it takes time to heal. There are no quick fixes, there is no panacea that will cure all hurt feelings and salve festering wounds – but there is the belief that time heals all wounds.

If the NHL goes through with rules changes designed to speed up the game and let the players play, fans will be drawn back in spite of themselves. The game is in our blood – and no matter how much we want to freeze the players out, the fact of the matter is that hockey played at its best will warm the heart of even the most disgruntled fan.

2005 © Menard Communications – Jason Menard All Rights Reserved