Morning Coffee 143

• I've been sick for three days, hence the lack of posting around here.
• As a Redskins fan, it's hard to root for any other NFC East team. On the other hand, it sure was easy to root against the Patriots. Congrats to the Giants on their Super Bowl victory. Favorite headline: 18 and uh-oh!
• Sounds like there's cause for optimism regarding the writer's strike. But is it already too late? Will the 9% drop in viewers ever come back? Personally, I think the studios have hastened their own irrelevance.
• With last night's win, the Caps are one game above .500. In and of itself, that's nothing to be proud of - Coach Boudreau remarked when we reached .500 that the Caps had "officially reached mediocrity". However, the Caps are the only team in the SE conference that's above .500. If hockey used baseball standings, Carolina, Atlanta and Florida would each be 1/2 game back of the Caps. It's going to be a fight to the finish.
• In fairly big managed Ruby news, Wayne Kelly has decided to contribute to the IronRuby effort, effectively walking away from the Ruby.NET which helped get off the ground. One the one hand, obviously this is great for IronRuby. On the other hand, I liked the idea of multiple managed implementations of Ruby, so here's hoping Ruby.NET doesn't fade away.
• Speaking of the DLR, I know I mentioned Martin Maly's blog in my Lang.NET Morning Coffee Post, but I didn't actually get to read his posts on targeting the DLR until I unexpectedly had several days off sick. If you are at all interested in writing your own language for the .NET platform: Go. Read. Now. You should also check out Tomas Restrepo's blog, he has also started writing about targeting the DLR.
• Larry O'Brien's blog is currently offline, but he commented that he doubted my ToyScript F# parser would be more than 600 lines of code. Currently, the parser is clocking in at 287 lines of code plus about 50 more for the AST. It's not done yet - see earlier statement about being sick - but I'm fixing bugs not writing additional code at this point. To be completely accurate, that's 287 lines of FParsec code. It's taken me a little bit to learn FParsec, but so far I'm pretty happy with it.
• Scott Hanselman points to the new MS Deploy project, a tool for managing content and configuration on web servers. I've never understood why this wasn't a standard part of IIS. It seems every hosting company I've used has rolled their own web-based management tool like DotNetPanel.
• Oh yeah, Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 shipped Monday. Congrats!
• I fired up Inside Xbox the other day, and there was a page about the new Disney Channel show "Phineas and Ferb". Of course, with two kids under five, anything new on the Disney Channel is notable in my house. What made this blog-worthy is the fact that it's directed and written by Dan Povenmire, who I knew from my USC days. I used to go see his band Keep Left and groan loudly at the bad puns in their song "PSA". Dan, if you found this searching for yourself online: Awesome work, my kids love the show!

Morning Coffee 121

• My daughter had her tonsils & adenoids out on yesterday. It was a routine procedure and it went by-the-numbers, but any parent will tell you it's hard to see your kid in a hospital bed.
• Given the previous bullet, I'm not at the SOA/BPM conference for the big announcement. Don't worry, there's lots of other folks covering the news.
• It was a crappy sports weekend in the Pierson house. Va Tech snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, Southern Cal never led at Oregon, the Capitals lost twice, and the Redskins got blown out by the Pats. At least the Caps won big yesterday in Toronto.
• Speaking of the Capitals, Peter Bondra retired Monday. I still think it's a travesty that he didn't spend his whole career in DC, but I've made my peace with it.
• Nick Malik has a great series on business operations models and how they apply to SOA. Regular readers should be unsurprised that I favor low standardization, though I can see the value of high integration. That makes the Coordinated Operating Model my fav, though I can see the benefit of the Diversified Model as well. I can't wait to read what Nick has to say on changing models.
• Speaking of Nick, I'm doing a roundtable with him on "Making SOA Work in the Enterprise" @ the Strategic Architect Forum. Should be fun. Sorry for the lack of linkage on this, but it's an invite-only event.
• Jezz Santos has a new series of white papers on building software factories. First up "Packaging with Visual Studio 2005"
• Aaron Skonnard has a new whitepaper on using the WCF LOB Adapter SDK with BTS 2006 R2. I've been building one of these things recently, so I'm looking forward to checking that out. (via Sam Gentile)
• Tim Ewald looks at Resource Oriented Architecture (when did ROA become a TLA?) and wonders "what if your problem domain is more focused on processes than data?" I wonder that all the time. (via Jesus Rodriguez)
• It's not just durable messaging - Libor Soucek also disagrees with my opinions on centralized control. I agree 100% with Libor that centralized management would make operation's lives "much, MUCH easier" as he puts it. However, that doesn't make it feasible at any significant scale. Furthermore, I wouldn't describe an approach that requires that "all services adopt [the] same common management interface" as "pragmatic". Frankly, just the opposite.

Morning Doughnuts 11

Harry will be back on Monday so I will returning to blogging on my website, while I will let the expert return to his normal posts here (not that he really took a break). I agree with Harry's post in that I really want to get something built so that we can talk about more than theoretical models. Like last time I appreciate the opportunity to sub for the master this last week. I hope that you found some of my entries interesting.

• Sam Gentile wrote the other day why it's great to be a Microsoft developer. I enjoyed that post because I just celebrated the end of my first year here at Microsoft. At this point I am not sure what I have contributed, but I have learned a great deal and want to apply that knowledge over the next year to help the company to succeed. We really do have great people and great technologies.
• The Seattle/Oklahoma City Sonics hired a GM who is only 30 years old. You know you must be getting old when the people running the sports teams are younger than you. He comes from the Spurs organization though so at least he has a background from a successful franchise.
• Ben Pearce listed out his top 5 questions about PowerShell this week at TechEd. He also recommends the book "PowerShell in Action" by Bruce Payette. I heartedly agree with this endorsement as the book is excellent.
• It looks like there are going to be more family friendly games for the XBOX360. I for one am glad to hear that. The other day as I was trying to find some games my 4 year old with the broken leg could play I realized how many games I have that wouldn't be appropriate for him. This is very good news in my opinion.

Afternoon Doughnuts 8

Due to a temporary reassignment this morning, I spent my usual blogging time moving all of my computer equipment from one cube to another.

• Sam Gentile writes about the ALT.NET moniker. My favorite of his principles is number 4 where he discusses the importance of tools versus principles and knowledge. I really agree that knowledge and principles are more important because the best tools in the world can't help us if we don't know how and when to use them.
• I find Mark Cuban's ideas (here and here) about how advertising on the Internet is different than traditional media advertising. He points out that the ability of a provider to deliver higher simultaneous views is more important and valuable than delivering views for a longer period of time. I think he right on here, even if I believe his football league is going to fail. (via Blog Maverick)
• Worse Than Failure has been running an unusual contest to get the most interesting, buggy, and unusual way of writing a calculator application. They have 12 finalists for readers to review. I find that the descriptions of how the programs work (or don't) to be hilarious.
• As I have been working on service-oriented management and monitoring I have given a lot of thought to the best way to present the data. Doesn't it make the most sense to primarily display information from the business process point of view? I would be interested in your feedback.

Morning Doughnuts 7

Once again I get the chance to fill in for Harry while he is gone. I will attempt to keep up with the high standard he has set.

• Be careful with trampolines. I have a four year old that was bouncing on a trampoline this weekend. He twisted his knee slightly on landing, and decided that the fastest way to get comfort was to jump off the edge. His knee gave out and he fractured his tibia. I don't think this was how he planned to start his summer. At least he is pretty calm about the whole thing.
• It looks like there is a good product out there named CliSecure to obfuscate .net code. From what I was able to read it looks like a pretty decent product, even hiding the code while its in memory. (via Larkware)
• TechEd started this morning. While I am sure Harry will be giving some on-site reports there is a link to the virtual site here.
• There is a great video showing Gregor Hohpe talking about SOA, and the many unrealistic claims in the industry. If you have read any of Hohpe's work it is clear that he has a great understanding of the topic. (via Nick Malik)
• The NBA Finals will begin this week with the Spurs playing the Cavaliers and King LeBron. I wonder if this will help rescue the NBA from what seems to be a real apathy on the part of the average fan. Other than the series between Dallas and Golden State earlier in the play-offs it really seems there haven't been any compelling stories. The NBA really needs a shot in the arm to become relevant again.

Morning Doughnuts 5

• Joel Dehlin, a former Microsoft employee and the CIO of the LDS church is conducting a series of tech talks. The next one is being planned for the bay area. If you are interested you can respond to his post here. The dates would be between April 22 - 26 with a tentative agenda as follows:
• Keynote
• Infrastructure breakout
• Development breakout
• Interaction Design breakout
• Community breakout
• Building to building video breakout
• Everything needs a 12 step program now. CNN has a 12 step program to cure your email addiction here. I started thinking about this after Harry's post saying he had hit zero email bounce prior to going on his secret mission.
• I read an interesting blog on XNA and how it fits into Microsoft's strategy in gaming. I am not sure I agree with all of the points, but I found the arguments to be compelling.
• My BYU Cougars are now up to 21 in the AP Poll. I can't think of a year when both the football and basketball teams have both had such successful seasons.
• Between today and tomorrow I will be finalizing my vision document for how I think monitoring should work in the Service-Oriented Infrastructure project I am on. As I was outlining my vision it really hit me how much there is to do.

Morning Doughnuts 2

• Joel Dehlin, the CIO of the LDS church has an interesting blog entry on buy versus build this morning. His main point is that buying is often cheaper, but only if you can move your business processes to match the processes in the off-the-shelf software.
• The search for Jim Gray by his friends and colleagues has been called off. Even with a massive high-tech effort no new clues have been turned up. For the sake of his family I do hope that the mystery is solved. I would imagine it is very hard to not know what happened to him.
• I am currently running a Build and Deployment Task Force. We are trying to ensure that our team follows best practices when building new applications. The project that Harry and I are working on seems to be a good test bed for the process.
• For those of you who read my blog you know I am passionate about how we implement Service-Oriented Architecture in the real world. I have been reading a book titled Service-Oriented Architecture: A Planning and Implementation Guide for Business and Technology. I find the description of real business objections, and how to solve them quite refreshing.
• It appears that the San Diego Chargers are going to hire Norv Turner to replace Marty Schottenheimer as their head coach. I don't see how fans of the Chargers can possibly see this as an improvement.

Morning Coffee 24

• Congrats to the Colts on winning the ugliest Super Bowl ever. Pouring rain, eight turnovers, missed PAT and field goal and the opening kickoff TD return. Ugly, but fun to watch.
• Now that we've had our first poor-weather Super Bowl, I think it's time to start rotating through cities that have never gotten it due to expected weather conditions. Obviously, I'd like to see a Super Bowl at Qwest Field. But most of all, I would love to see the Super Bowl played in Green Bay on the "frozen tundra" of Lambeau Field.
• Was it just me, or did the Super Bowl ads suck this year?
• There's a sweet looking pinball game coming to XBLA. I love pinball, so unless it completely stinks I'll be buying it.
• I commented on the Windows Live SDK last week, but I missed the Windows Live ID Client SDK alpha release. It looks like you can use this SDK to build desktop applications that use Windows Live ID for authentication. Fairly cool, but does it work with non WL services? (via Dare Obasanjo)
• I saw this post on the home page of DotNetKicks today. It claims that locating the ASP.NET App_Data directory by calling AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetData("DataDirectory") is a "dirty hack". I left a comment on the original post, but I wonder if the correct information will ever make it's way back to DNK? 
• Architecture Comix? Yep, on Skyscrapr, an architect community site run by my old team. Sorta funny, but I'm guessing Scott Adams isn't worried about the competition yet.

Morning Coffee 9

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up... live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr

• My boss asks "Are We There Yet?" on fulfilling Dr. King's dream. Sadly, the answer is no. I think we're making progress, but we're not "there" yet.
• No back to back trips to the Super Bowl for the Seahawks. They had chances to win it both down the stretch as well as in overtime and they couldn't capitalize.
• I blogged about "Politics 2.0" back on election day. Here's an article about viral video in politics that's very Politics 2.0.
• It finally warmed up enough yesterday to make a snowman. Patrick named the snowman "Capa" which is what he call my father. Apparently, my father and the snowman have the same bushy eyebrows (according to my wife). It's supposed to snow again tonight, so maybe we can make a "Granny" or "Nana" snowman (snow-woman?).
• The new season of 24 started last night. Please review Larry's list of the Top 10 Things I've Learned About Computers From The Movies and Any Episode of '24'.
• My wife posted a picture of Patrick and I playing Lego Star Wars II. We really enjoy it, but I need to watch my language when we play. When we were fighting the Rancor, Patrick announced to his mommy that we were fighting the "big fucking monster". Woops! Patrick already knows several words that your not supposed to say (and he reminds us if we ever use them) so I guess should add that to the list. Or I could start saying frak instead.

Morning Coffee 5

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
I've been waiting for this moment, all my life, oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord
In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins
Covered by Nonpoint on the Miami Vice Soundtrack

• It was a tough weekend in the Pierson house. For several hours on Saturday, we thought we were going to have to put our dog D'art down. My wife has the details, but the good news is that he had spine trauma, but nothing broken and he seems to be back on his way to his old self.
• I grew up in Northern Virginia, so I'm a long time member of the Dallas Cowboy Hater's Club. So watching them snatch defeat from the jaws of victory against my adopted Seahawks was sweet.
• Last night, Bill Gates kicked off CES with the usual assortment of product news and announcements. The biggest news, in my opinion anyway, is IPTV support for Xbox 360. (Did you know MSFT has a TV product division?) Details are fairly scarce at this point, but I'm hoping this allows for independent broadcasters to directly reach consumers, much like blogs have done for independent writers. Can I use IPTV to launch my own TV channel? Imagine the possibilities. I'd like a Washington Capitals channel, so I can watch post game highlights on my big screen TV rather than on my computer. A Rooster Teeth channel would also be nice.
• No coding this past weekend, though I did reinstall XNA Game Studio Express on my recently paved dev partition. I tried playing Lego Star Wars II with my son over the weekend and he's still having trouble learning how to use the controller. I was thinking I might try making some simple "games" to help him learn.

Morning Coffee 1

I gave up drinkin', I gave up smokin'
I gave up thinkin' all the time, stone cold revoken
No reason to my rhyme, I wasn't jokin'
If there's a phony bone in me, I want it broken
"Rub It In" by All Day Sucker

I'm trying to write more in 2007. Here's a roundup of stuff rattling around my brain:

• Fight On! So much for Michigan and their bleating about being left out of the championship game. Also, massive congrats to Boise State.
• Santa did bring me free time this holiday, but I spent it playing games rather than writing them. I'm digging Gears (big surprise) and Dead Rising, and I've starting playing Viva Pinata with Patrick. Plus, I finished GRAW which I had on loan from a friend just in time to start playing Vegas. Note I said "free time" which is to say time when I wasn't hanging out with my family. Typically during naps or after everyone was in bed, though I did skip at least one birthday party to play instead.
• We had a "surprise" snow storm two days after Christmas. Not enough to be dangerous driving, but enough to make a snowman with my kids. It's still there, though now that it's 55 degrees, I'm guessing it will be totally melted by the time I get home from work. It's been melting a little bit each day, so it's been like watching the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark in slow motion.
• My wife and I finished watching season 5 of Alias last night. Fun, though it had really jumped the shark by Season 5. We watched the entire series on DVD, which really makes me wonder about the future of broadcast TV. We watched season 1 of Lost on DVD but we've been watching on TV ever since. I'm hooked on Lost, so there's no way I could go back to DVDs at this point, but I'm thinking that DVD is a better way to go for most TV. I wonder how this will change TV storytelling.
• I wish I could see how a show like Lost or Alias evolves over time. How much of the Rimbaldi story arc was mapped out before the show started? How did the production team deal with forced changes like Jennifer Garner's pregnancy or the apparently surprise series cancellation?
• I had 12 days off for the holidays, so it's very tough to be back at work. As I suggested above, I did very little coding while I was off, so getting back in the saddle won't be easy. It's especially hard on my little boy that I'm back to work. He was acting up yesterday which is fairly unusual. I finally asked him if he was sad about me going back to work and he broke down crying. I'm very lucky to be a part of such a tight knit family.
• I've been in my "new" job for six months, but it seems like longer. I mean that in a good way. It feels like I fit better in this job, on a much smaller team, actually building stuff instead of just "evangelizing" it. Nothing against evangelism, I just think I burned out on that job.

So starts a new feature on DevHawk. As you might guess from the "1" in the title, I'm hoping to make this a regular feature. As I ease back into work, expect more tech related nuggets along with the more random stuff. I should admit, however, that I actually don't drink coffee. :)

Logjam Worsens

Last week, I wrote about the college football logjam. While we've seen one team fall out of the running, the overall race for the #2 slot has tightened significantly. Last week, Auburn and USC held a small yet significant advantage in the voting over West Virginia, Florida and Michigan. This week, that margin is gone. Auburn's loss combined with SC's wholly unimpressive win (spoken as an SC alumni) over the Huskies and Florida's impressive win over #9 LSU creates essentially a four way tie for second place. Only 100 votes separate #2 from #5 in both the AP and USA Today polls.

There are also a few other undefeated teams in the top 25: #7 Louisville, #19 Missouri, #20 Boise State and #24 Rutgers. Baring significant upheaval in the polls, only Louisville really has a shot to join the group at the top. They play West Virginia in a few weeks, so the winner of that game will likely stay in the hunt for the BCS title game. And Ohio State still plays Michigan at the end of the season, so we're still looking at a maximum of four unbeaten teams.

As bad as this scenario is, it's even worse to consider what happens if all these unbeaten teams lose. Currently, Texas, Tennessee, Notre Dame, California, and Auburn are all essentially out of the hunt. As long as there are at least two unbeaten teams, really none of these teams can legitimately argue that they deserve a shot at the title. But you can bet that ranked one-loss teams will be highly-motivated to beat ranked no-loss teams in order to be able to make a case for inclusion in the title game. USC plays #18 Oregon State, #10 Cal and #9 Notre Dame. Florida plays at Auburn and Georgia. Michigan plays Iowa (not to mention #1 ranked Ohio State).

If I was a betting man, instead of an Trojan fan, I would bet the BCS title game would be between West Virginia and the winner of the Ohio State / Michigan game. Obviously, if SC plays Notre Dame the way they played against Washington, they'll lose. But SC will be amped to the max for Notre Dame, so I would be more concerned about SC looking past Oregon State or Cal the way they obviously didn't take Washington seriously. By the same reasoning, I figure Auburn has a better-than-decent chance of beating Florida next week. If SC and Florida lose, that leaves three unbeaten teams, two of which play each other. Hence my prediction.

Of course, I'm not a betting man, so I'm hoping to see the winner of Ohio State and Michigan play USC for the championship. Note I wrote "hoping" which is code for "that's only going to happen if they play better than they did the past two weeks".

College Football Logjam

Two years ago, Auburn was on the outside looking in on the BCS title game. If things continue as they are, we're looking at a logjam at the top worse than 2004 or 2003.

At this point, nearly half way though the season, Ohio State has the #1 slot sewn up, assuming they win all their games. Their only remaining game against a ranked opponent is Michigan. Michigan already beat then #2 ranked Notre Dame, so this will be no cake walk for Ohio State. But, let's assume they win since they fall out of the national title hunt if they lose.

After that comes the logjam. This week's coaches' poll has the remaining unbeaten teams ranked as such: #2 USC, #3 Auburn, #4 West Virginia, #5 Florida and #6 Michigan. This week's AP poll has Auburn #2 and USC #3, and the rest of the unbeatens the same. These polls are VERY close. In the AP poll, Auburn and USC are separated by only 28 votes. West Virginia, Florida and Michigan are only 53 votes apart, with West VA and Florida only 2 votes apart!

Of the six unbeaten teams, only four will survive to the end of the season. As I said above, Michigan plays Ohio State at the end of the season plus Auburn plays Florida in two weeks. Of the six teams, Florida has the hardest schedule. They play four currently ranked teams, two on the road (LSU, @Auburn, Georgia, @Florida State). USC has three games against ranked teams, but none are in the top ten and their all at home (Oregon, Cal and Notre Dame). Ohio State has probably the easiest schedule, with only one game against ranked opponent - i.e. Michigan - and they get them at home.

So assuming Ohio State, Auburn, USC and West Virginia all run the table, it's a toss up who will be ranked #2 and play Ohio State in the BCS title game. Both USC and Auburn are #2 in one of the two major polls. Auburn has three games against ranked opponents (two remaining + their 7-3 victory over then-#6-ranked LSU). USC has four games against ranked opponents (three remaining + their 28-10 victory over then-#19-ranked Nebraska). But none of USC's ranked opponents are in the top ten and all of Auburn's are (at least currently). So who has the edge? Who knows? I do know that in this situation, either Auburn or USC will be left out in the cold. Not to mention West Virginia who has basically no chance to crack the top two unless someone stumbles.

I'm predicting lots of complaining at the end of the season. Like every season where there's more than one unbeaten team. I'm begriming to believe that's why the BCS was created, so that fans can focus their hostility on computers rather than the polls.

Update - I forgot to mention the ultra nightmare BCS scenario. If USC, Auburn and Michigan run the table, you'll likely have a USC vs. Auburn title game with Michigan ranked #3. That means Michigan would have beaten both then-ranked #1 and #2 during the season, but wouldn't get a shot at the title.

Tonight's Caps Game Live on the Web

This just came across my news reader:

Washington Capitals will face the Philadelphia Flyers in preseason exhibition tonight. Bummed that the game is not being televised? Never fear, WashingtonCaps.com is broadcasting the game via broadband off their website. However it is restricted to the Washington area only.
[Caps Live Via Web - Puckhead's Thoughts]

Wow! I mean, I still can't watch the game <grumble grumble> and it is still pre-season, but this is pretty significant. More details in the press release:

The Washington Capitals exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. will be broadcast live on WashingtonCaps.com through the use of B2 Networks. This will mark the first time in NHL history that a game can be viewed exclusively via broadband.

The game can be seen free of charge on the Capitals’ website, WashingtonCaps.com. Fans will need a high-speed internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 or higher. Capitals’ radio network play-by-play announcer Steve Kolbe will call the game with Mike Vogel, senior writer from WashingtonCaps.com, providing analysis. Due to NHL broadcast restrictions, the game can only be viewed by fans living within the Capitals broadcast area.

B2 Networks is a provider of secure international television and video broadcasting systems, pay-per-view and billing systems. During the past 12 months, B2 has broadcast more than 3,000 hockey games from all levels including the championships from four leagues. B2 is the digital distribution rightsholder for the United Hockey League, American Hockey League, ECHL and USHL, along with baseball’s Northern League. B2 recently broadcast the National Lacrosse League championship to fans on four continents.
[Capitals Preseason Game to be Broadcast on WashingtonCaps.com via B2Networks]

The Caps and their owner are aggressively pursing avenues outside of the main stream media (which for the most part ignores hockey). First, they come up with Guidelines For Issuing Press Credentials To Bloggers and now this.

Of all the major sports, hockey seems to have the most to gain from both the HD revolution and media decentralization. Hockey is so fast and the puck is so small, you spend most of your time tracking the puck when watching in standard definition. In HD, you don't have to watch the puck, you can watch the play. This isn't to say that other sports aren't gorgeous in HD, but the difference in the experience between SD and HD just isn't as significant for other sports. As for media decentralization, the reason hockey has the most to gain is because it has the least coverage in the mainstream media today. So there's no where to go but up.

However, the NHL broadcast restrictions stuff has got to go. Come on Ted, you're a "pioneer of the Internet and new media". Get those guys at the NHL to wake up and embrace the new media! How come EVERY game isn't available this way?

Losing Halpern to the Stars

Yesterday, the Dallas Stars signed the Capitals captain Jeff Halpern to a four year contract worth around $2 million a year. My mom (even more rabid a Caps fan than I am if you can believe it) thought this was a mistake, but I'm not so sure. As reported by the Washington Post, the Caps are stocked w/ checking-line forwards. They apparently offered Halpern $1.5 million a year for two years. Sure, Halpern is a fan favorite - he grew up a Caps fan in Maryland - but $8 million seems like a lot to tie up in a checking forward / face-off specialist.

In the "old" NHL, you often saw teams throw crazy money (typically the same teams every year) at marginal players, hoping they would be the last puzzle piece to put them over the top and help them win the cup. Now with the salary cap, I think it's going to shift from dollars to contract length - plus all teams will have a chance to be involved, not just the same five teams year after year. Players want longer contracts and teams want shorter contracts (go figure). A team in the Stars' position - Dallas won their division last year but were bounced from the playoffs by the Avalanche - is more willing to tie up long term money for short term gain than a team that's rebuilding as the Caps are.

So while I'm sad to see Halpern go, I think it's a good move in the long term for the Caps. As much as I'd like the Caps to be competitive next year, I'll believe it when I see it.

Meeting Ted Leonsis

By coincidence when I was in DC last spring, I got an email from Ted Leonsis, Vice Chairman of American Online and owner of the Washington Capitals. Long time DevHawk readers might remember that I called Ted "an abomination to the sport of hockey" in the wake of trading Peter Bondra in the "Great Caps Fire Sale of 2004" (Jagr, Lang, Nylander, Gonchar and Bondra). So I was somewhat surprised that wrote that he wanted to meet me since I blog a lot about the Caps. As I was in town, we arranged a meeting on short notice. I gotta say, it's much easier to call someone an abomination on your blog than to their face. :)

 I got to spend an hour chatting about hockey - both from a game and ownership standpoint. Not that I'm likely to own a hockey team any time soon, but it was cool to hear about. I agreed with the owners during the lockout before Ted's hockey team math lesson, but it was useful to see all the numbers laid out. We also spoke about Web 2.0 and new media to some extent. I guess it's not surprising that a vice chairman of AOL is acutely aware of the changing face of the media - hence his reaching out to bloggers, even ones that have said bad things about him.

Anyway, expect to see more hockey coverage on these pages in the future. And significantly less owner name calling, unless we trade Calder Trophy winner Alexander Ovechkin:

DevHawk Pulling for Seahawks

It's been a long time since I cared who won the Super Bowl. But I've got to give it up for my adopted home team. Go Hawks!

Update: :(

It's Great To Have Hockey Back, But...

I'm glad the NHL is back. I'm glad that I get to watch some games in HD. But it's more than a little disconcerting to see commercials for hunting shows and other so called "field sports" during breaks in the action.

I'm not sure that having the NHL on the same station as "Wanted: Ted or Alive" is really helping the sports image.

Penguins Lay A Goose Egg (So Far)

It warms my heart that Toronto and St. Louis both won tonight. That means the only team without a win in the NHL at the end of the first week is the Penguins. I can hear John groaning as I type. And Pittsburg doesn't play again until Saturday, so I can run smack at him all week.

Finally Back On The Ice!

So Day One of the 2005-06 NHL season is in the books. Good for the Caps, bad for the Kings. Really bad for the Penguins, but I hate the Penguins so that's cool. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover that OLN was broadcasting the Rangers/Flyers game in HD on INHD. They have an HDTV broadcast schedule, so the need for HDNet just dropped dramatically. I will have to spring for NHL Center Ice - one night of the free preview and I'm sold. The only bummer was not getting the Caps game live - with all 30 teams in action tonight, there weren't enough channels to carry them all live. But they won, and after eighteen months and one day since their last game that is good enough for me.

The NHL in Outlook

Mark Schmidt from the WWF team built a nifty little app to import the NHL hockey schedule into Outlook. So I went to import the Caps schedule, only to find that the time zones don't match up. All the game times are in east coast time and I am on the west coast. I was going to bug Mark for the code, but decided instead to change my current timezone to east coast, import the games into Outlook, and then change my timezone back. It's a bit of a hack, but it was quicker than changing the code. Sometimes, simple is better.

Now, I just need Comcast to get HDNet.

UPDATE: No word from Concast on getting HDNet. They hope to have more HD Channels "by the end of the year". I found a petition online asking for HDNet on Comcast and a blog entry from Mark Cuban (co-owner of HDNet) that compares HDNet vs. InHD to "David vs. Goliath". InHD is owned in part, I think, by Comcast. However, Comcast now owns the broadcast rights to the NHL via their OLN network. So I'm hoping we'll eventually see HD NHL on Comcast, thought it sounds like I have to wait a few months. :(

Finally

From NHL.com:

NHL, NHLPA reach agreement in principle on new CBA

NEW YORK/TORONTO (July 13, 2005) - The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association have reached an agreement in principle on the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Details of the new Agreement will not be made available publicly pending the formal ratification process by the NHLPA Members and the NHL Board of Governors.

It is anticipated that the ratification process will be completed next week, at which time the parties will be prepared to discuss the details of the Agreement and plans for next season. No further comment will be made until then.

Game On!

Update - Obviously, the NHL has to do ALOT to recover from missing last season. Apparently, HDTV is one of the things they are thinking about:

The NHL, which claims that hockey fans are the most technologically savvy of all pro sports fans, will focus a portion of its marketing energies on the cyber world. It will also work to improve the at-home experience for an ever-waning television audience, employing new camera angles, microphones on players and coaches and the use of high definition television production.

"The opportunities that exist for us with high definition television are enormous," [NHL Group VP of Communications Bernadette] Mansur said.

[Scott Burnside, ESPN.com, NHL Marketing Challenges Lie Ahead]

I'm hard pressed to say that getting HDTV would make the lockout "worth it" but it sure would lessen the sting.

Almost Hockey On Carpet

I watched the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game this afternoon. It's not hockey, but I enjoyed it quite a bit - especially at the end. They had the league commissioner on at halftime talking about expansion. If they had a team in Seattle, I'd go.

One of the things I liked about Lacrosse is that the players all have to have day jobs. Average NLL salary is apparently around $12,000. Apparently, many of the player's teach for their "day jobs" which impressed my wife immensely. She mentioned that this is how all sports leagues should be. I couldn't agree more.

When I lived in LA, I used to play hockey in the amateur league. I haven't played since I moved up due to a variety of reasons - including cost and distance to rink. But there's an indoor facility where they play lacrosse in Redmond, less than four miles from campus. They also play inline hockey and indoor soccer too.

NHL HDTV?

The NHL is also counting on the ever-growing popularity of high-definition television to boost TV ratings that are respectable on a regional basis but minuscule nationally. Both ESPN2 and NBC plan HDTV telecasts once the league returns, though ESPN2 first must pick up its options for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons.

Hockey, like football, is well-suited for HDTV's movie screen-like wide picture, which is five times sharper than conventional analog TV. The league is also excited about the ever-expanding acceptance of HDTV, which saw more than 1 million sets sold recently during the run-up to the Super Bowl.

[Associated Press: NHL looking at new rules, becoming HDTV-friendly]

At least we have something to look forward to I guess 

NHL Players - Do Any Of Them Have Any Common Sense?

"[H]ow many [people] can actually stand up and shout to the world that they let a BILLION DOLLARS in cash disappear into thin air?

I couldnt  name one off the top of my head that has lost cash money of 1 billion dollars or more, until today.

Congratulations Bob Goodenow, President of the NHL Players Association. You turned down 30 teams paying what would probably average out to 35mm dollars in salary per team for this year. Thats more than $ 1,000,000,000.00 in cash that would have been paid to NHL players this year." [Blog Maverick - How to Lose 1 Billion Dollars]

I guess it's not surprising that the owner of the Dallas Mavericks sides with the owners. But he brings up an interesting point - the players are giving up money that they will never get back. And it's more than a billion - the final league proposal was for each team to pay a maximum of $44.7 Million. Times 30 teams equals ONE AND A THIRD BILLION DOLLARS.

Even the league's Feb 2nd proposal, which the players dismissed out of hand, guaranteed the players would receive a minimum of 53% of league reveues. Assuming $2.1 billion in revenue - which obviously the league won't get back to for a long time - means the players would have received over $1.1 billion dollars.

The players have short careers (I think the average is four years) and are losing much more by not playing than the owners are. Even if you don't believe the owners are losing less by not playing, I can't imagine anyone believes the owners were making money hand over fist - i.e. the way the players are. How much common sense does it take for the players to realize the gravy train is over and forcing the owners to lock them out isn't going to change that fact?

It Has Come To This

"When I stood before you in September, I said NHL teams would not play again until our economic problems had been solved. As I stand before you today, it is my sad duty to announce that because that solution has not yet been attained, it no longer is practical to conduct even an abbreviated season. Accordingly, I have no choice but to announce the formal cancellation of play for 2004-05" [NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman]

I have blogged about the NHL work stoppage several times - I imagine it's pretty obvious that I place the blame for the cancellation of the season firmly on the shoulders of the NHL players association. I find it interesting that Gary open his comments today with an apology to the fans while NHLPA exec director Bob Goodenow opened his comments today by slamming the league. In fact, when asked if the NHLPA owes the fans an apology, this was Bob's response:

"Absolutely an apology to all the fans, and speaking on behalf of all the players up here, they didn't want to be locked out. They didn't want to be not allowed to entertain the fans. Gary owes an apology because he started the lock out. He put all this in motion, and the proposals that these players have put forward, in particular, the roll back, which would have made the league successful in one fell swoop, very serious steps were taken, and, you know, yes, we apologize to the fans for this situation, this circumstance, and the fans can say, what are you going to do about it? Well, we've done an awful lot, we feel, to get to a fair resolution, and unfortunately, it's the other side that we haven't been able to make a contact with, and it's unfortunate that this situation will continue. That's all I can say."

I guess the NHLPA doesn't believe they owe me - the fan - an apology. Here's my response to Bob's response:

Fuck you, Bob.

If Bob really believes that the player's proposal would have made the league successful, how come they didn't accept the league's offer last week to try it the player's way, but have a system in place to enforce cost certainty if it didn't work? I'm guessing it's because no matter how many times the Bob refers to one of his proposals as "groundbreaking" than nobody - including Bob - really believes that the 24% rollback would do anything to stem the skyrocketing salaries in the long run. Bob had the nerve to say in his statement today that "During the last CBA, when revenues went up, so did salaries. When revenues eased, so did salaries. As evidenced by recent signings." What a load of bullshit. When revenue growth dropped to around 5% year over year in 01/02 & 02/03, salary growth ballooned to almost 12%. And as for "evidenced by recent signings", I guess Bob is just going to gloss over the fact that reason that salaries has eased recently is only because so many players went unsigned last summer since all the teams realized the lockout was looming.

Well I guess if I need a hockey fix, my only choice is catching a Silvertips or Thunderbirds game.

Leave No Doubt

I was on vacation without access to the 'net most of last week, so I didn't get to immediately blog the USC's utter dominance in the Orange Bowl last Tuesday. I got to watch the game with several college buddies (the benefit of vacationing in LA) and we just had a ball. After the bittersweet shared championship last year, this feels great. Who would have thought it would be over at halftime? I called it "in the refrigerator" 4 minutes into the third when SC went up 45-10. I would have called it at half time, but I figured OU would come out with some life in the second half, but they didn't.

While I am glad about many things about this season, I am most glad that the Orange Bowl rout leaves the title undisputed. Even the most die-hard Auburn fan, having watched their team nearly blow the Sugar Bowl the night before, has got to be hard pressed to honestly argue that they deserve to be #1. Especially when they think to the last time they played USC - they got shutout at home 23-0. Sure, Auburn isn't the same team but then again, neither is USC.

There's already talk of USC being a dynasty and of a threepeat (or should that be three-Pete?) Frankly, that talk is a little premature in my opinion. But given the massive drought USC football went through when I was in school there (during the decade long plus losing streak to Notre Dame) it sure is nice to be on top.

More Thoughts On The NHLPA's Bullshit

Apparently, with no hockey to watch, I am passing the time running numbers in Excel. I was thinking a little bit more about the NHLPA's bullshit claim that the NHL should have used either their ten year revenue average of 9.4% or five year average of 7.8% instead of the 3% number they used when determining the impact of the NHLPA's last proposal. I debunked that a few days ago, but I thought of another interesting angle -  if the players association really believed that revenue average, then I think they would be willing to accept a salary cap. Here's why:

Based on the NHLPA's proposal, it's pretty clear they want the average team payroll to be around $50 million. Their proposed payroll tax doesn't even start until you get to $45 million and is a pretty lame 20% until you get to $50 million (at that rate, a $50 million payroll would be taxed only $1 million) The current average team payroll is around $50 million and would be $40 after the NHLPA's proposed 24% salary rollback. (Note - I realize $40 million appears to be a rollback of 20%, but there are some components of team payroll like benefits and payroll bonuses that are unaffected by the rollback.) Now, under the NHL's proposal, the salary cap would be linked to overall revenue - as revenue goes up, salary cap goes up too. If revenues really went up by 7.8% per year, in three years the team salary cap would go up to $49.7 million. At 9.4% growth, the salary cap in 07-08 would be $51.7 million! So you get the NHL's cost certainty while still driving salaries up to a level that the players want.

This disparity is really obvious when you look at the NHLPA's revenue projection using five year historical league averages of revenue and player cost growth. In this model, revenue increases at 7.8% per year and player costs at 7.3%. If that were really true, wouldn't the salary cap system actually be better for the players? Since their share of the overall revenue would stay the same, that would mean the total paid to players would also grow at 7.8% per year. At those rates, the NHL's plan of linking player costs to revenue would mean nearly $20 million more for the players in 07-08 than their own plan.

So either the NHLPA is really bad at math, they want the owners to make more or even they don't believe their own bullshit. I'm guessing door #3.

But If You Plug In Phony Bullshit Numbers, It All OK!

Looks like the hypocrosy is running wide and deep @ the NHLPA. After claiming for months that the NHL's numbers are “fundamentally flawed”, they claim to have pluged those very same numbers into the NHL's forcast projects and “proved” a difference of nearly a billion dollars, from losing $569 million over three years to making $412 million. Wow, if that's true, that's some pretty shitty math by the NHL. Of course, it's complete bullshit.

The NHLPA's argument rests on the projected revenue and player cost growth for the next three years. The NHL projects that revenue will rise at 3% per year while the players claim the NHL's own historical numbers suggest that revenue will rise 7.8% per year. And it's true that over the past five years, the NHL's Y/Y revenue growth has been 7.8%. Of course, during that time, there has been three new teams added as well as TV contracts that have come and gone (the current NHL TV contract w/ NBC is worth much less than the previous one with Fox). If you look at just the past four years - a much more relevant time frame - revenue has gone up between 4.3% and 6.4% per year. Given the effect of the lockout, I'm thinking 3% is a pretty good estimate.

The NHLPA goes on to argue that the NHL's own numbers suggest that player salaries will only go up 7.3% rather than the 12% the league suggests. Again, the 7.3% number for five years is accurate, but if you at the player cost growth for 01-02 and 02-03 the increase was 11.6% & 11.8% Y/Y. (03-04 was a paltry 1.8% Y/Y increase, but I would attribute that to the looming lockout.) What's really scary is that in 01-02 and 02-03, total player costs went up more per year than in the two years prior when new teams joining increased the total number of player jobs! In 00-01, when two new teams (around 50 new players) joined the league, total player cost went up $121 million. The following two years, when no new teams were added, total player cost went up $127 and $144 million respectively. Gee, looks like the 12% estimate is pretty close to reality too. Plus, the league admitted that the player cost growth might drop as low as 9% based on the 24% salary rollback and other deflators the players proposed. But last I checked 3% revenue growth + 9% player cost growth = bad news for the owners in the long run.

I'm thinking the NHLPA has a bunch of excel users punching in random historical data into the model to see what provides the best outcome for the league. In their “rebuttal”, they keep switching their historical model - first they use 10 year historical revenue growth numbers, then they use five year historical revenue and player cost growth numbers. Then, in their final chart uses an unprovided player cost growth estimate that is actually marginally higher than what the league is projecting, cutting the difference from the NHL's projection in half to $440 million.

If they can't even keep their story straight on their web page, do they really expect to fool anyone else with this Enron-esque number crunching?

Well, There's Always Minor League Hockey

So the latest round of negotiation has come and gone with little change. The players offer an eye-popping 24% salary rollback and a yawn-inducing luxury tax system that doesn't even kick in until $45 million and doesn't really get serious until $50 million. (The current average team payroll is around $46 million.) The league offers with a predictable salary cap that they have said they need since day one. (They appear to be losing hundreds of millions of dollars per year at the current average team payroll.) Both sides walk away blaming the other side. And Tampa Bay edges that much closer to being the current Stanley Cup Champions for two years without winning back-to-back titles.

I'm still with the owners on this. I've seen a few reporters suggest that the players are the only ones giving back in these negotiations. Scott Burnside of ESPN wrote "Both sides have taken steps toward a compromise -- the players' step a stride, the owners' step a shuffle." Of course, it's the players who've been making out like bandits under the previous CBA while owners have been getting the screw. Jim McKenzie of the Nashville Predators predicted no hockey until 2006 and then went on to point out that he "would not be where I am now if 10 years ago the [players] had given in [to a salary cap]". But then he points the finger at the league for their graduated roll back proposal: "They're like 'Don't worry about it. You're going to get your money.'". So which is it Jim? Are you worried about getting yours or aren't you?

Chris Pronger of the St. Louis Blues also predicted no hockey until 2006. Pronger said that "Probably December of '05 and going into January '06 we're going to be in the same position we are in now, trying to come to a resolution." I'm not sure what's going to happen then that will resolve this - will the laws of economics suddenly change or will the players union wake up? Personally, I don't think there will be hockey until 2006 either. We lose this whole season from the lockout and most if not all next season with legal wrangling after the owners eventually declare an impasse.

Will there be anything more disingenuous than Bob Goodenow saying something like "We're suing the league to protect its integrity" or some shit like that?

Fight On!

A year ago, I was pointing out how badly messed up the BCS computer system was, denying the unanimous #1 ranked team in the land a shot at the national championship game. This year, USC has gone wire to wire ranked #1 and will face the #2 Oklahoma Sooners for the national championship. Fight On!

Of course, there are those pointing out the fact that #3 Auburn went undefeated creates an "unprecedented headache for the BCS". Excuse me? What a bunch of crap. The BCS is supposed to make sure there's a unified national champion - something it failed to do last year I might point out  - by having the top two teams play each other. USC and Oklahoma have been #1 and #2 all year, and they're playing each other. Sure, it sucks to be Auburn, go undefeated and still come up third. But there's no question who the top two teams are - they've been the same all year.

I'm sure this will revive the yearly "BCS sucks, we need a playoff" talk. Quick memo to playoff people: any college football playoff system is going to screw someone. For example, a 4 team playoff this year (using the BCS rankings) would have been USC, Oklahoma, Auburn and Texas, screwing unanimous #4 ranked Cal. An 8 team playoff would add Cal, Utah, Georgia and Va Tech, but screw Louisville who's ranked at least 8th in both polls. Even a 16 team playoff - which is virtually infeasible - would screw unanimous #16 ranked Wisconsin. So let's not pretend this issue will go away by playing more games.

Do I think the BCS works well now? No, even though USC didn't get screwed this year (not exactly a ringing endorsement). Personally, I think BCS computer system should only be used when the polls don't agree. There's just no objective way to measure the relative records of teams that don't play the same teams. Thus, leave it in the hands of the humans, and use the computers to break ties when they happen. It would have given us a USC vs. LSU championship last year and still had a USC vs. OU championship this year.

Long Cold Winter Without Hockey

John Evdemon and I were chatting about making time to "get our hands dirty" on some code. After the last meeting between hockey owners and players, it looks like we'll both have plenty of time on our hands since there won't be any hockey to watch.

I agree with this ESPN.com article that there is plenty of blame to go around, but it looks to me that most of it sits with the players on this one. The players 12th-hour proposal apparently included a luxury tax/revenue sharing system and a salary rollback that would come to about $100 million dollars. The problem is the league as a whole is losing around $200-$300 million a year (according to former SEC Commission Chair Arthur Levitt). So great, with the player's proposal, the league continues to hemorrhage over $100 million a year while the luxury tax system spreads it around so everyone feels the pain.

Maybe these guys have been checked into the boards a few too many times, but the numbers are very simple: According to the league, their revenue is around $2 billion, with around 75% going to player salaries. Furthermore, in the past decade, revenue has grown 173% but player salaries have grown 261%. Mess around with those numbers in Excel and you'll discover that revenue is growing about 5.6% year while salaries are growing 10% a year. Assuming those numbers stay constant and you have salaries equaling revenue in 2011 - only 7 years away. Now, if you include the 5% salary rollback that the players are proposing, assuming the model doesn't change much (and it shouldn't - my understanding of the rest of the player proposal deals with revenue sharing, but I'm using the overall league revenue and salaries in this analysis) then that date pushes back just one entire season before the player salaries equal revenue. I'm not sure how anyone in the player's union can say the current system is working with a straight face.

It's going to be a long cold winter if you're a hockey fan. I'm guessing the players are assuming they owners will cave like they did during the '94-'95 season. Memo to the players, in 1994, the owners were only paying about half of league revenues to player salaries. In other words, they made more money playing than not playing. This time, with the owners losing less money by not playing, they don't have much incentive to cave.

Spinning the Unthinkable

My parents (avid Caps fans and season ticket holders - at least for now) pointed me to the "Owner's Corner" on the official Washington Capitals homepage where the owner attempts to explain without "spin" the moves that he has taken over the past month. It may not be obvious from my original post on the subject, but I agree with most of his deals. Jagr wasn't worth the money, Lang and Nylander were recent free agents and I hear Gonchar wanted to leave. Most of all, they just weren't getting it done. I agree with Ted when he writes that he's "not committed to ... a $50-million payroll for a team that is last in its division." Especially when the division in question is the worst in the league. Tampa Bay might be good, but the reason are in the race for the President's Trophy is because they get to play the other four teams in this wretched division the most. (Of the six teams under .500 in the Eastern Conference, four are from the Southwest Conference. That's every team except Tampa Bay)

However, he glosses over so many ugly details but I can't help but see spin.

• He refers to Kolzig, Halpern, Witt and Zubrus as "a strong core of veteran leaders". However, Kolzig and Halpern sat out the last game before the trading deadline - a pretty sure sign they were being shopped around as trade bait. Zubrus has been injured off-and-on. So they are more like "a strong core of veteran players we couldn't trade".
• He explains that Konowalchuk was traded since he would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year. That's a great reason to trade a player - even the captain. I can see trading the captain as part of a fire sale at the end of a losing season. However, that's not what happened to Kono - he was traded back in October when the season wasn't even a month old. He wasn't traded because he was going to be a free agent. I'm not sure why he was traded, but the rumor mill is that he and then-coach Cassidy didn't get along. Which brings me to...
• How come there's no mention of the utter failure the Bruce Cassidy head coaching experiment was? Cassidy lasted all of a year and a half - getting fired in December of this year. Word is the players didn't like him (see bullet above). Leonsis has thrown his support behind now-head-coach Hanlon, but he did that before firing Ron Wilson a few years ago (Ron's now leading the San Jose Sharks to the Pacific Division championship). In the end, all of this talent wasting comes down to be the coach's fault - and the hiring of that coach is the GM and owner's fault.
• Finally, he totally glosses over any explanation of the Bondra trade. For all the other traded players, he detailed the hot young prospects or high draft picks we got in return. For Bondra, he writes of "ensuring" Bondra was "comfortable" on a team with "a legitimate opportunity to win the Cup this year". The truth is that Bondra was "comfortable" where he was and had no interest in leaving, even for a "legitimate opportunity to win the Cup this year". Also, while Leonsis is technically correct when he writes that Bondra was in the last year of his contract, the fact is that Bondra's contract had a team option for another year. Given that his contract wasn't really ending and that Leonsis acknowledged that they didn't save a significant amount by trading him (the Caps had paid 70% of his salary already), why would you trade "Mr. Capital"?
• Even if he couldn't produce (which he could - he still leads the team in power play goals), Bondra was the perfect mentor for Alexander Semin. Semin is a gifted 19 year old Russian who the Caps picked up in last year's draft. He's a little undersized for the NHL at this point, but he sure can skate and shoot. He had a gorgeous rebound goal against Atlanta the other night. The announcer even said something to the effect of "I've called his name so much that I thought he'd had 10-15 minutes of ice time so far. Turns out he's only had seven". Semin's story is very similar to Bondra's, who came over from Slovakia as a 19 year old. Who better to learn about America and the NHL from than a five-time all-star who started out exactly like you did?

Sorry Ted, we can all see you spin. The most depressing part of the Owner's Corner for me is that you are still the owner and that doesn't look like it's changing anytime soon.

Misery Loves Company

Fellow 'softie and Washington Caps fan Dan Fernandez feels my pain. I called my father the other day and chirped: "Any new ex-Caps today?" and was very depressed to hear "Yeah, Gonchar's gone". I know I SAID my favorite Caps were on one way tickets out of town, but it's depressing to be right. Between the fire sale and the upcoming CBA quagmire, I wonder if the Caps will sell ANY season tickets for next year.

I have a coworker who used to work for AOL in general and Ted "Hockey Abomination" Leonsis in particular. He's watched a game from the owner box. I told him to give Ted a message for me : "Sell the Team". Of course, I'm guessing he's hearing that message on several fronts these days.

Update: Raymond Chen enjoyed a Seattle Thunderbirds game recently. Also, the annual Microsoft Hockey Challenge is next weekend. Traditionally, we played rival IT companies like Sun and AOL, thrashing them soundly on the ice (the one time I went, we been Sun 8-1). This year, there are a variety of intra-MSFT games and a series of MSFT vs. Customer games, but no industry rivalry games. Bummer!

Doing the Unthinkable

(Note - As usual, my normal disclaimer applies. However, let me add to that by saying: in this post, any negative comments regarding AOL executives has nothing to do with the competitive relationship between my employer (Microsoft) and AOL. For the purposes of this post, I'm a sports fan, not a b0rg. We will return to our regularly scheduled technical blogging shortly.)

Ted Leonsis is an abomination to the sport of hockey. He has transformed a Washington Capitals team that had gone to the Stanley Cup finals the year before he bought them into little more than a minor league hockey team unable to escape the basement in the standings. And to top it off, he has somehow managed to alienate the fans and lose $30 million dollars a year doing it.

His AOL bio claims that Leonsis "has employed state-of-the-art consumer and interactive initiatives to dramatically boost the Capitals' attendance and revenue." Really? Then why is he losing $30 million a year? Note to Ted: the best way to dramatically boost attendance is to actually field a competitive team.

His WashingtonCaps.com bio claims that Leonsis is "[k]nown for his fan-friendly approach as an owner". At least, he was until he got into a fight physical altercation with a fan who had the nerve to criticize Leonsis in the wake of the Jagr trade. Note to Ted: don't include fisticuffs with fans who actually paid to come see your team in your "List of 125 Ways We Are New and Improved".

And now, he has traded Peter Bondra for a bag of old pucks minor leaguer and a draft pick. In the world of sports, trades aren't usually a big deal. But this is not a normal trade. Bondra was "Mr. Capital", having spent his entire 14 year career with the Caps. He is the Caps all-time leading scorer. He was on the verge of having played more games for the Caps than anyone in their history. And even though the team was in the cellar, he wanted to stay and help them rebuild. When he was talking to the press, he cried. In this age of multi-million dollar athlete salaries with the rampant "me first" attitude, a five-time all-star cried because he wanted to stay with the team he loved rather than be traded to a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Yet Leonsis even tried to spin this: "allowing [Bondra] the opportunity to win a Cup is important." Of course, it's important, but having a player who loves where he plays and fans that love him right back is much more important.

Of course, if Bondra is expendable, then so is anyone else with any talent whatsoever. Only Kolzig, Gonchar and Witt remain from the '98 Stanley Cup Finals team. How long until they are dumped to reduce salary allowed the opportunity to win a Cup with some other team? (rumor mill has it Gonchar is next on the trade block, going to the Devils) 

Suddenly, I am looking forward to an extended lockout in the wake of the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement. Watching the pitiful product Leonsis has foisted on Washington area hockey fans is a disgrace.

Since all my favorite players are on one way tickets out of town, I actually hope that the Capitals continue to suck until Leonsis has lost so much money that he has no choice but to sell the team.

National Champions

I'm not sure which of the post-game analysts said it, but the 2003 college football season is summed up with these words: "Any coach who doesn't vote USC #1 is crazy". Congrats to SC for their 28-14 victory over Michigan @ the Rose Bowl and for winning at least a share of the national championship. Now, my Sunday night is clear since I don't need to watch the Nokia "Battle for Second Place" bowl (which I blogged a month ago). 

UPDATE: I added a link to a picture my son all decked out in his Trojan gear and smiling wide after winning the national championship (actually, his mother is making faces off camera).

Another UPDATE: I found a great post on the subject of the BCS by Jason Salas via Bryan's Weblog of Stuff. Jason is a .NET developer and a sportscaster, so his views on the BCS from both sides are facinating (though he did mix up the AP and the Coaches poll).

To Err Is Human

I'm sure the Nokia Sugar Bowl officials are really excited about hosting "The Battle for Second Place"