With the magic of my Kindle Fire, I have gotten my next book to review. Due to my lack of hockey history, I’ve decided that it’s time to educate myself. Should I start with general hockey history or narrow it down? Enter 100 Things Flyers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die by Adam Kimelman. Yes! Right? I have to defend myself constantly as a Flyers fan up here in Northern Illinois, I ought to know my stuff. The book came out in 2010, so that might mean it’s dated, but we’ll see if that hinders it at all. …
Fraud
A week or so ago, I was interviewed by a woman who was working on her thesis. The subject matter was female Philly Sports bloggers. Someone directed her to this site and I was fascinated by the opportunity to discuss with another woman about what I try to do here, so I volunteered. My name will be changed, but still, pretty cool. We interviewed by gmail chat and she herself was into the Phillies, but knew a fair bit about the Flyers. I was her first non-resident Philly sports blogger. It was fun, detailing my journey to blogging for this …
Drumroll
I finished it! Finally! (from google images) I just closed The Final Call: Hockey Stories from a Legend in Stripes by Kerry Fraser just minutes ago and I feel so accomplished. My brain is still teeming with a surplus of names and teams and dates, but I’m glad I read it. I think I could probably answer a few more hockey trivia questions than before. Just a few. My critiques of early posts still hold. The timeline jumps all over the place and that’s annoying. So many names dropped that it was like the first time I read Lord …
Point/Counterpoint: Does the NHL do enough (or too much) to bring in new fans?
The NHL does enough to bring in new fans…by Eden N. In the NHL marketing world, there is, well, what looks like, not much. I mean, how many of us fans are constantly having to explain why we love hockey? No one has to explain their love of football in this country. So, is the NHL doing enough to pull in new fans? There is more hockey on television today than ever before. I don’t really have to look up a statistic for that because, hello Versus and Center Ice and playoffs on network channels. HBO’s 24/7 has done extremely …
Live Hockey
So, I saw the game in Nashville this past Saturday. Wait, that’s too subdued. SO! I SAW the GAME in NASHVILLE last week and it WAS AWESOME! Yeah, that’s better. Well, Flyers lost and that sucked royally and even sadder was the consensus of the Flyers fans around me when we found out that Bryzgalov would be in goal. “Yeah, we’re gonna lose.” But that’s an entirely different discussion. I haven’t been to a live NHL game since March of last year, and any live hockey game since May of last year. The Bridgestone Arena in Nashville is really nice. …
Friday the 13th (that bodes well)
Today (Thursday night, really) is my birthday. I share it with Claude Giroux and we won’t talk about the years in between I and the All-Star superstar ginger. It’s the first big snow here in Illinois and I’m driving down to Nashville tomorrow (Friday the 13th, oh dear) to see the Preds and Flyers play in Music City. A very full couple of days. I have been racking my brain on why I, an English teacher, English nerd and voracious reader, am having a heck of a time finishing The Final Call by Kerry Fraser. It is not an exceptionally long …
::Beep::
Hi, you’ve reached Eden’s voicemail. I can’t come to the phone right now as I’m stuck on a multiple-day field trip with high school theatre students. Their overdramatic tendencies and general excessive volume prevented me from being able to see either last night’s game or the final episode of HBO’s 24/7. I’m stuck in a place called Normal with a bunch of theatre students which seems like over-irony and as much as I like theatre and grew up in it, less than twenty-four hours in and I remember why I got out. If you don’t hear from me by next …
Reevaluating (New Year and such)
I sit here with my cup of coffee (diluted with peppermint mocha creamer cause that’s how I roll) and look at my calendar that shows December with an old-fashioned painting of a hockey scene (gift from my dad last Christmas). Next to me is the 2012 calendar, this time with photos of the Flyers. It’s weird enough that Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and Darroll Powe are all taking space in said calendar, but as I still like all three of them and miss them to some extent, I don’t mind. It’s almost a new year. 2012 supposedly will bring the …
A Jumble (of thoughts)
It’s two days to Christmas. That’s insane. I just got my packages out in the mail yesterday. Yeah, I was way late this year. Wish my family and friends didn’t live so far away. The logistics when you’re a nomad like me. I thought today I would just do some quick reviews of much that’s been going on. We’ve had two episodes of HBO’s 24/7 Flyers Rangers so far with lots of quotable moments (HuMANGous Big) and Giroux returned after four games off for a four point night. Crazy busy in Flyerdom. First though, The Hockey News, Vol. 65 No. …
Final Call Part One
So it’s finals week at the school I teach at and today I just gave my very first objective/essay final. My brain is mush. I’m not exaggerating. I believe it is a cross between porridge and pudding. I have essays to grade coming out of my ears and christmas presents to wrap and…I’m making excuses, I know. I am not finished with Kerry Fraser’s The Final Call. I will be by next week because school is out on Tuesday. But going through the book this slowly and then having to write about it is making me far more specific than …