Yet, another article about the Phoenix Coyotes that I published on Examiner.com. I am really enjoying covering hockey and learning about Canada’s national sport. I am doing what I can to learn about the sport to make myself a better hockey journalist.  So far I have read (or are currently reading) the following hockey books:

• The Game by Ken Dryden
• Home Game: Hockey and Life in Canada by Ken Dryden
• The Ovechkin Project by Damien Cox and Gare Joyce
• The Rebel League by Ed Willes
• Hockey For Dummies by John Davidson
• Searching For Bobby Orr by Stephen Brunt

I am almost ashamed to admit but Hockey For Dummies was quite helpful. I am new to hockey so I am learning on the fly. By watching games you can learn a lot but there are many gaps to fill and Hockey For Dummies did fill in some gaps.

Ken Dryden is a great writer and The Game is one of the best books I have read, regardless of genre. He opened my eyes to the simple fact that most professional athletes view their sport careers as nothing more than a game. Dryden didn’t live and die during his tenure with the Canadiens. He was a great goalie, won six Stanley Cups and retired young. To him being the net minder for a dynasty was just a game. Nothing more.  (Editor’s Note: I am wearing a Ken Dryden shirt today). 

There are some writers I aspire to be or influenced me (Hunter S Thompson, David Sedaris, Chuck Klosterman, Bill Simmons). I don’t have the talent like the aforementioned scribes but they are the goal.

For hockey writing Dryden is the goal. To quote Derek Smalls, “Imperfection is the journey and perfection is the goal.” So I amble on as a writer trying to be legit and have well written articles. It’s good to have goals.  Thomas Edison used the inventions by Galileo as a measuring stick. I use a retired hockey player/lawyer/politician from Ontario.

Some recent articles that Dryden wrote for Grantland:

• Where Does the Fight in us Come From?
• Concussions in the NHL: Waiting for Science
• Time for the NHL to get Head Smart
  

Phoenix Coyotes Week In Review: 2/6/2012 to 2/12/2012

According to Metronews.ca, a Halifax, Nova Scotia based news website, former University of Nevada basketball star Kirk Snyder has left the Halifax Rainmen.

Courtesy of MetroNews.CA

Kirk Snyder’s underwhelming stint with the Halifax Rainmen came to an end yesterday when the ex-NBA starter left the team to pursue another opportunity.

The six-foot-six small forward saw 28 minutes of floor time in three games with the Rainmen, recording six points and missing 14 of 16 shots. Snyder hadn’t played pro basketball in almost two years because of legal problems.

Rainmen owner Andre Levingston said Snyder has drawn “interest (from a team) in China for some substantial money” and that the 27-year-old is headed to Houston to train for the opportunity.

• NHL Commissioner on the Status of the Future of the Coyotes Staying in Phoenix
•  Phoenix Coyotes Week In Review: 1/23/2012 to 1/29/2012.

There’s no town like No Town – ECM

 I consider Reno, NV to be my surrogate hometown. I went to college there, THE University of Nevada, and consider my four-year stay in No Town to be some of the best times of a Life In The DPC. I went there as an academic failure and left a college grad. DPC getting a BA in Journalism is akin to the Miracle On Ice because I failed English at Santa Rosa High School and twice during my brief tenure at Santa Rosa Junior College.

 Because I found academic success and matured as a DPC at THE University of Nevada, Reno holds a special place in my heart and that’s why I consider it my surrogate hometown. Mind you I have been to Reno since the Fall of 2007 but I think of my former home all the time and I miss it. Jim Morrison had a L.A. Hemingway had Cuba. Hunter S. Thompson had Las Vegas. DPC had Reno.

 I still read the local rag, The Reno Gazette-Journal (even though the cancelled my weekly football column), to stay on top of Nevada Wolf Pack athletics. Each night I sleep in Wolf Pack basketball shorts and on my desk at work you’ll find a picture of Lawlor Events Center (the basketball arena for the Wolf Pack), a Nevada football helmet and stuffed, miniature version of the school’s mascot Wolfie.

 I owe Reno a lot. They took me in when no other college wanted a guy with my academic achievement and they molded me into a journalist, a hockey journalist these days. Every job I have gotten since graduating is because I went to The University of Nevada.

So when I came across this article from 24/7WallSt.com, titled, The Nine American Cities Nearly Destroyed by the Recession my heart sank because my beloved Reno, NV was second on the list.

Courtesy of 247WallSt.com:

2. Reno-Sparks, NV
> Pct. jobs recovered: 1.6%
> Q4 2012 jobs: 187,600
> Pre-recession jobs peak: 225,200
> Recession jobs trough: 187,000
> Pct. jobs lost: 16.9%

Between 2007 and 2010, the median home value in Reno-Sparks, Nevada declined 37.4%, the 13th biggest drop in the country among metro areas. The problems of the recession have plagued states in the southwest, which once had booming housing markets, arguably more than any other part in the country. From the beginning of 2007 to the third quarter of this year, jobs are projected to decline by 38,200, or 16.9% of the workforce. And according to the report, only 600 jobs, a mere 1.6%, will be recovered by the end of the year.

Carson City, NV, the state’s capital was first. A while back, maybe a year or so ago I remember reading an article in RGJ that projected that Reno would be akin to Detroit. Not in a positive way, like how Detroit is home to the Red Wings, Lions and Megatron, Jack White and Eminem. No, this article maintained that Reno’s economy would sink to new lows like the Motor City.

Courtesy of the Reno Gazette-Journal, 10.4.2010 

But a housing market collapse coupled with a global economic slowdown ultimately exposed those blemishes and now threatens to turn Northern Nevada into the “Detroit of the West” — or worse, the analysis found.

Construction stalled and would-be visitors to the area opted to stay home, and now the region finds itself knee-deep in a severe budget deficit while its jobless rate soars to record levels.

Northern Nevada — which was part of the nation’s fastest-growing state in 2007 — potentially faces a slower recovery than the rest of the nation because it is ill-equipped to deal with the meltdown of its key industries. This was the case with Detroit, which continues to serve as the poster child for a community that failed to adequately respond to the decline of its main economic driver — the industrial sector.

The Fitzgerald is gone. My favorite bar, Satellite is gone. In time, I believe, that the only casinos that will be around will be the Silver Legacy, Eldorado, Circus Circus, Harrahs, Peppermill and the Atlantis. Places like the Bonanza, which was two-blocks from my old apartment won’t survive. Everywhere you go there are Indian casinos. So why drive to Reno?

I hate to say it but the Reno I knew and will always love will not exist in its former glory. By the time my son is old enough to gamble Reno will be a ghost town. Kind of like Goldfield, Nv

Even more articles about the Phoenix Coyotes that I wrote and were published on www.examiner.com

• Jeremy Roenick To Be Inducted Into The Coyotes Ring of Honor
• Phoenix Coyotes Week in Review: 1/16/2012 – 1/22/2012
• Three Phoenix Coyotes That Deserve To Be In The All Star Game

I recently watched “Senna”, the documentary about F1 driver Ayrton Senna. It was a top production and equal to ESPN’s 30 for 30 series and the various HBO Sports documentaries that are out there. I highly recommend it, even if you don’t like auto racing.

Myself? I am more a NASCAR fan, Juan Pablo Montoya in particular, but I have the upmost respect for F1 drivers because they’re likely the best drivers in the world. During his brief career Senna won three-championships and is considered by many to be one of F1’s all-time greats.  

In 2009, a poll of 217 current and former Formula One drivers conducted by the British magazine Autosport named Senna as the greatest ever Formula One driver” -Wikipedia

 Various quotes by Ayrton Senna. Courtesy of BrainyQuote.com:

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.

Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose.

Fear is exciting for me.

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It’s a way of life for me.

I don’t know driving in another way which isn’t risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other’s.

It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more.

These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile

At the bottom of this post you will find a  pair of articles about the Phoenix Coyotes I penned for Examiner.com.  Currently I am working on an extended Bobby Hull feature. How does Hull relate to the Coyotes, you ask?

The Winnipeg Jets, which had Hull as a member during their WHA days, moved south to Arizona and were rechristened the Phoenix Coyotes. The Coyotes retained the Jets’ history and on their Ring of Honor, Hull is prominently displayed.

To confuse matters even more the Atlanta Thrashers headed north and became the Winnipeg Jets. The “new” Jets retain the history of the former Thrashers and have nothing to do with the “original” Jets, who are the forefathers of the Phoenix Coyotes. Somewhat confusing.

• Goalie Mike Smith Has Made Phoenix Coyotes Fans Forget About Ilya Bryzgalov
• Phoenix Coyotes Week In Review: January 9th, 2012 to January 15th, 2012

Keith Yandle of the Phoenix Coyotes was named to the NHL All Star Team. You can read the article I wrote for Examiner.com….HERE!!!!!!!!!!

…and Don, the wisecracking bully in overalls. I always thought Don was a borderline Comedic Genius … and yet I can’t remember ever seeing him again. Is he trapped under something? – Bill Simmons on Sasha Jenson (Don) in Dazed and Confused

A while back I was flipping through the various HBO channels because there was nothing else on that was any good and my DVR pantry was bare. I was half asleep while doing this and in all honesty I should have retired to dreamland but something caught my eye…Don from Dazed and Confused was actually in another movie! In the flick he was working the cash register at a skate shop and eventually Bam Margera ambled. After my shock faded away I turned it off and went to sleep.

 The next morning I woke up with the vague notion that I had seen Don, Sasha Jenson, in a flick. Was it real? Was it part of some ephemeral state that I planted into my subconscious? Nope it was real. I verified it, like I verify all things related to movies, on IMDB. Apparently the movie is called “Grind” and it got a rating of 5.4/10 by IMDB users. According to its IMDB page the movie is described as, “Four skaters follow their idol on his summer tour in an attempt to get noticed, get sponsored, and become stars themselves.”

To me that sounds like a winning plot and in many ways it seems like a similar coming of age flick. A bit of cinema gold known as the Karate Kid. I haven’t actually watched Grind. I saw maybe three-minutes of it but Jenson was great. A tour de force known as “Greg” acting opposite of Bam Margera. There scene together was like Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro finally working opposite one another during Michael Mann’s Heat.