Saw this over on HF.
The following is an excerpt from Gare Joyce's excellent book Future Greats and Heartbreaks, and shows an interview between then-Columbus Blue Jackets G.M. Doug MacLean, executives Jim Clark and Don Boyd and prospect Phil Kessel.
Kessel's voice goes down to a whisper. "I'd say okay... yeah, a little bit... some of that stuff... it's a little hard... work on some of that stuff, I guess."
"It's over soon after that. Kessel looks a little disheartened as he leaves the suite. He doesn't see that the Blue Jackets were actually trying to make him feel comfortable, to put his "issues" in a soft focus. He doesn't see that Columbus will almost certainly take him at No. 6 if he falls there. MacLean appears to feel sorry for him. "If what they're saying about this kid isn't true, it's criminal," MacLean says. "Because I don't know if I've ever heard the negative stuff like I have with this kid."
"It would be a tragedy," Boyd says.
Check out more of the interview here.
An old friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this book a few years back. A great read for those that are fascinated with this stuff.
If you recall the Bruins gobbled up Kessel at #5 which left the Jackets with one Derick Brassard. I think things worked out just fine for the CBJ.
ESPN has their Jackets preview up which can be found here.
"It was important. I didn't want to negotiate at all during the season, for it to be a distraction," Nash said. "Unrestricted free agency is pretty appetizing, especially when you hear from some of the teams, what they're looking for, what they want.
"At the end of the day, I weighed my options from both sides and Columbus was just the right fit. I feel like I had an obligation in Columbus as the captain, and I love it. I love the pressure, love the city, love the fans, love the ownership. I'm 110 percent behind the decision."
Of course Burnside then predicts the Jackets to miss the playoffs this season:
Sorry, Buckeye State residents. The playoff train stops at just one station as the Blue Jackets become victims to post-playoff letdown and slide back to the bottom of the ultracompetitive Central Division and out of the playoff picture.
Fox Sports Ohio apparently will be broadcasting 50 of their 75 games in HD.
Look 50 games is better than nothing but at this point there is no excuse that all of these games aren't broadcast in high definition. Fox Sports will roll out the excuse that they don't have enough HD trucks and to that I say -- buy more!
When the Jackets TV contract comes up for renewal I hope they make it mandatory for whomever lands it that all games are covered in HD.
Thanks to Jeff for the heads up on ESPN preview and HD news.
-LTL
Thursday, September 24, 2009
This and that
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
I know that it has to be more complicated than I think but how is it that if FSN has HD cameras inside Nationwide, than why are only 2/3 of the games broadcast in high def, I think you said something about trucks, can someone who knows how that stuff work please explain it to me.
Boy this not only shows Kessel in a less than favorable light, but it kinda makes Dougie Mac look like a jackass... LTL what's the book about? Hockey or atheletes in general?
It's all about hockey.. kind of pulling back the curtains on what happens behind the scenes.
I'm not much of a book guy (I watch the movies)... hell the two books I've read -- well at least read most of -- are Dirt and this Future Greats and Heartbreaks...
There is a lot of CBJ coverage in it as MacLean agreed to let the author document the inner circle happenings as he thought it would generate more exposure for the franchise.
I highly recommend it.
-LTL
As far as HD TSS -- my understanding is you have to have the HD trucks to beam the broadcast from the venue.
Those trucks cost a lot of dough and the excuse I've always been told is that FSN does not have enough of them to broadcast say CBJ and Cavs games on the same nights. We know who get's precedence between those two at the moment.
Lame excuse if you ask me.
Maybe someone else has more info.
-LTL
Hummmm.....thats strange because I remember both Cavs and Jackets on HD at the same time last year.....
That means I will get maybe 3 games in HD. FSN is a joke. Where I live I only get FSN-Cincinnati on Directv (yes I can get FSN Ohio if I payfor the RSN sport package.. but hats a different story).
FSN-Cinci rarely showns anything in HD. I can't understand it because it is the same feed at FSN-Ohio, all Directv needs to do is map the Cinci channel to the Ohio HD channel.
Directv pushes the blame to FSN and FSN will not answer any emails.
Post a Comment