KK Members' Blog

Drawing a Line in the Sand

by Hippy Dave on 09/04/09 at 05:12 PM ET
Comments (14)

Hello fellow readers,

Like many of you, I am a DirecTV customer.  I have been for years.  Most of you are probably aware of DirecTV’s recent removal of Versus from their programming lineup due to a contract dispute.

While I hate to do so, it has become apparent to me that I now have to hold off on my auto-renewal of NHL Center Ice and plan on changing services to another provider such as Comcast (which owns Versus, btw).  I’m not happy about it and I’d rather not do it.  So, what I propose here is a good old-fasioned letter-writing campaign.

You can contact DirecTV through their email form here.

After navigating to the page, enter your account information and select Programming/Sports as your topic and Customer Service/Complaints as your category.

I have provided a form letter below that you can use to encourage DirecTV to have a change of heart.  Hopefully if enough of us write, we won’t have to take any further action.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have been a loyal DirecTV customer for years, and had been planning on being one for many years to come.  However your recent decision to remove the sports network Versus from your service will soon force me to switch to another provider so I may continue to receive their NHL programming.  I strongly encourage you to reconsider your position regarding renewing Versus’ contract and hope that you begin to understand just how many customers you are about to lose by not doing so.  I hope to remain a customer going forward but will cancel my service at the beginning of the NHL season if this situation is not rectified.

Sincerely,
-

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 Tags: versus+directv+contract+dispute+letter+writing+campaign,

Random Offseason Musings from a Hippy on Beer Fumes, August 19th, 2009

by Hippy Dave on 08/19/09 at 09:00 AM ET
Comments (3)

So I just finished brewing my first batch of beer, and let me tell you, I think it’ll be a good one.  A pale ale.  Also let me tell you, don’t keep your head above the kettle for most of the boil, I think there are some intoxicating fumes in there.  I wanted to keep these offseason musings for next month but after huffing wort for a couple hours they just wouldn’t wait:

- I believe one of the most under-reported events of this offseason was the retirement of Jeremy Roenik.  It’s really too bad JR never won a cup.  Say what you will, but I think this guy was a dynamo of personality that this league sorely will miss, and certainly needs more of.  Now if only Sean Avery could class up like he did, the league would have a new spokesman.  Maybe if he can’t do it Ray Emery can.

- The other unsung quiet retirement of the year, I can’t freaking believe nobody’s covered this: Darren McCarty.  Sure, it’s not “announced,” but, c’mon, am I the only one who’s really sad about Mac sliding darkly into that quiet night?  We love you, Mac.  The Wings need another Darren McCarty, but they’ll never have one again.

- Speaking of fighters, I was pouring through one of my favorite sites and came upon this thread: Who are the top 10 fighters of all time?  I’m sure you all have your opinions.

- Also speaking of “fighters”: Patrick Kane and his brother deserve some jailtime.  I’m sorry, but if any of us regular readers violently assaulted a person, we’d get it.  I’m freaking tired of celebrities getting special treatment and he’s no exception.  Screw being young, the law shouldn’t descriminate based on age in adulthood.  Besides, he’s about to make a bunch of money off the endeavor based on the new NHL ‘09/Grand Theft Auto bundle pack:




- Ok, the Sabres signed Grier.  If you had to choose between Maltby, Williams, Bertuzzi, or him, which would you choose?  *cough*

- Lidstrom’s in the last year of his contract.  At 39, how many years do you think he’s got left?  I’m guessing quite a few.  At least 4.  He’ll give Cheli a run for his money.

- For Corsi’s Sake, we get it already.  I’ll leave it at that.

- Summer, what summer?  IIHF Style.

- And finally, the top 10 most bizarre hockey incedents of all time.

I’m beginning to think drinking beer is so old-school, from here on out I’m munching the barley and hops directly, and chasing it with the yeast and boiling water and letting it all ferment in my liver.

Mahalo,
- The Hippy

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Random Offseason Musings on a Calm Summer Night, August 3rd.

by Hippy Dave on 08/03/09 at 09:43 PM ET
Comments (7)

Man what a time to have a crippling, monster cold.  It’s the middle of summer, the weather’s beautiful, the beer is cold, and there are all sorts of reasons to be outside having the time of your life and not thinking about hockey.  For those of us without that luxury, the offseason makes for a very.... very, slow day at the house.

So here’s my attempt at injecting a little life into the blogosphere for those of us who are just bored enough to have the time to be checking these sorts of things:

- I’m appalled at the hooplah over the whole Spezza wedding thing.  Ok, the Elisha Cuthbert thing was funny.  This is not.  For the last time, when it comes to the private lives of athletes, nobody gives a damn!  And if they do, they’re rank amateurs as hockey fans go.  These guys spend 3/4 of the year in the spotlight, give them a few days off for chrissakes.

- My big fat guess as to where Heatley will end up next: New Jersey; the only real contender with money to spend.  My big fat guess as to when:  If he doesn’t show up at the Senators training camp: October.  If he does: March 2010.  Disclaimer: If he ends up in Anaheim at a discount, god help us all.

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, NHL Talk | KK Members Blog | Permalink
 Tags: offseason+musings+rant+spezza+heatley+olympics+international+wings+fantasy+hockey,

Random Offseason Musings on the Eve of July 1st…

by Hippy Dave on 06/30/09 at 04:59 PM ET
Comments (3)

What can I say, I go away for four days to spend my time floating down a river on an innertube drinking as many Modelos as the clock has hours on it and I come back and all hell has broken loose.

Oh right, it’s the draft…

Pronger To Philly
I have to say, happy to see Pronger leave Anaheim; they almost went all the way last postseason and anything that weakens them makes me feel warm and fuzzy.  Also happy to see the Penguins have one more thorn in their side.  Enoy him, you bastards, we’ve dealt with him long enough.

And then I check the calendar this morning, sipping my PBR at 2am PST because I’ve gotten sucked into watching a TiVo’ed goddamn 3 hour draft, and realize that July 1st is a Day Away.

Jesus, and I thought I was going to get a break from all this.

Continue Reading »

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Where were you?

by Hippy Dave on 05/30/09 at 08:42 AM ET
Comments (23)

So I got curious and started clicking around the various user names online from day to day.  I found some interesting things out about you people.  What struck me as most fun to observe was how recently people have joined as a regular, non-lurking member of Kukla’s Korner.  I know we all go through a phase of “experimentation” before we sign up, but the little dates on our profiles are the only concrete record of when we started to really pay attention.  Moreover if marks a moment in time we decided to start participating in this great blog.

I noticed some really interesting patterns off the bat…

- Paul of course was the first signee, on at 5/23/2005.  I believe the Red Wings were still involved in the playoffs at that point.

- Interesting names, cool to see George Malik was one of the firsts.

- Weird it shows Older Than Chelios has 0 posts, yet I know this not to be true.

- Puckhound gets #3 best first-ish poster award, Baroque, Steve, and RWBill not far behind.

- Spector took a whole year to join up.

- I joined on 7/31/2006, a WHOLE DAY before IwoCPO joined up.  Great minds think alike.  Or are at least motivated by the same things.

- Also before the days of Alanah...

What I would like to know from you is when you joined, that day, what were you thinking?  What made you want to participate?  What was going on and why did you join?  There have got to be some good stories here.  This isn’t a pissing contest, most of us would get out-pissed before we could say “cheddar.” I’m just really interested in the culture of this thing and knowing the “where were you” of when you joined.  Indulge Me.

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 Tags: kuklas+korner+why+did+you+join+history,

Wings vs Hawks: Can it be done?

by Hippy Dave on 05/15/09 at 12:02 AM ET
Comments (2)

I was ready for the loss.  I was ready to even come up with a phrase that the Chief might find useful for the next few years describing our defeat:  “The Bullshit.” It made sense at the time; a team that played really, really hard.  That arguably bent the rules as far as a team can in order to win.  A team that backed that up with equally solid play.  A team that played that strong forecheck and aggressive play that makes us chip and chase, which is so foreign to our system, along with the strong goalie; the formula that beats the wings every damn year that we lose a series.

However it is not so, for our man who bleeds Wings Red came through along with the rest of the team when it counted.

Props to Anaheim.  Damn, you played so well I wouldn’t have felt THAT bad that we lost to you.  Well played.  Handshakes all around.  I believe neither side would have had a pimply faced preteen crying in their pillows on YouTube.

Now comes the challenge, Chicago.  Wrigley field ain’t got nothing on this.

Sat Oct 25, 2008 6 - 5 SO Win Wings
Sat Dec 6, 2008 4 - 5 SO Win Wings
Tue Dec 30, 2008 0 - 4 Win Wings
Thu Jan 1, 2009 6 - 4 Win Wings
Sat Apr 11, 2009 4 - 2 Loss to the Blackhawks
Sun Apr 12, 2009 0 - 3 Loss to the Blackhawks

This record may look like a winning one.  But we eeked out those first two games.  Rack the middle to up to hangover.  The latter two were downright scary.  I watched all those games, but the last two rattled me.

All season I knew, in my gut, or maybe lower, than it would come to this.  And let me tell you, if I were a betting man (which I am outside of hockey, insomuch as my heart gets in the way), I’d put money on the Hawks.  I hate to say it.  But they’re going to work us over harder than Anaheim.  Can we do it?  I hope so.  Can they do it?  I hope not.  The truth is, we both can.  And that scares the sh*t out of me.  These scrappy little youngsters care more about winning than we do right now, and we have to wake up and smell the.... well.. whatever the hell Chicago smells like.

Your thoughts?

Maholo,
The Hippy

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Hippy Challenge: Name your favorite next Wings player theme song

by Hippy Dave on 04/12/09 at 08:33 AM ET
Comments (8)

So remember how good the Wings’ hockey DJ used to be with player name tunes?  Shanahan’s Jig.  Wooley’s Wooley Bully tune; Now all I know is Cleary’s ‘I can see clearly now,’ Sunshiny Day tune, nice try but having lost a few players we need more.

Sure we have the “Hold Me” song for holding, “Get over it” when we’re trying to get over a bad goal, but I’m talking player-specific tunes.

I’m calling out the Kuklas Korner readership, soliciting clever ideas for future theme songs our trusty Wings DJ (Paul: Got his name?) should play for whenever a certain active player on our roster is worth noting for a goal, fight, over otherwise.

I’ll open the bidding:

Why aren’t they playing the Hossa Hossa Hossa Hossa! song?

Another,
Chris Chelios: “Old Man” by Neal Young : http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/neilyoung/oldman.html

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A Deal with the Devils: Khabibulin

by Hippy Dave on 11/06/08 at 03:44 AM ET
Comments (0)

Let me first just say I’m happy to be one of the first old-school members on KK to post to the blog section.  Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute more down the road.

On to the news:

According to the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, Chicago has plans to trade their 6.75 million goaltender to the New Jersey Devils soon.  It sounds like they won’t be asking for much in return.  According to the Herald, it sounds like the Devils might bite.

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 Tags: khabibulin+new+jersey+devils+chicago+blackhawks+trade,