So there's been some pleasant back and forth over this whole attendance "it's a myth!" "no it's not!" thing. I'm tired of it. PPP might be tired of it. You, the reader, are most certainly tired of it. But stubborn old HF10 was ready to fire off another thousand words about it until I realized life's too short for this sort of crap.
The moment of clarity came sometime around 3 am, after a night trying to comfort a feverish, cranky, loaded with antibiotics, sick as she's ever been Mini HF10. This blog is suppsed to be a fun diversion; arguing with Leaf fans who assume that the financial realities of 1998 Montreal and the corporate playground of today's Toronto are the same is an exercise in stupidity.
It's too bad. I thought my response to PPP's juvenile potshots was pretty good. I did finally break down and accept that Damien Cox is solely put on earth to convince Leaf fans to stay away from the ACC. I made sure to defend the good people of the Faculty of Law at the Universite de Moncton* (even though that's not my alma mater.) I used my rudimentary math skills to try and decipher exactly what PPP's "absolute figures" prove (not much). I delved into the psyche and finances of Canadiens owner George Gillett (is he a "collector of toys", as PPP asserts? Random quotes from Gillett's associates suggest no.) I even found quotes from Canadiens president Pierre Boivin detailing the dire financial straits the Habs found themselves in at the turn of the century, contrasted that with the train-wreck that was the Montreal economy a few short years after another divisive referendum, and theorized on whether or not the mass exodus of head offices and lack of corporate muscle might have been a reason why thousands of empty seats couldn't simply be papered over.
But what would it get me? Some satisfaction, sure. Probably a lot more frustration if PPP decided to respond again (and since admits he's no good at letting someone get the last word, that was a distinct possibility). Frankly, it wasn't worth it. I'm not going to convince PPP he's wrong, and he hasn't convinced me he's right. Truth is, neither of us really knows what the effect of those missing Montreal fans was. Opinions are like ... well, you know the rest.
Life's too short to respond to mediocre jokes about my profession and fellow law school grads. It's too short to continue arguing about such a non-issue. It's time to get angry about cheapshot Bruins, rabid Ranger fans, and the terrifying possibility Bob may lose his mind and give away Higgins, Fischer and a #1 for a broken-down goal suck who wants an $80 million dollar contract. That's fun. This little set-to wasn't.
* Why is the University of Moncton's law school ranked so low in "Elite Firm Hiring", "National Reach", and "Journal Citations", but pretty good at garnering Supreme Court Clerkships? It's French. Since the majority of the "Elite Firms" do the majority of their business in English, they probably don't spend their time scouring Francophone Moncton for the next great rainmaker. Likewise, it's probably not a stretch to assume that Moncton's French Common law degree is less "marketable across the country". And the lack of French Common law journals might lessen the number of citations Moncton gets ... Ironic that PPP took me to task over research and the internet but didn't take the time to think before he used rankings from Macleans. Glad to see he won't let a little research get in the way of a juvenile dis.
5 comments:
In the words of David St Hubbins, "Too much. There's oo much fuckin' perspective now"
Assholes! Every one's got one.
It's not ironic though that I didn't research the rankings more. It wasn't a serious point. I just looked for a ranking and took the lowest ranked school for comedy's sake. I think it came right after an animated gif of Ralph Wiggum eating past.
It's a shame that you didn't collect all of those quotes because I would have been interested in reading them.
Hope the baby gets well soon.
Big hugs,
Your Leafs acquaintance
ps. I thought 29 said you wouldn't take it so seriously. Lighten up. It's the internet!
uhh, Go Leafs Go.
Mats is working out. He says hi.
Gillet isn't into toys?... but he owns the Habs, Liverpool F.C., Gillet Evernharm Motorsports (NASCAR), and possible an eventual MLS franchise? He was formerly a minority shareholder in the Miami Dolphins? AND he used to own and operate the Harlem Globetrotters? He's a former director of the US Ski and Snowboard Association... and chairman of the board of the Denver Grand Prix Foundation.
He also made an attempt to purchase the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche before purchasing the Canadiens.
Liverpool F.C. runs a huge fiscal debt to maintain it's competitive level, and we don't think he maintains interest for the sake of his love of sports in general?
He isn't in all of that stuff purely to make a profit, so I'm pretty sure the argument that he's turned the Habs around just to improve the bottom line is a bit ridiculous.
@PPP: 29 lies. I take everything too seriously. Especially the internet.
I'll give you one quote from Boivin, from "The Montreal Canadiens: 100 Years of Glory" by D'Arcy Jenish:
"We were losing a ton of money year in, year out," Boivin recalls. "There was no way we could make money because of structural economic and competitive disadvantages. We had no hope of surviving." (Methinks even those thousand empty seats a night would have been noticed if the finances were so bad.)
@ Steve: I never said Gillett turned the Habs around to make a profit. PPP argued that a thousand empty seats a night wouldn't have been enough for Gillett to take action to make the team better. I begged to differ. I like to think George loves the Habs and truly wants them to be great, like all his ventures. I think those empty seats bothered him as a fan.
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