4:34 PM
Since we've gotten so much positive and enthusiastic feedback about this project, we're just going to place the trends log template here. Just to reiterate, here is the brief on the experiment:
According to ESPN Senior Vice President Vince Doria, hockey “doesn't transfer to a national discussion” in the United States, thus why it refuses to actively give it the same coverage as other major sports. Chris, a San Jose Sharks fan, and I are determined to prove ESPN wrong, but we’re going to need some help.
Our plan is to take one of Chris’s favorite pastimes, tracking hockey-related trends on Twitter (“Hockey is mainstream at last!”) and expand it. For exactly one year we will track Twitter trends internationally, nationally and in six major cities: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami and New York. Every day we will take note of each sports-related trend and categorize them by sport. We will check the trending topics four to five times a day, making sure to not miss any pertinent ones.
This is definitely not a job for just two people, however. Chris and I would really appreciate some help. If you’d like to volunteer your services to help us track the daily trends, drop me an email at arae269@gmail.com. Your job will be to log sports-related trends on a daily basis and email them to me so that Chris and I can cross-examine all results for the day and put them onto one log.
At the end of our year-long experiment, we’ll publicize our findings for everyone to see and maybe email them to ESPN. Who knows, maybe the organization that paid Sarah Phillips will finally see the light and give hockey the coverage it so greatly deserves. If you are interested, please email me right away, as we will be beginning our experiment as soon as possible. Thank you!
At the end of each day, send me (Alex/QueenCrash) your trends log and I'll consolidate all the logs. If a trend appears in multiple cities, log it. We want to know which cities are paying attention to which sports. Also, make sure to date your logs! Below you will find the trends log template, or what yours should roughly look like:
Sports-Related Trending Topics for mm/dd/yyyy
Internationally
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Nationally (U.S.)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Boston
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Chicago
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Dallas
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Los Angeles
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Miami
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
New York
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
Trend (Sport)
If you have any questions, just shoot us a tweet at @QueenCrash or @chrissampang. Thanks for the help and support everyone!
2:06 PM
According to ESPN Senior Vice President Vince Doria, hockey “doesn't transfer to a national discussion” in the United States, thus why it refuses to actively give it the same coverage as other major sports. Chris, a San Jose Sharks fan, and I are determined to prove ESPN wrong, but we’re going to need some help.
Our plan is to take one of Chris’s favorite pastimes, tracking hockey-related trends on Twitter (“Hockey is mainstream at last!”) and expand it. For exactly one year we will track Twitter trends internationally, nationally and in six major cities: Boston, Chicago, Dallas, LA, Miami and New York. Every day we will take note of each sports-related trend and categorize them by sport. We will check the trending topics four to five times a day, making sure to not miss any pertinent ones.
This is definitely not a job for just two people, however. Chris and I would really appreciate some help. If you’d like to volunteer your services to help us track the daily trends, drop me an email at arae269@gmail.com. Your job will be to log sports-related trends on a daily basis and email them to me so that Chris and I can cross-examine all results for the day and put them onto one log.
At the end of our year-long experiment, we’ll publicize our findings for everyone to see and maybe email them to ESPN. Who knows, maybe the organization that paid Sarah Phillips will finally see the light and give hockey the coverage it so greatly deserves.
If you are interested, please email me right away, as we will be beginning our experiment as soon as possible. Thank you!
8:02 PM
Besides the typical "Go [insert team/player name here]!" proclamations seen at games, signs asking players to prom are probably the most harmless that fans (usually female ones) bring to hockey games. Yes, they're a little ridiculous. Realistically, most prom proposals are. I myself was asked to my junior prom with a soccer ball that said, "Alex, will you be my prom date?" surrounded by a heart of Hershey's kisses. Oh, and did I mention that I was presented with this ball in front of half my school and then later accidentally got that ball stuck in the gym rafters during P.E. class? Yes, ridiculous.
But I digress. Prom signs at hockey games are almost always scoffed at. I admittedly laugh at them a majority of the time myself. What's not funny about a girl who really thinks that Jonathan Toews is going to stop in mid warm-up to say yes to her prom proposal? I've convinced myself that most girls with prom signs at hockey games really aren't serious about asking a player to prom. They're probably just looking for a laugh or the possibility of being acknowledged by their favorite player. Not so outlandish when you think about it that way, right? I'd probably wet myself if Tazer winked at me again.
However, some player prom proposals (say that one five times fast) are serious. Take Jordan Homa for instance. She recently posted a prom proposal video for Chicago Blackhawks rookie Andrew Shaw, a video that quickly went viral and gained her a lot of attention, both negative and positive. Her video, unlike other celebrity dance invites, was very tasteful and clever. Jordan emulated the Blackhawks seasonal One Goal commercials, and had a friend narrate the video for her. Like I said, clever.
Now, we may never find out what Shaw thought about the video, or if he even saw it. Will he say yes to Jordan? Who knows. The fact of the matter is, her video, like prom proposal signs, is harmless. Silly? Yes. Offensive or degrading? No. She's asking someone to prom. Okay yes, he happens to make more money than I ever will in three lifetimes and plays professional hockey for the Chicago Blackhawks, but it's still harmless. Bullying her over it is completely unnecessary.
Shaw is a mature enough individual (he's only a year younger than me, so I'm hoping he is) where he can decide whether or not he wants to take Jordan's offer seriously. I'm sure he'll take into account the slight age difference (she's seventeen, he's twenty), his public standing as a professional athlete ("SIGN MY PROM DRESS SHAW!"), and the location (middle of Michigan, Wings territory). He's undoubtedly smart enough, and surrounded by smart enough people, to think about all that jazz before committing to renting a limo and buying a corsage.
Of course, if the Blackhawks progress to round two of the playoffs, his job as a hockey player will trump prom, something that Jordan happily accepts as she has said she'd "rather see them win than him come to prom."
A true hockey fan indeed.
(PS: I don't blame her for asking Shaw to prom. That boy is CUTE. And probably nicer, cleaner and a better dancer than the guy I went to prom with.)
12:51 PM
I have been watching hockey for more than a decade now. You would think after so many years of following hockey, there would be nothing left to surprise me. Injuries happen, fights break out, and in the end, everyone bleeds. Violence has always been an integral part of hockey. It is a never ending cycle, and if it is ever completely removed from hockey, it will not be hockey anymore.
In recent years, the league has tried to make the game safer for its players. Head shots have been labeled a no-no, arena modifications have been made, and punishments have been made harsher. As promising as this is, the lack of follow through by not only the NHL, but players and fans as well, is rather disheartening. It is only round one of the 2012 playoffs and already we have seen several head shots delivered by different players, fans calling for blood and bodily retribution, and lopsided suspensions handed out by the league.
And now I ask, have we forgotten our humanity?
Have we forgotten that at the end of the day, hockey is only a game, one that was created for recreation and entertainment.
I would like to hope that we have not. I would like to hope that in the next few years or so we will see significant change in the attitudes players and fans have towards violence. I would like to hope, but it is getting harder with every illegal play made, every unjust suspension handed out and every rage-fueled death threat tweeted by a fan. I know that for a lot of people, myself included, hockey is a huge part of their life and sometimes the thing they care most about. We want our team to win that shining, beautiful grail of victory, the Stanley Cup, but at what cost? Where do we draw the line? How many players have to have their livelihood unjustly taken from them over what is essentially, only a game, before we are satisfied?
I look forward to the day when I can watch hockey without any vicious, illegal hits (very doable), log onto the Internet without fans wishing bodily harm on others (very possible), and agree with every suspension the league does or does not hand out because they are fair (okay, that is a long shot). Call me hopelessly optimistic (or delusional), but I will continue to root for humanity to make a comeback in hockey.
8:46 PM
You are an absolute disgrace to hockey and sports broadcasting. Calling for head shots and elbows to the face during a live broadcast? We are in the middle of a concussion epidemic, and you're spouting off crap like that? I hope you're fired and finally disappear from the hockey community for good, a community that you do not deserve to be any part of frankly.
11:43 AM
There really aren’t any. If you can stand there and cheer for your team and just love them, that’s all that matters. If you’re being a supportive and respectful fan, nothing else should matter. Who cares how long you’ve been a fan? The players certainly don’t. They will never be able to differentiate between a lifer and noob. All they hear is you screaming their name and it swells their heart with pride. Being a hockey fan isn’t like being a licensed driver. You don’t have to pass a test to obtain your “hockey fan card.” People can’t suspend it. It doesn’t have an expiration date or a date for when you obtained it. There are no police for being a hockey fan. Just stand there and scream for your team or your multiple teams. It doesn’t matter, because at the end of the game, we all blur into one huge mass to the players on the ice. We are all fans. Not bandwagoners, season ticket holders, lifers, puck bunnies or any of that nonsense. To them we’re all fans, just like they once were.
1:38 PM
There have been numerous reasons cited for Smythe’s decision to rename the team. The Maple Leafs say that the name was chosen in honour of the Maple Leaf Regiment from World War I.
Now can people stop being inconsiderate assholes about the spelling of Leafs? Are we done acting like elementary school kids? It’s a proper noun to honor men who served in World War I. Additionally, Conn Smythe himself chose that name. I know that most of y’all respect that trophy we have that is named after him, now respect his decision from generations past. Why anyone thinks it’s funny to pick on that is beyond me. Fans who say that they can’t take a team seriously because they supposedly spell something wrong in their name irritate me to no end. Did you know that technically the word Blackhawks does not exist in the dictionary because it is a proper noun that is not commonly used. And if we want to dissect the argument of not taking a team seriously because of something silly in their name and/or logo, I for one have never seen a penguin wear ice skates, let alone use them properly, or handle a hockey stick for that matter. Hockey fans should have respect for every NHL team, because they’re exactly that…NHL hockey teams. They are one part of an entire organization. I can understand not liking some teams. Almost everyone has one or two teams that they just do not like. I do not like the Red Wings, but I sure as hell respect what an outstanding franchise they are. Maybe I’m asking for too much from people, but at least now fans don’t have a good excuse to pick on Toronto’s name…
Okay, I’m done being nit-picky now.
