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  Fuck the NHL! Who Wants the Stanley Cup?!

Posted by: tommygunn
09-18-2004, 12:52 PM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (8)

From the Toronto Star:

What would Lord Stanley think of this?

GARTH WOOLSEY

Who wants to play for the Stanley Cup?

Not interested, it would seem, are the National Hockey League and its teams and players, who have plunged into a collective bargaining deep freeze that threatens to wipe out an entire season, complete with playoffs and Cup presentation.

So the Stanley Cup, strictly speaking, is for grabs. The independent trustees who control the original version of the trophy could choose to award it — if not the actual hardware, then something else representing the spirit of the thing at least — to someone other than the NHL champion, especially if there is no champ.

Under the terms of the award, stated by old Lord Stanley himself, the trophy is open to challenge. "I have for some time been thinking," wrote Canada's sixth governor general, back in 1892, "it would be a good idea if there were a challenge cup which could be held from year to year by the leading hockey team in Canada."

Forget the Maple Leafs (ha!) or the Calgary Flames. That could be your team, brother (or sister).

As the competition evolved, of course, the Cup was awarded to teams outside Canada, too, and with the eventual formation of the NHL, the Cup was adopted as the symbol of that league's championship. The "challenge" aspect has long since been co-opted by the world's top professionals.

But actual stewardship of Lord Stanley's legacy has been passed down through generations of trustees, independent of any league. The current keepers are Brian O'Neill and Ian (Scotty) Morrison.

"Under agreement, the National Hockey League owns the Stanley Cup," Morrison, former chief of NHL officiating and former head of the Hockey Hall of Fame, said this week. "Your next question is, what happens if there is no NHL? In that case, it falls back to the trustees — Brian O'Neill and myself. There are some hockey historians who view the Stanley Cup as a challenge trophy. But it really isn't. The trophy itself belongs to the NHL."

In fact, the original bowl presented by Lord Stanley, the real deal, is on permanent display at the Hall in Toronto and is not a component of the familiar trophy presented each spring. There are, in fact, two such large trophies we all recognize so easily — a so-called "original" (in fact, an old copy) that has been kicking around for decades and an exact replica, so that one can always be on display at Yonge and Front while the other is out and about.

The "original copy" is easily distinguished by the old Hockey Hall of Fame logo on its bottom, Morrison said. But he said the real deal, the motherlode, the actual ornate bowl that cost 10 guineas (less than $50) way back when, never goes anywhere and is far less popular with visitors to the Hall than the later incarnations of what is in fact called the Dominion Challenge trophy, but almost immediately became known familiarly as the Stanley Cup.

While the pair of iconic trophy clones may physically "belong" to the NHL, the original is what the trustees are charged with protecting — and, it belongs to all of us, in the purest sense. Surely the spirit of the Stanley Cup belongs to the people, to the hockey fans of Canada. In Lord Stanley's day, hockey was amateur in the best sense of the word — the NHL assumed control of the competition after 1926. Could the name, the old award, the original honour — if not the actual hardware, then some new spinoff — go to someone else this spring, if there is no functioning NHL?

Morrison acknowledged that he and O'Neill would have to consider the options, at least.

"Say this `Original Six' league being organized out in Mississauga, or wherever, suppose that thing gets off the ground with current or former NHL players. I could see someone there saying, `Hey, we'd like to challenge for the Stanley Cup. We're NHL players, former players.' I guess we'd have to get into it with the league, and the lawyers," said Morrison.

Randy Gumbley, the man behind the six-team Original Stars Hockey League, a four-a-side stop-gap league that proposes to tour across the country, said: "That's all news to me. I had no clue. As it is we have a trophy, the Assante Cup, being sponsored by the Assante financial management group."

As for a possible "challenge" for the Stanley Cup, Gumbley added: "I'll have to sleep on it." Then: " If I'd only thought of it earlier ..."

Should it get off the ground, the proposed World Hockey Association, featuring Bobby Hull as commissioner, might be interested. The Star was not able to contact Lord Stanley's heir, the 19th Earl of Derby, Sir Edward Richard William John Stanley, the great-great-grandson of the Cup's namesake, to ask his opinion on these matters. Living in England, Sir Stanley, at last report (three years ago) had never actually seen an "ice hockey" game, let alone visited Canada.

The only year since 1893 that the mug wasn't awarded was 1919, when the finals were called off due to more natural causes than the current ones — an influenza outbreak suspended the playoff series between Montreal Canadiens and a team from Seattle, with it at two wins each, one game tied.

"At this point, none of us like to think of (the entire season being wiped out)," said Morrison. "We all hope there will be a resolution, there will be a season, there will be the Stanley Cup being presented."

As for the Cup going to anyone but the NHL champions, Morrison said he thinks fans would have mixed emotions. As angry as they may become with a prolonged work stoppage, hockey fans love their traditions, too.

"I really don't know. I think there would be enough people, fans, who said `No, no, no,' that the Stanley Cup belongs to the NHL."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garth Woolsey is a Star sports columnist.

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  DC show

Posted by: brian1175
09-18-2004, 12:15 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (9)

Now that we are a week away, just wondering if everyone wants to go out before or after the show. Whats the plan?

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  This would suck..

Posted by: clearlyentranced
09-18-2004, 10:38 AM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (5)

Diana Branton dragged herself up the stairs at the Coroner’s office, swallowed hard, and walked inside to identify her brother’s cold, lifeless body. She took a quick glance at the colourless face before her, and confirmed that it was indeed her sibling, Dane Squire. Squire was the apparent victim of a GO train accident last week, and with the positive identification, the family began the daunting, sorrowful task of planning his funeral.

They expected tears, and condolences. They expected emotional eulogies and glassy-eyed goodbyes. What they didn’t expect, was that Squire would casually walk into his own wake, wondering what all the fuss was about. In the process, he lived out a morbid fantasy that most of us have entertained at one point or another, and found himself at the centre of a remarkable mix up.

Squire described his sister’s befuddled reaction to seeing him at his own wake.

“What she said was, 'you are dead,' ” Squire laughed. “And I said, 'what are you talking about? '”

“I come out here and I seen him in the chair,” Diana explained. “Our neighbours are screaming in his face, ‘buddy, I just came from your funeral. You are dead. You are dead. ‘ “

But the self-described drifter was anything but.

“I am thankful that my dad is here and love is all around me and he is here and I just want to go home and rest,” said an emotionally wrought Trina, Squire’s daughter.

Squire now hopes to plan a family reunion, and live out the rest of his life with loved ones.

“I hope to God that everything just works really well,” he said, full of life. “I don't need any more hitches.”

Now that the shock has subsided, the family finds the whole episode somewhat comical.

“Oh, yeah, it was too funny,” said Diana, who erroneously identified the body. “I said, 'Dane, they are all at your funeral, burying you. Oops!”

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  Sarah Harmer @ Massey Hall

Posted by: AmbitionlessHipster
09-18-2004, 02:17 AM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (17)

Just got back from the Sarah Harmer show tonight...
if you havent seen her, you should try... she is utterly amazing!! her voice is so perfect live, it's unbelievable!!!!

Did anyone else go to this show?


Also... Josh Ritter opened up, and he is great. Someone to look out for, For sure!!

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  Other Fiddler's Green-ish Hip Traditions

Posted by: Chris Tanz
09-17-2004, 11:05 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (4)

so, besides the annual playing of Fiddler's Green on September 17, anyone else got any quirky hip customs?

Myself: anytime I acquire something new that has a CD player in it (e.g. a new CD player, a new apartment, a new car, a new computer), the first song I always play is Three Pistols. This tradition dates back to September 1995 when I moved to Gordon House residence at Queen's and was totally groovin on Road Apples at the time. I cranked out 3P after I'd unpacked all my crap (actually, before I finished unpacking all my crap. I played it as soon as I unpacked (a) the CD player and (b) Road Apples).

In accordance to the growing of the din,
CT

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  www.thebathouse.com

Posted by: MountainHip
09-17-2004, 10:10 PM
Forum: Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (21)

don't know if this had been posted or not. they've got a pool!

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  All New, All Hip tracker for Bit Torrents

Posted by: chris
09-17-2004, 09:45 PM
Forum: Hipfans.com Tracker
- Replies (208)

I decided that if I am going to continue to share all of the great Hip shows I have, I might as well take control of the situation. With that in mind, I have created an All Hip tracker.

[edit]http://tracker.hipfans.com [/edit] is the current location, but I'll be moving the tracker to "tracker.hipfans.com"

This is my first attempt at anything this tech related, so please bear with me if there are some stumbles.

:thumb:

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  Another Stab At MuchMusic

Posted by: lord brazle
09-17-2004, 05:04 PM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (23)

Surfing the web and I just stumbled upon the funniest $h!t ever!!!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/toptens/">http://www.muchmusic.com/tv/toptens/</a><!-- m -->

Much TopTens just basically put ten videos together that all have something in common.
Stupid show, anyway, check out this crazy bull...

Top 5 Artists With Street Smarts

1. Britney Spears
2. 50 Cent
3. Maroon 5
4. Hanson
5. Nelly

Britney with more street smarts than 50 Cent?!
50 was shot in the face with an AK-47 and Britney's from Georgia or something!!!!

This is equally as impossible to fathom...

Top 5 Artists Who Would Make Great Street Fighters

1. Beastie Boys
2. Jojo
3. Pink
4. Avril Lavigne
5. Eminem

Jojo could beat up Eminem?!? That skinny little girl, looks like 14? That's what they're basically saying... And Avril beat out Eminem too!?
Even though I'm not a big fan of Slim, if anybody's ever been in a REAL streetfight, they know that Eminem could be extremely lucky to survive one, The Beastie Boys (i.e. 3 of them on 1 guy) 2 would probably survive, but Jojo?!? Jojo and Avril would both be laying on the pavement with broken bottles in their throats... Unless we're talking about the happy version of 'the streets' and street fights really being slap-wars...

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  Sunday: Terry's gift is forever green...

Posted by: Stephen Dame
09-17-2004, 04:56 PM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- Replies (6)

This Sunday in 50+ countries and hundreds of locations around the world, the 24th annual Terry Fox Run takes place.

In the summer of 1980, Terry ran a marathon a day, every day. He did it with one leg, and unbeknownst to him at the time: with mankind’s most ruthless illness running through his body. He did it for noble and selfless reasons. He personally raised over 25 million dollars before the disease he was running against, suddenly ended his Marathon of Hope; and shortly after: his life.

“Hero” is a phenomenal understatement.

Courage came for him, as it does for thousands of newly diagnosed patients every year, but as far as Cancer is concerned: it doesn’t matter.

You can run, walk or cycle this year, or you can donate via the Terry Fox Foundation website. <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.terryfoxrun.org">www.terryfoxrun.org</a><!-- w -->.

Hope to see ya out there.

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  Review of new Lowest of the Low CD with a HIP mention.......

Posted by: tragicallymike
09-17-2004, 04:50 PM
Forum: Non Tragically Hip Discussion
- No Replies

LOWEST OF THE LOW
Sordid Fiction Maple Music/Universal
They were grouped with the then-burgeoning early-'90s alternative-rock nation, but with their sturdy no-frills rock sound and Ron Hawkins' heartfelt literary aspirations, the Lowest of the Low were more like scrappy younger cousins to The Tragically Hip's peerless thinking-man's hoser rock.
And they still are as Sordid Fiction sees them pick up right where they left off a decade back, when the Low were one of T.O.'s best and most beloved.

"We're the same in a different way," Hawkins sings on "A Casual Overdose" -- which could be a knowing nod to the Low themselves -- and thanks to vintage-sounding Low cuts like the freewheeling "The Last Recidivist," Stephen Stanley's bittersweet winner, "Your Birthday Party," and the pining ache of "Giulietta the Just," Sordid Fiction brims with the spirit of a band grateful for another chance to get back to where they once belonged.
RYAN WATSON

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