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Michiganonymous · 02-24-2023, 04:19 PM

erikvm · 02-24-2023, 04:50 PM

Hockey Prompt:

I think hockey culture is a huge reason WHY there aren’t stars like the NBA or NFL, or even the MLB for that matter. Hockey players are ingrained with the idea from childhood that it isn’t about the player, it’s about the team, and with constant line-switching and to be honest, less of an ability to completely take over a game, hockey players definitely fall into the cogs of the machine more often than not. You have a player like Connor McDavid, probably the most skilled player in the history of the NHL, you can already almost argue his GOAT status over the legends of the game already, but Connor as a person is not built to be the face of the NHL. His personality is for lack of a better term, milquetoast when speaking to the media, and that’s because hockey players from a young age are ingrained with the idea that they should keep their heads down and let the scoreboard do the talking for them. “Get pucks deep, get in the dirty zones” is something you will hear every single god damn player interview, and it is because of hockey culture itself, and how young players are when they start playing hockey, it really formulates how they speak in public.

***SDCore*** · 02-24-2023, 04:56 PM

Negative comments from the media? I use that as motivation and fuel my energy into the game. The media is there to stir up a story and to put pressure on the team for the fans. I don't make much of the negative media attention, except that I know I can do better. If you are getting negative media, it means that you are good enough that they expect more from you as a player. I don't use social media, so I won't ever read anything on twitter. I do like to chirp back at the media a bit though. Mostly in jest and in good fun, this is a game after all. You need to have fun with it and play loose or you are going to have a bad time. Everyone with a device these days can and will be a critic if they want to be. You need to let that drip off your back, much like a duck in water. Nothing should stick to you and just go out there and play your game.

McAl95 · 02-24-2023, 05:20 PM

Player Prompt

Following a bad game by Buck, he tries to avoid reading online reports, tweets or watching the local sports show to attempt to not let the negative attention and bad play get caught in his mind and make the comments and criticism turn into anger. When Buck is faced with media and reports and what not about his bad play, he'll try to be honest about it and not let his emotions get the best of him. He'll probably say everyone has a bed game every now and then but will focus on the next game and not think about this one too much. If a reported keeps on saying bad stuff about Buck, Buck will ask him how many pro hockey games the reporter has been in and if this report wants to join Buck and the team in a full gear practice sometime, but this is a last resort if the reporter keeps pestering Buck.

***DrunkenTeddy*** · 02-24-2023, 06:12 PM

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*Keven* · 02-24-2023, 07:17 PM

Player Prompt

Whenever Kevens performs poorly in a game (or more recently an entire playoff round), he immediately shifts the blame towards telling people they should've never believed in him in the first place. The expectations for him have always been too high so fans should be ready for an underperformance every once in a while, but they aren't. If the masses don't believe this excuse, the second line of defense is to start spouting nonsense about how in an alternate reality he actually did really well in the game, but then was hurt by the "FHM gods" in a "re-sim". Other players in the league also use this excuse occasionally, but we all know that such things don't exist and even if there were alternate realities, Kevens would've underperformed in those ones too. After all is said and done, it doesn't matter what excuses are given to make up for a poor performance because there are always coaching staff and teammates who support and believe in Kev's abilities.

Arkz · 02-24-2023, 07:19 PM

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***NYR73*** · 02-24-2023, 08:19 PM

There are two things I will do when I get negative press for my performance. The first is to take the Tony DeAngelo route and create a twitter burner account and argue with random people to create the façade of having people on my side. I have no idea if that twitter account was actually DeAngelo or not but it would be really funny if it was so I am going to stick with that narrative. The other option is to take it out on the enemy team during the next game, resulting in numerous penalty minutes against me. Which to be honest creates a snowball effect of bad press, and would just make things worse. On a more serious note, the best thing to do as a player is obviously to ignore the media, seeing as half the time they just say things to stir the pot and generate a reaction. Best to just stay out of it for your own mental health

Crunk · 02-24-2023, 08:21 PM

Player Prompt

Viktor Krunk has no time for fan or journalist interactions, so he pretends that he can't speak English. He does the old "nod and say yes" tactic a lot when fans and journalists ask him questions. With fans this is usually positive, and it leaves journalists annoyed if they have asked him a question that requires a more in depth answer.

He does have one trick for responding to criticism, though. He will approach the fan in question, or wait until he sees the journalist alone. A this point he will stand close to them, lean in and quietly threaten them, in perfect but heavily accented English, a graphic threat involving their decapitation and what he will do with both the body and head. It's not a pleasant thing to hear.

Thankfully, Viktor Krunk has only had to use this strategy a handful of times, and never on the same fan or journalist twice - it seems to do its job.

***mer*** · 02-24-2023, 09:04 PM

Code:
Written Task: Tell me how your player deals with negative attention from fans or journalists! Do you get in fights on Twitter? Ignore it all? Prove them wrong with your play? Do you say or do anything when you have to face a reporter that said something bad about you in a media scrum? Does this kind of thing get to your player, or is it just part of the job? (150+ words)

Aksel treats bad games very very well - he kind of goes into a turtle-state of being. It's very cool and mature. He starts by being super super quiet after the game, which is fine because he's an alternate so he doesn't need to be all captain-y and supportive for the team. When he goes home, he goes right to sleep, no post-game meal which is a huge mistake and he wakes up super cranky and hungry the next day. His brain isn't working right because of the aforementioned food shortage, so he turns on the sports channel on autopilot and they recap the night and Aksel will then cancel all his plans for the day. He orders a ton of takeout - Chinese, pizza, Thai, anything he's favorited on Uber - and puts on every single Shrek movie. Sometimes someone will come over to join him, everyone on the team knows his routine and that there's more than enough food to share.

NJBadApple · 02-25-2023, 12:59 AM

So I think the reason the majority of professional players are considered "boring" is because of the lack of promotion for the NHL itself. The amount of star-power in the NBA and the NFL is that high purely because of the amount of promotion and attention it's given. As far as the media tie-in is concerned, I think most of the players realize that the NHL isn't as publicized as the other major leagues, so any attention from social media is likely to be negative vice positive. Sports media also has a great way of altering what and how a player said something, just to turn it into a headline, and NHL players realize this as well. You see this daily in the other major sports. There are probably an inifine number of ways the league could make it's players more "marketable" and "exciting", but at the end of the day; does it even matter? The answer has always, and will always be no.

Code:
Words: 150+

Leatherneckmike · 02-25-2023, 02:31 AM

PBE affil PT

High Stick King · 02-25-2023, 05:47 AM

Quote:Written Task: How do you feel about hockey's social media culture? Specifically with regards to top players in the world. A common complaint is that the NHL does not have the star power of a league like the NBA, and that the players are much more boring. Do you think this ties in to social media, and the unwillingness many players to engage beyond the officially sanctioned opportunities? Is it unrelated? If so, how do you think the league should go about making their stars more marketable and exciting? Does it even matter? (150+ words)

I think the NHL shoots itself in the foot in regards to how the players are marketed. They've never done a very good job at it and in this days media presence, you could argue they are worse than ever. It doesn't help that the last 3 best players to have played in the NHL have been awkward Wayne Gretzky, boring Sidney Crosby, and aloof Connor McDavid. As amazing as those players are on the ice, they are vanilla toast (if that was a thing).

However, I think it is a "culture" thing and a way of old-school thinking that still runs the NHL. Few coaches allow players to be vocal in the media and on social media but I think it runs deeper. I think the players police themselves in that regard and it is pretty much taboo behind the scenes.

The NBA is easy because there are limited players so stars have more effect on games and they aren't wearing heavy equipment. You see their faces, their emotions, nothing is hidden in basketball on the court. You are always in the spotlight. Hockey is closer to football where you're 90% covered in equipment, you are hiding on the bench and playing behind glass. You don't connect the same way when watching so it feels like more of the game of hockey is hidden in the locker room than the NBA.

How to fix it? Pay me $250k a year and I'll do it for them otherwise I'm not giving it away for free. Smile

[ 263 incoherent words ]

Thunfish · 02-25-2023, 08:08 AM

Quote:Written Task: How do you feel about hockey's social media culture? Specifically with regards to top players in the world. A common complaint is that the NHL does not have the star power of a league like the NBA, and that the players are much more boring. Do you think this ties in to social media, and the unwillingness many players to engage beyond the officially sanctioned opportunities? Is it unrelated? If so, how do you think the league should go about making their stars more marketable and exciting? Does it even matter? (150+ words)

As hilarious as it might sound to most people, I think the main reason the NHL lacks popularity in comparison to other leagues is quite frankly the sport itself. Speaking as a native of a tropical country, the idea of playing hockey itself sounds like an expensive endeavour compared to others such as association football (which I do play every now and then), basketball and even something more complex such as gridiron. So naturally, you're bound to not have the same traction power as anything that more people can do.

I believe popularizing the sport in more countries would be the way to go but how to do that is another can of worms, mainly one on the lap of the league itself as opposed to the players. Hell, I don't blame them since their job is literally to play a sport and not serve as spokespeople for a league that bailed out the Coyotes three times for whatever reason.

Raven · 02-25-2023, 09:23 AM

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