You Know What I Hate?! – Feb 6

M.I.A. is angry. And so am I. But she’s gonna get a stern talking-to by some TV exec
over this insignificant act. US Network TV – where this is offensive, but blowing someone up is awesome.
Photo courtesy Getty Images/NBC.

This week, I give the middle finger to touch-up icing, the Canucks winning (HUH?!) and the tantalizing tease of hockey in the Pacific Northwest.

You know what I hate?! TOUCH-UP ICING. We saw two plays this week, both involving the Canucks on opposite end of the infraction, that showcased exactly why touch-up icing is ridiculous, dangerous and unnecessary. Jannik Hansen was the offender earlier in the week, and then Dan Hamhuis was the victim on Saturday afternoon, courtesy Chuck Kobasew. That play needs to be considered suspendable. And I’m not saying that just because of Kobasew’s play, Hansen probably should have been suspended too. NHL officials have to get this out of the game. I have probably had touch-up icing in YKWIH before… but you know what, I REALLY, REALLY HATE IT.

You know what I hate?! The Canucks keep winning games when they have no business doing so. Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that the Canucks are inexplicably winning games they’re out played in, or at least getting those games to OT/SO. But they’re playing some god-awful, lazy hockey lately. Does anyone remember their last truly impressive effort? And don’t say Boston, because that wasn’t a hockey game – that was a bar fight. It was probably in Minnesota the game before. So it has been a month. After that 3-0 win over the generally hapless team from the Twin Cities, the Canucks are 7-2-2 in 11 games over the past 30 days. But this effort that they are putting on display lately is underwhelming. Frankly, what I think the Canucks need is to be at the wrong end of a good old-fashioned blowout. They aren’t being shaken out of their doldrums because they’re still being rewarded for their terrible play. They NEED to be slapped back down to Earth, maybe for two or three games. It’s totally counterintuitive to WANT your team to lose, but right now, the Canucks might need to lose, and to lose big in order to realize that they need improve.

You know what I hate?! Almost every single Chicago Wolves player is on Twitter and is pretty damn good at it. Why do I hate this? Because the few Canucks who ARE on Twitter are TERRIBLE at it. Man this is frustrating. I understand why the Wolves are getting their players out there. And someone (management? social media expert?) has probably given the Wolves players a tutorial on how to use Twitter without being an ass. Why can’t they do the same with the Canucks? David Booth is probably the best Canuck on Twitter (he’s certainly the most active Canucks Tweep), and he is marginally okay at it. Same with Andrew Ebbett, but since Ebbett has been hurt and has barely played all year, fans forget that he’s even a Canuck. Kevin Bieksa had ALL sorts of promise, but he’s been basically silent since his first couple of weeks. Kesler? Awful. Lapierre? Non-existent. We need the Canucks to take some serious lessons from their AHL counterparts on how to engage fans on Twitter without getting into trouble. It’s not hard – just look at every account from a member of the Chicago Wolves.

You know what I hate?! Being teased about NHL hockey in Seattle. Man, I would LOVE it if Seattle could somehow land a team. But Seattle just doesn’t strike me as a hockey market. It is obvious that folks in Vancouver would be FAR more excited about hockey in Seattle than folks in Seattle would be. It’s a relatively short trip (well at least we could get there in a car!) and folks here would certainly take advantage of that. Professional hockey has already existed in Seattle, and it didn’t work out. Granted, that was 50 years ago and Seattle has exploded in size since then. But it just doesn’t seem to be important enough to Bettman to move another team to the West Coast. I want this to happen, but I have every confidence in the world that it will never happen.

You know what I hate?! Outrage in America over "crude" acts. Are there REALLY people in the US that are offended by M.I.A.’s flip-of-the-bird during the Super Bowl halftime show? That’s just sad. US network television has no problem showing movies where people are massacred, blown to smithereens, set on fire, you name it — violence, violence, violence! But slip a nipple, or flip the bird and HOW DARE YOU SHOW A CRASS DISGUSTING ACT ON TELEVISION! MY KIDS ARE WATCHING AND THIS IS DISGRACEFUL!! I AM OUTRAGED BEYOND BELIEF!!! JIMMY, GO WATCH THAT MAN FILL THAT OTHER MAN FULL OF BULLET HOLES!! Television advocacy groups in the States are so completely backwards in their priorities on protecting young viewers. But these are the same groups that support the Newt Gingrich’s and Mitt Romney’s of the world, so I’m not the least bit surprised.