I love the shirt ends tied at the waist. And the pigtail braids. It's just so 90s.

I love bubblegum pop, especially late 90s/early 2000s bubblegum pop. I love how happy it is, how despite the songs may be about being lonely or cheating or being dumped, they always sound so peppy. And there’s always a music video that includes a large, choreographed dance sequence with the girls in midriff-baring baby tees. And you can’t forget the whispered/moaned “baby” by one of the singers.

That brings me to the purpose of this post on the long-neglected blog: I want to create the ultimate bubblegum pop playlist. One that will automatically plunge you into sugary-sweet nostalgia every time you put it on. One that not only has the bubblegum heavyweights of Britney Spears, Nsync, and the Backstreet Boys, but also the Aaron Carters and 98 Degrees of the pop world. And while I do love me some pop music, I am far from an expert. So this post’s purpose is to create a hive mind of sorts to have all the great pop music in one place. None of the current hip-hop-influenced stuff, just the pure pop.

To start everything off, here are some of the tracks that I put on a playlist that influenced this post:

Give Me Just One Night (Una Noche) –   98 Degrees
Bouncing Off the Ceiling (Upside Down) –   A*Teens
Aaron’s Party – Aaron Carter
Complicated –   Avril Lavigne
Sk8er Boi –   Avril Lavigne
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back) –   Backstreet Boys
Larger Than Life – Backstreet Boys
The Call – Backstreet Boys
I Want It That Way – Backstreet Boys
Baby One More Time – Britney Spears
Stronger –   Britney Spears
Lucky – Britney Spears
Oops!…I Did It Again – Britney Spears
Genie In A Bottle – Christina Aguilera
Survivor – Destiny’s Child
Blue – Eiffel 65
Boys and Girls – Good Charlotte
So Yesterday – Hillary Duff
Perfect Day – Hoku
I Think I’m In Love With You – Jessica Simpson
Crush – Mandy Moore
Bye Bye Bye –   ‘N Sync
Pop –   ‘N Sync
It’s Gonna Be Me  -  ’N Sync
I Believe I Can Fly –   R Kelly
All Star –   Smash Mouth
Wannabe – Spice Girls

Feel free to add more in the comments. I know I forgot more than a few.

When, in the course of television broadcasting, it becomes necessary for the target audience of 18-49 year olds to alter their television habits which have connected them with a network, and to assume among the powers of the remote, the wide array of other networks that their cable or satellite subscription entitles them, a decent respect to the network requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the boycott.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all time zones are created equal, that people are endowed by their viewership with certain unalienable rights, that among these are live, quality, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Neilson ratings are instituted among networks, deriving their just powers from the television viewers. That whenever any network becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the viewers to complain or boycott it, and to switch to a different network, giving them the viewers and therefore the advertising revenue. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that networks long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown that viewers are more disposed to suffer, while bad programming is sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, making the viewer pissed off, it is their right, it is their duty, to boycott such network, and to watch illegal streams and torrents of their programming. Such has been the patient sufferance of these viewers; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former viewing habits. The history of NBC is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over their viewers. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

They have refused to air the Olympic Opening Ceremonies live on the West Coast, despite the host city being in the same timezone, instead tape delaying the Ceremonies for three hours and allowing Them to be already posted on Youtube before those in the Pacific time zone could watch Them on television.

They have refused to air the Olympic events live on the West Coast, a practice that has not allowed the results of the events be a surprise.

They have aired the Michael Phelps races three hours later for West Coast back in 2008, despite the tape-delay making the races begin at 11pm or midnight instead of 8-9pm, which is a much more reasonable hour as well as being live.

They have ignored the effects of the internet on tape-delayed programming.

They have chosen to air the most anticipated of the men’s hockey group play games and one of the most anticipated non-medal event in the Olympics period, the game between Canada and the United States, on MSNBC and ice dancing on NBC.

They have repeatedly aired the footage of a man dying with little to no warning to the viewers.

They have chosen to have Boston and Philadelphia play each other in the Winter Classic, two teams that have little rivalry history, and who would be much better suited to play other teams.

They have decided to deny the Washington Captials in the Winter Classic, citing that the team would not attract good enough ratings, despite having one of the league’s most dynamic stars in Alexander Ovechkin.

They have refused to broadcast any Western Conference team other than the Detroit Red Wings or Chicago Blackhawks despite the West being an overall better conference over the past few seasons.

They have removed original scripted programming to install a fourth talk show in their nightly lineup.

They have broken Conan O’Brien’s contract just seven months into its term in order to reinstall Jay Leno to the Tonight Show despite Mr. Leno’s new talk show’s dismal ratings.

They have removed all of Mr. O’Brien’s Late Night video clips from Hulu and various other internet video websites.

They have strictly controlled all posting of their content on the internet and have not allowed a vast majority of it to be available to a viewer under any circumstances.

In every stage of these errors we have petitioned for change: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated mistakes. A network, whose identity is thus marked by every act which may define a wildly incompetent organization, is unfit to be a top network.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our fellow east coast viewers. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by the network to extend their sub-par and tape-delayed productions onto us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of their exclusive contracts with events and programs. We have appealed to their logic and sense of fairness, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common network availability to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our favorite programs. They too have been deaf to the voice of fairness and common sense. We must, therefore, refuse to watch their network.

We, therefore, the viewers of the United States of America, from our computers, appealing to the common sense of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people suffering through the programming decisions, solemly publish and declare, that these united viewers are, and of right ought to not suffer through inept decisions; that they are no longer confined to viewing the network for certain programming, and that all exclusive Olympic and NHL contracts between them and the governing bodies, ought to be totally dissolved. And for the support of this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our opinions, our rights, and our sacred honor.

So, about a month ago, I was watching the Stanley Cup Final, being depressed and interested simultaneously. The absolute slaughter that was Game 5 was ending; there was about two minutes left on the clock, but there were stoppages often because of some of the shenanigans the players were getting into. And during those stoppages, the arena crew saw fit to play some songs. The crowd – pumped up from the 5-0 drubbing their team put on the Penguins – sang along to the songs played, often continuing during the action after the music had been shut off. I’m not a fan of the Red Wings, but that was a pretty cool event (click here to see what I’m talking about).

That got me thinking – there are some songs that people just love singing along to, that are just so iconic in that way that its hard NOT to sing along to them. So I decided to compile a list of the top ten (okay, eleven) songs that you sing along to, in my very personal opinion.

HM: Old Time Rock and Roll – Bob Seger

While this song was immortalized by Tom Cruise in Risky Business (and the subsequent Guitar Hero commercials), and it does have a certain amount of singability, it does not have that magical crowd feeling, the one that causes everyone to sing along to it. However, because it does cause people to turn up the radio, it deserves an honorable mention.

10. Twist and Shout – the Beatles

While this is technically a cover, what has been deemed as the “greatest rock performance ever” has overshadowed the original recording so much so that the Beatles’ rendition of this song deserves to be on the list. Being the song used in what might be one of the greatest crowd singing and dancing scenes in a movie ever (well, at least in my personal opinion) also helps – the construction worker who dances at the beginning of the clip wasn’t part of the movie, he just felt like dancing along to the song and the cameras caught that.

9. Rock and Roll All Night – Kiss

This song’s chorus encourages people to stay up all night to “rock and roll” and to do so every day – presumably trying to convert people into being nocturnal. That said, the extremely simple chorus, almost always preceded with some sort of encouragement (“I can’t hear you!”), just invites everyone to sing along, and definitely gets a crowd pumped up and ready to rock. The awesome alarm clock just makes it even more of a ready contestant.

8. YMCA – Village People

This is probably one of the most famous songs in the world, one that most elementary school kids know. Why isn’t it ranked higher? Well, I never said that people liked it. This song isn’t likely to be playing over your radio any time soon, nor is anyone likely to keep it at the station to sing along to the chorus and do those arm motions that are practically required when listening to the song. It has fallen into the “corny” category, so much so that it isn’t played unless at some family-friendly event.

However, the fact that everyone knows the chorus and the Y-M-C-A dance that goes along with it makes this song’s inclusion on the list necessary.

7. We Are the Champions – Queen

Without fail, when a team wins a championship (or even a division or conference, in some cases), the fans will start singing this song. And why not? It proclaims, “No time for losers ’cause we are the champions,” a sentiment that is perfect for rubbing in the faces of the losing team. This song is known world-wide, and the slow, not very vocally challenging ballad is perfect for crowds, like the Penguins Cup parade.

6. You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC

Imagine you’re at your high school dance. The lame DJ has been playing mediocre rap the entire night, and you are starting to get bored. But then the first few chords of the song blare over the loudspeakers, and the crowd of people born at least a decade after the song had debued starts cheering and singing along:

“YOU! SHOOK ME ALLL NIIIIIGHT LOOONG!”

And so AC/DC’s infectious chorus begins, inviting everyone within hearing distance to shout along, bobbing their heads while throwing up the horns. At this point, I’d try to link to some awesome video, but the awesomeness was never really caught well on Youtube. So here is the music video, which is one of my favorites.

5. Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi

Besides being one of the more playable songs on Guitar Hero and Rock Band, this song has also been a favorite of fans during the playoffs – “Ohhhhhhhh, we’re half way there-ere. OHH-OHH! LIVING ON A PRAYER!” It signifies hope, a challenge to go on, and has a completely shoutable chorus. Jon Bon Jovi’s insistence to sing/scream in the upper echelons of his vochal range, prompting drunken fans to do the same, helps the song as well. Just a great crowd song. According to youtube, it is also rather popular to sing on bus rides.

4. Sweet Home Alabama – Lynyrd Skynyrd

This song has immortalized Alabama in a way that nothing else has. Besides being made into a crappy movie featuring Elle Woods (or, you know, Reese Witherspoon), it has withstood the test of time and is still often played on radio stations across the country. Kid Rock even sampled it, to some success. But what makes it such an iconic song is the chorus (as most songs on this list), which not only imbues a country charm, but also features background singers that urge everyone to join in. And really, who can resist? Certainly not these folk (granted, this is in Alabama, but still).

3. Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

“Just a city boy. Born and raised in SOUTH DETROIT! He took the midnight train going anywhere.”

Despite my utter perplexity as to why Detroit fans would love singing along to a song where the boy wants to be anywhere but Detroit, this song has proven to be one of the most popular songs to sing along to – especially in Detroit, but other places as well. But what is unique about Journey’s iconic song is the lack of a recognizable chorus to sing along to until the very end. This has caused the first verse of the song to become the singable part, and there are few experiences like hearing a group of people sing in unison, “Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world…”

The fact that this song has somewhat become a rallying point for fans during dire straits helps it immensely, as well.

2. Sweet Caroline – Neil Diamond

“Hand, touching hands. Reaching out, touching me, touching you! Sweet Caroline! BA BA BA! Good times never seemed so good. SO GOOD! SO GOOD! SO GOOD! I’ve been inclined. BA BA BA! To believe there never would, oh now I…”

I am no Red Sox fan, but BoSox Nation has made this old, slightly sappy Neil Diamond song into one of the top songs to sing along to of all time. The extra lyrics, shouted as loudly and drunkenly as possible, makes the song what it is. While it is unofficially owned by the Red Sox, virtually anybody can play the song (except for perhaps the Yankees) and get the same level of drunken participation. Except for, apparently, at Jonas Brothers concerts, because I assume that 11 year old girls have no idea who Neil Diamond is (that one girl who shouts the “SO GOOD” part is my hero, even though she was a a Jonas Brothers concert).

1. We Will Rock You – Queen

There really is no other choice for the number one spot – I challenge you to come up with one. Queen’s rock anthem has become so recognizable that two beats into the song, most of the crowd has already picked up the iconic stomp-stomp-clap beat. Hell, even ancient Rome was able to get into it. While the verses of the song are largely ignored, the recitation of the chorus is mandatory, especially when sung as loud as possible – “WE WILL, WE WILL, ROCK YOU!”

To commemorate all these songs, I made a playlist on YouTube, which you can find here. Or, you know, the embedded player below.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

As I consider myself somewhat of a television connoisseur, here is a list I have compiled of shows that I have found to replace my daily dose of hockey. Only in terms of time, of course, since nothing can really replace the awesomeness.

Regular Season Show You Need to Get Caught Up On
Chuck
I started watching the show after I saw the previews for it a few years ago. It was like, “Hey, nerd guy somehow becomes a spy. That’s pretty sweet.” In the first episode, there was a completely awesome car chase involving a Prius. In the second, a car exploded. Oh, and that’s all wrapped up in witty comedic banter and enough workplace shenanigans to put The Office to shame. The show got a little heavy on the mythology in the second half of the second season, but other than that its rather easy to watch it as you like. “Chuck Versus the Alma Mater” and “Chuck Versus the Colonel” are two of my favorite episodes, but I suggest not watching the latter until you’ve really gotten into the show.

Its Canadian, Eh
The Listener
As an import from Canada, the show is about a paramedic who can read minds, and so he suddenly decides to become Mr. Detective. Obviously, like most shows that deal with secret identities/hidden abilities, he raises suspicions from people. It has a fairly basic criminal mystery set-up that you can find in literally any crime-based show, but that’s not the draw. The thing is, the lead guy (Craig Olejnik) is insanely hot. Most of the time, I’m not even paying attention to the story, instead just admiring his face or the way he looks in his uniform.

Reality TV
So You Think You Can Dance
I know, I know. Its reality tv, a genre that has been over-done this past decade and needs to die. Except, this show is different. The reality series is currently in its fifth season, and has only gotten better as the years have gone by. It draws its inspiration from American Idol, in that talented individuals compete for America’s vote. The thing is, all the dancers that make it into the top twenty are insanely talented and most have had years of training. Watching them attempt styles outside of their own is a treat, especially when they end up like the Table Dance, Bleeding Love, and so on. Oh, and my pick for the winner this season? Evan Kasprzak, a Fred Astaire-like dancer. Yeah, that good.

At Least There’s Hockey
Bones
Okay, okay, I admit – this CSI-like series isn’t exactly the first place I’d look for my hockey fix, but its there. The male lead (Seeley Booth) loves hockey; he has several hockey photos in his office, had a hallucination of playing with Luc Robataille, plays in his rec league, and owns a framed (and presumably signed) Mario Lemieux jersey. And then besides that, it has a great will-they-won’t-they romance dynamic between the two leads while they solve mysteries. Well-written, with a great group of supporting characters, and the plot doesn’t get too murder-heavy for those who can’t take it. “Fire in the Ice” is the most hockey-heavy episode there is, as the entire episode revolves around hockey, but all the episodes are good, albeit in a less-hockey manner.

Hey I Saw This on YouTube!
Whose Line Is It Anyways?
This brilliantly simple show was canceled back in 2003 because of low ratings (most likely due to being up against the insanely popular Friends), and not because it got any less funny. I’d actually rate the show as the funniest thing I’ve seen, hands-down. The basis of the show is that it gets four comedians (Ryan Stiles, Colin Mochrie, Wayne Brady, and some guest comedian) to act out things based on suggestions written on cards. So, yeah, its improv. Amazing improv, at that. Oh, and the reason for the category? You can find virtually any game played on the show on youtube. PLUS, you can also find hilarious (if NSFW) outtakes that include Bill Cosby and Hitler being roommates for a sitcom. Yes, totally serious about that.

It was really just a game, a competition between two groups of individuals to see who could follow a set of arbitrary rules to the best of their ability and win. Generally, all sports are like that; meaningless in the grand scheme of things, their purpose to entertain. In this case, it was a hockey game, played between two teams that each represented a country. It also happened to be February 20, 1980, and the two countries involved were the United States and the Soviet Union.

On the surface, it was a hockey game between a team that had dominated the sport for the better part of two decades, and a team composed of players who had no recollection of a time that preceded the former team’s dominance. It was the equivalent of professional players matched against a ragtag bunch of college kids, with what was supposed to be a predictable result. Yet, the college kids upset the professionals, transforming an Olympic hockey game into a “Miracle on Ice.”

Pulling off what is widely considered to be the greatest upset in sports history was not enough to make the game so famous and memorable. It was in the context, when the game was viewed as just a small aspect of a much larger battle. The game became symbolic as a battlefield between capitalism and communism, between the two world powers. It was a way for one, the winner, to assert their dominance over the other on a world stage, where one country could point out and say, “My people are better than your people.” For the American people, it also became a ray of hope after the depressing, crisis-plagued 1970s. Yes, there were the two oil crises, the Iranian hostage crisis, the Soviets invading Afghanistan – but there was also a group of kids refusing to succumb to their supposed inferiority, and doing better than anyone thought they would. The little hockey team that could had reached the medal round against all expectations. A win against what was considered the evilest of empires would surely be a sign of better things to come. The win would give Americans hope and a reason to have pride in their country.

When the game is examined on a much deeper level, more facets emerge. No longer is the team thought of as a single organism, but as a unit composed of individuals. There was the story of Herb Brooks, the coach who was cut from the 1960 gold medal US hockey team just weeks before the Olympics, and who would do anything for a gold medal. Jim Craig was the goalie whose mother had died and father got fired. There was the geographic rivalry within the very core of the US team. On the other side were the expectations that were thrust upon the Soviet players, and their need to win to remain prominent and privileged in their society. Al Michaels was the commentator who strove for impartiality, only to disregard it in the final seconds of the game to deliver one of the most famous calls in sports history: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!” All of these subplots factored into the game, making it more than just win or lose.

But then, going even further into the play of the hockey game itself, it becomes a simple numbers game filled with statistics. The object of the game was to put more pucks into your opponent’s net than they do in yours. The team that achieved that objective would win, the other team would lose. The game did not care about world politics nor the wants and needs of individual players. It was uncaring and impartial, awarding the win to the better, luckier team. It rewards crisp, clean passes and successful breakouts. It rewarded the goalie that controlled their rebounds – as Vladislav Tretiak found out, when he gave up a rebound that led to the United States’ tying goal. The game did not care that Tretiak was considered the best goalie in the world, or any preconceived reputation of the Soviet team. All it that mattered was the play and the actions taken by the players. Everything else faded away into the background, and the players became faceless parts of a whole once more.

The “Miracle on Ice” – the 1980 Winter Olympic upset of the Soviet men’s hockey team by the US – varies in complexity based on the depth of observation. It becomes more and more complex as it is examined further, taking into account everything that is in and around the game, but then it suddenly becomes simple when broken down to its very core – a hockey game. Everything else becomes just the atmosphere, the circumstances surrounding the game.

Yeah. That one. Anyways, I was watching it, and when it got to one of the kids lining up for their permit/license photo, I seriously thought I knew him from somewhere. He looked so familiar! So it was bothering me until an hour ago when I finally realized who he looked like.

This picture brought to you in part by Paint Shop Pro 7 and MS Paint. Man, I miss using Photoshop.

So its not perfect – the State Farm dude is like a younger version of Kane, but still. The similarity amazes me.

And that’s what I do when I have free time.

I do that too (sorry Mike Grier, but you’re gonna have to leave now), but something else that I like to do is to be the armchair president – the guy who, while he doesn’t have control over the roster, can shape the experience for the fans and team alike.

I know what you’re thinking – the Sharks are a team that failed to sell out just one game this year, and that was because of Obama. Tickets are sold twice their face value in the regular season, and even more for the playoffs. The fans are considered some of the loudest in the NHL, surprising those Eastern teams. And yet, I want to change things.

I can only imagine that Greg Jamison is a believer in lassez-faire economics mixed in with a bit of Field of Dreams (if you build it, they will come). Because really, the attention paid to getting new fans and attempting to retain the current ones is almost non-existant; instead, it is left up to the product that is on the ice. Now, that’s all fine and dandy, especially when the team is one of the few consistant Cup contenders in the league, but when the times get tough there needs to be a special outreach to fans in place. Like, say, when the economy goes down the toilet, or when the team gets bounced from the first round. Not that I would be mentioned any specific examples, of course.

I mean, the Sharks are the best professional team in the Bay Area by a long shot. The Raiders and the 49ers are jokes whose days are long behind them; the Warriors just suck; and the A’s and Giants are middling teams that have a 50-50 chance to make it to the post-season. Meanwhile, the Sharks have been locks for the playoffs ever since the lockout, and topping their already impressive regular season point total every year. And yet, less attention is paid to them than to the teams that have been mired in mediocrity or defeat for the better part of a decade.

To see how a team is marketed the right way, you just have to look at the Chicago Blackhawks. When Rocky Wirtz took over as owner the beginning of this season, the team when through a perceptible shift, despite having pretty much the same core. He promised that all games would be televised locally (something the Sharks have yet to do), and promoted the hell out of the team. The result? The 21,000+ seat arena was sold out for the majority of the season, the Winter Classic was brought to Wrigley, the players were voted onto the All Star team, and Chicago became a hockey town once again.

That said, let me put on my owner’s hat and show you exactly what I would do to improve the presence of the Sharks.

1. All games must be televised.
   This seems like it should be obvious (televised games means more people watching, more people watching means better ratings and more fans, and both of those means more money), but apparently its not. Before the 08-09 season started, there was a whopping nine games scheduled to not be televised, not on CSN-BA, CSN-BA HD, CSN-BA+, Versucks Versus, or NBC (yeah, right). Five possible channels, and yet no game. Granted, there were more games added on as the season went by, but I estimate that a good six games went untelevised.

 

2. All games must be broadcasted in high definition.
   HD is here, and its spreading like the swine flu. Hockey is the sport that is by far the most affected by HD, for one reason: it is much easier for newer fans to view the puck. In basketball, there is a large orange ball. In football, there is a large brown ball. In baseball, there is a small white ball, but the camera tends to follow it like the paparazzi follow Britney Spears.Amazingly enough, there were only 41 games broadcast in HD during the regular season – exactly half. In comparison, there were 46 Warriors games broadcasted in HD out of the 78 games in the season. While its not much of a difference – 50% of the games compared to 59% – it still would mean 7 more games broadcasted in HD for the Sharks if the percentages were constant. 

   But really, hockey in HD is like nothing else. You get to see more of the action – crucial when so much is away from the puck – and everything is a lot clearer. I mean, its beautiful. Almost as good as going to a game in person (what it lacks in atmosphere it makes up in instant replays, witty commentary, and free-ness). Guarenteed to change the minds of all those who think watching hockey on TV is too hard to follow.

3. Hire a new marketing director.
   So, frequenting various NHL-related blogs, I am often accosted by youtube videos of commercials for their team. Like this one advertising the Blackhawks on TV, or this one for voting Blackhawks to the All Star Game, or this one for the Bruins playoff run, or this one for the Predators. All of those videos were made for this season. 

   What do the Sharks have? The horrible “Its not hard to find the Sharks” commercials that CSN-BA run and the playoff tickets one with Joe Thornton, JR, and Sharkie that makes me cringe. I’m sorry, I’ve seen better commericals in my beginning media arts course. Believe me, that’s saying something.Its not hard to come up with a creative, yet cheap idea like those four aforementioned commericals did. The marketing department has free access to the players, the arena, hockey equipment, a bunch of jerseys, and can easily send out a bulliten attracting thousands of extras willing to be in it for free (aka “Sharks fans”).

   Oh, and not only does the quality of advertising have to increase, but the quantity as well – there was nothing done about the All Star Game despite having 5 players nominated for starting positions and one player having a somewhat successful grass-roots campaign. I’m not sure if many people in the greater San Jose area even knew that they could vote. And then when they actually sent out something, it was those horrible vector pictures of the players that looked like someone did in about 10 minutes because they realized that the deadline was the next day.

   What I propose? Have a contest like Doritos did for the Super Bowl, only with people coming up with commercial ideas instead of actually filming the commercial themselves. The winner would get center ice tickets to a division rival game and a chance to meet the players beforehand. Cheap, simple, and effective.

   Either that or just hire a better marketing director. Seriously.”Whose your Nabby” just doesn’t cut it anymore.

4. Have a team-imposed salary cap.
   Now this one is going to be a bit more controversial. I know that this past season was the first time that the Sharks spent to the cap, and I’m glad they did. The fans could see what they would get with that extra $5 million that Jamison usually hides away, and that’s good. However, with the economy in shambles and with the salary cap going who knows where for the 2010-2011 season (which, unfortunately, is also the season where most contracts will be up for the Sharks), the team should impose a cap ceiling $2 million below the NHL’s. Why? Two reasons: economic uncertainty and flexibility. 

   The cap has a liklihood of going down after this coming season, and so by not spending to it the Sharks would be in a much better position going into the future. The flexibility factor comes in when the team needs to bring in new guys just in case some players are hurt or if there is a hole in the team that needs to be plugged. There would be less worry about the player’s cap hit, and so the focus could largely be on whether or not the player would best fit with the team.

5. You know those jumbo screens outside of Mellon Arena and Verizon Center that fans can watch during games? Yeah, get one of those.
   Currently, there are a few ways to watch a Sharks game. You can go to a game, watch it from home, listen to it on the radio, stream it online (both free and, uh, not free), or – and this is only once in a blue moon – go to a Sharks-sponsored event at some place like Stanley’s or Dave and Buster’s. The latter option is the one that bothers me; while I have yet to actually go to one of those events, it seems odd that they would be held so out of the way. Especially the D&B option, which is all the way in Milpitas. Milpitas! 

   A giant screen broadcasting the game out to the park right across the street would give a sense of actually being at the game (what with all the fans in jerseys) without having to pay tickets for the game. But wait – doesn’t that seem like it would lose the organization money? Not if they sell food and Sharks merchandise outside of the arena as well as inside of it. It would further draw crowds to downtown and to the Tank, and with more than the standard 17,496 going to a game, it would seem like the fanbase is that much more impressive.

6. Pay less attention to Germany.
   The Sharks must have the award for drafting the most Germans, what with Goc, Ehrhoff, Greiss, and Sturm all their doing. And as decent as those players are, Germany isn’t exactly known for its hockey players. I would personally pay more attention to Sweden and Russia, the two European hockey powers with a lesser focus on the Czech Republic and Finland. All those countries (plus Canada and the US) have turned out great prospects and NHL players the past few years, and the Sharks haven’t quite picked up on the Euro thing, except where goalies are concerned.

So that’s my six-step plan. Some of it will be costly, other parts will take a while, but I truely believe that the Sharks will be better supported because of it.

Not anymore. The blog was formerly considered secondary to the content, but now I realize that the blog is the content. It is a medium through which I can express my thoughts and ideas, my feelings on a situation that would seem out of place anywhere else. There will be no shying away from controversy; instead, I will bask in it. Mark Purdy is an idiot – there you go! Actually, that’s not really all that controversial. Its more of an accepted fact.

Anyways, I hope to be gracing you with my thoughts at least twice a week, and hopefully more during the summer – daily, even. And I hope somebody actually reads it. Seriously, how discouraging is it to write something that could be the next Great American Novel and nobody reads it? Not that I’ll be spouting off any fiction.

Peace.