Miss Sports Blogger 2006

Kent @ Sports Guy North is hosting a Miss Sports Blogger 2006 poll. All of his nominees were solely based on the writing and content of their respective blog. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the poll had started until Alanah brought it to my attention so the voting has already begun!The nominees include:
- Anne Ursu @ Batgirl
- Acid Queen @ Sweet Tea, Barbecue, and Bodychecks
- Alanah (1/2 of the VCOE crew) @ Vancouver Canucks Op Ed
- Stephanie @ Zany Sports Lady
- Christy @ Behind the Jersey (that's me!)

Here's why Kent nominated me:

Speaking of anti-Oilers, this blogger is a Red Wings fan through and through. Her claim to fame in my books is her Behind the Blog posts where she interviews other hockey bloggers, A classy move from a class act.

Speaking of the BtB posts, I'll be starting those back up after my knee surgery on Wednesday morning.Please go check out his website and vote in the poll on the right of the page. Whether you would like to vote for me or one of the many other awesome contestants, just go vote!

Detroit Sports Frustration

My world has been turned upside down with the Detroit sports scenario. Everything I once knew about Detroit sports teams is fading away and it all happened this past Saturday. Here's why…1) The Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 18-1, on Saturday.. The Detroit Tigers scored 18 runs. How in the world did that happen? The Tigers are now 15-9. That's not an amazing record, but considering the past few seasons – it's a miracle!

2) Saturday was NFL Draft Day. Over the past few years, the Detroit Lions have drafted wide receivers. These players would then sign for millions of dollars and then wouldn't be able to catch half of Joey's passes (even his good ones). Many people expected for USC's quarterback, Matt Leinart, to be one of the first five drafted in this year's first round. Well, the Lions had the #9 pick and Leinart was still available. We had the option to pick up this great QB. I know the Lions have just signed two QBs, but they are only mediocre – nothing amazing. And even if we didn't keep Leinart, we could've traded him to someone with a lower pick in exchange for Ernie Sims (the guy we actually drafted) and a lower round draft pick. But no, Millen has no balls whatsoever. Ugh. Why do I watch every single Lions game even though I know they are going to lose and suck it up majorly.

Ernie Sims is a Florida State linebacker who has had 5 concussions – five – in college! Plus, he's only 5'11", and we used our first pick to get this guy? We need a franchise quarterback; someone to save this team from the hell it's currently in. Leinart was available and we passed!

As with most drafts, though, there will probably be critics. Two quarterbacks, Leinart and Vanderbilt’s Jay Cutler, were selected with the following two picks and Millen said the Lions had a few trade conversations.But they were sold on Sims.

"Sometimes when the right guy is there for you, you don’t move around, he may not be there," Marinelli said. "When you get the right guy and we all feel good about him, you make those picks."

Sims was also arrested on a domestic violence charge last summer and ended up pleading no contest to reduced charge. He admitted that was a mistake and said, "I put it behind me."

The other two draft picks Detroit made yesterday are:
- Second Round (#40 overall): Safety from Nebraska
- Third Round (#74 overall): Wisconsin's running back

3) The Pistons lost their playoff game, 124 – 104. They still lead the series, 2-1. I'm not really worried about them and their playoff future; however, it was too much for me to take. A Wings and Pistons loss all in one afternoon/evening and I had to watch both of them (but really only the 2nd half of the Pistons game).

The 124 points were the most allowed by the Pistons in a regulation playoff game since they gave up 123 to Atlanta in 1991."I wasn't frustrated by what they did," Ben Wallace said. "It was frustrating the way we were playing. We were pounding the ball down to Sheed (Rasheed Wallace) in the post early, then we went away from it. We tried to do it the hard way. We got stagnant, man. Sheed was going, we should have rode that all the way."

4) The Wings are one loss away from playoff elimination. One bloody loss!Here are reactions from Wings, Oilers, and other hockey fans from Saturday's game…

Alanah and Jeff @ Vancouver Canucks Op Ed:

Alliterative Red Wing Fan Poetry: On the Wings is “disgusted” and Behind the Jersey is “depressed, discouraged, disappointed, disenchanted, downhearted, down, and desolate”. Guys, take your fingers off the trigger and breathe. Detroit is certainly capable of winning two straight. (But could someone tell Manny Legace to please shut up?)

Speaking of VCOE, they have been doing playoff jokes on the various teams since the start of the playoffs. For every team they posted a joke on, that team won 6 of 7 games. So I left them this comment: "I think it’s time for you to do a Detroit joke on Monday. We have to win that game and with your pretty decent success rate, it’s time to give it a try. Please!"So for the sake of the Wings, please send any Detroit Red Wings jokes to Alanah and Jeff (email: vancouvercanucks oped (at) gmail .com) and they will post them sometime tomorrow. Here was their response to my request: "Well, Christy, since you’re begging…! Yup, Detroit’s on the list. But that means that some of you people need to (anonymously or otherwise) send me some good Red Wings jokes! P.S. The irony of asking Red Wings fans to send me Red Wings jokes is truly fabulous."

Matt Saler @ On the Wings:

As far as big games go, I don't remember a more uninspired performance by the Wings. I don't understand why they couldn't get up to play a full game in front of their fans (I suppose the tomb-like atmosphere at the Joe has something to do with that) and when they had a chance to take the lead in the series. The Oilers played great and maybe still would have won, but if the Wings had even played to half of their ability, I wouldn't feel so ripped off by this game. They put up a performance like this and I'm supposed to get all excited about Game 6? I'm supposed to have hope that they'll actually show up to play in Edmonton? Why couldn't they do it yesterday?They've been down 3-2 in a series before but that was in 2002 and it was a completely different team. That team knew how to win big games. This team seems to have forgotten. Sure, the series technically isn't over but they are going to have to play out of their minds Monday night if they even want a chance at winning. I know Edmonton will "bring it" but will the Wings?

I'm not ready for another early exit. I waited two years for this? I'm tired of getting my hopes up only to have the Wings fall flat on their faces.

Helene St. James @ Detroit Free Press:

Those Red Wings. They storm through the regular season scoring on everyone, and now here they are in the playoffs, and like in previous years, goals are a problem.Despite battering Dwayne Roloson in the first period Saturday the Wings could not break him, and then the Oilers broke them. Spotting any opponent three goals in the playoffs is dangerous, and when it is to a team as good defensively as Edmonton, it is flirting with disaster. The Wings lost, 3-2, at Joe Louis Arena in Game 5 of their first-round series, and now they must win Monday night at Edmonton, or face a third straight disappointing playoff run.

Saturday's game was the first time I thought to myself, "Wow, this Roloson is really keeping Edmonton in the game." That thought was during the first period; after that, it only got worse.As always, IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman has some great thoughts regarding Saturday's game:

But at some point, and it has to be Monday, the Wings have to gel again. Leaders have to sacrifice. Defensemen have to strengthen their games. Goalies have to erase their memories and young stars need to explode. It can’t be one or two of those factors. It has to be all of them, happening at once on Monday night.Is it likely? Maybe not. But it’s certainly possible. Edmonton has a chance to kill this thing, to crush the windpipe. How will they react? We’ll see.

He also brought up Mikael Samuelsson's playoff performance and that he had recently signed a three year deal with the Wings. I had totally forgotten and I'm so frustrated with the deal now…

Does the date March 25th mean anything to you? Let me help. That’s the day Mikael Samuelsson signed a nice 3-year deal. Anyone want to guess how many goals he’s scored since then? 2. Thanks.

Mike at Covered in Oil:

Ah, but this is where Dwayne Roloson's .935 SV% shimmers like sparkling wine. It's not like Roloson is making supersick saves in a 1997 Curtis Joseph sense; but he's definitely looking more calm and assertive than he ever has in his 20-25 games as an Oiler. His glove hand looked good, and if he popped out any rebounds Roli managed to keep them clear from the high slot. His little eyes-shut zen meditation thing between plays seems to work, and more importantly it's miles away from the scared flailing that passed for goaltending early in the season.

My Sports List

I decided I wanted to make a list of things I wanted to do before I die…in the sports world. I would love to hear what you guys want to see or do so please leave a comment! My list may be added to depending if anyone else brings up something I wanted to do, but forgot!NHL Related
1) Attend the Stanley Cup Finals ganes (w/ the Wings in it)
2) Attend the Wings playoff games at the Joe
3) Obtain Wings season tickets
4) Meet Steve Yzerman (at an autograph signing would be just fine)
5) Visit Hockey Hall of Fame
6) Go on a road trip following the Wings, much like JJ's Canucks trip
7) Touch the Stanley Cup
Catch a puck during a Wings game
9) Go to the Winter Olympics and watch the Ice Hockey gold medal game
10) Attend the NHL All-Star Game

Other
1) Go watch the Tour de France (I have religiously watched the Tour de France for the past 4 years during the summer. Even though Lance Armstrong, my second favorite athlete behind only Yzerman, will no longer be racing – it still is an exciting sport and I'd love to check out France anyways.)
2) Rose Bowl (w/ University of Michigan in the game)
3) Attend a Pistons playoff game
4) Attend a Lions' playoff game (if they ever make one)
5) Attend the Super Bowl
6) Go to the Summer Olympics and watch the 100m dash and 4×100m relay (I ran varsity track in high school before my knee got really bad and those were my events. Plus, I love watching track and field – just wish it was on TV a little more).

Jack Johnson

To: Carolina Hurricane fansI thought I would post a snippet of an article from the Michigan Daily, the University's paper regarding Jack Johnson's future. Now, the paper is known for not being 100% accurate so take this however you want.

During the weekend of Jan. 6 and 7, before the Wolverines were took on Alaska-Fairbanks, Johnson and Carolina officials met for lunch, said a source close to Johnson, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the situation's delicacy. The source said the team offered Johnson a contract, similar to the longtime contract Sidney Crosby – a friend of Johnson's – received from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The source also said the team was going to insert Johnson into the lineup as soon as possible. But the source said Johnson turned down the offer. The source also said that Michigan hockey coach Red Berenson was alerted of the situation and gave Johnson the go-ahead to talk to Carolina.Then, two weeks ago, following Michigan's second-round CCHA playoff sweep of Ferris State, Johnson was unusually straightforward with reporters about his intentions for the future. "The only way you're going to get me out of here is by gunpoint," Johnson said.

Now, Johnson seems uncertain. "At this point, I'm kind of up in the air, I guess," Johnson said in an article published yesterday in the Raleigh News and Observer. "I still feel hesitant on making the jump. I want to make sure. I'm going to talk to a few people who I really confide in, and after talking to them try to make a pretty good decision. Right now, I'm really torn."

Johnson can still sign with the Hurricanes and join the team for its playoff run. According to the article, the first year of his contract would roll over to next season if he played in 10 or fewer games.

The loss of Johnson would be a big one for the hockey team. Johnson was fifth on the team in points (32) and was the top point scorer amongst the freshman. Johnson also broke the all-time record for most penalty minutes in a season with 149 minutes.

On behalf of the University of Michigan student body, Jack Johnson please stay and play for the Maize and Blue!

Happy Birthday Dad

I would like to wish my Dad a happy birthday! He's the one who got me hooked on the Wings at a young age and is my only family member who is always willing to hear me babble on about Detroit's hockey team. He goes with me to every game that we can get tickets for and he's the best Dad a girl could have. Love you Dad and I can't wait to go to some playoff games with you!

Sweden 3, Finland 2

It was great watching the gold medal game and seeing the three Sweden goals come from a Wing (Zetterberg, Kronwall, Lidstrom) with Lidstrom getting the game winning goal. I was cheering for the US, but since I figured they wouldn't do well, Sweden was my next pick mainly because of all the Wings on the team – I have my priorities.

It sounds like Niklas Kronwall might be feeling a little guilty getting a gold medal after being Mattias Ohlund's replacement.

Niklas Kronwall proudly wore an Olympic gold medal he thought should have rested around someone else's neck. Given a chance to play once defenseman Mattias Ohlund went down in the quarterfinals with an injury, Kronwall stepped in for Sweden and scored a goal in a 3-2 victory over Finland in Sunday's men's hockey final.Ohlund, who missed the final two games after being injured in a win over Switzerland, didn't get a medal in Turin. He might receive one from his rookie replacement.

"I think he deserved it more than I have," Kronwall said. "I came in and played two games. If we don't end up getting another medal, I'm offering a medal."

Kronwall said if it came down to it, he would find it difficult to part with the gold medal. He planned to get in touch with Ohlund to at least share the excitement of the title.

I have also finally uploaded photos from the Wings public practice that I attended on February 11, 2006. You can view them at my Webshots account.

Change in Feed Format

I just wanted to let all of the Behind the Jersey readers know that I have changed the format of the RSS feed from full to an excerpt format. I would like to apologize to anyone who relies on the full feed to read this blog, but another hockey website is syndicating my posts without permission.

Like my friends at On the Wings and Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, I have to shorten the feed to excerpt in order to prevent the material I’ve worked hard on from being reproduced without express permission from myself. I will leave this website unnamed, but it is NOT eWoss.com, who I have given full permission to syndicate my BtJ content.

I just find it frustrating that as a college student, I’m not making any kind of profit off of this blog. And because of a knee problem, I can’t even land a normal job to bring in any money. Yet, this other website finds it appropriate to take my content for its personal profit. I only ask that this individual remove BtJ content from their website; you know who you are.

Ideally, I’ll be able to return to a full RSS feed when this issue is resolved.

Carnival #18 & Other Notes

The NHL Carnival #18 is up at Abel to Yzerman. The next carnival will remain in Hockeytown where I along with Matt and Brian will be hosting the Yzerman edition at On the Wings.

Last Friday, Matt at Battle of Alberta gave Behind the Jersey some love (along with Vancouver Canucks Op Ed, Hockey Country, Japer’s Rink, and Hello Hockey Fans!). Here’s what Matt had to say about BtJ:

Call me a snooty MCP, but I would never have expected a hockey blog written by a 19-year-old girl to be readable, let alone interesting. More impressively, Christy’s blog is probably the best one out there for appreciating the Game of NHL Hockey as a whole. It doesn’t hurt that her home team has a lot of excellent and interesting veterans, but I frequently find myself reacting to her posts with, “Yep – hockey kicks ass.”

Her regular “Behind The Blog” feature is original and inspired, and she also recently reminded me of this awesome quote:

“Aww, don’t worry Doc. If that happens, I can always come back as a forward!” – Harold Snepsts after being advised by a doctor to wear a helmet to avoid brain damage

Read the whole entry; there’s a bunch of beauties.

On a final note, I’d like to thank all the readers who’ve been commenting frequently here at BtJ. It gets hard to blog when I have big exams, lots of homework, or papers due, but when I get feedback from you all, it really helps. So thank you!

Wings notes

Game Photos
I have just uploaded some photos from last night’s game. These are the photos I took with a Canon Powershot, which isn’t really designed for sport action shots so they aren’t too grand. I’m still waiting to get the photos from my dad, but he’s a busy guy so I’ll get them up as soon as I can. But for now, you can view 30 of my photos here at Webshots.

The Man Who Changed Hockey
Sports Illustrated wrote what I thought was an excellent three page piece on Brendan Shanahan and his affect on the sport. The article starts out like this…

Comfortably ensconced in a private dining room in Calgary not long ago, the Detroit Red Wings were watching an NHL game on a giant screen television when the referee raised his arm to make what struck the Wings as a phantom call. All heads in the room swiveled in the direction of forward Brendan Shanahan, who at that moment might as well have had a whistle in his mouth instead of the taste of dinner. His teammates pointed at him. Then, in chorus, they began to boo. “What?” Shanahan protested. “What?”

According to the article, Shanahan was named the most influential person in Canadian sports by Toronto’s Globe and Mail as well as No. 10 on The Hockey News‘ ranking of people of power and influence in the game.

SI Players NHL Poll
The most recent issue of Sports Illustrated features a weekly professional sports players poll, usually featuring NFL players. This poll asked 343 NHL players, “What percentage of NHL players use steroids?”

Results:
Zero – 37%
One – 34%
Two – 11%
Three to Nine – 14%
10 or More – 4%

Alex Tanguay – Pop Culture
Another weekly feature of Sports Illustrated is “The Pop Culture Grid” and they asked Avalanche player Alex Tanguay the following:

Howard Stern is…”On that Sirius network now?”

Book you are currently reading…”Lance Armstrong’s War”

How much coffee do you drink a day…”I’ve never drunk a cup of coffee in my life.”

Most expensive piece of jewelry…”A $100 watch. I’m not much of a jewelry guy.”

Would you like to make a voodoo doll of…”[Teammate] Ian Laperriere. To make him stop talking.”

Worst Show on TV…”Dancing with and Skating with the Stars.”

(SM111) Women athletes pose for male magazines

Ever since the summer of 2004 when numerous female Olympic athletes posed for numerous male magazines including Maxim, FHM, and Playboy, much has been debated why these athletes are posing and the impact it has on the sport they represent. In my SM111 class, we discussed (and read for homework) why women would pose for magazines. An article in the New York Times back in 2004 commented on this topic:

The Olympians’ attitudes about their status as pinups reveal a striking generation gap among female athletes. Unlike the national dialogue about empowerment and body image that followed Brandi Chastain’s exuberant removal of her jersey in 1999 after she scored the decisive penalty kick against China to give the United States a victory in the Women’s World Cup final, there has been little negative reaction to the Olympians’ ubiquitous appearance in magazines. Even the United States Olympic Committee does not seem to object to the exposure.

Amy Acuff, an Olympic high jumper, has posed for all three major “male magazines” (as mentioned in the first paragraph). She was on the cover of Playboy, the one which hit newstands on the same day as the 2004 Olympic opening ceremony and also graced the cover of FHM with other female athletes. Ted at Women’s Hoops Blog had this to say about Acuff’s decision to pose provocatively for the various male magazines.

People pose nude (and do lots of other things) in large part because they need the money. If Amy Acuff were a millionaire, she wouldn’t be in Playboy. We live in a world where female athletes typically make far less money than male athletes. So women get pressured in to posing nude and men don’t. So women end up making that “choice” and men don’t.

WNBA player Lauren Jackson, who is a forward on the Seattle Storm team and won the league’s MVP award in 2003, agreed to pose nude for a photo essay of Australian Olympians after turning down the offer numerous times.

“I feel really comfortable with my body and shape I’m in, and I know I’m not going to be like this forever,” Jackson said. “I was really nervous at first, but it was conquering one of my fears. I felt very much empowered at the end.

“It’s me all over and I’m really happy with the photos. As athletes you work so hard to get in shape for competition. This celebrates the athletic body and how much work you put in. We do it the right way; we don’t starve ourselves.”

Jackson said she doesn’t view the shots as objectifying women, either. Especially because the magazine, which will sell for $40, is equal parts men and women.

Amanda Beard is one of the top female swimmers in the world, winning one gold medal and two silver medals in the 2004 Olympics, as well as being voted ESPN’s Page 2’s sexiest female athlete competition beating Lokelani McMichael with 61.4 percent of the vote (157,387 voted in the “final round”). Beard has posed for many magazines including FHM and multiple Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues.

“I have boundaries. I haven’t posed nude. I wouldn’t do that. But I think a bikini is more sexy than nude,” Beard said.

When asked about her FHM photoshoot, Beard had this to say…

“I had fun doing it and enjoyed it and it’s a chance for me to branch out of swimming and kind of experience other things, like modeling and stuff.”

So why do these female athletes pose for magazines? Some say it’s for the money (note Amy Acuff); others because they just want to (Laura Jackson). I disagree with female athletes “posing” for any kind of magazine in anything but athletic wear in some sort of action shot. Female athletes are paid considerably less, for the most part, than their male counterparts and some believe that they need to pose in order to get the income they desire. Look for this post to be updated when I have some more free time this week.