My reply to Adam Vingan’s ATHLETIC article: 1/17/20

If you subscribe to the Athletic, the article may be found here

You can follow Adam on Twitter @AdamVingan or me, @mdnathan

OK, at the risk of sounding petty, I submit a list of observations that piss me off to no end. Adam, we haven’t physically met (that I recall) but you’ve said a couple of things “@” me on Twitter over the years, so I know you know who I am (my tweet last night about hearing a pin drop in the arena may have even inspired you on this article, but I don’t want to take that much credit…grin.)

1. Ford Keys OF The Game, or Ford Keys TO The Game. The entire season, Paul (McCann) says one thing while Kara and Chris say another, AND to further complicate things, the signage on the Jumbotron says BOTH…SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!

2. The sickeningly manipulative “Champ Of The Game” – I would like to be cold and insensitive and say, Please go away! I come to a hockey game to watch a sporting event, not to be engaged in a newfangled version of the 60’s TV show “Queen For A Day,” where women would tell their tale of woe in the hopes of being awarded a new washer/dryer, etc. I appreciate these children are sick, and sometimes terminally ill, and we should do all we can to support medical efforts to raise money and awareness, BUT… Paul’s script says we go to a LIVE look-in at the kid lying in a hospital bed, often with IV’s tethered to the child’s arm, and some machine spitting out the kid’s vitals as he or she forces a smile and waves a rally towel with a look of bewilderment and despair for 5-10 seconds. We are urged to respond! The people in front of me wave frantically at/to the scoreboard hoping that sick child sees their gesture of support. …well, in October I tweeted the “possibility” that this was not live, as at 8:15PM there was sun shining through the window of the child’s room. Did the Preds amend their assertion that it was a “live look in?” Absolutely not, but they did crop the window out of the frame in subsequent games. The culmination of this lie reached epic proportions when the team played Pittsburgh at home on Dec. 27th and that game’s “Champ” was the 9-year-old son of a friend of mine… WHO HAD BEEN RELEASED FROM THE HOSPITAL ON CHRISTMAS DAY. My friend posted on Facebook how excited they were to have been chosen as the “Champ,” pointing out that it had been recorded the week before. Again, transparency. What’s wrong with saying, “Earlier in the week we visited with ___…” Why is it necessary that we be “live?” File under: manipulative bullshit!

3. I’m 64. Been following professional sports since 1962 (Let’s Go Mets!) When I was 7, I learned that the “home team” is on the bottom and the visitors are on the top (on a scoreboard, in a newspaper, on television, etc.) This ALSO means that if you are showing scores in a horizontal fashion, the home team comes last, or is on the right. I mentioned this to Pete Weber last night and he concurred that this is the case everywhere… BUT Bridgestone! This new Jumbotron, as excellent as it may be, have been programmed putting the home team first, so that when you read out-of-town scores, veteran sports enthusiasts who MIGHT (or might not) care about who is the home or the road team often looks at what appears to be a road victory. It’s trivial, yes. It’s minutia, yes. But, it’s completely counter-intuitive to what every pro sports arena, stadium et al has been doing for decades!

4. For SIX WEEKS I have texted in that a light has been out over a urinal in the Men’s Room by Sec 212! Three separate return texts have thanked me and promised it would be taken care of! Again, is it the end of the world? No, but I have visual proof that on 12/10, 1/7 and 1/16 I followed THEIR direction and reported “an issue.” I pretty much guarantee I’ll be pissing in the dark (literally and figuratively) tomorrow night vs. Buffalo!

I could give you 5 through 10, but I’m sure I’ve annoyed you and a solid sample size of your readers. I’ve been a subscriber since Day 1 and enjoy the coverage you (and Joe Rexrode) provide. I’m a frequent reader of many other writers on this Athletic staff and welcome any and all feedback about my take on the sad state of affairs OFF the ice, and in the arena. I’ve been in 207 for 7 years now and this season completes my 8th in Nashville. I got my first season seats in LA, at “The Fabulous” Forum in 1976! Not long after, I met a young color commentator for the Kings, named Pete Weber. I am so grateful to be a part of Pete’s legion of fans since he arrived in LA not long after I did! Due to serious health problems this past off-season, I am pretty sure this will be my final season as a STH, and it’s a shame to end on such a sour note, but as the 2011-12 LA Kings taught me, “It ain’t over till it’s over!”