Not sure if it's true or not but John Tonelli told me at a golf tourney once the playoff beard was a rip off of tennis star Bjorn Borg not shaving in grand slams in the 70's, apparently Denis Potvin stood up in the room one day and asked every player not to shave for luck, they won the cup and a superstition was born.
Maybe someone else can chime in if this was true or maybe John was just drinking too much and pulling my leg.
I always understood that it started with the Islanders cup teams.
If say Gillette pays the NHL big time for advertising razors and demands players to be shaved, and then the NHL in turn fines players for having facial hair, that may work. It's like that NBA uniform rules.
One of the biggest things that seems to sell sports in the US, is the star power and the individual athlete. Often they seem more interested in the athlete then the sport themselves.
Yep. Personally, I don't care if the game grows in the U.S. But I also recognize that the people who do care about growing the game in the U.S. understand the market a lot better than a bunch of die-hard Canadian hockey fans do. Marketing in the U.S. means stars. Stars mean faces. You can pretty much measure an athlete's endorsement power by how many random people on the street recognize his face. Far more Americans recognize Tom Brady's face than know that he wears #12.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
i was going to ask him his thoughts on this but then thought better of it in case he thought i was being a jerk... you know... since he is a leaf and all
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
