NHL: One Game Is One Game
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posted by Women's Sports Blog An irreverent look at the news, issues, and personalities of women's sports from a feminist perspective. |
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There should be a moratorium on the word 'stun' in sports headlines in instances where one minute's thought would prove otherwise. The NHL playoffs began on Wednesday night, and Thursday morning the Sports Illustrated headline read "Senators Stun Penguins." Hardly the correct verb for the match-up between a fourth and fifth seed, especially a fourth seed with as inconsistent a goaltender as Marc-Andre Fleury. If that result was so earth-shattering, Thursday's overtime win by the Canadiens over the Capitals merited its own special part of the homepage, with the incredulous heading 'Set to Stun.' SI's editors may need a thesaurus. If statistics have taught us anything, it is that any team can win any one game. That's why playoff series continue to get longer and longer, not only for the money-making potential but also because it decreases upsets. The NHL maxed out all its series at seven games years ago, and even a best-of-four can provide results that belie the talent of the teams involved. A series win for the Sens would not in itself be that much of a surprise. One for the Habs would be something of a miracle, but in no way would warrant 'Cubs win the championship; it must be the apocalypse' rhetoric. The misuse of hyperbole means that when it's actually necessary, when something extraordinary happens, we've run out of language to do it justice.
View Original Post at ftlouie.typepad.com/womensports
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- Skating, Ice Hockey, Sports, SportsPLUS, OpEd, Media/Marketing
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