Odds & Ends
Neil Smith talks candidly to the NY Daily News. Nothing new about Smith or the Islanders situation is really revealed, but Smith’s situation seems to be clear: he’s ok. The most important quote IMO:
This time around, he has been cheered by phone calls from friends and former associates as well as many of the NHL’s biggest names and power brokers, and appears to have emerged from his Islanders experience both unscarred and with his prospects for future employment unharmed.
In fact, a couple of the more than two dozen league and team executives, coaches, players and scouts the Daily News interviewed on the subject believe that Smith’s reputation might even have been enhanced by his having been fired.
It’s backed up later by names like Wayne Gretzky and Lou Lamoriello. It doesn’t mean Smith will be in a good position immediately, but Smith’s reputation certainly didn’t take a hit due to him being fired by the Isles.
In other news, it seems Chris Cooley is making some noise by talking about playing fantasy football.
“I had four teams last year,” Cooley said, “and I made the playoffs with one and honestly lost because I beat myself against Dallas. The guy on the other team had me, and I scored three touchdowns against Dallas, and I lost to myself on fantasy points.”
Most aren’t really concerned, including the NFL. If any of these players are forking over enough to money to make tanking a game worth winning their fantasy league, they’ve probably got a lot of other problems as well (plus, the team might notice when they show up peddling to games because all that money is invested elsewhere).
Fantasy sports have been popular for a long time and the ease in which you can run a league on the web has caused a fantasy league explosion in recent years.
I’m in a few fantasy hockey leagues. Last season the number was four, I’m not sure what it’ll be this year. In one of the leagues one current NHLer is a member. He’s a fan, just like everyone else. Is it a little funny that he can draft himself? Sure. Is it scandalous? No. Besides small stakes, anyone who has more pride about his fantasy team than his real team isn’t going to remain a professional athlete very long.
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