Taking Smack from the Enemy and No Love from Versus

[Carla Muller]

Today was a unique day work-wise. Over lunch with big wig clients, one of my bosses told the table of my developing name as a blogger. The first response I received was thoroughly unexpected. It went something like, ‘I have never met a Kings’ fan’ (like … wow… there is one… who’d a thunk it….egad!) What followed after that was less than impressive and long stored smack my client was itching to get out. It started and stopped with that pesky silver thing Kings’ fans long to celebrate some day.

Some of the lowlights were:

• The first Pacific team to win;
• The first California team to win;
• Ducks sell out every one of their games;
• The Ducks always win the Kings….
• Blah, blah, blah….

My responses were unrehearsed since I had no reason to believe my boss would bring up my side gig and who could have guessed I wanted to earn business from the enemy…yikes! Sure, the Ducks have a Cup but they better etch that memory in their brain since that was a one time victory. Enjoy Burke since he will be in Toronto next summer. Too bad your owner won’t let the guy out of his contract for someone who isn’t waiting for the first chance he gets to leave.

My personal favorite take was now that the Ducks have a Cup; from here on out every season without a championship is a failure. As a Kings’ fan, well, we have known far less success so every step forward is far more appreciated. Frankly, I would rather have a chance for glory for years than be a once ever. If the organization stays the course then many great springs are possible in Los Angeles.

Previously, this chick compared the Kings to “When Harry Met Sally”. It went so well that I am about to share another girl moment analogous to my day. (Guys…………. Duck!!!!) When I was in high school, near mandatory reading for every teenage girl was Judy Blume’s book, “Forever”. It is a story of high school sweethearts that take their relationship to the next level. In the book, the girl’s mom reasonably apprehensive to watch her daughter’s journey tries to explain to her that a relationship is forever changed afterwards. In other words, this is big step that never sends a couple backwards. Amongst other things, first love is generally the most innocent of loves. And, it is a sappy chick book so you can do the math how all of this turns out.

My point?

Once a team wins a Cup, expectations change. Anything other than first merely makes a team the second, fourth, seventh or 29th loser if you were a Kings’ fan last season….ouch! Quackers’ fans better hold dear that victory as I foresee them having a future closer to Tampa Bay than Detroit, New Jersey or Colorado. Why? Burke is a win for today GM. Anaheim’s cap problems due to his nonsensical signings (Bertuzzi, Schneider) combined with his short-sightedness will only get worse and soon. Moen, Pahlsson … where are the cap dollars for their next deals? Clue… nowhere.

Tampa Bay was similarly short-sighted. Former GM Jay Feaster for inexplicable reasons concentrated more on the present than the future or as luck turns out, their farm. Really. The organization has near no depth which is evidenced by the fact they went from champions to Stamkos in a scary scant length of time. The Bolts now have Lecavalier, Stamkos and … grey beards Roberts, Recchi, and no Boyle amongst other casualties of new ownerships drunken binge of spending this summer.

So what if XM’s Boomer Gordon or Versus shows the Kings no love. Think about it. Does any self-respecting Kings fan really need Versus, NBC or fair-weather hockey fans to root for your team. Not me. There is no place I would rather be than with people who share my passion for the Kings. I don’t need a national televised game or a guy who is the Andy Rooney of hockey to validate the Kings either.

No one can take from me the 1993 play-offs and the Kings-Toronto game 7 victory and every other moment since following this team. Kings’ fans may be conditioned for mediocrity but misery loves company and there is no where else I would rather be miserable than at my new found blogging home at letsgokings.com.

Carla Muller

Carla.hockeygal@att.net

[Nemmy700]

Before I begin, allow me to briefly introduce myself to LGK and you, Carla. I'm a Kings and a Ducks fan (yes, you read right). As most people are apt to call any Ducks fan a bandwagoner, let me establish my credentials. I live in the LA county but I actually live closer to Anaheim than I do Los Angeles. For me, having two local teams is great - more hockey to watch, more teams to follow, double to excitement. I have been following hockey since Kariya and Selanne united so I am hardly new to the scene.

And personally to you, Carla, I have been a fan of your blogs ever since I noticed them on Hockeybuzz. I've even commented on your posts several times (I don't know if you remember me). In any case, I've followed you here to LGK to read your thoughts, which, I might add, is the best among any other hockey blogger and yes, better than any the Ducks have produced. And now that that's out of the way, I have a few things to say.

This post of yours is far and away the worst I have seen you do. To get straight to the point, this entry of yours leaves me irate. I'm truly sorry that you had to meet a d-bag of a Ducks fan and I share your disapproval of his behavior. However, I'm disappointed to see you deviate from the relative levelheadedness that have made your previous posts great. What do we have here? A fire fueled geyser of venom. You've always got quotes, stats, interviews and history to support and drive your points. You've got none of that here. I'm sorry I have to resort to saying this, but this is almost of the same quality as comments you'd find in the comment box on hockeybuzz. "Ouch!" (-Carla)

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

Enjoy Burke since he will be in Toronto next summer. Too bad your owner won’t let the guy out of his contract for someone who isn’t waiting for the first chance he gets to leave.

REALLY? I mean... really, did you write this? Its very uncharacteristic of you to put something so unsubstantiated in your blog. Not to mention it's downright foolish.

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

My personal favorite take was now that the Ducks have a Cup; from here on out every season without a championship is a failure.

If this definition stands, the Penguins had a failure of a season. The Stars had a failure of a season. The Flyers had a failure of a season. In this scenario, the Cup would be meaningless.

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

Quackers’ fans better hold dear that victory as I foresee them having a future closer to Tampa Bay than Detroit, New Jersey or Colorado.

Do you honestly think we're going to tank like that? We've been in the hunt 4 years of the last 5 so in all honesty, I think we deserve to be compared similarly to Det, NJ or Col. Teams like TB/Carolina are invisible, win it one year, the fall off the map. That's hardly what the Ducks do.

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

Why? Burke is a win for today GM. Anaheim’s cap problems due to his nonsensical signings (Bertuzzi, Schneider) combined with his short-sightedness will only get worse and soon.

This is a bit unfair. A win today GM buys at the trade deadline. We haven't. He wouldn't even buy in the offseason. He's been keeping his picks and giving us a steady stream of draftees, granted, it's nothing like what the Kings have. His highest profile moves are signings, something that doesn't cost the team talent or picks.

Nonsensical? With Selanne and Niedermayer in limbo, could you really call that nonsensical? I tell you what, Schneider was our best defenseman in countless games. Does he earn his salary? Absolutely. He almost never has defensive breakdowns and was an excellent mentor to newbie and partner Kent Huskins. He netted 12-27 39 points in 65 games, was +22 on an offensively challenged team and on nights that he wasn't our best defenseman, he was definitely our second best. All that for 2 years at 5.625? I daresay that was one of his best signings. How you bring yourself to call it nonsensical is truly beyond me. Souray was nonsensical (for those not keeping track at home, that's 5 years at 5.4). Personally, I'm extremely saddened that the Ducks have to part with him and frankly, I'm really hoping Burke trades him to the Kings, even if its for nothing in return. I want to root for him.

Same with Bertuzzi. You can bash Bertuzzi for how he plays, which I believe is very fair, but what isn't fair is saying that he sucked. Scoring 14-26 40 points in 68 games isn't bad at all. If Mr. Calculator is correct, that's 48 points if he played a whole season. Dustin Penner's 29-16 45 point performance in 82 games in our uniform earned him 5 @ 4.25. In an Oiler uniform, he put up 23-24 47 points. Sure, he scores more goals than Bertuzzi, but Bertuzzi also comes a tad cheaper. My point? Bertuzzi's 2 @ 4 is very near market value. Hardly nonsensical. It pains me to say this, but Bertuzzi's contract is a lot smarter than Handzus'.

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

Moen, Pahlsson … where are the cap dollars for their next deals? Clue… nowhere.

Clue... Scott Niedermayer's contract. I find it odd because you usually do more research than this. If we resign Rob Niedermayer and Marchant, they should probably also each take a slight paycut. Schneider would also be off our books by then. At the end of the '09 season, we won't be having too much problems with the cap.

Originally Posted by CarlaMuller

So what if XM’s Boomer Gordon or Versus shows the Kings no love. Think about it. Does any self-respecting Kings fan really need Versus, NBC or fair-weather hockey fans to root for your team. Not me. There is no place I would rather be than with people who share my passion for the Kings. I don’t need a national televised game or a guy who is the Andy Rooney of hockey to validate the Kings either.

No one can take from me the 1993 play-offs and the Kings-Toronto game 7 victory and every other moment since following this team. Kings’ fans may be conditioned for mediocrity but misery loves company and there is no where else I would rather be miserable than at my new found blogging home at letsgokings.com.

You sound a tad bitter. Sure, we don't NEED that coverage, but in all honesty, I'd love to have it. Sure, more success and press coverage draw fair-weather fans (and let me tell you, they're ridiculously annoying) but you just learn to ignore them. Moreover, let's not discount the fact that many many media outlets continue to praise us for having the young talent that we have. I truly think the Kings get a very fair amount of love. Oh, and I wouldn't hold Boomer's opinions to very high esteem.

I really don't know what your client could have said to drive you to make this post but on behalf of him, I apologize. At the same time, I'm willing to treat this post as an anomaly, seeing that your posts have a history of being eloquent and excellently composed.

On the bright side, you got one more Kings fan to register for the site.

Looking forward to hearing back from ya. Oh... and no hard feelings.

[dodgerblioux]

Originally Posted by Nemmy700

Before I begin, allow me to briefly introduce myself to LGK and you, Carla. I'm a Kings and a Ducks fan (yes, you read right).

First off, welcome to LGK, Nemmy!

Second, I am sorry, but you can't be both a Ducks and a Kings fan. If you are a true fan of a team, you can't stand anything having to do with your hated rival. Do you think a Yankee fan can ever become Red Sox fan? Or a Chargers fan becoming a Raiders fan??? Hell no! As a life long Kings fan and season ticket holder, living in Orange County for the last 8 years, it isn't easy, but at least I am true to myself of who I am. I suggest you read this article first:

ESPN.com: Page 2 : Rules for being a true fan

Then grow a pair and pick a team. Are you a Ducks fan or a Kings fan?

[Carla Muller]

Originally Posted by Nemmy700

On the bright side, you got one more Kings fan to register for the site. Looking forward to hearing back from ya. Oh... and no hard feelings.

No worries; no hard feelings on my end either. Based upon the well written and lengthy reply to my blog, I would say I did my job actually. The goal of blogging is sometimes to make an editorial, sometimes to present more information about a player or situation and sometimes to plain provide a passionate opinion. This blog did the latter.

As to some of your specifics, I would have to say that there is some passionate opinions and facts coming from your reply. The question isn't whether Bertuzzi produced last year. The question really is was Bertuzzi and Weight better than McDonald. Because of Anaheim's cap issues, that Burke created, he had to trade McDonald to take on Neidermayer's salary. That little transaction made the Ducks a one line team. Bertuzzi was such a great signing that he was bought out this summer.

Further evidence of the cap management issues is the fact that Anaheim is $3 million over the cap. That means unless someone is willing to do Burke a favor, he is going to get less than full value for whomever he has to move just to start the season. If Anaheim needs to make changes this year, well, they have 0 cap flexibility to do that. I am not suggesting it cannot be done; rather, Burke starts from a place of weakness by his own actions.

I have no problem admitting I am not a Burke fan. Is it a complete coincidence that Vancouver has no depth? He had EVERYTHING to do with that. He also could have an extension right now per the Samuelis who stated he could have the job as long as he wanted. The screaming sound of inaction tells me this is the year he will be a, pardon the pun, lame duck GM. No more and no less.

As to the loser label, I acquired that terminology this year when I talked to different people how they felt about second place. Near unanimously, everyone especially the most competitive ones (which NHL players better be) told me that is the mental equivalent of being the first loser NOT second place.

As to the you cannot go back stuff, that just is. Once you win, everything but that is less fulfilling. And for the elite franchises, which is how Anaheim is perceived by many, just getting into the playoffs or winning a round is no longer enough to a franchise and its fans is deemed to be a successful year.

Organizational depth matters and Burke is known more for radical change in my OPINION than building depth for an organization. As to the rest of the packaging of your reply, I appreciate the time you took to respond. As to whatever you suggest this blog lacked, we can just agree to disagree.

[Dr. Naysay]

[Nemmy700]

I find your second response much easily swallowed, Carla. Contrary to your first post, I agree with 80% of what you're saying here. What I don't agree with are merely small nitpicky points. As for last year, it is still in my firm belief that drawing Dallas was the worst thing we could have done. I'm sure we could have beaten anyone in the West except for Dallas and as luck would have it, we were done very early.

And dodgerblioux, I don't buy into that at all. The way I see it, this "rivalry" is fueled by the media to generate ticket sales, nothing more. They tell us we should hate our cross-town team. They even had a contest to name the rivalry. If the fans truly stood behind this "rivalry", you wouldn't need a contest to name it. Furthermore, rivalries are created by the teams being competitive with each other. There hasn't been a year that both of these teams entered the playoffs, much less gone head-to-head. Until both these teams can play at a high level, I really don't see any reason to pick a team over the other.

[Cup B4 I Die]

Carla...The future does look bright for the Kings, and the Ducks may stumble in the years to come, but as long as that Stanley Cup banner hangs at the Ponda Center, they have 'scoreboard' over us.

Baby steps for our Kings right now, and hopefully one day we'll have 'scoreboard' on them.

I enjoy your 'blog' (if that's what it's called). Keep up the good work.

[mitchrock]

Can someone be a fan of both the ducks and Kings, yes. However, there should be no hesitation at the ranking in which you are a fan of. If they were to play against each other, you only root for one team.

Being a fan if the Islanders and Kings, it's easy to say, that I want the Kings to win this matchup everytime.

Nemmy, I buy that you're a fan of both teams but who do you root for when they play each other?

[Carla Muller]

Originally Posted by Cup B4 I Die

Carla...The future does look bright for the Kings, and the Ducks may stumble in the years to come, but as long as that Stanley Cup banner hangs at the Ponda Center, they have 'scoreboard' over us. Baby steps for our Kings right now, and hopefully one day we'll have 'scoreboard' on them.

I know you are right. I am just not big on the b/c your team did X and our team did Y therefore, how can it be that the losing Team X has an actual fan? ....and that was, more or less, what this individual communicated to me.

Also, as much as I want a championship for the Kings, I would rather have an entire organization built on the premise that players will go and we are developing players to replace them so that the team does not have the smallest window of opportunity for a Cup. Yeah for Anaheim who won. And I did cry when they did, I am mushy that way ... even to a rival team. Something about watching people fulfill their dreams that always gets to me.... ... but look at Pittsburgh, they came so close and due to cap management will have a very different team next year. Only time will tell what the Penguins will be with a fair amount of turnover.

Only time will tell if DL has picked the right guys to grow and carry this team forward. I know ...duh!!

[vindogla]

Originally Posted by Nemmy700

And dodgerblioux, I don't buy into that at all. The way I see it, this "rivalry" is fueled by the media to generate ticket sales, nothing more. They tell us we should hate our cross-town team. They even had a contest to name the rivalry. If the fans truly stood behind this "rivalry", you wouldn't need a contest to name it. Furthermore, rivalries are created by the teams being competitive with each other. There hasn't been a year that both of these teams entered the playoffs, much less gone head-to-head. Until both these teams can play at a high level, I really don't see any reason to pick a team over the other.

Yes, welcome Nemmy, to LGK! We can always use another thoughtful, well spoken fan here because god knows there are already plenty of idoits here.

However, and I speak only for myself, no one had to tell me I had to hate the crosstown team, I didn't enter any contest, and the rivalry was there for me before the Quacks ever played a game.

There is no way in the world that I could ever cheer the Quacks. Ever. To my dying day it will be...

GO KINGS GO

[Exodus1045]

...here it goes.

thanks carla. i like the passion in this one.

this is really one of the things i dread about being a kings fan, well that and when people think we mean sacramento, then i explain, then they walk away. like clock work.

i like the idea that you think burke will be gone and anahiem will fall apart again. he did put him self in a bad position. it makes me appreciate Lombardi a little more.

ok...NEMMY700

welcome to the board. now your not the first duck fan weve seen here. you are the first to bring in your hippie beliefs and cheer for both.

i dont get it and im sure there are others that dont understand how you can cheer for both.

its like being a rangers and isles and sabres fan. it like being a Devils fan and saying you like Avery. Lakers and Clippers, Beetles and Elvis, rock and rap, Jedi and Sith, vodka and tequila. get my point. you sound smart. please say yes.

hockey buzz is like a hotel lobby. LGK is like a private room with the door kicked open.
Carla to my knowledge have never bragged about being a fan of any other team and she gets flamed quit a bit. good luck.

Ducks' FANS arnt the only d-bags....ask some of us about our experience at ponda after thier cup win. some of us had chit thrown at us and we were kicked out. we paid for that seat like any one else.

"what does it take to be number 1, 2 is not a winner and 3 nobody remembers. -Nelly
"the US gymnist won silver or lost gold." NBC announcer (i forgot his name)
theres my quotes.

ask crosby if he feels good about how last season ended. yes the stars and flyers also failed this season. only detroit was successful. That is what makes the Cup meaningful.

as far as your GM is concerned his trade deadline moves were primarely based on shedding payroll to create space. same thing for this off season, hes has cap problems. they even raised it, again.


"I have been following hockey since Kariya and Selanne united so I am hardly new to the scene."

"On the bright side, you got one more Kings fan to register for the site."

no kings fan would say your first quote. no ducks fan would say your second quote.

alright, friend. have a good day, friend.

oh... and no hard feelings, friend.

[Exodus1045]

Long live the duck roast!!!!

[Nemmy700]

When the two teams play each other, I frankly don't care who wins. When the Ducks score, I cheer. When the Kings do, I cheer. Only when the playoff race heats up in the latter half of the year have I found myself rooting for the Ducks, simply because they need the points more. I know that's a cop-out of an answer, but its true. Like I said, perhaps my loyalties will be tested when they meet each other in the playoffs (or fighting for a playoff spot) but that day hasn't come yet so for now, I'm a Southern California Hockey fan.

@Exodus 1045
Let me tell you, if I EVER saw that going on in the Staples Center OR Ponda Center, you can bet top dollar that I will have something to say about it. For such a tough, physical game, hockey prides itself on sportsmanship. Fans acting this way shame the sport.

"no kings fan would say your first quote. no ducks fan would say your second quote."
Clearly, you haven't met me. Hello Exodus1045

I mention Kariya and Selanne because they are the two people that got me into hockey to begin with. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be rooting for the Ducks. I wouldn't be rooting for the Kings.

[LA67]

ugh!