Not Quite Sure What Else Needs To Be Done For The NHL To Throw Me A Credential To The World Cup
If my math is correct (Disclaimer: that’s a very strong *if*), we are now just about 2 months away from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The tournament kicks off on September 17 and will feature the best NHL talent representing the USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, a European Union team and a North American 23U team. You can read my full preview on the tournament here if you want some more details. But anyway, it’s clear that the NHL doesn’t give a damn about how this tournament is covered considering they handed ESPN the broadcasting rights. You’ll get to see some doofus with a mullet and a guy who just insists on saying “thin mints” over and over again try to squeeze some international hockey talk in between SportsCenter giving us sleeper picks for next year’s National Spelling Bee and showing us more College Softball World Series highlights even though it will have been over for months but ESPN still needs to show highlights because Title IX. With this in mind, I decided to reach out to the NHL to see if I could get credentialed in order to bring some journalistic integrity to this bitch.
June 28. It’s been nearly 10 days. Over 200 hours. And what have I gotten back since? CRICKETS. Not even a denial. Which doesn’t make a lick of sense because I specifically waived my rights to snacks in the press box. Basically told them straight up that all I need is some wi-fi and a place to stand. Now do I maybe need to work on my negotiating tactics a little bit? Sure. I probably gave in way too early on the snacks and that may have been a tad suspicious to them. Like “what’s this guy’s deal if he’s willing to give up snacks that easily?”. But even that can’t be the whole story here. There has to be more to this. Maybe the NHL doesn’t want me there because they know I’ll ask the questions that need to be asked. Maybe there’s a cover up here somewhere. Did the Toronto Maple Leafs pay off Team USA to keep Phil Kessel off the roster because they don’t want him in the city? Has the entire Russian team been doping up on Meldonium? I don’t know but I’d sure love to be the one to find these answers out. I need to get to the bottom of this and I don’t care who is at the top.
So now I turn to you, the Stoolies. If any of you know anybody who works in the NHL or maybe your dad is Gary Bettman, just mention my name and see where things go from there. Hope to see you fools in Toronto in September.