ACCCT2
02-17-2008, 11:18 PM
Great comentary and insight on the Let's Play Hockey International Expo -- it really makes one wonder about just who's leading the way in and for our sport, doesn't it? These companies all want increased (and ever-increasing) market share and customers (in a decreasing market scenario), and yet most of them do very little to support the healthy growth and marketing of the game.
Also, your own personal take, memories and reflections from earlier such industry trade fairs and meetings were very enlightening about the arrogant disregard and disrespect that far too many of these industry people and companies exhibit towards those people and forums whose well-positioned butts they should be kissin' if they had any idea of how to properly market the game and attract that desired (and ever-increasing) base of new and repeat customers ("well-positioned" people and forums like you and your's, Richard) that could fill-out more of their corporate coffers and bottom-lines (pun intended).
I think that we're all going to have to realize, folks, that it's going to come down to the actual down-&-dirty-grass-roots of local inline teams, players and organizations to actually turn around the downward momentum that the sport has clearly been in over the last few years. The so-called NGB's can't and won't and in fact haven't done anything (not centered around selfishly self-serving politics) to help stave off disaster for the sport -- in fact, if anything, through their thoroughly inept (and corrupt?) version of control, sanctioning and stewardship they've recklessly and severely hastened its demise. If I were to give any advice, it'd be to break away from virtually all existing NGB's (and their carpet-bagging of your advertising and/or sponsorship monies) and form a 'loosely-confederated' alliance, if you will, of the real movers, shakers and do-ers of our sport in order to take back effective control and stewardship of the game (and all its attendant possibilities and destiny) from the present NGB's who are (in my opinion) only there to collect whatever 'tolls' they can extract and/or extort from the actual players of the game.
Once this "taking-back" of control was effectively done, I think you'd all see how much more could (and would) be accomplished and moved forward in our sport, as even Olympic participation and a truly "paid-to-play" professional league would be much closer under 'direct' grass-roots control and stewardship of the game than the sorry state of where it presently wallows under the totally inept control and stewardship of USARS and/or USA Hockey-InLine.
I don't really know why your "WRAPPIN' UP" feature inspired these 'anti-establishment', rout-em-out 'revolutionary' type thoughts, but it did for whatever reason. I think that maybe having you reflect upon everything (and in very interesting context, BTW) basically as a concerned neutral observer drove home the point that without someone like you actually there in Las Vegas (a vigilant and inquisitive "press" presence, if you will) we'd all know very little, if not absolutely nothing, about where our sport's headed on any level...
Good work, Richard!;)
Also, your own personal take, memories and reflections from earlier such industry trade fairs and meetings were very enlightening about the arrogant disregard and disrespect that far too many of these industry people and companies exhibit towards those people and forums whose well-positioned butts they should be kissin' if they had any idea of how to properly market the game and attract that desired (and ever-increasing) base of new and repeat customers ("well-positioned" people and forums like you and your's, Richard) that could fill-out more of their corporate coffers and bottom-lines (pun intended).
I think that we're all going to have to realize, folks, that it's going to come down to the actual down-&-dirty-grass-roots of local inline teams, players and organizations to actually turn around the downward momentum that the sport has clearly been in over the last few years. The so-called NGB's can't and won't and in fact haven't done anything (not centered around selfishly self-serving politics) to help stave off disaster for the sport -- in fact, if anything, through their thoroughly inept (and corrupt?) version of control, sanctioning and stewardship they've recklessly and severely hastened its demise. If I were to give any advice, it'd be to break away from virtually all existing NGB's (and their carpet-bagging of your advertising and/or sponsorship monies) and form a 'loosely-confederated' alliance, if you will, of the real movers, shakers and do-ers of our sport in order to take back effective control and stewardship of the game (and all its attendant possibilities and destiny) from the present NGB's who are (in my opinion) only there to collect whatever 'tolls' they can extract and/or extort from the actual players of the game.
Once this "taking-back" of control was effectively done, I think you'd all see how much more could (and would) be accomplished and moved forward in our sport, as even Olympic participation and a truly "paid-to-play" professional league would be much closer under 'direct' grass-roots control and stewardship of the game than the sorry state of where it presently wallows under the totally inept control and stewardship of USARS and/or USA Hockey-InLine.
I don't really know why your "WRAPPIN' UP" feature inspired these 'anti-establishment', rout-em-out 'revolutionary' type thoughts, but it did for whatever reason. I think that maybe having you reflect upon everything (and in very interesting context, BTW) basically as a concerned neutral observer drove home the point that without someone like you actually there in Las Vegas (a vigilant and inquisitive "press" presence, if you will) we'd all know very little, if not absolutely nothing, about where our sport's headed on any level...
Good work, Richard!;)