It’s my Parting Shot for some Weekend Short Shots…..
I don’t even have to watch the proceedings to know that, no matter what anyone else thinks, I feel that a “decentralized” format for the N-H-L Entry Draft is lame and bogus! Ninety-three top prospects, along with family and agents, will gather in the Peacock Theater in L-A for round one tonight and the other six rounds tomorrow – with no team personnel in attendance, aside from media relations and social media employees! The reason is focus because teams found it easier to concentrate alone at home compared to sitting with the other teams on the floor of an arena with music playing – as was the case for the 2020 and 2021 Drafts during COVID-19. Oh, poor babies. Hockey happens in arenas and the Draft is a chance for people to network and meet face-to-face, rather than over a phone or Zoom call! I say Boo-urns to this and hopefully there is a return to the way it was, like the three Drafts I’ve attended in 1989, 1990 and 2019!
By voicing my displeasure with the N-H-L Draft this year, I’m also hoping that the W-H-L will return to having everyone get together in a central location for their Prospects Draft, as they did prior to COVID. I miss seeing everyone together and getting to interact, either in terms of first time meetings or catching up!
As the guy who, not only does the play-by-play of the W-H-L’s Saskatoon Blades on CJWW, but also the call of the Saskatoon Berries’ home games for the Western Canadian Baseball League’s web streaming service on “Flo College” – plus the odd Sunday game on CJWW now – I get asked a lot of questions about why do both and which sport do I prefer? Let me make it clear that there are very few sports that I don’t like and didn’t either try to play or watch when I was young, much to the chagrin of my late mother who wanted me to be a doctor or a lawyer! Truth is, doing baseball makes me really happy because I was a much better right-handed pitcher in baseball than I ever was a hockey goaltender some 45-to-55 years ago! If I could, I would like to just so play-by-play of hockey and baseball moving forward – but that won’t pay my bills, especially the mortgage that I still have!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
