“Two Types of Fans”: Exploring the Relationship between the Edmonton Oilers and their Supporters

April 27, 2013 by 1 Comment

Source: Yahoo! Sports

Source: Yahoo! Sports

As the Oilers headed into their seventh straight off-season without a playoff appearance, the Edmonton Oilers announced the replacement of General Manager Steve Tambellini with former Oilers captain and coach, Craig MacTavish. At the press conference, John MacKinnon of the Edmonton Journal pointed out that the same management team that was in place before Tambellini’s dismissal was back in charge.

“How are fans going to be reassured that the group that left the mess that Tambellini couldn’t quite clean up is now going to be cleaned up by the guys who left the mess to begin with?”

Kevin Lowe, President of Hockey Operations for the Oilers, clearly irked by this question, responded with this:

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It’s NHL Trade Deadline Day and the Media Spectacle is in Full Swing

April 3, 2013 by Leave a comment

Image from: http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/8cYGYVqem72bwleRBWxozw–/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NQ–/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnhlexperts/0228tsn.jpg

It is the NHL’s trade deadline today, an event that not only sees players moved from city to city and team to team but that has also become a major television (and new media) spectacle on Canadian sports networks like TSN and Sportsnet. Hockey in Society writers have written about a number of relevant posts about this event and two of these are highlighted after the jump.

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Hockey Insiders and Social Media

March 29, 2013 by 2 Comments

Source: BBC

Source: BBC

Social media has naturally integrated into professional hockey. Not only can fans use social media tools to get access to information and to connect with other fans, but they can also play a role in the development of information surrounding the game. For example, fans can get up-to-the-minute injury reports for their favorite teams, but they can also provide their own review and analysis of games and share unique content with an online fan community. Social media has allowed fans to transition from simple consumers of content to more active producers and distributors of content.

The popularity of Twitter among professional hockey is evident based on the number of accounts held by fans, players and teams. Breaking news, trade rumors, and  game analysis is regularly shared on Twitter making it a critical tool for individuals and organizations to get engaged with the game of hockey. Broadcast networks in particular, have used Twitter to supplement their television and web content.

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Assessing the State of Hockey Analytics

March 23, 2013 by 2 Comments

Source: UBC

Source: UBC

Hockey analytics is an excellent example of fans getting immersed in the game and changing the way they consume professional sports. Along with watching games, and following the narratives that surround teams and players, fans can use various software applications to apply their own ideas and models to analyze the game.

Hockey analytics is also gaining prominence among professional hockey teams to make key decisions regarding player acquisitions and team strategies. The continued growth of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, which is attended by teams and managers from various sports, as well as academics, indicates the growing importance of data analytics in the professional sports industry.

Questions have arisen recently about why some NHL teams are not conducting any hockey analytics, as well as why some teams refuse to get into too much detail about their current analytic methods (Friedman, 2013). Questions have also arisen as to why hockey analytics have not reached mainstream status on television broadcasts, such as Hockey Night in Canada (Dowbiggin, 2013).

To answer these questions, the activity of hockey analytics needs to be dissected by first understanding its relationship to information and knowledge development as well the environment is requires to flourish and reach its potential.

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Fantasy Leagues as a Tool for Digital Literacy

January 26, 2013 by 1 Comment

Source: TechnologyTell.com

Source: TechnologyTell.com

The amount of information available to internet users is growing exponentially every day. In every form imaginable, including text, images, audio and video, among others, users are inundated with a plethora of data, information and knowledge at an alarming rate. The technology available allows for anyone with a basic computer to make significant contributions online, resulting in new content and growing connections to evolving online communities.

Along with the growing amount of creative content and knowledge available across the internet, there is, unfortunately, a growing amount of misinformation, which can travel quickly. The onus is on the individual navigating online to decipher the good information from the bad. Individuals must also be aware of what tools are available to find the information they need and also must be willing to apply “crap detection” methods (Rheingold, 2009) to avoid misinformation.

In parallel with the growing number of content, web technology and communication tools are evolving daily. New methods of communication and information sharing are introduced, building off of familiar tools, but encompassing new rules and norms for users to follow. The world has seen information move from newspapers and television to multi-media platforms such as social media applications and mobile devices. Once an individual is cognizant of the fact that there is a lot of bad information, they now have to learn how to use right tool for the right situation. This is part of the digital literacy people require to not only find and share information, but also to contribute their own knowledge and experiences. Educating new and existing web technology users will be critical as online activity is becoming increasingly important for the economy, civic engagement and academia.

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The Lockout Is Over: A Love Story Returns

January 15, 2013 by 2 Comments

Image from: http://blogimages.thescore.com/nhl/files/2012/03/winnipeg-jets.jpg

Louie Louie, oh no, me gotta go, yeah, yeah, yeah…
Louie Louie, oh baby, me gotta go

While I may not fully agree with Michael Moore, I’m beginning this post with the same song as the opening song in his film Capitalism: A Love Story. I’ll substitute “NHL” instead of “Capitalism,” as it’s clear that the same love of the almighty dollar has shaped the dynamics of the NHL lockout. In his latest post “The Lockout Is Over: So Now What?” Matt Ventresca explores various fan initiatives of resistance such as the Just Drop It movement and furthermore discusses the psychological cognitive dissonance of these fans. I won’t regurgitate all of the content listed in his post or the wide selection of lockout response literature, but from what I gather, the prevailing narrative is that many hockey fanatics realize and regard the NHL as a profit-driven business. Thus, many of them want to punish the millionaires and billionaires responsible for the third lengthy work stoppage in 18 years.

Before I attempt to address the questions posed in the above blog post, I will briefly supplement a December blog post which posits that the majority of fans are definitely, definitely getting back together with the NHL. (Speaking of Taylor Swift, needless to say, her song “Love Story” complements this post well.) In my December blog post, I examined the Twitter follower statistics of prominent figures in the NHL lockout and argued that due to the steady growth of followers between September and December and spiked follower increases on days of optimism, both belligerents in the dispute can rest assured that the fans are assumed due to concerned and angry interest rather than apathy. I still stand by that argument, which in hindsight probably isn’t very original.

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“Crap Detection”: Filtering Through the Noise of Sports Journalism

January 11, 2013 by 7 Comments

“Yakupov doesn’t do interviews after another quiet game. Kid making people wonder on and off the ice.” – Terry Jones, Edmonton Sun

“It’s time for Igor Larionov to tell his client Nail Yakupov that wearing the ‘C’ means you talk. Kid needs wake-up call.” – Jim Matheson, Edmonton Journal

“First time I listened to Nail Yakupov speak at 2012WJC, I thought he had major prima donna potential. Haven’t changed mind …” – Cam Cole, Vancouver Sun

First overall draft pick Nail Yakupov. Source: Russian Machine Never Breaks.

First overall draft pick Nail Yakupov. Source: Russian Machine Never Breaks.

The above tweets came from three prominent sports reporters, based in Canada, following Team Russia’s shootout win over Sweden at the semi-finals of the IIHF World Juniors Tournament in Ufa, Russia. Russian captain Nail Yakupov, the Edmonton Oilers first overall draft pick from the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, was not available to the media following the win, much to the chagrin of the Canadian media contingent.

Players, especially team captains, who do not make themselves available to the media following an important win may upset reporters who need quotes and information to produce content for newspapers. Perhaps Yakupov was meeting with coaches or players, or maybe he was injured. And who knows, maybe this group of reporters was right, and Yakupov just didn’t want to talk. But to make an ill-informed assumption and label him as a bad leader or prima donna is simply irresponsible and misleading journalism.

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Teaching a sociocultural course on hockey at the undergraduate level: Thoughts on course content and critically engaging students

January 4, 2013 by 13 Comments

Starting next week, I will be teaching a third year course to undergraduates in University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education. The course is called “Hockey in Canadian Society” – and yes, I realize that the title is incredibly similar to the name of this blog! I am extremely excited, if a little nervous, about starting the course. I do not have nerves about public speaking or about the course preparation – I have been excited to teach this course for months and so have already spent quite a lot of time on its design – but rather whether I can successfully impart the complexities of hockey’s social construction in Canadian society to undergraduate students.

This post simply offers an overview of the course, my thoughts about engaging students critically with a sport many of them love, and presents a list of sources that students will read. I hope that it may provide a useful resource for other scholars teaching about hockey and more generally provide a useful list of some good academic and online sources about the sport. If you have any comments, feedback, or suggestions please let me know!

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Fan Activity During the NHL Lockout

December 29, 2012 by 1 Comment

Nail Yakupov playing for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the KHL.Source: KHL.ru

Oilers 2012 first round pick, Nail Yakupov lighting it up for HC Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk of the KHL .
Source: KHL.ru

To say the past four months of negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA has been an embarrassment is a major understatement. It’s been difficult for hockey fans to watch the game being dragged through the mud as both the NHL owners and the NHLPA stand at a stalemate, waiting for the right deal to suddenly appear. How any professional sports league can allow this to happen is mind-boggling, as one would think that the fans and the long-term success of the league would motivate both parties to find a solution. The labor negotiations have revealed the flawed business model of the  NHL, yet fans remain optimistic and hopeful the season can be salvaged.

The thing that doesn’t make sense to me, is how oblivious the NHL and the NHLPA are to their fans activity during the lockout. Throughout the labor negotiations, fans have been diminished to nothing more than a revenue source, whose financial contributions to the game are being fought over by the owners and the players.

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“The Fans Are Assumed”: Why Wouldn’t They Be? A Look at Twitter

December 10, 2012 by 3 Comments

Image from: http://www.montrealgazette.com/7641470.bin

Then you come around again and say
“Baby, I miss you and I swear I’m gonna change, trust me.”
Remember how that lasted for a day?
I say, “I hate you,” we break up, you call me, “I love you.”
Oooh we called it off again last night
But oooh, this time I’m telling you, I’m telling you…

I hate to cut short the chart-topping Taylor Swift song or the “Official Song of the NHL Lockout” parody, but we are definitely, definitely getting back together. Or at least that’s what it seems like, judging from the piqued interests of those who had sworn off caring about professional hockey after the previous deep freezes in NHL collective bargaining negotiations. This post, by examining the Twitter buzz over the latest developments, in essence reinforces E. Martin Nolan’s post “The Fans Are Assumed.”

Of course, there’s no tool for social network comparison to the 2004/05 NHL season. It’s no surprise that with the advent of technological devices such as superphones and media platforms for user-generated tweets or status updates, media consumption has skyrocketed. Bruce Friend of Ipsos polling states (in 2010) that “more has changed in terms of media consumption behavior over the past two years than during the 30 years that preceded.” But when his article alludes to MySpace, you know the internet has changed even more. Whether or not we find them enriching, we stumble across more links to information than we have done so before.

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