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VIEWPOINT: SCOTT OAKEQ
& A
Each
week, Sports Online will turn the tables on Scott Oake, who's used
to peppering others with questions.
Do you think Sidney Crosby is destined to become the next Gretzky or Lemieux? How will he handle all of this pressure once/if he makes the NHL?
I think it's highly unfair to put the 'Next One' label on anyone, because it puts that player in a can't-win situation.
There's no doubt he'll display signs of greatness when he joins the NHL. He seems like a level-headed kid with solid values and he is probably equipped to handle the pressure at most levels.
He seems to be handling himself properly. His challenge will be to do that in the NHL where the pressure will be like nothing he's ever experienced before. He'll never be able to slip under the radar screen. His every move is going to be charted and everything will be questioned and scrutinized.
If he can handle this off the ice, the way Gretzky did, and he can handle that pressure the way Gretzky did, then he has a chance to be a great player.
Is the World Hockey Association going to get off the ground? How does it alter, or will it, the player's bargaining position?
Not many people took the World Hockey Association's attempt to get off the ground last fall seriously, but the enterprise may be on more solid footing now that all of the franchises are owned by one businessman.
But the WHA is not going to be taken seriously until it starts signing players.
In the early 1970s, the credibility of the old WHA soared when Ben Hatskin signed Bobby Hull to play for the Jets. So this version of the WHA needs to generate similar news. And if it does, then we will know if it has a chance of coming up off the ground.
How does the WHA alter the bargaining position of the NHLPA?
It won't be anything quite like what the original WHA offered because that was a chance for the players to earn serious money after years of NHL salaries being held down.
This WHA has already declared a salary cap of $10 milion per team, so regardless of whatever deal the NHLPA and the NHL come up with, the WHA won't be able to pay more. Players will not be leveraging offers the way they did back in the 70s.
The WHA, will – if it can get started for next season – provide an alternative for players should the lockout continue.
If the WHA can't seize that opportunity, I don't see it ever getting off the ground.
What do you think of the Toronto Star's article on minor hockey associations' cash reserves? Many associations, like the Greater Toronto Hockey League, actually charge parents and their kids $5 a ticket to watch their son/daughter play. As a result, many associations are awash in money and are sitting on cash reserves in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I think it's unconscionable that any minor hockey association should be sitting on huge cash reserves when parents struggle to pay huge fees and sometimes can't afford to watch their kids play.
Aren't minor hockey associations supposed to be non-profit? Run on a break-even basis?
If they are generating serious profits, then (the money) should be put back in the game at some level.
The guiding principle of amateur sport should always be what's best for the athlete. And what is best for the athlete, in this case minor hockey players, is not to be denied the opportunity to play because fees are as high as $5,000 a year.
What's best for them, also, is that their parents and families aren't denied the opportunity to watch them play because it can cost up to $20 a night.
Lightning-round questions:
Who's your pick to win the Brier?
Randy Ferbey
St. John's, Nfld. is getting a QMJHL franchise called the Fog Devils. Can you think of a better nickname?
I'm proud to grow up in St. John's, but I've never heard of a Fog Devil. It's a cartoonish name. I'm in favour of more traditional names.
Who should win the 2012 Games? Moscow, London, Paris, Madrid or New York?
Paris
If there's one athlete, in any sport, who's worth the price of admission it is ...
LeBron James
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Scott began his career by volunteering at the university radio station during three years of pre-med. studies at Memorial University in St. John's, Nfld. After two summers working at CBC-St. John's in radio and television, he was hired full-time in 1974. Since then, Oake has covered the Olympic Winter and Summer Games and the Commonwealth Games as a commentator for wrestling, hockey, alpine skiing, swimming, rowing, diving, boxing and athletics.
FULL
BIO
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