Bobble-Head Indignities and NHL Day Dreams

Jim Cryns on Sports

Jul. 07, 2008

midnight

Gettingthe Nod

Oursociety is enthralled with ceramic images of athletes whose heads bounce and wiggle like a man suffering fromchronic seizures.

%uFFFD Leftfielder Ryan Braun is the latest player to be ridiculed in such a manner. Thedoll is altogether unimpressive, a slim guy with an enormous cranium holding abat above his head. His body is slightly contorted in a batter’s stance on alarge wheel of cheese. Braun’s name is etched between his legs adjacent to amissing wedge. The bobble-head has eyebrows like a Cro-Magnon, and spindlyBarney Fife arms.

So,what’s all the fuss about? You couldn’t swing a Braun bobble-head at MillerParkwithout hitting someone the afternoon, because these goofy collectibles weredolled out at the door. Grown men and women, children, old folks alike,cramming through the gates, salivating at the prospect of securing one of thesecreepy statuettes.

RyanBraun is one of the good guys and it was a wise choice to secure him for theteam’s future. But the next time the Brewers want to “honor” one of ourplayers, how about a nice portrait or bronze sculpture, like they’re doing withThe Fonz.

Milwaukee On Ice

IsMilwaukeecapable of sustaining an NHL team? Most sports pundits worth their salt don’tthink so, yet hockey remains a popular sport in this town as the Admiralscontinue to demonstrate. But it costs a small fortune to run an NHL team, andthose expenditures have to be supported by television contracts, highattendance, two things Milwaukeeis incapable of providing.

Inthe mid-’90s, it appeared some investors were dallying with the notion to bringa team to town but ultimately decided to pull the plug. Big money for inferiorteams was cited as the primary obstacle.

Milwaukee is not a hugemarket for sports. It’s a medium sized town with limited financial andcorporate support. A survey was conducted in 1990 to help determine if Milwaukee could support aNHL team and at that time it proved overwhelmingly that it would have. However,the average ticket price in 1990 was 15 bucks, these days it’s more than 60.

Statisticssay small markets can’t sustain the costs of operating a professional team. Theareas of revenue are all generated by the market, by the people watching, mediaand attendance. Essentially, if you don’t have those things on your side, thecosts will outweigh the gains. It’s confusing, because you have many of theseteams that do well on the field or ice, but they can still fail financially.

Issueslike facility sponsorships and stadium-naming rights can play a large roletoward the profitability of a team. It doesn’t really matter if you have a goodyear or not, there are other factors involved. You’d have to say thatintangibles play a role. In research, there’s nothing else telling you why oneteam is successful and another one isn’t. Everyone wants to see the Packers andCubs, even if they’re having a losing season.

Wehave a small hockey community in Milwaukee,and it’s still very much a football and baseball town.A city like Milwaukee must have a more fervent base tosustain a NHL team. The local papers don’t show much interest in hockey and theAdmirals appear to be very much an afterthought in their coverage.

TheAdmirals have difficulty merging their players with the community, a tough timecreating identity with the fans and a strong player identity with thecommunity. Conversely, the Wave has done a good job promoting their image.After every game the players go to a restaurant and their fans can follow themthere. Detroit is crazy about their Red Wings, Chicago is nuts abouttheir Blackhawks. They have long-standing traditions of legends and they seemto have a hockey culture.

Thingsare getting better on a youth level. UniversitySchool now has 15 teamsthat play in their league and the youth base is growing. Kids have theirpriorities and hockey doesn’t seem to be one of them. The Packers are soentrenched in the Wisconsin culture.

Minnesota has a stronghockey culture and supports high school and collegiate hockey.

CalRoadhouse played for the Admirals from 1980-’83 and spent some time with theEdmonton Oilers and played briefly with legend Wayne Gretzky.A Canadian native, Roadhouse says kidshaven’t grown up with hockey around here. "Roots never seem to have gottenplanted here like they did in Minnesota40-50 years ago." Roadhouse said. "But I think some good things arehappening now. We’re seeing big strides. In time, I think the hockey in Milwaukee will be where it was in Minnesota a few years ago. Kids haven’tgrown up with hockey around here. In Detroit,they appreciate hockey as much as any Canadian. I grew up in Albertaand moved to Calgary,"Roadhouse explains. "I used to skate to school and we’d skate allafternoon until my mom would pick us up for dinner."

Hockeyis similar to basketball and soccer. You pass and move, and you have rotations.It’s something you need to start young because the skating is so difficult.Hockey is continuously flowing and to me that’s exciting.

"Asmuch as I would like to think Milwaukeecould sustain a NHL team, I don’t think it could," Roadhouse said."You need the corporate sponsorship and with the economy the way it is, Idon’t believe you can have both the Bucks and a NHL team in Milwaukee."