NORTH AMERICA’S NEXT TOP BLOGGER – DAY FIVE
It’s the Final Day of North America’s Next Top Blogger… and our contestants are about to get blindsided with the most amazing… most shocking elimination ceremony ever!!!
Nope.
Closer.
This is the most amazing elimination ceremony ever.
The rules are simple… each day this week, we are going to feature a potential new writer for The Royal Half and post their answers to the TRH Questionnaire. (Check out Days 1-4 here!) Then… it’s up to you, loyal TRH reader, to decide who is going to move on to the next round by posting your comments below and voting in the poll at the bottom of the page. Tonight, we are excited to announce our first celebrity contestant on North America’s Next Top Blogger… former blogger for Jewels From The Crown… Flubber McGee!
Well, Flubber is more famous than anyone on this show at least.
Flubber McGee lives in the hockey hotbed of… um… Kansas City? And you can find him on Twitter @FlubberMcGee. Here are some of Flubber’s answers to the TRH Questionnaire, as well as his sample post.
1) Please give us a brief history of your level of Los Angeles Kings fandom.
The Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray trade made me really sad.
I remember Scott Thornton retirement night, and I am more than happy to discuss its significance at parties and therapy sessions.
I went to this preseason game the Kings had here in KC when they used to do that and Sean O’Donnell assaulted the Islanders’ Matt Martin. Like, blindsided him and he might have died. It was great.
By the way, there were like 3,000 people at that game.
I believe these examples of insignificance adequately describe my level of fandom.
2) Besides the LA Kings winning the Stanley Cup, what is the greatest moment in LA Kings history for you?
Tom Preissing free agent signing day. July 2nd, 2007.
Goodness, 6 years ago already. Time is our greatest enemy…
3) Why do you want to write for TRH? What sort of stories/articles would you want to do that you aren’t seeing currently on The Royal Half?
Why: The pay is as good as any other site on the Internet.
What I’m not seeing: There aren’t enough of those videos with the dudes creatively dunking a basketball in a pool. There also aren’t enough stories about Bernie Nicholls. I feel like you could follow him around for one day and wait for cool shit to happen, blog about it, and it would be better than most of Adrian Dater’s articles.
Oh, and, uh, historical stuff, I guess.
4) Who is your favorite member of #TeamTRH and why? Who is your least favorite member of #TeamTRH and why?
Favorite: I’m glad you made that new website with the Team TRH page, and I procrastinated long enough to see it before doing this, because I honestly didn’t know the possible choices. That said, my favorite is probably HSTHB, because he doesn’t do much and stays out of the way. And he still gets all the credit. Good man.
Least favorite: Is the Duke of LA Hockey still a part of TRH? What does he do? The mystery concerning his place on the Internet confuses and angers me. *TRH NOTE: This is the only correct answer to this question.
5) What is your least favorite part of The Royal Half? Please be honest.
The Bloguin site interface. AMIRITE?!?!
…oh look at that fancy new website you have i didnt even notice…
6) Gretzky or Robitaille? Please explain.
Gretzky – Paulina Gretzky. Some people say she has a weird face, but I don’t care. Does that even matter?
What is the biggest missing piece heading into the season for the LA Kings?
By Flubber McGee
The Kings didn’t win the Stanley Cup last year. Heck, they didn’t even go to the Stanley Cup finals. What a bunch of losers, right? This means something is wrong, and obviously Dean Lombardi isn’t the genius we all thought he was after his team won the Stanley Cup five months after much of the fan base called for his head along with Terry Murray’s. What a dope.
We have seen Deano’s mismanagement with the club this offseason lead to a pretty gaping hole in the present makeup of the organization. It’s pretty embarrassing given the past years of consistency, and the fans of this once grieving team deserve better than this. It’s easy to see where this team falters in comparison to their new Western Conference foes, and why they need to regroup quickly in order to stay on top of the hockey world. Detroit is no longer in the conference, but Winnipeg is, so the next few years could be a rough ride.
Thus, the biggest missing piece heading into next season is the lack of quality former Kings players in the front office.
Yeah, I said it.
As you all know (you should probably know this by now), former Kings defensemen Rob Blake and Sean O’Donnell were hired to join the Kings’ front office in the past month; Blake as the Assistant General Manager and O’Donnell as Director of Wetzel’s Pretzels Development or something like that. Obviously you are well aware of Kings great Luc Robitaille’s tenure, and the list goes on: Nelson Emerson, Alyn McCauley, Mike Donnelly, Glen Murray, etc.
Blake taking over for the position vacated by Ron Hextall meant he is the second player drafted by former Kings’ player and General Manager Rogie Vachon to make it into the Kings’ front office. What could be better than a King drafted by a former Kings’ legend? Nothing, that’s what, and that is why we need more of these guys in the front office. Just take a look at the chart below. Four Kings drafted during Vachon’s tenure as GM from 1984 to 1992 have gone into careers in professional hockey front offices, three of them marginally successful:
Luc Robitaille: One cup win as Kings’ President of Business Operations
Rob Blake: ???
Sylvain Couturier: Apparently made playoffs every year as GM of Acadie-Bathurst Titan of QMJHL
Martin “Goofball” Gélinas: Two playoff series wins as Director of Player Development with Nashville Predators
Those are some pretty successful dudes, eh? The Kings front office lacks the depth needed to carry this team to the top once again. By populating it with more Vachon draftees the Kings WILL turn that one Cup win into many, many more.
Here are three of the best possible choices that will give the Kings another parade down Figueroa Street in the near future.
* * *
Jimmy Carson, 2nd overall pick 1986
Carson is currently a financial advisor, so this one is a no-brainer. It’s not often you find a former player who can actually do math. And, according to this article, former Kings’ owner Bruce McNall doesn’t mince words when explaining Carson’s passion and intelligence for the game (bold emphasis mine):
“In a weird way, I knew Jimmy’s heart was not as much into it,” says McNall of his friend, who neither smoked, drank nor partied with teammates. “He was an intellectual, multidimensional guy, read the Wall Street Journal, and so many other players just don’t have his opportunities and interests. So I always thought, deep down, that maybe long-term hockey wouldn’t be for him.”
As a front office member, he wouldn’t have to worry about partying with players. Just take care of the finances. He fits perfectly in Los Angeles in the same world as those who view LA as generally apathetic toward hockey. His importance will be even more obvious come the 2020 offseason. How will he handle Jeff Carter and Mike Richards’s joint contract?! Stay tuned!
Ken Hammond, 147th overall pick, 1983
Another player with an MBA, he is more suited for the position Robitaille holds. Currently with Ernst and Young, Hammond could work on the business side of operations and with AEG to give the Kings a national presence in the hockey world, boosting the once dull hockey market into something of a Toronto of the West. Sorry Tim Leiweke, don’t plan your parade route too soon, because we have Ken Hammond on our side!
He also has some defenseman scoring record with the Kansas City Blades, referred to by many as possibly the greatest IHL franchise to ever have existed.
Wayne McBean, 4th overall pick, 1987
The dark horse candidate. He may not seem like a front office “type” guy, but he once dated Alyssa Milano and that has to be worth something. Plus, with Jarret Stoll’s contract up at the end of the 2015 season, the Kings will need to find some way to fill that hockey WAG category. I’m not sure what he would do in the front office (Director of Female Kings Ice Crew Members), but it’s Wayne freakin’ McBean.
Apparently McBean is married and lives in Arizona, but I’m sure a return to LA will fix that.
* * *
It is clear what needs to be done to win another Cup, and to be a force in the future, all the Kings have to do now is go out and get these guys.
This is so dumb.
Alright, North America! It’s time for you to decide.
Place your vote above and let’s hear what you have to say in comments below!
