And funnily enough, I’m not talking about rigging an election. Not that it’s the sort of thing that has ever happened in the history of the world or anything. No, rather, I urge you all to vote for your favourite NHL stars for the upcoming All-Star Game in Dallas. And vote often. The mechanics of All Star balloting is quite amusing, as one person could very well cast thousands of votes for their favourite player.
Enter VoteForRory.com. A site based from Rory Fitzpatrick’s hometown of Rochester, NY, the site is advertising this divergence from the traditional election mechanics, and encouraging people to vote for Rory, and vote often. The publishers of the page, feeling the All-Star game is an exhibition for the fans, not an elitist showcase of skill, argue that Rory is the perfect representative for the role-playing skater, and as such, deserves to showcase in the All-Star game. They also believe that this campaign will earn Rory a spot in the All-Star game, as a starter. Needless to say, Canuck fans everywhere are in total delight. During radio talk shows, some listeners admitted to spending all day voting online for the blueliner.
Is it working though? Rory is now sitting #5 in Western Conference voting for All-Stars, getting 113,509 votes in week 3 (which ranks first in the week). At that rate of ascension, Rory should be sitting #1 or #2 by the time balloting closes. Gotta love sticking it to Bettman. Again. What a douchebag.
All the sports channels and radio have had open debates about many things hockey recently, from the unbalanced schedule, to the daily Canuck bitch out as to why we suck, to now the Vote For Rory campaign. Some argue this will expose all the flaws in the current All-Star selection process. For me, I just have one true beef, as I do agree with Vote For Rory, as the game is an exhibition for US, the FANS, not the NHLPA.
That beef is that the ballot is not a fair representation of all elegible players. For the MLB All-Star Game, one player, per team, per postition is on the ballot, along with the ability to write in. The NHL ballot, on the other hand, has just a small handful of the “skill players”. You are allowed one write in per conference. But the most heinous, for online voting, you MUST VOTE FOR ALL SIX POSITIONS FOR EACH CONFERENCE. So if you don’t agree with any of the selections remaining, and have used your write in on another position, you have to vote for one of the NHL’s key selections (which are predominated by the typical array of high revenue American markets), or just not vote.
What a load of bollocks. For me, I intend to vote quite frequently, and I will use my write in from now until the end of balloting for the Western Conference on Rory. It might open up the leagues eyes, but until then, it will be nice to see a Canuck start the game. A hint to Canuck fans reading though. Vote for Luongo in your ballot also. We might get that wave to put Roberto in between the pipes to start the affair behind Rory.
That is all.
