Arizona Sundogs 4 at Texas Brahmas 3 (OT) - November 23, 2011

I'm in Texas! After an 18-hour trip from Tokyo to Dallas via Detroit, I had just over an hour to get to the NYTEX Sports Center for a CHL game between the Texas Brahmas and Arizona Sundogs. The flight landed 30 minutes early, around 5:15 pm. The car rental center at DFW is offsite, about 10 minutes from the airport, and with the lineup at the counter, I wasn't in the car until 6:15. The rink is just 20 minutes away from the airport, and amazingly I made it without getting lost, arriving in plenty of time for the puck drop.

CHL

The Central Hockey League is a 14-team league based in nine states across the midwest and southern US. The league began with six teams in 1992 and like all minor leagues, has seen its membership vary widely. Last season they took on 5 teams from the International Hockey League, but this year they lost 5 teams, including the defending champion Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs.

Each team plays 66 games over the course of the season with 8 squads making the playoffs. Three rounds of playoffs culminate in the awarding of the Ray Miron President's Cup, named after the league's founder.

Dallas and Fort Worth each had teams in the original league but both folded. When the CHL merged with the Western Professional Hockey League in 2001, the Fort Worth Brahmas were one of the WPHL franchises that came onboard. In 2006, the team was unable to negotiate a lease with their home arena, which caused them to miss a season. They rejoined the league in 2007, moving to their current location and renaming themselves the Texas Brahmas. Since then they've been quite successful, winning a league championship in 2009. The picture above shows two banners, one for the Fort Worth Fire and then the 2009 Division Championship for Texas.

NYTEX Sports Centre

Located in North Richland Hills, a suburb of Fort Worth, the NYTEX Sports Centre (spelled the Canadian way!) is one of many suburban sports complexes that have sprung up recently. The Brahamas are the main tenant, but the rink is also used for community skating and other activities, including volleyball.

Parking is widely available on the street here, although there is also a lot that was charging $5. There are five ticket selections, with seats on the glass going for $35, rows 2-5 (Club) at $23, rows 6-9 (Plaza) at $19, rows 10-11 (Mezzanine) at $16 and then the end zone seats at $13. The Plaza seats might be your best bet as those in the Mezzanine are partially blocked by the section separators. When sitting in the last row, I could not see the action in one corner. Also note that the Club and Plaza seats are actually seats, while the others are simply benches with the seat number written on the bench itself in marker.

The venue is quite small and is divided into two levels. The main concourse is where all of the promotions are advertised and has the main concession stand, which sells the usual suspects and always seemed to be crowded. There is a stairway here that leads to the upper concourse, which might be better to use if you are sitting in the top few rows or the end zone. There is also a smaller concession here which was had far fewer patrons.

ZuRoma is an Italian restaurant on the premises which purports to have great pizza but was rather empty during the game. It might be worth checking out if you get there well before faceoff.

There is also an air hockey table that garnered much attention during the intermissions, which were a bit longer than I am used to at 18 minutes.

NYTEX is a simple venue that serves its purpose as a community centre but also houses a pro hockey team. The fans here were great, very supportive of their squad; most had some form of Brahma attire on and were very loud with cowbells the most common accessory. Other than the design flaw that prevents the top row of seats from seeing the whole ice surface, this is an enjoyable rink to catch some CHL action.

The Game

The season is early and neither team has sparkled yet, with the Brahmas lying 5th and Arizona 6th in the 7-team Berry Conference.

The first period was sloppy. It might be the ice, or simply a lack of talent, but there were few chances for either team. The only goal was scored by the Sundogs when Jeff Hazelwood slipped a weak backhander behind rookie netminder Mark Guggenberger.

The second period saw 3 power play goals - the first by Arizona on a slapper from the point. Texas scored a similar tally on their first PP of the period, and then knotted the game with a great wrist shot from Chad Woollard.

Early on in the third period, Calin Wild made a strong effort in front as the puck rolled away from Arizona keeper Levente Szuper (pictured above, he once sat on the bench for nine games for the Flames but never saw any NHL action). Wild lunged and managed to nudge the puck into the empty net to give the home team their first lead of the game (below).

The Brahmas couldn't hold on though as Hazelwood snuck an easy one past Guggenberger midway through the frame. From where I sat and judging from the Brahmas' reactions, it looked like a shot he should have stopped.

The rest of the period saw a few chances, but no more goals, so we went to overtime. Again Hazelwood was again the hero, notching his hat-trick goal exactly 3 minutes into the extra stanza to give the visitors the win.

The level here is clearly not as good as the ECHL, and perhaps slightly worse than the Asian League I saw last week. There were few good plays, and rarely would more than two passes connect consecutively. Usually players were falling over each other in a seemingly random pattern as the puck bounced around. There was one good fight though, and the play here was physical. Still, it is safe to say that there aren't a lot of NHL scouts hoping to find a diamond in the rough in this league. The fans had a great time though and the game was quite enjoyable, and that is all that matters.

Notes

One promotion the Brahmas have is the Brahama Bull throw. Before the game, $2 gets you a small plastic bull with a number on it. When the Brahmas score, you throw your bull on the ice. At the end of the game, one lucky winner gets a Brahmas' hat, worth about $2.50. So after each home team goal, there is a slight delay as the ice kids gather up the tossed toros while the Texas goalie watches.

It was Military Appreciation Night and the main concourse had some interesting displays on military history. As well, the Brahmas wore special third jerseys that were very patriotic, with the Statue of Liberty on them.

After the game, there is a free public skate. The arena lends fans a pair of skates and you can circle the ice a few times with some Brahma players. I was far too tired to participate in this, but it is a great idea.

Next Up

It is Thanksgiving today and I am going to the Cowboys Dolphins game. Tomorrow it will be the Leafs and Stars before a tripleheader of college and minor-league action Saturday. Check back for updates as usual.

Best,

Sean

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NFL Playoff Picture - Week 11

This year I am posting a new playoff picture post every week for the rest of the season. The NFL has a real fancy page for this but this page will keep the history week-to-week, which I hope will make it slightly more interesting.

NFC
  Week 4       Week 10    Week 11
1. GB  (4-0)   GB  (9-0)  GB  (10-0)
2. Was (3-1)   SF  (8-1)  SF  (9-1)
3. SF  (3-1)   NO  (6-3)  NO  (7-3)
4. TB  (3-1)   NYG (6-3)  Dal (6-4)
5. Det (4-0)   Det (6-3)  Det (7-3)
6. NYG (3-1)   Chi (6-3)  Chi (7-3)

AFC
  Week 4       Week 10    Week 11
1. Hou (3-1)   Hou (6-3)  NE  (7-3)
2. Buf (3-1)   NE  (6-3)  Hou (7-3)
3. Bal (3-1)   Bal (6-3)  Bal (7-3)
4. SD  (3-1)   Oak (5-4)  Oak (6-4)
5. Ten (3-1)   Cin (6-3)  Pit (7-3)
6. NE  (3-1)   Pit (6-3)  Cin (6-4)

The NFC saw only one change as Dallas moved atop the East after the Giants lost at home to Philly. I am really looking forward to seeing the game at Cowboys Stadium later this week; the Dolphins and Matt Moore look like they might put up a fight.

In the AFC, the Pats are the first-seed after a victory over the Chiefs. You might wonder how New England leapfrogged Houston with both winning. The answer is that the Texans' 7th victory was non-conference, which meant that both teams now had 6-2 conference records. The Pats have a better strength of victory, so take top spot. Four teams are at 5-5 and still have a chance, including the slumping Bills.

Best,

Sean

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Beware those Gaudy Japanese Pitching Stats

The Japanese baseball season ended yesterday with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks taking game 7 of the Japan Series, 3-0 over the Chunichi Dragons. This was the fifth game in the series with just 3 runs; four games finished 2-1, while the other two were 4-2 and 5-0. That's a total of just 26 runs over seven games, a ridiculously low amount. By comparison there were 68 runs scored in the seven games of the World Series, including 23 in game 3 alone.

So is pitching in the NPB that much better relative to hitting than it is in the MLB? Probably not. It turns out that the NPB changed the baseballs they use for this season, going with one ball rather than four different balls as they used to. The new ball is much less springy and has larger seams among other modifications. The result was a massive drop in offense and very happy pitchers.

Here are some numbers from 2010 and 2011 and the percentage change.

Stat       2010   2011   %Chg
Average    .269   .247   - 8.1
Runs       7582   5663   -25.3
Hits      15746  13891   -11.8
HR         1605    939   -41.5
Slugging   .407   .344   -15.5

ERA        4.03   3.00   -25.5
BB         5108   4264   -16.5
K         11904  11518   - 3.2
SV          381    441   +15.7
SHO         126    196   +55.6

Wow, a 41% drop in dingers and a 56% rise in team shutouts. If you like runs, you will not enjoy the NPB very much. I generally prefer pitchers duels to offensive explosions, but when low-scoring games are so common, they lose their impact.

There are a few other points I want to make here. First, be careful stating any statistics from the 2011 NPB season without noting the overall lack of offense. Six pitchers finished with ERAs under 2, while only nine batters were above .300. This winter will see Yu Darvish's named bandied about as he considers moving to the majors. His line this year was amazing (18-6, 1.44, 36/276 K/BB ratio) and I suspect that you will see it often. Don't get me wrong, Darvish is a great hurler, but be aware that his stats this year were definitely affected by the new baseballs. You'll need the more advanced sabermetrics such as ERA+ to really understand how good he was. (As an aside, Masahiro Tanaka had an even better year.)

The low-scoring games also contributed to the increase in ties this season. It's simply easier to tie a game 2-2 than 8-8, and so we saw far more draws this year (56 compared to just 16 in 2010), much to my chagrin. There were even three 0-0 tilts in what can only be described as an abomination of the natural laws of baseball.

Amazingly, despite the reduction in offense, game times hardly changed. Regular readers will know that the main reason I stopped going to NPB games was that they were often interminable, taking well over 3 hours for a rather mundane result, such as 6-2. Last season the average 9-inning game was 3:13, this year 3:06, a mere 3.6% reduction. If you take the total runs scored this year and divide by the total minutes played, you get an average of 2.09 runs per hour, soccer-like numbers. Sorry, but that's just not entertaining baseball.

When I moved here, the NPB was interesting and compelling, with a single championship series. The addition of the Climax Series made the season meaningless, and these latest modifications to the baseball make the games dull and plodding affairs. Most fans don't notice this because baseball isn't covered in the same manner as it is in the States; it seems that there are few writers that cover the big picture here. So I believe the average fan is not able to appreciate the changes that the sport has undergone.

The NPB will investigate the results of this new baseball during the offseason, but it is not clear if changes will be made. For the sake of fans who enjoy a balance between offense and defense, I hope they do something.

Best,

Sean

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Asia League Ice Hockey Doubleheader - November 6, 2011

The Asia League Ice Hockey (ALH) is a relatively new circuit that formed in 2003 after the Korean Ice Hockey League folded. At that time, the Japan Ice Hockey League (JIHL) was suffering a decline in popularity, so they brought in a single Korean team along with four Japanese teams. Over the years, the league has seen teams come and go; this season there are four squads in Japan, two in Korea, and one in China. Each team plays the other six times over a 6-month span (a schedule that NHL players no doubt envy) and then there is a playoff, with the winner being awarded the aptly-named Championship Trophy.

None of the four Japanese teams play in the Tokyo area, but a few times a season they have weekend doubleheaders at one of two rinks where the JIHL was once based. I had never had occasion to go as my lone JIHL experience was rather forgettable, but at a recent street hockey tournament in which I was "officiating", I met a guy who told me he was refereeing in ALH (his photo above). I was immediately intrigued and when I discovered that he would be reffing games on November 5 and 6th in Yokohama, I decided to check it out.

Shin-Yokohama Skate Center

Located about 5 minutes from Shin-Yokohama station, the arena is used more for figure skating than ice hockey judging from the name as well as the display in the cafeteria, which shows some of the more famous skaters who have practiced there.

The seating bowl is tiny, with four rows of plastic seats (reserved) and three rows of wooden benches closer to the glass. If you want a reserved seat (4,000 yen), you can only get it for one of the two games, then you must move to the benches, which are 3,000 yen for both games. If you sit behind the players' bench, you will have trouble seeing the game as the players stand throughout. A lot of fans choose to stand at the top of the seating area, which offers the best view but is hard on your legs.

There are a few items in the cafeteria (above), but you are best advised to purchase your food from the convenience store located on the ground floor, which has much more selection and is a bit cheaper. As usual, you can bring anything you want in.

You cannot walk around the entire arena on the concourse as one end is limited by the small size of the building. There is a small shop selling hockey equipment and other sporting goods, but otherwise nothing else. I don't expect too many people to go out of their way to visit here, but if you do, now you know what to expect.

Game 1 - Tohoku Free Blades 2 vs Oji Eagles 3

The Free Blades (in blue above) come from the area that was devastated by the tsunami back in March, while the Eagles, a team that has been around since 1925, play out of Hokkaido. Tohoku had only won 3 of 13 to lie 6th of 7 teams, while Oji (in white below) was a more respectable 4-5, but only 5th as they had played fewer games. (The league breaks down the standings into regulation wins (3 points), OT wins (2) SO wins (2), SO losses (1), OT losses (1) and regulation losses (0). This is stupid, so I'm just listing their W-L record.)

This was the game that my acquaintance was refereeing so I spent more time focused on the officials rather than the play. I did notice that Oji was the stronger team as they outshot Tohoku 15-4 over the first 20 minutes, but they were down 1-0 on a goal from Paul Albers. Early in the second, Aaron McKenzie blasted a shot from the point that beat Masahito Haruna (below) to make it 2-0.

That seemed to wake up the Eagles, who responded with a lot of pressure that resulted in a goal just a few minutes later when Marc Cavosie pounced on a loose puck and put it home. The third period was when Oji really showed their class as they scored twice in a minute, including a great slapshot from Aaron Keller, who had come off the bench and was spotted by Cavosie. A deft cross-ice pass and one-timer left Tohoku keeper Michio Hashimoto with no chance and the Eagles were up 3-2. They held on to that lead and although the Free Blades had a few chances as time wound down, nothing else beat Haruna.

After the game, the Eagles bowed to their happy fans as is customary here.

This was a decent game with good flow, helped out by some solid officiating. There were 11 minors called, but none of the post-whistle pushing and shoving that can make minor league hockey so frustrating.

After an hour or so break during which you could leave the arena to find some more food, it was time for the second match of the day.

Game 2 - Nikko Icebucks 6 vs Nippon Paper Cranes 5

The Icebucks play out of Nikko, which is just a couple of hours from Tokyo. They are the class of the league so far at 11-5, while the Cranes, another Hokkaido-based squad, were in the middle of the pack at 6-6. That's backup goalie Kazuhito Kiyokawa below, sporting the brightest pads I've ever seen.

This game was marred by penalties: 20 in all, evenly split between the teams, both of whom scored 3 power-play goals. There was even a penalty shot. The game never had any real flow because of the overzealous refs, and took nearly 3 hours to complete, helped along by some difficulties with the glass at one point.

The Cranes opened the scoring just 2 minutes in when Tyler Mosienko (above) made a great individual move to beat Yutaka Fukufuji (below). NHL observers will recognize both names; Mosienko is the grandson of Hall-of-Famer Bill Mosienko who is best remembered for scoring 3 goals in 21 seconds, while Fukufuji was the first Japanese to play in the NHL, where he appeared in four games with the LA Kings back in 2006-07.

When the Cranes added a power-play tally midway through the period, it looked like an upset was brewing, but the Icebucks dominated the next 40 minutes, scoring 6 unanswered goals, including a hat trick from captain Takahito Suzuki (below).

Nippon Paper refused to fold (sorry!) though and scored three times in 6 minutes, the last coming with 2:02 to go. But they couldn't muster the tying marker and Nikko won by the 6-5 count. I didn't stay to watch the post-game as I had a train to catch, but I am sure there was more bowing involved.

Worth It?

Overall, the hockey isn't particularly good but it can be entertaining. There were certainly some nice plays and quality saves, but generally the play was a bit choppy. The most obvious difference is the lack of physicality compared to the NHL and even junior hockey. It seemed like there were more collisions between teammates than actual bodychecks. I'd say it's similar to the ECHL without all the fighting and well worth checking out if you are in Japan in the winter.

Next Up

Texas! I'm flying to Dallas for a 6-game, 4-night Thanksgiving trip highlighted by the Leafs at the Stars. Check back next week for updates.

Best,

Sean

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NFL Playoff Picture - Week 10

The NFL fooled me this season, and postponed their final bye week until week 11. So 4 teams have played ten games, which makes a true playoff picture a bit tricky. What I've done is revert those 4 clubs to their week 9 records so that every team has played nine games. I'm comparing these to the standings after 4 weeks; let's see what has changed.

NFC
 Week 4        Week 10
1. GB  (4-0)   GB  (9-0)
2. Was (3-1)   SF  (8-1)
3. SF  (3-1)   NO  (6-3)
4. TB  (3-1)   NYG (6-3)
5. Det (4-0)   Det (6-3)
6. NYG (3-1)   Chi (6-3)

AFC
 Week 4        Week 10
1. Hou (3-1)   Hou (6-3)
2. Buf (3-1)   NE  (6-3)
3. Bal (3-1)   Bal (6-3)
4. SD  (3-1)   Oak (5-4)
5. Ten (3-1)   Cin (6-3)
6. NE  (3-1)   Pit (6-3)

Parity rules. This should be an exciting finish to the season. Note that Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati this past weekend but are below them because of a worse conference record after 9 games played. After next week, they will be on top of Cincinnati because of the victory. This also means Baltimore is the division leader after 9 games by virtue of their season sweep of the Steelers.

The questions I asked back in October:

1. Are the Texans going to end their playoff drought? A: Looked good until Schaub went down for the season.

2. Can the Bills begin another glorious decade? A: No, still a ways to go for consistency.

3. Will anyone beat Green Bay? A: No.

Best,

Sean

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Tripleheader Tops Texas Thanksgiving Trip

I had planned my Texas Thanksgiving Trip about three weeks ago and had been spending the intervening days waiting for SMU to announce the game time for their tilt with Rice on Saturday. Today I was rewarded with the best news possible: an 11 am start! Why is this good news? Because it means I can see two more games that day! The National Basketball Development League opens that weekend and they are proceeding with their season despite the NBA players being locked out. The Texas Legends play out of Frisco, just 30 minutes north of Dallas and start with a match against cross-state rival Austin at 3 pm. College football games are interminable, so I might have to leave SMU-Rice early to get to Frisco for tip-off. After that it is a relaxing drive to Arlington to watch the UT Arlington Mavericks playing their final season at Texas Hall as they host Samford in a low-key clash. The full schedule:

Wed Nov 23  Arizona Sundogs at Texas Brahmas 7:00 (CHL)
Thu Nov 24  Miami Dolphins at Dallas Cowboys 3:15
Fri Nov 25  Toronto Maple Leafs at Dallas Stars 7:30
Sat Nov 26  Rice Owls at SMU Mustangs 11:00 (NCAA Football)
Sat Nov 26  Austin Toros at Texas Legends 3:00 (NBDL)
Sat Nov 26  Samford Bulldogs at UT Arlington Mavericks 7:00 (NCAA Basketball)

That's six games in four days. I've been looking for a game on Friday afternoon, but the best I can find is a college football game in Tulsa at 11 am. It could be done (about four hours each way) but would make the Leafs' game a tight squeeze. I don't want to drive a total of eight hours to leave a game early, so I'll spend Friday morning checking out the Caravaggio exhibition in Fort Worth. Hey, there's more to life than just sports!

Best,

Sean

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Flying on the 787!

For those of you who don't follow aviation, the past few years have been a struggle for Boeing as they tried to bring their newest airliner, the 787, into service. Originally scheduled to be delivered in late 2008, the program suffered a number of setbacks in both production and testing that caused a total of three years in delays. The 787 is the first composite jet aircraft (with the fuselage mostly composed of carbon fiber reinforced plastic rather than aluminum) and it is also the first aircraft to use an extremely modular manufacturing process, in which engineering firms around the world built the parts and shipped them to Seattle for final assembly. Given how completely different it is in both product and production, it is not entirely surprising that it took so long to get it right.

The first test flight was in late 2009 and from then, things have progressed relatively smoothly. Last month saw launch customer ANA, a Japanese carrier, receive their first plane with a special livery. They had already set their schedule this past summer, with the first flight taking place on October 25th. That was a charter from Narita to Hong Kong with many media members and aviation enthusiasts aboard. Regular service commenced on November 1st with daily flights to Okayama and Hiroshima. Unfortunately I had to work that day, but November 3rd was a holiday in Japan, so I decided to book a ticket that day for a one-night excursion to Okayama, returning on Friday, again on the 787.

When I booked the ticket, I was surprised that seats were still available on the holiday as I expected a great number of airplane geeks to snap them up. The price for the 787 flight was the same as for other flights, but it was an early departure, leaving Haneda at 7:30.

One of the great things about flying in Japan is that you can avoid the check-in desk entirely if you have a certain type of ticket. I arrived just before 7 for the flight, went through security in a minute (the TSA could learn a few things from the Japanese system) and finally got a glimpse of JA801A, the first 787 in revenue service. The gate area was filled, not only with passengers for the flight but also with those from other flights who had come to take a few pictures of the new bird.

When boarding began, there was a distinct buzz among the passengers, with most taking pictures from the jetbridge. Once on the plane, people took their seats quickly (only 10 minutes to board 264 passengers!) and then took the time to look around.

The 787 has a number of features that make flying much nicer. The most obvious is the lack of a window shade; instead passengers can darken the window through five levels of shading using a button just beneath. Even at the darkest setting, you can still see outside, which is a great benefit for those of us who enjoy the view while in the air. The windows themselves are about 1.3 times bigger than those found on older aircraft.

As we were boarding, the ceiling was lit with the colours of the rainbow, but once the flight was ready to leave, this was switched to a light blue.

ANA has configured the economy cabin in a 2-4-2 setup, with personal entertainment systems in each seat. The middle two seats are separated by a small space and each has its own armrest, so it is a bit more spacious than a typical middle seat.

One of the interesting features is the wing, which has a raked end and flexes during flight. Below is a picture of a wing with the sun rising beyond.

The 787 is noticeably less noisy than other planes, although I think the upper deck of the A380 is even quieter. There were times when you forgot you were flying, it was such a smooth and quiet ride. Pressurization on the aircraft is also much better, so much so that on landing I didn't have feel my ears pop as they normally do. Of course, the flight itself was only an hour long, so it wasn't enough time to really appreciate the differences between the 787 and its predecessors, and a lot of things I missed, such as the fancy new lavatories with washlets.

After we landed in Okayama and taxied to the terminal, I noticed a couple of hundred people lined up on the other side of a fence who were taking pictures. This is a big news event in Japan and aviation enthusiasts from around the country were happy to be able to see it firsthand.

The Okayama airport has an observation deck which costs 100 yen to enter, but allows for some good clear shots such as the one below.

If you are planning to visit Japan and looking to fly on this aircraft, ANA does have an English website. Okayama and Hiroshima are the only cities served at the moment, but more will be added as more planes are delivered. It's definitely a very cool plane and worth checking out when you get the chance. As for me, the ride was so comfortable though that I'm hoping to catch a long-haul flight on one of these in the near future.

Best,

Sean

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