Sound familiar?
Bernie Miklasz wrote a column in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch yesterday about how things are getting a bit rough for Andy Murray in St. Louis. I thought it would be interesting reading and a chance for people to compare/contrast the way things went with Murray in L.A., especially near the end...
Scoring drought is putting heat on Murray, others who run Blues
They'll be facing off in St. Louis in a few minutes. I won't be available to live blog, as I'll be listening to Nick and Daryl on my 90-minute commute home and watching the game on Tivo later. I'll post the usual notes and quotes after the game. For now, you're welcome to comment on this post and use it as a live-game thread.
Oh, and thanks for the response on the ``open forum.'' I had fun with it. We'll do another round of questions/answers next week.
wow interesting stuff.. I wonder what will happen when the Blues fall short of usual expectations in St. Louis this year.
thanks for the "forum" it was great. I think you took my Butch Goring line, but happy to contribute :-)
Wow, the Kings are up 2-1. Interesting. I just got home and checked the score. I am really liking this forum a lot more these days. GREAT STUFF! Very appreciated.
in what bizarro world does a reporter for a major us city newspaper have to travel an hour and a half to get home? hopfully that's by choice and not necessity. it's great to have you back rich. i know you're a huge hockey fan and your passion comes through. i'm very sorry to hear matt got the axe. welcome back and move closer to work.
Freaking kings, God help this team please. We always have a 5-3 in the end, and we never get the puck in the net. This team has problem. I'm out.
Interesting stuff about Andy Murray. I like him as the Kings coach, but it seems the same thing is happening there, just much quicker.
Funny how the power play is really struggling there...same as what happened with the Kings. At the end of his tenure we were better off declining power plays. I never saw anything worse than what our PP looked like then. there was no imagination whatsoever.
His style seems more geared towards junior hockey than NHL level. Too many veterans who will not deal with having inspirational notes put under their hotel room doors at night.
Also if I rememeber correctly, he used to grade the players on a daily basis and have meetings with them individually to discuss them. Over an 82 game season I can see that wearing on the players. Too bad he can't change because he is a really good coach.
by the way, I think Nick & Darryl don't normally do any post-game on the road do they? it seems like that stupid KTLK is always itching to flip back over to their crazy syndicated talk the first minute they can.
god I hate the Kings' radio station... it's just horrible. somebody do something. I think 710 and 570 dropped the games so not much help there. and even 1540 was bad (terrible signal, just terrible), but not this bad.
by the way, I think Nick & Darryl don't normally do any post-game on the road do they? it seems like that stupid KTLK is always itching to flip back over to their crazy syndicated talk the first minute they can.
god I hate the Kings' radio station... it's just horrible. somebody do something. I think 710 and 570 dropped the games so not much help there. and even 1540 was bad (terrible signal, just terrible), but not this bad.
I believe it was Pat Riley that said that a team will only listen to its coach for a period of about 5 years. After that, they begin to tune him out because they've seen and heard it all before. Perhaps, as others have said, the Blues are tuning Murray out sooner, rather than later. Yes, 82 games with notes + grades slipped under the door gets stale after awhile. You're right, this isn't prep school, these are highly paid athletes.
This new pressure on Murray and his coaching devices for inspiration bring focus on other successful coaches that weather numerous storms, yet still bring out the best in players, especially when its crunch time. Look at Phil Jackson, for example. His ability to lead and motivate a team year in and out, in season and out, through good and bad, roster changes and injuries, is an incredible skill. To handle all the demands of a 12 person team of pampered stars and frustrated role players with the ability to get the most out of his personnel - amazing. He has convinced them to buy in to "team". 9 rings is a testament to what a sharp cat he is.
The other issue? You can do the rah-rah in college because players are young and they're there only 4 years - off they go. In pros, very hard to do. Little longevity.
Here we go again, the Kings losing the last 10-12 games of every season.Does anyone really care?