Anderson's Angle

With the Maniax 6-5 victory over the Hot Shots tonight in game three of the Taylor Memorial Cup Finals, the 2010 season has officially come to a close.

And while there are always mixed emotions this time of year, I have to say I'm especially happy the buzzer has blown. In this installment of the Angle I want to look back at THE GOOD, THE BAD, and THE UGLY from the 2010 campaign.

Since I prefer to be positive in most regards, lets start with THE GOOD:

Game 3 of the Finals: can you remember a more exciting game in the league's recent past? With everything on the line, the game came down to the waning minutes...I mean seconds. In the end, I feel for the Hot Shots. Not because they did anything wrong, but because they did almost everything right. They were incredible in the post-season. How many people would have picked them to be that close to hoisting the Cup for the first time? If there was ever a time that a team deserved a second place trophy, it was tonight. My hat is off to all of them!

Sting and Swashbucklers: welcome to the league guys! Talk about a couple of teams that turned heads on and off the court. The Swashbucklers showed that the youth movement is alive and well in the XHL and the Sting showed they can not only survive but thrive in Brockway. But what impressed me more than their play was their attitudes. When I counted a ballot this year during the primaries, one player in the league wrote 'Sting' in a sportsmanship slot. While you can't vote for a team, that may have been the best vote you could make. The same holds true for the Swashbucklers. As you'll find out, if you keep reading, the whining was a plague this year. Anybody who was part of the whining club should only sit back and watch these two teams. If they do, they'll walk away with their tails between their legs in embarrasment. The Sting and Swashbucklers showed that ultimately, the league is about fun. They epitomized everything that is good about the XHL.

The Cyclones Trio: Henry Deible, Derik Day, and Joe Bussard turned the Cyclones around completely. And just like the other newbies mentioned above, this triumvirate plays the game the right way. Their enthusiasm and passion is contagious and they showed their appreciation for the league and the effort it takes to make it work. Thanks for playing guys!

The Berta Factor: it's hard to know what is going on inside Mike Berta's head. But the Berta Factor gave us a small glimpse of what takes place between his four inches of cranium and you couldn't help but "LOL" when you read it. Even so, it was great to get somebody else's take on things. Berta went above and beyond this year and was so deserving of the 'Outstanding Service Award'. Make no mistake, it takes time to write as much as he did (and almost as much to edit it). He poured a lot of effort into the column and made visiting the website that much more enjoyable this year. And while Berta can get carried away at times, his intentions are always good. Thanks for your help this year Berta!

Now for THE BAD:

Stacking teams: I had a fan come up to me Monday night during the semi-finals games and offer a suggestion for the league. She said: "why don't you put every players name in a hat and just draw teams that way so everybody has a chance?" Oh...if it were only that easy.

The 2010 offseason is only hours old and I'm already hearing rumors of players moving and teams loading up for 2011. I've heard that certain teams are making pitches to some of the top talent and that other teams are finding a way to get over the hump to win their first championship next season.

Unfortunately, if you go back and look at the last ten champions, you can argue that most of those championships were won off the court in September through April and not on the court in May through August. Sadly, it comes down to who has the most connections.

It took me a while, but I've finally come on board with the idea of forcibly bringing about parity in the league. However, I'm also a realist. I know that we would lose players. Perhaps that's one of my downfalls...I care too much about pleasing other people.

Would it take a draft to bring about this parity? I think that would probably be the most fair way of doing things. Could you imagine how exciting the XHL would be if we had 6-5 games every night and not just in the playoffs?

Does it have to be a draft? Probably not. Tim Herman offered a unique idea on the messageboard offering an idea for any players who leave their teams to be put into a league wide draft pool. It's just one idea. We are only bound by the confines of our own imaginations. What if we allowed "cores" to stay together? Perhaps we would tell teams that you can put together a group of four guys only. Players who aren't part of one of those cores would be placed in a league wide pool. The core teams could draft their remaining three players in some sort of a ranked system. The core that was deemed the least competitive could have the first pick while the cores that have the most talent would have to wait their turn.

What if the XHL had a salary cap? No...nobody will be paid to play next year. But what if we set an arbitrary number to each player in the league. There were 77 players this year in the league. What if a committee ranked them all 1 through 77. The top player would have a cap hit of 77. The second best player would have a cap hit of 76, and so on down the line. Maybe you tell each captain that their cap cannot exceed a certain number.

These are just a few of the ideas that I think should be explored before teams go hog wild thinking about next year. And so I challenge all XHL players to consider the greater good of the league when thinking about your teams for next year. Winning is fun. But shouldn't everybody have that opportunity?

Twisting arms for help: there are a few people I know I can count on to lend a helping hand during the course of the season. I always know that I can count on John Hrusth to put out the scoreboard if he beats me to it, or for Kevin Smith to fill in as a ref when needed, or for Bob Williams to make a necessary repair at the court. But all too often, getting help becomes a painstaking adventure.

And the UGLY...

The whining: I can't remember a year when the whining was as bad as it was this year. If only everybody would approach the game the same way teams like the Swashbucklers and Sting do. Sure, there are times when I don't agree with a call. But what good does it do to whine and moan about it? Just take your medicine and try harder.

Perhaps what was most frustrating was the people who were whining. They weren't people who were new to the league. They are the veterans. It's not a good example to the rest of the players in the league when those people behave that way.

The lights: can't we just get a key please? Even when the lights did work, we still have a problem with lighting on the far side of the court. I was told earlier in the year that the Rec. Board would be trimming those trees and adding a new pole with lights on that side. But what a frustrating affair. It's been months and still no progress.