Jerseys and Hockey Love

Allen Americans vs. Rapid City Rush: Who’s The Home Team?

Tapeleg — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:16:35 +0000

When I’m on the road, and I am seeing two teams where I don’t care who wins, I try to pull for the home team. It’s fun to cheer with the fans, and live and die, for one night, with a team you don’t know much about.

But I found it hard to get behind the Allen Americans, and it took me a little but to figure out why. It was the jerseys.

If you were to take the style of the Phoenix Coyotes jersey, and combine it with the colors of the Red Wings, you have the Allen Americans. Just look at the font for the names and numbers on the backs of the Americans’ jerseys. It’s the leftovers from the Coyotes.

Yeah, I had a problem rooting for the home team. I wasn’t openly cheering on the Rush, but I did find myself a little more excited by their play.

The Allen Event Center is a nice, new building, but after you get inside, you could be in any new building. There isn’t anything to distinguish it from any other new arena out there.

I realize there is still some fascination with that Sacco kid that did the speech from Miracle, but this is getting a little ridiculous. He’s doing it for the Allen Americans in their pregame video? This kid has officially jumped the shark. Or jumped on a shark, or a shark jumped on him.

Look at the players in the background. Yeah, they are really feeling it.

Moving on, hey, where have I seen this before?

Oh, yeah, it was the at the Colorado Eagles vs. Laredo Bucks game, where the ref handed out two unsportsmanlike minors for abuse of the official. And look, it’s the same ref, and he handed one out in the first period of this game. A pattern? Maybe. Hey look, the ref does suck:

Slurp.

OK, on to the game pics. As ever, clicking on a picture makes it bigger, saving you the bandwidth and loading time of pictures you may not be as interested in. You are welcome.

It almost looks like this guy took a stick in the no-nos.

Moving on, the defense for the Americans weren’t doing their goaltender any favors. They weren’t clearing pucks when the goalie would make an initial save, and after the second or third whack at the puck, the Rapid City Rush would end up with a goal.

Even though there were no fights in the game, it got a little rough:

At the end of the second period, the puck took a strange bounce and got past the Americans goalie, prompting a change in net. It wasn’t his fault, but at that point, something had to be done.

It didn’t help. Take a look at the upper left side of the net. Yep, that’s the puck, and that puppies in there:

Everyone is looking to the right of the picture, except the goalie. OK.

The Rapid City Rush won the game, 6-1. Not much of a shock, considering how the defense was playing. After the game, I hung out with Ben Ellis from Big D Hockey, and talked some Texas hockey with him. You’ll hear that on an episode of The Rink Podcast soon enough.

I’m all caught up on games, but I still have one more Texas game to go to.

Colorado Eagles vs. Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees: Wait For It…

Tapeleg — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:04:25 +0000

This is a little out of order, and certainly overdue (as is the 2nd Christmas jersey post, which I promise is coming). It’s the Eagles vs Killer Bees.

Welcome to Dodge Arena:

Dodge Arena is in the middle of nowhere, or at least, the only thing near the arena is the nicest Best Western hotel I have ever stayed in (and I have stayed in my share).

The Eagles came out with a strong start, but the Killer Bees goalie was on fire all night. The second period was all Eagles though, and they ended the period up 2-0. Unfortunately, that lead didn’t last, and the Bees came back to win the game 3-2, scoring the go ahead goal with half the final period left.

On to the pictures. Click on any images for bigger versions.

I love those new Eagles jerseys. I want one, bad.

The Bees mascot was nice..

For a moment:

Back to the game.

There’s your final. It looks like the Eagles can’t win when I’m around. Next time, maybe.

Central Hockey League All Star Game

Tapeleg — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:27:13 +0000

I’m going a little out of order here, but I wanted to post the pictures from the CHL All Star Game from Laredo, TX. It was certainly an interesting game, or at least, the hoopla around the game was interesting (yes, I said hoopla). At the very least, I had a great time. Let’s go to the photos:

click on any photo to make it bigger.

Hey everyone, it’s my good friend, Lord Stanley’s Cup:

This is kind of a surreal picture, maybe because the background is a little more in focus than I am, or the Cup for that matter.

And for all you Avs fans:

The way that 2000-01 Avalanche ring looks a little weird, like it was compressed a little in transit? It doesn’t look like the same ring as the one I saw in Cleveland a few years back.
Still, it’s a thing of beauty.

And I got my picture with another keeper of the Cup.

This is the second Keeper of the Cup I’ve had my picture taken with, and oddly enough, I was wearing the same jersey.

I am here to tell you, you have not heard the Canadian National Anthem until you have heard a mariachi band do it (OK, yes, you have, but you still have to hear it to believe it). Hopefully, the video I took on my iPhone worked out, and I can share it with you later.

When you set off fireworks inside a closed arena, you should have a sufficient ventilation system to get rid of the sulfurous smoke that is left behind. I am here to tell you, they do not have such a system at the Laredo Event Center.

Hey, you know who doesn’t know how to do the Y.M.C.A.? These women.

OK, on to the game:

Surreal image of the night:

Yep, still hazy:

OK, back to the game:

One penalty was handed out, to this guy:

Yep.

The goals picked up in the third period, and it was looking like an All Star Game:

The South Texas All Stars (made up of players from the Laredo Bucks, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees, and Corpus Christi Rayz) beat the CHL All Stars (all the rest of the teams) 9-4. Final SOG was 62-37.

Team MVPs get win really small HDTVs.

This guy deserved the CHL team MVP.

All that was left was the player salutes:

The Killer Bees salute their fans:

That does it for the All Star Game. I still owe you pictures from the Colorado Eagles vs. RGV Killer Bees game. Oh, they are coming.

Technorati Tags: CHL, All Star Game

Colorado Eagles vs. Laredo Bucks: Away Games

Tapeleg — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:38:47 +0000

I have only a little time before I have to get on the road to Hidalgo, TX for the Colorado Eagles vs the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees game, so this is mostly going to be a photo essay. I’m cooking up something else later.

Click on any photos you want to see bigger.

The sky over Laredo before the game was full of color.

The arena itself had a little more character than most new buildings, but was still new enough to be modern. It reminded me of where the Grand Rapids Griffins play, or where the Ft. Worth Brahmas played, due to the big wall at one end.

I really like this picture.

This was the guy who let in 3 goals on 5 shots and got pulled.

I have to say, I like these jerseys a lot. They are right in all the ways the new Avs third jersey is wrong. I think I may have to get one.

Action!

This led to repercussions later. The ref wasn’t taking any crap from anyone. The eagles took a few extra penalties for mouthing off to the ref early in the game. In fact, 7 total penalties, including both the 5 on 3 and a 4 minute stint in the box were directly thanks to players or coaches mouthing off to the ref.

Hey, those pictures? They almost didn’t let me in with my camera. They said it was a pro camera (it doesn’t have a removable lens, and I told them to bring a supervisor over to discuss the matter, which they then said it was OK). I don’t understand the policy. I get that you don’t want pro photographers bringing tripods and huge lenses into the building, but what harm does a good photograph of a game do? I’m posting my photos online, and you get to see hockey in a new building. It’s promoting the sport, and their team. What is the problem? People with teams, especially in the minors, need to realize that free promotion is their best tool, and the fans are the ones who will provide that.

Can you imagine an arena up north with the Mexican national flag hanging? But here they do Canada the honor of hanging their national flag. Good job, Laredo.

After each goal scored by the Bucks, the fans would throw plastic corn on the ice, which would stop the game, and have to be cleaned up. It took forever to do, but it was the local tradition. As it was explained to me, it was deer corn. They were feeding the deer. The Bucks?

Fans!

Hecklers! Yes, I was heckled at the game. They get the small photo.

The Eagles tied the game up in the last few seconds (18 to be close to exact), and the game wound up going to the shootout, where the Eagles were fairly awful. In the CHL, like most of the minor leagues, shootouts go five shooters deep, rather than the three in the NHL. I have no idea why the NHL went with three shooters, but they did.

Hey look, the pucks in the back of the net. Go figure.

Taunting the shooter:

Weirdest save ever? No, but still…

You should have seen it in person.

Losers have to skate off past the winners? That sucks.

That’s your final. The Bucks had a post game skate after the game, but I only had my iPhone with me, so the pictures aren’t as good. Still, I will post them. Just a little later.

I had a great time at the game, and will talk a little later about what it was like as an away fan, and talking with the fans at the game. For now, it’s on to Laredo.

Technorati Tags: Colorado Eagles, Laredo Bucks, CHL

Texas Stars vs. Houston Aeros: A Study in Penalty Killing

Tapeleg — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 06:25:01 +0000

Tonight’s game between the Texas Stars and the Houston Aeros was more of an interesting affair then the majority of the game seemed. That sounds kind of strange, but it’s actually true. For the vast majority of the game, the Houston Aeros controlled the play, and the Texas Stars, who couldn’t make tape-to-tape passes to save their lives, looked fairly ordinary and disorganized. But for some reason, the Stars pulled out a 3-2 overtime win over the Aeros, who looked better the entire game.

The main interest for me was the different styles of penalty killing each team involved, and their effectiveness. The Stars, who were sloppy on the power play, felt the pressure of an aggressive Aeros penalty kill. That was most apparent from a five minute major penalty the Aeros had to kill off, which resulted in one goal for the Stars, and a lot of time for Texas chasing the puck down the ice. Houston, a more technically sound passing team, was able to keep possession of the puck, but was mostly kept to the outside by the Stars, playing more of a positional kill, and were effective in getting into the shooting lanes. Still, the Stars were 2 for 5 on the power play, but you wouldn’t know it from watching the game.

Wait, isn’t this a travelogue? You aren’t here to hear me spout off about a minor league penalty kill? Hey, I’m down with that. But before we get to the pictures, one more thing.

The Cedar Park Center, located in the middle of nowhere, charges it’s patrons ten dollars for parking. Ten dollars. Add that to your ticket price, because there is no other way to get there, and no alternative parking. It’s a monopoly, and it’s a ridiculous way to gouge fans for the privilege of going to the game. If there were a cheaper but less convenient alternative, I may not mind as much, but when you hold all the cards, and you are overcharging for nothing, it’s a piss poor way to treat your fans and clients. I complained to the customer service desk, and was told that it’s less expensive than other venues, including the Dallas Stars. I’ve been all over the nation, seeing hockey games in as many places as possible, and I can tell you this is absolutely not true. It’s a disgusting scam, and venues that have no alternative should end the practice, or charge a more reasonable amount.

OK, on to the pictures.

This won’t last:

The arena itself is nice enough, but a little bland. It lacks the character of an older arena, but that seems to be the case with most new arenas. I could have been in Ontario, CA, or Broomfield, CO, or even Gwinnett, GA. If that sounds like a criticism, it’s meant to. What the hell happened to character? Hockey is a sport of character, and old hockey barns have it in droves. New buildings barely have the chance to develop any character, unless it’s manufactured by the designer. These new arenas don’t feel designed so much as sanitized. It’s too bad really, as buildings like the War Memorial in Johnstown, PA (you saw it in Slap Shot, even though it was in “Charlestown” for the movie), the Igloo in Pittsburgh, or whatever the arena in Port Huron, MI is called.

Warmups:

Hey, if you are going to overcharge for parking, perhaps your Zamboni shouldn’t be a reminder of that fact.

OK, game time. You can click on any picture for a larger version.

Check out the puck just over the goalie’s glove:

Blood on the ice:

One of the Aeros took a match penalty for intent to injure. Moving on.

This took way too long to fix. So long we had to listen to an entire Def Leopard song. Other than that gaff, the Stars had the best alternative music mix I have ever heard at a hockey game. Ever.

This wasn’t a penalty. The refs put their whistles away for overtime. Like the hockey gods intended.

This is one of my favorite shots from the game. The puck is between his blocker and his stick.

This is your overtime game winner, in the back of the net.

So yeah, the Texas Stars win it in OT, 3-2. With the game winner:

As “nice” as the arena was, as acceptable as the game was, I had a good time at the game. I’m off tomorrow, but I hope to find some ice to skate on tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Houston Aeros, AHL, Texas Stars

Christmas Jerseys 2009: Part One

Tapeleg — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 16:23:36 +0000

Christmas may come but once a year, but… yeah, I got nothing. But hey, who cares when you can share your holiday jersey gifts.

Last year, I was the proud recipient of an Alaska Aces Game Worn Chris Beckford-Tseu jersey, which was timely since I was going to spend some time in Anchorage. This year, I got three jerseys.

Three.

Who’s the luckiest guy ever?

I’ll split this up into two posts, because I don’t think your heart can handle all the awesomeness at once.

First up, the Moscow Penguins:

This is not a game worn jersey, but it sure is awesome. It’s obviously referring itself to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and the number, 66, is a reference to Mario Lemeiux. But I don’t know a lot about this jersey. Other than I love it.

The jersey is made by Lutch, like most of my Russian jerseys. They are some of the softest jerseys around.

How about them logos (click on any image to make it larger):

Dmitry Chesnokov of Puck Daddy and several other places (including being a guest on The Rink Podcast) tells me this translates to “Moscow Hockey Federation.”

Next up, the first Rebook EDGE jersey to find it’s way into my collection. It’s a John-Michael Liles practice used jersey:

Now, this is my first Rebook EDGE jersey I have ever owned, and I have a few impressions.

First, it’s weird. It feels weird, it hangs weird, it lays down weird. You know how, with an old jersey or a t-shirt, when you lay it down, it flattens out? This doesn’t. I couldn’t make the damn thing lie flat for the photos, no matter how much I tried.

Then, there is the reflective piping. There is more piping on this thing then on the previous Rebook practice jerseys. And boy, does it catch the light. Look what happens when I turn the flash on:

Holy cow! I’m blinded!

These guys aren’t riding motorcycles at night, they are playing hockey. What is the point of all that?

Anyways, a few more. I wanted to compare the new jersey to my old Skrastins practice used jersey, so here you go.

Oh wait, there’s more, but you are going to have to check back in a day or two. One last jersey to come.

Technorati Tags: Jerseys, Russian Hockey

Player Tries to Drop Gloves with Ref

Tapeleg — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 16:00:07 +0000

This is one of the reasons I hate all the ire that gets thrown at hockey officials. Sure, it’s all fun and games, until people start acting like maniacs, then it’s the refs job to clean things up.

At an All American Hockey League game (yeah, I had never heard of them either) between the Chi-Town Shooters and the Evansville Icemen, a line brawl turned bizarre when a player tried to fight a linesman. From HockeyRefs.com:

At the end of the second period, Chi-Town defensemen Clay Lewis received a match penalty for slashing, a match penality for spearing and a game misconduct for Category I Abuse of an Official for an on-ice incident where Lewis threw off his gloves specifically to fight a linesmen.

Reports from the game indicate that Lewis pulled the linesmen’s jersey over his helmet, and threw off his helmet before an IceMen player intervened.

In an unusual move, the team posted the video of the incident on YouTube.

And the video tells the story:

Click here to view the embedded video.

And don’t give me the “refs lost control of the game” line. How do you control that sort of thing? How do you control people that plain out and out want to brawl, fight, and push you around?

Refs have the hardest jobs on the ice. I don’t care how many times they blew a call against your team, they aren’t there to hose one more than another, they aren’t there to make things right for the fans. They are some of the biggest hockey fans out there, and they take more abuse from people who have zero understanding of their jobs. I doubt this ref woke up thinking he was going to have to defend himself in a fight at work.

A Few Quick Things

Tapeleg — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:17:15 +0000

Just a few notes around the hockey and blogging world (most of them are a little selfish, but there you go):

- One of the funnier reviews of my podcast, The Rink I have ever seen came from Dirk Hoag, AKA The Forechecker on his excellent blog, On the Forecheck:

James “Tapeleg” Gralian and Tom Luongo break down the NHL from their perspectives in Denver and Buffalo, respectively. Tom can get a bit cranky at times, but that makes for a nice foil to James’ genial style.

Yeah, I’m a little less genial on this weeks episode. Tom and I get into it a little – not a lot – about a few things. Go and have a listen.

- I changed the theme of the site finally. It was much easier than when I first set up the blog on my own hosting three years ago, which was basically burnout point number one for me. There were more several burnout points for me, but getting this blog away from blogspot was one of them. If you only read this blog in a feed reader – which I encourage you to do – pop by the main site and take a look. I think it looks nifty, but if you have any problems with it, let me know. It would be greatly helpful.

- Jibblescribbits finally moved his blog away from Blogger. Now on the Bloguin network (I really have no idea what that really means), he has a new domain, so if you want your Avs hockey fix, update those links and feeds. He is joining some excellent blogs at Bloguin, like Cycles Like the Sedins, and Barry Melrose Rocks. Good on ya, Jib!

- I went to a San Antonio Rampage game on Sunday. The hockey was fast and fun, and much better than the game we saw in Anaheim when the Ducks gave the game to the Leafs. And it was about a third as expensive, with much better seats. As far as the live game is concerned, the minor leagues is where it’s at for me.

Technorati Tags: internet, Podcast

Bad Timing Does Not Make a Bad Rule

Tapeleg — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:32:04 +0000

Rule 32.2, which is basically the “intent to blow” rule, is under fire at the moment. So we are clear on what the rule says:

As there is a human factor involved in blowing the whistle to stop play, the Referee may deem the play to be stopped slightly prior to the whistle actually being blown. The fact that the puck may come loose or cross the goal line prior to the sound of the whistle has no bearing if the Referee has ruled that the play had been stopped prior to this happening.

I can’t think of a scenario where this rule is going to be applied where everyone will be satisfied. For the most part, intent to blow the whistle is going to come into play when the goalie has frozen the puck (or frozen it enough to make the play stop), the ref loses sight of the puck, or the puck crosses the goal line. Can you think of a scenario where half the fans involved didn’t feel screwed over by the refs?

This week has seen two instances of the “intent to blow” rule applied and pucks in the net not counted as goals. It doesn’t help that the first example went against a wildly popular team with a vocal fanbase. The second occurrence was the next night, on a play that would have made the Maple Leafs the victors in the battle of the basement.

When this happens, the masses cry for the heads of the refs involved, sweeping changes to the rule book, and rant about how the league is against their team (when I hear this kind of talk, I just smile and nod, and realize that I am dealing with a nutter). Like I said, everyone isn’t going to be satisfied.

The cries have gone up. The non-skating masses who have never read the entire rule book have spoken (no, reading a rule at a time does not count, go get the rule book and read it cover to cover). It’s time to end the era if “intent to blow,” right?

Wrong. I now intend to blow your mind:

The rule is a good rule, and should stay.

Mind blown? No? Maybe?

When you read the text of the rule, all the reasons for the rule to exist are there. There is a human factor involved, and for the 59:59 of a game that the refs go unnoticed, there is no problem with that human factor. It’s that one or two seconds of indecision (or in the case of the Leafs – Canes game, about 4 seconds), those small mistakes, those little moments that the frothing fans want the entire thing blown up.

And sure, it makes for good blog fodder to be outraged, or to take the refs to task (a meme that goes back way past Al Gore inventing the internet), but it’s also generally uninformed as well. There are very few people who write about hockey who skate, play the game, or – god forbid they should intensely learn about the game – have taken a coaching or officiating course (USA Hockey and Hockey Canada provide seminars at the beginning of every season, and have plenty on manuals, guides, and casebooks for further study). I realize that there are people who can’t do these things (and I don’t mean the basic excuse making kind of can’t, I mean really physically can’t), and those people get a pass. And yes, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this isn’t their site. Also, it doesn’t mean I am better than everyone else.

Name one sport that puts the refs in this much close contact at this high of speed with the players (and box lacrosse doesn’t count, since it’s basically hockey on grass with a ball). Basketball is a comparatively slow game, with very few scenarios in which a rule like this would be needed. Football and baseball are sports played from moment to moment. In hockey, the refs are trapped on the ice with twelve angry men who want to win at all costs. They are checked, hit with the puck, and do everything they can to get out of the way of the action while constantly monitoring the game. The speed of the game, along with the danger of being on the ice with the players, makes officiating hockey one of the most difficult jobs in sports (not to mention that they skate the entire game, unlike the players).

Here’s a simple example: How do you blow your whistle when you are falling down to the ice? A few players get tangled up with the ref, he goes down, but needs to stop play. This is a perfect example for this rule being put in the books in the first place. I bet if you tried hard, you could come up with a few yourselves.

Were these two games fine examples of the rule being applied? No, they were not. I don’t see a reason the ref in Carolina shouldn’t have blown the whistle any earlier than he did. But that doesn’t mean the rule is a bad rule. One or two applications that are unsatisfactory to the fans does not make for a bad rule.

Oh, and comments are turned off for this post. Take your ref bashing and start your own blog with it. The refs are expected to be professionals, but the players aren’t held to the same standards? Yeah, I’m not interested.

Technorati Tags: Refs

Reading Hockey Blogs the Easy Way.

Tapeleg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:32:22 +0000

The internet is awesome, isn’t it? I mean, we have all sorts of things to keep us occupied, like hockey blogs, and hockey podcasts, and… other hockey blogs! But clicking around the internet is tedious work, and disappointing when you visit a site over and over only to find it looks exactly the same as before.

Or what if the site itself just plain looks bad, makes it hard to read (fonts too small, bad color choices, eye straining or distracting flash banners and ads), or is so chock full of advertisements that you can barely tell the ads from the good stuff. An unreadable site isn’t going to keep you coming back, even if the writing is amazing.

This post is completely devoid of hockey content, but may help a few of you. From delivering content to you automatically to making the web easier to read, use any of these tools freely available to make reading hockey blogs simpler and more enjoyable. Even the experienced among you may find something new.

If you have something that helps people read hockey blogs, feel free to stick them in the comments.

RSS:

The absolute simplest way to read hockey blogs, or find out when new content is available, is to use RSS. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (or Rich Site Summary, but what’s the fun of that?), and it really is simple. RSS will deliver content to you, as it is updated. You don’t have to do anything special for the content to come to you. What could be easier? If you see this symbol on a website, or even in the address bar of your browser, that means the site has RSS available:

Note that the color of the symbol may be a little different from site to site, or browser to browser, but it looks relatively the same. Click on that, and you are on your way to the easy days of reading content.

Very few blogs, podcast, or websites that are dynamically updated (as in, new content producing sites) turn off their RSS feeds. Your browser should automatically detect if the site you are on has a feed available, and will show you the feed icon, making life super easy for you.

Some sites (like my sites) put the full content of their site into their RSS feed, and some only put a summary of their content into the feed. This is at the discretion of the site owner, but even so, you know that new content is available, and don’t have to waste your time going back to a site over and over to see if there is something new.

Feed Reader:

Now that you know about RSS – and how simple it really is – what do you do with that RSS feed? Stick it in an RSS reader, of course.

And RSS reader – or feed reader – updates periodically and checks for new content at set intervals. It’s much the same as the iTunes podcast feature (you do listen to podcasts, right?) in that it brings the content to you. There are a bunch of feed readers out there, some online and some as desktop programs. There are even readers for mobile devices. Here are but a few:

Online

Google Reader – This is widely the most popular online reader, thanks to the google name. It’s also super easy to use, and has plenty of organization to keep your feeds in good shape. Best of all, it’s free. If you tell it the URL of a site you want to subscribe to, it will find the feed for it automatically, making it even easier to deal with RSS.

Bloglines – another popular choice.

Here’s a Google Search that will help you find more options.

Mac -

Endo – I use Endo for my desktop feed reader. It’s easy to use, I like the organization, and it keeps things fairly organized. It’s not as well supported as it could be, but it works, and works well.

NetNewsWire – A popular choice.

Times – Not my favorite, but an interesting interface, and some people like it. Not as user friendly to set up, but once it’s set, it’s good to go.

Here’s an article with more mac based options.

PC -

Feedreader – Simple and efficient. I think this is what I used when I was PC based.

FeedDemon – From the same people as NetNewsWire.

Here’s a few more from About.com.

Keep in mind that most browsers (Safari, FireFox, etc.) can act as feed readers, as can many email clients. I like using a program dedicated to the task, but with all the options you have, it’s all about how you like to read your content.

Instapaper:

Instapaper is a game changer. It’s a web based… it’s hard to describe. In fact, it’s so simple, it seems like it should have less impact than it does. But here goes.

Instapaper will save online content for you to read later. With a simple bookmarklet (a bookmark that sits in your browser and executes a function when you click it), Instapaper automatically saves the page for you to read when you feel like it, be that in an hour, a day, or a year. Think about it this way. With one click, I can save something I would normally have skipped over and forgotten, kicked to curb in a fit of tl:dr (too long, didn’t read).

This is from the Instapaper FAQ:

From a personal perspective, I appreciate great writing, but I’ve become frustrated with the quick-consumption nature of many devoted blog readers. Authors are encouraged to cater to drive-by visitors hurrying through their feed readers by producing lightweight content for quick skimming.

There’s no time to sit and read anything when you’re going through 500 feed items while responding to email, chatting, and watching bad YouTube videos.

As a result, popular blogs are now full of useless “list posts” with no substance or value.

Well-written content is out there, and we do have opportunities every day to read it — just not when we’re in information-skimming, speed-overload mode. But we can all read while waiting in long lines, commuting (although please not while driving), or sitting on the goofy chairs in the shoe area and being supportive while our wives are shopping.

The times we find information aren’t always ideal for consuming it. Instapaper helps you bridge that gap.

And how. Again, it’s amazing how a simple little button can change how you read on the internet, and how easy it is to come back to good writing. If something is too long to read in the moment, or you don’t have the time or mindset to read it right now, click the link, and move on. It’s that easy. Try it out for a while. Instapaper is free, and it may work for you too.

Readability:

This is something new I found, and it’s helping me read more and more content, with less distraction and less aggravation. Readability takes a blog page, or other websites, and strips out the BS. It formats a page to bring you only the content, and eliminates sidebars, ads, images, footers, and headers. It changes the font and background into a more readable style. You didn’t go to that website to watch ads, did you? You didn’t start reading hockey blogs so annoying flashing banners would tell you about things you could care less about, right? You don’t have to watch the videos on the sidebar, or have rollover popup ads get in your way. You don’t have to squint to read unbelievably small font sizes, or suffer through poor site design choices just to get to what you really came for. Readability is the best thing to hit my browser in a long time. And again, it’s free.

Key commands on a Mac:

Two small helpful tips for Mac users. Command + and Command – will make the font size of a website bigger and smaller. Command 0 restores it to default (that’s command plus, command minus, and command zero).

Also, for a cool trick, try command-option-control-8. That turns the screen color negative. Instead of black type on a white screen, you get white type on a black screen, which can help take the strain off your eyes for a while. The same keys change the screen back.

Free:

Everything I posted here is free. Every program, every site, every trick, it’s all free. It’s designed to help you get to the content other people are producing, and get that content easier, better, faster, and in a more enjoyable fashion.

You want to read hockey blogs, right? You want to make it easier to get to those blogs, and the people who write the blogs want you to read. Why else publish it on the web? So pick up a few tools and start subscribing. You will find that you can read more in less time, and enjoy the experience even more.

Good luck, and get to reading.

Technorati Tags: internet